Nothing Special - Anniversary and Birthday |
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Reviewed By: Richards, Hereford on 25th Jun 2009
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| Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean Cruises |
Times cruised before: 6-10 |
| Cruise Ship: Vision of the Seas |
Sailed:
June,
2009 |
| Destination: Baltic |
Age: 56-65 |
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My wife and I have just returned from RCI Vision of the Seas, short Baltic cruise Stockholm/St Petersburg/Tallinn, mid-June 2009.
We've cruised before with RCI, overall good experience, but......this cruise was for our wedding anniversary and my wife's birthday, so we sent RCI Emails months in advance saying how much a VERY SPECIAL occasion I wanted this to be. Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING happened. No singing. No Cards, flowers, champagne, upgrade, meet the captain, have a tour on us, NOTHING ! What's the point in RCI saying "tell us if you have a special occasion" if they do nothing ??
Ah well, gripe over.
Otherwise we had a great time. Good weather helped. The tour guide in St Petersburg (Victoria, coach 6) was fantastic, so was Anu in Tallinn, both places well worth the visit.
The ship is getting dated and needs a refit/clean.
We saw a Beatles tribute band, who were FAB ! I saw the Beatles live in 1965, and have seen many tribute bands since, these guys are the best. 'Paul' even plays bass left-handed. Excellent night, went back to see them twice, and both times the theatre was rocking. Other nights the juggler and magician tried hard. The RC singers and dancers were on their first opening night and worked hard, but the music was out-of-tune, and 70's80's songs too obscure.
Does anyone know how to get in touch with this Beatles tribute band ? They need to stay together and make a fortune in America, I'd be happy to be their agent !
Guest Services were unhelpful, had a problem with pre-paid gratuities (which I hadn't booked) and GS insisted that I had,.....in the end my (the excellent Louise) cruise agent sorted the problem for me as RCI had a computer glitch - and not the first time my account has been wrong with RCI.
We flew into Stockholm for the cruise and the whole 4 days went well. Overall a nice holiday, that could have gone better if RCI had bothered to pay us some attention. In future we'll keep our special occasions to our selves.........
Food - Aquarius restaurant 7/10, Windjammer 6/10
Ship 6/10 (although last cruise QM2 so maybe a bit biased here), getting tired
RCI onboard guest services staff 0/10, that's ZERO for lack of helpfulness, and I saw four different staff ! Not a smile.
Restaurant staff 8/10, (thanks Rodrigo much appreciated)
Cabin attendant 8/10
Tour guides St.P 11/10 Tallinn 9/10
Check-in/departures 9/10 (met the check-in lady back at central station after the cruise who continued to be helpful with tips on Stockholm)
Cabin 5/10 was too noisy, and too much noise through-out the ship, even the library was noisy ! Needs some quiet space
Viking Crown lounge views are fantastic, however it was too smoky, seems the evacuation fans can't keep up with the starboard side smokers....who spread across the lounge without being stopped. Oh and the Scandinavian music hour was awful, not an Abba tune played all night just some dreary noise that made us move to the Schooner bar.
The jazz band in 'Some Enchanted Evening' lounge were excellent.
Indoor pool is supposed to be for adults only, but children were allowed in and spoiled this experience each day
Entertainment , Beatles band 11/10, juggler 7/10, Australian magician 7/10, Matt Sole cruise entertainment director 9/10
Highlight for me was the first evening passage out of Stockholm between the islands which was fantastic, not to be missed. We are thinking of visiting Stockholm to take the Helsinki ferry just to see this again.
And the visits to Russia/Estonia very interesting, let's hope communism is over for ever !
RCI again ? Maybe, but I'll agree the gratuities first, and not bother telling them if we have a special occasion.
Cruise again, definitely. Australia and New Zealand next............
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| Quality of Food |  |
| | Entertainment |  |
| Beatles Tribute band, the best I've seen in the last 40 years ! | | Shore Excursions | |
| St Petersburg tour guide first-class (Victoria coach6). Both St.Petersburg and Tallinn were worth the tour | | Staff | |
| Cabin attendant and restaurant staff Excellent.
Guest Services staff Unsatisfactory | | Children's Facilities |  |
| Indoor pool should be for adults only, and supervised properly | | Onboard Activities | |
| Too noisy, and smoky in Viking Crown lounge. The whole ship is TOO NOISY ! | | Cabins |  |
| Too noisy, getting dated | | Overall Rating | |
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