great trip on the Vision of the Seas

I want to start this by observing that no one ship nor one review suits all. I say this because I read many negative reviews of the Vision before sailing, and I am sure that those people were legitimately unhappy with their experience. I was shocked, however, at how much more my wife and I enjoyed our cruise compared to what other reviews indicated. We has a fantastic cruise. This was our fourth cruise, with the two previous being the Disney Dream and Royal's Oasis of the Seas. Of those, this was my favorite cruise. Yes, this ship is older, but we found it to be very well cared for. First, I will speak to some of the highlights. Above all, the staff on the Vision was incredible. This was one thing that other reviews seemed to celebrate about the ship. Our cabin attendant, Komi, along with our MDR waiter and assistant waiter, Rahmat and Nelvin, were exceptional. They worked incredibly hard to give us a great trip. Beyond them, the staff everywhere was remarkable, and this sentiment seemed to be echoed by our fellow cruisers. The food also exceeded our expectations. We ate most dinners in the MDR, and the food was consistent with our other experience on Royal. I do not think it will win any Michelin stars, but it was consistently good, and the staff ensured that the overall experience each night was memorable. We also ate in three specialty restaurants: Giovanni's, Chops, and Chef's Table. This was our second visit to Giovanni's, and it was great, although I was sad to see they no longer serve octopus. Our favorite that night was the caprese salad. Chops was excellent as well. The highlight here was my ribeye. Our best meal was at Chef's Table. What an incredible experience, and Saw and Lena ensured that we will do it again. Our cabin was an interior guarantee on floor 2 (2617). I was a bit nervous about noise from below and ship motion. Although we could hear the engines and feel the waves a bit, it did not at all bother us. In fact, the combination helped lull us to sleep at night. The cabin is very small, but it was quite adequate for our needs. It was more worthwhile for us to spend money on extras such as the specialty restaurants (we got a 3 night package) and our excursion to the Coco Beach Club at Cococay. Speaking of that, I noticed that many online reviews and videos of the Beach Club ask if the beach club is worth the extra price. How does any one person answer that for someone else? Not only does the price fluctuate greatly (we paid $119 US but saw it as high as $186 prior to our cruise), but it depends on your budget. This was a big splurge for us, but we did not regret it. We were some of the first people to arrive and were able to secure one of the coveted day beds. Incidentally, it was cheaper on our day to pay for 2 adults at the beach club and get a free day bed than to pay for just a day bed on one of the free beaches. Our price, of course, included the incredible food in the beach club as well. If you are considering it, there were day beds available on the day of our visit for about the first hour it was open. Back to the ship. Although the Vision admittedly lacks many of the activities of other ships, we were never short on things to do on our long (nine night) cruise. We spent much of our time in the 18+ solarium. It was generally easy to find deck chairs looking out at the open ocean and spend the day reading. The pool was also very nice. There are two hot tubs that can be very busy during the day, but are usually available earlier and later. One great perk of the solarium on the Vision is access to the Park Cafe, which is open most of the day with salads, grab and go sandwiches, pizza, and, of course, the Kummelweck roast beef sandwich. On the Oasis, you had to go to either the promenade or central park for these. We also enjoyed our fellow cruisers and the overall-positive vibe on the ship. We saw almost no ugliness or negativity. We also met many people who had sailed on vision multiple times and seemed to be very loyal to her. I did not spend much time around the main pool, but the energy there was impressive. Again, one could usually find somewhere to sit, even on crowded sea days, definitely when compared to my experience on the Oasis. The entertainment in the centrum was also great. The energy on 70s disco night was incredible. We did not go to any of the main shows or use the Casino, so I cannot speak to those. I will quickly speak to the few things on the ship that I was not crazy about. The biggest was the large number of places where we could smell smoke. I expected it in the Casino. I also was not surprised that there were other places on the ship where one could smoke. I do not mind that Royal makes this available. The problem I had was how many places there were, and how hard it seemed to be able to get away from it. There is a very large area on the starboard side pool deck. Almost anywhere on that side of the ship I could smell smoke. It also creeped into the Solarium whenever the door opened. There was also a large area on the promenade. This may just be something to be aware of is smoke bothers you. The only other remotely critical thing I could say is that this may not be the best ship if you have very active teenagers. There is no flowrider, sports court, mini-golf course, zipline, etc. We did not bring our kids, however, and in fact were looking for a more relaxing experience, and so the Vision was perfect. All in all, we loved our trip, and we would most certainly sail on her again.

Best cruise in over 40 years of cruising

From the time we arrived at the Balto. terminal till the time we disembarked we had the best cruise experience we could ask for. The terminal staff was all experienced and we were on the ship within 15 minutes. Once on board we took our carryon bags to our cabin had lunch in Chops Grill. Awesome!!! We chose the Ultimate Dining Package and ate in Chops Grill, Giovanni's Italian Restaurant and Izumi Sushi Bar. The food in all restaurants was great, but we ate the best Sushi we have ever had and the waiter, Candra, was the best waiter we have ever experienced. The crew were all experienced in what their positions called for and for 12 days my wife and I were treated to the best cruise we ever took. We have been on over 40 cruises. Kudos to the Captain and the crew of the RCCL Vision of the Seas. We just booked another 9 day cruise from Baltimore in August on the Vision of the Seas. What a awesome time we had!

SUN - SAND - RELAXATION

We totally enjoyed our cruise, Charles in the MDR was awesome, the food exquisite, lots of entertainment with a variety of shows. I loved the Vision, it was so easy getting on and getting off. The Windjammer is an excellent choice for breakfast and lunch buffet. Coco Cay experience and lunch was super, I would recommend the pool by the ocean. It would be great to cruise to Coco Cay and and stay in port for three days so that you could see and do everything that is available to you, go back to the ship for dinner, shows, and shopping then out to the beach for more entertainment. I’m handicapped with a pulmonary disease and just enjoyed our time spent on the Vision !!! Most of life is behind me , but I have a Vision. Pun intended. Peace and Kindness! Decompress and Stress Less….

Small but Mighty

This was our first time on a small ship and we enjoyed the level of personal service we received compared to larger ships where you get lost in the numbers. The MDR crew was exceptional, so much so that we want to return soon just to see them again. The entertainment was just enough for us; certainly there is more to do on the larger ships, but there was always plenty to choose from each day and evening. Their house band Rockport is awesome and fun and engages with the crowd. The cruise director and various activities personnel are very energetic, engaging, entertaining and you can tell they enjoy working the crowd. We did not opt for a balcony this time, choosing an ocean view room instead. A bit of concern going in quickly gave way to a surprisingly spacious room with plenty of closet space, drawers and cubbies for all our "stuff". Fun cruise that we didn't want to end.