May 19-June, 2 Weeks on 'VISTA', daily review

[AmBear]

It's 11:00am, we're in our cabin after breakfast in the buffet.

Had a nice talk to a great couple from CT. named Gloria and Wayne, always fun to meet new people, and we met quite a few this week.

Looking forward to meeting the new cruisers later today, hopefully the long embarkation because of the weather doesn't ruin their day!

They are using 2 gang planks to help get the people off the ship.

They just called the first set of cabins, so we gotta go meet up with the b2b people, if you see us walking through to and from border control to inspect out passports, that is if you're in the port waiting to board, wave hello as we pass! -))

Everyone else, we'll get back to you later as we start week 2, western Caribbean to Ohio Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel! -))

[AmBear]

I'm gonna vent for a moment, so if you want, skip down a bit,,,,

It's 1:10pm, and 'finally' we got border control to check our passports, all 7 of us on the b2b!

This wasn't Carnival's fault, they don't have power over border control.

If you had been following our recent journey's on Cruise Critic, we commented in April after 3 weeks on the Glory, which was also in Miami, that there were only 4 border control agents to check thousands of passengers ID's, not counting the hundreds of employees!

It's seems there's still a shortage in Miami!-((

And with all the new ships, and additional cabins coming to Miami in the next year, they/border control, better get their '$@#!' together! -)))

Why it took so long, border control wanted the passengers leaving to get their luggage, before they would 'kindly' walk over to look at our 7 passports! It must've taken them 60 seconds total to look over our 7 passports!

I know I'm venting, and I apologize, but you could sense an 'attitude'as our passports were checked by border control.

Of course I didn't say anything until after they checked, and 'approved' mine.

Then I unloaded for the next 10 minutes as we walked back on the ship causing me to tell the Carnival employees escorting us, I wasn't venting at them, but at border control. Seemed everyone in our group agreed with me!

 

OK, venting over,,,,,

Today we'll eat a late lunch, then jijis again tonight.

We got a call from guest services offering us either Cucina or Jiji's tonight as an apology for the above I vented about, it wasn't Carnival's fault, but I accepted with several "thank you's"for the gesture!

 

Around the ship today,,,,,

Welcome Aboard Show in the showroom 9:45pm

 

Rock the Promenade Atrium deck 3 10:30pm

 

Clue: The Murder Mystery in the showroom 7:30pm

 

Havana Bar deck 5 after Latin Sound party 9:00-12:30pm

 

$500.Diamond Bingo in the showroom 9:15pm

 

Thrill Theater

Destination Adventure 6:30/7:30pm

Cartoon Classics 8:30/9:00pm

Thrillogy Dare to be Scared 9:30/10:30pm

 

IMAX theater

National Parks 3D 7:00pm

Rampage 8:00pm

Dead pool 2 10:15pm

 

Dine in movies

Daddy's Home 2 7:30pm

Pitch Perfect 3 10:00pm

 

Some specials around the ship,,, ,

10% off most liquor brands today

Drink special of the day $1.00 off

Ladies night, free glass of champagne in the Limelight Lounge 11pm-12:00am

 

This week's itinerary,,,

Miami

Sea Day

Ocho Rios

Grand Cayman

Cozumel

Sea Day

Miami

 

off to get a snack before muster! -))

Happy cruising all

Edited May 27, 2018 by AmBear

[AmBear]

A quick comment for those who are Platinum/Diamond.

On our first week cruise, the Platinum/Diamind party held in the showroom drew about 125-150 Platinum, and 5 Diamonds!

The party on the Vista was, open bar for an hour, a 2 person group playing music, and 2 types of hourdeveres, a mini BBQ pork roll, and a mini shrimp pastry.

[E@syPe@zy]

I sure don't blame you for venting! Good Grief. Was that over 2 hours of waiting???

Nice of Carnival to treat you to dinner. Really nice move on their part.

Any word on change of itinerary? I understand a couple of ships missed Cozumel yesterday.

Safe travels and enjoy!

[AmBear]

I sure don't blame you for venting! Good Grief. Was that over 2 hours of waiting???

Nice of Carnival to treat you to dinner. Really nice move on their part.

Any word on change of itinerary? I understand a couple of ships missed Cozumel yesterday.

Safe travels and enjoy!

 

Not sure exactly how long, but toooo loooong! :D

But I know it was worse for those leaving, and arriving in the bad weather, so safe travels to all!

As far as we know, they'll be able to make up most of the time lost, and we should arrive in Ocho Rios the mist a little late.

Cozumel should be fine time wise, but the weather report so far has thunderstorms, so hopefully it'll change.

[AmBear]

We left the muster on deck 3 restaurant aft, and walked to the showroom in the front of the ship for the Premiere party.

We enjoyed some drinks, talked with some people, had a few chicken wings, my favorite!

Then as we left, a few of the theater singers were standing there waiting for everyone to leave, so they could practice, and of course I had to stop, and say hello!

We head back to the cabin just as we begin to pull away from the pier around 6:00pm, so my wife can make a quick couple of phone calls before we're out of reach. Me, I don't have anyone to call, so I'll write you all! -))

 

Tonight's plan is Jiji's for dinner at 7:30, then maybe the Welcome aboard show. But it doesn't start until 9:45, maybe a quick stop at the casino? -))

 

I don't know the exact figures, but this cruise is at least 'Half' the age of last week!

Last week I was one of the group, this week I'm Grandpa!-))

Summer vacation, and summer cruisers have arrived to Carnival!!!

[Hogladyrider]

We sailed on Vista in March and had a similar experience in Miami with the border agents.

 

Almost 4000 people leaving the ship and no border agents had shown up for work yet. The lines were crazy.

 

The self assist Diamond & Plantinum which we did, we still waited over an hour for the border agents to show up and when they did they took their sweet time preparing to see passengers. They hardly looked at our passports.....very sad indeed. Unfortunately I do not think the cruise lines have any control over the situation.

[AmBear]

We go to dinner at Jiji's tonight, and it is again very good.

We order appetizers of pork belly, and dumplings, and our main course was Kung Pao Chicken, Peppered Beef, and 2 types of noodles with vegetables.

After dinner, we walked to the showroom to see the Welcome Aboard show.

The singers, and dancers were once again very good, and we get to finally see Matt Micham in action!

It's easy to see why he's so popular, his personality is magnetic, he is extremely funny, and he has the knack of how to get everyone involved!

Gonna be a fun cruise with him, I'd suggest anyone who hasn't cruised with Matt, YouTube him, it might make you want to try the Vista!

 

Thought this might help on planning your dinner plans, these were our elegant/casual schedules on our 2 week cruises.

 

Vista Southern Caribbean 8 day

Day 1 sail away casual

Day 2 sea day elegant

Day 3 Grand Turk casual

Day 4 La Romana casual

Day 5 Curacao casual

Day 6 Aruba casual

Day 7 sea day elegant

Day 8 sea day casual

Day 9 Miami

 

Vista 6 day western cruise

Day 1 sail away casual

Day 2 sea day elegant

Day 3 Ocho Rios casual

Day 4 Grand Cayman elegant

Day 5 Cozumel casual

Day 6 sea day casual

Day 7 Miami

[AmBear]

This morning we decide to order room service, and enjoy our balcony a little.

It's not sunny, it's a light overcast, but it's not raining! -))

 

Today's Premiere casino events are

10:30am snowball raffle

12:00-3:00pm fireball raffle

4:00pm Matilda the Cash Cow

11:00pm luck of the card drawing

 

open to all in the casino

$100k slot tournament 12:30-2:45pm

Slots power hour 1:00-2:00pm drawings for a free cruise/spot in big slot tournament.

 

Tonight in the showroom

Studio VIP 7:30/930pm

 

Comedy Limelight Lounge 5:30/7:30/9:30/11:30pm

 

$4000. Jackpot bingo in the showroom 2:15pm

 

IMAX theater

National Parks 3D 10:15am

Born to be Wild 3D 11:15am

Deadpool 2 12:30/2:45/11:00pm

Avengers: Infinity War 5:00pm

Avengers: Infinity War 3D 8:00pm

 

Thrill theater

Just the Rides 12:00/1:00/2:00pm

Cartoon Classics 3:15/4:15/5:30pm

Destination Adventure 6:00/7:00/7:30pm

Thrillogy: Dare to be Scared 8:30/9:00/9:30/10:00pm

 

Dine In Movies

Murder on the Orient Express 7:30pm

The Greatest Showman 10:00pm

 

Some other venues I haven't mentioned before, but supply entertainment every day, and night,,,,,,

Havana Bar Latin Sounds 9:00pm-12:30am

Piano Bar Singalong with Tony 9:00pm-Late

Lido deck steel drum with Reajhaun 4:15-7:15pm

Red Frog Pub guitar with Larry 8:15pm-12:15am

Limelight Lounge

70's and 80's music with DJ Silk 10:30-11:30pm

Nightclub hits with Miss Blease 11:30-Late

 

Horizons restauant Tea Time with New Age 3:00-3:45pm

Ocean Plaza

Latin Sound 12:00-1:00pm

Jazz with The Sauce Factor and the After Party 7:15-8:15pm

All Jams on Deck with the Sauce Factor 8:30-9:30pm

Motown with the Sauce Factor 9:45pm-12:00am

[AmBear]

After our breakfast on the balcony, we head down to the casino for the 10:30 snowball raffle, and of course after not winning, we decided to play for awhile, and of course we lost, but I did start out winning, but not for very long! -((

After we had enough losing, we head to Guy's BBQ on deck 5 starboard, and it's very good. My wife got a little bit of everything, I got the chicken, and the beef, a lot of it! -))

Now full and happy, we go back to the casino, and play in the last round of the 100k slot tournament, and of course we both lost, but had fun!

Platinums get buy 1, get 1 free, so we used my 2 entries today, and we'll use my wife's on Friday!

We then split up, my wife goes off shopping, then back to the cabin to talk on Viber to one of her girlfriends, so I'll just try my luck again in the casino, after all Matilda the cow drawing is coming up soon! -))

I get tired of losing, so after not getting called in the Matilda drawing, I decide to head back to our cabin, only to find my wife taking a nap!

I can go back to the casino, or do some writing here, so I decide the writing here is less expensive! -))

 

Tonight is elegant night, we don't dress up too much, I wear a polo shirt with a pair of pants, and believe me, that's dressing up for this Florida boy who's always in shorts!))

My wife looks good in anything she wears, but it ranges from a simple dress to slacks and a blouse!

We'll go to the show tonight first, Studio VIP at 7:30, then walk to the aft dining room for our any time dining with our waiter Orlin. We missed him the last couple days going to Jiji's, and I really wanted to see the 3D Avengers tonight at 8:00pm, but sometimes you gotta be the good husband! -)) Maybe they'll have it on another day?

 

Want to say, there's another cruise critic thread going on the Vista right now, 'sid 9169', he has some good pictures you may want to check out.

I always believe the more we know, and share, the better it is for all of us.

Happy cruising! -))

[Carol Jones]

I am enjoying your review. You said your wife was talking to a friend on Viber. What is Viber?

 

 

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[AmBear]

I sure don't blame you for venting! Good Grief. Was that over 2 hours of waiting???

Nice of Carnival to treat you to dinner. Really nice move on their part.

Any word on change of itinerary? I understand a couple of ships missed Cozumel yesterday.

Safe travels and enjoy!

 

I am enjoying your review. You said your wife was talking to a friend on Viber. What is Viber?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Viber is big in Europe, and my wife's family come from Europe, so they all have Viber, and they can talk for free when we're on the road.

Viber is similar to Skype, whatsapp, etc., you download the app, your account is set up with your phone number.

You can talk, chat, send files, pictures, face chat, over the internet for free if both people have Viber downloaded. It's extremely convenient to send pictures fast!

If you want to set up an account with money, that allows you to call people over the internet to their phone, even though they don't have Viber.

Many are using these programs where internet is available to save minutes on their phone, especially if you're talking long distance, roaming charges, etc. .

Google, etc. all have the app to download with much more info.

My wife uses these programs like Viber and Skype every day to face chat with family and friends in Europe for 'free'! -)))

[Justcrusin]

Thanks for posting, enjoying your review. We will be sailing the Vista next week. We have anytime dining too, should we ask for Orlin?

[AmBear]

Thanks for posting, enjoying your review. We will be sailing the Vista next week. We have anytime dining too, should we ask for Orlin?

 

No, we found out tonight the Vista reassigned their waiters to different stations this cruise.

Orlin has been moved to assigned dining in the mid ship restaurant.

We ate at Jiji's last night, so we didn't notice until tonight.

[AmBear]

I know some following this thread are going on the Vista this summer.

I want to be accurate in what we see, in our opinion, last weeks cruise was older then this week's cruise!

My observations last week were made with those conditions! -))

 

This week, you get the feeling that School is out!

Tonight there was a long line to get your table for 'any time dining' at 8:30pm! Last week there was no line.

When we got into the dining room tonight, it was packed, and was a far more 'festive, party' atmosphere then last week.

Maybe it was the sea day, elegant night, or both, or neither?

We're gonna enjoy watching how the next 3 port days go.

BTW, from what we saw with the crowd, the dining room staff seemed very efficient!

Tomorrow is Ocho Rios

 

To those interested, we only saw 7 people on our 'back to back' yesterday, the week before, we were told there were only 2 on the back to back.

[AmBear]

We wake up this morning still an hour from Ocho Rios, so we decide to order some room service. Our order is coffee, assorted muffins, and juice.

 

We're still deciding what to do today, likely we walk to Margaritaville next to the port. They have the restaurant, the pool, and a beach where they rent out loungers, and umbrellas.

They emailed me that they charge

$30. for one lounger with an umbrella,

$45. for 2 loungers with an umbrella, and

$55. for what they call VIP, 2 loungers with an umbrella, 2 margaritas, a small cooler that is equipped with a charging station for you phone/tablet etc., and a small locker for you valuables.

 

No show in the theater tonight, they have,,,,

Hasbro the game show 7:30pm

 

$1000. Mystery Bingo 8:45pm

 

Love and Marriage Show with Matt 9:30pm

 

Electric White Night party atrium lobby 10:30-11:30/Limelight lounge 11:00-Late

$1.00 off Grey Goose Vodka drinks if you wear white all night long.

 

Comedy 5:30/7:30/9:30pm

 

Red Frog Pub Quiz 7:30pm

 

IMAX theater

A Beautiful Planet 3D 5pm

Avengers: Infinity War 6:00pm

Deadpool 2 9:00/11:15pm

 

Thrill theater

Cartoon Classics 5:30/6:30pm

Just the Rides 7:00/7:30pm

Destination Adventure 8:00pm

Dare to be Scared 8:30/9:30/10:00/10:30pm

 

Dine in Movies

Wonder 1:30pm

Star Trek: The Last Jedi 7:00pm

Black Panther 10:00pm

[AmBear]

BTW Room Service is quick on the Vista, at least so far, and where we are located, just a few cabins aft of the rear elevators, on deck 6.

So far we've received our order in less then 15 minutes each time.

 

Time to Rant,,,

The Door Bangers Have Returned!

Some were here last week, but this week is impressive,,,the banging starts at around 7:00am, and returns again around 11:30pm-12:30am.

If you plan on sleeping in, or going to bed early, you better bring ear plugs! -))

This younger cruise gets up early, and stays up late, and they don't understand you can close a cabin door without slamming it, or letting it slam shut on its own.

It's just one of my pet peeves that it's rude! No respect, no thoughts about those in the cabins near them!

OK, rant is over!-))

 

We're pulling into port, gotta get in a good mood! -))

[helene109]

If you do go to margaritville I am curious as to how far it is from where you dock? We are on the 6 day in July too thanks

 

 

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[AmBear]

If you do go to margaritville I am curious as to how far it is from where you dock? We are on the 6 day in July too thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

You walk to the entry to the port off the pier, and it's less then a 5 minute walk to Margaritaville, it's part of a large shopping area just to the right of the port.

[AmBear]

We made it to Margaritaville, but not to swim, Just have a few drinks, and an excellent snack called volcano shrimp.

My wife did some shopping, bought herself a tee shirt she liked, then we walked around some, the shopping area around Margaritaville, called Island Village, is actually quite nice, and there is police around, so there's no trouble. The area has shops, a few restaurants, and a few ice cream, and coffee shops.

Next door to Margaritaville is a new place being built that will have a small beach, some cabanas, and likely food and drinks that will open in about a month, at least that's what the foreman of the construction crew told me. Something to look for if you're coming to Ocho Rios later this year.

We get back on the ship, have a late lunch/snack, then head back to our cabin to clean up, it was hot today in Jamaica, the temp was a reported '99 degrees'!-((

As we walked on our deck towards our cabin, many of the cabin doors were open while the crews were cleaning, and as I stated previously that the ship felt more crowded this week, most cabins seemed to have the extra beds being utilized, 3-4 cruisers per cabin, this ship is PACKED, compared to last week.

A couple we were talking to at Margaritaville stated as we had thought, a lot of school years ended last week, and as this is their first week of vacation, and they are ready to PARTY!

 

I was looking at the Bonsai Sushi Restaurant menu, and they have quite a few things that I could eat, ( I'm not a sushi eater) such as,,,,

wagyu short ribs,

grilled meat(chicken, beef, pork) on a skewer,

noodle bowls with beef, chicken or mushrooms,

small plate of teryaki steak, or shrimp tempura

So we might just try this place out, my wife likes sushi!

 

We still don't know where we're headed for dinner, guess we're not that hungry! -))

We're not doing any shows tonight, tomorrow is an early port day, and we're ready for some beach/pool swimming!-))

[AmBear]

We head out to the deli late, around 9:45 thinking the buffet closes at 9:30, so it'll be a sandwich, or a pizza, and the buffet was still open!!!

(BTW the sandwiches on the Vista are good, you just gotta order it your way, so they'll special make it for you!)

I had a bbq rib, a piece of bbq chicken, and some pasta, all good, so I'm a happy camper!

After eating, we head back to our cabin for the night!

 

A quick comment about service on the Vista, we've found it to be very good, example,,,

My wife forgot her charging plug for her laptop, she still had her tablet, but her games she plays every day are loaded on her laptop.

So she mentioned in passing to our cabin attendant this afternoon she was going to see if they sold them in the fun shops!

We didn't hold out much hope.

Tonight there's a knock on the door, our guy borrowed one from a crew member friend of his!

So as I'm writing this, she's happily playing her game on her fully charged laptop!-))

[helene109]

How was the walk to Margaritville? Would you have rather stayed on the ship? Thanks

 

 

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[AmBear]

How was the walk to Margaritville? Would you have rather stayed on the ship? Thanks

 

 

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We had great seats on the deck at Margaritaville, overlooking the beach, in the shade, with a nice breeze, cause it was hot, 99 degrees the Carnival hub said!

My wife got to do some shopping, the pier isn't that long, so it was OK!

[AmBear]

We wake up this morning, decide we'll try out the buffet for breakfast.

Surprisingly it wasn't busy, everyone is either getting ready to leave the ship, or they're sleeping!

We finish our breakfast, we both have some eggs, bacon, some toast, then head back to the cabin to get ready to tender to Grand Cayman!

 

I noticed while my wife was getting our things together for Grand Cayman, I got an email from the casino club the 'ultra' cruises were released!

 

After about a dozen emails back and forth between our Carnival rep., we decide our already booked cruises are actually better deals!

 

So I'm ready to go, and off we go, tendering to Grand Cayman.

Our place to go in Grand Cayman is Hemingway's!

 

Hemingway's is a resort on 7 mile beach that is being renovated, and while the hotel is closed, you can go there and use their beach, loungers, umbrellas, 2 pools, swim up bar, and yummy restaurant, for the Price,,,,,, you guarantee you'll spend $20.per person minimum on food or drink!

Grand Cayman is expensive, so $20. is inexpensive!

Other places with pools will want money up front for loungers/umbrellas before you even buy food or drink!

And the food at Hemingway's is good.

Wanna give a shout out to the bar tender Tony, he's a hard worker!

Since I first reviewed Hemingway's about 3-4 months ago, the place that used to be 10-20 people now had over a hundred there today! And more were coming as we were leaving!

I should've kept my mouth shut! -))

 

 

Back on the ship this afternoon after a great day at Hemingway's, I email a few more times with our Carnival rep, we decide we'll keep the bookings we already have.

We're gonna make another booking next week with the 'bounce back' offer I got last week on the Vista, that's enough.

 

Problem solved, now where to go to dinner.

Tonight, 'Flick' is in the theater, a must for my wife, and it's elegant night 2 which l'm not into after a day at the beach, so maybe we'll do Flick, and then a snack at the buffet, I'm still full from Hemingway's!

 

Around the ship,,,,

Showroom

Flick 7:30/9:30pm (but you better get there early)

 

Rock with the New Age lido deck 9:00-10:00pm

 

Serenity Nights withMiss Blessed Serenity 11:00-late

 

Comedy 7:30/11:30pm

 

Dine in movies

Only the Brave 12:30pm

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 6:00pm

 

IMAX theater

Under the Sea 3D 5:00pm

Dead pool 2 6:00/11:15pm

Avengers: Infinity War 8:15pm

 

Thrill theater

Destination Adventure 5:30/6:30pm

Cartoon Classics 7:00/7:30pm

Dare to be Scared 8:45/9:15/9:45/10:15pm

 

Casino Premiere events today

Snowball raffle 5:00pm

Dodge the Bull 8:00pm

Fill My Bag 11:00pm

[Hogladyrider]

We really enjoyed the live music playing at the Atrium Bar, great people watching location as well.

 

We went to the IMAX twice while on Vista and we felt it was well worth the extra $$.

 

Red Frogg has some great appetizer food choices as well but it can get really crowded in there.

 

We really enjoyed the decor of Vista and we'd sail her again but I'd want to try a Havana inside cabin as I am a pool person and it was crazy trying to find a lounger at one of the pools on Vista and even worse up on Serenity unless you got there early in the morning.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

Did I see that you are on Breeze Nov 3 sailing for 14 days.....us too!