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Vision of the Seas Review - November 23 - December 3, 2012


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Since Trainman-2 had a some issues doing a live report due to the internet going down, I decided not to do a live report. Instead, every day of our vacation I pulled out my trusty Barbie Pink iPad and typed what we did and our thoughts.

 

Who are we? Well, I am Lisa and DH is Walt and we are from East Tennessee (I am originally from Dallas and that is why my screen name is RedHeadTexan). We are DINK's in our 40's and 50's. Walt and I are pretty laid back and really enjoy our one on one time on the ships. This is our 7th cruise and 3rd on Royal.

 

We chose the Vision of the Seas knowing that it is a smaller ship without all the bells and whistles of the Freedom class that we have done. Hey, we did two cruises on the old NCL Majesty, so we knew what the smaller ships are like. That said, we pick this cruise for the itinerary: Tortola, St Martin, Antigua, Dominica, and St Kitts. Since there was a great deal on the "Old Man Rate" we decided to forgo our normal cave dwelling habits of an inside cabin and go with an ocean view on Deck 3 Aft.

 

My review is more of a blog, so I hope y'all enjoy.

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Tuesday, November 20th

Today was Walt's 57th birthday! So what better way to celebrate than to work all day and then hit the road. Walt agreed to driving part of the way to Fort Lauderdale on his birthday to avoid driving through Atlanta the day before Thanksgiving. We celebrated his birthday over the weekend. We have stopped in Warner Robbins, GA at the Hampton Inn for the night.

 

Wednesday, November 21st

Today we drove the remainder of the way to Fort Lauderdale. I used my Hilton Honor Points to book 2 nights at the Bahia Mar Hotel. We were supposed to be in a garden view, but were upgraded to the tower with a partial ocean and marina view. The view is spectacular and we arrived just in time to see a Princess ship leaving the channel. We also are facing the airport, so DH is thrilled. We are both aviation nuts, so seeing airplanes approaching is very entertaining.

 

After we cleaned up we went to dinner at H2O Cafe on Fort Lauderdale Beach. The food was wonderful and the atmosphere was superb. We sat outside and listened to jazz music while we ate. Since it's been a long day, we walked back to the hotel and are going to bed.

 

Thursday, November 22nd

We got up early this morning and had a bite to eat at the hotel's restaurant, then off for a walk down the beach. Back in August I booked us on the canal tour with Gondola West. It's a maximum of 6 people on the tour. Yogi21 from our roll call booked this tour and that was it. Just the 4 of us and the captain. The tour was 2 hours long on an electric boat and we got to see a bunch of mansions and yachts. We even saw the "Clark Griswold" of the canals setting out his Christmas decorations. Water and Soda was provided, but we all brought beer. This was an awesome way to spend the afternoon, and DH and I highly recommend this tour.

 

Tonight was our first Roll Call Meet-up. Since it's Thanksgiving we decided to have dinner together at Waxy O'Connors...it was one of the few places open tonight. 18 of us had a great dinner and conversation. It was awesome to finally meet everyone that we have been talking to for months.

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Friday, November 23rd

Embarkation Day! The Vision was docked at Pier 4 and boarding was a breeze. Dropped off the luggage, parked the car, went through security, and checked in. We were onboard by 11:15am with no wait. In January the people at check-in took our pictures. This time it was when we boarded the ship...ship's security took the picture.

 

Once onboard we went directly to Windjammer to grab a light lunch and then went exploring the ship. Since the cabins were not ready, we ended up by the main pool and quickly found someone happy to sell us a couple of Fosters. Our cabin was ready at 1pm, so we wandered down to Deck 3 to drop off our carry-ons.

 

The past three cruises we have done inside cabins. Since there was a great deal back in June on the "Old Man" rate, I decided to book an ocean view (cabin 3640). First thing we did was move the cocktail table into the closet. After that we unpacked the carry on's and our luggage arrived soon after. I was pleasantly surprised at all of the storage space in the cabin. Oh, and the tv has been upgraded to the flat screen tv!!!! (edit: according to the C&A Ambassador our tv must have died and that is why we have a flat screen. We peeked into other ocean views and insides and they all have the old style. So, if you want a flat panel tv cabin 3640 has one.)

 

We booked MTD again for this cruise. I know the traditionalists do not like MTD, but it works for us. We like to have flexibility and eat when we like. There were issues with MTD with too few servers and everyone showing up at the same time. Our dinner took over 2 hours...wow. We were assured that this would not happen again, but decided to eat at 8pm for formal night instead of 6:30 again.

 

After the long dinner we got changed and went to the hot tub. It was a ghost town up on deck, and that was fantastic.

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Saturday, November 24th

The seas are a rocking! Got up early and had a light breakfast at Windjammer. Then off to the Solarium to read our Kindles for a few hours. Since it's been raining this morning, the Solarium was very popular. I love having the glass roof on the Solarium! The pool was drained, so I am not sure what's going on with that.

 

Next on our schedule was the Meet and Mingle! We had a fantastic turnout with around 70 people. It was great to finally have a face to put with the screen name. SandiBeach! did a wonderful job with the postcard mingle and it really got us walking around and talking to each other. Pre-cruise I worked hard on keeping the lists of who was attending which activities and excursions. I really appreciated hearing all the thank you's from my fellow cc'ers for doing this.

 

Today was a busy day...after lunch we headed to the C&A Loyalty ambassador to book our next cruise. As you can see in my signature it has been booked. We originally were going to book this in December 2013, but Dett (who we cruised with in January) convinced me to wait a month and cruise with them again. So, my 42nd birthday will be celebrated on the Legend of the Seas!

 

Any-who, after booking the next cruise we went back to the cabin and popped open one of the bottles of Champagne we brought onboard. November 24th was our 8th wedding anniversary! We got married on Thanksgiving Eve so that we would always have a four day weekend around our anniversary. Are you thinking "Who get's married on a Wednesday night?" We did! Side Note: I LOVE YOU WALT!!!!

 

Tonight was formal night and our anniversary so we dressed to the nines. We had our picture taken and then headed to our 8pm reservation for MTD. This evening the service was fantastic! We both ordered the Chops Grille Filet Mignon and were very impressed. Escargot was on the menu, so I ordered those and gave one to Walt. For dessert we both had the chocolate soufflé...yum! Overall dinner was very good and Arthur was much better than last night.

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Sunday, November 25th

Today was our second sea day. During the night the captain had everyone turn their watches and clocks forward one hour. We woke up late and managed to just make it into the dining room for breakfast. Walt and I had the Eggs Benedict and they were delicious.

 

After a quick lunch in the buffet we went to the Champagne Bar which was the starting point of our CC Cabin Crawl. We had 26 people on the crawl and had a blast seeing an inside, ocean view, regular balcony, regular aft balcony, and a junior suite. Thank you to seejay5507, kayter13, scottamiller, and sunrunner3 for volunteering your cabins! You made organizing our cabin crawl very easy!

 

We spent the remainder of our afternoon reading our kindles, and later on bumped into sandibeach! at the Schooner Bar. We had such a good time that we missed the C&A party...oh well. By 8:30 we realized that we had not had dinner and decided to go to Windjammer since Walt was still in shorts and we did not have time to run and change for dinner. Windjammer was great for dinner. I personally think WJ is very nice in the evenings and enjoy eating up there.

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Monday, November 26th

Today we docked in Tortola BVI. This was our second time to Tortola, so we decided to do a bucket list item. We did the Royal Swim with the dolphins! Coco and Desiree were our two dolphins and it was an amazing experience. We went with Kathy and Steve (aka flcraigs5). We booked & prepaid this 3 months in advance and received a nice discount. I swore we would not buy their pictures, but the rules changed and we could not bring our cameras in the water with us...so we bought the cd & 2 prints package for $100. We were in the water for an hour with the dolphins.

 

After the swim we had the gift shop call our taxi driver to come pick us up. He recommended Maria's by the Sea for lunch and it was fantastic. We were the only tourists in this hidden gem and had a great view of the ship and harbor. We had conch fritters and a wonderful salad with lime marinaded shrimp and crab on it. YUMMO! After a few beers and a light lunch the four of us wandered to Pussers and then the Sunny Caribbee Spice shop. I went nuts in the spice shop and have a 6 pack of spices to try out at home. Since I was down to $12, we headed back to the ship.

 

Our evening consisted of few drinks at the Schooner Bar, then off to MTD for dinner. Everything is now running smoothly in MTD. After dinner I was pooped from all the day's activities, so we went to bed at 9pm and missed the White Party.

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Tuesday, November 27th

This morning we ate breakfast in the MDR after the announcement that we could leave the ship and enjoy St Martin/St Maarten. We decided to share a table since we would have to wait for a table for two.

 

After breakfast we walked over to Phillipsburg to shop and look around. It was very hot today, so we ended up stopping at a beach side cafe for a couple of beers at 10:30!!! After that we went to Front Street and I bought 3 linen table runners and a table cloth at Linens Galore.

 

I did an internet search for restaurants a few months ago and found a local that recommended Kangaroo Court next to the Court House on Hendrickstraat. It looks like your typical dive bar on the outside, but if you go through the restaurant to the back there is a gorgeous garden patio area with a huge tree growing in there. As a pale/pasty red head shade is my friend, so this was an oasis to me. Walt had the French burger (had French cheese) and I did the mixed seafood kabobs. The seafood was very fresh and yummy. Of course, we also had a couple more beers each.

 

After lunch we grabbed the water taxi back to the pier and made a quick stop at the Belgian Chocolate Box. We bought 3 assortment boxes of chocolate...one is a gift for my friend Connie back home, one is for us, and we will see if the 3rd box makes it home.

 

We got back on the ship in the early afternoon since it was soooo hot, changed into swimsuits and headed to the Solarium. The pool was refreshing after a hot day in Phillipsburg and the loungers were so comfortable that Walt and I both fell asleep. We watched sail away from the Promenade Deck. If you want to get away from the crowd, then the Promenade is where you want to go when leaving port. I was able to take great pictures from there and had no problem finding a chair.

 

Tonight's dinner was back to the buffet. I had sushi and Walt had a little of a lot. We both had the Pecan Butterscotch Tart for dessert and it was incredible!

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Wednesday, November 28th

This morning we arrived in Antigua. This was the only port that we booked an excursion through the ship. We did the Lobster Lunch Catamaran Tour with 13 other CC members and a total of 22 passengers. We stopped at 2 beaches and anchored for swimming the other time. We brought our snorkel gear, but there were no fish or coral around. So, after the first beach we left it on the catamaran and just went swimming. The crew provided beer, wine, and rum punch the entire excursion. At lunch there was big grilled lobster (you get half of one), rice, potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad, and Champagne. It is one of the pricier excursions at $109, but we felt it was worth it. Oh, at the beaches the ladies will come up and try to sell you stuff. Many of us bought necklaces...and I was able to haggle on the prices.After the excursion 6 of us went shopping and went to the look at the old church in town. We made it back to the ship with 30 minutes to spare.

 

Dinner was in MTD and I had the Osso Buco which was phenomenal! It was so moist and tender. It literally fell off the bone. If you like Veal Shank, then you must get this dish. We were exhausted from the day, so called it a night around 9pm. That is now 6 nights in a row with no show.

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Thursday, November 29th

Welcome to Dominica! This island is a gem in the Caribbean. A bunch of us from CC all booked the Roseau Valley Treasures Tour with Bumpiing Tours...that would be Levi. Our van was driven by Levi and included my new buddies: Kay & Mike, Kathy & Steve, Sandi & Rich, and Martine. There were 13 of us in this van.

 

Our first stop was at Champagne Reef to go snorkeling. Champagne Reef gets its name from all the bubbles that come out of cracks at the bottom...looks like champagne bubbles. We saw lots of Sergeant Majors, Sea Urchins, an Eel, and other fish I cannot identify without my trusty fish book. We had an hour and a half to snorkel. Walt and I stuck to the rocks by the shore and saw amazing coral and schools of fish. One word of advice is to wear water shoes. The beach is rocky, not sandy.

 

Our second stop was Titou Gorge and it is an adventurous drive to get there. Scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 were filmed there, so that's why I wanted to go. The water is cold! I mean 60 degrees cold. You have the option to jump in or take the stairs. We all decided to go with the stairs. Levi told us that once you get in to get in to your neck quickly. That did help me acclimate to the temperature much quicker than I thought it would take. You swim through the caves to the waterfalls. The current from the falls was strong, so Levi threw us the life preserver ring and pull us one or two at a time to the other side. A few of the group jumped off the falls and ledges. Levi free climbed up to the top and made a huge splash from 20 feet up. I decided not to tempt fate or injury and did not jump. The gorge was incredible.

 

Stop number three was Trafalgar Falls. We hiked up to the platform to see the falls and then hiked down to the hot pools below. At the platform we saw 2 spectacular waterfalls! Walt and I hiked down to the pools with the group, but decided to turn around and go back instead of exploring them. I am a notorious klutz, and felt like I would probably fall if we continued on. Back at the parking area I bought a sandwich for Walt and I to share while we waited.

 

On the tour there were 2 stops with restrooms, a few shopping opportunities, and water, soda, and beer (Kabuli) were provided. This is a 5-6 hour excursion and food was not provided. We brought snacks, but they were locked in the van when we can back early from the falls...that's why I bought a sandwich.

 

Walt and I highly recommend booking a tour with Levi. He was incredible and tour was one of the best we have ever taken.

 

We got back to the ship with 1.5 hours to spare, but decided to board instead of shopping. Somehow most of us ended up at the Solarium Cafe to grab a post excursion bite to eat.

 

This evening we went to the buffet again for dinner. I decided for a light meal of cheeses, naan, and olives, while Walt had a "normal" dinner. Note to Trainman: thank you for recommending the bread pudding in Windjammer. Walt loves bread pudding was very impressed. After all the hiking and swimming today we decided to call it a night at 9:00pm.

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Friday, November 30th

Today was our final port day and we arrived right on time in St Kitts. A few months back I booked an island tour with Royston and then told everyone on the roll call about it. 8 of us were in Royston's Toyota van, while the rest were split up into two mini-buses. The mini-buses are air conditioned while the van is open air. By open air I mean Royston took out all of the side windows. Even though it was in the 80's we were very comfortable in the van. And without windows it was very easy to take photos (no window glare).

 

On our van were me & Walt, Sandi & Rich, Kathy & Steve, and Allen & Patti. Allen and Patti had not done any excursions with our motley crew during the week, so they were soon indoctrinated. Royston charged $45 per person for the island tour and it is supposed to be 5 hours with beer, soda, water, and lunch.

 

We went to an old sugar plantation first. Then we were off to the Batik factory (there are restrooms here). Kathy and I having been waiting all week to go shopping for Batik...and were driving our DH's a little batty with anticipation. Batik is all hand dyed and the process is very interesting to watch. Basically they paint wax on the areas that they do not want dye to touch and they paint the dye on the rest. Somehow I managed to stay under my Batik budget and bought three bandanas, 3 sarongs/pareos, 4 small wall hangings, and 4 hand fans for $187 US. Walt bought himself 2 tropical shirts since he does were tropical shirts all the time at home. Men's tropical shirts were $50 each. I think the Batik ladies loved us.

 

After the Batik factory we all started drinking the Caribs. 10:30am is 5 o'clock somewhere, right? Next stop was the old fort. The vistas from here are magnificent! The mid-level area of the fort had a cafe with food and beverages and there were also restrooms. This is the location that we grabbed a random tourist to take our van group picture with Royston.

 

Along the way there were many stops to take pictures and stops at craft huts to buy things. At one stop Royston bought us there delicious island coconut cookies to snack on. The lady sold them out of her souvenir hut and makes them daily at her house. One of shopping hut stops had donkeys, so Royston gave us sugar cane to feed them from the van. Donkeys on a sugar high is a sight not to be missed.

 

Later on in the day Royston decided to off-road it a bit in the van (the mini-buses do not go off road). We drove down a beach on the edge of the water, took a dirt road up Thompson Mountain, and various other places. Our 5 hour tour ended up being 7 hours, but the time flew by. Lunch was on a beach and we had Roti's. Roti's are basically a wrap with curry, mashed potatoes, and either chicken or conch. I had the conch and absolutely loved it...but, I love curry. Walt was not keen on the lunch...thought there was too much potato and curry. Food is very subjective even in our own family.

 

We got back to port at 3:30 which gave me an hour to find Larimar earrings to match my ring. I found a pair at Desires Jewelry store at a good price, so I bought them.

 

For sail away scottamiller threw a party on his aft balcony. Thanks Scott! A bunch of us from the roll call showed up and shared Champagne, wine, and shots together. Afterwards we headed to the Solarium for a quick dip, where once again it was a ghost town at night. For dinner we went to MTD again. Alex, the maitre de, is wonderful. He comes over a few times every evening to check on us and chat. Alex is also the maitre de for breakfast in the dining room, and always seems to spot us and chat more.

 

After 5 port days in a row we were beat and went to bed early. Yes, that is another day of no show in the theater.

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Saturday, December 1st

OMG it's December?!? This morning we slept in...until 8am. We had breakfast in the dining room for the 5th time this cruise and is par for the course I had eggs benedict and a side of bacon. After a leisurely breakfast we wandered up to Deck 10 above the pool bar and sat under the shade canopy. I have been amazed with all the shady spots on the open decks.

 

At 11am we had our final meet up at the outdoor pool bar to chat about our excursions. At noon 13 of us went to the dining room for lunch and to finish off the final two bottles from my wine package. It was an awesome lunch of camaraderie. With 30 minutes until the belly flop contest we had to move our party up to the pool deck. Rich and Andrew from the roll call participated and Rich won the bronze.

 

After that we hung out in our shady spot until sunset, and then cleaned up for dinner. Tonight was the 2nd formal night, but we decided to skip it and go to the buffet instead. Guess what? We did not make it to the show again. We did watch some college football in the Showboat Lounge and went back to the cabin for the night.

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Sunday, December 2nd

This was our final sea day before the long drive back to Tennessee. I woke up early and left a note for Walt to find me in the Windjammer. I finally tried the omelette station and it was very good. After a while Walt joined me in the buffet and informed me that there was a Christmas Tree in the Centrum. Wow, they finally decorated after all the professional portraits had been taken. Everyone was curious as to why the decorations were not put up earlier in the week.

 

As usual we found our shady spot, but had to run to the cabin to get my sweatshirt. It was really windy today, so it was chilly in the shade. At noon we met up with Kathy and Steve and headed to the main dining room for lunch. Soon after we arrived 4 more of our CC buddies showed up and the were able to sit at the table next to us. Today I had the Tandoori Lamb Skewers and they were incredible! The chef came out and I complimented him on the lamb.

 

After lunch we went back to the cabin to do the dreaded packing and then read some more in the shade on deck 10. Dinner was once again in the Windjammer since we had packed everything in the afternoon. The time change back to Eastern Time Zone was at 2am Monday morning, so we went ahead and turned our clocks back an hour after dinner.

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Monday, December 3rd

Debarkation arrived and we moved our luggage to Deck 4 Centrum for express departure around 6:15 and waited in the queue until 7:15. We were near the front of the line so it took about 10 minutes from when they started scanning sea cards until we got to the car in the garage. That was fast! Now we are in the car on I95 heading back to Knoxville, TN.

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Summary

Cabin - we were in an ocean-view 3640. The size was adequate for our needs and having the flat screen was a bonus. Steven was a fantastic cabin steward! Let me preface the next part by saying this in no way ruined or diminished our cruise, but just want to give everyone a heads up: this cabin is below the main dining room and we heard carts rolling and banging noises during meal service and occasionally late at night. Neither Walt nor I are light sleepers, so it didn't not affect our sleep after the first night. I take full responsibility for booking a cabin under the dining room and not thinking that carts and trays make noise...my bad on that one.

 

Ports - OMG this itinerary was incredible! It is a toss up for me as to my favorite port between Dominica and St Kitts. The weather in all five was sunny and mid 80's, so no complaints there either.

 

Staff - I was amazed at how energetic and happy the crew was from the Captain down to the maintenance team. Being a small ship you really get the opportunity to interact and chat with a large amount of the crew. They love their jobs and it was obvious every day.

 

Food: food is very subjective, but overall I liked 90% of what I tried. I am an adventurous eater, so I occasionally try something new and do not care for it. My top picks for food are the Osso Buco (veal shank), Tandoori Lamb Skewer, and the Chops Grille Filet Mignon ($). For breakfast it was Eggs Benedict in the MDR and Omelette in WJ.

 

Overall - this cruise exceeded our expectations. Yes, the Vision is a small ship but it is a grand ship in every way possible. The 10 day itinerary was the perfect length for us and I doubt we will go back to 7 day cruises anytime soon...unless they are a back to back. Overall Walt and I agreed that this cruise was a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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Loved your review! I am anxiously awaiting my turn on the Vision in January. In fact, 1 month from today, we'll be leaving cold (or not so cold, it's close to 70 today) Indiana for the Sunshine State and boarding the Vision on the 4th for 10 nights.

 

You mentioned a white party. What is that? Was it something organized by your rollcall or is it a ship party? Did you attend The Quest or any trivia during sea days?

 

Mickeefan ~Julie~ *fellow redhead* ;)

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The White Party is a ship sponsored party and you are supposed to where something white. I think it was up on the pool deck, but not sure on that. We did attend a few of the trivia events and they were loads of fun. The name the artist and song one was the most fun since it was teams of 6 and we had to work hard not to blurt out the answers. I heard that Quest was fantastic, but it was on a port night and I went to bed early. I have asked my fellow roll call buddies to chime in with answers and comments as well, so hopefully one of them will expand on the Quest.

 

Lisa

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I am happy to answer any questions you may have...for the next 7 hours I am co-pilot in the car, so I have plenty of time to chat.

 

Lisa

Thank you for the good review I am sailing on the Vision 24th Dec.

Good to hear about the food.

Tandoori Lamb "yummy"! Other tandoori food?

Greek food?

lamb?

Anything I should try? I am a fat old Brit. that loves food. :)

Thank you Sara

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Well done indeed! Thanks much for the review. You answered one of my questions already and that was on whether the time was being changed on Vision. Since it is, that puts us on the same time zone as all the ports which is very convenient!

 

We're doing the 11 night run in February and it can't get here soon enough!

 

Hope you have some pictures to share! :D

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