bphawk64

We took this tour thru Carnival last year and we all agreed it was one of the worst tours we have ever been on. The ruins were pretty much all man made reproductions and the Caves of Wonder had cave drawings that appeared to be drawn by the locals to attract tourists. My wife who is Honduran was laughing her head off at how the "gringos" will buy anything and the Dominicans simply spray painted drawings inside a cave so they could charge the tourists to see ancient cave drawings. Regardless... the tour was a bit long with the young people being quite bored. Would not do this tour again even if it was only $20.

The Havana Bar is open to everyone all day but you cannot enter the Havana Pool area without having a Havana Cabin. They were very diligent about this and everybody back was happy to see it as we all paid for the experience. People tried to sneak and and were politely asked to leave if they couldn't show they were booked there. After 7:00PM the pool area opened to the public but not many people outside of Havana passengers used it at night...we did see a few people who appeared very proud to have a seat back there but it was not overrun at night. Your friends could join you on your patio if entering thru your cabin but they won't be allowed in the pool area. We had quite a few jealous people checking out the area on the first few evenings (after 7:00pm) but privacy wasn't an issue.

It played pretty late, up until midnight or later. We were in Cabin 5228 in the Havana area and had zero noise from the music in the Havana Bar

We sailed on the Vista in October 2017 and our group had multiple Havana Cabins. Ours was 5228 and we LOVED it! Everyone talked about the possible lack of privacy with the lanai instead of a balcony but that was not an issue at all and we actually really liked that we could go find other members of our group without having to enter their actual cabin.

The private pool area and bar were awesome and although the pool area was open at night it really didn't get very busy back there. The Havana Bar did get busy at night but we heard zero noise from it all in our cabin. They do check during the day that passengers have Havana armbands to enter the pool area and we actually had one couple begging to use the Havana pool area because it was his birthday. He offered to pay extra, etc and they simply told him "sorry but you had the chance to pay extra when you booked your cabin and ...Happy Birthday"

We are sailing on the Magic in November and I'm already missing my Havana Cabin. We are booked in one on the Panorama in Dec 19 though! IMO they are great cabins but Carnival seems to be recognizing that and pricing them up quite a bit. We got ours on he Vista at a great price as we purchased it prior to the ship sailing...not such a great deal anymore but worth it if you can afford it.

I love this new itinerary!

I know this may sound like complaining but I don't really understand what Carnival is doing with the Oct. 7th Vista sailing. This cruise was quite expensive compared to every other cruise due to being on the newest ship as well as a great Eastern Caribbean itinerary (Gr. Turk, St Kitts, P.R & St. Maarten). We all understand that nobody can control the weather and our hearts go out to all those affected by these storms as well as those of us that have friends or family living in those areas. That said...many of us have the cancel for any reason insurance yet we are now hearing that Carnival may not let us know our itinerary until possibly the day we sail? If we were going solo and canceling the cruise wouldn't affect my fellow cruisers I would probably just cancel this, keep my current flights, and then purchase a last minute cruise with another ship on an itinerary of my choice, most likely at a huge discount. Come on Carnival...step up and get this fixed as sending out revised itineraries through the end of October but skipping one sailing on your flagship that leaves in 9 days to ports that you have said won't reopen for at a minimum of a month is unacceptable.

Yup, book Carnival's Flagship for the most expensive itinerary and now have nowhere to go. Oh well, may have to rethink that drink package....

Posted everything except the cruise we are on....October 7th Vista Sailing. Must be waiting on Grand Turk or St. Kitts but they didn't switch it to a Western Itinerary.

We are scheduled to leave on the Vista on October 7th and have no idea where we will be going at this point but it doesn't really matter anyway does it? Those on here lecturing others who are wondering about where their cruise vacation will go really need to get off their high horse. Don't you realize you're on a cruise website and that the only thing that will help these islands and the people who live there get back to some sense of normal is to get tourism back ASAP?? If Carnival takes us to any of the islands that have recently opened up I hope the ship can bring in supplies and that the passengers spend their $$ there.

We are booked into a couple of Havana Cabins on October 7th (not sure where we're going now but who cares?) and we booked these when the Vista was brand new and just started booking out. Our Cabins were $2347 for the Havana Cabana Balconies and $1600 for the Havana Interior. Last I saw any open up the same cabins on the same date were now $4700 & $2700 for double occupancy. Really looking forward to it!

I'm getting this on the Smithsonian Channel here in Colorado.

TARAM999 hopefully we'll see you on the cruise! We went for the Havana area so that should be interesting and if we miss St. Maarten and add a sea day we may be glad to have that available. Maybe they add HMC or the Dominican, Maybe they take us further south since we have 8 days or maybe we just float around in the sunshine...who knows? Whatever happens we're going to have fun but I kind of hope that we visit some of the original islands so we can bring them tourism dollars.

For those on here commenting about how we should be more concerned about the people living on these islands....do you honestly think all of us don't realize the hardship they've gone thru and are going thru or even that many of us may have family and friends affected by these storms? We get it and don't really need a lecture about wondering about the status of our vacations.

I'm hoping they change it to a southern route since it's an 8 day itinerary and the western routes are going to be jammed packed. The Vista also does a Gr Turk, Aruba, Curacao & La Romana route which I would find much more preferable to a western route. Oh well, anything will be fine and it's just wait and see now.

Will do! I was on a cruise years ago that went to Grand Caymen as one of the first after Hurricane Ivan destroyed the island and the Locals were incredibly happy to have the ships and tourism returning. The best thing we can do is go and enjoy these islands, supports the locals and buy their goods.

This is a great question and we are booked on the Vista leaving October 7th. Our itinerary was Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten and St. Kitts so pretty much zero chance of that happening although from what I understand the only one that"s 100% out is St. Maarten. We also booked this for the itinerary and it was pretty much Carnival's priciest itinerary due to New Ship and the itinerary. While I understand the circumstances and we are going to have a good cruise regardless of where they take us I have to admit I'll be a bit disappointed if this gets changed to a western itinerary as I could have booked one for 60% of the price of this cruise...oh well, unless they wait to change it until we're on board I can always cancel (bought the insurance) and just rebook a last minute cruise :) Either way, I feel really bad for all the people affected by this storm and having a cruise rerouted isn't really being affected much. Who knows...maybe we stay on the Eastern route and can help with the rebuilding process.

Did not know this, learn something everyday

Depends on the cruiseline...I know for a fact that you can be legally married by the Captain onboard Princess Ships.

Not true....on many ships the Captain can legally perform a marriage. Been there, done that and it was very legal with the license being from Bermuda.

We have the same options in mid January and had pretty much decided on the Sunshine. I'm curious why quite a few here seem to be in favor of the Valor. There are four of us and can do a balcony plus an inside on the 4 day valor for the same price as 4 in the same OV Cabin (+$250-300 for balcony) on the Sunshine. I really prefer the 5 day though.

Sunshine = Nassau, Freeport, HMC & 1 sea day

Valor = Nassau, Freeport & 1 sea day.

Sorry to barge in on your post with my own question...

Thanks..that's what I'm thinking as well although my family has become a bit spoiled with balcony cabins. I like the idea of a bit more space in the cabin and am not sure we will use the balcony enough in January to warrant the extra $$. These OV Cabins on Deck 5 also appear to be very well located close to a lot of public areas.

We have narrowed our search down to the Sunshine out of Port Canaveral in January but are now trying to decide on which cabin. Being that it's only a 5 day cruise that we are combining with some family plans I'm ok with an Oceanview room and am looking at the Promenade Deck 5 aft cabins as they are 220 sq feet and we will have 4 in the cabin. My wife says she would prefer to sacrifice the cabin size for a balcony but I read somewhere the balcony cabins on the Sunshine are only 185 sq ft including the balcony. Does anyone know the real size differences between these cabins? If the balcony cabin is 185 sq feet plus a balcony that would equal the 220 of the OV but a 150 sq foot cabin plus balcony would seem tiny for 2 people let alone a quad. Thanks for the help.

Looks like 2340 & 2341 are already booked and the 4J cabins are essentially the same price as the OV cabins on deck 5. I think I will just book one of the deck 5 cabins and hope for the best. Either way we will be on a cruise...

We had a similar situation many years ago when I was a kid. My older brother was a very accomplished baseball player and qualified for some tournaments at the same time as a family trip to Guatemala was scheduled. We were not a wealthy family so this trip was a huge deal and was partly paid for by the family of an exchange we had a few years prior. Needless to say it would have been very disrespectful for my brother to not show up. He ended up playing in his tournament and then flying on his own to meet us although he was in his early teens. The airlines did and still do a great job with this sort of thing.

I respect that your son takes his team and school activities seriously but maybe there are options that satisfy both. As a parent now I would not allow one member of the family to cancel or change an annual trip for the entire group. My youngest daughter chose a school trip to NYC over a cruise with the rest of the family a couple of years ago and all is well. She was surprised we went without her instead of rebooking (and was angry for quite a while) but as she is growing up she now gets it.

Good luck with this and I wish you well. Better to have this type of problem than the inability to cruise or vacation at all :)

Thank you! great advice

We will be in this same cabin 5228 in Oct 2017 along with some family members and friends in another 5 or 6 Havana Cabins. Thanks for such a great review!

We have decided to go on a shorter cruise on the Sunshine out of Port Canaveral in January to save some money since we will be on the Vista in Oct 2017. Although we almost always go with a balcony we are thinking of going Oceanview this time since it's only 5 nights. My question is...does anyone know if the OV cabins on the Promenade Deck (Deck 5) are smaller than those on decks 2 & 3? I understand that the OV cabins on deck 5 are new with the refurbishment and those on decks 2 & 3 are existing cabins that were redone. There will be 4 of us in the cabin (2 adults & 2 older kids) so we are thinking a 220 sq foot OV cabin will help offset the balcony but if the deck 5 OV are only 185 feet we will probably just go ahead with a balcony or go down to the lower decks. Thanks for any advice