Vision of the Seas Review

3.5 / 5.0
1,211 reviews

Food and Port Shuttle

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Vision of the Seas
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Ordinary People
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Oct 2015

We were on 11 nights Vision of the Sea on 10/19/15 and the food in Main Dining Room and Windjammer were same almost everyday except they may change the food name. Do not expect free lobster and steak any more or free kitchen tour or midnight buffet. The headwaiter were busy to explain to the complaints almost every night including why the food were so salty. Windjammer closed at 9:00 PM, not like other cruise lines that may close at 10:00 PM.

The port shuttle services were totally not organized. Some of the port shuttles were not free except in Venice. At some ports RC staffs could not tell us which shuttle was the public shuttle and where to pay and there were no signage or information. They pointed us to different buses and different people including the drivers who could not understand English.

In Venice we were surprised to know the port shuttle would be free when we got down to terminal building. The only public announcement the night before was to remind the passengers who ordered the water taxi or water bus to get back before 11:30 PM for their port shuttle. There was no information about the free port shuttle. There was no line or rope set up at the shuttle stop. There was no RC staff could be found. Hundreds of the passengers were trying to get on one shuttle bus we saw through the two doors. We managed to get on the free shuttle bus but it turned out that it took everyone to the prearranged water taxi or water bus stop and not the public water bus run by ACTV and this stop for the prearranged water taxi or water bus was 2 blocks away from the People Mover in another direction. We finally took the People Mover to Piazzale Roma where ACTV water buses were located. This free port shuttle wasted at least 60 minutes of our time. We could have walked from the terminal building to the People Mover.

Cabin Review

Port Reviews

Villefranche

We thought we had done enough research and would know how to get to the Palace in Monte Carlo. We totally lost our orientation as soon as coming out from the Harbor Exit of the Train Station and the Tourist Directional Sign were in French. We took the Hop On and Hop Off bus, located out side the Harbor Exit of the train station, to get to the Palace. We found that there was just no way to walk to the Palace which was located on top of the hill.

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Too many people everywhere in Rome. Make sure the tickets you buy on line are Skip the Line tickets. The tickets we bought from Tuscanyall.com for the Colosseum and Forum were not skip the line tickets. We got to the Colosseum at 10:00 AM and they gave the tickets with 1:30 PM admission, but we also bought the real Skip the Line tickets for the Vatican Museum at 1:30 PM. We did not use the Colosseum tickets.

Positano (Amalfi)

The train to Pompei is the same train to Florence. When checking the train schedule, find the train's original start and end train station names. It was not necessary to show on the Arrival or Department Schedule boards with the train going to station name of Saleno.

Venice

N/A

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