jbobst

Right - but trying to avoid long phone queues.  I am able to buy other things on the website, but not the Plus package.

My brother and I have both been trying multiple times, on the app, on the website, with different browser, different devices (ipad, Windows laptop, android, iPhone) and we cannot get the upgrade process to work.  The problem is specifically where we are required to put in our credit card information.  We can enter all our other information but the credit card field and security code field do not work.  How do you get around this???

Is it just me or does the Princess website have quite a few issues?  I got a “Fall Offers” email.  Tried to book a cruise, saw penthouse suites, mini suites, balcony cabins, etc. going for $149 per person!?  I tried to book but it kept erroring out.  Tried another browser, and now the rooms seems to be as they should ($349 pp for interior), but I still can’t book.  When I use my Princess login credentials, it has some strange behavior about my missing personal information.  I just can’t get the cruise to book.

I’ve seen this before where they have unreal prices for all sorts of cabins displayed but you can’t actually book them.  Do others see the same issues?  How can a company as big as Princess have such a poor website in 2023?!

As if we could get a penthouse suite for $349 pp!!

We are going a Princess cruise at the end of the year, and looking for diving options in Belize.  Unfortunately the ship does not offer any scuba excursions for Belize.  Years ago when in Belize on a cruise, the ship offered a scuba excursion that left directly from the ship, stopped off at a Caye for dive equipment, went to the dive sites, and were dropped off directly back at the ship.  This worked out well to avoid Belize City and the ship tenders.  Since Belize is a tender port, it seems we have no other option than getting a tender into the city, finding a dive operator in Belize City and going from there.  It seems like like our options are limited in Belize City and I've heard the city can be pretty rough.  Anyone have success or recommendations in Belize without a ship excursion?

It's one thing if there is good communication, and if it's something unexpected goes wrong.  We can all usually roll with unexpected issues and come together in a good way.  But if Carnival knows there is a problem and they keep dealing with delays, it's not fair to the passengers or crew to keep having to deal with delays like this.  I felt pretty bad for the stress the cruise director and her staff had trying to keep the chaos in check.  Why did they tell us only 14 hours before we are supposed to dock that we'll be delayed?  They knew about it well in advance.  

While the embarkation was rough, I couldn't understand why there is this very large air conditioned terminal building that was pretty much empty, yet 3000+ people are wrapped around the outside of the building spilling into the roadway?  As we were wrapped in the giant line, we couldn't wait to slowly pass by a few open doors to the cruise terminal to get some A/C blowing out of the building.  Only to see giant waiting areas inside the terminal completely unoccupied.  It's stuff like that that is frustrating.  Just poor planning and communication. 

If the Vista has some sort of long term issue causing all these delays, then switch it with another ship out of Florida and let the Vista do shorter (distance) cruises to the bahamas and places where it doesn't have to travel so far.  There must be other options to keep the ship in service until it can be dry docked and fixed permanently.  

To add to the answers already provided, traffic was bad heading north after the departing the ship.  The repair in causeway was tiny - and had just one construction truck and a couple police cars.  Not sure why they had to close 2 of the 3 lanes.  It took us awhile to get northbound but the southbound folks were really backed up.  What a mess.

Surprisingly, we did not eat in the dining room at all.  I've recently sailed on the Miracle and Breeze and had dinners in the dining room on those ships.  It was average at best so, this cruise we ate one night at the Cucina de Capitan and another night at the Sushi bar restaurant.  The rest of the nights was either a burger at Guy's right before they close at 6 or the buffet.  I actually didn't mind the buffet.  One night the food options weren't to my liking, but the other nights it was a good selection and decent quality for a buffet.   Just alot of people and poor buffet design.

I won't go into a full review because I'll get slammed I am sure, but I'll just say Carnival isn't for me.  They certainly fill a niche and people adore the cruise line, so I am glad they fill that niche.  But here are a some pro's and con's of the Vista in my opinion:

Pro's

• I've always been impressed by the crew aboard Carnival ships.  Some of the friendliest, happiest crews at sea!  Great folks generally and always great service!
• We got an "inside" cabin, and it was a forward facing cabin with a window.  The window was great and the width of the room was surprisingly larger than many balcony cabin's we've had in the past.
• Sushi restaurant was a very good experience (a little pricey after everything we ordered, but a very nice experience)
• Price for the cruise was cheap and affordable
• Guy's burgers is always consistent and delicious!
• I like the fresh made tortillas at Blue Iguana
• I like the options of Pasta Bar and Mongolian Wok for lunches (free of charge)

Con's

• Issues with the ship causing slower speeds and delays to ports and embarkation/debarkation
• Wi-Fi was awful (heard many other passengers complain too)
• Elevators - THE WORST EVER.  We take stairs as much as possible, but absolutely HORRIBLE design on this ship!!!!  We spent about 15 minutes trying to help a lady in a wheelchair get an elevator and it was impossible.  I could write a small thesis on this topic.
• Ugly and bland décor.  Atrium and most public spaces were just bland bland bland.  And it's a dark ship.  No windows in the atrium and just a closed in feeling.  I have never liked the over the top Carnival interior designs on other ships, but I found myself wishing this ship had one of those over the top designs.
• The thrill theater, ropes course and pedal cars were closed.  The pedal cars and ropes course opened on the last day, but lines were so long, I didn't try them out.  Maybe I missed them being open earlier in the cruise, but I had asked mid way through the cruise and the staff person said they were just closed.  The pedal cars are one of the signature things of this ship class!
• I thought the Dream class had bad pool/hot tub designs but they managed to make the Vista class ships even worse!  Not including the Serenity hot tubs, there are only TWO hot tubs available to the the general cruise population on the Vista.  There are two hot tubs in the Havana deck, but those are only available to Havana guests.  How do you have a ship this size and only one small main pool with no hot tubs?!  At least Dream, Breeze, and Magic have them on the overhangs of the promenade deck, and those are far from any pool.
• Flow and design of this ship is bad.  Similar to Dream class ships, the ever popular Guy's Burgers is at a choke point to the buffet entrance, as is the Blue Iguana.  Way too much demand is placed on these locations and it's just designed poorly (blue Iguana too, but not quite as popular)
• Blue Iguana should be open more hours during the day - there aren't enough food options when people are getting back on board from a day in port.
• Pizza was good, but the implementation was poor.  I felt bad for the small lady running the place trying to make pizza's and trying to serve the long waiting lines of people.  It was also a bad flow design and they need more crew helping get the pizza out to the passengers at peak times.
• Smokey casino and sports bar - happy to have a place for smokers to gamble or hang out, but there isn't a way to section it off on this ship.
• Hallway smells by our cabin constantly
• Too many people everywhere - buffet doesn't have a good flow
• Deserts - Every cake we had or tried was just bad.  I almost wish they wouldn't have even bothered making deserts if they are going to make them so dry and of poor quality.  It would be better to just buy a bunch of betty Crocker cake mixes and bake those instead.
• Beds are very uncomfortable.  We were on the newest Carnival ship this past fall (the Mardi Gras) and their beds were just as uncomfortable.
• Thermal suite - super frustrating.  They gave us a spa tour half way through the cruise and the thermal suite looked decent enough.  They sold it to us for $99 per person for the remaining 3 days.  We came back to try it and realized the tropical showers were all broken or scalding hot, the heated tile loungers were mostly broken (not heated), and the hot tub only held a few people and it was constantly full.  We did squeeze into the tub at the end of our time, but the way it's designed is very uncomfortable.  The steam room buttons didn't work (not sure what they were supposed to do?).  We asked for a partial refund (we did spend about 30 minutes in there), but they said no refunds at all.  She said other people had complained about the showers, but they were adjustable only by the staff and had been "adjusted".  So that was a $200 waste of money.
• There needs to be a second gangway on this ship for embarkation/debarkation.  Seems like a bad design to funnel all those folks through one door on Deck 3 which isn't even a main thoroughfare deck.

I'll leave it at that.  Still a nice (and inexpensive) vacation.  

18 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

Looking forward to your review. Usually there will be others commenting on the problems as well.

I don't think I am going to do a review as this wasn't a great cruise.   I don't want to be so negative, and I realize it's just my personal opinions.  You know the old adage, if you can't say something nice...

Of course the reality is, we were on vacation on a cruise ship, so it wasn't bad by any stretch.  🙂  But this was my 30th cruise, and the Vista was probably the worst ship I've ever been on.   Happy to answer questions if anyone has them, but probably gonna skip the review this time.

1 minute ago, BallFour4 said:

Here's my guess. It's only that. 

The inshore winds on Thursday night were gusting to 37 mph. Combine that with a fast moving line of rain that battered the gulf offshore for about 90 miles out and that might have been the cause.

.

I was thinking about something like that, but the Dream was docked next to us in Cozumel on Thursday.  We left about an hour earlier than they did and they arrived on time in Galveston this morning.  And that is at least two weeks in a row where the Vista arrived late.  Also, our first port last week (Montego Bay) had a delayed arrival.   There must be something wrong with the engines/motors/generators?   Looked like we were travelling around 16kts yesterday.  Seems like most cruises I've been on are generally in the low 20kts on the way back to Galveston (I think?).

We disembarked the Vista today in Galveston.  We had a rough embarkation last week as it was delayed in arriving.  Almost two hours in line outside of the cruise terminal in the warm afternoon last week when boarding.  Then late yesterday, on our final sea day, they announced we would again be delayed coming into Galveston.  No information as to why, but I suspect a continued propulsion problem? Why didn't they modify our itinerary to get us back in time or let everyone know well in advance that there was going to be delay again?  Thankfully we had our car at the port, but we felt bad for people with scheduled transportation.   It was just a frustrating day, not only for us trying to get off the ship, but I am sure for the people boarding.  

I have many complaints about the way everything was handled, but I just wish they would have been more communicative.  I would think everyone would have rather had a couple hours less port time (though it was already short as it was) and get back on time then go through the whole delay mess.  We asked a few employees about possible propulsion problems, but nobody knew anything or wasn't saying as much. 

Similar issue as the OP - but I gave up on the credit card entry and will do it on the ship.  The website is awful and the phone agents (that I've had the displeasure of talking too) were awful too.  It's really mind boggling that a major cruise line has such a dismal website and land based people.  Not sure if it's just part of the whole pandemic thing or if it's always been like this for MSC.  We cruised with them the first time in 2018 and I don't quite remember if there were issues back then or not.   Going on our second cruise next week.

Something is really wrong with MSC's website and call center support staff.  The webpage is absolutely maddening.  Slow, not intuitive, unresponsive, and not helpful what so ever.  I called their land side support and the person was also useless saying I needed to reboot my computer?!  My ipad, phone, computer, wife's computer and adult children's computer all have the same struggles.  I even went to the "contact us" section of their webpage to send them a complaint message about it and the web form wouldn't not work!  Ah, the irony.   Well, rant over 🙂 

I think I have all my documents, it's just that the web check-in a) didn't allow us to put in our credit card information (I know it's optional, but I'd like to get it over with rather than go to guest services on the ship and deal with it there) and b) the website continues to tell me I haven't provided all the necessary information yet on the check in form (even though I seemingly have)?

Our cruise is 10 days away and I am trying to finish all the web check-in, but it's erroring out on the Credit Card registration field.  And, if I bypass the credit card registration section, and go to the "Travel Documents" section, it says:  "You haven't filled all the necessary information for the passenger of the cruise, the documents will be ready as soon as you provide al the data needed".  (And yes, it is a misspelling of "all" 🙂 )   But it's not telling me what information is missing, unless they are talking about the credit card registrations (but that is supposedly optional - even though I would like to register one).

Their website has been really tough to navigate and often has issues.  Very strange a major cruise line has such a bad website.   Any ideas on how to get this complete or am I doing something wrong?

Did ours this morning - quick and easy.  Barely waited 30 seconds for someone to answer.  The longest wait is just the 15 minutes for the test results.  It was a little tough with the foreign accents, and I was overthinking the test and the process, but it’s quite simple and easy!

7 hours ago, sweetalyssum said:

I couldn’t find it either, but I stumbled upon it.  Look at your Documents, then look for Booking Summary, and it’s right there!

There it is!  Thanks sweetalyssum.   (Cruise is this Saturday, so I went to the "print documents" and included the additional checkbox with invoice and it's there)

I've looked all over the cruise manager/planner and I cannot see the amount of onboard credit that our booking has allotted.  Our travel agent says she see's it and it's in her travel agent invoice, but does Carnival not show the amount anywhere in the booking?  Like many of you, we have quite a bit of credit based on all the cancellations and other things.  

I realize it's called onboard credit, not pre-cruise credit, but I'd like to take advantage of pre-cruise bookings (like the spa), but I guess you can't use onboard credit until you board, which means possibly higher prices compared to buying things prior to the sailing?

9 hours ago, xDisconnections said:

Carnival advised that several July and August cruises were sold out upon discovery they were removed from the website. Guests received a cancellation email within 2-3 days. During this period, Carnival associates, including the brand ambassador, said they were scheduled to depart as planned.

 

We don’t know when cruising will actually return but filling these ships and earning the general public’s trust can’t be easy.
 

Communication from Arnold Donald and Christine Duffy suggest the August 1 date is very uncertain and other Carnival Corporation sailings will not be as early as Carnival Cruise Line. Your Hawaii cruise does not depart from the trial homeports and being a longer cruise, it attracts a different demographic that can experience impacted travel.

If the cruises are sold out and scheduled to depart as planned, why are guests receiving a cancellation email?  Sounds like you are saying they are cancelled but still scheduled to depart?

The Hawaii cruise leaves from San Diego and all the other San Diego departure cruises in October are still on the website and showing.  Granted, who knows how this will all shake out by October, but just odd that they have removed this cruise.  If it is going to be cancelled, I wish they would tell us now before more plans are made based around this cruise.

We are booked on the Oct 16th Hawaii cruise on Miracle.  This cruise has gone missing from Carnival's website and online travel sites.  My TA says it's still there but sold out, but I don't recall seeing sold out cruises disappearing off Carnival's website in the past?  I called Carnival directly but the guy had no idea what what was happening with it.   He finally just said the cruise was being "updated" but that was two weeks ago.  Just posting here to see if anyone knows what is going on with this cruise?

All the other 4-5 day cruises on Miracle are still showing in October out of San Diego, except this one.

1 hour ago, Garyjames220 said:

Expect the next lot of cancellations today

Catching up with this thread, and been watching Royal's website for the mid-June sailings (still for sale).  I've not been following the cruise news as much as I should, but what is causing them to push sailings again?   Obviously the virus/pandemic, but wasn't sure where the next cruise guidelines are coming from or what's been released?  Is there a quick recap someone can give why cruises can't return in June?

There are 9 of us looking for a 3-4 hour snorkel trip in Cozumel in January.  Any recommendation on tour operators?  It sounds like El Cielo and other reefs may be closed, but hoping there are alternatives.

It's currently just a few minutes past 9:30pm in Texas and the Liberty is still at the cruise terminal in Galveston.  Anyone know why it's still there at this time of night?  We are sailing back to Galveston on the Enchantment and was hoping to see the Liberty pass by us tonight.

Here are a couple photos

Just wanted to update this thread. We got off the Eurodam this morning and did the thermal suite for the week. It was VERY nice! So much better than our previous Westerdam cruise last Fall. The water in they hydro pool was a clear and blue all week long. The whole pool/thermal suite area was just so nicely done compared to the Westerdam. We were very impressed. I'll post some pictures soon. (Westerday recently went into dry dock, so it might be better now)

We were on the Westerdam last November and purchased the spa/hydro pool package. We really enjoyed the thermal suite and hydro pool, but a couple days into the cruise, the hydro pool was not looking so good. The water was really foamy and cloudy. I asked the spa staff and they said they would look into it, but nothing was done. By the end of the cruise, it was really bad. I recently read on another thread that someone else had noticed the same thing on the Eurodam. We are going on the Eurodam this coming week, and while we would like to buy the package again, I am hesitant because we probably won't want to use the hydro pool later on in the cruise if it gets nasty. Has anyone every had success getting the ship staff to change the water during the cruise? I am sure they will try to sell us the package on embarkation day during the spa tour, but I doubt they will make any promises about changing the water mid cruise.

I know many cruisers will never get into a hot tub or hydro pool on a ship. I hope this thread doesn't regress into a lecture about how bad they are for you :) . But, any advice would be helpful from those of you who have had similar experiences would be good.

I totally understand that Princess doesn't allow these items, so definitely don't bring a drone on a cruise, but the comments on here are a bit surprising. Comparing it to rocket launchers and guns? A drone is basically a flying camera. I don't understand the comparisons? I have not kept up with the latest news on drones, so maybe I am just ignorant of latest developments.

I don't own a drone, but a friend of mine was demonstrating the exact same model that the OP is asking about. I thought it was a fascinating device and awesome for photography. I think drone footage from a cruise ship would be the ultimate, but in this day and age, the caution and security is way high obviously. What I saw demonstrated was a very controlled, flying camera. Not a gun or rocket launcher as some of you have compared it to in this thread.