I just want to say this was a dream come true cruise/Mediterranean vacation for my husband and self. The weather was perfect, the excursions were wonderful and most importantly the people we met through Cruise Critic before our cruise really made our trip memorable. We set up 3/4 excursions through our CC members who were DIY and had some of the best excursions that were off the "norm". We have made "forever" friends, thanks to CC.
The Vision is a small cruise ship and at first, I kept searching for the other half of the ship. It was my first experience on such a small ship and became more enamored by the day with the quaintness of the ship and personal attention given by the crew. We also had problems with our SailPass working in our stateroom several times. My husband and I were both rekeyed 3 times and not on the same days.... I am also finding those "little things" such as chocolate on our pillows, lobster night, and entertainment to be lacking since I first cruised around 10 years ago. I miss my nice soft bathrobe, soaps and shampoos in the bathroom. The food quality was good but not excellent as it once was. I think the future will see a lot of empty rooms on cruiseships if they continue to make these type of "little" changes. There will come a time that staying in an all exclusive resort is going to make more sense, or since travelling in Europe is easy, people will just start doing it themselves.
We used RomeInTours in Italy and were happy with the service and professionalism with their staff. We didn't get much in way of conversation from our driver, but we think he did not speak much English. We went to the old Jewish Ghetto and Travestere...since both couples had done the Rome Tour thing in the past. We made lasting friends with the couple we met through CC for this tour. We sat together occasionally for the evening shows, Lee and I did water aerobics and Zumba classes together and joined a "FlashMob" group and practiced for a performance in the Centrum one evening. We have even discussed doing a cruise in the future together.
The cabin was very nice, beds were comfortable. We experienced noise late evening until about midnight above us....I think it was the outside deck but it could have been the dining room setting up for breakfast...usually was quiet by 12a.m.
Took the train, walked to the top of the city and enjoyed some together time.
The most beautiful part of our trip. We went to Oia by the fast ferry and enjoyed a "at our own pace" tour of the city, hopped the bus to Fira and had lunch along the seaside. Did some sightseeing and experienced the walk down the mtn. which was quite the experience trying to share the space with a 100 donkeys.