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A Mini Review of the Vision of the Seas 3/7/15


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Hello! I'm Kristin and my DH is Stephen and we sailed on the Vision two weeks ago. I started a previous thread for anyone who wanted questions answered while we were onboard. I originally said I was going to do a picture heavy review but we ended up only using our new GoPro to film and didn't take many stills, so I'm sorry about the lack of pictures! I hope to have answered as many questions as I could that were posted on the previous thread and than some. If I missed anything please ask away!

 

First let me give you some background information. My DH and I are Diamond almost Diamond Plus and we only sail with Royal. We cruise for the experience of the ships and not so much the ports of call. Most of the time we don't even get off the ship the entire sailing. This was my second time on the Vision and my DH's first time. Last time I sailed on her was years ago before the refurbishment. Depending on the ship and sailing depends on what type of cabin we prefer. This cruise we were more than happy with a large interior stateroom # 3119 on deck 3. I also purchased for myself the Premium Package which I have gotten multiple times before and found it worth it. This is a review of our experiences and our opinions from our points of view.

 

So let's go.. Let's Get Out There!!

 

Embarkation Day:

We flew in the same day as our sailing from JFK and landed at TPA. We grabbed a taxi at the airport and within ten minutes we were at the pier! Check in was super fast except for our less than nice pier agent who checked us in. That kind of took us by surprise as we never experienced such bad customer service at the pier before. After we received our Seapasses we grabbed a seat and within five minutes of sitting it was time to board. We took our usual welcome aboard photo and then made our way to the ship. We did notice at the check in area inside the pier that they had tables set up from the Vitality Spa and the Specialty Restaurants. We never saw them push it that early on before. Once onboard we realized it was only like 10:30am! We never boarded any ship that early before.

 

First things first, we checked our table in the MDR to see if our requests were met and they were! Table for two next to a window. They were having some sort of training going on for new crew members in the back of the MDR. Deck 4 is for regular dining and Deck 5 is MTD. We have 8:00 second seating so we are on deck 4.

 

Afterwards we were hungry from our morning of traveling so we headed to the Windjammer but it wasn't open yet. We had a few minutes before they opened and the ship was still empty so we walked over to the Solarium to check out the Park Cafe. They weren't open yet either as we figured according to the Compass so we hung out in the Solarium for awhile enjoying the warm weather. Around 11:15 we headed back to the Windjammer and Wow was it packed! Only one side was open and the line was starting to head out to the pool deck. We've been part of some crazy boarding day Windjammer lunches but by far this was the worst one. Finally the other side opened and we grabbed a table right by the entrance. We realized the problem was in part to the fact that the buffet is literally a foot away from the entrance. The minute people stepped into the Windjammer they were already on the food line, there was no way around the line and it caused a mob in the entrance all the time. The layout wasn't the greatest. After we settled in, we went up to grab some lunch. The selection didn't seem like the usual boarding day lunch. Dishes we have never heard of before and to be honest it wasn't that appetizing. By no means are we super picky eaters and we actually normally enjoy the Windjammer food so this was a surprise to us. We picked a little then headed back to the solarium. The Park Cafe was late opening and people were starting to gather around there as well. Once they opened we grabbed a famous Kummelwreck sandwich and a make your own salad. That hit the spot!

 

Because the Vision is much smaller than other ships there is not enough space for them to unload the luggage out of the passengers view. All the luggage was piled up on each deck at the stairs landings. This caused some confusion as people climbed thru to find their luggage. There was no need for passengers to search for their luggage as all the luggage was being delivered to your staterooms anyway.

 

The Muster drill was long and drawn out compared to prior ones. We lined up on an outside deck and were packed in. There were some older people and a few with disabilities that you could tell were uncomfortable and had a hard time standing for a period of time especially that close together. For some reason muster was long and disorganized this time around.

 

After muster we headed to Guest Services for two reasons. The first being we never received our soda cup for our drink package. The second reason was I saw on my roll call that people had posted pictures of their invites to the Meet and Mingle. On our last cruise we never even received our invitation even though we registered months in advance. I didn't want to miss out on my invite this time so I figured I would just ask for it. The invite was quickly delivered to me right then and there but the soda cup was another story. We were told that the ship was running behind and that I would receive my cup in my cabin later that evening. No Problem! We could easily get a soda at any bar and the Vision doesn't have a Freestyle Machine so waiting a few hours was no big deal. More to come on this later...

 

We headed up to the pool bar for sail away with our Mardi Gras beads on and we met some of our fellow Roll Call members! Sail away was very uneventful. The horn never blew! We didn't care care though we were just happy to be on vacation and a cruise non the less. We jumped into the solarium pool and enjoyed a swim before heading down to our cabin.

 

We made it back to our cabin at 5 and our luggage was there waiting for us. We decided to relax a bit in our cabin before dinner rather than run to the Diamond lounge the first night. We unpacked and got ready for dinner. We headed up one deck to 4 to go to dinner. At 7:50 the lines were so long to the MDR that they were coming into the Centrum. We decided to grab a drink at the R bar which is located in the Centrum. At around 8:10 we were able to make our way into the MDR.

 

I'm going to take a different approach with this review! I'm going to break it into sections rather than by day.

 

Up next: Dining ( MDR, Specialty, Windjammer, & other complimentary venues)

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Thanks for taking the time to share your experince with us. I was wondering about the sailaway party. Was there music and cruise staff starting line dances, etc? We didn't really have that on our Allure cruise and I really missed it, so hoping Vision will have the traditional fun sailaway party.

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Dining:

 

Food is very subjective so bear in mind this is our opinion of the dining experience onboard!

 

MDR:

 

We never dined here for breakfast or lunch on this sailing as it did not fit our schedule. We did however eat there 5 out of the 7 nights for dinner. Food was very good! Only one time did we have a problem with an appetizer and they were quick to resolve the issue and everything was perfect from then on. The lobster tails were very small though, way smaller than usual. Iv been seeing different posts on the boards here about the "new menus for 2015" so I do want to clarify about it. Our last sailing was a few months ago in October 2014 so this was our first time seeing a menu from 2015. The format of the menu seems to have changed a little bit. In the left bottom corner they mentioned something about 20% off a bottle of wine. To be honest I never really payed attention to the details of it, I only noticed it because it was in big bold letters and stood out. Now this may have been on the menus in the past but the format was different. Also in the past the escargot was listed and underneath it stated upon availability. Now it seems every other night it rotated on the menu stating either escargot or scallops. On Mojo night, the first night, the prime rib is listed under another name. These were the only menu format changes that I can remember. Dinner the first night was very fast, we figured because it was the first night. That trend seemed to have carried over into the second night and we quickly told our waiter we were in now rush and from then on it was much more relaxed. The baked Alaska was a bit different than usual, no more meringue top. It was more like a layer cake. My DH was bummed because that's his favorite. The bread pudding was also different. It was more like cake covered in caramel sauce. The vanilla rum chilled soup and the arugula and goat cheese salad were two items that stood out as being excellent. Our waiter had gotten sick toward the end of the sailing so the head waiter and the assistant waiter filled in. We were also informed that any time a crew member reports feeling sick they must be confined to the cabin for at least two days. The last night of the cruise a waiter from Giovanni's filled in he really knew his stuff. You could tell why he was put into a specialty. Just the explanation of the menu, the presentation of the dishes, the resetting of table before dessert used to be standard for all wait staff now that has become a hit or miss in the MDR. We had a table for two by the window in the back which we had requested. The dining room on this ship had very little seating for two. It was mostly tables made for 8 or more. The dining room did seem a bit crammed. The one thing we did miss on this trip was a waiter from the bar staff in the dinning room. Our assistant waiter delivered our wine and cocktails to us which was fine except for dessert time we missed our shooters that our normally brought around. I'm sure if we asked they would have brought them but the bartender coming around is half the fun! The two menus we missed were portobello and shiitake.

 

Giovanni's:

 

We made our reservations for Giovanni's the same day. We wanted their latest reservation which was 8:30. When we arrived that night we were seated almost immediately for a table for two by the window. The food was excellent and served steaming hot! The service was good but extremely slow. My DH and I love s slow meal as for us it's more about the experience and we rather enjoy a good long meal rather than rush and run to a show. But this service even for us was extremely slow. An hour and a half had passed and we still didn't receive all of our appetizers. It actually started to become funny because at one point there was not even one server on the floor. The one thing that we did not care for was when they brought out the pastas and entrees all at once as it was a bit overwhelming. We went from one dish every thirty minutes to 5 dishes all at once. We had dined at Giovanni's on the Allure and Oasis before and remember the pasta being served separate from the main course. We didn't care and for certainly did not want to send it back as we waited almost 2 hours at this point. Dessert was delicious! When we gave him our Sea Pass and he brought us back the check, he informed us that he gave us 20% percent off. We were pleasantly surprised! This surprise 20% has happened on other ships in the past at specialty restaurants.

 

Chops:

 

With all the talk about the "new menu" at Chops we decided to give it a try as we loved our dining experience at the "old" Chops. The night before in the MDR our head waiter figured out that we ate at Giovanni's the night before that and asked us if we wanted to dine at any other restaurant. We asked if the next night was ****take and when she said yes we said we were planning on going to Chops. She asked what time we wanted to go and we told her the latest reservation they had. She then left and came back and informed us that she made us 8:30 reservations and that she was able to get us 20% off. Again we were pleasantly surprised! The decor of the restaurant was very well done. Very modern with a view into the kitchen. The goat cheese salad and French onion soup was excellent and the salad was big enough to be a meal within its self! We did miss the goat cheese soufflé, that is no longer served. We both ordered the filets medium rare. My DH's was a perfect medium rare as mine was more medium, but it still was mouth watering! We ordered a few desserts but the best hands down was the liquid center chocolate cake. The coconut ice cream and caramelized bananas that are served on the side is just heaven!

After we left Chops that night my DH declared that Chops was his favorite specialty on Royal.

 

Windjammer Breakfast:

 

Windjammer Breakfast is the same across the fleet. Once in awhile you may see something different being offered but for the most part it's identical on any ship. The lines for the omelette station on this ship seemed to have moved very fast and almost never had to wait which was a nice change. I remember someone posting about milk selection in the Windjammer. Whole milk is offered in mini cartons and fat free is offered in juice box form.

 

Windjammer Lunch:

 

My DH and I enjoy the Windjammer for lunch and never have had any complaints on all of our cruises, but this time was different. The food selection was just totally unlike any Windjammer food we have ever seen offered. We are always opened minded with food and are willing to try most things but the lunch didn't even look appetizing. One day they even offered goat for lunch! If the standard hamburgers and hotdogs weren't there we would never have guessed that we were in the Windjammer. I think we ate lunch there twice which is so different because we are used to eating there everyday. The best lunch we did have was day 6. Since we were docked in Cozumel the theme for lunch was Mexican! Very tasty! We made plates that day and sat poolside in our chairs.

 

Windjammer Snacks:

 

Snacks offered after lunch in the Windjammer can sometimes be better than lunch! Although that was not the case on this cruise. They basically just cleaned up some of the dishes being served from lunch and left whatever still looked fresh. Nothing new was added. The Windjammer was just strange all week.

 

Park Cafe:

 

The Park Cafe was a nice treat all week! Slightly more scaled down then the Oasis Class but they still offer a full selection. We enjoyed Kummelwrecks and fresh salads all week. The only downside is they are closed for lunch on port days! We did notice that the opening times for the Park Cafe for breakfast and lunch were never really followed. Some days were as late as as much by 30 minutes which caused lines and confusion. Breakfast was offered as well with a bagel bar and breakfast burritos and egg sandwiches being the top items. Late night snacks were offered in the Park Cafe every night. Nachos, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and sandwiches. Pizza was very hard to find onboard this ship and when you did find it, it didn't even look like pizza but more like a lump of cheese. We enjoy late night pizza on a ship for we missed this!

 

Cafe Latitudes:

 

Ben and Jerry's and specialty coffees were offered here for an up-charge, but complimentary snacks were offered here all day as well. Pink lemonade tartlets, rice crispy treats, cheesecake pops, and Willy Wonka pie are some of the treats offered!

 

Windjammer Coffee Station:

 

The windjammer coffee station is located poolside directly outside the Windjammer. This is open 24/7 for water, coffee, and tea. Directly behind it is the soft serve ice cream station which is open during certain times during the day.

 

Room Service:

 

We never ordered room service on this sailing.

 

I think I covered all the areas of dining that we experience if you have any questions please ask away!

 

Up Next: Entertainment

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Dining:

 

We are always opened minded with food and are willing to try most things but the lunch didn't even look appetizing. One day they even offered goat for lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curry Goat is FANTASTIC - if they offered this on a ship I'm on I'd have to camp out in the Windjammer and feast all day!

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I appreciate all of your Vision reviews! While we have sailed RC several times on different ships, we've never sailed the Vision, which we are set to enjoy Sept 1 out of Barcelona for 12 days. This will also be our first Met port cruise, so any thoughts or advise is welcome & so much appreciated!!!

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Thank you for continuing your review. We were on Navigator last week docked next to Allure in Cozumel. As we sailed away, Allure blew her horn. Then our captain answered and it went back and forth for several minutes. We enjoyed it a lot. Sorry you missed the horn blowing on your cruise.

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We have 8:00 second seating so we are on deck 4.

 

 

I'm enjoying your review and am anxiously awaiting the next installment!

 

We just booked Vision for spring break 2016... so I have a question. I was told the second MDR seating was at 8:45. I know times vary by ship and itinerary, but that seemed a little late so I put down MTD. Is the second seating really at 8:00? I might go ahead and switch, especially when you refer to the long lines for MTD.

 

Thanks!

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Many thanks for sharing your experience. We will be there for May 16 cruise. As this is our first time in a cruise let alone being on any RCL ships, do we have to book into a restaurant on the day before and what if we prefer a buffet dinner the next night.

Also may I know what is generally on breakfast menu..... continental, american, asian or international

 

 

Thank you so much

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  • 2 weeks later...

Would you mind sharing what other activities / things to do are onboard?

When I do a search, I get trampoline, basketball court, mini golf, rock wall.

But then other Google searches say different.

I think because maybe it's ""Vision Class" ships they are describing, as apposed to the actual Vision ship.....

We have 6 teen boys travelling with us, and hope there are activities for them and things for them to do.

Thanks!

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  • 2 months later...

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