Carnevale

Thx @edgee for taking the time to provide this useful info. You are right about the challenges with crowding. Our situation on the Azamara ship was it had guest self service plus heavy crowding (small space that we could hardly move in and sometimes no seating). We have heard such good things about the Terrace Grill, Waves, etc. and are delighted to hear it’s all staff served. We are looking forward to trying them.

Thx @edgee for taking the time to provide this useful info. You are right about the challenges with crowding. Our situation on the Azamara ship was it had guest self service plus heavy crowding (small space that we could hardly move in and sometimes no seating). We have heard such good things about the Terrace Grill, Waves, etc. and are delighted to hear it’s all staff served. We are looking forward to trying them.

Can someone on Vista now or recently let me know how food service handled in the Terrace Grill, Waves, Aquamara, and the Bakery? Since COVID we have gone away from wanting to eat where people serve the themselves. Clearly this is just personal preference but we have avoided all self service venues on ships for a long time except for last July when the greatly limited options on an Azamara cruise meant the buffet was often the only option. We saw so many bad food handing examples by our fellow guests that it did nothing to make us feel comfortable again in self service settings. I am hoping that the food is served by staff. Is that the case on Vista?

I don't think any ship has a dance floor or the kind of dance opportunities that Cunard offers so when we cruise, we go in knowing it won't be the same dance experience. Having said that, on Princess we have done okay in terms of getting at least a little dancing in most days albeit on small to tiny floors. The newer ships are not as good for dancing as they don't have a Wheelhouse so you end up dancing in the Atrium on a hard stone floor. Our recent sailings on Regal and Discovery were examples of this although on Regal we did have some very good dance music. On Princess our preference is for the older ships that have a Wheelhouse as that's typically where the dance music is (rather than Explorers which tends to just have a little canned music from time to time and we don't care for the setting). But we have enjoyed the Wheelhouse especially on our most recent cruise on Sapphire. There we had two excellent duos who played good dance music daily and the floor was never crowded (as in we were often the only couple or one of only 2 or 3 couples on the floor). So if you are looking for a Cunard quality dance experience @emma99, you won't find it on Princess but we still sail on this line often as we do enjoy it (although later this year we will be back on Cunard).

It was so kind of you @dirtydan to post this array of Currents from Vista. Seeing the three types of days was very helpful. While we have cruised a lot, it’s been more than 10 years since we were on an O ship so we weren’t sure what to expect on our upcoming cruise and this material laid it out for us nicely. As we love to dance we were pleased to see so many opportunities in Horizons - I see us spending a lot of time there. Many thanks for these Currents!!

If anyone has a copy of Currents from Vista we’d really enjoy seeing it. Thanks!

I really appreciate this thread and the great insights into the Vista. We board when the ship gets to Valletta in April so this info is adding to our excitement about our upcoming cruise. For those currently onboard, if anyone can post one of the daily programs we would appreciate it. We haven’t been on an O ship for years so getting a feel for the kinds things that are offered will be very interesting. Also, please let us know if you see any ballroom style dancing. We don’t think of O as a line that offers much dance time so if there is any it will be special for us. Many thanks for this terrific thread!

I like having a spritz out on our stateroom balcony. Will it be okay to bring Aperol and Campari onboard along with some Prosecco?

I think this highlights an advantage to Concierge class. We are in a regular balcony and went online exactly when it opened for us to book. By that date we could only get private tables for two of the four restaurants and could only get times much later than we like for three bookings.

We will never sail on Azamara again after our experience last July on an Iceland and Ireland cruise. Our stateroom had an awful smell and no attempts to fix it were successful. The rest of the room was extremely worn. While recognizing that food is subjective, we were very disappointed in the MDR and ended up paying extra to dine in the alternative restaurants pretty much every night. The Azamazing evening was a bust as while they had said they would take us to a concert at the beautiful Reykjavik concert hall, in the end all we got was a third rate singer performing on the ship - nothing special at all. They also seemed to have no idea how to manage things like passport control as we changed countries and the management of several ship’s excursions was a gong show. And a bunch of other issues. We have cruised a lot and have never experienced anything like this before. It will be nice to be on ab O cruise next month!

Are upgrade bids by invitation only or is there a process at a certain point in time prior to the cruise that bidding is open to all? If it is by invitation is there anything one needs to do to be invited? We always book a stateroom that we like but still find it can be fun to get in on the bidding knowing that if we are unsuccessful we will still have a great cruise in the stateroom we booked.

How close to your cruise does the pkg arrive? We sail on April 21 and nothing has arrived yet. Is it just still too early? Might being in Canada have an impact?

Yes - you can easily walk beside the moving sidewalks with a trolley.And you can take it on the elevator between the arrivals area where the desk is and the level where the walkway and pier are located,

The water taxi desk is not in the secure part of the airport so I can’t understand what the hotel is saying. As has been mentioned, without flight arrival information you cannot pre book a water taxi but you should be able to go to the desk on the arrivals level, book there then do the long walk to the pier. The moving sidewalks to get to the pier have been mentioned but unless things have changed from the last time we were there (this past February), you can’t take the luggage trolleys on them. So be prepared for the walk. We go to Venice a lot and always use the water taxis since, as noted, it’s a wonderful way to arrive in Venice. In good weather go to the back open area when you get to the city and enjoy the view by standing out there. Yes, they are expensive but, for us, they are very special and worth the cost and we like getting right to the hotel water entrance. The trick is to make sure you book a hotel or apartment that has a water entrance. We have always had taxi drivers who helped with our luggage including the 10 times we have gone to Venice for the carnival and arrived with either 8 or 10 suitcases. Even with that mountain of luggage they have always been very helpful. But perhaps we have been lucky and next time we might get a driver who doesn’t help. That will seriously impact what is generally a generous tip.

For those who are familiar with O, can you please tell me if they offer the opportunity to do an upgrade bid? We have experienced this on other lines but so far for our April cruise on Vista we haven’t seen any references to it.