To start, a little background on me and and my journey in planning this cruise. I'm 40 years old and this was my 33rd cruise. Prior to this sailing I have logged 238 days at sea on cruise lines that run the gamut from Carnival to Regent Seven Seas and everything in between. This was my 6th RCCL sailing, but I qualify for their Diamond level in the Crown and Anchor Society due to my Elite Captains Club status with sister line Celebrity Cruises.
I originally booked this cruise to sail as a solo traveler back-to-back with the 12/3/12 11 night cruise. I was really looking forward to this as the only island that would repeat in the 21 days would be Antigua, which is one of my favorites. I liked both itineraries immensely and really appreciated the fact that neither sailing stopped in St. Thomas. I specifically chose the Vision for a variety of reasons, one of which was that as a solo traveler I wanted to enjoy a more traditional cruise with a variety of table mates at dinner. The Visions lack of alternative dining seemed to lend itself more naturally to that goal. I also wanted to travel on at least one vessel in this class of ship that was virtually in her original floor plan and decor. The only major furnishings change to the ship since her launch in 1998 were in the windjammer, atrium and the solarium along with stateroom balconies.
The original bookings had me in a deck 4 category F ocean view #4010 for both segments. Sadly, in early August, I had to cancel the second segment due to work related commitments in early December. Darn that pesky work stuff! Once I settled on just doing the 11/23 sailing I decided to treat myself and splurge for a better cabin! By luck an aft Junior Suite (#8590) with an extended balcony was available! It was a bit more than I had planned to spend for the two cruises combined, but ya know, why not! Well, about 2 weeks later RCCL offed D1 balcony cabins at a resident discount that was too good to pass up, so I switched to cabin #7554, not a "WOW" balcony, but as I was planning on traveling solo it would suffice. Lo and behold, less than 5 days later an aft D1 with oversized balcony (#7656) became available. I snatched it up faster than you can blink even though it was a connecting cabin.
The cabin was amply sized with more than adequate storage for a 10 day cruise. As mentioned before we were in an aft D1 connecting room with an oversized balcony (#7656). The room was about 190 square feet and was laid out quite well with a few exceptions. The bathroom door opened in an awkward manner blocking the entry/closet area and making dressing with the bath door open impossible. The bathroom itself was typical RCCL compact but had enough storage for all of Andrews gels, creams, unguents, pomades, lotions, potions, etc along with my measly assortment of toiletries. The shower, while not overly generous, proved to be adequate and over the course of the next 10 days the shower curtain and I would become more friendly than I'd ever hoped! The entry/ closet area in balcony rooms on the Vision feature wood floors, which is a nice touch and helps set them apart from standard interior and oceanview rooms. The beds a all located close to the bath and have their heads against the side wall. They were comfortable and when combined seemed to produce something more akin to a King bed than a Queen. The connecting door was opposite the bed and was well insulated. We never heard noise from the adjoining cabin. On the same wall as the bed was a nicely sized sofa which I could lay full down on with room to spare (I'm 6'1" tall), a small glass and brass cocktail table and across from the sofa a generous desk with additional drawers and storage along with a small flat panel tv.
The balcony itself was immense, at least fully 3/4 of the size of the room itself. Furnishings included two adjustable sun loungers, 2 dining chairs and a small dining table. All were relatively new and were of the blue mesh, faux teak wood and powder coated aluminum that is becoming standard as RCCL refurbishes all their ships. About 1/2 of the balcony is covered with an overhang which allows plenty of sun when desired, but still some opportunity for shade if preferred. This also allows protection from rain showers when dining alfresco, relaxing over a glass of wine, or often in Andrews case having a cigarette. The cabins on each side also had smokers and this non smoker never found the smell offensive or lingering. A soft breeze always seemed to draw the smoke away as if by magic. This particular balcony has one of the larger overhangs from above, some of the most floor space and is one of the few to not have a steel support beam running vertically from floor to ceiling in the middle of the rail. In short it is probably one of the best aft balcony options on this ship. We spent quite a lot of time out here and as is always the case with aft balconies, became quite social with our neighbors, usually sharing a recap of our days adventures at sailaway or sunset.