Carnival Vista Havana Cabana 5206 Review

[WhiteOptima]

We booked this cabin 2 years in advance and I changed my mind about it several times. Although the room was great and the lanai is a nice thought, I will choose either an Aft balcony on 6 or an inside cabin for now on.

 

You are right there with your neighbors on the lanai. You have a chair and lounge chair that are pretty low which causing you to be lower than the fence. The swing is nice but didn't swing right and when it rained and the wind blew all night you would here it hitting the divider wall. One morning our neighbors (who were part of a group so had several of the cabins) were out there around 7 chatting away and I was still in bed and they might as well have been in the room with me. If you are with a large group, it is great.

 

I like sitting on my balcony in the morning in my pj's enjoying coffee and the view and this is not the place to do that. Also, keep your curtains closed!!! I was under the impression there would be privacy glass for the door but nope so unless we were okay with anyone looking in, our curtains were closed.

 

Having said all that, the Havana area is great! We enjoyed the pool, hot tub, clam shells, chairs. Never a struggle of finding a chair. (There is someone out there checking for wrist bands.) Most people sit out in the chairs under cover and read. I was never back there after 7 so not sure if there was a crowd, nor did I hear people walking by our room at night if we were in the room.

 

Bar staff and room steward were great. If there was no ice in our room, the bartender was always nice to fill my glass. Having coffee and a little breakfast available from 7-9 is a nice feature. This is the first cruise I did not order coffee from room service.

 

Never heard the music or noise from the bar-not sure if the inside cabins do.

 

We would walk out of our lanai, turn right and there was a locked door/gate that we would go through and we were right by the Ocean Plaza. At the Taste Bar they have breakfast every morning which was great. We never went to Lido for breakfast.

[easyboy]

You are right. While accessibility is an advantage of cabins by the lanai, you have to compromise privacy.

 

 

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[jewliana]

Thank you so much for your review. We have a Havana aft booked for March and cant wait to enjoy that private area and bar!

[soccersharon]

We booked this cabin 2 years in advance and I changed my mind about it several times. Although the room was great and the lanai is a nice thought, I will choose either an Aft balcony on 6 or an inside cabin for now on.

 

You are right there with your neighbors on the lanai. You have a chair and lounge chair that are pretty low which causing you to be lower than the fence. The swing is nice but didn't swing right and when it rained and the wind blew all night you would here it hitting the divider wall. One morning our neighbors (who were part of a group so had several of the cabins) were out there around 7 chatting away and I was still in bed and they might as well have been in the room with me. If you are with a large group, it is great.

 

I like sitting on my balcony in the morning in my pj's enjoying coffee and the view and this is not the place to do that. Also, keep your curtains closed!!! I was under the impression there would be privacy glass for the door but nope so unless we were okay with anyone looking in, our curtains were closed.

 

Having said all that, the Havana area is great! We enjoyed the pool, hot tub, clam shells, chairs. Never a struggle of finding a chair. (There is someone out there checking for wrist bands.) Most people sit out in the chairs under cover and read. I was never back there after 7 so not sure if there was a crowd, nor did I hear people walking by our room at night if we were in the room.

 

Bar staff and room steward were great. If there was no ice in our room, the bartender was always nice to fill my glass. Having coffee and a little breakfast available from 7-9 is a nice feature. This is the first cruise I did not order coffee from room service.

 

Never heard the music or noise from the bar-not sure if the inside cabins do.

 

We would walk out of our lanai, turn right and there was a locked door/gate that we would go through and we were right by the Ocean Plaza. At the Taste Bar they have breakfast every morning which was great. We never went to Lido for breakfast.

 

I agree with everything you mention.

 

If you were on the Repo, I was your next door neighbour in 5210 😉. I don't recall being on my patio that early, but I apologize if we were loud!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[azul1]

Thank you for your review. We are looking forward to our aft wrap on 7 in March.

[cruisequeen4ever]

You confirmed what I suspected, total lack of privacy. The Havana concept sounded so fun but not at the expense of privacy.

 

 

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[p_mori7]

We had a Havana Inside for our European cruise this past summer. You can faintly hear the music from the Havana Lounge, but it never bothered us.

[crzndeb]

Since cabins on deck plan sights don't really give the true overall cabin design, there should be a thread that people could post specifics. I was in a 4J on deck 7 and it was the smallest of the 4J's. They got bigger with more closet space as you went towards the center. It was fine for me, since I was solo, but for couples, it would have been tight.

 

My friends had a Porthole that had 3 closets (2 full, 1 with shelves) and a couch.

[mississauga]

I was on a shuttle with a couple who had a Havana lanai. The woman insisted you could see the ocean. I looked at her questioningly and said I thought the lanai cabins had more of a patio with a walkway in front of it. "No! It's like a balcony!" Her husband finally said it was indeed a patio and people walked by it all the time.

 

That's the one reason why I'll never, ever pay for a Havana lanai cabin. The last thing I want is to go out on my "balcony" and have people wandering by day and night.

 

 

The woman was right. You can see the ocean from the patio and that walkway you are referring to is only accessible by other Havana Lanai occupants along your side of the ship. Maybe 10 cabins?

 

Edit: there are 14 lanai cabins on each side of deck 5.

Edited December 4, 2016 by mississauga

[bwlive]

We just got off the Nov.27th Vista and had a great time we had the Havana cabana room 5207 and although the lanai was nice and big the chairs were so low difficult to sit or lay on lounger then trying to get up was not pleasant. Our girl Donna was very attentive to us as well I hope all. We didn't notice a lot of people walking by ... the couple on the deck last room changed chairs w/ the pool area of Havana which really was a good idea. Since it was higher. The food was OK on many levels...but JiJi's was great for lunch..try it. Our servers were wonderful in Reflections....our CDMatt was very entertaining we thought. Book your diner either 6:00 or 8:15... because you will be standing in a very,very long line by pixels to get reservations and maybe you won't mind that...waiting instead of scheduled time. Our family of 5 grandchildren and 8 adults had a fabulous time for families. Would my husband and I book Vista again by ourselves probably no. We booked Peat Taylor tour in Jamaica for Dunn's River Falls for 30.00 Pp. So very much cheaper than booking with cruise..we felt fine by doing that and two hours was plenty of time for them. Did early so we could be back on ship for lunch. Booked the couples spa area with cruise. Cheaper ahead of time 169.00 couple. Our ship didn't stop at Grand Turk because of winds. Everyone was very disappointed and with only 30.00 back for CC. disappointed.....families will have a great time we'll worth going on Carnival Vista for that reason.. Enjoy

[soccersharon]

I was on a shuttle with a couple who had a Havana lanai. The woman insisted you could see the ocean. I looked at her questioningly and said I thought the lanai cabins had more of a patio with a walkway in front of it. "No! It's like a balcony!" Her husband finally said it was indeed a patio and people walked by it all the time.

 

 

 

That's the one reason why I'll never, ever pay for a Havana lanai cabin. The last thing I want is to go out on my "balcony" and have people wandering by day and night.

 

 

We had a Havana Cabana, and very, very few people, outside of our neighbours, walked by. That said, I would likely not book on the lanai again. We were fortunate to know most of neighbours via our roll call. Not sure I'd like to see "strangers" every time I stepped outside.

 

 

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.