First Cruise: Detailed review and photos of our Carnival Vista March 17-24, 2019 trip

[Ideb]

I enjoyed reading many detailed reviews on Cruise critic leading up to our first cruise. Some of my favorite reviews are by Bimmer09 , Meatloafsfan, Willdra to name a few. Since this is my first review, I'm sure I won't do as good a job with it but hopefully it will be of some help to someone who is planning a Carnival Cruise. For the last couple of years I've been reading all about cruising, the different cruise lines and what they offer, but I really didn't expect to get to go on one. I'm a teacher and my schedule is pretty easy but with my husband's work he has a hard time planning anything very far in advance. We usually find out at the last minute that he will be able to take off for a couple of days so just go somewhere within driving distance from our home in Oklahoma- so Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana. Last summer he planned to take off so we could go on an actual vacation and things kept coming up and preventing us from knowing if we could go or not. We planned on flying to Florida but we never could make airline reservations due to this, so we ended up driving to Florida.

Anyway, I kept looking at cruises for Spring Break when my two boys and I would be out of school and he told me to go ahead and book it and he would pay for it. I really didn't want to go without him but he encouraged me to go ahead. Our oldest son is a high school senior and will graduate this year and he said we need to take him now before he starts college and gets too busy to be able to go. 

Around the same time, one of my co-teachers decided to take her daughter who is also a senior in high school on a cruise for her 18th birthday. So we talked about it and I told my husband she was going and I wanted to book a cruise with her because I'd feel better having another adult I know there with me. It was her first cruise too and she was also a little nervous about booking one. She knew of a travel agent who was a local lady with a Facebook page. We both messaged her and "K" ended up going through her but I just booked my trip through carnival. It was only a couple of weeks before the sailing date when we booked and there weren't many cabins left and the travel agent said it was too late for her to get any onboard credit for us so I didn't really think it would make any difference if I booked through her or on my own.

K got an interior cabin on deck 6 and I got a Family Harbor interior on deck 2 as there wasn't anything left on deck 6 when I finally decided to book a few days after she did. I got the Family Harbor room for the same price as a regular interior and I was kind of excited about being near the lounge and having breakfast options so close to our cabin. Since I had never cruised before I had all sorts of worries that ended up going away soon after we were on board. My older son is a sleepy head and I was afraid I wouldn't want to leave him alone in the cabin asleep to go get breakfast with my younger son, but figured with the lounge right down the hall, we could just go down there and grab something to take to the room. As I said, this all changed after we were on board. I guess you could say we felt fairly safe in our environment and Alex would go to the room without us and my younger son Austin and I would stay out exploring or hanging out. 

That's all for now. I will continue my review later. Until then, here is a picture I took when we first parked at EZ Parking in Galveston. Do you believe in love at first sight?

[Rudyard]

Great start! Looking forward to reading more. 

[1st4our25th]

I look forward to the rest of your review. My husband and I will be going on our first cruise this year, so I especially love to hear other first time cruisers experiences. Thank you for sharing. 

[Ideb]

K had booked her trip through the travel agent and at school that week this cruise was all we could talk about. I wanted to book it but was still a little nervous about it. She kept saying "come on, do it". We didn't have school that Friday so I talked it over with my husband some more that morning and called Carnival to see if they had any rooms other than the ones on deck 2 that the website showed. They had an ocean view on the same deck but it wasn't in the Family Harbor area and they had a few Family Harbor interiors. The ocean view room was around $200 more. Probably worth it, but I liked the idea of the Family Harbor area so I booked it. I went to my older son's room and both boys were in there playing a computer game. I told them I booked a cruise. I got  a laugh out of their reaction. No Youtube worthy jumping up and down. Both of them are normally calm, laid back kids. They just said "that's good" and ask when we were going. I texted K to tell her I booked it. She showed more excitement and sent several "happy dance" type gifs back to me. She had already booked a room in Texas City for the night before the cruise and paid for parking at EZ Parking a few blocks from the port. In the next few days, I booked a hotel room at a different hotel down the road from hers because hers didn't have availabliity for the three of us and I booked parking at the same lot. K had applied for passports for herself and her daughter but the boys and I already had ours because we had traveled to Canada and Alaska for vacations several times the last few years. Everything was set and life went on waiting for our cruise day to finally arrive. I read everything possible about the Vista and the ports we would be visiting in the mean time. I started packing a little at a time, shopping for things I thought we'd need such as new outfits for elegant night, swimsuits, a larger suitcase and the list goes on.

[tandemcruzr]

Suggest you use paragraphs for you review. Makes it much easier to read. Glad you had a good time.

[Ideb]

We had such a short time from the time we booked our cruises until the actual cruise, but K and I couldn't think about anything else. I don't know how people book one a year away. I think the anticipation would be too much! The last day of the school week before Spring Break was parent-teacher conference night so we stayed until 9:00 pm meeting with parents. K and I met up at the tanning salon for spray tans the next day and made plans for her to meet at my house the next day- Saturday. She would be taking her own SUV to Galveston and was planning to follow us since we've been there several times and she never had. The next morning we left out around 10:00 am for our 6 hour drive to Texas City (between Houston and Galveston). We made good time going down. We stopped once for a potty break (yes, we teach kindergarten 🙂) and once for something to eat. She was mainly worried about driving through Houston and the traffic was pretty heavy that Saturday afternoon as we went through downtown on I-45 but right past the downtown area the freeway was closed due to construction at one point so we had to find a new route around the city and back to I-45. My son was driving us and he didn't have any problem at all. He's an excellent driver. Finally after lots of maneuvering around we were back on 45 and arrived at our hotel. K and her daughter went on to their hotel and we met up about an hour later. We drove on to Galveston and ate and walked around a bit. We stopped at the Walmart in Galveston because she wanted to look for something to wear for St. Patrick's Day the next day when we boarded the ship. We found cute matching t-shirts for K, her daughter and I. My boys weren't interested in them so I didn't get them any. After eating and shopping we dropped them off at their hotel and went back to ours. I was wide awake and up early the next morning. We checked out the free breakfast at the hotel and it looked pretty bad. We decided to go ahead and get our things together and check out and go elsewhere to eat. I texted K and she and her daughter "J" were already eating at another fast food place so we told them we were going to drive on to Galveston. The boys and I drove to the beach and walked around a little and waited for K and J to get there. I'm not sure exactly but I think we met up and went to the EZ Cruise parking lot around 11:00. Her check-in time was 11:30-12. The only available for us on the Carnival website was 12:30 but I was so nervous by then I just wanted to get to the port, even if it meant just sitting or standing around waiting. At least, we'd be where we needed to be so nothing could happen to prevent us from making it there on time. We paid extra for the shuttle from the parking lot to the port since I wasn't sure if it would be raining or cold. We got into the lot, parked and got in the shuttle line.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Ideb
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[Ideb]

1 hour ago, tandemcruzr said:

Suggest you use paragraphs for you review. Makes it much easier to read. Glad you had a good time.

Thank you for the suggestion and I agree it would make it easier to read.  I will try this going forward.  I  know I've had a long introduction but tomorrow I plan on posting less talk and more pictures. 

[KmomChicago]

Great review so far! There is nothing like that first cruise. I can imagine you enjoyed the convenience of the Family Harbor amenities and I agree with your hubby, need to do it before that boy heads out on his own. Well done!

[Ideb]

The EZ Cruise Parking shuttle line was so long I wished that I hadn't paid the extra $20 for the shuttle ride to the port. We could have walked there in the legnth of time it took to get on the shuttle and I was afraid we would have to wait for a second one, but we got on the first one so it worked out okay. 

 

Since it was still over an hour to my check-in time I expected to wait  quite a while, but as soon as we got off the shuttle and walked into the luggage drop off area at the port we were on our way. We were directed where to put our suitcases and then to walk down the sidewalk and people kept hurrying us along. I expected to get to the terminal entrance and have to stop but they just said for us to get our boarding passes out and have them in our hands. We showed them and went on inside and the line never stopped. We showed our passports, got out pictures taken for our sail and sign cards and were directed to keep going. Next we walked through scanners and our carry on bags were scanned. We  walked ahead a little way and stopped to wait on K and J. Soon they were done and we kept walking straight onto the ship. 

 

I couldn't believe how quick and easy it was. All my internet research had me thinking it was going to take a long time to board and they would be checking our carry on bags and making sure we didn't bring on too many cans of soda 🙂 but the bags were scanned and no one ever ask us about anything we had with us.

 

Finally to make that long walk onto the ship. Some of the people ahead of us were really dressed up for St. Patrick's Day.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Ideb

[deladane]

Great review so far!  Looking forward to the rest 🙂

[mojavetex]

Our family of 13  are on the Vista for the first time in June.  Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[JaniceB]

Great start to your review.  Seeing the ship for the first time is so exciting, even when we aren't first time cruisers, and the long walk to the ship.  Looking forward to the rest.

[dollbanks]

Loving your review! Thanks for sharing and posting all the wonderful pics!

[MEUB1112]

Enjoying the review, just finished a cruise on the Dream. Can't wait for the next one.

[dmet0225]

I always enjoy reading the trip reports from first-time cruisers to hear about their perspective and excitement, especially from those who cruise from Galveston, my home port.  I still get just as excited for my upcoming cruises than I did for my first, because now I KNOW what to expect. 

[Tgrmom123]

I will be a first timer on the Vista in July.  Im so excited!! 

[Bimmer09]

On 4/2/2019 at 5:52 PM, Ideb said:

I enjoyed reading many detailed reviews on Cruise critic leading up to our first cruise. Some of my favorite reviews are by Bimmer09 , Meatloafsfan, Willdra to name a few. Since this is my first review, I'm sure I won't do as good a job with it but hopefully it will be of some help to someone who is planning a Carnival Cruise.

 

Hi, Ideb, I love photo reviews and surf the boards to find them. I was startled to read my name in your list of favorites as I have never written a Carnival review but I guess you are a surfer too.

Hang ten! I will be following  along as I am curious about any cruise ship that I haven't been on

and your first few pics tell me I am in for a treat.

Helping people who may be interested in cruising generally or in Carnival particularly is what CC is all about and using photos can really help to give people a better idea of what awaits them when they walk up a gangway.

Looking forward to more...

Norris

 

 

 

[Ideb]

19 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

Hi, Ideb, I love photo reviews and surf the boards to find them. I was startled to read my name in your list of favorites as I have never written a Carnival review but I guess you are a surfer too.

Hang ten! I will be following  along as I am curious about any cruise ship that I haven't been on

and your first few pics tell me I am in for a treat.

Helping people who may be interested in cruising generally or in Carnival particularly is what CC is all about and using photos can really help to give people a better idea of what awaits them when they walk up a gangway.

Looking forward to more...

Norris

 

 

 

Hello Norris, You are right that I've surfed the boards for several of the cruise lines. Your Coral Princess trip report was the first long review I ever read once I discovered this website and I've read most of your trip reports but I do see you have two new ones to the ABC islands and Cuba so I need to finish my trip report so I can settle into reading them 🙂 If I like a person's writing style on here then I always click on their name to see what else they've written so that's how I found all you've written. I remember you had a cat from reading one of your reports, but I didn't remember it being yellow. Is this a new one? I guess you tell from my avatar, I'm a cat lover.

Well, time to get to writing again. I'm honored to have you following along.

[Ideb]

I'm not sure exactly what I expected being on a cruise ship to feel like when we first stepped on, but I sort of expected it to feel more like stepping into the lobby of a grand hotel. It was grand but still felt like a ship. I didn't really have time to take it all in at that moment as I knew there was a line of people coming in behind us so we kept walking until we got to a spot to take a couple of pictures in front of the dreamscape. At least, I think that is the official name. Well, now for some pictures of our first evening on board:

[Ideb]

While walking through the atrium, K said she wanted to go to the guest services desk and ask about dining. Both of us were listed as "waitlisted" for anytime dining, so she wanted to find out if we would have anytime dining or if it meant we would actually be on a waiting list for the dining room. I had paid for the social wifi plan online and on the drive down to Galveston started second guessing that decision. I decided I would want to be able to look at our home security cameras, aka "kitty cams" so I asked about upgrading to the next higher plan called the value plan. I was told I could upgrade but wouldn't get it for the discounted price that was offered on carnival's website before you board. I went ahead and upgraded. We also found out we had anytime dining so since all our concerns were taken care of we decided to go find a place to eat since we didn't expect to be able to go check out our staterooms for a while.

 

One of the tips I had read was to go eat at Guy's Pig And Anchor Barbeque for lunch when you board because it's only open during lunch hours on the first day and sea days. Everyone seemed to think this was a good idea so we looked at a ship map we picked up at the service desk and set off for lunch. We were still dragging our roll around carry-on so we took an elevator up to the 5th floor. There was a big room called "Ocean Plaza" where a buffet was being served. We checked it out and it looked pretty good but we wanted to try the barbeque which is located in a stand outside. There was a revolving door on each side of Ocean Plaza going outside.

 

I forgot to take pictures of our food that first day but we tried the a little of each of the smoked meats and sides at Guy's Pig and Anchor. It was okay but certainly not great. We hadn't noticed that there wasn't anything to drink outside so we got our food and came back inside to the buffet to get some iced tea/lemonade. Then we went back out to sit on the deck to eat. By that time the food was getting cold so we knew that was one reason we didn't really enjoy it.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Ideb

[Ideb]

We sat and talked for a few minutes and ate a few bites of our bbq meal, but we weren't really enjoying it and with the temperature in Galveston only about 60 degrees that day and the wind blowing we were getting cold. We decided to go inside and see what warm food was available in the buffet. This isn't the main Lido buffet. It's a smaller version with just a few items from the main buffet. They have meals here everyday at breakfast and lunch which was pretty nice. They had paella, an Italian dish, some kind of stuffed shells as I remember, grilled pork chops and maybe some other sort of entree. There was also a salad bar and some soups. 

The only picture I took of this buffet was of the employee soup. I wouldn't have even noticed this, but Alex showed it to me. He joked that he had to try it so he could see what employee taste like 😉

[Ideb]

After we ate, we decided to go to see if we could check out our staterooms. We checked to see where our muster drills would be and since K's and ours would be held in different places, we parted with plans to meet up later for dinner. When we got to deck two there were suitcases outside nearly every door. We walked down the long hallway to our room near the back of the ship. Our luggage wasn't there, but our cards were in the mailbox, so we were able to go into our room. These pictures show the elevators and hallway in the Family Harbor area. In the first picture you can see how close our cabin was to the back of the ship. We were in 2472, there was one handicap accessible cabin just past ours, then the door at the very end of the hall went to one of the suites at the very back. I took a picture of Austin in front of our door.  I made some door decorations on my computer at home and printed them out and laminated them. I them hung them up with magnets. The top is a picture of port hole with our room number and the bottom is a picture of a cat looking over a cruise ship railing-similar to my signature picture on here.

 

 

the   

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Ideb

[Ideb]

Many of the doors were decorated for St. Patrick's Day

[Ideb]

We spent some time in our room resting, checking out what was available on the tv and seeing if I could get my cell phone connected to the wifi service. On the television in our room we could see the Royal Caribbean ship Liberty of the Seas parked behind us. We had checked the option for the beds to be in the two twin bed setup. There was a big rectangle in the ceiling above one of the beds so I knew there was a third bed up there but it hadn't been put in place yet. I was hoping it would be done before we got ready to go to bed so I didn't have to ask for it to be done.

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Ideb

[Bimmer09]

9 hours ago, Ideb said:

Hello Norris, You are right that I've surfed the boards for several of the cruise lines. Your Coral Princess trip report was the first long review I ever read once I discovered this website and I've read most of your trip reports but I do see you have two new ones to the ABC islands and Cuba so I need to finish my trip report so I can settle into reading them 🙂 If I like a person's writing style on here then I always click on their name to see what else they've written so that's how I found all you've written. I remember you had a cat from reading one of your reports, but I didn't remember it being yellow. Is this a new one? I guess you tell from my avatar, I'm a cat lover.

Well, time to get to writing again. I'm honored to have you following along.

 

Hi, that cat  which shows up in the link to my Cuba review is not ours but belongs to a poster who responded. I don't know how it came to be attached to the review URL. Our cat shows up on the first page of the review. I see your cat is looking out over Civitavecchia harbor in Italy!

We'll be there again in October 2020 on Azamara.

Enjoying your review....

Norris