Jump to content

Vision of the Seas – Mexico- May 15-22, 2005


Recommended Posts

Highlights of our cruise.

 

 

 

A little background….My DH and I have cruised 12 times and this was our tenth cruise with RCI…we are now Diamond Members!!! We took this cruise cause it was a very good value for a JS and close to home. We cruised with our life long friends, DH grew up with this guy and we have taken many vacations and 5 cruises together with them. She does not like cruising and he loves it. She is very afraid of being out at sea where she believes no one will be able to rescue her if necessary…..she also hates to be out on open decks at the railings….never mind a balcony cabin for them, she didn’t go out on ours at all. Our cruise was for my birthday that was May 7th, a girl usually doesn’t tell her age but I now qualify for RC’s senior rate! :eek: This can be a good thing!!! Our neighbors will celebrate an anniversary in November, but don’t want to cruise then, so this was for their anniversary.

In my packing I made one huge mistake, I have a 2 gallon zip lock pre-packed with a power cord, night light, alarm clock, highlighters and duct tape. I packed it in the bottom of a carry-on, then I switched carry-ons to a slightly larger one...yep you guessed it I forgot to transfer the zip lock baggie. No big deal on the power cord, as for the alarm clock, we just used the ships wake up calls...but sure could of used that duct tape! Several times over! We had 2 drawers that instisted on opening and closing with the ships movement. Finally we had maintaince come and fix them. I did miss the night light as we both get up in the night. I won't make that mistake again.

 

 

We went the day prior with a flight to LA on Southwest, we had a limo, we live 45 minutes from the airport it was a nice comfy ride. We stayed at the Embassy Suites LAX South. Nice property, it was very noisy with the air traffic but what was worse was the bachelorette party in the suite next to ours. DH got out of bed, got dressed, went down to the front desk and politely asked for a new room. No problems just had to get everything packed back up and transfer rooms. Oh, did I mention this was midnight…these things are to be expected on weekends and the hotel management did a good job in keeping this party in order, several other guests also complained about the noise from the party…..very simple, they made then leave! Ahh, nice and quiet…at least between planes!

 

 

 

We reserved Super Shuttle for 9:45 am. The cost for the 4 of us was $56.00 + tip.

 

We arrived at the pier; we were the first ones there! We were the first in line for Diamond/Platinum and Suite guests. Some of the reps had no idea where the Diamond Platinum lounge was…I was rather taken back by the lack of communication between these people. After a short 20 I minute wait we were checked in and got 3 different answers to where should go to wait for priority boarding. :confused: Finally a rep named Tommy, came to me and directed us to the right place. However, no coffee, water, juices, nothing, just a room to wait. Maybe cause we were too early, but I do remember a lot of CCer’s said there were refreshments…no big deal, we would be eating all week long!

 

 

 

Once the ship was ready for passengers we were escorted and we were the first ones on board and were at the Windjammer by 11:15. We had a nice lunch and waited for the fire doors to open at 1 O’clock when the cabins would be ready. One lady just opened the doors and said its 1 and I’m going…she turned out to be our neighbor. They also turned out to be from our hometown back in IL…..small world!!

 

When the doors opened we looked down the hallway all way to the very end and it was like looking at a tiny speck that was our aft cabin JR Suite 8090. That is one long walk!! Cabin 8090, is a very nice JS. (When we sailed the Vision 3 years ago to Alaska, we had a cabin 8556 then was a category C cabin…no double points on it. 8090 aft cabin has one huge balcony, includes 2 chairs, 2 lounge chairs and one table. I stepped measured the length of the balcony, it was 15 feet deep! Awesome!!! The balcony is great for an afternoon nap, a pillow and I was out like a light. For some reason I did this 3 days in a row, must have been the sea air and the motion of the ocean. Our friends had an outside cabin on deck 3 foreword. The view of the wake off the back is awesome, what a beautiful thing to wake up to each morning…..I looked out my back door this morning and all I saw was a few weeds, our rocks and some severely overgrown landscape. I almost cried….shock back to reality.

 

 

 

We had table # 85 on deck 5. Table for 4 set in the corner closest to the kitchen and a service station. We had great service and the food was quite good. If I don’t have to buy it, cook it, clean it up I’m happy. Our waiter was good, our assistant waiter was on the job for 2 weeks. He was very eager to please us. I’ve never seen someone smile as big as he did, he was loving this job and went out of his way to do anything necessary. Each day he would proudly show us something new he learned that day. Since he was so new, he asked us a few questions about cruising. For someone who was just learning the ropes, he kept up with the waiter and only once missed serving sour cream for the baked potatoes. The last day he came to the table looking a little green, he couldn’t handle the rough seas, he was joking about it but most of the time he had to stop and hold onto something so we wouldn’t end up wearing the salad dressings or be drenched in iced tea. He was comical in his views of it and he wanted so badly to not be sick in front of us….he was really green. Not sure how he made it through the rest of the night as the seas did become rougher……more on that later.

 

 

 

Lunch in the DR was pretty good, since there were items on the menu we wanted to try we went 3 times, only one day we had what I would consider bad service, but the banana split dessert made up for that!!! We had breakfast on our balcony most days, the rest in the Windjammer, we made it to the DR just one day, DH loves Eggs Benedict, unfortunately it wasn’t the best he’s ever had. Other wise we found the food to be good to very good so complaints there…and we have the extra pounds to prove it!!!

 

 

 

The weather was very cool the first and last days. We had jackets but still bought sweatshirts that were 75% off cause this was the last Mexico cruise until September.

 

It was very hot in the ports, DH and I did only one tour for the entire cruise, we are not big on taking tours. In Cabo we took the boat and land tour. We enjoyed seeing the natural rock formations up close. We stayed on board in Mazatlan, as well as quite a few other pax. In Puerto Vallarta we took a taxi, $3 per person down to the shopping area across from the water, town square and the church. Wish I could remember the name! We shopped for a little while, it was getting too hot for me so we got a taxi and went back to the ship. I shopped a few more minutes at the market by the ship and was back on board by 11 am. It was hot and humid and the pool was definitely calling me. So we went to the solarium pool, had a hamburger and relaxed for the next few hours. We sailed at 10:30 pm…..lots of stars, the moon and it was warm, perfect view from our balcony as the lights get smaller and smaller as we sailed away.

 

 

 

I played Bingo a few times the final was for $7250 won by a guy from CA.

 

Quest was good, our friends never went to one before and they were surprised by how funny it is and glad they went. Entertainment was OK, I missed both productions shows, the comic was funny, Bert and Howie were goofy- but cute, the Floursents were very entertaining, the Gaucho’s haven’t changed their act. One lady kept screaming at the top of her lungs at them, someone her told her to “shut-up” That in itself was entertaining, she never did stop screaming, it was quite annoying. Oh, did I mention she was right across the isle from us, so my right ear is now deaf. It wasn’t that good to begin with and now it’s just about gone after that. :eek:

 

 

 

No chair hogs in sight, the pool patrol did a good job at keeping chairs open.

 

Bar service was plentiful, the ship was clean, in good repair and well maintained.

 

For the money it was a good cruise and I would recommend the Vision for both Mexico and Alaska. The west coast does need more choices in cruising so I hope the future brings more ships and better/longer itineraries.

 

 

 

One funny thing ….. One night we got mixed up going back to our cabin after the show. We took the foreword elevators and then proceeded went foreword instead of aft and on the starboard side instead of port, So we ended up going around the entire length of deck 8 before we made it back to our cabin…once we discovered our mistake and had to keep going cause it was shorter than backtracking at that point. Now I know the differences between the two and which way is which but some how we when we said good night to our friends we zigged instead of zagged and before we knew it we were laughing so hard, we had everyone that passed us laughing with us even the cabin stewards were laughing with us….we never made that mistake again!!!! Well at least we discovered where the RS, GS and OS are! That’s the closest we’ll ever come to one of those!!!!

 

 

 

The second to last night the seas became a little rough, Dh and I have always been on smooth as silk cruises so this is just what we’ve been waiting for, just once we wanted to experience some rough seas. As the night went on so did the seas, by morning it was pitching and rolling pretty good, seas were about 8 feet. It was the first time we saw the sea-sick barf bags placed at each stair well. By late afternoon the seas grew to almost 12 feet, it was difficult to walk a straight line. In our cabin you had to hold on here and there, once coming out of the bathroom was tricky as I stepped down the ship rolled and I almost took a header into the closet. By dinner the seas were about 15 feet and stayed that way all night. Now I can’t stand in the cabin and the pitching was really noticeable off the balcony. Add a few rolls of the ship in the mix and it was a real ride. A lot of people were sick and some of the crew…especially our assistant waiter. Good thing we had all those drawers fixed only the closet door kept opening…sure could of used that duct tape!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Disembarkation was painless, nice to have the priority departure lounge in the dining room, customs was a breeze and finding our luggage was fast and easy, we had no reservation for transportation, we just went to the super shuttle area and waited less than 5 minutes. LAX busy as usual, long lines everywhere but no problems.

 

 

 

When we booked this cruise, I felt I would really not be happy with anything less than a Voyager Class Ship, but I go with the attitude of its better than not cruising at all. The Vision was a good deal and a quick get away and we had a good cruise. There is nothing I would say was negative about the cruise except it was not long enough!!!

 

All in all this was a good cruise, we have decided that we will not cruise Mexico again, been there 3 times and we do prefer the Caribbean and I hope it will be on a Voyager Class Ship. DH has his sights set on Hawaii, no plans as yet on that one. I'm looking into it....shhhhh, just don't tell him :D

 

 

Linda :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your review Linda :D

 

I didn't realize that was your third cruise to Mexico!

 

I had to laugh about your trip around the 8th deck, I didn't get lost on the Navigator until the last night - go figure :D

 

We haven't decided if we're going to drive or fly, keep going back and forth. We do have a reservation at The Westin in Long Beach, I just need to determine how much they charge for parking.

 

Glad you enjoyed your birthday cruise :D :D

 

###

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks neighbor! Yes this was # 3 into Mexcio, first was a 7 nt on the Rhapsody in 2000, second was in 2003 on the Radiance going through the Panama Canal, from San Diego to Ft.Lauderdale with ports in Cabo and Acapulco.

 

Good luck on making your decision for August. Great choice on your Hotel in Long Beach!! That was one of my choices but was out voted.....guess what...they wish they listened to me!!! They are not into CC and they think I don't know what I'm talking about half the time. A few times I just let them figure it out for themselves. :D LOL.

 

LOL on your getting lost the last night......it happens to all of us! :eek:

 

 

***

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...