What did we do? The same as always – we don’t know! There was at least one good enrichment lecturer who was a geography professor for University of Hawaii, and he kept us entertained for at least an hour a day. Another lecturer talked about health and diets, so he was good for a couple of days.
There were special events going on in the Centrum – so that helped a couple days. We had the official crossing of the equator party. Of course, we didn’t really cross the equator – just the halfway point of the Atlantic, but I guess it was cause for a celebration anyway. So that was fun to watch the Captain as King Neptune and a few of the officers being forced to kiss the fish, have whipped cream pie in the face or spaghetti noodles with sauce on their head. Just the normal silliness of the crossing ceremony. Although we joked about “kiss the fish” from Oceania – which was a MUCH bigger fish – it was still entertaining.
Then another day there was leave your mark on the seas. They had a huge banner (previously hung on in the Centrum) that we all got to sign with a member of the staff who made our trip special. They ran a contest and would recognize the staff who got the most votes. Really impressive because there were thousands of signatures that someone had to count! Those of us who signed were rewarded with a slice of cake and champagne.
Note: They make the biggest desserts we’ve ever seen! You can’t tell it from this picture but the cake was probably 6 feet long. One day in the buffet they had the biggest apple pie we’d ever seen in our lives. Made in a huge kettle/wok, it too had a diameter somewhere close to 5 or 6 feet.
Other than a couple of game show type things, we hung out in the cabin, on the balcony, and tried to watch whatever movie we could on the tv (not a very wide selection of decent movies, for sure). But – that was our choice. There were tons of things going on – the usual, and the weather was beautiful so everyone was up on the pool deck.
Night times consisted of shows in the Centrum. Sanjay (hotel director) and staff had put together a series of shows put on by the crew at 7:30 each night. They promoted them all over the ship with great flyers (in your cabin each night and posted around the ship) that were professionally done and printed out in the photo gallery.
Fantastic – promotion and shows! With costumes and traditional dances: Filipino, Indonesian, Turkish belly dancing (that the entire customer service staff did) and the grand finale, Bollywood that included Patricia,our concierge, and Vojtech, our Diamond Lounge host. Amazing!
Click here for the Bollywood Video.
The last day there was an afternoon concert by the deck and maintenance guys. The ones you never see above decks! Really incredibly talented, everyone, and a great way to spend our sea days.
Other ship notes:
The Captain – Captain Marek is great. He has a very welcoming personality and a wonderful sense of humor. He calls us his family – “good morning Vision family” and is always wry and funny during his noon announcements. But you don’t want to be late for the ship, that’s for certain. He calls you out by name when you are late for all aboard, then, the next day, he’ll mention you again in the morning – “hope Christian and Fernando make it on time today”. As a matter of fact, Christian and Fernando (who were Spanish) were really late getting aboard in Madeira – all aboard was 4:30, sail away was 5:00 and they didn’t get aboard until 5:00. Of course Captain Marek announced this and said he would find them later. Then 7 days later, in Nassau, he announced we were here, and the ship was cleared and all aboard was 4:30. Then he said – and for Christian and Fernando I’m giving them the all aboard in Spanish – and he proceeded to speak Spanish. Too funny!
He also is the “rockin’” captain. He used to be in a rock band, so he sings. In the Centrum we had Rockin’ with the Vision crew where Captain Marek sang “It’s My Life” and “Mustang Sally”, and other crew members sang songs like “Lady in Red” and other popular songs.
Staff/Ship atmosphere: By far one of the happiest ships we have ever sailed. With one exception (the one we call the sticker lady), there wasn’t a sour face or attitude in the lot. Didn’t matter who you saw, passed in the hall, talked to – everyone was happy and friendly.
Passenger altercations – Day 5 at sea Captain Marek, during his noon announcement, mentioned that there had been some guest altercations aboard, and we should come to staff if anything happened, not try to take care of it ourselves. He made a point of saying that he wouldn’t put up with this – “not on my ship.” Turns out there was a “fight” in the Diamond lounge between 2 ladies. We’ve only heard rumors, but 2 women got into it, then their husbands joined in. We also heard a rumor the ship was debating putting them off in Nassau. Never did get confirmation on that – but honestly! We also heard that people were fighting on the pool deck – hitting each other with their towels. That was probably over the chair hogs – and there are LOTS of them here! Rich (CD) and Daniel (Asst CD) even mentioned this on their morning show – asking people to please not try to reserve deck chairs. Sigh…..
Food – Pretty good. The red meat is right on – good cuts and perfectly cut. The white meat – eh – not so much. They cook the chicken and pork to death – but otherwise, the menus are creative (if not sometimes bordering on the odd) and if we listen to Warren’s (our waiter) recommendations, we’re always good!
Cookies – this is the cookieless-ist ship on the seas! They hide the cookies. Seriously. You have to ask for them at the dessert buffet at lunch. We can sort of understand, because people tend to take way more than they can (or should) eat! But still, it was funny! Also there are a couple varieties that are just bad. The chocolate cookies were the worst cookie I’ve ever tasted – I wouldn’t even categorize it as a cookie! The oatmeal raisin though, were the absolute best. Go figure.
Overall – excellent. Great cruise, fun ports, good crossing and a fantastic staff always there with a smile.
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