Surprisingly Mediocre

Item: Vision of the Seas
Rating: 3.5
Author: WhitneyLou

Vision of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

WhitneyLou

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 38

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

5 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 09, 2017

Ship: Vision of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Surprisingly mediocre considering expectations formed with prices paid and company reputation. Ship is outdated and has limited non-sales related activities. Feels like staff is being pushed for extra sales to the extent that staff is more concerned about sales than guests enjoying what they've already paid for. Crowded.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Sales started inside the port, classy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Bad service in main dining room necessitated many meals at the Windjammer Buffet, where food allergy information was hard to come by. No nutritional or allergen information available prior or during trip, despite multiple requests. Paper menus do have designated allergen free and vegan variations, be sure to request. I wouldn't eat most of the Windjammer options, at home with free choice, but after a few days you forget that you expected decent food, anyway. Some type of bottled water must be available between 2am and 7am. Snacks would be nice, too, but room service is available (but can't bring bottled water with drink package :)

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Sparse, primarily sales related.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Great live musicians! Provided entertainers were excellent, just need more, during a larger part of the day.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Service in main dining room was appalling. Hosts were rude. One under-waiter in particular was rude, condescending, and insulting-then approached me in the buffet the next day! Most of the staff was fine, if clearly overworked. Lack of pride for employer, but very polite and helpful overall.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Tiny ship yielded constant motion awareness. I've not had an issue with seasickness on larger cruise ships or smaller pleasure vessels. I was ill within hours of departure and constantly aware of and reacting to ship motion. Norwegian Pearl cruise yielded zero seasickness, and very little ship motion even during storms with 27-29 ft swells.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Adequate if outdated. Hair in bathroom upon arrival. Steward was excellent otherwise!