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Vista revisited (Havana Cabana this time)...... A fairly lengthy review with pics


jimbo5544
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You may be right and I wondered the same thing. On the other hand, I doubt that many people have done that much research.

 

Cruising is evolving and keeps changing. From dining (used to be everyone went to the MDR - now it is specialty restaurants, Lido and who knows what else) to entertainment (shows, bands, casinos, movies under the stars, relaxing etc.

 

On our Pride cruise, I went back to our room during dinner to get something from our room and cut thru Lido. I was shocked to see how many people were eating in Lido.

 

 

 

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For us our thoughts on the MDR are the food is not that great like it once was and between the long dining process and the need to dress appropriately while on vacation it's easier to eat at the buffet, pretty much the same food as mdr and eat and go. It's more time for us to do what we want .I think that's why such popularity in for fee dining. For $15 you can get a true gourmet experience that was once part of our fare

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For us our thoughts on the MDR are the food is not that great like it once was and between the long dining process and the need to dress appropriately while on vacation it's easier to eat at the buffet, pretty much the same food as mdr and eat and go. It's more time for us to do what we want .I think that's why such popularity in for fee dining. For $15 you can get a true gourmet experience that was once part of our fare

Appreciate the thoughts.

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You may be right and I wondered the same thing. On the other hand, I doubt that many people have done that much research.

 

Cruising is evolving and keeps changing. From dining (used to be everyone went to the MDR - now it is specialty restaurants, Lido and who knows what else) to entertainment (shows, bands, casinos, movies under the stars, relaxing etc.

 

On our Pride cruise, I went back to our room during dinner to get something from our room and cut thru Lido. I was shocked to see how many people were eating in Lido.

 

I

 

 

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t is shocking to see how many eat in the Lido for dinner. I for one am not much of a buffet person, I tolerate the juggling of the plate for lunch and occasionally for breakfast.

 

 

The towel animals are so cute!

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t is shocking to see how many eat in the Lido for dinner. I for one am not much of a buffet person, I tolerate the juggling of the plate for lunch and occasionally for breakfast.

 

 

The towel animals are so cute!

 

That is the reason I prefer to not eat in the Lido. The whole juggling of the plate. I am already a klutz, I don't need to test the limits!!

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Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise. I agree with the comments about being so much to do that you can get to everything in one cruise - hence the B2B we booked on her next March. The wait is killing me and following along on your review helped ease my misery ( at least a little)

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Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise. I agree with the comments about being so much to do that you can get to everything in one cruise - hence the B2B we booked on her next March. The wait is killing me and following along on your review helped ease my misery ( at least a little)

Appreciate the kind words..... B2B is on our bucket list....Enjoy it! Glad I could help appease the misery.

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We really get invited for two reasons. We are both part time TA's and sell a LOT of Carnival and we have good friends in Carnival management. Not sure which gets it done. I can send a note on the temps, not sure it will accomplish anything. I agree on the temps tho.......

 

 

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Enjoying your review. My BFF and I will be on the December 2nd cruise. I have always thought about becoming a TA but no idea how to go about it. Now that I'm retired I just may look into it :)

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t is shocking to see how many eat in the Lido for dinner. I for one am not much of a buffet person, I tolerate the juggling of the plate for lunch and occasionally for breakfast.

 

I would agree...mostly. On NCL, I saw no reason to eat at the buffet for dinner. However, on my Carnival cruise 6 years ago, the offerings in the dining room were sparse compared to what was offered on the buffet. One night I got so fed up, I broke away from my group to go to the buffet to grab desserts and brought them back for the table.

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Enjoying your review. My BFF and I will be on the December 2nd cruise. I have always thought about becoming a TA but no idea how to go about it. Now that I'm retired I just may look into it :)

 

 

Thanks for the kudos. Being a TA is interesting and has some perks. It is perfect to devote time to when you have the time. It does take time to gain knowledge on travel and destinations and build a client base.

 

 

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I would agree...mostly. On NCL, I saw no reason to eat at the buffet for dinner. However, on my Carnival cruise 6 years ago, the offerings in the dining room were sparse compared to what was offered on the buffet. One night I got so fed up, I broke away from my group to go to the buffet to grab desserts and brought them back for the table.

 

 

While def not an expert on lido, it was my understanding they had the same food items as the MDR (for the most part anyway)

 

 

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Hi Jimbo,

 

500 something more days...500 something more days...

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review. I'm glad I stumbled upon it, certainly a great read! Your photos were great. I can see how the high glass can make taking a photo difficult.

St. Kitts looks amazing, we will certainly have to put that on our future list.

As soon as we heard the Vista was coming to Galveston, we booked within 15 minutes. We knew of the Havana cabins and had to grab one! In fact, we called so quickly, that none of them had been booked. I think that was pretty brave considering we hadn't read actual reviews of the rooms/special area yet. We had only seen photos.

Speaking of the cabins, it's great to hear of the coffee each morning. It sounds very close, which is nice. I hate having to walk all the way to Lido on the other ships for coffee. By the time I get back to the room, I will have spilled half anyway (and room service takes so long!). I'm curious, how did you feel regarding privacy? Obviously this is cut down with the walkway outside your lanai. In a normal balcony room (at least that we've had), its you and the ocean - you can only see other folks if you stick your head out.

 

Anyways, thanks again for the reviews!

 

Carl

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Hi Jimbo,

 

500 something more days...500 something more days...

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review. I'm glad I stumbled upon it, certainly a great read! Your photos were great. I can see how the high glass can make taking a photo difficult.

St. Kitts looks amazing, we will certainly have to put that on our future list.

As soon as we heard the Vista was coming to Galveston, we booked within 15 minutes. We knew of the Havana cabins and had to grab one! In fact, we called so quickly, that none of them had been booked. I think that was pretty brave considering we hadn't read actual reviews of the rooms/special area yet. We had only seen photos.

Speaking of the cabins, it's great to hear of the coffee each morning. It sounds very close, which is nice. I hate having to walk all the way to Lido on the other ships for coffee. By the time I get back to the room, I will have spilled half anyway (and room service takes so long!). I'm curious, how did you feel regarding privacy? Obviously this is cut down with the walkway outside your lanai. In a normal balcony room (at least that we've had), its you and the ocean - you can only see other folks if you stick your head out.

 

Anyways, thanks again for the reviews!

 

Carl

 

500 days days is a while, but I think you will find it moves quicker than you think right now. We almost always book our cruises far out for several reasons, it does make the planning more fun and the time does pass. We were a little concerned about the Privacy, but to be honest, we hardly ever saw anyone and we spent a significant amount of time either at the pool or around our balcony. Other cruisers would have a difficult time getting outside our cabin due to being asked by the staff and the gate from the other area of the ship. As I think I mentioned, the disappointing thing to me was the high glass on the outside railing. I much would have preferred it to be a lower height. While not positive, we were among the very few that use the coffee.... You will love the rooms.... Thanks for the kind words on the review, it has been a labor of love.

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Here is a pic of Dwayne..... I am sure some will recognize him.

r1zcd1.jpg

OMG...he was on our Breeze cruise last May! Everyone called him Cool Runnings because he looks like the guy from the movie. We absolutely loved him!!!

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OMG...he was on our Breeze cruise last May! Everyone called him Cool Runnings because he looks like the guy from the movie. We absolutely loved him!!!

Dwayne is a one of a kind guy. People around the ship call him skinny (for obvious reasons). He has an attitude on life that we all can take a page of the book from..... Really nice kid, another example of why I say that Carnival's best asset is their people.

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500 days days is a while, but I think you will find it moves quicker than you think right now. We almost always book our cruises far out for several reasons, it does make the planning more fun and the time does pass. We were a little concerned about the Privacy, but to be honest, we hardly ever saw anyone and we spent a significant amount of time either at the pool or around our balcony. Other cruisers would have a difficult time getting outside our cabin due to being asked by the staff and the gate from the other area of the ship. As I think I mentioned, the disappointing thing to me was the high glass on the outside railing. I much would have preferred it to be a lower height. While not positive, we were among the very few that use the coffee.... You will love the rooms.... Thanks for the kind words on the review, it has been a labor of love.

I agree, it certainly does give us much time to plan!

Thanks for the follow-up on the privacy peice. Very excited!!

 

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I agree, it certainly does give us much time to plan!

Thanks for the follow-up on the privacy peice. Very excited!!

 

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We have a Havana Cabana Suite on the Horizon next July 3rd sailing. I am pretty sure I will do a review of that cruise as well, which will be much closer to your sail date....;)

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I must keep my 10 year old off CC....she started reading your review, where I had left off and came running out insisting we go to that cat island..."Mom, that cat island, St. Kitts ...they have an excursion to Nevis!!! I need to go to Nevis....that s where Alexander Hamilton was born!" Darn musical...but now I want to go on Vista, and she wants to go on that itinerary...so I'd better start saving! Great review!!!! Thank you so much for writing it!

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I must keep my 10 year old off CC....she started reading your review, where I had left off and came running out insisting we go to that cat island..."Mom, that cat island, St. Kitts ...they have an excursion to Nevis!!! I need to go to Nevis....that s where Alexander Hamilton was born!" Darn musical...but now I want to go on Vista, and she wants to go on that itinerary...so I'd better start saving! Great review!!!! Thank you so much for writing it!

Love it that a 10 year old has a wish list for Nevis..... and a history lesson to boot. It was a great cruise, thanks for the kudo's, loved doing the review.

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Thanks for the review and photos. We enjoyed reading it, and enjoying the moments your spent on the Vista. We just booked the Vista for the week after Thanksgiving. Since I've been reading up on the ship and activities, including the Havana area, We're going to upgrade our room to a Havana room. I think we'll get enjoyment out of using it during the day, and the activities at night.

 

Thanks again.

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Thanks for the review and photos. We enjoyed reading it, and enjoying the moments your spent on the Vista. We just booked the Vista for the week after Thanksgiving. Since I've been reading up on the ship and activities, including the Havana area, We're going to upgrade our room to a Havana room. I think we'll get enjoyment out of using it during the day, and the activities at night.

 

Thanks again.

My pleasure and thanks for the kudos'. we really enjoyed the Havana area and def had thoughts that at times in that area we were on a different ship. I was not all that surprised to find out they re classifying more rooms as Havana rooms on the Horizon. I know you have concerns on the size of the Vista, we did not find her in our two sailings) to be any more crowded than only other Carnival cruise we have been on.

The week after Thanksgiving is a great week to cruise, enjoy the ship and let us know your thoughts when you return.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience and photos! I loved your review. We're going to be in the Vista in October and I can't wait. After reading about how much you enjoyed the Havana area, I really want to experience it! We're trying out out first cove balcony though so I'm excited about being that close to the water. Thanks again for sharing!!!

 

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Thanks for sharing your cruise experience and photos! I loved your review. We're going to be in the Vista in October and I can't wait. After reading about how much you enjoyed the Havana area, I really want to experience it! We're trying out out first cove balcony though so I'm excited about being that close to the water. Thanks again for sharing!!!

 

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My pleasure and thanks for the kind words. I think you will really enjoy the Vista.

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