Vision Trip Report -3/13-3/20

[Kviolasr]

About Us

Myself and DW are mid-forties and avid cruisers, this trip we were traveling with DW’s sister and sister’s husband. We prefer RCCL but will cruise on other lines depending on itinerary/cost factors. We had never sailed from the west coast and had never been to Cabo or Mazatlan. We had previously spent a week in Puerto Vallarta (P.V.) and enjoyed it. This cruise was also a relatively good value.

 

Pre-boarding

We flew to LAX a day early (Sat) and stayed in Redondo Beach area, DW had Marriott points and the Redondo location was convenient to San Pedro. We rented a car from Avis at LAX, used it on Sat. with plans to return it to the downtown Long Beach Avis office on Sunday morning. We would then cab from Avis office to the San Pedro pier. This strategy worked well, we actually dropped the wives and luggage off in San Pedro on the way to Long Beach Avis. Our wives got the luggage portered onto the ship and awaited our arrival back at port to check-in. The car rental cost was $48; taxi to pier from downtown L.B. was $16.

 

Embarkation

We were upgraded by RCCL several days before sailing (from inside category L to the Royal Suite – as unbelievable as that sounds) and therefore needed new luggage tags prior to boarding. These were easy to obtain from one of the porters and luggage was easily sent on its way. We went inside to check-in at approx. 11:10; there was virtually no one in the priority line at that time. We waited in the priority lounge for approx. 20 minutes and then we allowed to board. One of the easiest embarkations I’ve ever been involved in.

 

The Royal Suite

We were instructed not to go to cabins until 1:00 but we could not wait to see the Royal Suite so we sort of swung by on the way to the Windjammer. My reaction to the suite was holy crap!! I never knew cruise ship cabins this big actually existed. The balcony on the RS was as big as my inside room was supposed to be! Also impressive were the (3) sinks, 2 person Jacuzzi tub, steam shower, living room, dining area, entertainment system, wet bar, electric drapes, baby grand player piano, lots of marble everywhere. Separate king-sized bedroom with mirrored ceiling was a nice bonus. The balcony to the suite is directly adjacent to the starboard side bridge overhang so we could see and talk to the Captain/staff during docking and sailaways. It will be hard to consider an inside cabin ever again after spending a week in this suite. Our suite Steward was Dennis who did a fine job keeping the big place clean.

 

The Vision

We had previously sailed on the Splendour and were familiar with the general layout of this class. The overall condition of the Vision was excellent, very clean. A rock-climbing wall has been recently added. The condition our cabin, the Royal Suite, was excellent (did you expect anything less?), our traveling companions were in an inside cabin on deck three that was also in good condition. This ship appeared to be very well maintained. The Cruise Director was John Blair (some may remember him from the Grandeur); his wife is also on the entertainment staff. John Blair did a very good job at the various shows/events; he is actually a very good singer. There was a comedian show (decent) and a variety show with a juggler and ventriloquist (both so-so). We did not attend a couple of the song/dance shows (not our thing). There was also the obligatory Karaoke, Quest; Love & Marriage shows which were O.K. The horseracing by the pool was different than past cruises, there was no sponsoring (purchasing) of the horses by guests. Pool band, Caribbean Fusion, was acceptable. There was no towel policy in effect on this cruise, you obtained and exchanged pool towels at the main pool and in the Solarium – not through your cabin steward (just like the old days).

 

 

The Food

After our AOS cruise last year, I was very critical of RCCL food in general. On AOS, I felt there was a somewhat of a decline over previous RCCL cruises. Happy to report that my Vision experience was significantly better. In almost all cases, dining room food quality was improved. Selections appeared to be similar to previous RCCL cruises but the steak quality was definitely better. All dishes were served hot. We had a table for four (this dining room was set up with many smaller tables) at the late (8:30) seating. We were blessed with a terrific wait staff, many kudos to waiter Lazlow and assistant waiter Alvin. DW is a picky eater with many “off the standard menu” requests, all were cheerfully granted with no mistakes. On many occasions, we ordered multiple appetizers, which usually means they all arrive at once and sit at the waiter station. Lazlow always made multiple trips to the kitchen to ensure all were served hot. We are hoping this improvement in food quality is not just isolated to the Vision but is fleet-wide. Our only real complaint was the Caesar salad, which was limp and bland. We found ourselves eating breakfast in the dining room on many occasions, no issues with the food here. The Windjammer breakfasts were same as on previous cruises – acceptable. One notable change for the worse was the elimination of the Windjammer omelet stations. Omelets in several varieties were pre-made and placed in buffet chafing dishes – usually dried out unless you hit it when they were just being put out. This was one reason we often opted for breakfast in the dining room – better omelets. Another noticeable food improvement was the burgers in the Solarium, which were made to order on this, cruise rather than pre-made and placed in chafing dishes. Way to go RCCL!! One other change was the food at the 2 Crown & Anchor parties (Repeat Cruisers and Platinum/Diamond) which was put out buffet style instead of using waiters with trays.

 

The Weather

We encountered no rain but the first and last day of cruise were chilly (low 60s) and windy. Ports days in Cabo, Mazatlan and P.V. were fine, sunny and 78-85. There was definitely more ship movement on this cruise than any Caribbean cruise we’ve been on, particularly on the last night returning to San Pedro. This was not a big problem for us as we have never been prone to seasickness. The best day for tanning by the pool was definitely the first sea day after P.V – get your rays in then. The Solarium was packed on first and last sea days

 

The Ports

We had previously spent a week in P.V., had never been to Cabo or Mazatlan. This being a spring break week, we encountered college partiers in all ports.

 

First stop was Cabo which is a tender port. Don’t miss the approach – excellent photo ops of Los Arcos/Land’s End. Tendering really went smoothly, we were on Cabo by 10:15. Cabo is really a glorified marina that caters to deep sea fisherman and luxury yachters. We found it to be clean and easy to see on foot. We had no excursions planned, had thought about a boat trip out to Land’s End but that seemed redundant after the Vision approach. Our day was consumed walking around the stores and lunching at Cabo Wabo. The “waboritas” at Cabo Wabo were excellent, food was o.k.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the next port, Mazatlan. We were originally planning on doing Randi’s Happy Horses but decided that we really did not want to devote the entire day to horseback riding so we opted for beaching on Stone Island in the morning and a Taxi tour in the afternoon. I highly recommend Stone Island as an inexpensive do-on-your-own beach break. There is a ferry to Stone Island within walking distance of the port ($1 round trip), the beach is within walking distance of the S.I. ferry drop-off (or you can ride on a wagon that will take you along the beach for $1). The ferry runs every few minutes. There are a series of beach restaurants on S.I., you can walk along the beach and check them out, you will, be approached by several of the owners who will try to steer you toward their place. We originally were going to try Victors (based on the good press from past Randi’s excursion takers) but ended up at a place called Pili’s (very close to Victor’s) after a persuasive conversation with the owner. Pili’s had decent restrooms, cold drinks and an interesting mix of Mexican food (we did not eat but others were giving the food a thumbs up). There are beach chairs for use. Pili’s will arrange horseback riding, we opted for a 1 hour ride which took us on the basically the same route that Randi uses. This place ended up being a real bargain, the 1 hour ride was $10/person, canned sodas were $1, beer $2, use of beach chairs was free. I don’t understand why Stone Island does not get bigger cruise ship crowds, this is a great place! Back to the ship to clean up and find a Taxi tour. We chose a Taxi driver in one of the Pulmonias (open air taxis) and negotiated a 2 hour tour of the Malecon and Gold Zone for $40 (for the four of us). The Malecon was very scenic, a very dramatic coastline. Gold Zone is where most of the high-rise hotels and better shopping is. We ended the tour by driving through the Colonial district and town square which is truly rustic Mexico. We loved Mazatlan and want to return for a land vacation. Last stop was Puerto Vallarta (P.V.) where we had planned the Los Veranos canopy tour in the late morning and later on a happy hour/dinner in downtown P.V. I has booked the Los Veranos tour online ($63 with the internet discount – you get a confirmation e-mail and pay when you get there). You need to arrange transportation to the Los Veranos office which is at the south end of downtown (taxi cost from ship was $3 PP). There you board the open-air Los Veranos “jungle truck” and travel 30-40 minutes to the actual canopy tour. This was a very scenic (albeit very bumpy) ride along the coast through Mismaloya. The canopy tour itself was awesome, a series of approx. 13 zip lines of varying heights/lengths. The highest lines are approx. 400 ft. off the ground and the view of the river gorge below was excellent. The Los Veranos staff knows their stuff; they fit you with the harness and get you onto and off of the various zip lines. If you are adventurous and sick of the standard port excursions, this is just what you need! If anyone in the party wants to go watch but not partake, there is swimming and beach chairs on the river, clean restrooms and a decent restaurant. The entire tour will take 4 hours (including the truck ride to and from). Back to the ship to get ready for P.V. chapter II. Taxi back downtown was again $3 PP, we went directly to the Malecon for drinks and one of the best sunsets you’ll ever experience. Downtown P.V. and the Malecon are easy to see on foot. Our group decided after drinks to return to the ship for dinner rather than eat in P.V. (most of the good restaurants are on the very south side of downtown – we were getting lazy at that point). P.V. was another port favorite, lots of options for activities.

 

Debarkation and closing comments

The Vision arrived back in San Pedro at approx 6:45 AM and was cleared by Customs by 8:00. Express passengers were the first called (passengers opting to carry their own luggage off the ship). This option is getting very popular and that creates some problems (picture hundreds of passengers dragging their luggage down the stairs, through the Centrum, across the gangways. Not a fast process and it holds up all the other groups. I would not be surprised if RCCL limits this option in the future to those that have a specific need for early debarkation. We had priority 1 white tags and were the second group called at approx. 8:40. Luggage pick-up and Customs was a breeze. We had pre-reserved Super Shuttle to take us from San Pedro to LAX. Both PrimeTime and Super Shuttle have convenient pick-up stands directly outside of the port building. Cost was $64 for the 4 of us. The security line at LAX was almost 1 mile long and took us almost an hour to get through, reasons given were the large amounts of spring breakers and some sort of cheap airfare deal being run by Southwest Airlines (there were tons of people that came to LAX on standby to try and get these cheap fares). We had a 12:30 flight and had sufficient time to make it.

 

We enjoyed this cruise, were very satisfied with the Vision. Service and food were great. Having the Royal Suite certainly didn’t hurt. Though it was nice to go on a non-Caribbean itinerary, it did get us to better appreciate the weather and smoother sailing typical of Caribbean cruises.

[pppiglet]

Thanks for posting. We are going to these ports in June on DCL Magic. Every little bit of information helps! How is the port in San Pedro? Easy to find and get luggage unloaded?

[Kviolasr]

San Pedro port is not difficult to find, it is basically at the end of the Harbor Freeway (Rt 101). You will see signs for the Ports of Call village and the various berth numbers. As far as luggage is concerned, the easiest way to handle it is to hire one of the porters (they will approach you with a cart when you are unloading luggage from your vehicle). The porter will take your tagged luggage and you are free to go to check-in. Well worth the few dollar tip.

[Bob7]

Kevin, great review. That has to be the mother of all upgrades! Do you have any idea how you got it? What's your Crown and Anchor level? Did you book a cabin or run of ship? ... we were told RCI didn't do run of ship or "category guarantees" (meaning you'll accept any cabin in that category or an upgrade) like the other lines do.

-Bob

[Kviolasr]

Bob: We have no clue why this upgrade happened, nor did our T/A. We are Platinum level in C & A but there were others on board that were Diamond and even Diamond Plus (judging by the Platinum/Diamond party where they ask how many RCCL cruises people have been on). We booked an inside guarantee (we always book a guarantee rather than a specific room because we were told by a T/A in the past that upgrades are usually given out to those in guarantee categories before those with specific selected rooms - don't know if this is true or not but we've gotten 2 upgrades from RCCL in the past 2 cruises - last one was not as big as this one). We had heard that the Royal Suite is not always booked because of cost which usually means that someone can get upgraded to it.

 

I have another theory: RCCL sees that I always book the cheapest cabin, throws this upgrade at me which now makes ever going back to that inside room virtually impossible. Once you experience a balcony, it is hard going back. This upgrade was certainly an unexpected pleasure. I told my wife on the last day, take a good look around - you'll never see this again!!

[Bob7]

Your theory could be right, CCL threw us an outside after booking several insides, very hard to go back to the dungeon after that. I used to follow the upgrade threads and no one ever figured it out. Hey I'll bet when you said "never again" to your wife she was thinking, "momma wants THIS from now on :-) We tried to book a guarantee but our TA said he was told no more guarantees from RCI, they had to assign you a cabin, so we'll tell him your story and he'll likely feel so bad he'll throw us a freebie cruise. When he does, we're upgrading to the Royal Suite, hope you didn't trash it. Gawd I wouldn't know what to do with a butler, unless he'd come home with us and UNpack, hate that.

We were reading the old newspapers when we got home, did you see in the entertainment section that during our cruise Demi Moore and Ashton were in Cabo at a nightclub and had a big fight, his old girl friend and others showed up, too much flirting, Demi stormed out. Good thing they weren't on the Vision, it would have been tense on the tender boat.

[Billmont]

Great reviews Bob and Kevin. We are on the Vision on May 1 and cannot wait.

 

I have a question for you Kevin regarding Stone Island. My DW and I thought we would like to check out Stone Island as we have read many good things. Our concern is with our three year old daughter. We hope to find a location where she can play in the sand and splash in the water. I have not heard many people talk about being in the water.

 

From what you saw, do you think Stone Island would be an appropriate choice for us to take our daughter?

[BUCKGILBERT]

Great reviews Bob and Kevin. We are on the Vision on May 1 and cannot wait.

 

I have a question for you Kevin regarding Stone Island. My DW and I thought we would like to check out Stone Island as we have read many good things. Our concern is with our three year old daughter. We hope to find a location where she can play in the sand and splash in the water. I have not heard many people talk about being in the water.

 

From what you saw, do you think Stone Island would be an appropriate choice for us to take our daughter?

 

Stone Island is perfact for your daughter. There is no undertow or anything like that and there are lifeguards to help insure saftey.

The $10usd ride is not exactly the same as Randi'd and the horses are not in the same condition but I'm guessing you get what you pay for so don't expect alot from the horses.

You can walk from the ship to one of the docks and then walk about 10 minutes to the restaurant or you can take a taxi about 3 bucks to the closer transportation wise on the Island and get to whatever restuarant you wish.Victor's is still the best and the other poster over paid for the beer. LOL It's about $1.20 a beer not 2 bucks. Oh well, live and learn.

Sharon and Buck Gilbert

[Cruisin Rick]

We also love the Vision. We sailed twice on it. The first time, we were upgraded to a balcony room for our Panama Canal Cruise. We didn't even know we got up graded untill we entered the room. it was a wondefrul experiance and it's one of our favorite ships. Just the right amount of passengers and very classy.

 

 

Cruisin Rick

[tssace]

We are on this same cruise in a few weeks and in my wildest dreams I can't imagine getting an upgrade like that! Oh well - we can live in hope!! LOL Thanks for the great review. I'm also hoping for warm weather - we board April 24th.

[justmarie]

Thanks for all the info! We are deciding between the Vision or the Sapphire Princess, they have same itinerary, but the Sapph is new and bigger, we have been on RCI, and Disney and was thinking of trying them, any comments? Thanks.

[Kviolasr]

We've sailed RCCL and Princess and were happy with both. When comparing the two Mexican Riviera cruises, be sure to take into account the hours in ports. We also considered both the Vision and the Diamond Princess but one of the reasons we chose the Vision was the extra hours in Puerto Vallarta. There are so many things to do there, having both the day and the evening was important to us.

[jannyb]

Kevin, We have booked flights in and out of Long Beach airport on the day of the RCC cruise and embarkation. (Sept. 25- Oct. 2) We will take the Super Shuttle to and from San Pedro Harbor to the LB airport.

 

Our flight time is as follows;

 

Arrive at LB airport at 11:00 AM which should get us to the harbor in plenty of time with Super Shuttel. We fly out of LB airport at 11:24 at the end of our cruise. The ship arrives at the Harbor on Sunday at 7 AM. We will request 1st to embark. If everything goes well, we should have time.

 

My question is, my DH and I can't remember what happens with our luggage after we put it in the hall on the night before we embark. How do we get the luggage to the airport? We cant remember if we pick it up before customs or does it go straight through to the airport?

 

We appreciate your expertise. Happy Cruising! jannyb

[jannyb]

Kevin,

We are thinking of booking the Southern Caribbean AOS cruise in 2006. Do you have a review of that trip? Loved the Vision review. Got some great tips.

Happy Cruising~ jannyb