Vista Review- June 2019

[briternik]

  I am a frequent cruiser and have cruised RCCL, NCL, Disney, Celebrity, and Carnival all in the past.  I find that Carnival has the best deck parties and just seems more fun in general.  However, this ship deserves the poor reviews.
   The Pro's:  Great Deck parties
                     Stage Show Flick
                      Sports Square and all it entails like Sky Ride and Ropes Course
                      The Thrill and Imax theaters
                      Guys Burgers, the Lido Deli

The Con's:     Horrible Dining Room Experience- I was unable to eat any of the meat dishes I was  served.  We had one waiter for our table for 12.  The service was extremely slow. Drinks were hard to get, and even harder to get a refill.  I had requested a great table location, but more importantly FUN waitstaff, ahead of time through John Heald's blog.  I don't think my request was met.  The location wasn't the worst, but our waiter seemed to hate his job.
                      Cabin Steward:  I only asked to have ice delivered twice/day and service in the evening.  I repeatedly had to request ice, and my beach towels  weren't replaced.  I had to find him and ask about it and he said he ran out of towels  before he got to my room.  WHAT???  We were only given 2 bath towels per day.  We requested to have 4, as we girls need a hair towel, as well as a body towel.  Half the time, we still just received two.  We also didn't receive any debarkation information. We got it from other family members.
                      Elevators:  SUPER SUPER SLOW.  I took the stairs.
                      Liquid Lounge:  Seating was awful, as others have stated.
                      Punchliner Comedy Club:  Not enought seating. If you arrived 30 minutes early, you still may be standing.  
                      Debarkation:  Total nightmare.  Took us about 1 1/2 hours.  I read that it took others up to 6 hours.  We had Faster to the Fun.

         We actually had a fun vacation, and I will probably cruise Carnival again in the future.  However, I had a Panorama cruise booked for next June and I cancelled it this morning.  I don't want to sail on a ship that is a sister to the Vista.  I really didn't like the layout or the "closed in" feeling of it.  If the shows and the dining room experience are important to you, I wouldn't recommend this ship.  

[jbethel11]

I am sorry to see that you had a miserable trip. I do hope that you can reconsider future travels on other ships, including the Dream class of ships. However, I am not quite sure I understand what you mean by "I requested fun waitstaff"? Is that even possible? All waitstaff should be fun at Carnival! Despite canceling the Panorama sailing for June of 2020, the Panorama will adapt Carnival Horizon's elevator system, which is arguably much improved and faster than the Vista's!

[blyle]

I wish they would take the Vista out of Galveston.  Putting her here has made RCCL Liberty the ship to sail.  Vista had negative reviews in Florida so they thought Texans would not know any better.  We do know better.  Let's face it ...the ship has a few pros but mostly a bad design!!!  If Carnival had actually commissioned Joe Farcus's revolutionary ship design it would have been better than the RCCL big ships since it was very similar but better.  You can find his interview and sample diagrams for the designs he drew up but due to the economy never materialized.  Bad Move by whoever was in charge!!!

[bury me at sea]

Thanks for your review.  It adds to my impression  that people either love or hate the Vista, with not many in between.

 

I'm glad the Freedom is still a choice out of Galveston.

 

[LBumb]

Thanks

[jbethel11]

I still stand with the Vista leaving the port of Galveston. With the Freedom and Dream there now, why is the Vista still there? Just doesn't make sense. I, as always, think it should move to New York.

[dude_hdt]

I live about 30 minutes from Galveston port so plenty of Carnival and RC sailings.  I sailed Vista last Oct and had a blast.  I do agree with the horrible seating layout of Liquid Lounge...worst design of any ships I've been on.  Comedy club was standing-room-only if you arrive late but if early or on time, you should get a seat.  Other than that, no complaints.

 

Comparing to RC, I do like the Royal Promenade sooooo much more than the normal ship design.  Carnival sure screwed up not going with that design that RC picked up and now so has MSC.

 

I'm already booked on Vista again this October!!!

[bobbyandali]

On 6/16/2019 at 2:11 PM, briternik said:

Horrible Dining Room Experience- I was unable to eat any of the meat dishes I was  served.  We had one waiter for our table for 12.  The service was extremely slow. Drinks were hard to get, and even harder to get a refill.  I had requested a great table location, but more importantly FUN waitstaff, ahead of time through John Heald's blog.  I don't think my request was met.  The location wasn't the worst, but our waiter seemed to hate his job.
                   

What was wrong with the meat dishes? 

 

I can't imagine there are too many locations for tables of that size. Much less "great' ones.

As far as requesting a FUN waitstaff, I'm pretty sure that the waitstaff you get is dependent on your table number, just like every other restaurant in the world. That stinks that your waiter didn't seem like he wanted to be there... did you discuss this with someone? 

I've stood for comedy shows on various sizes of Carnival ships. I really wish they would move them to the theater, or do a ticket system, or clear out the lounge between shows, something. 

[briternik]

Jbethel, I had a fun vacation.  I just don't like certain aspects of this ship.  

 

Bobbyandali, the meat dishes were either way too tough or had big chunks of fat.  

    I didn't discuss the waiter with anyone because I just felt he was overworked.  We were a table of 12 and he had no help.   I would have hated it too, were I in his shoes.  

 

[IPlayWithString]

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 5:18 PM, bobbyandali said:

 

I've stood for comedy shows on various sizes of Carnival ships. I really wish they would move them to the theater, or do a ticket system, or clear out the lounge between shows, something. 

When we were on the Vista in March, they were clearing out the lounge after each show. I don't like the idea of the ticket system. It just seems..IDK..icky. YMMV.

[DebJ14]

So sorry you had a bad experience in the dining room on the Vista. Ours was the exact opposite.  We had a wonder team of waiters who took great care of us all week.  Pierces was probably the best waiter we have ever had on any ship, on any cruise line.  We had no issues with the food whatsoever.

 

I will say I totally agree with you on the Liquid Lounge, elevators, lack of seating in the Punchliner.  I would also add there was never enough seating in the Piano bar.  We were never able to get in the door, even to stand, on any of the 8 days we were aboard.

 

We came home and canceled a cruise on the Vista for January 2020 and booked on RCCL.

[IPlayWithString]

We had a stellar wait staff also, when we were there on Spring Break. Of course, that MAY have been due to the fact that our head waitress was somebody we'd had before on the Triumph out of NOLA. 🙂 I spotted her on the Lido on embarkation day and was like, "OMG DUDE I KNOW YOU!" Took her a minute but she remembered my son and was so happy to see us.