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Review: Vision of the Seas - Eastern Med Oct 29-Nov 5

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By endtried,
in Royal Caribbean International

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More great photos! We are taking a Game of Thrones tour in Dubrovnik that meets at the Pile gate. When/how did you book your shuttle ?

 

 

I booked the shuttle onboard- it wasn't really advertised except for a little note in the Cruise Compass- just go to the Shore Excursion desk and they can issue the ticket but you could also buy tickets at the bus itself.

 

 

 

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Day 4 - Monday, Oct 31

At Sea

 

The ambitious plan for today- eating, sleeping, reading and watching some movies. In last nights navigational briefing, the captain already announced some tougher seas with waves of up to 10 feet but either I'm used to this by now or it wasn't so bad after all. Seasickness bags were hanging on the staircases but the waves were not too bad.

So the plan for today could still be completed- got up at 7am to go to breakfast early, then went back to bed and slept till 10.30am. I guess I did do something useful because I attended the

 

After lunch, I went outside a bit to hang out on a lounger while the sun was out. It was windy but after about half an hour, the sun decided to say goodbye and gave way to the clouds so it got too chilly for me. Back to the room it was where the TV entertained me for a while until it was time for a nap.

 

Afterwards, it was time to eat- again and that concluded the day. Mission accomplished.

 

 

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Day 5 - Tuesday, Nov 1

Rhodes, Greece

 

The sea was supposed to be a little rough over night and the sickness bags were put on the staircases but in my opinion, it was a nice motion that kept me sleeping almost too long. The good hung about this cruise was really the late arrival times, which meant sleeping in but still not missing anything.

 

Once again- the plan for today was simple: walking around Old Town Rhodes taking pictures enjoying the beautiful weather.

 

The ship was docked right outside the city walls and a quick five minute walk led to one of the old gates. I always find it interesting how most of the people/ tourists stay on the main roads while the side streets are almost deserted. That's works for me since I don't like pictures with other people in them. It really was a beautiful day- windy but very sunny and due to the small, narrow alleys, the wind wasn't really a problem.

The town really had just started to wake up, stores were opening and locals came out of their houses getting on with their daily lives.

 

After walking around for a bit, I found a nice restaurant to have some Greek food. I probably ate too much because I did feel a little tired after lunch and returned back to the ship where I took a quick nap.

 

I spent the rest of the day on one of the upper decks enjoying the sunny weather while finishing my book. I regretted not packing another book but who knew that this vacation would be so relaxed?

 

 

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Day 6 - Wednesday, Nov 2

Kusadasi, Turkey

 

Turkey- my first time (and probably last time for a while). This was the only port where I had booked a shore excursion. Of course the excursion included Ephesus.

 

It was a nice tour but I'm always a bit partial when tour guides deliver too much propaganda. Tourism has never been better- really? That's news to me.

Furthermore, he was very proud of the fact that Austrian archeologists have been doing such great work excavating more parts of Ephesus.

Surprisingly, a day later, I was reading that they have been banned from Ephesus after working there for more than 100 years due to conflicts between the governments. The ban started back in September so clearly the guide should have known.

He mentioned the Ministry of Tourism several times so it makes me wonder whether he has to be so positive and cannot talk about the reality and issues that are currently going on in Turkey. I'm glad I saw this historic site and was equally glad when I could leave that country.

 

I left the tour when the refreshment stop aka carpet demonstration started. Conveniently, the "most famous store for carpets" was located across the ship so disappearing was pretty easy. Not a good tactic from the tour company because I actually saw several people from our tour leave at that time. Might as well do the carpet show somewhere in the middle of nowhere when nobody can slip away easily. But it worked out well for me.

 

I walked around town for a bit but the salesman were too pushy, which left a bad taste. Guessing your nationality while trying to lure you into their store doesn't go well with me.

It's really a shame that the majority of stores just sold cheaply manufactured items because I'm sure people would be more interested if they see some quality work- not just fake football jerseys, cheap hand bags, etc. but on the other hand, I guess it must be working since the ships would be closed otherwise.

 

After getting back to the ship, I went to my room, took a nap and then it was (surprise, surprise) time to eat again. And then- time to sleep.

 

 

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Day 7 - Thursday, Nov 3

At Sea

 

Same plan as on the other sea day- doing nothing. Enjoying the sun, but that plan almost didn't work since it started to rain during the day- just for a few minutes but suddenly everybody was awake again seeking cover.

 

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During the morning, I attended the Captain's Corner event where questions could be asked to the Captain, Hotel Director and Chief Engineer. Very interesting what kind of questions people had. I actually wanted to find out why the Nutella packages ran out on day 3 but I guess this wasn't the place nor the time.

Some people however could not hold back- "why are there no wipers on the outside of the cabin window? I paid more to look outside and now my whole window is full of salt." Well... the simple answer was... there was no answer... just the annotation that the Turkish authorities did not allow the crew to rinse of the ship to make it look beautiful and shiny again. There would be another try tomorrow in Split and it actually did happen and the crew was scrubbing to get the salt from the previous days off all the surfaces. The efforts paid off and the shiny lady was ready to set sail back to Venice.

 

Another relaxed day before the last port of call tomorrow. It was overall a good mix between doing nothing and exploring new places.

 

 

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Day 8 - Friday, Nov 4

Split, Croatia

 

This was yet only port where the weather forecast didn't look too good for a long time but when we docked, the sun came out and it turned out to be a very nice day.

 

Again, we were docked almost right outside the old town walls. It was maybe a ten minute walk to reach the center of town.

 

Out of all the spots, Split seemed to be the least touristy- yes, there were souvenir stores but I felt that most of the residents couldn't care less about the masses from the cruise ship.

 

Interestingly enough, in the survey RCI just send out about the cruise, one of questions was about the safety and friendliness of locals in Split. Maybe some guests had some bad experiences? Regardless, in nine of the cities that we visited did I feel unsafe, even when walking deep into the neighborhoods of the locals far away from the tourists. Then again, I try not to look like an outsider (regular clothes, no "vacation" outfit, no camera dangling around my neck) so maybe that helps.

 

The town outside of the city walls was bustling since it was market day. You could buy anything on that market or maybe it was many markets combined?! I don't know but it was nice to see everybody getting their shipping done on a market- something I'm used to from growing up in Europe and one thing I do miss living in the US. Products ranged from clothing and underwear to fruit and vegetable to fish and meat to flowers to anything else you find a normal department/ grocery store.

 

After getting some pastries (first only one and when I realized it was so good, I went back to get three more), I made my way back to the ship, enjoying the rest of the day in the sun.

 

The best part of the day was the sunset though. We were slightly delayed due to some guests not showing up on time, which made it even better to see the sun disappear into the sea. A nice ending to a beautiful week-long cruise.

 

 

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Day 9 - Saturday, Nov 5

Venice, Italy - Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Rain, rain, rain- wow- after a week full of sunshine, the rain finally caught up to us.

I left the ship around 8am and while lining up to purchase the Alilaguna ticket to the airport, I stepped in a massive puddle and my shoes were wet. What a great way to start the day! (Thankfully I had a second pair of shoes with me so all was good after a while of walking around with wet socks and shoes).

 

I took the Alilaguna boat simply because my flight wasn't until 2pm and I had a massive amount of time- because the boat was slow, very slow. Just as promised on the schedule.

But it got the job done and after more than 90min dropped me off at the dock at the airport. Few minutes of walking and I was inside the extremely busy terminal- people everywhere. I'm glad I got there early and thankfully I didn't have to check bags because otherwise, the wait would have been terrible.

This way, I went right through security and waited around. For lunch, I got some pizza. I thought it was one slice only but found the price pretty steep (little over 5 Euro). Oh no, it wasn't one slice- it was a quarter of the whole pizza. Delicious- at least for airport food.

 

The flight left on time and got me to Copenhagen right on time, a little early actually. And the rain had followed me. Oh no... I had some plans for Copenhagen but that wouldn't work out. Shame!

Not a problem- my hotel was only a few minutes away from the central station and I went to dinner to a nice kebab place that I had been to before and enjoyed my food.

Afterwards it was back to the hotel to get some rest before a long day tomorrow to get home.

 

 

 

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Summary:

 

All in all it was a fantastic cruise. Yes, the ship is older and you can see it (at times) but I picked this specific cruise because of the itinerary and not primarily because of the ship. It might not have all the bells and whistles like the new ships but it was completely adequate for what I wanted- to see new countries while being transported by a nice ship with a clean room and good food.

 

The crew was fantastic- they were always friendly and helpful.

Furthermore, there were two emergencies (in Kusadasi, someone fell in the water between the ship and pier; one person had a medical emergency while in the pool when we left Split) and both times, as far as I could see, the crew responded quick in a professional way and that's really all I can ask for. Safety first and I felt safe at all times with this crew.

 

When I read reviews or comments in general, I feel there is a lot of negativity about things that are really small in the overall picture. I am fortunate that I have been to many countries and I don't think I ever had a vacation that I came back from and only had bad memories. Yes, things can go wrong but in my opinion, we should make the best of it because again- there are many people that cannot travel and therefore will never experience another country, another culture, another city, etc.

 

I will be seeing the Vision again in January for a cruise through the Arabian Gulf and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

 

 

 

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