Vision Of The Seas 4/2-9/06 Review

[ROWSE]

Vision of the Sea Review(Mexican Riviera):

Embarkation: This was one of the easiest embarkations we have experienced. This is our 8th cruise. The lines were minimal. Granted,

we arrived fairly early. We waited in a very nice area after check in and

were on the ship by 12:15.

 

The Ship: This is truly a beautiful ship. The public areas are designed to let

in as much light as possible making everything seem bright. The centrum

is incredible. It gave off a feeling of elegance even if you were wearing

your jeans. When everyone was in their formals it made it magical. Even

if you felt lost, when you hit the centrum area you could figure it all out.

There are handy ship shaped map displays near each elevator on every floor. We relied on this a lot because it seemed like each day we did new

things that were in new areas.

 

Our Room: We were in an oceanview on the third floor. There were three of us, my husband and myself and our 15 year old daughter. We had adequate space, and I was happy with the bathroom as you could sit on the commode and shave your legs in the shower with no problem. That is a plus I assure you. It is hard to balance when that is not the case. We had a love

seat area and my daughter's bed was a pull down from the ceiling. The only

problem at all was that the stablilizer's had gone out on this cruise and we

rocked quite a bit. The rocking felt fine, but the upper bed my daughter

was in creaked loudly during the night. This was only a problem on the way

down as between ports I think we went a bit slower and it seemed to creak

less. Then, after the last port I think they had fixed the problem somewhat.

Our room steward did a great job. The room was always perfect. He was

wonderful to locate foam mattress covers for all our beds. I had requested

this prior to our cruise on a site someone had suggested on these boards. The steward had no record of this when we arrived, even though I had had

confirmation that it would be taken care of. He still was able to find us the

mattress covers anyway. That was WONDERFUL!!! Our beds were very soft.

We were always met each evening upon return with some kind of towel animal and of course mints on the pillow.

 

Food: For the most part, we were always very pleased with our food selections. The menu was scaled down from what we were use to on the

Celebrity cruises we had been on, but there was always something we wanted. The escargot was to die for. Everything was presented beautifully

and the serving amount was just right, not overwhelming.

We ate two times in the diningroom for lunch, and I wish we would have even more. That was probably the best pasta dish I had ever had. It

was made to order in the middle of the diningroom.

We used room service only once for breakfast and everything was perfect.

The staff calls to your room right before they arrive. This probably saves

them from seeing some shocking early morning clothing or lack of.

 

Ports: Our first port was Cabo San Lucas. We had planned to rent a car,

and I had found one on the internet at Dollar for $18. My husband said,

let's wait and just get it when we get there. Big mistake as when we did

get to the rental place they wanted $79 for the day. Hard lesson learned!

We did not rent the car and just walked around the town and ate lunch at

Squid Roe which was excellent. Then we got an excursion on the pier to

just go out on a small glass bottom boat around the rocks etc. This was

$30 for all three of us. My husband was quite proud that he bargained down from $40. This was quite fun and we ended up with a private tour. We

were dropped off at the tender area.

Next was Mazatlan. From all the good advice on this board, we took Randi's

Happy Horses excursion. This was a hoot. It was glorious sunshine and a

beautiful beach. My horse was quite spirited wanting to run ALOT and my legs and backside hurt for most of the next several days, but it was so fun

and wonderful, who cares. Victor's garlic shrimp was delicious, thank you

to those who recommended it. The only minus on this adventure was the

very agressive sellers on the beach. Or should I say the ones that just hung

out all around us as we ate our meal. I mean, they were right there, right

behind us (2 feet ) the entire time. I'm surprised they didn't trot along with us as we rode the horses. "No gracious" did not faze them.

Puerto Vallarta: We went on Los Veranos Canopy Tour. This was my favorite excursion. Took a cab from the ship $8 plus tip. We met friends staying here for the week. Took a long bus ride up to the canopy area. Then experience 14 zip lines. I am afraid of heights normally, but as I listened to those of you who said it didn't matter, I went. You are all right, it was wonderful; and while I was a little afraid at first, by the end, I wanted to go again. They are all wonderful friendly people that run you through the lines, and we all had the best time of our lives. It is so cool at the end to look back up at the one that is about 450 feet up and realize you were there.

I did it!!!

 

Activities on Board: We enjoyed all the shows and some of the mid day

events. As always you could do as much or as little as you choose. We enjoyed the wine tasting and some game shows. Our daughter only went

to a little of the teen deal the first night and was turned off after that. She

thought most of the teens had already came on with their friends. The

slightly younger group seemed to be a lot more fun. She did make friends

with our table campanion's daughter and they had fun at dinner.

The bummer was how windy and cold it was on deck during ship days. It

was sunny, but so cold I just didn't want to lay out, and I love to do that

usually. This is an odd year for weather, so maybe others will find it

warmer as summer gets closer. I can say there was no chair hogging on

this cruise.

 

Soda Package: This was a really worthwhile thing for us. I have been on

other ships where when asking the bar servers for the drinks, they act rather

put out to serve you when you have the drink sticker or containers. Not so

on this ship. They were the same whether you were paying or had the sticker. Everyone was extremely nice and followed my "thank you," with

a "my pleasure". Congratulations on that RCI!

 

Debarkation: This is the only area that they really need some HELP! They

began embarkation at 8:00 and we did not get off till 11:00 and there were

still many more to go after us. The general line up once your color tag is

called is total choas. Because of the round shape of the centrum area you

never really knew where the end of the line was. It was awful. Then once

outside there was another huge line to get to the booths of immigration.

There was very little luggage left when we finally arrived so that was nice.

We took a taxi to the airport and that was so easy. Walked out and right

on to a van taxi. $46 plus tip to the airport.

 

All in all, we had a wonderful time and can't wait to cruise again. I did

miss the glorious color of the water in the caribbean and the warmth laying on the deck on sea days, but had wonderful times in port. As always, it

is the attitude you bring to something not just the experience itself.

 

If anyone has any questions, let me know. Happy cruising to you all!

[suewms1]

Great review of the Vision. My sister and I will be on her next February, and your review made me very excited for our first trip to the Mexican Riviera. We were on the Vision a couple years ago for an Alaskan cruise and we loved the ship.

 

I have a question about the canopy tour. Do you know if the RCL-sponsored canopy excursion is the one you went on, Los Veranos, or is it one of the others? It sounds like you made your own private arrangements for the tour but maybe you know the answer to the question anyway. I have been reading the canopy threads and thinking I might like to try this. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Sue

[ROWSE]

We took a private canopy tour not associated with the ship. I do know it

is not the one RCL uses. It is a lot less expensive on your own also. We

paid $71 a person and the ship charges a great deal more.

For more information go to the website below. It was the greatest!

 

http://www.canopytours-vallarta.com/gallery/video.htm

[H20 Lover]

Great, great review! Thanks so much! :)

[Clay Aiken fan]

I enjoyed your review. I am trying to find out just how 'fit and healthy' a person needs to be to do the canapy tour. On the Veranos website it said a person shouldn't have back or shoulder problems to do it. My question is how much pressure did you feel on your arms, hands and shoulders holding on? Did you have to have a really tight grip? Since you are sitting on a strap under you, did your arms have to hold a lot of your body weight? Did you feel any strain on your back? In other words, do you think someone with cancer throughout their spine and upper body should consider doing it, even if they want to so very badly.

 

I am not trying to put you on the spot and know that you are not a doctor but I thought that since you had just returned from the same ship and location as my daughter is going on this weekend (April 23), you might be able to tell me your opinion about how strenous it really is.

 

This is my first post since 2000, when I went on my first cruise to the West Carribbean(different user name now). I loved it sooooo much. Thank you.

[ROWSE]

Clay Aiken Fan:

I am so sorry about your cancer. Are you going through treatment?

To answer your question, I think you need to be in fairly good shape. There

is a lot of walking uphill and steps. Regarding holding yourself up; there is

really no pressure on your arms. You hold on to handles on the side of

your roller but are suppose to use a light grip. I saw a lot of the guides

not even put there hands up to the rollers. You sit in the harness and

that is what holds you. The only time you may need to use your hands is if they ask you to slow down. Then you would twist the handle back and forth. I only had it happen one time. If you stop short you turn and pull yourself

in hand over hand. This would be quite a chore on your shoulders, but if you told the guides what you were experiencing they would come out and pull you in each time.

It may be a bit harder on the spine, as when you are hooked up ready to

go they have you get in what I would call a fetal position with your knees

bent up to your chest. The first three ziplines your legs are out straight and

then the last 11 you are in the fetal position.

It was a great experience. Take good care of yourself no matter what you

choose to do.

[Clay Aiken fan]

Rowse,

Thank you for replying so promptly to my question. I will pass this info on to my 37 year old daughter, who, sadly, is the one with metastatic breast cancer. She is a real trooper who has not let this horrible beast stop her from living a full life since her diagnosis in 2002, with mets in 2004. Yes, she is in treatment now but has taken a couple of months off from chemo, then back on again. She is a true inspiration to all who know her, especially her 3 small children.