Live from Vision of the Seas Bermuda :)

Hi :)

Well, we are on day 4 of this wonderful cruise and I am not sure why I didn't start this sooner since I personally love to read lives.

We have been reading not so great reviews over the last few months but that never deters me from having a great cruise.

So far, this cruise is great. Yes, service is not up to par in the main dining rooms, frankly, there is not enough wait staff, I think RCL cut back a little too much and it's affecting service (not a good thing) and it seems very unorganized when you go to sit for dinner. They are on walkie talkies and just seem a little chaotic. The first day for breakfast there was a line half a mile long, for BREAKFAST! Very odd! Formal night is a joke if you don't make reservations, they have a line for people that didn't make them (you know, the ones that ACTUALLY sign up for anytime dining?) why they started with the reservations is beyond me. My only gripe was they never acknowledge that other line until the reservation line is empty but it never is. After half an hour of standing behind another nice couple, I finally said something to the head waiter and all of a sudden we were seated. Once seated, service was great. The food has been really good in the dining room (not windjammer though) and the cruise director is very nice and there is plenty to do onboard. The ship is very nice for an old ship, after being on their newer ships and their biggest ships, I am not disappointed at all. We have a junior suite which is plenty spacious, a lot of people we have met complained about the sizes of the window and inside cabins.

The shows have all been wonderful, tonight is our first production show. We had a comedian, a singer/impressionist and a ventriloquist so far, all very good,

The people onboard are an older crown (I'm in my 40's) as a matter of fact at the cruise director chat session today a man was complaining about a music trivia and said "no one under 50 should be allowed to cruise" I thought that was quite bizarre, but other than him, everyone we have met so far have been so nice and pleasant. All happy people as it should be!

Seas have been very calm, it's beautiful and sunny, 82 on our sea days, 93 in Charleston yesterday, and tomorrow evening we arrive in Bermuda. YAY!

They have a Michael Jackson thriller dance show with the guests, they are in training. I watched round 2 and it will be so cool to see the final as they plan to dress everyone like zombies and in full makeup. My new Canadian friends are in it so I plan to video it on the last night (some people DO NOT belong) talk about out of sync! LOL its fun to watch though! We are mostly Princess cruisers, we took this cruise for Bermuda without having to drive plus I will be Diamond after this so that's pretty cool! We still prefer Princess but Royal runs a very close second.

That's about it for now, if you have any questions I'll try my best to answer.

can't wait to read more. Love Vision and Love Bermuda

Can't wait to read your next report. We will be onboard Sept 1st.

I will also be on the September 1 Bermuda sailing and appreciate your report. Am disconcerted but not surprised to note:

 

So far, this cruise is great. Yes, service is not up to par in the main dining rooms, frankly, there is not enough wait staff, I think RCL cut back a little too much and it's affecting service (not a good thing) and it seems very unorganized when you go to sit for dinner. They are on walkie talkies and just seem a little chaotic. The first day for breakfast there was a line half a mile long, for BREAKFAST! Very odd!

The people onboard are an older crown (I'm in my 40's) as a matter of fact at the cruise director chat session today a man was complaining about a music trivia and said "no one under 50 should be allowed to cruise" I thought that was quite bizarre

Very typical issues of a line that specializes in seven-day or shorter cruises when they do an occasional longer cruise. They should have known a much higher percentage of passengers will take breakfast in the dining room on sea days of a 10 night sailing. And when I was on a 13 night repositioning cruise on NCL the Officers Q&A was completely hijacked by a few old farts who just grabbed the mic and ranted about the music and activites, not even bothering to ask in the form of a question. (Guess I'll skip it this time).

We too are almost-Elites on Princess who chose this cruise for the itinerary--and will have a good time in spite of anything else. Please continue to report when you have a chance.

Thanks for the report!

I will also be on the September 1 Bermuda sailing and appreciate your report. Am disconcerted but not surprised to not

Are you signed up on the roll call? It's really big!

Can't wait to read your next report. We will be onboard Sept 1st.

Hello fellow shipmate. :):)

Wendyg good report thanks

I am sorry I never came back to report more. That ship keeps you busy!!!!

My only recommendation is for any of you with my time dining, make reservations every night at 6 pm and get there around that time give or take 15. We went one night at 530 and were told there were no seats and to come back in two hours and maybe they'd seat us. The DR sat empty as it just opened and Wind jammer was closed so there was no alternative. I was so shocked by his nasty attitude so I complained at guest services. The f&b mgr could care less either tapping his watch saying he had a meeting in five minures but he did send us to chops, more to get rid of us than amything else. A nice gesture but didn't fix the issue. I suggested to the hotel manager to just do away with anytime and have fixed seating only.

Other than the dining, the cruise was perfect except the weather was awful in bermuda but we still had a fabulous time and met many nice people. The cruise director was absolute wonderful and the new captain onboard was great too! You're all in for a wonderful treat!:D

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Wendy,

Why was the Windjammer closed?

Was it closed just one night or more than one night?

It was the night we arrived in bermuda. It didn't open until 630 that evening.

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My DD did the Thriller dance last December on the Grandeur ... It was very well done and the performers were surprisingly good for a group of amateurs. You're in for a treat when they do the performance.

Yep. I am sorry horrible weather you experienced in Bermuda but at least you made it. I hope you had a great time despite and will come back and visit Bermuda again soon.

Your Bermuda Friend

were you overnight in Bermuda? that's probably why windjammer opened at 6:30pm that night, although 6:30pm sounds like a pretty common time for WJ to open.

I videoed the entire thriller dance, that was way cool and I knew 4 people in it!

As for bermuda, before we even sailed away I was looking at the cruises going to bermuda in the spring! I'm going back!

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Thanks for your report and glad you had a good time on your cruise.

We were on the same cruise but never had more than a 5 minute wait for a table in the evening (never went there for breakfast or lunch). We didn't make reservations & just turned up at various times between 7.30 and 8.30. Don't know if it was because there was just 3 of us, or if we were just lucky? On all but 1 occasion our waiters were Oldrun & Saheez & they were excellent - very attentive!

We were on the same cruise but never had more than a 5 minute wait for a table in the evening (never went there for breakfast or lunch). We didn't make reservations & just turned up at various times between 7.30 and 8.30. Don't know if it was because there was just 3 of us, or if we were just lucky? On all but 1 occasion our waiters were Oldrun & Saheez & they were excellent - very attentive!

We were only two people and I said we would share or dine alone. Nope! No seating at all as the dining room sat empty at 528 pm. First time in 36 cruises that ever happened to us. Guess we caught Roane on a bad night! After that we reserved 6 pm the rest of the cruise and no issues. His attitude pissed me off more than anything, its not like you're ever starving on a cruise! LOL

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bermuda is my favorite place to golf

Hi Wendy. We were on the cruise with you. Believe we talked at the Frog and Onion during their power outage.

We used MTD as well as Chops, Giovanni's, WJ and Park Cafe. 7:30 reservations at MT and only had to wait 15 minutes one night so we could keep the same waiters - Inacio and Andre (fabulous team). All of the meals were great and better than when we cruised on Vision in May.

The other thing better than May was the tremendous Bar service particularly at the R-Bar (Thanks to Olexander, Arleen and the crew). May was a nightmare getting drink service in the Centrum so many jammed into the R-Bar with their NY elbows as my LI wife puts it.

We only saw one production show and the singers and dancers were great.

The Vision of the Seas Orchestra did a long session in the Centrum and after a short break their jazz group did a fantastic set for 45 minutes. All the other musical groups were great. Due to the high number of seniors on board the Disco in the Viking Crown was not very full but those in attendance had more room on the dance floor to exhibit. The guys in the Viking Crown Bar did their usual excellent job particularly Elvis.

As D+ members we spent happy hour in the CL with Betsy a really fine hostess. This is also where we would read our Kindles since the noise level was reasonable.

Captain Liz was on until Bermuda where she departed to vacation in Portugal. We have now cruised with her and Captain Karen. The first two female Captains on RCI and the only ones in the World as far as I know at the time they were promoted. Capt Karen was the first and is currently on Majesty.

This was our 7th cruise to Bermuda and we too hope to be able to return there on an RCI or Celebrity ship from Florida!!!!

Hi Wendy, nice to see your review. We were on this cruise - I came to speak to you about the Thriller video when you were with the lovely Canadian couple. My daughter Katie and I did the Thriller stuff it was the best fun!

Never got to find out when the Meet and Mingle was so we didn't get to meet other CC ers.

Loved the cruise but has similar experience with My Time Dining - was given a pager, waited 45 mins then went up and said we couldn't wait any longer as we had booked for 6.30 so we would go to Windjammer instead - he said not to do that and they then seated us. Not so bad rest of the cruise but we did book specialty restaurants for the first time which were fab. I found the MDR food fine though and nice and hot - just the wait was silly.

Val