Very good but could be improved
Vision of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean
12 Night Mediterranean & Venice (Barcelona Roundtrip)
Sail date: July 15, 2015
Ship: Vision of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 7060
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
The ship stopped at most of the right destinations. Some stops could have been longer. The crew provided excellent service. The staterooms were adequate and very well maintained and serviced. The food from the buffet to the specialty restaurants was very good. Made new acquaintances mostly during excursions and sitting at the same table in the main restaurant. Excursions were very nice. On occasions guides could have done a better job.
On the down side (that is why excellent is a goal) the Internet was very slow. Seemed that Royal Caribbean was nickel-and-diming passengers. The drink packages could be redone with fewer options providing additional value.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Internet should be less expensive or free. Starbucks offers faster and free Internet access while you drink a cup of coffee for a couple dollars. The cruise is several orders higher in price and the Internet was pretty bad. Make the drink and food options less expensive and more encompassing.
Ports of call
Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy
5 Comments
CrusinTim 9 years ago
Not a problem John, glad I could help. Although changing, the cruise lines explain that they have to subscribe to a satellite service for passengers to have internet access from a 3rd party so they pass a percentage of those costs to the passenger. As it is, internet service onboard is not a necessity but more of an amenity. As ships are being built, and many going in for refurbs, internet service is being expanded to include more onboard hotspots, larger servers and many even offering the service for free. Princess is even expanding it's "Princess@Sea" app for tablets, laptops and cell phones which is service where you can have access to the onboard happenings and even have onboard internet messenger service between passengers. This service works on the ship ONLY. Although currently available on 2 vessels, Princess states they are in the process of rolling it out fleet wide.
CrusinTim 9 years ago
Glad your cruise was good but I would like to point out the issue with the internet services. You can not compare a land based internet (WiFi) signal that uses a signal that is hard wired from the router like you did in comparing Starbucks to the one offered via satellite on an ocean going vessel that relies on a strong signal for reliable service. Even if you use the internet in one of the onboard kiosks (internet cafe) the service is very slow. Also, the internet server(s) onboard are being used by crew and passengers and the more people logged on at a given time will slow down the service even more. My suggestion, if your hell bent on using the internet while cruising, is to access it at off times such as early in the morning or late at night. Other than that, just put down the device and wait until you reach port and use a free WiFi service at one of the port shops (just follow the crew, they know where they are).