Vision of the Seas - Baltics (Aug 1/17)

I don’t normally do this but as there is so little information about Vision of the Seas on this forum, I thought I would post regarding my thoughts on our recent experience. We left Copenhagen on August 1st, 2017 for a 10-night Baltic cruise. We are a family of 4 with 2 teenagers (13 and 16) from Ontario, Canada. We are not seasoned cruisers – our only previous ocean cruise was Allure of the Seas at Christmas 2015 (Eastern Caribbean).

Itinerary:

Copenhagen – Day 1

At Sea – Day 2

Riga, Latvia – Day 3

Tallinn, Estonia – Day 4

St. Petersburg, Russia – Day 5/6(overnight)

Helsinki, Finland – Day 7

Stockholm, Sweden – Day 8

Gdansk, Poland – Day 9

At Sea – Day 10

Overall, we found the ship and cabins to be in great shape,not brand new but very well maintained. We had OV cabins on Deck 2 (2118 and 2120). Didn’t really miss the balcony (we had balconies on Allure) as there is so much public space with windows on Vision and the weather wasn’t always cooperative. Cabins very quiet except a few nights when there was some banging below in the early am (I think we were near where they load the harbour captains on/off). Found the ship size perfect, not very crowded and always able to find a quiet spot to sit. Loved the Viking Lounge during the day and for pre-dinner drinks –appears like it hadn’t been discovered by many passengers as it was often deserted. Vibe on the ship was very friendly, had Captain Marek Slaby (the singing captain!) for most of the cruise. He left for vacation on Day 8. He did do birthday announcements (but not at 7:30am and we couldn’t hear announcements in our cabin unless you were standing right by the door – he did them as part of the port announcements on a port day). Cruise Director was Ken Jones(a fellow Canuck). Enjoyed the crew concert (Captain did a couple of songs plus other crew performed) in the Centrum and the Parade of Countries for the crew as well. Some of the entertainment was not of interest o us or our kids but loved the Flyboys Headliner act. Didn’t catch any of the production acts.

We had Voom surf and stream and could normally stream from Netflix (not as good as Voom on Allure). Sometimes it dropped the connection and you had to reload. The biggest problem was when we were in St. Petersburg – no streaming there and the kids had great difficulty using Snapchat (a teenage crisis – they were loosing their streaks!). It was very slow but I always managed to get my emails. I heard that the military was blocking the signal? It was back to normal once we left that port.

Our kids didn’t do teen club (they are not into things like that). They did use the rock wall, ping pong, shuffleboard and the pools. It seemed like the main pool must be heated as it wasn’t very warm out and the pool was always a very comfortable temperature (even after getting out of the hot tub). There were a decent number of kids/teens on board but many of them were not English speaking.

Dinner in the MDR was excellent the 8 nights we went there. Day 1 we did Giovanni’s Table (booked once we boarded with a 20% discount [regular $29]) and Day 10 we went to Chops (also booked day we boarded with 20% discount [regular $35]). Both specialty restaurants were excellent, I did find for Chops that some the items on the menu were the same as the MDR andonly marginally better (but MDR was excellent!) but steak was fantastic. For Chops we got a fantastic window table (huge window) as we went up the Great Belt and finished just in time to go upon deck to see us go under the Great Belt Bridge around 9 pm. Service was always fantastic. Did lunch in the MDR one day and it wasn’t great, nothing special and too fancy of a menu for the kids. Did buffet or Park Café for rest of lunches. Windjammer was okay – it’s a buffet what isthere to say? Park Café was great for breakfast and late night snacks. Some of us also went to the MDR for breakfast which was good – we ordered off the menu. We never used room service.

We didn’t have a drink package. They did sell drink cards – 10 for $79.99 USD (no gratuity added, can be used for drinks up to $12 plus gratuity 18%), we saw them starting on Day 3 (evening) until Day 10. We managed to use 2 of those plus the 4 bottles of wine we brought on with us (from the cabin) plus 2 more bottles of wine purchased at the restaurants.:o

We did the Bubbles and Bruch on Day 10 which was a tour ofthe MDR kitchens (very interesting) and a brunch with unlimited champagne. Brunch was ordered off a menu, 1 app, 1entree and 1 dessert. Entrees were 3 breakfast items (Eggs Bennie, French Toast & Belgium waffles) and 3 “dinner” items (Surf and Turf (Shrimp), Chicken(?) and eggplant parmigiana). It was $29 USD each – probably not a great value since the kids got no champagne and given that most of those things could be found on the MDR menus. But it was DS’sbirthday and he wants to be a chef so he was very interested in the kitchen tour.

As for the ports, we enjoyed them all (they were the mainreason for picking this cruise).

Riga – docked in industrial port a fair distance from town and it was mandatory to have excursion or take shuttle to town ($10USD each). We took shuttle and then walked around old town ourselves. Had a nice lunch there.

Tallinn – one of our favourites. Docked right near old town (easy walking distance). We walked around ourselves.

St. Petersburg – did independent 2 day tour with Best Guides (Best of the Best) including lunch both days. Ended up with group of 10 which was perfect size (and there was good Wifi on the bus!). Tour was fabulous even though the St. Petersburg weather was not the best we managed to avoid most of the rain but did get caught briefly in a few downpours. RC did hold us on the ship on the first day until all the RC shore excursions had left (there was quite a backlog at customs) but we managed to get off and through customs by 8:05 (only 5 minutes late for the tour). 2nd day walked right off and breezed through customs (we were way too early that day – off before tour guide was even there).

Helsinki – Docked in industrial port. $10 USD shuttle to get into town. We did Land and Sea RC tour. Had option to be dropped at Market Square at the end and could catch shuttle back for free (with excursion sticker) but it was raining when we were there.

Stockholm – docked in industrial port. No shuttle offered. We did Land and Sea RC tour again. We did get dropped at the opera house on the way back and walked back to old town on our own. Tour only included a quick stop to take picture of Royal Palace, no time to walk old town. We had to find our own way back. We walked (about 45 minutes) but I overheard that a taxi was about 30 Euros (?). Sail in/out of the archipelago was beautiful (4-5 hours each way). Reminded me of cruising Georgian Bay at home (our own 30,000 islands) but on a really large boat.

Gdansk – didn’t actually dock in Gdansk, docked in industrial port (they were offloading coal right next to us and no souvenir store at the port) in Gdynia. $10 USD shuttle to Gdynia and then 45-minute cab ridge to Gdansk or you could take the train for 1.5 Euros (you were on your own for that). We had the Stutthof camp tour booked so that didn’t affect us. Tour was very sombre but educational for the kids. My DH is history lover so it was his pick. It was more than 1.5 hours by bus to get there (on other side of Gdansk from our port) and by the time we started the tour it was 5pm. 4 coach buses from the ship were at the Camp –crowded. Camp closed at 6 so we were being herded out by security at the end. Not too impressed by that. Back at ship around 8:30 (traffic was better on the way back). We had a late port time at this port 2:30-9pm and we didn’t leave until at least 3pm for the tour.

Overall, a fantastic vacation!

I do have all the cruise compasses if anyone is interested or has any questions.

Glad that you had a fantastic family vacation!

I didn't know that it is mandatory to have an excursion in Riga or take a shuttle to town. Was there a site being promoted as a must-see in the area? Haven't heard much about Latvia.

Thank you so much for your nice review! :D

Thanks for the excellent review.:)

Great review, thank you! I really miss Europe so I love hearing about people's visits to places I have great memories of.

Glad that you had a fantastic family vacation!

 

I didn't know that it is mandatory to have an excursion in Riga or take a shuttle to town. Was there a site being promoted as a must-see in the area? Haven't heard much about Latvia.

We were told it was required by the local authorities that we take the shuttle or excursion. No walking from the ship and no public transportation available. We were out in the middle of know where. About 20 minute ride to town. Some ships did dock right in town but not us. I had heard that Serenade of the Seas had docked in the same place as us earlier in the summer and they got a free shuttle but we weren't so lucky.

Riga has a nice old town area (although smaller than Tallinn) and nice shops and restaurants. It was a former soviet state so there is an occupation museum (closed for renos when we were there). Easily walkable once you get into town. Nothing I would say that was must see.

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I think maybe there was a misunderstanding over what was obligatory - if you wanted to get off the ship, then those transportation methods were obligatory, not that you HAD to get off the ship.

We were told it was required by the local authorities that we take the shuttle or excursion. No walking from the ship and no public transportation available. We were out in the middle of know where. About 20 minute ride to town. Some ships did dock right in town but not us. I had heard that Serenade of the Seas had docked in the same place as us earlier in the summer and they got a free shuttle but we weren't so lucky.

 

Riga has a nice old town area (although smaller than Tallinn) and nice shops and restaurants. It was a former soviet state so there is an occupation museum (closed for renos when we were there). Easily walkable once you get into town. Nothing I would say that was must see.

 

 

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Seems like not really an itinerary of choice. Thanks for the response.

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I think maybe there was a misunderstanding over what was obligatory - if you wanted to get off the ship, then those transportation methods were obligatory, not that you HAD to get off the ship.

Correct. Maybe I wasn't clear. If you wanted to get off the ship then you had to have an excursion booked or use the shuttle. No walking in port area.

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I don’t normally do this but as there is so little information about Vision of the Seas on this forum, I thought I would post regarding my thoughts on our recent experience.

 

We had Voom surf and stream and could normally stream from Netflix (not as good as Voom on Allure). Sometimes it dropped the connection and you had to reload.

 

Our kids didn’t do teen club (they are not into things like that). They did use the rock wall, ping pong, shuffleboard and the pools. It seemed like the main pool must be heated as it wasn’t very warm out and the pool was always a very comfortable temperature (even after getting out of the hot tub).

 

Overall, a fantastic vacation!

 

Thank you for your review!

I'm glad you included information for teens. I've noticed several threads lately asking for input on Vision for kids and teens. This is good input.

We'll be on a short cruise on Vision after New Years (couldn't pass up the price at the time we booked!) with an 11-year old on his first cruise. The activities you listed that your teens enjoyed (and Netflix) will be plenty to keep him occupied on the 2 sea days of our cruise.

(We are following up with a family cruise on Liberty the following year).

Thank you for sharing! I would love to see the Cruise Compasses if you're able to post pictures of them here. (I believe the most recent ones from Vision available in the forum are from all the way back in February!) :D