We have traveled with Royal Caribbean Cruises for 13 years. This is the first time we sailed out of the Tampa Port. The City of Tampa is beautiful and has lots to offer before and after the cruise. But their port #2 was a royal mess. They were very unorganized and rude. When we arrived on Dec-27th the officials that were supposed to welcome us, were very RUDE!! The last thing you felt was WELCOME!

Once we got settled in on the Vision of the Seas for Christmas week, our adventure started. We had an awesome time visiting Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Costa Maya.The Vision of the Seas did a remarkable job celebrating Christmas. Santa came to visit on Dec-25 morning and on Dec-24 we spent the early evening singing Christmas chorales. The shows were OK, we have experienced better shows on bigger ships. On this trip we made the decision of having 4 out of 6 night dinners at the specialtiy restaurants. We HIGHLY recommend IZUMI the Japanese Restaurant. Their creamy lobster sushi was remarkable and all their staff were super friendly and very professional. We signed up for a sushi class and we learned how to build a sushi but we also learned a lot about the Japanese culture and their sense of humor.

If you ever take this cruise make sure that you don't choose cabin #3656. If you do you will not be able to sleep well. The beds were like sleeping on "rocks", then around 6:45 am you will experience a little earthquake in your room. Every time the ship is about to stop on a port, your room will shake like if you were in the middle of a small earthquake. Read more