Review: Vision of the Seas- Headed South For Spring Break! Was My Wife Right Yet Again?

[RCCL Fan]

27 minutes ago, perfect match said:

I always enjoy an @RCCL Fan review and this one is no exception! We finally board Odyssey on Sunday. Me & Mrs RCCL Fan will recognize their picture of the cabin we’re heading for. 😀 Can’t wait to stay in it 

 

Ah  Loved that junior suite!  You guys enjoy!

[Jimbo]

14 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Jimbo, are you calling me a complainer?  😉  A review or two ago people said I was a cheerleader! lol

Hey, I take all your reviews as you are telling us like it is.  I rather read your  truthful reviews any day of the week rather then reading the usual cheerleaders reviews on here when you know their review is going to be full of sunshine and rainbows no matter what their cruise is like.

[perfect match]

35 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Ah  Loved that junior suite!  You guys enjoy!

Thank you! I’m sure we will! DH and I really appreciate all the cabin info, pictures, and video of the room.  It made our booking decision a real no brainer!

Edited April 13, 2023 by perfect match
Typo

[cynt]

 When you can't sleep and wake-up to an RCCLfan review. 

 

My DH found a cruise on the Grandeur he wants to try. I'm trying to persuade him to let's just go on the Liberty to Bermuda. I don't particularly care for the smaller ships. I need him read this review. Thx for the honesty. I already know we would have to eat in Chops every evening. Can't wait to see where you dine for the week. 

[kernow]

Loving your review as always. Your daughter's video was fab. I love the smaller ships too, went on Vision about 15 years ago so nice to see what she is like now.

 

Your dinner looked terrible, I hope the food improved for you. We're not back on RCL until Nov but starting to get a bit worried about the food from recent reports.

[Sigyn]

12 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I voted with my feet....  

I don't blame you! I had seen several plates just like that in the MDR before our Harmony cruise last week, so that's why I ended up booking the UDP. And then even the specialty dining restaurants were ho-hum. Still better than the MDR, but really a bummer. 

[TwoMisfits]

I'm hoping 1st night dinner was horrid b/c the kitchen never caught up after inspection, and that day 2 onward was much improved!

[Thisguylikestocruise]

13 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

We started small ship sailing a few years ago.   We really enjoy it.    We also like Voyager class which is a solid compromise between small and big.   I have some old reviews of each I can post  if you like

 

Thanks for the review. Glad to hear that about Voyager. Going on Voyager for my first time, it’ll be the smallest ship I’ve been on.

[graciekelli]

We're about to take Vision on this same exact itineraray, leaving on 4/21. I am super excited to follow this review to see what's in store.  It will be our first cruise since COVID.  DH and I love the small ships too.  I am concerned about what you were served the first night though...

[RCLcruiser2012]

Thank you for the review thus far!  I appreciate your honest review!  Sounds like a wonderful time. I LOVE you room!  The food is absolutely pitiful.  I can't believe you were served corn on the cob and instant potatoes in MDR.  They have said across all cruise lines the food has gone downhill but if you are a foodie it really stinks!!  

[Oceansaway17]

19 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Jimbo, are you calling me a complainer?  😉  A review or two ago people said I was a cheerleader! lol

He sometimes has comments that make no sense

[RCCL Fan]

Day 2 

At Sea

 

 

First Sea days for me are usually a wash.   All the last minute packing, working my butt off to get things at the office wrapped up before I leave and the travel trouble navigating the 4 of us to the ship.  Usually Day 2, I sleep in, slowly leave the room and miss the first half of the day.

 

 

This time I actually got up to go to the top tier party.  Especially on the smaller ships I find the parties interesting as there are usually some more experienced cruisers who have wonderful stories of their years on board.

 

I enjoyed my early morning champagne, and listening to the stories of the top cruisers on board, as well as hearing how much the ship was in transition.  Many people were leaving and new staff coming aboard.

 

 

They were operating with about half their usual number of crew members as Royal deals with the same thing everyone else is, a lack of workers. 

 

Enjoyed the cruise director Mey, she had lots of energy and seemed very genuine, which is so important in a role of cruise director on a smaller ship. 

 

 

Since some of you have expressed interest in the small ship experience, I'll break it down for you like I see it.

 

Royal Caribbean has two products for you on your vacation activity wise

 

The first is the hard product.  That's the ship.  The things to do.  Rock Climbing walls, ice skating rinks, zip lines, & flowriders, and Royal Promenades and hot tubs and pools. 

 

 

Then there's the soft product.  Trivia games, scavenger hunts, dance parties,  towel making classes sexy leg contests, etc.

 

 

The bigger ships  are heavy on the hard products.  There's so much stuff to do the staff doesn't have to work hard to keep you entertained.  The smaller ships lack lots of hard product and so they go super heavy on the soft product.   

 

You will find yourself engaging in more silly activities and contests and what not, because it's how we all stay entertained on the ship.  While these people not be things I'd enjoy doing on my day to day often, on a small ship where the drinks are flowing, well it's easier to do so.

 

 

I had been back in the cabin a few minutes and the phone rang it was our concierge Jamie.  He wanted to introduce himself to us, and asked if he could come to our suite to say hello and get to know us. 

 

Wow.

 

I mean I haven't stayed in a TON of full suites but enough to know this wasn't usual, it was a first for us. 

 

 

Jamie was AMAZING.   Came over  talked to us and asked questions about the birthdays and anniversaries and our plans.  Wanted to meet the girls and sat and chatted with them.   Made sure they would have their fruity pebble treats and chocolate covered strawberries,  promised to help with any reservations and genuinely had that Royal Caribbean, " I am here to serve you on your vacation, just name it" attitude that made me fall in love with this company years ago.

 

 

When I do my reviews I just go through my phone and look at the photos i took and time of day to help me recall my days.  And yes, I remember still being salty about last nights dinner.  So I sat and looked at the main dining room dinners for the week and tried to see what I would be willing to eat if we went there,  and then book our specialty dining nights around the nights I didn't see much.   I wound up tossing this plan later.

 

 

After that I decided to take the girls up to the pool deck for pool time, hoping we could grab some chairs while people ventured to windjammer for lunch.  That was a tall order.   My wife and oldest went to the second level to lay in the sun and read and tan.  Little bit wanted a hot tub but they were packed,   so we opted for the pool.   IT WAS FREEZING, like HOLY FREEZING.  My youngest likes to jump in our pool at home even in the winter, and says " you get used to it"  but even she struggled with this pool.  The sun was beating down, it was warm out,  but that pool water was still chilly. 

 

We started with just our feet, and slowly added more until we made it all the way in and could swim.  We spent a lot of time up here,  we must have missed the pool games as nothing was really going on. just folks enjoying the pool and water.   There weren't many servers walking around so we had to go to the bar for our frozen concoctions but they were yummy and service was fast at the bar.

 

 

We rolled through Windjammer and wow, I was unimpressed.  Like I felt there was half the normal amount of food, and something I had never seen on any cruise at lunch.... leftover breakfast.  Like hashbrowns and sausages, It was weird.

 

I mean there was enough to hobble something together, but there was nothing that was really looked like anything I wanted to eat.   So I passed the two steam tables and went for the center section where they keep burgers and dogs  and fries I could always eat that.   Wrong.   The burgers were horrible, like thin meat with a kinda grainy texture to it.  I had this once before on another ship and it was awful, and here it was again.   So I had some unimpressive baked fish, and more boxed mashed potatoes but this time with gravy, and some salad.  We got out of there quickly.

 

 

After I had forgotten that my knock off mix and mingle group was meeting.  We had a  solid group of nearly 200 people (from the social media site everyone uses but cruise critic still hates for you to mention for some silly reason)  and several of us agreed to meet in the Viking Crown to meet in person.   It was a fun group, lots of first time cruisers.

 

 

Tonight was formal night and I had forgotten to send my clothes off to dry cleaning to get pressed like I normally do night one.   We're usually "team formal night "people, and love to dress up, take photos,  I brought my tux!  Tonight we were kinda half into it.  

 

 

 Asked Jamie if he could get us into Izumi.  He got us something around 7:30,  later than we wanted but not bad.  We went to the concierge club to sit and chat and order some drinks. WE LOVED IT HERE.   We met lovely people, I had the best heavy snacks, the fried fish fingers were perfect and the girls enjoyed their pre-requested strawberries and fruity pebbles treats. I know there's a large group of you who feel all children should be left home or ride in a lifeboat following the ship let alone be allowed in the concierge club. Well my youngest stopped every night and picked up the days trivia sheet from the game room and brought it with her to the club "so i have a quiet activity to do while everyone is talking"  She also insisted we take a table in the corner so as not to disturb anyone.  They were scolded once on a previous cruise by an elderly couple as they used the key and walked into the club silently to join us "don't be loud in here, this is an adult place"  It's been years and it kinda still haunts them.  There really are some well behaved kids out there folks.   Give them a chance.

 

 

 

 

After our snacks, and free drinks and mingling in the club we all kinda were like we didn't even need dinner, we had a lovely time.   But Izumi awaited and off we went. 

 

 

THIS PLACE WAS PACKED!   On vision Izumi is in the Viking Crown, across two levels .  The entire downstairs  was full and we were one of 3 tables upstairs at first but they filled up too as the night went on.

 

Now get this. There were 2 servers for the entire restaurant. TWO.  They were running around like crazy trying to make do.  The host/manager was waiting tables too trying to help.  We felt sorry for them. It was just too much work. Most everyone was understanding, there was of course that one table with the raised voices unhappy, But for the most part they kept the food and drinks coming despite being overwhelmed.   One or two special requests were forgotten but it wasn't anything too significant. 

 

 

After dinner we took in a show, I honestly don't remember what it was, but it wasn't great clearly.  

 

My oldest and I decided to wander a bit and enjoy some music, in the lobby while my wife and youngest went to bed.  We sat and chatted and enjoyed some catching up which we needed before heading to bed because tomorrow is LABADEE!

 

 

[superduper123]

 I am totally enjoying your review! We were on the Vision, same ports, from March 31-April 10. 

[BennyandBo]

OK, now I'm worried about next month. The burgers were really that bad? Was hoping for burgers and pizza if all else stinks. Now.... I don't know???

[Sea Dog]

Loving the review but I'm so sorry you are experiencing such bad food. I hope things get better. I do understand the staffing issues but it sounds like Royal has kind of written off Vision in terms of staffing the larger ships. That's too bad because I love the small ships.

[RCCL Fan]

12 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Loving the review but I'm so sorry you are experiencing such bad food. I hope things get better. I do understand the staffing issues but it sounds like Royal has kind of written off Vision in terms of staffing the larger ships. That's too bad because I love the small ships.

 

I neglected to say the Izumi dinner was amazing!!   Like soo good.  We don't eat Japanese often because my wife doesn't eat seafood and the girls are super picky, but everyone not only found something they liked but genuinely enjoyed it.

 

Izumi was a winner for sure.

[RCCL Fan]

1 hour ago, BennyandBo said:

OK, now I'm worried about next month. The burgers were really that bad? Was hoping for burgers and pizza if all else stinks. Now.... I don't know???

 

Stick with me for more, but no I have zero positive things to say about the windjammer hamburgers

[RCCL Fan]

18 hours ago, cynt said:

 When you can't sleep and wake-up to an RCCLfan review. 

 

My DH found a cruise on the Grandeur he wants to try. I'm trying to persuade him to let's just go on the Liberty to Bermuda. I don't particularly care for the smaller ships. I need him read this review. Thx for the honesty. I already know we would have to eat in Chops every evening. Can't wait to see where you dine for the week. 

 

Stick around.   See how it shakes out.

 

I love that same of you get the impression I didn't like the small ship and other get the impression I did.    

 

Means I'm down the middle where I like to be.

[Sea Dog]

1 minute ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I neglected to say the Izumi dinner was amazing!!   Like soo good.  We don't eat Japanese often because my wife doesn't eat seafood and the girls are super picky, but everyone not only found something they liked but genuinely enjoyed it.

 

Izumi was a winner for sure.

 

Did you happen to get the cocktail, "She's a Geisha"? it's amazing. I normally don't like Sake but this was so good with the muddled blueberries and pomegranate syrup. 

 

I also liked the way you talked about the ship's offerings as hard and soft products. I never thought of it that way. So true. Excited to hear more.

[RCCL Fan]

10 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Did you happen to get the cocktail, "She's a Geisha"? it's amazing. I normally don't like Sake but this was so good with the muddled blueberries and pomegranate syrup. 

 

I also liked the way you talked about the ship's offerings as hard and soft products. I never thought of it that way. So true. Excited to hear more.

 

Nope, I think I was drinking gin and ginger ale that night.... carry over from what I started in the suite lounge

 

And Yes, once I sailed on Serenade for the first time and they had all the activities I remember saying, " this is the royal caribbean I grew up with,  do all these silly things to get shipshape dollars and royal caribbean key chains." I loved it. 

 

Then I realized it still was alive and well on the small ships, but eliminated on the big ones, which had a "hard product" to keep you busy.

Edited April 14, 2023 by RCCL Fan

[soremekun]

What's the name of your daughter's pink frozen drink?  Looks like it's worth a try!

[kernow]

Your daughters always seem lovely, so glad you were all able to enjoy the lounge. My son is an adult now but when he was younger we had similar experiences in the CL, no one ever actually said anything to us but we would always get the glares and could see them muttering. All totally unnecessary as our son, like your daughters knew exactly how to behave. Nowadays I love to see well behaved children with their families around the ship, reminds me of happy days gone by. 

[jean87510]

7 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I neglected to say the Izumi dinner was amazing!!   Like soo good.  We don't eat Japanese often because my wife doesn't eat seafood and the girls are super picky, but everyone not only found something they liked but genuinely enjoyed it.

 

Izumi was a winner for sure.

What did your wife get?  I can't eat seafood so I avoid regular Izumi but have done the hibachi with the steak and chicken.  We have 2 upcoming on the Vision in suites so following along.

[Sigyn]

8 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Did you happen to get the cocktail, "She's a Geisha"? it's amazing. I normally don't like Sake but this was so good with the muddled blueberries and pomegranate syrup. 

 

I had two of those on the Harmony last week. Such a delicious cocktail!

 

Great review - love the point you make about your girls being well behaved. My three kids are well behaved, too. I think they're too scared of dad to NOT be well behaved. lol. Seriously, I've seen people assume that kids mean ill behavior and it drives me nuts. "Sir" and "ma'am" are how my kids speak to adults and they are quiet when it's needed. And loud and fun when it's okay. Your daughters are just adorable. I love to read about your ship experience. 

Edited April 14, 2023 by njsmom

[A&L_Ont]

On 4/12/2023 at 3:41 PM, RCCL Fan said:

Some of you may remember I lost my dad recently, while onboard Navigator for new years.  I needed some me time and I was excited to get it. 

We were sailing over new years as well and I didn’t follow your live review.  I missed reading about your dad’s passing. I’m sorry for your and your family’s loss.  
 

Your youngest daughter’s excitement reminds me of our son when he was her age.  Now he is almost 16, he reminds me more of your older daughter. Only takes a few years for the change to happen. 
 

As for scrabble I would have totally been on it, Spanish or not. I still would have lost but I would have been in.