Vista or Sunshine for family Springbreak Cruise?

We are in the process of planning a family cruise with another family. We will be traveling with 4 kids..ages 8,7,5, and 4. Trying to decide between 8 nights on Sunshine with beautiful Eastern Caribbean ports or 6 nights on Vista Western Caribbean. We like the ports better on Sunshine but like the idea of trying a family harbor suite on Vista. Any thoughts or advice would be a huge help☀️😀!!! Prices are pretty much the same.

Sunshine on this instance . Vista has become a Carnival Blimp according to all the negative post.

Neither one.

Some very positive reviews on the Family Harbor area...which based on the number of children cruising and their ages ....might be an added bonus. Having a seperate area for breakfast, snacks, video games, and relax time close to your cabin would add value to my cruise.

Although the Vista seems to be getting trashed....Remember its usually those who like to complain who post more (not saying what they report is wrong or slanted....cause everyone is entitled to their opinion) I'm sure there is an equal amount if not more who enjoyed the Vista.

I personally love the ship. The Family Harbor area and the Havana area are probably the 2 best things Carnival added on this new class of ships. Additionally...The waterpark is wonderful which should appeal to the young one's. I'll be cruising on the Vista for the 2nd time next week.

Some very positive reviews on the Family Harbor area...which based on the number of children cruising and their ages ....might be an added bonus. Having a seperate area for breakfast, snacks, video games, and relax time close to your cabin would add value to my cruise.

 

Although the Vista seems to be getting trashed....Remember its usually those who like to complain who post more (not saying what they report is wrong or slanted....cause everyone is entitled to their opinion) I'm sure there is an equal amount if not more who enjoyed the Vista.

 

I personally love the ship. The Family Harbor area and the Havana area are probably the 2 best things Carnival added on this new class of ships. Additionally...The waterpark is wonderful which should appeal to the young one's. I'll be cruising on the Vista for the 2nd time next week.

Haven’t had a chance to sail Vista, but I’m not a fan of the “sectioned” areas that are becoming more prevalent on all lines. They end up taking a disproportionate space from those who don’t have access to them. My read on the negative reviews is that they are coming from passengers who did not have access to the Havana or Spa area and found the rest to be too crowded.

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Every so often, we walked by the family harbor to get to our cabin. While the lounge area looked cute, there was never anyone in it. I would not pay more to stay in FH. For your age group I would think the imax/ thrill theater and ropes course_/sky ride would be the draw of the Vista. The Vista is a cool ship but I personally would not take a shorter cruise in order to sail her.

Vista but as Cafedumonde suggested Family Harbor probably not necessary. Seems to have lots for kids to do. We (as a couple) enjoyed the ship and would cruise on her again.

Sunshine - pool area very small - seems cruisers either love or dislike Sunshine - it was the Destiny in its past life and the 'bones' of the ship such as the pool area could not be changed/made larger. We had been on several other Carnival ships prior to sailing on the Sunshine and didn't love it but others in our group who had never been on a cruise before thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which itinerary appeals to you most? Eastern and Western trips are very different, in my opinion. If you take the Bahamas out of the picture (often included on an Eastern itinerary), the other islands are much different than the west being that they are less concerned overall with the cruise traffic- no one is up in your bubble wanting to sell you goods or braid your hair... But on those western ports you can barter, get cheap beach massages and see some pretty neat ruins. If you've traveled to both and genuinely don't have a preference- I would still probably choose the Vista. I know there still seem to be plenty of people harping on what they don't like- but I honestly remember when the Dream was first introduced- she had a short fan base too. She was the first of the class and was famed for the sewer gas smell! Lovely, right? You never hear anything about that anymore... They didn't do her refit until 2015, so what happened to the naysayers before then?

The Dream does happen to be my favorite ship in the fleet- we were fortunate enough to sail on her in late 2009- and two additional times since. I say that because I was aware of the "sewage smell" when i booked for the first time, but I still took a chance. Boy and I glad I did! I would have missed out on what has since become my fave! So- I'd say, give Vista a try.

Neither one.

I'm sure that's really helpful to OP.