Just off Vista today - some thoughts

I just sailed the Vista 8-day cruise to La Romana, Grand Turk, Curacao and Aruba. I went with my daughter and my 14-yr-old granddaughter. We had a great time thanks in large part to the fantastic entertainment team headed up by Matt Mitcham and his cohorts Richie Rich and Cheeky Charlie (Charlotte). I have no idea what Carnival pays these people, but whatever it is should be doubled - they absolutely make this ship a "fun" ship! All of the music venues were good - the New Age Strings in the Atrium were wonderful - I wish they had a CD.

As for the ship, I have to say it is very underwhelming and disappointing overall. I sailed the Breeze in 2015 and thought the decor just so-so, but it was stunning compared to the Vista. I feel Carnival has really dumbed down their ships. There is absolutely nothing impressive about the Vista - it felt congested everywhere, the cabins were noticeably smaller ( we had a balcony on deck 8), the public areas are WAY too small for this size ship, the main theater (Liquid Lounge) is a joke. The only good sight lines are in the very front seats. There is no graduated incline, the floor is flat so all you see is heads in front of you. Don't even think about seeing anything from the tiny balcony - there's nothing but fat poles and those plastic panels that you have to keep trying to look over or under. There is a large circular sofa in the center balcony from which you can only see the top of the stage curtain!!!The chairs on the lower floor are straight-back, removal ones that are very uncomfortable. This area might work for bingo, but it is a miserable fail as a theater.

Our cabin would have been OK for 2 but was very tight for 3 people. There are only 3 drawers so our room always looked like a bomb had gone off, lol. There are no outlets in the bathroom. The sofa serves as a bed but is as hard as a piece of granite. We asked our room steward if he could put an eggcrate on it but he said everyone was requesting one and they'd run out. He did put a cushioned mattress pad on it which helped. There just wasn't any room to walk though if you use the sofa as a bed, as the back bolsters are then placed against the wall at the foot of the "real" beds which makes it nearly impossible to get to the balcony. We never had this problem on the Breeze, same category cabin.

I miss the hot tubs on deck 5 - they were replaced by circular bed-loungers. Boo-hoo.

As for the dining room, we had anytime dining and it really seems strange to check in on deck 5 and then walk down to deck 3 to be seated. The dining room was one of my biggest disappointments - it's downright ugly, the tables (with the exception of the round ones in the center) are so close, maybe 6 - 12" apart, that the waiters' rear ends are practically in your face when they're trying to serve the adjacent table. They must hate it. It's noisy, there are servers scraping off dirty plates everywhere you look, there's just nothing that makes you want to be there. The food was OK, prime rib was good, many meats were dried out though. I'm sure it's difficult to prepare meals for this number of people and I can say I never left hungry. We all felt the meal felt very rushed, there was no personal interaction with the servers like there has been in past years. I really missed that.

The lido buffet area was best to be avoided. The aisles are so narrow and there are so many "blind" spots where crew come around the corner carrying trays of dirty dishes that I always felt one second away from a disaster. Who in the world designed this ship?!!!

And the atrium. What can I say that hasn't been said already. It would have looked and worked fine 20 - 25 years ago on a much smaller ship, but not on this one.

I REALLY wanted to love this ship but it's blah decor, cramped public spaces and total lack of any wow factor prevented it. Did it stop us from having a fun cruise - absolutely not, we had a blast! The ship has a great energy about it thanks to the cruise director and his talented staff. I love that there's music everywhere, dance parties nearly every night, wonderful clubs for kids of all ages, lots of shady spots on deck 5 promenade. Our cabin steward serviced our room twice a day and kept our ice bucket filled. He also knew our names!

I'm just disappointed in the ship, not the cruise. The people made it special and unforgettable. I'm sure I'll think of more positives in the next few days and I'm sorry my observations sound negative. I just wish the powers that be were putting more thought into the design of future ships - bigger and more congested doesn't make it better.

Our food was bad on the Vista in both the MDR and buffet. In fact, it was the worst quality and selection we have ever had on any cruise. We did however, like the ship itself.

Interesting.... We loved the ship and food. Probably the best meat dishes we have ever had on any Carnival cruise. So interesting we have 3 different perceptions and observations!!! LOL

I agree with you about the ship and the entertainment. The cruise director was the best I have ever had. He made it a very fun cruise and had so much energy. The shows were good. But every time I saw one in the liquid lounge, I was disappointed. There were two times when we got the best seats in the theater (balcony, center seats). The other times I was annoyed that the seating and set up was so bad. Also, the lines for the adult comedy shows and the theater shows were the longest we had ever waited in line on any cruise.

The ship is more like something you would expect 20 years ago. It's like one of the first ships, not the newest ship. I also had a great cruise, but will never cruise on the Vista again because the other Carnival ships were so much better.

The staff is top notch though. Definitely worth whatever Carnival is paying them, and then some.

To each their own I guess.

I got off a week ago and overall I liked the decor of the ship. I thought it was much more modern than some of the colourful decor the other Carnival ships we have sailed. The only place I thought was congested was the upper decks in the atrium when they had the sales tables out.

I agree with you about Matt and Cheeky Charlie, I thought Richie Rich was OK but he tried too hard to be like Matt and it didn't work. Also the sight lines in the Liquid Lounge could be bad if you didn't really pay attention to where you were seated.

The food we had in the MDR was pretty good, along with the service - no complaints there.

I also thought the ship was very easy to navigate. We had two adults and two 17 year old boys in our balcony cabin and it didn't seem any different than the other Carnival cabins we have had.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for review. Was thinking about booking the Vista for a 2019 family trip since it was one of the newer ships. Guess I will be shopping around.

Thanks for review. Was thinking about booking the Vista for a 2019 family trip since it was one of the newer ships. Guess I will be shopping around.

Read more reviews...We did 8 day cruise on Vista in November and it ranks as our #2 cruise out of 12 Carnival cruises. Only our cruise on the Breeze surpassed our Vista cruise

Thanks for review. Was thinking about booking the Vista for a 2019 family trip since it was one of the newer ships. Guess I will be shopping around.

Please don't let my views of Vista's decor and space issues keep you from considering cruising her, that wasn't my intention. As I said, we actually had a terrific time. We loved our cabin location, 8252, as we were just steps away from the elevators/stairs.

It's just that I found this to be the least attractive ship I've been on after 17 cruises on multiple lines, including Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, HAL, RCL and MSC. I've always been a Carnival fan, I just personally don't care for the direction the company is going with the smaller public spaces and the uninspiring decor. Truly, the tiny public restrooms were downright ugly.

I meant to add that the most attractive area of the ship was the Havana Bar, but we tried to go in and listen to the Latin band 3 different nights and were unable to because it felt like a meat locker in there, downright frigid! We never saw more than 4 or 5 people in there, a real shame. I hope they can get the temp regulated.

You hit the nail on the head with your review, my thoughts of it two years ago were very similar. Such a boring, poorly designed ship. With all the cutbacks and decrease in service it made for a our least favorite ship and one of our least favorite cruises. Matt and staff were great. Service oriented crew were overworked. Havana area was a home run but when you factor in the whole ship it's a thumbs down.

I would consider the Panorama depending on its voyage to LB and would also consider it from LB as its a close port. Beside that no Vista class on my horizon. ;) I've been on the Breeze three times (Europe and 2x ABC's) and it's our favorite. If the Vista class is an example of Carnival's future mega ships then no thanks - give me an Oasis class anyday. Thanks for the review!

I meant to add that the most attractive area of the ship was the Havana Bar, but we tried to go in and listen to the Latin band 3 different nights and were unable to because it felt like a meat locker in there, downright frigid! We never saw more than 4 or 5 people in there, a real shame. I hope they can get the temp regulated.

Yes...nice area. We stayed in a Havana cabin on cruise. Spent many a evening in Havana bar and the bar behind it at pool (outside). Great experience and also less crowds. Nice breakfast/lunch offerings at Ocean Plaza (Taste Bar)....Red Frog Pub and Barbeque right outside Ocean Plaza. Rarely did we go to Lido other than the obligatory Guys Burger and a slice of Pizza. My wife is not much of an evening person and I love the sports bar and casino....so you can probably see why we liked the Vista and were able to minimize any crowds.

Thank you for your review/trip report.

Keith

I sailed Vista last year and it was my favorite cruise ship (with Breeze a very close second).

I thought the decor was fine, a little toned down and contemporary, which I like.

I do agree that Matt and his crew are great. The best CD I've had. You are also 100% correct on the theatre; Poorly designed, and that's being nice.

My meals in the MDR varied from good to excellent, and the steakhouse was great. I too wasn't impressed with the marketplace place lunch buffet. I had lunch there only one day and the food was average at best. Fortunately Guy's, Pig and Anchor, Blue Iguana, the Mongolian Wok, and Cucina are excellent alternatives for a good lunch.

I never found the ship to be extremely congested and had an easy time getting around. At times it could be hard to find a deck chair on the pool decks or serenity, but after a little walking around we would eventually find something.

I just sailed the Vista 8-day cruise to La Romana, Grand Turk, Curacao and Aruba. I went with my daughter and my 14-yr-old granddaughter. We had a great time thanks in large part to the fantastic entertainment team headed up by Matt Mitcham and his cohorts Richie Rich and Cheeky Charlie (Charlotte). I have no idea what Carnival pays these people, but whatever it is should be doubled - they absolutely make this ship a "fun" ship! All of the music venues were good - the New Age Strings in the Atrium were wonderful - I wish they had a CD.

As for the ship, I have to say it is very underwhelming and disappointing overall. I sailed the Breeze in 2015 and thought the decor just so-so, but it was stunning compared to the Vista. I feel Carnival has really dumbed down their ships. There is absolutely nothing impressive about the Vista - it felt congested everywhere, the cabins were noticeably smaller ( we had a balcony on deck 8), the public areas are WAY too small for this size ship, the main theater (Liquid Lounge) is a joke. The only good sight lines are in the very front seats. There is no graduated incline, the floor is flat so all you see is heads in front of you. Don't even think about seeing anything from the tiny balcony - there's nothing but fat poles and those plastic panels that you have to keep trying to look over or under. There is a large circular sofa in the center balcony from which you can only see the top of the stage curtain!!!The chairs on the lower floor are straight-back, removal ones that are very uncomfortable. This area might work for bingo, but it is a miserable fail as a theater.

Our cabin would have been OK for 2 but was very tight for 3 people. There are only 3 drawers so our room always looked like a bomb had gone off, lol. There are no outlets in the bathroom. The sofa serves as a bed but is as hard as a piece of granite. We asked our room steward if he could put an eggcrate on it but he said everyone was requesting one and they'd run out. He did put a cushioned mattress pad on it which helped. There just wasn't any room to walk though if you use the sofa as a bed, as the back bolsters are then placed against the wall at the foot of the "real" beds which makes it nearly impossible to get to the balcony. We never had this problem on the Breeze, same category cabin.

I miss the hot tubs on deck 5 - they were replaced by circular bed-loungers. Boo-hoo.

 

As for the dining room, we had anytime dining and it really seems strange to check in on deck 5 and then walk down to deck 3 to be seated. The dining room was one of my biggest disappointments - it's downright ugly, the tables (with the exception of the round ones in the center) are so close, maybe 6 - 12" apart, that the waiters' rear ends are practically in your face when they're trying to serve the adjacent table. They must hate it. It's noisy, there are servers scraping off dirty plates everywhere you look, there's just nothing that makes you want to be there. The food was OK, prime rib was good, many meats were dried out though. I'm sure it's difficult to prepare meals for this number of people and I can say I never left hungry. We all felt the meal felt very rushed, there was no personal interaction with the servers like there has been in past years. I really missed that.

 

The lido buffet area was best to be avoided. The aisles are so narrow and there are so many "blind" spots where crew come around the corner carrying trays of dirty dishes that I always felt one second away from a disaster. Who in the world designed this ship?!!!

 

And the atrium. What can I say that hasn't been said already. It would have looked and worked fine 20 - 25 years ago on a much smaller ship, but not on this one.

 

I REALLY wanted to love this ship but it's blah decor, cramped public spaces and total lack of any wow factor prevented it. Did it stop us from having a fun cruise - absolutely not, we had a blast! The ship has a great energy about it thanks to the cruise director and his talented staff. I love that there's music everywhere, dance parties nearly every night, wonderful clubs for kids of all ages, lots of shady spots on deck 5 promenade. Our cabin steward serviced our room twice a day and kept our ice bucket filled. He also knew our names!

 

I'm just disappointed in the ship, not the cruise. The people made it special and unforgettable. I'm sure I'll think of more positives in the next few days and I'm sorry my observations sound negative. I just wish the powers that be were putting more thought into the design of future ships - bigger and more congested doesn't make it better.

Thanks for your thoughts, sometimes bigger isn't better, we'll see for ourselves as we booked a B2B on the Vista including the southern itinerary in May!:D

To each their own I guess.

 

I got off a week ago and overall I liked the decor of the ship. I thought it was much more modern than some of the colourful decor the other Carnival ships we have sailed. The only place I thought was congested was the upper decks in the atrium when they had the sales tables out.

 

I agree with you about Matt and Cheeky Charlie, I thought Richie Rich was OK but he tried too hard to be like Matt and it didn't work. Also the sight lines in the Liquid Lounge could be bad if you didn't really pay attention to where you were seated.

 

The food we had in the MDR was pretty good, along with the service - no complaints there.

 

I also thought the ship was very easy to navigate. We had two adults and two 17 year old boys in our balcony cabin and it didn't seem any different than the other Carnival cabins we have had.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise.

Looking forward to see CD Matt, heard many great reviews about him!:D

Looking forward to see CD Matt, heard many great reviews about him!:D

We've never paid much attention to the CD in the past but he was very good. I would definitely look for another cruise where he was the CD.

Thanks for review. Was thinking about booking the Vista for a 2019 family trip since it was one of the newer ships. Guess I will be shopping around.

I can’t wait to re-book the Vista for our next family cruise. So much TO DO on this ship. Personally I think the funnel in the Atrium is beautiful. The room storage is less. I miss all the drawers but we managed. The “older Farcus” designed ships to me are over the top. I guess I’m more interested in looking at the sea and people. Before you rule it out, decide for yourself. Happy cruising.

PS, there ARE outlets in the bathroom. Up high in the upper right corner.

I just sailed the Vista 8-day cruise to La Romana, Grand Turk, Curacao and Aruba. I went with my daughter and my 14-yr-old granddaughter. We had a great time thanks in large part to the fantastic entertainment team headed up by Matt Mitcham and his cohorts Richie Rich and Cheeky Charlie (Charlotte). I have no idea what Carnival pays these people, but whatever it is should be doubled - they absolutely make this ship a "fun" ship! All of the music venues were good - the New Age Strings in the Atrium were wonderful - I wish they had a CD.

As for the ship, I have to say it is very underwhelming and disappointing overall. I sailed the Breeze in 2015 and thought the decor just so-so, but it was stunning compared to the Vista. I feel Carnival has really dumbed down their ships. There is absolutely nothing impressive about the Vista - it felt congested everywhere, the cabins were noticeably smaller ( we had a balcony on deck 8), the public areas are WAY too small for this size ship, the main theater (Liquid Lounge) is a joke. The only good sight lines are in the very front seats. There is no graduated incline, the floor is flat so all you see is heads in front of you. Don't even think about seeing anything from the tiny balcony - there's nothing but fat poles and those plastic panels that you have to keep trying to look over or under. There is a large circular sofa in the center balcony from which you can only see the top of the stage curtain!!!The chairs on the lower floor are straight-back, removal ones that are very uncomfortable. This area might work for bingo, but it is a miserable fail as a theater.

Our cabin would have been OK for 2 but was very tight for 3 people. There are only 3 drawers so our room always looked like a bomb had gone off, lol. There are no outlets in the bathroom. The sofa serves as a bed but is as hard as a piece of granite. We asked our room steward if he could put an eggcrate on it but he said everyone was requesting one and they'd run out. He did put a cushioned mattress pad on it which helped. There just wasn't any room to walk though if you use the sofa as a bed, as the back bolsters are then placed against the wall at the foot of the "real" beds which makes it nearly impossible to get to the balcony. We never had this problem on the Breeze, same category cabin.

I miss the hot tubs on deck 5 - they were replaced by circular bed-loungers. Boo-hoo.

 

As for the dining room, we had anytime dining and it really seems strange to check in on deck 5 and then walk down to deck 3 to be seated. The dining room was one of my biggest disappointments - it's downright ugly, the tables (with the exception of the round ones in the center) are so close, maybe 6 - 12" apart, that the waiters' rear ends are practically in your face when they're trying to serve the adjacent table. They must hate it. It's noisy, there are servers scraping off dirty plates everywhere you look, there's just nothing that makes you want to be there. The food was OK, prime rib was good, many meats were dried out though. I'm sure it's difficult to prepare meals for this number of people and I can say I never left hungry. We all felt the meal felt very rushed, there was no personal interaction with the servers like there has been in past years. I really missed that.

 

The lido buffet area was best to be avoided. The aisles are so narrow and there are so many "blind" spots where crew come around the corner carrying trays of dirty dishes that I always felt one second away from a disaster. Who in the world designed this ship?!!!

 

And the atrium. What can I say that hasn't been said already. It would have looked and worked fine 20 - 25 years ago on a much smaller ship, but not on this one.

 

I REALLY wanted to love this ship but it's blah decor, cramped public spaces and total lack of any wow factor prevented it. Did it stop us from having a fun cruise - absolutely not, we had a blast! The ship has a great energy about it thanks to the cruise director and his talented staff. I love that there's music everywhere, dance parties nearly every night, wonderful clubs for kids of all ages, lots of shady spots on deck 5 promenade. Our cabin steward serviced our room twice a day and kept our ice bucket filled. He also knew our names!

 

I'm just disappointed in the ship, not the cruise. The people made it special and unforgettable. I'm sure I'll think of more positives in the next few days and I'm sorry my observations sound negative. I just wish the powers that be were putting more thought into the design of future ships - bigger and more congested doesn't make it better.

DITTO......you summed the Vista up PERFECTLY...our sentiments EXACTLY. From the best CD (KUDOS to Matt M and crew who made our cruise FUN at least)....to the WORST designed ship in the fleet! We agree with you on each and every point you made. We will NOT be sailing on Horizon or any new ships of this design.

CCL not only "dumbed down" the design, they just got downright CHEAP.....no more granite etc but instead ugly, mismatched ceramic tile and PLASTIC walls....cramped public spaces (as they were filled in with more cabins to cram more pax into the ship)......we actually were happy to disembark this ship for the very first time in our cruising history!! AWFUL!!

We too were on the 8-day Vista cruise and we LOVED the decor on the ship! It is much more "middle of the road" design and very beachy/cabana style.

We ate in the dining room 3 times and each time it was very good and service was also good, in and out in an hour or 90 minutes. Very attentive service and we also had YTD. The checkin in on deck 5 was not an issue and worked well we never had to wait for a table.

There are so many different venues available to eat on this ship. We did the pasta bar 2x for lunch, pizza twice, never did bbq, Guy's Burgers 3x, Lido for dinner was also good and hot no lines; Fresh Creations on Serenity was excellent, best salad makings on the ship; love Red Frogg Pub and Seafood Shack was good despite Caribbean lobster ILO Maine lobster. Room service every morning for breakfast and was on time every morning! Java coffee bar is top notch, often a line here.

We loved Cheeky Charlie, she is over the top with her energy and personality,

The only two things regarding Vista in my opinion were - 1. sea days you really felt the crowds, forget about a seat anywhere, even on the sides of the ship, I was on serenity one morning and chose to leave after 1 pm due to the crowds and the messes people leave behind. 2. spa, I had a spa pass for the week and I was so looking forward to it as I had just had a spa pass on the Magic in January. The spa on Vista is MUCH smaller than Magic. The pool is in the same room with the loungers which makes for a lot of noise, add people into the pool who are talking and there is NO serenity there at all. None of the steam rooms/sauna are labeled like on the Magic and they have fewer heated loungers on Vista, go figure. The spa employees seemed very disorganized.

The Havanna area is amazing, wish they had more room offerings. The Harbor area is also nice for families as they have their own room for food and games and it was always being used.

Our room steward was great, he took care of all our needs and we only requested morning service.

We would sail Vista again any time and we have been on 20+ Carnival cruises.

Goes to show how no two cruisers have the same experiences.

We were in Havana room which thank goodness because on sea days the pools were packed. I would do an inside cabin in Havana area if I did this ship again. The pool area had maybe 10 people each day.

Only ate in MDR twice on an 11 day. We weren't impressed and there seemed a lack of attentiveness. Coffee shop line was always 10-15 deep and they ran out of ice cream for shakes after 8 days. Steakhouse was booked whole cruise before embarkation. We loved eating breakfast at Taste Bar.

Matt and his team made the cruise and hard to go on another ship because no one can compete.

Loved the Breeze and trying to make a decision about November and Horizon's prices are ridiculous, not loving Vista's itineraries so may do Breeze. Does is still have the Mediterranean food? I walked on Vista and headed to the back and it was Seafood Shack. I was so disappointed.

Loved the Breeze and trying to make a decision about Novemberted.

Check out Breeze Journeys cruise Nov 3rd this year.

We did the same itinerary as you did last September. Vista was the newest and biggest ship we had ever been on (16 total cruises all Carnival).

Loved the staff. Loved the outsdoor seating at red Frog and the self serve beer stations. Loved the food and service at Bonsai.

Did NOT love:

Steakhouse

MDR

Liquid Lounge

Comedy Club

Cabin size

The running theme for us was that it seemed like everything was SMALLER on the BIGGEST ship.

We had a great time, and I wouldn't say "never again" to the Vista, but it was far, FAR from being a ship we liked. Give me a Spirit Class any day of the week!!!

Spirit class is also my all time favorite so sorry they aren't building them anymore. Unfortunately "it's all about money"!

We did the same itinerary as you did last September. Vista was the newest and biggest ship we had ever been on (16 total cruises all Carnival).

 

Loved the staff. Loved the outsdoor seating at red Frog and the self serve beer stations. Loved the food and service at Bonsai.

 

Did NOT love:

 

Steakhouse

MDR

Liquid Lounge

Comedy Club

Cabin size

 

The running theme for us was that it seemed like everything was SMALLER on the BIGGEST ship.

 

We had a great time, and I wouldn't say "never again" to the Vista, but it was far, FAR from being a ship we liked. Give me a Spirit Class any day of the week!!!

Exactly how I felt. It wasn't that I didn't have a good time (thanks to the entertainment staff) but I felt that EVERYTHING seemed so much smaller and so much more congested on what was supposed to be a bigger ship. I would only sail it again if Matt Mitcham was still on it, otherwise no way.