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Vision Review 12/26-1/2/05 New Years


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Vision of the Seas, New Year's Mexican Rivera Cruise: 12/26/04-1/2/05

 

This was my first cruise, and I want to thank everyone on CC who answered all of my questions before hand. I would also like to curse you—I am now addicted.

 

We were traveling from San Jose, CA to Los Angeles, and opted to fly on Southwest. The flight was an early one, arriving in LA at 8:00am. We had our shuttle pick us up, and after a stop at McDonald’s, we were at the RCI Cruise Port in San Pedro Harbor. We were allowed to enter the terminal, but had to wait until 10:00 to check in. As stressed and tired as we were, the RCI staff was pretty helpful. My brother was staying in our friend’s stateroom, but they hadn’t arrived yet. The agent checked him in no problem. We got our boarding numbers…lucky number two, and after waiting what seemed like hours, we boarded around 11:45, after the obligatory boarding photo.

 

I had never been on a cruise ship before, and the Centrum was a lot to take in at first. I liked it, the ship was still decorated for Christmas, and everyone was very friendly once we got onboard. Because the cabins were not ready, we made our way to the Windjammer, picking up some Pina Coladas on the way. The Windjammer was great, buffet food, no crowds. After a quick lunch, we went exploring around the top deck. I played shuffleboard for the first time, and took some pictures of the port.

 

I went to my stateroom, and was pleasantly surprised to find my luggage already there (at 2:00pm!) We were on Deck four, on the right hand side (aft?) with window-view rooms 4538 and 4540. We explored the room, and then took a nap for an hour. Around 4:30 we had the muster drill, and then headed back to the cabin, and then to the top deck to watch us sail off. This was very exciting, there was music playing, drinks all around, a high-energy atmosphere.

 

After we left port, we did some more exploring of the ship, and then went to our late-seating dinner. We were with a group of 3 families, 14 total, and we split between the “kids” and the adults. Our server, Rayomand, and his assistant Tatiana, were AWESOME! Being of the more unrefined tastes as teenagers, we asked Rayomand if we could have appetizers of fries and chicken strips. From each night on, we were brought fries and chicken strips within 2 minutes of being seated. The food was okay, not too bad. The rosemary chicken was excellent, as was the grilled steak. One night, I liked every dessert, so I ordered them all…why not! Rayomand gave us tips for each port, and told us about his family in India, and about life on the cruise ship. Tatiana, from the Ukraine, was very, very nice, and it was always “My pleasure sweetie.” We stay in contact with Rayomand via email now.

 

Sunday night, we hit the karaoke, and being very, very tired (some of us hadn’t slept since Christmas morning…the day before!), we went to bed. Monday, a sea day, we slept in until 1pm, and then ate lunch, did some exploring, and played Bingo with Dan Dan The Bingo Man. Our cruise staff was excellent, Parker, our cruise director, Carol from Wales, Dan, Mike, and this really nice lady from Texas, of whose name I can’t remember.

 

Monday was a formal night at dinner, and the dining room staff sang to us. Later, we took pictures, and then I headed up to the Viking Crown Lounge for 70’s disco night. That was a lot of fun, they had their own Village People, so we were “In the Navy”, and did the YMCA. We learned to disco ala John Travolta, and then walked in a “Love Train” around the lounge.

 

The next morning, Tuesday, my mom came into the room saying that one of the families traveling with us had seen us on TV. You guessed it…our 70’s night was being played on the stateroom TV! We got up, ate breakfast, and then went down to be tendered into Cabo San Lucas. Once there, we took a walk around the harbor, visited a mall, I bought some “Oakley” sunglasses, and exchanged some money. The weather was warmer, but still overcast. We took a glass-bottom water taxi out to see the Arc and Lover’s beach…full of families and kids (I guess that is what happens after spending some time at Lover’s beach). We then went to the beach on the other side of the harbor, ate lunch at a taqueria, and went back to the ship.

 

I believe that night was Country Western night. In the Some Enchanted Evening Lounge, we line danced (my new favorite thing to do…don’t tell my buddies though), and did some other dancing. One dance, everyone got in a circle, with a lady on each side of a man. We took two steps forward, two steps back, spun the lady on the right, spun the lady on the left, kissed the lady on the right, and kissed the lady on the left. Naturally, I leaned in for some of the girls, but some of the old-er ladies liked to lean in a little far themselves!

 

Wednesday was Matzalan. We hired a taxi for all of us, and our driver’s name was Luis. He was a Matzalan native, who had gone to college in Chicago. He gave us the tour of the town, and then took us to the beach were we ate lunch and parasailed. After that, we did some shopping, visited Senor Frogs, did another driving tour, and went back to the ship. Matzalan is nice, but don’t do any of the ship’s excursions…going at your own pace is much better in this port.

 

Thursday was Puerto Vallarta, the best port of the three. The sun was shining, and the weather was a beautiful 84F. We did a morning/afternoon shore excursion for $38 (not a bad price at all) to a hotel resort and beach. Well worth it, no timeshare presentations, just the warm beach, beautiful pools, and an excellent lunch buffet. Around 2:30, we went back to the port, and then walked to the beach on the other side. There, we rented wave runners, and had a blast catching air in the ocean. That night, we took a taxi to a Mexican restaurant in the foothills, Ay Caramba. This was a nice little restaurant between houses, with the seating area outside, overlooking Puerto Vallarta and the ocean…right at sunset…beautiful. There was live music (for a fee), the two guys played traditional Mexican folk songs….and Simon and Garfunkel! We made it back to the ship in time for dinner (again!), because we didn’t want to disappoint Rayomand.

 

Before I talk about Friday and Saturday, I will describe the ship. To me, it was huge, but I could easily see something being bigger, i.e., the Voyager class. Everything was in good condition, carpets, chairs, etc. Not too many crowds at the elevators, and we noticed absolutely no noise in our stateroom. After seeing the pictures of the Solarium on the Radiance, I was semi-disappointed with the one on the Vision. It wasn’t completely bad, just not the ‘resort’ feel that I had expected. The Shipshape center was nice, we never used it, but nevertheless, nice. The boutiques of the Centrum were clean and nice, but it is too bad that they don’t have a general store…just the gift shops, clothing shops, and alcohol shops. The photo gallery was nice, we picked up some (overpriced) prints there. I would recommend waiting until the last days to purchase gifts…there are usually sales then.

 

Friday, a Sea Day, as well as New Year’s Eve, was perfect. We hung around, played Bingo, and lost some money at the casino. That night at dinner, we had special menus, and a special chocolate soufflé for dessert. Rayomand told us that there weren’t any chicken strips or fries because of the special menu...only to bring them out 1 minute later, with a huge smile on his face. The dining staff all wished us Happy New Year in their native languages. For the show that night, we saw a Temptations cover band. They weren’t bad for the three Temptations songs that I knew…but I still left early. There was a New Year’s party in all the lounges, but the big one was in the Centrum. They released 5,000 balloons from the ceiling, and the captain and staff were all present when the silver ball dropped at the stroke of twelve. Times Square had nothing on us…we were having the time of our lives. After singing Auld Lang Syne, we took a stroll on the deck, and then headed to the Casino for a few hours.

 

Saturday, New Year’s Day, we woke up early at 7:30, and watched the first sunrise of the New Year. After that, we ate breakfast in the Windjammer, and then slept (like the rest of the ship) until the afternoon. We then watched the Texas-Michigan game…our Michigan friend was very disappointed. One interesting note, we were watching the game on a live feed of ABC…during the commercials, we would see the field, and hear the commentators talking….unedited. Then we went to the Masquerade theatre and played the jackpot game of Bingo…$9,500. Myself, and a lady named Bertrice, were the Bingo commissioners, and scored ourselves free t-shirts. A friend traveling with us was ONE AWAY from Bingo…but alas, didn’t win.

 

Dinner was excellent that night. We said our goodbyes to Rayomand and Tatiana…they really made our trip what it was. We watched the comedian for the evening show, and then killed a record four hours playing roulette…winning $60. I took one last “at sea” stroll around the deck at 2 am, then headed back to the stateroom.

 

We woke up in Los Angeles, finished packing our carry-ons, and ate breakfast in the Windjammer. We had Turquoise tickets, so we were off right after the Diamond members. Customs wasn’t too bad, we were out and waiting for our shuttle at 8:45. Our other friends didn’t even get off the boat until 10:00…apparently there were some later delays.

 

LAX was awful…the day after the Rosebowl…we should’ve known. We got to the airport at 9:15, and BARELY made our 12:05 flight. The lines for check in and security each went through the terminal, and ourside, halfway to terminal two. Saw a lot of Carnival Pride people…they looked like they had a good time.

 

Before we knew it, we were back to where we started, and the post-cruise depression set in. I hear that the only way to fix it is to go again…..

 

I took about 200 digital pictures. If you want to view them, or have any questions... send me an email at davtomcol (at) aol.com.

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What an excellent review. :) You have a great writing style that brought us through as if we were on the trip with you. :) You definitely have to book another cruise - so we ca n read your review again. ;)

 

Glad you had a great time on your first cruise! :)

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Thanks for the review. Great job!

 

We'll be on the Vision in August for the southbound Alaska cruise. We were on Rhapsody last month (our first cruise too) which has the same deck plan so we already feel like we "know" Vision.

 

I came within one on the last big Bingo day too. Man, that sucks being so close! :p

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What deck were you on Rhapsody? Where did you go?
We were on deck 8 in corner aft cabin 8088. Will have the opposite corner aft (8588) on Vision.

 

We went to Key West, Costa Maya (Rhapsody still has not returned to Grand Cayman since Hurrican Ivan), and Cozumel. Had a blast! Would love to cruise on Rhapsody again. Very handy since we live 35 miles from the Galveston cruise terminal. :cool:

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