bjstenman

We did not care for Matt Mitchum. We think Lee is the best CD we have ever had on any cruise line.

Weather isn’t looking too promising. Another thing...I’ve read complaints about the coffee bar lines. I’ve had it every day and no problems here. I would say the wait has been less than 5mins every day except for today. I’d say it was 5-10 today.

 

 

 

 

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Where exactly is this that you take your coffee every day? Thanks!

We know the pros and cons of FTTF, so not asking about that, but we have it for our cruise on the Dream out of New Orleans in September. Just wondering what is a good arrival time at the Port having FTTF? Thanks!

Thanks for the information. We just booked the Lamanai tour through the ship earlier today---really looking forward to it!

Do any of these have a Pool to use instead of just the beach?

We will be on a Carnival Cruise in September stopping at all three of these Ports, and we're wondering which Port is best to go on an excursion to Ruins? If so, which specific Ruins?

Disregard my last email---I just found the little scratch off area on the back of the card...

Okay, without going back through 137 pages of information, I hope someone can help me. I ordered a (hard copy) gift card months ago, and I just went to use it to pay down the balance of our cruise, and I'm not sure where to locate the PIN Number? I've used the emailed cards before and it's very obvious, but I don't see the PIN Number on this actual card, or the piece of paper that came with it, unless I am just not looking in the correct spot. Can anyone help with this? Thanks!

How do you find out what ships are in a Port on any given day?

I don't think it's just one kind of drink. I have had several different drinks on cruise ships that were inside fresh pineapples. Last one I had was a Pina Colada. Delicious!

Thanks to everyone for responses!

How soon ahead of time can you do the online check in for a cruise? It's been a couple of years since we've cruised, and I can't remember. Do you have to pay the full balance of the cruise first, or can you check in after just having made the deposit? Also, at what point can you pick the boarding time? We will be on the Dream out of New Orleans in September. Thanks!

I just saw this on a Cruise Critic article regarding Vista Dining:

 

One unusual detail regarding the Your Time Dining: Diners who have chosen Your Time Dining (which is on Deck 3, aft) must first stop at a desk on Deck 5 (midship), near Java Blue cafe, to sign in for dinner and get their table assignment. It's out of the way, depending on where you're coming from, and you then have to wait in line twice.

 

Do we need to do this every night? This seems really strange! :confused:

We checked in on Deck 5 every night we used the dining room (maybe about 5-6 days of our 10 night cruise---can't remember for sure), and it was really a breeze for us. We either had no wait on Deck 5, or maybe 1-2 minutes once. Then we never had a wait at all once we arrived at the dining room. We thought it was great since there wasn't any clutter of people outside the dining room. Of course, our experience may be because when we did use the dining room we went between 6:00 and 6:30. I've heard it was much busier the later you went...

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry this review has been on pause for a MONTH!

 

I was initially having some issues with PhotoBucket...and then we had camping trips, and school starting and life got busy!

 

I am committed to finishing this review, if anyone is still sticking with me here! :)

Yep, still here! :)

I couldn't find any info about this in reviews or on here so thought I'd post. It was a lovely surprise for me on board. I would rate as one of the best eats on board but I do love bbq!

 

Not sure if it opened on our cruise or a few cruises before.

 

Just off the Vista and the space for guys BBQ is now open (although not labelled as Guys of course just 'BBQ on the lanai'). It was open on sea days 12-2.30 and was delicious. It seemed to have the same items as the new BBQ on the conquest rather than Fat Cs and is ideally placed just off the Ocean plaza.

 

It's been open on all of the sailings from what I have read and heard---it was definitely open on our sailing on June 21st. The problem is that it is only open on sea days, and hardly anyone knows about that...

For past cruisers on the Vista, did anyone have a problem making a reservation at the steakhouse once on board. I know the steakhouse is a popular venue. Also, if booking a reservation prior to sailing, do you pay when you make your reservation or do you pay the night you dine? Thanks

We booked while on board with no problem. In fact, most nights they made an announcement saying there were reservations available in all of the pay restaurants...

Hi, anyone out there still reading?

 

Yes, still reading, and still enjoying! :)

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to establish a meeting place on the Vista for independent tour groups?

 

I'm in charge of a few ItalyTourSharing groups and would love to hear what has worked best for others.

 

Thanks!

Our group met at the Red Frog once, and in the Atrium the other times. Worked out perfectly.

I've done a couple searches and can't find the answer so sorry to bother you all but I have to ask. Are there typically chicken strips/nuggets available at Lido Marketplace? We were on the Vista in June and were surprised there weren't any. I'm hoping it was just a European thing and for Caribbean sailings they will be there. We are going on a southern Caribbean next June on the Vista and I realize the Vista hasn't been to the Caribbean yet so there is no way to know for sure, but was checking about other ships as well. Also, what about Mac and Cheese on the buffet, is that normally there?

 

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

 

 

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We were on the Vista on the June 21st sailing out of Athens, and we personally had chicken strips at the Lido buffet several times. You must have just checked at different times that we did! They weren't there every day, but we had them at least 4-5 times...

Headed out on a cruise and wondering who's been to the serenity pool and what type of suits were acceptable? We have some wicked weasel suits that we take to Mexico and wondering if they would be acceptable in the adult area?

Just as a point of clarification, since this is in the "Everything Vista" section, there is no pool in the serenity area on the Vista. I think there are two hot tubs, but no pool...

Did you have a good service team that you would recommend or did you switch it up every night? We are on the 7/19 sailing.

We switched it up every night and had excellent service on 4 of the 6 nights. The first night wasn't great, not was the last night, but otherwise it was very good. I have to say I'm not a big fan of the American Table menu, but the rest of the family liked it, so it's probably just me... :)

I just got off the June 21st sailing from Athens to Barcelona on the Vista and wanted to share my experience. I have some complaints, but I want to be clear that I had a fantastic time and that I would recommend the Vista.

 

Things weren't perfect, in fact I was a bit agitated by a couple of things. I want to also state that this was my first Carnival cruise so I can't say if some of the issues I'm going to complain about were Carnival based or Vista specific. Again these complaints are minor but worth noting. Either way I loved my cruise.

 

Internet Packages

My first complaint is with the internet package. I found out the hard way that if you buy a package for the entire length of the cruise, you were stuck using only plans that covered the entire length. What I mean by that is I bought a social package for the length of the cruise. you can buy a daily or entire length. this package doesnt give you access to email. A few days later I had an emergency at home and needed to send an email. One email. So I decided to buy a full day package just for that one day so I could send that one email. Turns out I was stuck with full length options now. So in order to send one email, I would now have to upgrade to the package that gave me email access every single day. I could no longer pay for just that one day. On RC you can buy by the minute. not a huge deal for most people but for some of us this is a big deal.

 

Energy Saver System

My second complaint was with their energy saving system in the room. I 100% understand the need for it. Some people will be wasteful leaving lights/tv on. The way it works is that you put your stateroom key in a slot and it allows you to use the lights, power outlets and tv. When you leave the room, you take the key with you and it turns off everything. Again, I see the need for this. However, it becomes a huge inconvenience, when you can't charge your cell phone unless you are in your room. We would use our phones as our cameras for this trip. We would go out to port and take tons of pictures, then come back with a dead battery and would want to leave our phones charging while we grabbed a bite, then pick our phones back up and take pictures in the ship or during the shows. This was not possible. We would have to wait in the room for an hour or so while our phones charged, or spend the day enjoying the ship without a camera or carnival app (which was fantastic by the way).

 

Again I know some people have issues with technology on the ship to begin with, but this was our cruise and to us this was an inconvenience.

 

Food

On the non technical side, One of my biggest complaints was with the food. I know flavor is subjective, so I won't touch on that part too much. But the breakfast options were almost non existent to us. You have the buffet, which has about 6 options every morning. I',m used to RC where you have rows and rows of food. Here you had about 6 options in the mian course sections. Of course you had the omelette station which was fantastic, you had the basic fruits, cereals etc...but the hot options were about 6 options. If you went to the main dining room for breakfast, you got the EXACT same options...just served to you instead of serving your self.

 

Now I'll admit that they had some great alternatives. the Blue Iguana Cantina had some awesome food! But it opened at 7. Usually our excursions started around 7 or 7:30. So as much as we loved this option it was usually not an option. The pizzeria was way better than the 24 hour one on RC. But having pizza for breakfast got old.

 

Same went for lunch. But I'll admit I thought Guys burgers blew my expectations, they were some of the best burgers I've ever had on a cruise. The sea food shack was amazing! So they had great food, but these were usually the ones that were only open at odd hours and not always available. for dinner we found ourselves usually at the specialty restaurants and enjoying them tremendously. But I felt we had no choice since the main dining area wasn't too flavorful for us. Again this is subjective, but the lack of options played a big role.

 

Cheers Package

I absolutely LOVED the cheers package. I drank and drank. I'll admit I might not have gotten my moneys worth, but that was due to how port intensive this cruise was. Still the fact that I got to try so many drinks I never would have tried was worth it. My only complaint was that the milk shakes were included, but the machines were broken the entire time! This played a big role in why I bought the package. Not big enough to make a stink about it, I still got plenty so why complain? but it did leave me feeling like I missed out a bit.

 

Your Time Dining

I've always done the flexible time dining on RC. I've always loved it. I did it on The Vista. I hated it. I spoke to some of the others on the ship and not every one had issues so keep that in mind. But on my end, I had to wait about 5-10 minutes for a buzzer. then about 35-45 minutes for the buzzer to go off. During that time I HAD to be at one of the nearby bars for the buzzer to work. This was a huge waste of my time for eating in the dining room, this also led to me usually doing the specialty dining. I only ate in the dining room twice on this cruise.

 

Soda During Lunch

One of the things I love about RC and just realized I took for granted was that they have pre filled soda cups out in the buffet area. You can either pay for it or use your soda package to just grab a cup. I didn't realize how great this was until I had lunch on the Vista. No soda anywhere other than at the bars. I love having a soda with my meals. but this means I had to get my plate, find a seat, then walk to the nearest bar, wait in line, get a soda and come back to my cold food. halfway through my meal when I was done with my soda, I had to once again walk to the bar, wait in line and grab a soda from the bartender before I could finish my meal. I tried asking some of the staff (thinking they might take drink orders in exchange for a tip) but I was directed to the nearest bar if I wanted a drink.

 

That was it. Those were my complaints. I know a lot of you will roll your eyes at them lol, that's ok, but maybe some of the cruisers who have similar interests as me in food or technology will be better prepared when they get to go on their cruise. Other than that I will say that the staff couldn't have done a better job. My bed was always made, everything was spotless, the carnival app was a game changer for me! No more need to carry around a giant paper with all the events, when everything is on your phone and can alert you when an event you want to participate in is about to start. Overall I really loved my time on the ship, just wished some of these minor issues weren't part of my experience.

Regarding the Your Time Dining, we were on the same cruise (June 21st out of Athens) and also had the Your Time Dining, and we used the Dining Room on 6 of the 10 nights, and literally never were given a buzzer once, or had a wait once. We went to the check-in desk, were assigned a table, walked to the Dining Room, and walked straight in to our table. I guess it must depend upon when you tried to use it. We always used it between 5:30 PM and about 6:45 PM.

We were on the June 21st cruise out of Athens---just got off today. We arrived at the Port at about 12:30, were on the ship by about 1:15 and our room was ready when we boarded.