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Review of Vision March 27


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I haven't posted here in a while, but thought I'd post my review of the Spring Break cruise. We took our three teenage boys, 17, 16 and 15. We had 2 other couples meeting us with their teenagers; Boy 17, Girl 16, Girl 15 and boy 7. Plus our other neighbors were on the ship, we saw their son (17) often but not much of them (Cheryl where did you guys hang out?)

Ship: Overall she is clean. One day the aft toilets had an issue with flushing. The trip was smooth at sea for the most part and I felt the Vision was showing a little wear but nothing major.

Itinerary: Day at Sea, Cabo San Lucas, Matzalan, Porta Vallerta, Day at Sea, Day at Sea in that order. (sp?)

Embarkation: well I am a Platinum Member so no wait for check in, no wait for boarding, so of course that was a breeze.

Luggage: It arrived in our stairwell lobby rather promptly and we took it to our cabins ourselves. The cabin guys were being hassled by a few guests so we figured we'd chip in and help so they could soothe whatever was the problem. I tipped both stewards upfront twenty dollars. I have learned over the years to do this and I must say it has never failed to be a good idea. Mervin and Sydney were fabulous and kept the cabins tip top. We had 8088 aft balcony suite and it was awesome, it has a wrap around balcony and it is huge! Sun and no wind and plenty of space for 2 loungers, a table and 2 chairs. The spa is directly above so it was nice and quiet. We also had a quad 8087, plenty of room there too.

Food: pretty normal as cruises go. Some good food, some mediocre. I was however dissapointed that windjammer did not have an "egg guy" like the other ships do. I like my omelets fresh and to order, but I survived just fine on all the other offerings.

Drinks: strong as usual the first day, one heck of a cosmo in the Schooner bar and the Viking Crown Lounge (my favorite bar on all the ships)

Entertainment: Besides the Rosario Stings which I think are great and the singer in the centruim bar I really never made it to a show. First time I have not had time to hit a show on the ship! Of course the poolside band was good as usual with the steel drums.

Weather: First night out and 1/2 of first day at sea was rather chilly, but by 1:00 it was warm and sunny and not windy if you were all the way forward on deck 10 near the glass. All port days were 85 degrees and sunny. Next day at sea was windy but nice and sunny about 78 degrees. Last day at sea was chilly, windy and overcast. We had a farewell pre dinner party in our cabin, with wine, beer and cheese trays and 13 people, and everyone fit!

 

Ports:

Cabo San Lucas was busy, we went to the beach and rented wave runners for the kids, it was a bit scary because the place was packed and there was way too many wave runners, banana boats, and other stuff out in the water. The beach venders bother you a lot but will move on with a nice "Nada Gracias" comment. It was Spring Break so the games on the beach in the bars were wild as usual. Had to keep an eye on all 7 kids so they didn't buy beer or drinks. Made sure anything we bought we could get our change in American, otherwise your doing long division all day.

 

Matzalan is not my favorite so we booked a shore excursion this day, we were on the Deer Island Adventure but it was canceled due to federal gov't doing environmental research so we opted for the Lunch, Beach, Shopping tour. Saw the Pantellia Flyers show, got free drinks and then shopped and went to Los Sambados resort. Not very impressed with this one the vendors were hard to get rid of. We did get 2 drinks included and lunch. We opted to not eat and head back to the ship for early snack before dinner. Cab ride was a hoot!

 

Porta Vallerata is by far my favorite port on this itinerary. I love walking all over Old Town and seeing the statues and churches, plus the sand sculptures the locals do are realy neat. You need to donate a buck to take a photo, and it is well worth the dollar. We made our way to Senor Frogs and had lunch and of course Pacifico Beer and Tequila! You have to be careful at Senor Frogs or you'll end up there all afternoon and drunk! We learned this a long time ago so we were prepared to call a halt to the party so we had time for the beach. They will sell alcohol to any one in Mexico so you need to really watch the teenagers.

GYM: this was nice and not over crowded if you got up early. We didn't use the spa so I cannot comment.

Casino: We won some and lost some, went home ahead. Craps table was $5.00 so it was easy to stay there longer, they had one $5.00 and 2 $10.00 Black Jack tables, poker and a few others. Slots were tight except I did see a guy hit the progressive for $7,000.00 on the dollar video poker.

 

Some advice for anyone going on this ship and ports;

 

Try to get cabin 8088, you will not be dissapointed, best stateroom I've had so far. We usually try to get aft balconys anyway.

 

Ask in advance from your TA to get seated in the dinning room near the piano and this is usually the captains section. The waiters here are always the best and service is topnotch.

 

Take plenty of ones, fives and ten dollar bills or you may end up with lots of Pesos. You really have to make sure they give you the equivilent of the dollar back. Avoid this by bargining to what your willing to give and don't expect change. They expect you to bargin but of course not to insult.

 

Buy beers by the bucket (5 to 6 on ice) if your on the beach and most establishments will let you use their chair or umbrella w/o a fee. Some of the resorts allow free day passes for cruisers but be careful not to have to trade it for a timeshare sales pitch.

 

The words "Nada Gracias" work wonders in moving the venders along, but I did buy some beautiful material, lace and blankets for a great price. The people who craft these are very grateful for the sale.

 

Do Not buy jewelry unless it is at a ships approved place, but for some fun junky costume stuff the beach venders are fine.

 

Debarkation: Once again being Platinum gets you first off the boat. All our luggage was together for once in the same color coded area, smooth as silk. We stayed an extra day and opted to spend the night on the Queen Mary, family stateroom, 2 queen beds and a rollaway for $199.00. Couldn't have the room before 4:00 so we spent the day over in Long Beach. We wanted to go to Catalina but the price would have been $250.00 for 5 for the round trip ride. We took the Ghost and Legends Tour on the Queen Mary for fun and after that believe me the kids were afraid to roam this ship alone! I got spooked out once in the evening, but she really is a neat old lady of the sea with tons of history. It was worth the venture.

 

All in all it was a great cruise, good friends, 3 birthdays (we had ordered the cabins decorated in advance) kids behaved and I must say most every teen on the boat I ran into was polite and behaving. The 7 year old with us LOVED adventure ocean, he couldn't wait to get there. We have spent Spring Break on the Navigator, and NCL and New Years on the Mariner and on all of these I didn't think the teens behaved as well as the Vision. The security gaurds on the Vision really kept it under control. They did let the teens in the solarium some, as long as it didn't seem like they were taking over. I did see them remove many kids from the area on sea days. There were 750 kids on the ship and the only night I think that seemed loud was the last one.

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Thanks for your review. We were on the Vision 2 years ago in Alaska, nice to hear she is still in decent shape....we will be on May 15th in cabin 8090, our first aft, so we are encited to experience that! :D

We did the Mexcio cruise 5 years ago on the Rhapsody and this time we will be prepared for some cooler weather the first day out and the last day back!!! We learned that one the hard way ! :D We also learned that trip about getting back change in peso's!!!! Dh got into an argument over it in one place :o...he ended up getting his change back in US $$.

750 kids is a lot to keep under control :eek: Thank goodness they were well behaved!!!

Glad you had a good cruise :)

 

 

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8090 is very nice, it was right next to ours and has a very large balcony as well. Only one problem with being back there, it was in the corner and they tend to park the carts between these two cabins...on the bright side if you needed a towel they were right there. Tell Melvin and Sydney HI! You'll love them. When it is windy up top, the balcony is not, so it is wonderful to have. We used the stairs most days and it was so convenient to just go up to the Solarium and Gym. I'd sail the Vision to Alaska in a heartbeat with the same cabin! Hope you have fun in Mexico....

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Thanks lokana....I was wondering about the wind on the balcony, sounds like I'm really going to enjoy this!!!! I do remember where the satirs are up to the Sloarium, there were just a few doors down from where our cabin was for Alaska.....nice short cut! :D

 

 

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Thanks for the helpful review we will be on the Vision on Mother's Day. Also have a corner aft cabin but on deck 7. I hope we will still get the sun . I heard the Vision pool area isn't that large and gets filled up quickly.

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Thanks for the helpful review we will be on the Vision on Mother's Day. Also have a corner aft cabin but on deck 7. I hope we will still get the sun . I heard the Vision pool area isn't that large and gets filled up quickly.

 

That is true, it does fill up fast. If you go forward, deck 10 bow, to where the glass is the wind breaks and it is nice there. You don't get bar service as often and it is a complete wind tunnel to get there, but it always had a lounger available. The shuffleboard decks are near there, so it can be a bit distracting. We saw a few whales off of our aft cabin heading north, last of the season I think, so that was cool. We saw a lot of dolphins and flying fish too.

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We will also be in cabin 8090 on the April 17th cruise. ArizonaCruiser-we'll keep it in good shape for you!

 

 

Thanks!!! I would love to hear from you after your cruise, please tell me all about it and cabin 8090!!!! ;) Have a wonderful cruise!!!! Hope you have great weather!

 

 

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Great review, Cindy. The kids all were well-behaved as far as the other passengers were concerned. I know that I never personally saw any of them acting up. However, DS said there was a LOT of drinking going on. Apparently it was VERY easy to get alcohol on board, and a large majority of the kids had their own cabins, so the drinking and partying generally would take place there. I will say - If our DSs drank, they can really hold their liquor, because I never saw them look even remotely intoxicated. He also said that he and the posse had no trouble going to the Casino or spending time in the Viking Crown Lounge.

 

If we had just done one night precruise, I would have stayed on the Queen Mary as well. I thought that ghost tour sounded awesome. I wish we would have had time to take it -- We all would have loved it.

 

As far as our hangout - I would look at my Compass each evening, and then we would attend whatever we were interested in, and otherwise we hung by the main pool (and we didn't miss many dining room meals either -- We only ate at the Windjammer twice the entire week.) That main pool is indeed fairly crowded, but we never had too much trouble getting a couple of deck chairs in the sun. I LOVED the Solarium, but I like being in the sun if I'm outside, plus DD was usually with us so that wasn't normally an option anyway.

 

So, what's the plan for next Spring break -- Another cruise perhaps?

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