Review Vista May 24 - June 3 Med Cruise

[BaseballMomof4]

Hello everyone! Just off the Vista 10 day May 24 - June 3 and have TONS to share. I will likely have to take several days to complete this as there is so much to tell!

 

I sailed with my 21 year old son, his 19 year old girlfriend and my 18 year old son.

 

We flew TAP Portugal out of Miami. Our flight to Athens had 2 stops. We rented a car to drive to Miami as it was cheaper than parking for a week and boarded our flight without issue. The first flight was Miami to Lisbon and was made even more tedious by the fact that the TV's were not working, not to mention that the man in front of me was having an absolute hissy fit about it the entire flight. We had enough layover time in Lisbon for a quick breakfast and then on to our flight to Madrid. That one was simply awful, but thankfully short. Finally we boarded Madrid to Athens. Talk about a bad flight. It was on Aegean and the seats felt like plastic with no padding. That was a long 3 hours.

 

Over all, TAP does a good job and got us to our destination on time and with all of our luggage (although one bag was a bit less than "intact").

 

Next up, our pre-arranged ride from Welcome Rides. Absolutely fabulous!! Our driver was waiting for us - Demetrius - and he got us into his vehicle and settled quickly which was a godsend after so many hours of flying. Our trip to the hotel was much longer than expected due to a strike meaning many more people were driving instead of using public transit but Demetrius did his best to make it interesting by pointing out all of the attractions along the way. I highly recommend Welcome Rides in Athens and Demetrius in particular! The price was 1/3 if what my cousin paid for the same ride and he was right there waiting for us! Outstanding!

 

Next up, our hotel.

[BaseballMomof4]

 

We chose the Plaka Hotel and cannot say enough wonderful things about it. It was lovely, very comfortable, well situated for walking to attractions and their breakfast was outstanding!

 

The room was clean and comfortable and I had a stunning view of the Acropolis from my window. The bathroom was modern and super clean, and the rooftop terrace was spectacular! We even held a mini meet & greet there!

 

My 21 year old and his girlfriend had their own room without the view but had a small balcony to sit out on which was a really nice bonus!

 

There is a little convenience store right outside the door as well which helped out. There were refrigerators in both rooms which was also very nice.

 

I highly recommend this hotel - it was a good value and really delivered. The only negative was the tiny elevator (which is common in Europe). The staff were extremely helpful and friendly.

 

Since we were pretty tired out when we got to the hotel, we brought our bags up to our rooms and got settled then we went up to the rooftop terrace for a quick drink. We were ready to get a quick dinner and head for bed so we could have a nice day of sightseeing the following day.

 

We found a restaurant right near the hotel, sorry I cannot remember the name - take a right out of the hotel, cross the street and it is 2 doors down on the right. The food was good, the prices were reasonable, and the service was quick.

 

After that we were done for and headed back to the hotel.

[cccer]

I look forward to your review. We will be staying at the Hotel Plaka post cruise next month so it's good to hear a positive review on that. Keep it up!

[brightfeather]

Following. Thank you for taking the time to review this new ship! :-)

[littlekid58]

Subscribing :)

[BaseballMomof4]

View from our room at The Plaka

[cmcsharon]

Thank you for taking the time to do this. I'm looking forward to your review. I hope you'll share what your kids thought of the trip. I'm traveling with 3 kids of similar age as yours...my son, my daughter and my daughter's boyfriend (who happens to be my son's best friend). And it's a first time to Europe for all of us.

[mrsfuzzmo]

Looking forward to the rest!!

[cshellz]

Following, great start.

[LaCal]

Why's the font so tiny on this review??

[BaseballMomof4]

Ok, so Day 1 in Athens. We got up early and enjoyed the fabulous breakfast at the Plaka and then caught a cab to the Acropolis. I stress EARLY. We actually enjoyed a day that was not as crowded as it could have been. We walked through without too many crowd issues and were (thankfully) leaving just as the ship's tours were arriving!

 

The views were simply stunning and really gave a great perspective on what an enormous city Athens really is!

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209987511588654&l=b638c37bb2

 

I have hundreds of photos from this cruise, but will try to limit them in the thread.

 

After leaving the Acropolis we went to the Acropolis Museum - totally worth the visit! If you have kids with you who are in high school or college, make sure they bring their student ID's. This saved us quite a bit throughout the cruise as their tickets are discounted everywhere!

 

We loved the glass floor showing the excavations below the museum.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209987521748908&l=d839fe33f9

 

There is also a nice cafe on the second floor where you can sit inside or out and have a cup of coffee or more if you like.

 

I am having trouble getting my photos to post this morning, so I just included the links.

Edited June 8, 2016 by BaseballMomof4

[BaseballMomof4]

After wandering around a bit we wanted some lunch and found a place called "Quick Pitta". DO go there! It was AMAZING!! When you order, all you order is the meat. The choices are pork, lamb and chicken or you can order a combination. Be advised - if you order the combination you get DOUBLE the meat!!!!!!! It was delicious and way more than any of us could even hope to finish!

 

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[BaseballMomof4]

After lunch we went down to the Tower of the Winds area and also viewed a government building and some gardens that were simply beautiful. After walking around for a few more hours (and yes, we felt perfectly safe) it was back to the hotel to prepare for dinner since we needed to be back at the Plaka by 8:00 as we were having a mini meet and greet on our roof top terrace (which, by the way, was a FANTASTIC event and worked out well as Carnival dropped the ball with our formal meet and greet).

 

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Athinaikon. The service was wonderful, the food was fabulous and the prices were really good! It was walking distance from our hotel and I highly recommend them.

 

Here is a link to their website:

 

http://athinaikon.gr/

[3redheads]

Why's the font so tiny on this review??

 

It looks ok on my screen. You can simultaneously hold down cntrl and the + symbol to make it bigger. To make it smaller again, hold down cntrl and the - symbol.

[BaseballMomof4]

That evening we enjoyed our meet and greet and then went to bed to prepare for our last hours in Athens in the morning before boarding the ship.

 

The following morning we got up early and had another wonderful breakfast at the Plaka and then went out to walk the streets and shops of the Plaka District. This really is a lovely place to stay. We even had "Fish Therapy" pedicures!

 

 

Ten Euro for ten minutes - totally worth the experience!!

 

We had stored our luggage in the luggage room at the hotel so, after shopping and having our fun we went and retrieved it and caught a cab to the port.

[aquarianne11]

I've been waiting for your review! Looking forward to reading more! [emoji4][emoji4][emoji4]

[mrsfuzzmo]

I just did a fish pedicure in Honduras. Cool and Creepy all at the same time!!

[kidstwo2]

We leave out of Athens June 21st on Vista - I have already made note of your restaurants-looks wonderful! I am looking so forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time to do it:):):)

[BaseballMomof4]

We really enjoyed walking around the Plaka District and found it fascinating that there are so many areas where you are seemingly just in a neighborhood and you look down and they are excavating under existing buildings.

 

So after some shopping around Plaka and a few stops at places we had missed the first day, we picked our luggage up from the hotel's luggage room and headed for Pireaus by cab.

 

I do have to say that once at the port it was something of a cluster. It's not really clear where to leave bags and where to go - it was all done in a parking lot and then we were herded into a tent. A very warm tent. Apparently there is work to be done at the port. But the first view of the ship was pretty awesome!! She really is a beauty!!

[BaseballMomof4]

One of my sons and I shared a balcony room on Lido and my other son and his girlfriend had an interior on Deck 7. We boarded and, of course, the kids headed straight for the food!!

 

All the usual spots - burgers, burritos, etc. were in full gear and stomachs were filled! After a short while we were able to go to our cabins.

 

We did not have any of the new special cabins so I have little to report here. My balcony was exactly as I expected as was the interior, although it was really nice having refrigerators in both rooms. We had ordered water for the trip as well as some soda and wine. And we were able to carry on wine throughout the trip, which was different!

 

We settled in and had our first main dining room meal that evening. I am unimpressed with the American Table menu so will not be gushing about the food on this trip. We really enjoyed the meals on the two elegant nights though. The deli was wonderful as expected.

 

The Lido is insane in the mornings as everyone is trying to have breakfast before their long port days.

 

The Mongolian Wok is now served in the JiJi Asian restaurant instead of on the Lido and I was unable to get in on our one sea day as the restaurant was full (it is only served at lunch) and I was VERY disappointed.

 

Good news about the sea though - NO FIGHTING FOR CHAIRS! I was amazed that there were so many empty chairs on this full ship on our one and only sea day! It was wonderful!!

[indiaksue]

Let me give everyone a little hint about breakfast. We were on this same sailing and we had breakfast on deck 5 at the Taste Bar. In the Fun Times it says Continental breakfast, but in reality it is cereal, breads, Oatmeal, Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Ham, Hash Browns etc. There was hardly anyone there the entire cruise. A very quite place, one morning in port we took our breakfast outside to the many tables on the outdoor promenade. The Coffee Bar is right next door also, always convenient to pick up a Cappuccino.

[happytogetherj&j]

Thanks for the tip about the breakfast at the taste bar. We are sailing on August 26.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[BaseballMomof4]

Let me give everyone a little hint about breakfast. We were on this same sailing and we had breakfast on deck 5 at the Taste Bar. In the Fun Times it says Continental breakfast, but in reality it is cereal, breads, Oatmeal, Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Ham, Hash Browns etc. There was hardly anyone there the entire cruise. A very quite place, one morning in port we took our breakfast outside to the many tables on the outdoor promenade. The Coffee Bar is right next door also, always convenient to pick up a Cappuccino.

 

Great tip!! Wish I had known that while on board!! More proof that you cannot get to know this ship in the time you are on her!! I also found that getting a breakfast burrito from the Blue Iguana was quick and easy!

 

Speaking of which, I was just reminded of the Carnival Hub App - it was a godsend for me! For $5 per phone for the cruise it was such a life saver!! You can text those traveling with you, check your photos, check your account, purchase your photos, check what is going on - it was great! Definitely recommend it if you are traveling with a group.

Edited June 9, 2016 by BaseballMomof4

[HawkIVette]

Thanks for your review. I am sailing Athens to Barcelona on Sept 13th and have reserved the Plaka Hotel for our extra day in Athens. Glad to hear you approved of this Hotel.

[BaseballMomof4]

Thanks for your review. I am sailing Athens to Barcelona on Sept 13th and have reserved the Plaka Hotel for our extra day in Athens. Glad to hear you approved of this Hotel.

 

We really had a positive experience there. My son and his girlfriend had the standard room, my friend had the family room and I had the deluxe with a view (long story) and all of us were happy with our accommodations.