Baltic Cruise - Vision of the Seas

Old Jul 29th, 2010, 09:37 PM
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Baltic Cruise - Vision of the Seas

I've never written a trip report before Dayenu so this will be my first. and hope it's not too long.

We got into Stockholm the day before our cruise. The ship was available for boarding at 12:30 and we got there about 1:30. We had checked in online so it was a breeze checking in. Our room was ready upon boarding and our luggage came a few hours later. Our cabin attendant greeted us and explained things to us which was helpful since this was our first cruise. Before sailing, we had received an upograde so our cabin was 15 sq feet bigger than the original room. We just had an inside room, on the second deck, and it worked for us especially since we were hardly ever in our room. I was surprised how much storage space there was but our suitcases didn't fit in the closet or under the bed so we stored them on our small couch.

We were with a group of eight, so we were at a table together in the dining room for the 6:00 seating. I liked eating our meals in the dining room better than the buffet but some days we didn't have time for breakfast in the dining room and we got back too late to eat there when in St. Petersburg. I am not a real fussy eater and thought the food was good but there was no lobster night. I've never eaten so many deserts.

The info sent by the ship said there were two formal nights and one dressy causual but there was only one formal night. Most men had on sports jackets and ties (a few tuxes) and most women had on dressy dresses or cocktail dresses. There were supposed to be no shorts or jeans in the dining room but I never saw it enforced even on formal night. Many people dressed up for dinner most nights. We took too many dressy clothes so we dressed up every night.

During the day most people wore shorts or capris on and off the ship. We used our raincoats once and I used a sweater a few times but it was warm most of the time.

We went to the entertainment every night. It was ok. One night they flew a group in from England that were good. In St. Petersburg, there was a Russian Foloric show on board that night, so I was glad we hadn't booked anything off the ship because they were good. The rock and roll dance, at the pool, was fun. We shared a table with a Swedish couple.

Years ago my father went on a cruise and his movies showed this big extravagana buffet, so I was expecting a fancier late night buffet. They also ran out of food quite fast.

One thing we didn't know before getting on, was that the ship has a shuttle bus you can take to town in Helsinki and Gdansk for only $8.00 round trip and then you can just go on your own. In Helsinki we took the shuttle and then did the on and off bus tour. Some in our group rented bicycles in Helsinki and really enjoyed riding all over town. It rained when we were in Helsinki.

St. Peterburg was very hot & it looks like they are still having a heat wave, so be prepared. You may want to take a fan of some sort. If at all possible, go to the Hermitage in the morning as it was so hot and crowded in the afternoon.

The day at sea, it was very windy so we sat around the indoor pool area. We went to some of the activities offered everyday, but not many. Most of the time we just sat around with our friends.

Every time you turned around there was an opportunity to have your photo taken. We had some taken but didn't like them enough to buy them.

I got my husband a soda card online and when we got onboard they were on sale. I don't know if he got his money's worth out of it but it was so much more convenient than having to sign every time. We didn't drink any alcoholic drinks but people around us complained about the cost (about $10 a drink).

The ports we went to were Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Gdansk and Visby. Visby was the only port you had to take a tender. My favorite ports were Gdansk and Visby.

In Gdansk we ate a at restaurant on the river (on a barge) and the waitress asked if we'd like to take a boat ride on the river after our rmeal. We really enjoyed seeing the old town from the river, but had to go get some cash for the boat ride. I didn't buy any jewelry but some of the ladies we were with got nice amber jewelry at good prices. Most of the time, we just used a credit card off the ship. Poland had the best prices for food and souvenirs.

The ship's shops had a lot of Russian items and amber jewelry. People went crazy buying all the stuff on board. I did buy t-shirts for our family at the sale by the pool. I drooled at the Faberge eggs for sale in the shop. My favorite was $24,000!

In Visby, we stopped at the tourist information, right off the dock, got a map and just walked around town. We found a small hotel/cafe by the botanical garden and had Swedish pancakes for lunch. It was Sat., so there was a flea market in town.

When we got into our room, our safe wouldn't work and a repairman was there in five minutes. Our safe wouldn't open, when I tried to get our passports out for St. Petersberg but again the repairman was there in five minutes. We also had trouble twice with our seapass not opening our room. Don't know the problem since we didn't keep them by any electronics.

We used the wash/dry/fold special bag for $25.00 since we were going to Norway after getting off the ship. I was disappointed because everything came back damp and very wrinkled. I had to have our shorts pressed so we could wear them.

Being in the Baltic, the majority of the passengers were from Europe. There were some families and younger peole, but mainly older people. One thing , we noticed was that many of the Europeans on board were just plain rude. I was almost knocked down a few times by people in a big hurry. I've also never seen so many obese people in bikinis and speedos.

We never had any problems with the staff. They were friendly, polite and helpful, especially our cabin attendant and waiter. It was interesting to see the parade of flags and see all the countries the staff were from.

One day at breakfast, we sat by a woman who was on her 163rd cruise since 1994.
Apparently, she was a regular on Vision of the Seas and sailed two weeks at a time. Our cabin attendant siad she was always on the ship.

I was so worried we'd get seasick but we didn't. One of our friends usually has bad motion sickness and she didn't even have a problem. They said it's because the ship is on the Baltic Sea and not the open ocean. The only time it was a little rough was the night we left St. Petersburg.

I did have a problem with one of my ankles swelling up every day, but I had fallen a few days before our cruise. It continued to swell once home so my dr put my ankle in a brace for a few weeks.

This was our first cruise so we can't compare Vision of the Seas to any other cruise ship. Our friends have been on this ship twice but now prefer the bigger ships because there are more restaurants and activities.

I had heard about the illneses that have been pestering this ship. Every time you went to eat you had to use hand sanitizer and there signs all over encouraging everyone to wash their hands often and use hand sanitizer. No one with us got sick.

We enjoyed our cruise but kind of felt like we had overload after going to five different ports in six days. It was good to have a day at sea to relax. We also enjoyed being with our friends on this cruise.

As for another cruise I don't know. I have always wanted to do a river cruise in Europe during tulip time, but my husband doesn't think he wants to go on another cruise.

Dayenu, hope this review helps. Have a wonderful cruise! Let me know if you have any questions I didn't answer.
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Old Jul 29th, 2010, 09:45 PM
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Sorry, I thought I'd caught all my typos but still see some. If you're offended by them just don't read my report.
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 08:30 AM
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Great post! and looks like you had a wonderful time.
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 10:43 AM
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"and hope it's not too long" - and I hoped it will be

Annie, you are very good at describing details! Our itinerary is different, we're going north along Norway - but from what you write about the ship - I feel better after reading all complaints on Cruise critic!

Hope your ankle gets well really fast.

One question I do have. How was the disembarkation? Ours should be as early as possible.
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 01:04 PM
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I truly enjoyed reading this.

Thank you for sharing your cruise exeperiences with us.
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 02:16 PM
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Dayenu, disembarkation went smoothly. They go by your flight plans. You get colored tags for your luggage and put them out the night before and then you gather in an area and wait to be called. Your luggage is then waiting for you on the dock, in the color categories. We saw some people leaving with their luggage, as soon as the ship docked. I think it's called sxpress disembarkation and you can arrange it on board.

It also wasn't bad disembarking at the ports but we waited for the crowds to go first and came back before the deadline each day.

Enjoy Norway. We did Norway in a Nutshell and couldn't get over all the beautiful scenery. We've never seen anything like it before.

Be aware that Norway is very expensive. US money is not worth much. We paid $35.00 for a hamburger and $20.00 for a bread and cheese plate in a restaurant, in Oslo and heard it's $15.00 for a hamburger, fries and drink at McDonalds (which we didn't eat at). It makes you appreciate the ship's food even more.

We didn't do souvenir shopping but heard the prices are better in Bergen than in Oslo, especially for things like sweaters, if you're going there. Food was a little less expensive there also. We had good fish and seafood in Bergen.

Hope you enjoy your cruise. I haven't seen the complaints on Vision of the Seas but think many complaints may be because it's a medium size ship and not one of the big ships that people are used to now.

You may need a few warmer clothes for Norway. When we were on the boat in the fjord it was cold & windy & I was glad I had long pants and a jacket on.

I also forgot to mention the daylight hours. It's only semi-dark a few hours a day. We were walking around Bergen at 11:30 p.m. and the sun was still shining. We have friends who said they hated to waste the daylight hours and hardly slept on their Norway cruise!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2010, 12:19 PM
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"We saw some people leaving with their luggage, as soon as the ship docked. I think it's called sxpress disembarkation and you can arrange it on board." - oh, so they have it, this time our flight is early, we'll need to use this, thank you, Annie!

Thank you for this thread, very helpful!

I cannot wait, another 6 days till departure!!
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