Awsome trip through Panama Canal

Item: Vision of the Seas
Rating: 3.9
Author: Ellenterry

Vision of the Seas Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Ellenterry

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 48

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

Verified Review

16 Night Panama Canal Westbound (Ft. Lauderdale To Los Angeles)

Sail date: November 15, 2019

Ship: Vision of the Seas

Cabin number: 2032

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

All of the staff were trained to put the passengers first at all times. The dining staff worked quite hard at their respective jobs as did the stateroom staff and the entertainment staff. Their training paid off since we will be taking another cruise in 2020.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

It was a little slow and unorganized but we finally got onboard.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Main Dining Room

4 out of 5

Fresh fruit and veges were served at every meal. The protein selection always included pork, beef, chicken, eggs and tofu. Drink selection was good. The room was crowded at times with preferred seating taken. We needed the handicapped tables and at times they appeared to be taken by non-handicapped passengers. The crew tried to assist us in finding a table when we needed one.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

We chose to go to auctions, pool, weight room, and the piano. We would have liked to have movies but the theater was always unused and nothing was ever scheduled. It was a waste of an entertainment space.

Guest Services and Explorations!

5 out of 5

They were ready to help with questions, comments or complaints about things on the ship or excursions offered by the ship. Each interaction was met with a desire to solve the issue at hand.

Day Spa and Fitness Center

4 out of 5

They have a good selection of weights, bikes and open space for quality workouts. At times there were too many people using/wanting to use equipment to the wait time was long.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

comedians were terrible, always! DJ's were very loud and distorted which made them unenjoyable.

Children's Programs

no young children accompanied us.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

They were all friendly and ready to serve at any time. They worked very dilligently to please the patrons.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

The room worked for three adults. It was 194 sqft. We could organize our things and get around w/o bumping into each other.

Ship tip

We enjoyed the reservation dinners better than the serve yourself dinners.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

4 out of 5

George Town, Grand Cayman Did not visit port

Bad weather kept us away. We went to Hualtaco, Mexico in place of this port.

Thumbs Up 0

Cartagena, Colombia

4 out of 5

We drank Juan Valdez coffee in his shop. We were greeted by beautiful birds, iguanas and deer. Quite nice.

Thumbs Up 1

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

TThis was the reason we went on this cruise! The transit was quite incredible and I am glad we made the transit.

Thumbs Up 0

Fuerte Amador, Panama

4 out of 5

We went to the Metaflores Locks tour. It was informative.

Thumbs Up 0

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

5 out of 5

This was our favorite excursion. It was not offered on the ship but at the port. We enjoyed every aspect of it and would do that excursion again!

Thumbs Up 0

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

3 out of 5

The stop was for buying inexpensive latino things. It was nice to get off the ship.

Thumbs Up 0

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

3 out of 5

The excursion was a city tour and parts were enjoyable and one shop was quite overpriced and misled us as to what they were selling. They sold opals and silver and they told us their opals were blue opals only found in that part of Mexico. The man that was selling me started sounding suspicious when he wouldn't answer my questions directly. I later called a jeweler friend and he said those particular opals are man made and have no value. Glad I didn't buy anything.

Thumbs Up 0

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

3 out of 5