Vision Review ... May 22, 2014

[ksawyercruiser]

Okay ... Let's wrap this up.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: C

We went to the welcome show. It was "Boogie Wonderland," a compilation of 70s songs. The show was entertaining. The dancing was very good. Unfortunately, there were serious sound issues ... at least on the side of the stage where we were sitting. We could only hear about every fifth word from some of the singers. It was distracting.

 

The Farewell Show featured the comedian. He was average.

 

We tried to go to Quest. We got their 15 minutes early but there were no seats. Standing room only. So we went back to the Schooner.

 

The piano player there was very good. But the Schooner was pretty rowdy and much more crowded than usual. At times, it was very difficult to hear the entertainer.

 

I thought the bands by the pool were excellent. Really fun and got people up and dancing.

 

We missed the aerial show, darn it. I heard it was outstanding.

 

ACTIVITIES: C

 

With the pools at capacity, we were always on the lookout for other things to do. We went to the wine tasting which was very fun. We saw "The Ride Along" n the movie theater. Pretty funny.

 

We did a little trivia. And we went to the casino for about an hour each day. There is one craps table in the casino. I had heard that there was no craps on the Vision. It was always jam packed. (Sidenote: I really liked how their was a straight shot through the casino so you didn't have to wander around looking for the exit. Very handy when you have kids with you.)

 

Interestingly, I saw lots of "vaping" in the casino. Definitely a trend. It seemed to me that folks vaping were sticking to the smoking areas. Which makes sense.

 

Overall, I found the activities a little lacking. At times, there just wasn't much going on.

 

 

I think I covered everything. This cruise wasn't horrible. But it wasn't great. It was crowded, and service could be very slow. We still enjoyed ourselves, and there were some definite highlights.

 

This was the first cruise where we didn't tip any extra. Just the automatic gratuities. Well, actually we did over tip a couple bartenders who were really hustling .... trying to serve everyone.

 

Hope this was helpful. Thanks for reading along!

[Darkwolfe]

Folks that use e-cigs (vaping) like myself have to use the smoking areas by RCI rule. Not fond of that really, but I'm not going to worry about it either.

[supermom788]

You mentioned watching a movie in the theatre. I didn't think the vision had a theatre. Does anyone know where I can get specific details of what the ship offers. The RC website doesn't give all the ships details, or at least none that I could find.

 

Also, does anyone have any Compasses from the 4 nite Cozumel Cruise that they could post?

[ksawyercruiser]

You mentioned watching a movie in the theatre. I didn't think the vision had a theatre. Does anyone know where I can get specific details of what the ship offers. The RC website doesn't give all the ships details, or at least none that I could find.

 

 

 

Also, does anyone have any Compasses from the 4 nite Cozumel Cruise that they could post?

 

 

 

The movies were shown in the regular theater where the shows are. Besides the one we saw, they also played Chicago. Movies were also shown by the pool from time to time. They played the One Direction concert movie a couple times. Plus the NBA playoffs.

 

 

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[aquajon]

Supermom. I have the compass. If you email me

Jmiller390 at aol i can send them to you

 

 

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[Darkwolfe]

The movies were shown in the regular theater where the shows are. Besides the one we saw, they also played Chicago. Movies were also shown by the pool from time to time. They played the One Direction concert movie a couple times. Plus the NBA playoffs.

 

 

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Ugh. I hope they do better than that on our trip. At that rate I suspect I'm going to reacquaint myself with the Solarium in big way. My opinion of course. YMMV :D

[pcur]

We were on this sailing as well. Three couples, all have sailed with Royal Caribbean before as well as Carnival and Norwegian. This was by far the worst cruise we've been on.

Morale is horrible and I'm sure it is due to cut-backs (as a matter of fact one our group's stateroom attendants confirmed this). Many of the staff were downright rude.

The following items you had issue with are standard for other ships, too. Personally, I don't care about towel animals, chocolates, asking for ice, or whether I see my cabin attendant. These wouldn't bother me at all. Turn down service isn't a big deal, either, as long as the bed is made and the bathroom cleaned. Staterooms don't even have shampoo bottles or dispensers. Yes, only 1 towel animal. No turn-down service. No cute little chocolates. You have to ask for ice bucket and ice. No refrigerator. Saw our attendant once.

I think this cruise was a turnover of crew members, and might have been the first cruise for a lot of the dining staff. Each ship's dining room is managed "locally", so you can see a lot of difference from ship to ship.Dining room seemed totally unorganized. No real introduction to who your dining team would be. Bartenders seemed to be running back and forth and noone seemed to know who was assigned to which table. Food was good for the most part until the last night where the seafood was cooked to death. No lobster (unless you pay for it). RCCL started doing this quite a while ago, as the extra cost items. Didn't appreciate the "upgrades" posted on the menu for additional pcharge. If I pay extra, I'll go to one of the specialty restaurants. Bright spot was a server from Albania. He went above and beyond.

Pool area - very crowded and certainly NOT PG rated.

Solarium/spa pool area - beautiful!

Centrum aerial show - amazing!

Masquerade Theater: Only saw 2 shows, one was a comedian/dancer/singer who was probably the best entertainer I have ever seen on a ship. The other was the late night comedy and he wasn't bad, but not that great either.

Bar/Drink Service/Beverage package: Where to start? NOT ENOUGH STAFF! Waiting for 30-45 minutes for a drink is unacceptable. Like someone else posted, you had to roam from bar to bar to try and get your drinks. Bartenders are being worked to death - I felt bad for them. Not until one time on the last day, did someone come around and take our drink order on the pool deck. You have to get your own! Terrible service.

Windjammer - good food and service was also good. I miss the cut up, peeled oranges and grapefruit. Look forward to that little healthy luxury on every cruise. Asked for it and the chef in charge of that buffet area pointed me to cut-up peaches. I asked for cut-up citrus and he pointed to half a grapefruit. Ok.......? Guess they cut that off the menu too.

All in all, I don't think I would go on this ship again. It's a cruise, and we still had a great time, but if you are used to a certain level of service, friendliness and amenities, it makes you think hard about coming back.

 

My best friend and I are going on the Vision b2b in July. I really hope the dining room gets organized by then, and the bar staff, too. I usually have my happy hour in the Diamond or Concierge Lounges, but my friend can't, so I'm hoping we can have a glass of wine without traipsing all over the ship to find it!

[Fla Mike]

My best friend and I are going on the Vision b2b in July. I really hope the dining room gets organized by then, and the bar staff, too. I usually have my happy hour in the Diamond or Concierge Lounges, but my friend can't, so I'm hoping we can have a glass of wine without traipsing all over the ship to find it!

 

Your best bet for happy hour, at least using this cruise as a comparison would be the Schooner.

[BillOh]

 

But muster was a nightmare for us because of one particular passenger who came to the drill already intoxicated.

 

He staggered up to the line, and said to his buddies, "Why the [OFFENSIVE 4-LETTER WORD] are we here?” Of course, my daughter was standing right there. I asked him to watch his language. His friends were also trying to calm him down ... to no avail.

 

Each time they translated the announcement into Spanish, he would shout, "Aren't we still in [OFFENSIVE 4-LETTER WORD] America?" Followed by other racial insensitive comments.

 

His behavior was deplorable. I kept asking him to lower his voice, and his friends tried to intervene but he was just too drunk to listen. The RCI staff didn't do anything. !

 

 

Not doubting you at all, things do vary from one ship to another, but the only time this happened to me the moment the obviously way past drunk guy yelled his first obscenity he was quickly escorted out of the area by 4 RC crew members. I think it was my only 3 day cruise that this happened, so I never saw him again. It was obvious that crew had been trained for exactly that situation and reacted quickly. This was back in the days when you stood out out in the hot sun wearing the life jackets and delays like that were almost unbearable!

[aquajon]

I put up a new thread containing the compass..

Edited May 30, 2014 by aquajon

[supermom788]

Thanks Aquajon I will look for the compasses I was just about to direct message you.

[ksawyercruiser]

Not doubting you at all, things do vary from one ship to another, but the only time this happened to me the moment the obviously way past drunk guy yelled his first obscenity he was quickly escorted out of the area by 4 RC crew members. I think it was my only 3 day cruise that this happened, so I never saw him again. It was obvious that crew had been trained for exactly that situation and reacted quickly. This was back in the days when you stood out out in the hot sun wearing the life jackets and delays like that were almost unbearable!

 

 

I'm glad the situation was handled in this case. I actually thought about seeking out a crew member but I didn't want to get out of line during muster. During the announcements, I didn't see any crewmembers. But one came to our section afterward to do the life vest thing. But we were a very large group. And we were in the middle. Crew could have been on either end.

 

 

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[99florida]

We just got off an Princess Cruise for the Memorial Day Weekend (great price) and now we're sailing on this cruise in 3 weeks and boy do I sure hope that they clean up negatives that have been posted. We are D+ members and have 6 newbie sailing friends joining us. I've done nothing but brag about RCCl so please Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, don't let me down here..... fingers crossed. The thought to move over to other cruise lines is not in our planes so RCCL, take care of business :)

[Fla Mike]

The thought to move over to other cruise lines is not in our planes so RCCL, take care of business :)

 

This was the first non stellar RCI cruise for us.

Even with the negatives, I still canceled a cruise with another line and booked Majesty for October, plus we are booked for at least 1 in 2015.

 

We sail only many lines but we are not ready to give up on Royal yet!

[NotADopey1]

We sailed RCI 10 years ago and it was terrible. We have sailed Disney, HAL, NCL, and Celebrity (which is our favorite). We looked at the itineraries for Med next year and RCI had the best. But now I am concerned and rethinking spending a large vacation (12 days) with horrible service. The ship is Vision of the Seas. Should I book or stay away?

[1992cruiser]

The ship is Vision of the Seas. Should I book or stay away?

 

I would wait and check the reviews for the next few sailings. This crew may have been overwhelmed by the amount of drinkers onboard, which you probably won't have on your sailing. I have never seen this before with Royal, but it was pretty bad. I saw the same empty bottles between the elevators for two days and the pile just kept growing.

[Fla Mike]

We sailed RCI 10 years ago and it was terrible. We have sailed Disney, HAL, NCL, and Celebrity (which is our favorite). We looked at the itineraries for Med next year and RCI had the best. But now I am concerned and rethinking spending a large vacation (12 days) with horrible service. The ship is Vision of the Seas. Should I book or stay away?

 

12 days will be TOTALLY different than a long holiday weekend.

 

I Agree with 1992cruiser, wait to see some of the next few sailings...

There are a few longer cruises to Bermuda soon and I'm sure the reviews will be different.

[supermom788]

Do you know if a full size iPad will fit in the Vision room safes?

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[ROBINBIRDIE66]

I've done about a dozen cruises on Royal - some good, some great, some not so great. But any day on a cruise is still better than a day at work, right??

 

I'll be on Vision in July with my 3 sisters. Tried to make show reservations last night and it told me they are "not available" and to check when I get on the ship.

 

Maybe I'm just used to doing reservations because I'm usually on bigger ships (just got off Oasis last week), but does anyone know if you need to reserve shows?

 

Thanks!!

Robin

[booklady4]

RobinBirdie, I am on the Vision later this month, and from what I understand, this ship does not require reservations for the shows.

Edited June 5, 2014 by booklady4

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

I hope Royal is reading this - the things that have been reported are unacceptable - not sure what is going on but they need to fix it asap!!

 

Thanks for sharing your review.

[WishIwerethere]

I would wait and check the reviews for the next few sailings. This crew may have been overwhelmed by the amount of drinkers onboard, which you probably won't have on your sailing. I have never seen this before with Royal, but it was pretty bad. I saw the same empty bottles between the elevators for two days and the pile just kept growing.

 

Just back today. Getting served at the bars was not a problem if you went up to the bar. Getting a cocktail waiter/waitress to serve you a different story.

Viking Crown lounge was the worst. Usually one of my favorite places to be pampered. The R bar service was much much better. The wait staff there was great. Other venues for cocktails not great for service either.

 

Windjammer was ok, food choices kind of limited. MDR food ok. On a high note dress in the MDR was overwhelmingly good especially formal night. Of course you did see a few clueless people with sleeveless tees and hats on. C'mon people take your hat off when you eat.

 

Ship looked OK, not great, especially so soon after refurb..

 

Solarium was very nice though. And I thought the raised bowl sinks were just fine.

 

Oh yeah, they screwed my liquor purchase when it got delivered. Supposed to have a coconut rum and got a Capt Morgan spiced instead.

 

I had a good time but WORST SERVICE EVER BY RC.

Edited June 5, 2014 by WishIwerethere

[WishIwerethere]

Do you know if a full size iPad will fit in the Vision room safes?

Yes it will. :)

[Fifibeck]

We just returned from the Vision today. We were in aft cabin 7652. Everything about this cruise was great. I highly recommend the Vision.

 

 

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