Vista review: new CCL cruiser perspective

[skiingj]

Thanks for the review. The Vista was a disappointment for us in Europe. With all the Carnival cutbacks, slow MDR service, atrium and theater design was not nice at all. The show times were earlier to accommodate the disco and coupled with slow MDR service we missed shows. Food portion size and quality have gone down hill as well. Steakhouse, guys and pizza are always excellent. We will not sail on the Horizon anytime soon.

[JaniceB]

We do like Disney but just a bit over them. Definitely over their prices!

The prices are going to keep me away too but I keep looking for a good price.

[buckeyeinmd]

La Romana. We debated back and forth about what to do at this port. We almost did the Seavis boat trip to Saona island but hesitated because it was all day and included food. We try to avoid excursions with food and look for more half day activities because of the kids. friendly.

 

Good call on not doing Seavis. We did it and the island had lots of sea grass so it was hard to go in the water and snorkel. And the lunch wasn't that good. Parts of the excursion was good though. Not sure if I would try it again.

 

Doug

[Cafedumonde]

Curacao. We had some trouble docking at this port. It seemed like the captain was nervous about impacting the pier so the ship inched in slowly, as in it took about 30 minutes to move the last 30 or so feet to get up against it. It was a 1 or 1:30 arrival and I believe we did not arrive exactly on time. You could see the iconic colored buildings, but other than that, Curacao seemed a bit sleepy for such a developed place. People immediately started to disembark and when we were about to do so, Matt said over the loudspeaker to hold tight as they had to pull up the gangway and redo it. He said he would announce an all clear but he did not and after about 30-40 minutes we noticed people disembarking again and we decided to follow. They had abandoned the original gangway and directed us through a crew area to get off. I am not sure exactly why docking here was such a struggle or if it is just standard. We did not get off the boat until around 2:45 because of the delays. We did not schedule an excursion because the time in port was awkward (something like 1:30-10pm). After the docking delays, we were very glad we had not scheduled an excursion. We planned on going to the Maritime Museum and maybe shopping. We walked with the general flow of traffic through the fort (converted to shops on the first floor). You can walk up various stairways to see the top floor of the fort, good views. If you continue on beyond the fort you cross the Queen Emma bridge to an area with more shopping streets and the famous row of colored buildings. We walked around the streets a bit and found most prices on the high end. Then we walked to the Maritime Museum and apparantly they were closing soon but said we had enough time to go through. I recommend this museum if you are interested in local Maritime history. The walk there also gives you a feel for the city. We did not regret visiting. Afterwards we got a drink at a street vendor and sat and watched the bridge open and close. It was a hot day and at this point (around 5:30) we decided to head back to the ship. We intended to go back on shore but did not.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Cafedumonde

[Cafedumonde]

I am sorry I have not answered the last set of comments. I will!

[BNBR]

Interesting review. Other than "no atrium" - I'd say your review sounds a lot like my experience on Glory. The floors in the buffet were dangerously greasy/slippery all the time and I saw multiple people tumble. It was pretty bad. The food in the MDR was pretty darn good. And you hit the nail on the head with the staff. There is something about the Carnival staff, the way they are treated, compensated, or something... that makes them so clearly happy to be there working. It's noticeable how good the service is overall. All the bad reviews for Vista is why we decided against it for next year and went with NCL instead.

[BNBR]

Lol. We only grabbed a couple of things at the buffet, but it sometimes looked a bit like that. It was just so unbelievably crowded in there. Did you go to the main dining room? We thought the food there was great. We did a lot of Guy's Burgers and pizza.

 

I'd actually say the Golden Corral is far better than the Carnival buffet. We found it pretty much inedible. The first time in a long time that we made a point of avoiding the buffet on a cruise.

[bury me at sea]

I am enjoying your thorough and thoughtful review.

 

I so agree with your comments about Carnival employees. They are Carnival's greatest asset.

[helene109]

Interesting review. Other than "no atrium" - I'd say your review sounds a lot like my experience on Glory. The floors in the buffet were dangerously greasy/slippery all the time and I saw multiple people tumble. It was pretty bad. The food in the MDR was pretty darn good. And you hit the nail on the head with the staff. There is something about the Carnival staff, the way they are treated, compensated, or something... that makes them so clearly happy to be there working. It's noticeable how good the service is overall. All the bad reviews for Vista is why we decided against it for next year and went with NCL instead.

 

 

 

I was looking at ncl too but the price for our timeframe is so much more than carnival, we were on the Glory a few weeks and my family wants to try something different as the vista or another cruise line

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

I'd actually say the Golden Corral is far better than the Carnival buffet. We found it pretty much inedible. The first time in a long time that we made a point of avoiding the buffet on a cruise.

Words like "inedible" for me, negate the value of the sentence. Of course it is edible, you might mot like it (which is fine, other than breakfast, we rarely eat in Lido). Just a comment.......;)

[BNBR]

Words like "inedible" for me, negate the value of the sentence. Of course it is edible, you might mot like it (which is fine, other than breakfast, we rarely eat in Lido). Just a comment.......;)

 

You clearly know what "inedible" means in the context of my comment. If you choose to negate the value of a sentence because you make the CHOICE to misrepresent the context of a word used in that sentence, that's on you, and kind of weird, actually.

[jimbo5544]

You clearly know what "inedible" means in the context of my comment. If you choose to negate the value of a sentence because you make the CHOICE to misrepresent the context of a word used in that sentence, that's on you, and kind of weird, actually.

 

 

 

Lol I guess my point did not come across, I was actually trying to help, I guess we can move on.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

I am enjoying your thorough and thoughtful review.

 

I so agree with your comments about Carnival employees. They are Carnival's greatest asset.

They have been their best asset, and it is not something new. This is not by accident BTW.

[7leagueboots]

Thanks for taking the time to do the review.

[bUU]

Words like "inedible" for me, negate the value of the sentence.

That's something that we see way too often online, these days: People making nonsensically over-the-top statements for no possible reason other than to attract more attention to their dissatisfaction than it actually warrants and would garner if the opinion was expressed on par with its actual gravity. In my experience, the gross exaggeration does nothing more than incite those of the opposite perspective to express, or re-express, their perspectives in a similarly over-the-top manner, and so in the end we are left with a miasma of comments that are useless for determining precisely how good or bad something actually is.

[jimbo5544]

That's something that we see way too often online, these days: People making nonsensically over-the-top statements for no possible reason other than to attract more attention to their dissatisfaction than it actually warrants and would garner if the opinion was expressed on par with its actual gravity. In my experience, the gross exaggeration does nothing more than incite those of the opposite perspective to express, or re-express, their perspectives in a similarly over-the-top manner, and so in the end we are left with a miasma of comments that are useless for determining precisely how good or bad something actually is.

Now that is inedible....

[bUU]

Now that is inedible....

Or at least less than ideal. The reviews we read are optimally supposed to be helpful, not partisan.

[jimbo5544]

Or at least less than ideal. The reviews we read are optimally supposed to be helpful, not partisan.

 

 

 

Are not all reviews partisan by default? Everybody has likes and dislikes.

 

 

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[Liljo22]

Words like "inedible" for me, negate the value of the sentence. Of course it is edible, you might mot like it (which is fine, other than breakfast, we rarely eat in Lido). Just a comment.......;)

 

I wouldn't call it inedible. Its just the same as most buffets on the sea and land. Its mass produced cheaply made food that is left under a heat lamp. I didn't think it was any better or worse than the NCL and Disney cruises I have been on. The difference on the Vista is there is no need to eat from the buffet. In the same seating area as the buffet you have Guy's, Blue Iguana, pizza, the sandwich shop, the pasta bar at the italian restaurant, the Mongolian wok at JiJi's and if you want to pay you have the Seafood Shack.

[jimbo5544]

I wouldn't call it inedible. Its just the same as most buffets on the sea and land. Its mass produced cheaply made food that is left under a heat lamp. I didn't think it was any better or worse than the NCL and Disney cruises I have been on. The difference on the Vista is there is no need to eat from the buffet. In the same seating area as the buffet you have Guy's, Blue Iguana, pizza, the sandwich shop, the pasta bar at the italian restaurant, the Mongolian wok at JiJi's and if you want to pay you have the Seafood Shack.

 

 

 

I cannot argue with any of that.

 

 

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[BNBR]

That's something that we see way too often online, these days: People making nonsensically over-the-top statements for no possible reason other than to attract more attention to their dissatisfaction than it actually warrants and would garner if the opinion was expressed on par with its actual gravity. In my experience, the gross exaggeration does nothing more than incite those of the opposite perspective to express, or re-express, their perspectives in a similarly over-the-top manner, and so in the end we are left with a miasma of comments that are useless for determining precisely how good or bad something actually is.

 

"Pretty much inedible" is not a gross over exaggeration. The food was so disgusting I would question if it was safe to eat. I ended up skipping the buffet, for the first time EVER on a cruise after trying it the first morning. I think my comment was quite clear that the buffet was terrible and not very confusing. It's almost astonishing that this has become a topic of discussion at this point.

[bUU]

Are not all reviews partisan by default? Everybody has likes and dislikes.

There's a difference between discernment and partisan rhetoric.

[BNBR]

I was looking at ncl too but the price for our timeframe is so much more than carnival, we were on the Glory a few weeks and my family wants to try something different as the vista or another cruise line

 

 

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For our NCL cruise, we were looking at suite type options. For Carnival, that's limited, but they do have the Havana section. In no way did it compare to what NCL has with the Haven but we still considered it for less money as you get the exclusive area which is what we like.

 

 

It does seem to be hit or miss sometimes. It seems when you have 3+ in a cabin, Carnival is almost always way cheaper. Planning for our cruise late next year, the Magic is substantially cheaper but family seems to think it's worth spending extra for Allure. If you are looking for something different, consider Oasis as it's often priced quite competitively. I can't recommend NCL yet as this will be my first time with them.

[helene109]

For our NCL cruise, we were looking at suite type options. For Carnival, that's limited, but they do have the Havana section. In no way did it compare to what NCL has with the Haven but we still considered it for less money as you get the exclusive area which is what we like.

 

 

 

 

 

It does seem to be hit or miss sometimes. It seems when you have 3+ in a cabin, Carnival is almost always way cheaper. Planning for our cruise late next year, the Magic is substantially cheaper but family seems to think it's worth spending extra for Allure. If you are looking for something different, consider Oasis as it's often priced quite competitively. I can't recommend NCL yet as this will be my first time with them.

 

 

 

Thanks so much I did look at allure it is way out of our price range!! Please check out my thread which would choose

 

 

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[BNBR]

Thanks so much I did look at allure it is way out of our price range!! Please check out my thread which would choose

 

 

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Which thread? In my price comparisons, it seemed Vista was often more expensive than Oasis. Unless that has changed recently. When are you looking to sail?