Cruise ship Vision of the Seas: profile, photo tour, interviews, menus

I was a little apprehensive before sailing on Vision of the Seas. In researching her beforehand, I read that the ship had never had a major refurbishment since entering service in 1998. This sounded unusual to say the least and I wondered if I would find some worn out and outdated ship upon boarding.

My concern turned out to be entirely unwarranted. The ship was in marvelous shape. In fact, I found her in better condition than her sisters in the Vision class that I have sailed. I saw no signs of wear. She does not have all the features of Allure of the Seas but then you can't really expect a smaller ship to offer such a panoply of features.

What Vision does offer instead is a cruise experience on a personal scale. Her size is conducive to interaction both with your fellow guests and with the officers and crew.

Vision has a good senior team as well. Captain Srecko Ban is a dynamic young officer who likes to interact with the passengers and to lead by example.

I met Joao Mendonca when he was Food and Beverage Manager on Allure of the Seas. There he played a key role in developing that ship's innovative dining operation. Now that he has been promoted to Hotel Director, his talents are being used to create memorable cruise experiences for Vision's passengers.

Vision is scheduled for her first major refurbishment in September 2013. This is part of a fleetwide program to roll out some of the features of Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas to the rest of the Royal Caribbean fleet. The plans are ambitious and when completed will give guests on Vision more dining and entertainment options.

The transformers will have to be careful, however, to ensure that Vision does not lose the character and ambiance that she has today. Those are more valuable than physical features.

The home page for our profile of Vision of the Seas is at: http://beyondships.com/RCI-VOS-Profile.html

The photo tour and commentary about the ship begins at http://beyondships.com/RCI-VOS-tour-1.html

We also have a menus page with the new Royal Caribbean menus being used on Vision. http://www.beyondships2.com/vision-of-the-seas-menus.html

Our conversation with Captain Ban is at http://www.beyondships2.com/vision-of-the-seas-captain-interview.html

Mr. Mendonca talks about Vision today and outlines the changes that will be made during the refurbishment. http://www.beyondships2.com/vision-of-the-seas-interview-hotel-director.html

Royal Caribbean's new Quantum of the Seas

It is hard to believe that people are not already lounging by the side of the pools or enjoying the entertainment on Quantum of the Seas. After the media preview held last week in New York City, I felt that the ship is out there sailing the seas somewhere. In reality, however, that is still some 18 months in the future.

What made me feel that Quantum must already exist? To begin, we were shown a video with realistic looking images of the ship cutting through smooth seas. Then we were shown Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain flying in the ship's skydiving simulator and Royal Caribbean International President Adam Goldstein playing table tennis with Kristen Chenowith, the ship's godmother, in the Seaplex - - a venue that transforms from sports complex to entertainment center. We then saw Ms. Chenowith in various other parts of the ship.

Mr. Fain did say that today's computer technology had been of great assistance in allowing Royal to see how all the various components of the design would fit together. As a result, he assured us that the whole Quantum of the Seas would be greater than the sum of its parts and that “the thing that is most exciting to me is the way it all fits together as a seamless whole.”

Still, as impressive as the virtual reality was, the confidence with which Mr. Fain and Mr. Goldstein spoke about the ship. Listening to them speak, it was hard not to phrase questions in the present tense “does the ship” rather than the future tense “will the ship.”

So what was my impression after seeing the video, listening to the presentation and seeing the mock-up of a cabin with a virtual balcony and the land-based version of the skydiving simulator in the parking lot? I was impressed. Royal has come up with a lot of innovative ideas. It is exciting. In addition, the fact that the ship is to be built by Meyer Werft is another good sign as, in my opinion, that shipyard builds very high quality ships.

I was somewhat disappointed that she will not be the Royal Caribbean ocean liner that ship buffs had hoped for. She on to Quantum has been designed to be an all-season cruise ship since the plan is to sail her from the New York area even in the winter. However, Royal Caribbean Executive V.P. Harri Kulovaara, said flatly that she is not designed to be a North Atlantic liner such as Queen Mary 2.

This is disappointing because crossing between Europe and America in a fast liner is a much different experience than crossing the Atlantic during a re-positioning cruise. The speed is exhilarating and since it takes much less time than a re-positioning cruise, it is a viable alternative to flying. I would think that many people would like such an experience done in the Royal Caribbean style.

The media preview naturally focused on the headline garbing aspects of Quantum such as the North Star viewing platform - - a crane-like arm that will take passengers on a ride some 300 feet above the sea. However, my experience has been that there is more to Royal than the “wows.” Allure of the Seas is a great ship not because she is the largest in the world but because she is so multi-dimensional in entertainment, dining, accommodations and activities.

Although not designed as a follow-on to Allure, there are indications that Quantum will also be multi-dimensional. For example, Royal has thought about single passengers and is including a number of single occupancy studio staterooms on Quantum. Showing that it is not merely copying ideas from Norwegian Epic and P&O Cruises' Azura, some of these studios will be balcony cabins.

We have put together an introduction to Quantum which includes commentary from Mr. Fain and several other Royal Caribbean executives as well as photos. It begins at http://www.beyondships2.com/quantum-of-the-seas-revealed.html

Keeping with the Royal Caribbean theme, we have new photo essays of two of our favorite Royal Caribbean ships. The first shows the aforementioned Allure of the Seas arriving in Jamaica. http://www.beyondships2.com/allure-of-the-seas-in-jamaica.html This highlights Allure's nautical qualities as the maneuver depicted is not an easy one.

Brilliance of the Seas is another ship with good maneuverability. However, in this photo essay the focus is on her pretty lines docked in Antigua and St. Croix. http://www.beyondships2.com/brilliance-of-the-seas-in-the-caribbean.html