Background Information: We traveled on the Vision of the Seas - an Alaskan cruise - for our 25th wedding anniversary trip, sail date, 7/21/06-7/28/06. We have been on over five other cruises with those being to the Bahamas and Western Caribbean. We chose Royal Caribbean because most of the cruises we have taken have been with Royal Caribbean and we have been happy with the cruises. Other reasons for choosing this particular cruise is that it was a Seattle round-trip (which saved on airfare) and we liked the itinerary.
Hotel Info: Prior to our cruise we arrived in Seattle three days early to see the sites of Seattle since neither of us had ever been. We stayed at the Inn at Harbor Steps which we would highly recommend. The accommodations were very nice, but best of all, they had a large, homemade breakfast buffet (served from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.) and then they also had an afternoon tea from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. featuring tea of course, but also red and white wine, fruit, veggies, cheese, crackers and some type of homemade cake. Service and staff were excellent - highly recommended!
Activities: We are not much into the on board activities. But we did notice that the activities that were taking place around us were much more subdued than on the Caribbean cruises we have taken. Vision of the Seas has two pools a family pool and an adult pool (which we love). The adult pool is only supposed to be used by children (who are supervised by their parents) during inclement weather between the hours of 12:00-2:00 p.m and 4:00-6:00 p.m. This is not enforced by the pool attendants as the family pool was open but yet there were children (loud children) in the adult pool and hot tubs. I am not anti-children - I teach first grade - we have three adult children, however, if the adult pool has these rules, they should be enforced and we feel that under no circumstances (even during the times listed) should the children be in the adult hot tubs - let the adults have a little space even during the children friendly times listed above. That was our biggest complaint on this cruise.