Vision of the seas v. Mariner of the Seas

[Piglet]

How do they compare?

The Mariner is more expensive in the options in front of me. Is that for a good reason?

Interested in all comments. Thanks.

[Donna]

Mariner is a lot larger, more activities on board if that should matter. How about the itinaries? Which one do you prefer? If you like the larger ship and the ports are where you want to go, that may help you decide.

[Piglet]

Thanks for your reply.

The itineraries and duration are exactly the same, which is what made me wonder about the price.

I've never been on a cruise, so in my imagination all the ships are the same.

P

[blueliner]

Originally Posted by Piglet

Thanks for your reply.

The itineraries and duration are exactly the same, which is what made me wonder about the price.

I've never been on a cruise, so in my imagination all the ships are the same.

P

I have sailed on both these ships, and they are very different. The Vision OTS is about 73,000 GRT and is nicknamed "The ship of glass". The Vision was built in 1998 and is the flagship of RCI's "Vision" class ships. The Vision has 2 swimming pools, including a roof closing adult only solarium. The Vision has what I would call "simple elegance". She is well maintained and very clean, easy to get around on the ship, not a whole lot of activities but the basics are there. If you like relaxing days at the pool, watching the coastline from many protected venues, good food and a medium size ship, the Vision OTS is for you.

The Mariner OTS is about 138,000 GRT. She is the last of the "Voyager" class ships to be built in the early part of this decade. This ship is full of fun activities! She has an indoor promenade of shops and pubs, an ice skating rink, mini-golf course, roller blade track and a large sports deck. This ship was built for cruisers that like to keep active onboard. On the other side, with her being so large, it's quite a bit harder to get around on the Mariner. She has very long hall ways, decks that don't go through the length of the ship (thus you have to keep going up or down a deck to get around), and not a lot of protected areas to lounge in. However, she does have much more overall deck space on the pool deck, easy to find lounge chairs, good food, and slightly larger cabins than on the Vision OTS. If you are looking for lots to do on a very large ship, lots of cool activities and a virtual non-stop go go go ship, the Mariner OTS is for you.

Hope this helps, if you have specific questions, feel free to ask!

[Piglet]

Thank you. That is VERY helpful.