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

[Flytko]

I was wondering if they were doing afternoon tea???

[Ideb]

1 hour ago, Flytko said:

I was wondering if they were doing afternoon tea???

Yes, they had afternoon tea two days. They were Friday and Saturday. We only went on the Friday afternoon tea and I have a few pictures from it I'll post soon.

[Ideb]

On 4/7/2019 at 10:45 AM, bakersdozen12 said:

 

Unfortunately this is one of the downsides of the Vista class ships. The took away that grand feeling of the atrium. Ships before this class have atriums that go all the way up the ship and let sunlight in through the glass at the top. So, if you book another cruise on a Dream class or older ship, your first impression will likely be very different. 

From the pictures I've seen of the older ships, the atriums do seem more grand. I will say that Vista may not have that immediate wow factor, but I still think it was a beautiful ship.

[Ideb]

After dinner, we went to the Liquid Lounge for the Welcome Aboard show. We went to the upper theater deck and got a seat on the port side. There wasn't a pole in the way of our view which we found out could be a problem on a different night. However, being off to the side meant only being able to see the performers when they came to the front of the stage. We could hardly see anyone at the front of the stage or the special effects, so I recommend getting a seat out toward the front. On the picture above you can tell how much of the stage we could actually see.

[Ideb]

We did enjoy the first show very much.

[Ideb]

After the show, we went back to our cabin and our luggage was inside our room! We were tired and went to bed. K and J went to their room, but the next day they told us they got hungry and went to the buffet for the late night eats around 11:30.

 

 

[willdra]

This is a wonderful review! Your pictures are great too! I can’t wait to read the rest. 🤗

[Ideb]

The first full morning of our cruise started off a little bumpy. When I woke up I could feel a lot of movement. I wondered if this was going to be the norm for the rest of the trip. I got up, showered and started getting ready for the day. The boys were still asleep. The movement in the ship was very noticeable and since we were in an inside room, I couldn't really tell what was going on so I turned on the room television to look at the ship cams. I couldn't tell a lot from them. Austin woke up and I told him why I was looking at the ship cams

 

. He got up to get ready and while I was waiting on him I checked my account on the tv. It showed I had been charged for wifi 3 times and had a bill of $126 for what should have been the difference in what I had originally paid before the trip for the social plan and the upgrade to the value plan which was $28. I had been charged for the wifi several times. Once Austin was ready, I told him I wanted to go up to the guest services desk and see if they could take care of the charges. There was a window near the guest services desk on deck 3 and we could see it was covered with water. The waves were so huge I found it a little scary. My turn came at the desk and the same lady who had helped me get the wifi upgraded waited on me and removed the additional charges. We went back down to deck 2 and stopped in the Family Harbor Lounge and got some breakfast.

 

 

 

 

[Quilcruisers]

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. 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?

I am anxiously reading your review. Are you hooked yet? Our home port is Galveston and I have the same problem as you, my husband’s work schedule and time off is always an issue. We booked spring break without him and I had same worries, I had never cruised with just my teen son. My husband has cruised all of the time with me except the last 2 years for thanksgiving.  We had a ball and although I prefer he is with us, I will book again without him if there is a schedule conflict. 

 

I have not cruised the Vista yet, but will soon since it is now in Galveston. Thanks for doing this, I know it’s not easy finding the time. I have to finish mine as well. 

[Quilcruisers]

We always park at that same lot but we do the park and walk option. Much cheaper, you can drop everyone and the luggage at the port, then 1 or 2 people can park the car and walk back.  

 

The only time I don’t park is if we get dropped off.  My sister lives about 45 mins from Galveston. 

[JaniceB]

Looks like a few breakfast choices in the FH lounge, were you happy with it?

[2Long2NxtCrz]

I'm from Oklahoma, too!  Enjoying your perspective as a first-time cruiser, too.

 

[Ideb]

On 4/9/2019 at 10:08 PM, willdra said:

This is a wonderful review! Your pictures are great too! I can’t wait to read the rest. 🤗

Willdra, thank you so much! I absolutely love reading your reviews also. I'm a little slow as life (mostly work) keeps me from being able to spend much time on this but plan on working on it some more today.

[Ideb]

On 4/9/2019 at 10:46 PM, Quilcruisers said:

I am anxiously reading your review. Are you hooked yet? Our home port is Galveston and I have the same problem as you, my husband’s work schedule and time off is always an issue. We booked spring break without him and I had same worries, I had never cruised with just my teen son. My husband has cruised all of the time with me except the last 2 years for thanksgiving.  We had a ball and although I prefer he is with us, I will book again without him if there is a schedule conflict. 

 

I have not cruised the Vista yet, but will soon since it is now in Galveston. Thanks for doing this, I know it’s not easy finding the time. I have to finish mine as well. 

Quilcruisers, I will check out your review today. Yes, I am hooked. I haven't been able to think of much else since I've gotten back from our cruise. 

[Ideb]

On 4/10/2019 at 8:08 AM, JaniceB said:

Looks like a few breakfast choices in the FH lounge, were you happy with it?

Yes, I really liked the breakfast choices in the FH lounge. It was pretty much the same every morning- scrambled eggs, oatmeal, waffles, bacon, sausage and such on one side and cold cuts and cheese on the other. They had several types of jelly and syrup-both sugar free and regular. There were always workers keeping the tables clean and refilling the food choices. In the afternoons they had chips and pico de gallo, sandwiches, a couple of kinds of cake slices and brownies. We usually had snacks in there in the afternoon on sea days then had dinner later.

[Ideb]

When my older son Alex got up he immediately remarked about how much the ship was moving. He gets motion sickness so I was afraid it would bother him. We decided to go find him something to eat. I told him I read that sometimes you get motion sickness easier when you haven't eaten. 

 

.He doesn't eat breakfast at all, so we we knew the Family Harbor room had nothing he'd eat. We went up to the Lido deck and checked out the buffet there. It was all breakfast choices too. The only thing available besides breakfast was pizza so we went outside to Pizzeria del Capitano and ordered a pepperoni pizza. 

We sat down at a table in the covered area next to the pizza place. and waited on it. We could really feel the ship moving. The water was splashing up in the pool and the deck was all wet from the light rain coming down. Our first cruise day was wet, windy and dreary.

Alex told me that if the ship kept rocking like that he would be sick. His pizza was ready and he managed to eat 2 pieces. He seemed okay and I told him I wanted to go see what the cruise coupon show/seminar in the Liquid Lounge was about.

We went in and found a seat but as soon as we sat down we could feel the ship moving up and down even more than before. ou could really feel it there in the front of the ship. Alex said he couldn't handle it and wanted to go back to the room. I told him we'd all go but he said he was just going to go lay down and we could stay.

 

We did see K and J there. They were already sitting in the seats close to the front and we sat in the back. We sat through the whole show although it was just a big sales pitch for their $25 coupon book. They were doing drawing throughout the show for door prizes so it kept people in their seats for the whole thing. K's name was drawn and she won a pearl necklace. She bought the coupon book but I didn't. 
 

[Ideb]

We went back to the room to check on Alex and he was lying down playing on his phone. I told him I didn't want him to be sick all day so maybe he should take some of the Bonine I had brought. It was the Less Drowsy one but usually those things still make me sleepy. I just gave him half of one and I took the other half as a preventative measure. And as I should have expected, I laid on the bed and went to sleep. Both Alex and I did. Austin laid on his top bunk watching tv and he may have slept a while too. I never heard a peep out of him and if he were bored, he would have let me know it.

 

We didn't get up until late afternoon. I messaged K on FB to see if they wanted to meet up for a late lunch but she didn't answer. We were still so tired but decided not to waste the entire day. We wanted to eat and walk around and explore the ship. 

 

We went back up to the Lido to try a Guy's Burger. The line wasn't very long which was good, but it was really cool outside and most of the chairs under the roof were taken. We found one that was at the very edge of the roof covering near the pool. It was misting rain and we had to wipe off the seats before we sat there. We should have just got the burgers and took them inside because we ended up going in right after we ate. There were a few people hanging out at he pool but I don't know how they could stand it.

 

 

I didn't expect the Guy's burger would be anything special-just all hype. I was surprised by how good it was and I'm really not a burger person.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ideb]

 

We walked around a little bit and then went back to room and lay down and slept some more. The "Less Drowsy" Bonine wiped us out. 

 

We woke up later and I sent K another message to see if they wanted to go to the formal night dinner with us. She said she and J had taken some Non Drowsy Dramamine and had slept most of the day. We made plans to meet up to go to the early show. Tonight the show was Flick. We all loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ideb]

. We went on the hub app at the end of the show and booked out table in the dining room. It said it would be ready in 10-15 minutes. I was surprised because I thought there would be a wait on formal night but there wasn't. By the time we got to the dining room we were able to be seated immediately.

 

Our waiter that night was really pushy about selling us drinks. We told him we didn't want any-just water. He tried to make us feel guilty by saying we should buy something and not just take the free stuff. I told him it wasn't free. We paid for the trip and dining was included. Then he asked the kids if they wanted smoothies and they said no. He kept after them about it saying "oh come on, you can talk your mom's into it." K and I were really getting annoyed with him but he finally figured out we weren't going to be talked into ordering anything we didn't want. We ordered our dinner. K, Austin, Jacy and I ordered prime rib and two lobster each. I can't remember what Alex ordered. He doesn't do steak or seafood, so maybe he ordered another burger.

 

Soon after we ordered, music started and everyone waved their napkins in the air. The waiters started dancing.

 

 

Here are some pictures of our prime rib and lobster. The lobster was okay. Not the best I've ever had. The shrimp were very good. I didn't care much for the prime rib. It was a little tough and I only ate a bite or two. Around our table the desserts were creme brulee, a sugar free cake I wanted to try and a dark chocolate cake. I only tried the sugar free cake and creme brulee. The cake was okay but a little dry. I took a couple of bites. The creme brulee was so good. I think it was one of the best foods of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

[Ideb]

After dinner we walked around the ship a little bit and K and J stopped at one of the photo areas and had a photographer take some photos in their formal night clothing. Alex, Austin and I had some photos taken too. We were all still tired after the day of rough seas and decided to turn in early. 

 

The next day would be our first port day. I was excited as I've never been to Cozumel. K has been before and booked an excursion to Passion Island. I just wanted to walk around town and get a feel for Cozumel and maybe go to the beach for a while so I didn't book an excursion.

[Ideb]

We docked the next morning and Alex, Austin and I got up to go up to the Lido deck so we could see what it looked like being in port in Cozumel. Alex ordered a pizza and I grabbed some breakfast from the buffet.

 

 

 

[Ideb]

When we finished eating I called At&t to double check that I could use my cell phone in Cozumel and the next two ports without any additional charges. The man I talked to was very helpful and double checked everything and confirmed that I wouldn't be charged anymore for using my phone in the ports. He even told me about some of the cruises he'd been on. I was a little concerned that listening to him, I would be using my 50 minutes of cruise ship talk time but he said it didn't count against my plan when I called At&t.

 

After that we went back to the room to gather our things to get off the ship. I took a backpack with some Carnival beach towels in case we went to a beach. I also took our passports just in case anything happened that we might need them. I've read a lot of people leave them on the ship but I took them.

[Ideb]

 

Some photos we took right after getting off the ship

We stopped to take a photo of our ship Vista.

The cruise ship dock was a pretty cool place with all the cruise ships in port.

The water was such a beautiful shade of blue at the dock and so clear we could see fish swimming by.

 

 

[Ideb]

We walked around the port area. It's pretty large and you can spend quite a bit of time there just looking in all the shops. I had read you can walk out of the port area and there is a taxi stand right there. We walked out and didn't see it. Right in front of the port the road was divided and rather wide. We walked down the side walk and crossed the street where they were more shops. It was sort of like a mini mall with more jewelry stores like the ones just across the street at the port and a few others. There was some people there selling excursions also. We looked around and went back out. We ran into an American couple and asked them about the best way to get a taxi to the downtown area. We just wanted to see more of the city. We walked back across the street and found the taxi stand. For $8.00 we got a taxi to the downtown area. When we got to the Punta Lagosta port area we told the driver to let us out there. It looked interesting and we wanted to explore.

 

Here are some pics we took there:

 

 

 

 

[Ideb]

We passed a store called Mega while we were in the taxi and decided to walk a block or so back to look around. It was a pretty neat store. It was sort of like a super center type store with groceries in one part and other goods in part of it. When we walked first walked in there was an electronics/cell phone store straight ahead.  We stopped because Alex wanted to look around there. Beside it was a cafe and a small Office Depot store. We looked around there and I pulled up a currency converter on my phone to  convert pesos to dollars to see how prices compared to here. Most of the office products I checked seemed about the same. Some of the laptops seemed pretty pricey.

 

Next, we went up the escalator to look around the actual Mega store. Austin liked the shopping cart escalator. I was still carrying my backpack and there was a guard by the door who pointed me to the bag drop off desk. They had little cubbies where they stored your bags and gave you a ticket to claim it later. 

 

Mega kind of reminded me of a Super Target. It was a large, clean store. It had a lot of basic items but not a huge variety of each. I was looking for a new purse and looked in their clothing and accessories area but didn't find but one or two styles and nothing I'd want. It was still fun looking around the store.