Vista 7/1/16 8 day Med Review - a Vista like no other

[jimbo5544]

Hey Jimbo!! Welcome back. Really looking forward to this review!!

 

Hey Jeff! Thanks for the kind words, it won't compare to one of yours but hopefully I can do the cruise justice. We had a wonderful cruise, but still getting over jet lag....

[les37b]

I know you have fairly strong feeling along the size of both of these venues. As far as location, the comedy club is 4 aft center (not quite all the way back and we caught 3 shows. Larger than the Sunshine, but was at capacity (not over loaded) when I was in there.

 

The Piano bar layout and location is similar to the Sunshine as well (there is a them here). It was packed every night. We never got in there, although not due to the fact of over crowding, it was just there was so much going on and it was a med cruise and we were pretty well whipped every night. Of the two, and I make this judgement just by walking by, I would liked seeing a bigger piano lounge.

 

Was the Piano bar noisy.... go on until?

 

Our balcony room is directly above it.... not impressed by that.

[jimbo5544]

Was the Piano bar noisy.... go on until?

 

Our balcony room is directly above it.... not impressed by that.

 

I can imagine that it was noisy. We specifically pick our room to stay away from things like that. A long time ago we had someone sailing with us that picked a specific room that was in exactly the same spot. He came over on the 4th day of the cruise and said if he heard another Billy Joel or Frank Sinatra song he was jumping ship.:eek:

[jimbo5544]

Pre cruise planning

 

I thought I would mention somethings specifically in regards to a Med cruise that we took on ourselves in regards to pre cruise planning. I only bring this up from the perspective of from my perspective, a Med cruise is unique in nature.

 

We actually began our planning for this cruise on a snowy work from home day in front of the fireplace day in February 2015. We do an annual fund raising cruise for our local church Knights of Columbus Council and were still 6 months away from that years cruise (aboard the Carnival Sunshine in August of that year). Booking had just opened up (or was soon to, I can't really recall) for the Vista.

 

As it was for the med, there were other things we had to take into consideration. In this group, we travel with teachers, so we have to schedule the trips around school break times or summer times for the group.

 

Two years before we had tried for a group cruise aboard the Carnival Legend (northern Europe) which fell through because airfare at that time was significantly higher than the cruise fare was. With that as expectation this time, we wanted to zoom in on with just round trip airfare instead on multi stop (example JFK to Barcelona and Athens to JFK) which tended to be significantly higher in price.

[jimbo5544]

Once I had gathered all information I brought it to the group leaders and we discussed what would work and what we thought would not fly. We narrowed our search down to two possibilities. The 7/1 sailing round trip from Barcelona and the next sailing of 7/9 which was a 10 day starting in Barcelona and ending in Greece. We ended up with the 8 day for several reasons.

 

While it was way to early to book air, we booked group space with Carnival and had several information meetings to let people know what our plans were, what our costs were expected to be (guestimating airfare - we did price Carnival air as well). We ended up booking air separately (all direct) with one exception that booked late and we used Carnival air (at a reasonable price and the same flights we were on).

 

During the next several moths we looked for transfers to and from the local airport (JFK) and in Barcelona and hotels for our pre cruise stay.

[jimbo5544]

Welcome back and I will be following along.

 

Thanks! While we had a wonderful cruise, it really is nice to be home.

[jimbo5544]

I have been soaking up little tidbits from the Vista reviews and looking forward to reading yours. I will be sailing on her the entire month of Oct. (B2B2B).

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

Debbie

 

It is my pleasure, thanks for following along. WOW, the entire month of October!!! There was someone on our cruise who came the Plat and Diamond party who was in the middle cruise of a B2B2B as well. I would love to hear your thoughts on returning from this.

[KPfromCT]

Woo Hoo!!! Looking forward to this one!!!!:D:D

We have a hold on a Havana Cabana cabin......By any chance, did you guys happen to walk past their patios when they opened it up at 5pm?

 

We are debating on these, or just our normal Lido balcony.......

 

Cannot wait for more......

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this!!!

 

Heard there was an AWFUL accident down there today....prayers for all involved.....

[1stcruisefamilyof5]

following! Vista will be our first ever cruise! We are cruising Nov. 2017:)

[Sturmin]

Thank you for another review. Trying to wait patiently for our upcoming cruise by reading all the great Vista reviews. Carnival seems to have the best people for doing reviews/blogs:)

[les37b]

I can imagine that it was noisy. We specifically pick our room to stay away from things like that. A long time ago we had someone sailing with us that picked a specific room that was in exactly the same spot. He came over on the 4th day of the cruise and said if he heard another Billy Joel or Frank Sinatra song he was jumping ship.:eek:

 

To be honest, I did ask and the comment I got back was its only anything above us that would be of concern. We knew there wasn't anything on the same deck. What I hadnt clocked was that the promenade was directly below (no looking down on the sea below) It certainly would have been nice to have the balcony door open at night, but I'm guessing that wont be possible with the noise. (Unless of course Cheers was participated too much!)

[crzndeb]

It is my pleasure, thanks for following along. WOW, the entire month of October!!! There was someone on our cruise who came the Plat and Diamond party who was in the middle cruise of a B2B2B as well. I would love to hear your thoughts on returning from this.

 

I did a B2B2B (35 days) when the Spirit went to Australia in 2012...I boarded in Seattle, sailed to Alaska, then Hawaii, then onto Australia. Since I have only been to Rome, there were so many sites to see in the Med, I booked the last 2 Meds, and then needed a restful cruise after the 20 days of port intensive. There really is a method to my madness..LOL

[riclop]

Looking forward to it.

[jimbo5544]

Woo Hoo!!! Looking forward to this one!!!!:D:D

We have a hold on a Havana Cabana cabin......By any chance, did you guys happen to walk past their patios when they opened it up at 5pm?

 

We are debating on these, or just our normal Lido balcony.......

 

Cannot wait for more......

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this!!!

 

Heard there was an AWFUL accident down there today....prayers for all involved.....

 

I have pics from one of the rooms (and a vid if I can get it to load)and the outside courtyard and numbers. I will post when I get to the ship. If you you don't sere it let me know and I will add it. Doing this in my pleasure but, thanks!

[jimbo5544]

following! Vista will be our first ever cruise! We are cruising Nov. 2017:)

 

Congrats on your 1st post on CC. You will not be disappointed in the Vista.

[jimbo5544]

Thank you for another review. Trying to wait patiently for our upcoming cruise by reading all the great Vista reviews. Carnival seems to have the best people for doing reviews/blogs:)

 

My pleasure and I agree about the review talent. To be honest, that is what kept me from doing reviews. Someone here got me over that hump and I am glad I did it. It very much helps to relive the cruise.

[jimbo5544]

To be honest, I did ask and the comment I got back was its only anything above us that would be of concern. We knew there wasn't anything on the same deck. What I hadnt clocked was that the promenade was directly below (no looking down on the sea below) It certainly would have been nice to have the balcony door open at night, but I'm guessing that wont be possible with the noise. (Unless of course Cheers was participated too much!)

 

Our second cruise on the Splendor we were above one of the night clubs. Not so much the noise but the vibration (I guess from the bass) bothered me. Did not keep me up though....alcohol does help.

[jimbo5544]

I did a B2B2B (35 days) when the Spirit went to Australia in 2012...I boarded in Seattle, sailed to Alaska, then Hawaii, then onto Australia. Since I have only been to Rome, there were so many sites to see in the Med, I booked the last 2 Meds, and then needed a restful cruise after the 20 days of port intensive. There really is a method to my madness..LOL

 

I agree on the resting part as well. I am sure the TA will get you rested up.

[darth frosty]

Cant wait for your review!

 

Curious was the Tandoori grill up and running?

[jimbo5544]

Looking forward to it.

 

Thanks, more coming. Should finish up with the pre cruise stuff and Barcelona soon and then ion to the Vista,

[jimbo5544]

Cant wait for your review!

 

Curious was the Tandoori grill up and running?

 

More coming today, I did not see Tandoori

[jimbo5544]

After looking around and talking with many hotels and looking at specific locations, we ended up using a travel broker and booking with the Ayre Grand Via Hotel. This hotel is located near the bull ring they made into a mall and restaurant's (pretty cool) and near the subway. The broker had arranged transportation and baggage transfers (really nice add on), and all rooms would be available at check in (this was nice as well, they basically just handed out room keys when we arrived). The next morning they would do the same for getting to the ship. We left our bags in the lobby of the hotel and saw them next in our rooms on the ship.

 

This was a daunting task, there were a LOT of options. I actually had a preference for the Grand Marina Hotel (located at the pier) but it was a little pricey. In the end, we chose wisely.

[jimbo5544]

We normally have a cruise get together prior to our group cruises where we hand out folders to all cabins with needed doc, schedules, group items (parties and give away's and add on's) and review what we are doing and establish pre and post timelines for the group.

 

This cruise had a lot of detail, and it was important we were all on the same page.

[jimbo5544]

Because our group wanted to do a lot of things together, we did something we don't ordinarily do for our groups. We ventured outside of using Carnival and I ended up booking 3 excursions for the group with Joe Bananas. I had done some investigation of options for excursions and we settled on Joe Bananas.

 

We gathered monies in advance and paid at the end of each trip to the coordinator in Euro's. It worked very well and we were happy with most everything.

[JaniceB]

Enjoying your pre-cruise planning. How did you find a travel broker?