KenCP

I was just on a 12 night cruise this past September and was waiting for the laundry special, it never happened.  I asked and they had a few issues with the laundry so they did not want to be overwhelmed with laundry,so they did not offer the special.  Just regular pricing unfortunately.

The ports were just one day each except for the overnight in Venice.  Each port had plenty of time to do your own thing or a tour through the cruise line. 
I think 10 + is the best for the Med., anything less is to short especially if you have to travel from North America.

Just completed a 12 night Venice Mediterranean cruise on Vision of the Seas and it was fantastic.  Could not of picked a better itinerary, and the ship was great too.  It is an older ship, but it has been maintained very well, and the crew is what makes this ship. 

Just completed a 12 night Venice Mediterranean cruise on Vision of the Seas and it was fantastic.  Could not of picked a better itinerary, and the ship was great too.  It is an older ship, but it has been maintained very well, and the crew is what makes this ship. 

Welcome to the blog, Scott and thank you for your military service.
You are fortunate, indeed to have received a military discount from Royal Caribbean.  They are, unfortunately, very rare. It’s one of the few disappointing things about Royal Caribbean. 
In all of our years of cruising, We have only received a military discount once and that was on Carnival, years ago.  They required that I fax the “proof” to them when I booked. I really have no idea how Royal handles it but I would certainly take either the 214 with me or a military ID or something. No sense in having utter chaos ensue at the port by not having some kind of paperwork with you, just in case.
As far as tipping goes, it’s completely a personal choice.  You are already tipping the room attendant by virtue of your daily gratuity so an additional tip, should you choose to give one, would be on top of that.  We always tip our attendant extra but it is not required or even expected, from my experience.
I’m happy to hear that your somewhat disappointing first cruise hasn’t spoiled you from the chance to try again.  You certainly picked a great ship.  Allure is a beauty.  If your wife is uncomfortable in crowds I will offer a suggestion regarding the muster drill.  That is the one and only time I ever feel crowded on a ship - any ship.  
Let’s say the muster drill is at 4:30.  At around 4:00, go to your muster station and find the person who is scanning Seapass cards and have that person scan both of your cards.  Then tell that person that your wife is claustrophobic and that you are going inside to have a seat.  Go to one of the bar areas (but not at the bar itself) and have a seat. That is where people who are in wheelchairs or have other physical limitations will sit through the drill.  If anyone says that you must go to your muster station, just tell them that your cards have already been scanned and that you are going to sit where you are for the muster drill. You will find others will come and sit there as well.  One of the staff will perform the life jacket demonstration for those of you who are seated inside.  Then...once the drill concludes and everyone begins to surge towards the elevators, just remain seated and enjoy your seat for a while longer until the crowds clear out.  Not only will you avoid the mass of humanity but you get to sit down in the cool bar area while everyone else is cued up outside.  Of course, on Allure your muster station might be inside anyway but you can avoid the crowds by being elsewhere.

I'm telling you... The laundry bag for 25 was wonderful!!!   I really could have done one suitcase.  Taking fewer shoes really helped.  Next time I will definitely plan on rewearing evening dinner clothes and washing the daytime stuff that gets too sweaty to just re-wear!  Can't wait to hear how your trip goes!  Jane

Ack... Just deleted disembarkation day lol!  Sigh!  Anyway, we didn't sleep well...I was up before 5 and Madison left at 6 to say goodbye to friends. 


We didn't have to fly out till 355 so we had some options.  We could have stayed on the ship, but that would have been depressing to hang with all the people excitedly starting their trip so we decided to do an excursion with royal to Montserrat and get dropped off at the airport.  It was amazing!!!  Although a long drive, the views were amazing, the Benedictine church beautiful and we were so happy we did it!







 
There was a statue of st. George (I think) by the artist who did the passion facade of segrada familia (not gaudi who only completed the Nativity facade).  It is striking...


Monserrat is famous for it's "Black Madonna" dating from the 13th century.  It was beautiful as was the rest of the church. Again... Took hundreds of pics but here are a few!












Built into the rock that surrounds the Fitch is an area you can light candles.  I was able to light a candle in mentor if my parents and my dad who would have loved this trip.  How I wish we'd discovered cruising sooner!



Time to race to the airport where it took an hour to check in and then we made the mistake of trying stir fry... That took almost an hour!  We ran to our gate to find our flight delayed for almost 2 hours.  Oh well.. we had time to eat our stir fry and then even have a glass of cava!  The flight was uneventful though incredible again we had to wait for a gate at O'Hare.  Customs was easy peasy and we were home by 10pm.  Sleeping was a very good thing since we'd been up over 24 hrs!  I will have to do final wrap up thoughts later as it is Monday morning and alas... I'm back to work lol!  Ugh! Jane
 
 

DAY 10...another sea day.  Sea days are just therapeutic for me, but boring for you to read about.  I had practice 3 for thriller and sat in my deck chair. Jeff and Madison went to the sushi class and LOVED it!  They said it was super fun and that they are going to make sushi when we get home.  Makes me happy!!   We made great use of our drink pkg again and basically had a wonderful day.
  It was formal night so we got dressed up and went to mdr.  They actually called us to see if we were coming and we're very concerned we hadn't been happy on night one.  We definitely enjoyed the main dining room the couple times we went but when you add in specialty dining and all the port eating and the drink pkg it is just too much for big long dinners.  We were really surprised when they brought us a piece of cake and sang "happy anniversary" to us!  The 50 year royal cakes are still being offered as well! 



We did go to the production show.  We have made most of the shows (we missed the Motown one on Malta day) and most have been pretty good.  The production shows by the royal singers and dancers have been weak.  I've seen boogie wonderland before and the songs aren't great..they did the "cake in the rain song" that is not really boogie or disco...just bad lol.  It does not help this is a very young cast (most are first tours) and they just aren't developed enough.  Watching a fresh faced 19 year old sing "I will survive" just doesn't quite work lol.  Anyway I always drag Jeff to them anyway!

Ok...that brings us up to day 11and Malta but I have to head to class 5 Of thriller!  More later!  Jane

SANTORINI continued...
On to Thira.   On the outskirts it is just a regular city with lots of yrafgic, drug stores and not pretty.  I was not impressed until we walked out of the congested area and we found the amazing area (I still think Mykenos prob has this as well and we just didn't find it).  Thira isn't as charming as Oia but has its share of great views.  Everywhere  in the two villages there were amazing doorways that were unique and pretty.  I love this picture with vision in the back!!



As is our habit we found a little cafe and tried the local drinks and food.  Madison tried fava beans and liked them,while I tried the very good Santorini beer!  We could look at Vision while we ate and I didn't get a pic on my phone, but Jewel showed up to join her sister vision!


 



We shopped, found more quaint and incredible views! I love this old church and then the view of the grafitti under it...old and new...




 
I think this last one is from Oia but so cool and I forgot to add it before. 

It was getting around 1 and we'd heard horror stories about 2 hour lines to ride the cable car from Thira to the port.  You can walk down but it's very slippery and hot.  I figured we could wait in line.  It turned out to be only 45 mins!  It would have been even shorter if people weren't people and letting 8 friends jump into their group and just deciding they didn't need to wait and cutting into line.  I loved the people who tried to just walk in front of us 5 mins away from the ticket booth!  Yeah...NO!!    The cable car ride was very cool!!




On the tender ride back we found out their walk took 53 mins down so I was happy we cable carred it!   Santorini is very rocky...the cliffs were numerous and it amazes me how they can build these buildings into them.  



And a last picture of mads on the top of the tender!

We really loved our day in Santorini!  Dinner as usual was relaxed in the windjammer for us, while Madison joined one of her friend's  family in the MDR.  Jane

DAY 9 SANTORINI...
Santorini was totally a surprise at how much we loved it!  I had been freaking out about the 5-6 cruise ships we would see there and after mykenos, we just weren't sure what to expect.  
Because of the tender situation (they were still calling in numbers at 11 for Cannes) and because we were there and didn't quite understand all the transportation options, we chose to do the royal "Oia on your own" which gave us bus transportation, 45 mins to take pics and shop,and then transportation to Thira (or Fira....I saw both names).  
At this point I want to say something about tours and guides.  They vary widely!  Some trips we had a great guide who was interesting, informative, could speak perfect English and was amazing.  A couple times our guide was monotone, slightly disorganized and not nearly as interesting.  Apparently there is a difference (at least in Greece) btw a guide and an escort.  I found this out when I sat and watched a woman berate our little barely 20s timid "escort" on the way to Thira because she didn't share enough info on the way to Oia and the other bus got all sorts of information so why wasn't she more interesting?  OMG!  Whatever your view, why yell at the guide in your own language?  What is she suddenly going to do...become a fountain of knowledge and speak more clearly?  If you have an issue, let royal know when you are back or hire your own private tour.  It was so ugly tourist out of order.  Ok...rant over....back to beautiful Oia.  
Oia was absolutely amazing and I want to go back.  We did go very early...were one of the very first tenders and beat a lot of the crowds there.  This made it a lot better.  Even by the time we were leaving after only 45 mins it was getting more and more crowded and it was not as nice.  But we loved it...I wish they let you stay longer.  We would have really liked to sat in one of the cafes and drank a glass of ?!  
Every time we turned around there was another beautiful view and another amazingly interesting building.  I took hundreds of pictures.  There are gazillions of little paths and stairways that led to more little shops, more views and cool building.  I could have explored for hours.  The colors were incredible and the sea the most gorgeous blue!  I could post way too many pics but here are a few, including one of my beautiful daughter who was the happiest I've seen.  A year ago we were battling some pretty scary stuff with her and it made my heart sing to take these pics.  Santorini is one of my new happy places for sure!  

We were in a place yesterday that put paper straws into their drinks (sodas) that were served in plastic cups! I was too tired to question them, but how weird is that?
 

Today's office view!! It's our 2nd sea day!

So yesterday the sea day was wonderful.  Spent the day in the solarium being annoyed by the group of 10 who kept those chairs all day even though they had maybe 3 or 4 there at a time.  Sigh... Anyway decided to do the sky deck today... Less stress!  And I think a little more breeze, though they opened the roof and that made a huge difference at 1130am.  
I did do the first thriller class.  I really like Steve Davis and I'm not really a cruise director person who notices.  But Steve is everywhere (he was the main singer at the centrum rock and roll party last night) and he just really seems friendly.  So anyway I will be back at 1 for class number 2.  Here was the party from 1 deck above... We didn't get seats on the main floor because we went to the theater show first.


We had izumi at 630.  They have Madison several options and she went with the vegetable tempura and the veggie roll, and loved both.  Jeff and I ate the firecracker spring roll,  champagne lobster and California rolls and the hot rocks with tenderloin and seafood.  It was really good.  I found the service to be just ok... It wasn't bad but he didn't really explain anything, and we had to ask for more water and drinks.  The $35 per person worked because Madison didn't eat much... Otherwise we'd have gone over.  As was I think we spent 5.  I needed Jeff to go make a pizza run at 1am lol...I was hungry... But the food really was excellent.  Forgot to take pics of the rolls (as usual) but here are other pics





After izumi, as I said, we went to the theater for the Lomax brothers...4 hands, 2 brothers, 1 piano.  It was a fun show and we enjoyed it.  I'm pretty sure I have seen them before but not sure when or which ship!  After that we raced to centrum for the rock and roll party and then called it a night... Til I sent Jeff to grab me park Cafe pizza! Jane
 

Chair hog update!!! For the first time ever, a royal Caribbean person is marking chairs!!!!   These chairs have been vacant for almost 2 hours!  

Chair hog update!!! For the first time ever, a royal Caribbean person is marking chairs!!!!   These chairs have been vacant for almost 2 hours!  

Ack.... Just lost 30 mins of blogging.  Argh.........   Hit read next instead of enter.   Ok... My beautiful Rome blog is gone... Argh....   You will be happy to know they gave those chairs away!!  
Ok ..no ❤️  to redo Rome right now.  Ugh so sad.  Anyway I will give the condensed version.  We met at 7am with our first guide and then added a tour guide to give history in Rome.  Both were excellent!  Our first stop was the ancient Roman area




It was really not very crowded and I felt really pretty safe from pickpockets.  I'd love to spend days walking around this area!  
Next we went to St Peter's in chains to see the st Peter relics and most amazingly, Michelangelo's Moses!  So incredible!  



After that we went to lunch.  The cafe had 2 other tour groups but the food was pretty good and the service was efficient.  The wine... Not so great lol!  





Madison was able to get a vegetarian salad and enjoyed the lasagna.  Then it was on to the Vatican and the Sistine chapel.  I'm not sure I can express it again (I did so well in the deleted one) but it was one of the most treasured memories of my life to look up at Michelangelo's ceiling. You could spend a whole day in the Vatican museum, but like Versailles and the Louvre, it is hard to absorb all the ceiling art, tapestries sculpture etc.  We kind of raced through that but then were able to spend 5-10 minutes I think ( I lost track of time) in the Sistine chapel.  They don't allow photos or videos there but I will remember it forever.  The art is amazing.
Next we went to St Peter's basilica to see  Michaelangelo's pieta and Bernini's alter.  So beautiful in that church and outside in St. Peter's square











We got back to citiavechia around 545.  It is interesting in the industrial port to find old Roman ruins!


We decided while we could find stuff in mdr, we would windjammer it again for dinner American night.  I ended up eating fajitas lol!   I found red velvet cake for @Sweety

All the cakes were yummy!


We finished the night with drinking blue drinks in the schooner bar... They have a pianist and violinist playing until the main piano guy comes at 945, watching the orchestra show and just relaxing.  It amazes me the people that come to shows late, flounce right up to the front row, stay for 5 mins and then leave.  Argh!  Jane
 

Today!!   Almost caught up!  And happy 29th anniversary to me!!!!   Cannot believe we are spending it here in Barcelona! 
   We had gone back and forth whether to try and get ourselves to sitges, a beach town best Barcelona.  We found a tour that combined it with a trip to Tarragona to see the ancient Roman ruins.  We left at 830 (walked a half hour to get there... Which was awesome!  I have over 6 miles a day walking here to balance out the gelato!).  It was amazing!  Tarragona has an incredibly well preserved aquaduct you can actually walk on top of!  It was so cool.  In addition the city has an ampitheater, a circus, City walls... It was amazing!  Cannot wait for Rome and Athens!  




I can't believe NONE of my ampitheater pics were on my phone lol!! I'm an awful blogger!  You will have to come to Tarragona to see it! 
   Then it was on to the beaches at sitges.  We decided to do lunch first at a cafe for, what else, cheese and ham table and paella.  Oh yes, and finally tried cava sangria...yum, just yum!  


I keep forgetting to take pics BEFORE we eat most of things!!!

   We spent about an hour in the water and on the beach with a beautiful breeze blowing and incredible waves to jump in!  It was totally packed so I'm glad we didn't spend the whole day, but we came home tired and  happy!  



So by the time we showered and packed it was close to 9...we decided 2 Spanish heavy dinners was not going to happen, so we did the pathetic American thing and ate Five guys with an amazing view of Sagrada familia!  I know... Pathetic!  

Finally impressions of Barcelona:. We enjoyed it but not as much as Paris.  4 days was plenty and we feel we missed some things we wanted to hit (the Miro museum and the magic fountains, and a few better restaurants) but overall had a nice time.  We enjoyed the openness and ease of the Sagrada neighborhood but wouldn't be opposed to bring closer to old Town.  Our favorite things were Sagrada familia and the neighborhood Cafe by the Picasso museum that was totally off the beaten track! 
   And so tomorrow morning we board vision of the seas!  Apparently the last sailing had some tough weather and seas (they were unable to go to Santorini and the water is really rough right now as they head towards Barcelona.  We forgot to buy sea sickness meds for Jeff just in case so I will try and do that tomorrow morning!  Hoping we get calmer seas!!!  Jane

After the rain passed it turned into a gorgeous don't day.  The heat has definitely broken... It's still summer but the nights are cool and it hasn't been deadly during the day.  We wandered all over the Gothic quarter... Kinda following the lonely planet waking tour and stopping when we wanted.  We finally found Madison her espadrills (she has been looking for months for the pair she wanted!), Watched street performers, enjoyed the many plazas and basically got a feel for the old area.  It was a cool way to spend most of a day.  




Did I mention more gelato?  It may be a theme!!!
Ones to the ramblas.  It was an interesting area...my favorite part was the huge food market.  I will be honest... There is so much being sold on the street that it is overwhelming.  I actually felt pretty safe but it was daylight and nobody grabbed anything. 







After wandering all day we ended up at a horrible little cafe for dinner... It really wasnt good.  We have found that the than the pizza find, we have ended up mostly in tourist trap eateries because of where we are staying.  But that's been ok....I think actually we have been spoiled by the amazing tapas place we have at home!  Jane

Ok... While I wait the 20 mins for the teenager to make curfew I can update the day!!   We didn't get our luggage until after muster drill and sailaway so we couldn't really unpack.  Here are some pics:


We did my time dining... The food was really pretty good... Best prime rib in a while!  I forgot to take pics until Madison reminded me I was the worst blogger ever... So I took dessert pics!  I even forgot to snap the menu!


After dinner we came back and I unpacked.  It is incredible how much for we have!  We definitely could stay in this room with more kids.  Then we headed to the headline show.  It was a shadow show where they did hand s
hadow shapes on the screen.  I didn't take my camera out early enough... It was actually really good, hokey as it sounds!  I missed pics of the animals but here are some singers!


I can't remember all of them, but it was fun.  The people who come in late, walk down the middle aisles talk during the show, and basically are rude as heck just kill me!  Visions rows at least have tons of leg room so you can let all these people in and out several times!!  Argh.. 
After the show we hit cafe latte-tudes and then schooner for the amaretto for the ☕ and then to bed.  
Update on the teenager... She made it back 1 minute late and apparently meet a group of 7 high school girls who all speak English.  She is very happy and meeting everyone at 10 tomorrow after everyone's formal night!  Huge load off my mind.
   Tomorrow is Cannes.  The plan is to sleep in, eat, take the tender after the initial rush is all over, shop and then hit the public beach.  Looking forward to a very laid back day because many of our other excursions start before 7am!!
   Oh... And I forgot to ask for my robe!  Gotta do that tomorrow...I mean today!  Jane

We are on board!  We waited almost longer for the cab then we did too board the ship.  We used the cabify app... No Uber here in Barcelona.  The driver was a bit crazy because traffic here is fast and busy!  I was stressing because this was the latest Ive ever gotten to the port.  Didn't need to worry though!!  We pulled right up to terminal B with no wait.  No porter needed as we walked 10 feet to the cart where the nice porter loaded our luggage.  We had expedited arrival but it wouldn't have mattered because nobody was there at 1045.  We literally walked through security and on to the ship.. LESS than ten minutes!!!   By 1105 I was making our dining reservations... Got everything we wanted including chops night 2 formal night 630.  By 1115 had lava flow with kraken (well training bartender so first drink turned out to be a Miami vice actually) and eating in the windjammer!






The windjammer want crowded and the food was typical fare... Food Temp was warm and everything seemed fresh.  We were offered there STRONGEST Bahama Mama welcome drinks I've ever had! 

It's now 1245 and be we are in the solarium waiting for the room to be available!  Book in hand I am relaxing!! Oh, and so excited... The solarium roof is OPEN!!!!!!   Happy happy happy!  


More later!  I will see how the voom is (can't tell if I'm still on data or voom) for periscoping.  A lot of those may end up replays for people with the time change!  Jane
 

The nice thing with 12 nights you can really settle in and enjoy yourself. 12 night European cruises are usually port intensive so even though it is 12 nights it will still go fast. 

Thanks all for the very kind words and compliments. 
Thanks to you for all of your helpful and insightful advice, commentary and humor on these boards. I'm really glad we have this wonderful place to talk about the most important thing in the whole wide world.

I have been watching Royal Caribbean Blog's YouTube channel, other you tube channels, and reading all the posts here. 
Having the Queen Mary II in port today does not help matters. On the bright side I only have 41 days to go to set sail in Barcelona.

Have a great trip Jane!  Can't wait to hear about it.
I am excited now too,  Queen Mary II is my port today for a visit to tease me.  But tease me no more because in 41 days I will be boarding in Barcelona!   Well a few more cruise ships here in port over the next few weeks to tease me.

If you are planning on drinking bottled water, a few cocktails, a couple wines with dinner and a drink or two during a show etc it may be worth it. Here is a great calculator that was developed and posted by @Grenadyr this may help you out.  Also look for packages when they go on sale.  They are always specials posted in your cruise planner.  You can always purchase a package them when it goes on sale cancel and rebook it.
https://connect.calcapp.net/?app=9tts3#/

I always cut them because YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, ROYAL. 
.... actually I just think it's easier to slide them in without all the extra paper but that might just be me or just the variety of holders I have. I think it says not to cut so that it's a little thicker when they're folded and less easy to tear off the bags if they're not in the holder.