Vision of the Seas~B2B~Spanish Immersion~Feb. 8th & 15th~My Diary

[mrak]

No Freestyle on Vision. Currently, Royal only puts Freestyle machines on those ships based in the US year round.

 

:(:(:( Oh well. Great review OP! Cant wait to get onboard in May

[maxs mom]

Back on line and in business!!! yay!!!

 

Monday ~ Feb. 17, 2014 ~ At Sea

 

Slept in!!

Usual routine of CL and breakfast.

 

After breakfast we went to the Concierge Lounge for some quiet time. Betsy put $50 worth of internet credit on my account so that I could take the on-line survey for the last week. That was nice of her. I did it right then on my iPad. I like the online survey. I mentioned that to the Captain and she said that many of the people that sail on this ship.....and I'm sure.....a lot of the ships.....don't fill them out. Well, I did and I like there that is plenty of room for comments.

 

Internet time:

 

Edited March 10, 2014 by max'smom

[CRUISEMAMI]

CRUISEMAMI- thank you for the quick response. I will check it out.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[CRUISEMAMI]

Back on line and in business!!! yay!!!

 

Monday ~ Feb. 17' date=' 2014 ~ At Sea[/u']

 

Slept in!!

Usual routine of CL and breakfast.

 

After breakfast we went to the Concierge Lounge for some quiet time. Betsy put $50 worth of internet credit on my account so that I could take the on-line survey for the last week. That was nice of her. I did it right then on my iPad. I like the online survey. I mentioned that to the Captain and she said that many of the people that sail on this ship.....and I'm sure.....a lot of the ships.....don't fill them out. Well, I did and I like there that is plenty of room for comments.

 

Internet time:

 

 

So nice to see you back, Jane

:)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[maxs mom]

Oops! I didn't mean to hit submit! Out of practice, I guess!

 

Anyway.....while we were in the CL we met a Pinnacle member who just got on board this week. Nice man from Detroit who retired to Panama. He sails on Vision a lot. We had a nice long conversation with him. We were all eating with the Captain again tonight so we would see him later.

 

For lunch today, we ate in the Park café. It is never as crowded as the WJ. We ate in a spot that was over our cabin and noticed all the "cart traffic"! that we can hear down below so loudly. I guess we are one of the few who stay in their cabin in the afternoon for rest and relaxation during the day, so we really notice that noise.

 

 

 

Yesterday.....I went up to the Solarium to see these carts and I pointed at one of the guys rolling one and said...."So.....it's you!!!!!" And he knew exactly what I was talking about. We both just laughed about it. I was just joking with him about it.

 

We mentioned it briefly to Betsy in the CL, again just laughing about it, not really complaining, because I know there's not a whole lot they can do about it. It's just a design flaw of the ship. Well......Betsy fired off a bunch of e-mails to some people.

 

Anyway I enjoyed my lunch at the Park Café!

 

Edited March 10, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

On our way back to the cabin, we ran into Tim and Linda from our roll call. They were the ones in the fabulous corner aft JS 8588. They invited us to come and see it. Wow! What a great cabin and especially great balcony!

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Here are a couple of pictures from the inside:

 

 

 

You can lay in your bed in this cabin and have the most wonderful panoramic view.

 

We did a lot of reading this afternoon and tried to tune out the noise.

[chellecruise12]

Thx for posting the pictures of the cabin. Can't wait till its all ours in May. :)

[maxs mom]

Thx for posting the pictures of the cabin. Can't wait till its all ours in May. :)

 

You will love it! And that balcony!! :cool:

[maxs mom]

This sea day evening was formal night and we were once again invited to eat with Capt. Lis. If you recall.....dinner with her is early....6:40. So we went on down to the Centrum a little earlier than that. Met up with Frank and his wife there. They like to dance and the dancing had already started for the evening.

 

 

 

 

Before we met the rest of the table at the dining room entrance, we had a professional picture made. One of the few of the two weeks.

 

[Fisherlady48]

So nice to see you have power again!! Will you go thru the changeover from week to week. Did you have to leave the ship and then return? Are you allowed to go pick up a bottle of win during the transfer? My Mom will need a wheelchair if we have to reboard the ship which is why I am asking. I can zoom down and get a bottle of wine for the week.

 

Thanks.

 

Kathleen

[maxs mom]

We had a great evening at the Captain's Table tonight. Tonight we ate with another Jane and John from Boston:

 

 

Frank and his Russian wife, Lubba:

 

 

Al...the Pinnacle member that is from Detroit, but lives in Panama:

 

 

Rogelio and his wife....from Panama. This was their first cruise. Rogelio is a ship captain who pilots the ships through the Panama Canal. Really nice guy. Had some interesting stories to tell.

 

 

And then there was us:

 

 

 

We just had the best time! All of these folks were just delightful and we had the best conversations. Capt. Lis told me about her boyfriend in Portugal. We all lingered at the table long after the Captain left. Great fun.

[maxs mom]

So nice to see you have power again!! Will you go thru the changeover from week to week. Did you have to leave the ship and then return? Are you allowed to go pick up a bottle of win during the transfer? My Mom will need a wheelchair if we have to reboard the ship which is why I am asking. I can zoom down and get a bottle of wine for the week.

 

Thanks.

 

Kathleen

 

Yes....I think I covered turn around day a few pages back....check it out.

 

We did not have to leave the ship. I think you would easily be able to leave the ship and get your wine. There is a shop right therein the terminal. Should be no problem getting a wheelchair. They are very organized!

[maxs mom]

Here is the professional picture of the table:

 

 

It was still early when we were finished with dinner, so we went up to the CL for a night cap. We hung out with the bar servers and Betsy for a while. No one was in there! Betsy was cleaning the coffee machine.

 

 

 

It was early to bed for us tonight and we slept well! Of course there was dancing and partying in the Centrum for a while.

 

 

We also ran into our sweet bar server from last week, Carolina.

 

[SherriZ366]

Hello everyone! Sorry to be MI for so long. We had a horrible ice storm here in NC on Friday and we were without power until yesterday. We did OK' date=' though. I was able to cook because of natural gas and a gas grill. Holly freaked out, but she is gradually getting better. The damage was just awful. Although we have power, the Internet is still down, so I won't be able to post until that is back up. We're at McDonalds right now!!

 

So hopefully it won't be too much longer. Y'all please stay tuned......there is lots more to come. To the person who has cabin 8570......move!! The 8550's are better, I believe. We were in one of those on Grandeur and I don't remember any noise.

 

You DO need the yellow copy of what they give you at the airport when you enter the country.....to leave!! So please put that in a safe place and have it ready when debarking.

 

OK......back to my scrumptious lunch at McD's. hopefully I will be back soon!! Will try to keep you posted.[/size']

Jane -- so glad you have power. It must have been miserable. Hope you were able to use your furnace. I can imagine the damage. The folks in Aiken are still cleaning up from a couple of weeks ago.

[berylde]

Outstanding review and pictures--thank you

 

Just looking at the deck plans for the Vision and I don't see a pool bar on deck 9.

But, thought all ships had a bar by pool. So, this must be an oversight by RCCL. Pl. tell me there is a pool bar !

[maxs mom]

Outstanding review and pictures--thank you

 

Just looking at the deck plans for the Vision and I don't see a pool bar on deck 9.

But, thought all ships had a bar by pool. So, this must be an oversight by RCCL. Pl. tell me there is a pool bar !

 

Oh yes!! There IS a pool bar. It's under the big screen.

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ Feb. 18, 2014 ~ Bonaire

 

CL and breakfast area empty this morning......excellent!!

 

We docked while we were eating breakfast......looks like another beautiful day! the P & O Azura was already there. Looks like we were pretty close!!

 

 

 

 

 

We thought we would try Spice Beach today since our snorkeling skills were so poor! We went out to get a taxi, but there were crowds of people and no taxis to be found!! When one taxi drove up....we asked to go to Spice Beach, but this large family swarmed us wanting to go on a tour, so the taxi driver told us to get lost! We waited for another taxi....and the same thing happened. A large group pushed in front of us and took over. John got frustrated and went back to the ship. I walked in the direction of the resort that we went to last week for the snorkeling. At least they had Wi-Fi there.

 

When I got in front of the Azura.....there were taxis lined up there and everyone was so polite!!! They were going to Spice Beach.....so with my walkie talkie.....I got in touch with John, but we decided it was so late....we probably wouldn't be able to get a good location with shade on the beach. So he came back out and we walked on down to the Divi Flamingo resort and bought at day pass there for $10. Turned out to be a good decision. We had one of their pools practically to ourselves all day....had a nice lunch and just got some really first class relaxation in. This was our headquarters for the day:

 

 

[maxs mom]

More pictures from our day at the Divi Flamingo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't have any of these.....I recommend getting them. They are clips that hold your towel to your beach chairs. You can get them at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Great purchase!!

 

[chellecruise12]

More pictures from our day at the Divi Flamingo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't have any of these.....I recommend getting them. They are clips that hold your towel to your beach chairs. You can get them at Bed' date=' Bath and Beyond. Great purchase!!

 

 

Great suggestion..Thanks! I have never seen them before..

[maxs mom]

This resort in Bonaire is not real fancy, but it's kinda neat!

 

 

If you get there early enough, you can snag a chair out on this dock.

 

 

 

A bar and restaurant are right there and you can walk down into the water and snorkel.

 

 

This is the other pool area that they have there:

 

 

Time to go back to the ship. It was around 3:00.

 

[maxs mom]

Back on he ship for frozen yogurt, showers, and a nap! Although the bowling alley above us was in full swing.

 

Hit the CL for drinks before dinner. Lots of children were coming out as we were going in. We had a nice time here tonight. We visited with Jane and Jim and their friends.....they were going to Chef's Table tonight (which they said was great, by the way) and they were going again on Friday!

 

Dinner in the MDR was good tonight. English night. I had sole and John had the mustard crusted roast beef. Another pecan pie for dessert.

 

 

 

 

The casino was very RUDE to us tonight!

 

More dancing in the Centrum:

 

 

This little guy was waiting for us in our cabin:

 

[maxs mom]

Wednesday ~ Feb. 19, 2014 ~ Aruba

 

CL early this morning. There were a couple of people there to chat with today. We docked while I was in there. Another beautiful day!

 

 

 

This was the view from our cabin:

 

 

We decide to go to the Nikky Beach Bar again. Taxis were a little hard to get this morning. Never had that happen here before. Anyway, we got out to the beach before 10 and secured some wonderful chairs and an umbrella.

 

 

 

 

When they saw us coming, they re-set the wireless router and after about 15 minutes the Wi-Fi kicked in and it was pretty good all day. It was THE most perfect beach day.....not too hot......not too windy....just gorgeous.

[maxs mom]

We relaxed and read and swam and really enjoyed our time here today. The music was great....again, very mellow in the morning and a little livelier in the afternoon, but never obnoxious. There were not as many crew members here today. The food was good and reasonably priced. We split a hamburger and fries today. Actually.....our whole bill for today was only $32. We did not have any adult beverages today, though. It was a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked across the street around 2:30 to the Talk of the Town Resort. That's where you get the taxi to go back to the ship. It was very easy to hail one and he was very nice. Charged us $7.