georgiafan Posted July 10, 2017 #1 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Background - This is my first review I am 35 with no wife/gf or kids. This was my 19th cruise and first carnival cruise since 2010 (dream) I prefer them or RCCL. Also with me was 3 people 37-40 and then also 59 and 66 with 3 of those on 25+ cruises. The others in our group had been on Carnival more recent then me. Overview - I didn't do any of the paid restaurants just the free anytime MDR. I didn't take any pics myself, but there was 3 cameras in the group and will have access to 2 of those sets of pics today. I went non stop for 8 days to get in everything possible that I could. In the end it was a awesome ship and cruise and is close with allure of the seas as my all time favorite ship. When I look back at it in years Matt being the CD is what will stand out the most. I will go more in depth on some of the topics later on. Positives + Matt Mitchum is the best CD I have ever had + MDR food / staff + Fun staff employee "Nono" + All the different options for lunch / not having to eat lido buffet + Live music options + Activities on the ship during the day (skyride, waterslide, etc) + Typically 2 shows/events after dinner + It wasn't all that crowded especially for it to be sold out + Aruba Negatives - Ship is understaffed - Liquid Lounge - Quality of singers in production shows - Crown Plaza hotel in Miami - Hard to get a drink / needs more bars - La Romana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jimbo5544 Posted July 10, 2017 #2 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Good start, I was a late starter to reviews also. Think you will enjoy it. Looking forward to reading more. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackay917 Posted July 10, 2017 #3 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Looking forward to your review. I'm sailing the Vista for the first time on 7/29 Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogladyrider Posted July 10, 2017 #4 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Looking forward to your review! We just booked Vista to Aruba this morning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trvlgirlmq Posted July 10, 2017 #5 Share Posted July 10, 2017 We are on the same itinerary next summer so looking forward to your thoughts especially on the ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceB Posted July 10, 2017 #6 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Nice start, looking forward to more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 10, 2017 Author #7 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Thanks for the nice words I didn't make any notes or anything so I'll be doing everything from memory. I have about 1,000 pics not even counting the other camera so that should be enough to hold over for a few days Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurfm69 Posted July 10, 2017 #8 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Looking forward to the review as we are doing this one in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 10, 2017 Author #9 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Crown Plaza Hotel - Miami Terrible Shuttle service and attitude never again The crown plaza hotels shuttle service was so bad I couldn't skip over it as I thought everyone should be informed. We arrived at the Miami international airport at 2:00 am (plane got delayed) and I immediately called the hotel to confirm we were at the airport with all our bags and ready to go. I was told to wait and it would be a maximum of 20 minutes till the shuttle arrived. After 45 minutes to 1 hour of waiting, a shuttle finally showed up. We made several phone calls to the hotel while waiting, one of which the person that answered the phone hung up on me. My brother was the one doing the calling and he was nice at this point not even being rude. When the shuttle finally arrived it was full and the driver refused to let us board. The bus got full because literally every single person waiting was for this hotel. At this point I was very upset and called the front desk and they said they finally admitted that they only had one driver working that night and that he would have to come back and get us once he got everyone unloaded. Finally the person at the front desk agreed to pay our taxi fare, if we wanted to come on. I admit this was a nice gesture but at 3:00 am, the $13 was the least of my worries. The distance from airport to the hotel is around 1.6 miles so with no traffic at that time of night it shouldn't take long to get back to the airport. Once we checked in I noticed the van parked and the driver once again nowhere to be found so if someone was behind us it was going to happen agian. Once we got to the front desk the same lady that hung up on us was not friendly and seemed like she could have cared less. My brothers room key didn't work so he had to back down to get that fixed. I was staying in a room with another adult male and there was suppose to be separate beds and there was just 1. As a straight male I just wasn't going to share a bed with another man so I just attempted to just sleep in the chair. The hot water wasn't very hot in the shower. Now that the worst part of the trip is over with on to the fun stuff. I am sure I will have lots of typos and that kind of stuff so just try and look over that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 10, 2017 Author #10 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Matt Mitchum - Best Cruise Director Ever In the past my favorite cruise directors have been Ken Rush, Butch Bogovich and Colin Kerr and Matt easily holds the top spot for me as well as the 5 people with me. On the first day he said he was going to be the most active and personable CD any of us ever had and he lived up to his word. He had every women on the ship wrapped around his finger by the end of the cruise. I am told he is very cute, like 6'3 220 that's ripped with no fat, British accent, very nice, charming, funny, quick witted, good dancer, personable, lives on a cruise ship, has a hot dancer girlfriend... its disgusting ..... some people are just winning at life lol We was docked at Grand Turk and La Romana beside the Conquest and as everyone knows the first thing you do when that happens is look and compare the size of the ship which of course the Vista was bigger. Matt says he got a email asking if they was going to be playing music when people get back on the ship. He says that he is not, so the conquest says ok we will not either. He then goes and pulls the DJ off the pool deck and moves him to the pier. We had the conversation saying I bet he is just doing that to show up the other ship. Matt was also personally greeting people as they got on the ship that day something I have never seen a CD do. Also he had a few of the fun staff dancing and talking to people at the pier and anytime I got to see "nono" dance its a plus (y). He admitted that he just did that just so the people on the conquest would say "man that looks like a fun ship I wish I was on that ship instead". I only went to one of the morning shows and Q &A and those was on the last day now I wish I had gone to more of them just typically those are lame so I skip them. He said his 10 year is up in February and he will get a big check and that he will stay with Carnival till at least July. He wasn't for sure that he would be back with Carnival said he wanted to try and do the LA thing. When asked about a new ship he said he wouldn't try and get one until the ones come out in 2020. His vacation is from Sept and will be back before Christmas. I am crossing my fingers he signs a new deal because I definitely want to go with him again as CD. He just makes everything fun and you could tell he didn't use a lot of scripts just went off the cuff. Even late at night after the shows was over you would see him in the bars and talking to people. the pics aren't working so i'll go ahead and post this and add the pics of this section later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerMT/TX Posted July 10, 2017 #11 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Great review so far. And I agree, Matt is the best CD I have ever sailed with - many are not that memorable, but he certainly is. As most women would agree, hard to mention him without remarking on those gorgeous green eyes :halo:! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbklcamp Posted July 10, 2017 #12 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Looking forward to this review. Our next cruise is on the Vista. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 10, 2017 Author #13 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Thanks ginger hopefully I'll get the pics working soon I've never posted one on here before Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyeinmd Posted July 10, 2017 #14 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Great start. Looking forward to the rest since we are cruising on Vista in 33 days but whose counting. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 11, 2017 Author #15 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Great start. Looking forward to the rest since we are cruising on Vista in 33 days but whose counting. Doug That's not far away sadly the 3 violinist will be on vacation so you will miss them Looking forward to this review. Our next cruise is on the Vista. Sent from my iPhone using Forums nice so when is your cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 11, 2017 Author #16 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I think my mom took 134 pics of him so here are 3 of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riclop Posted July 11, 2017 #17 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Thanks for your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare lazydayz Posted July 11, 2017 #18 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Enjoying your review. Thanks for doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 11, 2017 Author #19 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Thanks for the kind words I'll add some more tomorrow Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YourCruiseGurl Posted July 11, 2017 #20 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Looking forward to your review. I'm sailing the Vista for the first time on 7/29 Sent from my iPhone using Forums My family and I are on this sailing. [emoji1] OP - I hope you have pics of menus. I have a couple of picky eaters with dietary restrictions coming with me. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momof3cruisers Posted July 11, 2017 #21 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Ugh....sorry about the shuttle mess, but glad things improved after that! You have a great story telling style. Looking forward to more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiafan Posted July 11, 2017 Author #22 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I have lots of pics of food I'm not sure if I have the full menu or not I will have to check the other set of pics. I know I saw him taking pics of menus just not sure if it was the whole side or just a specific item. We have a few picky eaters in our group also and everyone left full every night. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bravesfan19 Posted July 11, 2017 #23 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I'm Georgiafan's brother & I was also on this cruise with my wife. We also loved this ship and had a wonderful cruise. We were on the Harmony OTS last September and agree that the Vista is a close rival to the Harmony. The Vista is by far our favorite Carnival ship. I agree about Matt as CD. This was my 26th cruise and he was by far the best CD I've ever had, and it's honestly not even close. It's amazing how the right CD can just make everything on the ship fun. Vista's lunch options are the best at sea. There are so many options, we didn't get to try them all in an 8 day cruise. Guy's Burgers are just awesome. Lastly, there was just something cool about having an IMAX theater at sea. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBlueYonder64 Posted July 11, 2017 #24 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Looking forward to reading more of your review, as we were on the Transatlantic sailing with Matt & John Heald. Was Cookie (on the entertainment staff) on your sailing? He was so funny, and had the biggest crush on Matt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted July 11, 2017 #25 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Your experience with Crowne Plaza shuttle was really frustrating! Will be following. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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