Carnival Vista: 6 Day Western Cruise Review

Hello all, I recently sailed on the Carnival Vista for a 6 day cruise through the Western Caribbean. I love reading other people's cruise reviews while waiting for my next cruise to begin and I hope that by sharing my trip with others, I can help someone else pass the time as well.

Lots of great reviews lately on the Vista but I hope I can add something you didn't know or at least be mildly entertaining :D

I have written a few reviews in the past but sadly I used photobucket and most of the pictures are unviewable now on the early reviews. If you still want to read them you can do so by clicking the links below:

Sensation (photos still work, did not use PB)

Sunshine (no photos)

Sunshine Part II. (no photos)

Liberty (no photos) and Spelndor (photos toward the end) Side to Side

Splendor II

Splendor III

Glory

A couple disclaimers, I LOVE cruising and always have a good time. But I like to be honest in my review. Everything is not perfect on a cruise and I do intend to include the bad with the good. Just because I complain, does not mean I did not have a great time.

Also, I may not hit on everything that interests you as a cruiser. I would say from reading many reviews that my cruise style is different from the norm, and that is okay. Please feel free to ask questions about something I do not cover and I will do my best to answer anything that you would like to know about.

About Me:

I am 30 years old and am lucky enough to live in Florida so taking cruises is more affordable and easier to do than for many people. That was my 15th cruise, 13th time on Carnival and my first time on the Vista. This was also my platinum cruise.

I am cruising this time with my good friend and frequent cruise buddy, M. She is the one who got me into cruising.

We have both been following the Vista since she was still being built. We've both been wanting to sail on her for literally a couple of years. Oh the jealousy we have felt when we hear people on a cruise talk about their trip on the Vista. In our minds, we are the last two people on Earth who have not been on the Vista. Even someone that I work with has been on this ship. What the heck is taking us so long?

Well price for one. Prices for cruises on the Vista are extremly high, which is to be expected with a brand new ship. We came close to booking in January 2018 back when it was brand new because it was the only time prices were reasonable but could not imagine waiting so long to try out the ship so we waited for a casino offer to include the Vista.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally the Vista was included on a premier offer, in January 2018. I guess it was meant to be that we would not make it on this ship till the demand could cool off a little, but when I saw this premier offer I booked it right away. All was set for a cruise on the Vista on January 7, 2018 to Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

We were unsure if M would be able to afford to go but I was prepared to go solo if I needed to. Thankfully for my wallet, she was able to book this cruise and join me. Then as we got close to cruise day, her job told her all vacations for the month of January had to be cancelled due to her company being bought out and her needing to be there for the changeover. I am not sure what the outcome would have been, but thankfully we never needed to cross that bridge as the buyout got pushed back and all was right in the vacation world again.

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With my new found platinum status I was excited to be on the ship as early as possible since I could drop my stuff off in my room and begin my cruise. M is not as excited about being there early which I don't entirely understand. Her logic is there is nothing to do on the ship until we set sail. I enjoy just being on the ship, with or without something to do, but even so doesn't doing nothing on a cruise ship beat doing nothing at home?

We did not arrive as early as I would have liked, but we did make it there earlier than we ever have before so I was still a happy camper. We also parked at the port which shaved more time off versus being shuttled in. Parking at the port is crazy expensive at $22 a day but it was worth it to me to pull in and walk to the ship and to just walk to the car and leave when the cruise is over. I may not always have the extra spending money to splurge on parking versus more glamorous things, but I was glad I did it and will try to do it again whenever I sail out of Miami.

We arrived just after noon and things were pretty busy at the port. But it looked worse than it was as the line moved pretty quickly and after once again having to wait for security to approve me to take my box fan on board (why is this always an issue?) we were on our way to get this vacation started!

When I booked, I booked the cheapest room available on Deck 1. Oh how I miss the days when I got casino offers that let me book any inside on the ship for the same price. But then a couple of days before I got a call from the Upgrade Fairy, wait it was a guy, Upgrade Wizard? Anyway for the first time in 15 cruises I was given the option to upgrade.

For $250 total I moved from an inside on Rivera to a balcony on 8.

Our room before it was too lived in.

My first balcony view.

Looking down, no privacy for those with a Havana patio.

We got settled into our new home for the week and M realized she did not have her phone. Someone (not admitting it was me) dropped it out of his pocket in the car. I was not sure what disembarking and reboarding would entail, but it was a pretty painless process. They scanned our card to get off and then we simply went through the boarding process again. There were no lines by this time and we walked right back on.

After boarding twice I was now famished so we made our way to Guy's BBQ for some lunch. As I have heard on here, there was no line today as most people flocked up to Lido for their first day lunch.

This was a step up from the BBQ served on the Conquest class ships but it will still not live up to your expectations if you are expecting BBQ like you get back home. This is a cruise ship catering to 4000 people. Not your backyard catering to one distinct style of BBQ. It hit the spot and the sausage was a real stand out, very flavorful and although I did not plan on going back due to the very wide variety of lunch options on the Vista, I thought the food was great and would recommend everyone try it. But go early before everyone finds out about it.

After lunch we headed to the casino to get our room situation straitened out. As I mentioned I was booked originally in a different cabin and my upgrade was not forwarded to the casino so my premier goodies had not been delivered. I met the host, Tudej (pronounced "today") and he took down my new info and got me my goodies which included a drink card while playing in the casino and a logo stationary set.

We also made a trip to guest services to check on M's fun shop orders. They confirmed they were still on our reservation but that they may not be delivered until as late as 9:30. I have gotten used to my welcome back items not being delivered until the evening, but this was the first time fun shop orders were not in the room already. Maybe with the 15% gratuity added to pre-orders they can staff it better to get it delivered promptly.

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Even though we were on the ship earlier than normal, with the running around we did we didn't really run into any downtime before muster. Can I just say I love that muster is held inside on the Vista. It is so much more manageable than standing outside. That said, it is still pretty boring. But it was over pretty quick and then we were on our way to enjoy sail away.

Normally I do sail away at the front of the ship on one of the "secret" decks. But normally I don't have my very own balcony. I wasn't sure how exciting it was going to be though, because my balcony would be facing the port - big whoop. Unless maybe she pulled in backwards. I was super excited when I pulled up and saw that she was indeed parked backwards and my balcony would be facing beautiful Miami and the other ships pulling out.

The Splendor pulling out first.

Followed by the Celebrity Eclipse.

Next it was our turn to turn around and head out to sea.

While we were getting turned around, the Norwegian Getaway headed out leaving only the Disney Magic in port.

It was very nice to be able to view sail away from my own private balcony. Especially since we ended up being on the right side for a nice view.

The only downside, the premier cocktail party which meant cutting sail away a bit short. But the free drinks were calling so I made my way to the limelight lounge where the event was being held.

My last two cruises I enjoyed the free flowing drinks a little too well at this party. I'm getting too old for that sorta thing. I am happy to report that although I enjoyed a few drinks, I did not enjoy them so much as to be out of commission the rest of the night. I should be safe from over drinking now, right?

I usually refer to my fun times for exact times of when I did stuff, but the first night's fun times is missing. I think it was thrown away. I don't remember the time but I know we went to see Cee Jay Jones' family show tonight. The shows were super early on the Vista because the lounge becomes the night club. So it was not unusual for the family shows to start at 5:30 and the R shows to start at 7:45. They also did not rotate out comedians half way through the week like usual. Perhaps because it was a 6 day and not a full week?

I found Cee Jay Jones to be funny but not ROFLMAO funny. I mean I think it is hard to be that funny at a family show. I never made it to his R show, but others seemed to really enjoy him. M did not care for him, but again I think her opinion may have been different at the adult show.

After this it was casino time. My first impression of the Vista casino - lousy. This impression did not do anything but compound itself throughout the week. Terrible terrible terrible design. Anywhere they could cram a table or a slot machine, there was a table or slot machine crammed. To say it was a tight squeeze would be an understatement and there were times when it was crowded for a drawing that things just literally came to a standstill as nobody could move. Big giant miss on the casino layout.

The next issue was service. In fairness this got better. The casino made a call to the head of the bar department demanding more staffing on the first sea day, and within an hour extra servers were brought in and there were no further issues the rest of the week. But this first day it was pretty much like a desert in this place. I knew I was in trouble when I sat down and saw around a dozen people around me with empty glasses. It would be almost an hour before I got a drink.

I was on a big losing streak that finally turned around on my last cruise when I did the impossible, and actually left with some of the casino's money in my pocket. But my winning streak would prove to be short lived. I did not play long tonight because I was not off to a good start. In fact, after I finally got my drink I got up and stopped playing. M was not doing much better over at blackjack.

We made our way down to dinner a little after 9. I seem to recall at one point that platinum guests could go right to the dining room instead of checking in but that is no longer the case. Not a huge deal but it was a bit inconvenient going from deck 4 to deck 5 to check in, then back down to deck 3 to eat. We were seated immediately since it was so late. The hostess had zero personality and the guy she asked to seat us actually sighed at her for I guess being put out. Maybe this was not his usual job, but really? He walked us to our table and left. Not one word said the entire time and he pointed at the table and walked off. Very very rude.

Tonight's dinner menu.

For my starter I had the chilled Vietnamese roll.

For my main I had the fried chicken BLT from the port of call menu and the vegetable lasagna.

All were items I have gotten before and I enjoyed all of them.

Dessert menu - Vista, like the Glory, is on a new dessert

I ordered the tiramisu.

The tiramisu was also very good. Sad to see it replace the nutella tiramisu but this dessert is very very good also.

The food was all very good, but a bit repetitive to me at this point. Not a bad problem to have I guess. The service? Meh. It was prompt, but the hostess left a lot to be desired. The waitstaff started out okay, but the head waiter was MIA for a time and the assistant waiters had to pick up his slack but even they seemed unsure where he was. Not a bad experience, but not up to the standard that I am used to from Carnival.

After dinner we did something unprecedented. We went to bed. Yep, I foresee a cruise on HAL in our near future. Kidding about that, but M was tired and with no further casino drawings, I jumped at the opportunity to go to sleep early. So we unwinded with a little time on the balcony and then turned in for the night.

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Thanks for following along!

21 days!!! Reading along and looking forward to your tips and tricks!

Going on the Vista next year so following!

21 days!!! Reading along and looking forward to your tips and tricks!

Going on the Vista next year so following!

Thanks for following along. Will have a ship tour for you tomorrow :)

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Going on her sister ship Horizon in September!! Following!

Thanks for starting the review.

It was very nice to be able to view sail away from my own private balcony. Especially since we ended up being on the right side for a nice view.

 

The only downside, the premier cocktail party which meant cutting sail away a bit short. But the free drinks were calling so I made my way to the limelight lounge where the event was being held.

 

 

 

 

My last two cruises I enjoyed the free flowing drinks a little too well at this party. I'm getting too old for that sorta thing. I am happy to report that although I enjoyed a few drinks, I did not enjoy them so much as to be out of commission the rest of the night. I should be safe from over drinking now, right?

Enjoying your review. My family and I will be sailing on the Vista. What is the premier cocktail party?

Following...

Thanks.

Going on her sister ship Horizon in September!! Following!

I'm looking forward to seeing what is different and what is the same between the two ships other than just what we can see from deckplans. We will know soon.

Thanks for starting the review.

Thanks for reading along.

Enjoying your review. My family and I will be sailing on the Vista. What is the premier cocktail party?

It is a small gathering with food and free drinks for those who were invited by the casino to participate as part of the premier group. It's a nice perk but you shouldn't donate in the casino just to attend the party :)

Enjoying your review and pictures.

As always, looking forward to your review. We'll be on the Horizon in May, so info on her sister ship is always exciting to read.

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Enjoying your review and pictures.

Thank you.

As always, looking forward to your review. We'll be on the Horizon in May, so info on her sister ship is always exciting to read.

 

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Glad to have you along for another review. Ship tour is next.

Ship Tour:

The Vista is the largest ship I have sailed on to date. This tour actually took two separate days to complete. I could have done it all in one day, but M was waiting and even though I did the tour on day 3, I still had not been higher than Lido deck so I figured I would wait one more day to do the outside decks. There were many areas I did not discover until I was walking, and being less familiar with Vista than previous ships, there may be areas I missed.

Starting on Deck 1 you have guest cabins - where I booked orginanaly.

This made me think of John Heald. I considered sending this picture to him just to get him going on a rant :)

Deck 2 where the Family Harbor cabins are located.