This was the third RCCL cruise that my wife and I have taken, the second on the Vision of the Seas. Last year we did a 9 night repositioning cruise of the Vision from our home port of Vancouver British Columbia that went through the inside passage to Alaska and finished at San Pedro where the Vision sails for the winter season. We booked our Mexican Riviera cruise in March of this year to continue with the next leg of the Visions itinerary. Our booking was done directly with RCCL, online and then by phone when we cancelled and rebooked to take advantage of a price reduction that happened in June. We were alerted to the price drop by a Cruise Critic member on the Meet'n'Mingle group for our cruise. The booking process was easy and painless and included our two shore excursions, the ability to print our trip documents made the process very convenient. We did our own flight arrangements but did book transfers to and from the airport through RCCL. This worked well because even though our flight arrived at LAX at 12:45PM we were able to get to the ship, slide through the checkin and were up in the WindJammer having lunch by 2:45. The greeter at the airport, bus driver and checkin clerk at the dock were all very helpful, polite and welcoming. Our stateroom was probably the smallest one on the ship. It was tucked into the end of a return corridor in front of the forward elevators directly below the Masquerade Theater. Though small (about the size of a 25ft motorhome) it was well laid out and lacking passersby, very quiet. Our room attendant, Gisselle, was very pleasant and made great towel animals..even though I thought the swan looked more like a cobra (maybe the sunglasses had something to do with my interpretation) when I complimented Gisselle on it she looked a bit puzzled and then roared with laughter, I guess I created a new animal for her to make!

We had a table for six at the late seating on the main floor by the staircase, next to the Captain's table. Our table mates were a couple from Atlanta Ga and another couple from Winnipeg Manitoba. Being all about the same age with similar attitudes towards life in general made for good conversation and a chance to learn about each others home cities and local attitudes to the worlds goings on. The food was about the same as our last two cruises, always plentiful and tasty. There seemed to be a bit less of a selection as some of the menu items I had been looking forward to were not to be seen. This could be attributed to seasonality or availability at the port of operation. Our table mates often had more than one appetizer or entree so they could try more items. Personally I found that one of each satisfied my hunger. The sugar free desserts are still the best for flavor and your waistline, my favorite is the key lime pie! Our servers Rose and Carol and headwaiter Ahmed were attentive, helpful with suggestions and always smiling, even though the servers were covering at least 20 diners at three tables. Extremely hard working group! We had lunch in the dining room about 4 times and the rest of our meals in the WindJammer. The selection was good, the taste and quality were very good for a cafeteria type setting. We were too full to partake of the mid-night buffet or the mid-night pool barbeque, but we did have a look and the cooking crew really out did themselves with the presentations. The entertainment was lively, with two performances by the RCCL dancers/singers, two acrobatic type groups, two comedians and the usual ship board love and marriage/quest etc. Very fun time. Our shore excursions were bus type tours into the countryside at Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. The tour at Mazatlan was hosted by a lady by the name of Itza who has lived in the city for many years and has a great pride in her city and country. We toured two small villages in the foothills of the Sierra Madreas mountain range and were treated to tours of local churches and leather product factories. The products were beautiful and the craftsmanship of the saddles we saw fantastic. We lunch at a small restaurant/hotel in the town of El Conches which consisted of the local tortillas with very tasty local cheese and salsas. The tour was about 6 1/2 hours, very interesting and very good value. At Puerto Vallarta we did the "Town, Country and Tequila" tour. Our host was Arturo who in his past was a professional soccer player and now is very proud to show off his country to visitors. Again we were treated to the real neighborhoods of the area and had a very informative narration about the history of the areas we visited. The "Dona Engracias" tequila hacienda was very beautiful and the six types of tequila we sampled very good! There is also a bazaar run by the employees of the hacienda where we purchased some local artwork from the artist/employees themselves. The tour wound up with a walking tour of the old city area and of course the obligatory shopping at recommended stores of good character. This tour was about 5 hours and again very good value for the cost.

My wife used the spa and was happy with the service, we are not lay around the pool people so we did not use the pools, but everyone I saw in the water seemed happy. Leaving the ship was easy as again we had an early flight to catch and the cruiseline made sure we were on the bus to LAX with plenty of time to spare. As always the waiting for your color to be called can be a bit boring but this time there was a group of fellow passengers who were a ukulele group originally from Hawaii, now of California. They played for about an hour, more for their own time passing but I for one love Hawaiian music so it was a nice send off back to the reality of travel and home. All in all a very enjoyable trip, we learned a lot, met some great people and have already booked another RCCL cruise to the Caribbean for fall 2008. Like the slogan says "Get out There"!