Vista & Panorama

[csm5986142]

We were recently on sister ships Vista and Panorama back-to-back (well not technically since one is in Texas and the other California, but 1 week apart).  While the trips are fresh in my mind, I thought I’d mention some comparisons I noted between the ships. 

We really like the size, layout, food, and activity choices on this class of ship.  We were on Horizon prior to the pandemic (and have a future cruise booked on her, so we are definitely fans of this class).

 

Embarkation – was great at both ports.  Extremely organized, quick, and efficient.  We are platinum but in Galveston opted to board the Vista with group A01 in order to keep family members together.  In Long Beach we boarded with the platinum group.  In both cases, we were on the ship by 11:30.

Vista – the temperature on the ship was very inconsistent.  Some areas seemed to have working AC but other areas (especially hallways and stairwells) were extremely hot and humid.  We had an interior cabin on both ships and our cabin on Vista never got cool enough.  In general, the Vista appears in rough shape.  We noticed ceilings with rust and mold (I took a couple pictures, one in Ocean Plaza and the other in the Lido, but there many areas like this throughout the ship), the windows were stained with hard water and rust.  We noticed what seemed to be stains on the carpet of our cabin due to flooding (and later found out the area around our cabin did have a flooding problem).  It smelled musty and the carpet in front of our cabin (about 20 cabins total) would sporadically get saturated with water.  We couldn’t see where the leak was coming from, but maintenance crew were frequently working in a closet containing pipes near our cabin.  Crew would use commercial carpet cleaners to extract the water and put out large industrial fans to try to dry it out.  Unfortunately, this ship just didn’t look or smell clean to me.  We still had a good time, I just won’t book it again. 

We enjoyed the Imax theater and the sky ride.  The food was good, but the pizza place seemed understaffed on both ships.  Always a long line and the crew seemed very busy.

Panorama – the Panorama does not seem to have the AC issues that Vista does.  The temperature was comfortable throughout.  The first thing I noticed was how clean and well maintained this ship looked.  Windows were clean and clear, carpets did not show wear or staining, and it smelled fresh/clean.  The evening we left Puerto Vallarta, as the ship turned, rain mixed with soot made a huge mess on the track and back decks (it looked like someone had poured chocolate syrup all over – I’ve never seen anything like it).  They immediately closed all impacted areas and started cleaning.  The next morning the areas were spotless – you would have never known what a mess it was.  I noticed that even the drains along the outside of the decks were sparkling clean.  In over 20 cruises, this is the cleanest ship I’ve seen (considering its age).

The Panorama does not have the Imax (unfortunately), but instead has the trampoline park, which the kids seemed to enjoy.  We loved “Fresh Creations” salads up on the serenity deck on both of these ships.  Strangely, the Asian Wok restaurant which is complementary for lunch (and becomes Ji Ji Asian Kitchen at dinner for a nominal fee) was open for lunch on embarkation day on Vista but not Panorama.

If the information I found is correct, these ships are only 3 1/2 years apart in age (Vista launched 6/2015 and Panorama 12/2018) - I would have guessed the Vista was a good 10 years older.  To be fair, Vista is going in to drydock in the near future and I feel like maybe they are deferring some maintenance until then. 

I thought both of these ships had more than adequate common space both inside and out.  I tend to avoid the crowds and never had trouble finding a quiet place to relax or read.

And lastly, as mentioned quite a bit recently, both of these ships have intermittent propulsion issues.  On our voyages, Vista seemed fine and was right on time, but Panorama was 2 hours late getting back into port.  The CD said that debarkation usually starts at 7:30 but would be 9:30 for our trip.

[csm5986142]

[weezal]

panorama started sailing just before the pandemic shutdown, so it's fairly new.
i agree that it's well maintained, though i haven't been on other vista-class ships.

i would prefer to have imax over the trampoline park.

do they actually show movies, or just imax/nature documentaries?

 

[csm5986142]

Just now, weezal said:

i would prefer to have imax over the trampoline park.

do they actually show movies, or just imax/nature documentaries?

 

I totally agree.  Yes, they had both regular movies currently in theaters and documentaries.  The regular movies were more expensive than the documentaries (I think around $18 per adult - it was probably less for kids, but I didn't notice).  The movies we saw were sold out so seemed to be quite popular.

[LaRue1975]

Thank you for your review, I agree completely with your assessment. I was on the Vista in April 2022 and 2023, she really went downhill aesthetically in the last year and is overdue for her dry dock. I honestly felt like I was sailing on a rust bucket. Everything else was good, no problems at all. We were in the Havana area this year which was fantastic and that area was in much better shape than the rest of the ship. In between those two cruises we sailed on the Panorama and oh my, she is Cinderella and Vista is the ugly stepsister, lol! I love the Vista class too but Panorama has so much more to offer, especially dining options with Pig & Anchor, Bonsai Teppanyaki and JiJi’s, we enjoyed them all. My grandson loved the trampoline park and I am looking forward to booking one of the cooking classes in the Carnival Kitchen next time.
 

I live an hour from Long Beach and have four more cruises booked on Panorama. There is a bit of variety in the the 6, 7 and 8 day cruises but it is still all Mexican Riviera and can’t compare to the Caribbean ports IMO. So that’s a contest the Vista and Horizon win hands down. I recently booked  a B2B on the Horizon for April 2025, we will be in the Havana area and it will be our first time on Horizon, can’t wait! Oh, and service and crew members were fantastic on both ships, probably the thing I like most about cruising. Enjoy your next cruise! 

Edited July 12, 2023 by LaRue1975

[joe/jack]

6 hours ago, csm5986142 said:

We were recently on sister ships Vista and Panorama back-to-back (well not technically since one is in Texas and the other California, but 1 week apart).  While the trips are fresh in my mind, I thought I’d mention some comparisons I noted between the ships. 

We really like the size, layout, food, and activity choices on this class of ship.  We were on Horizon prior to the pandemic (and have a future cruise booked on her, so we are definitely fans of this class).

 

Embarkation – was great at both ports.  Extremely organized, quick, and efficient.  We are platinum but in Galveston opted to board the Vista with group A01 in order to keep family members together.  In Long Beach we boarded with the platinum group.  In both cases, we were on the ship by 11:30.

Vista – the temperature on the ship was very inconsistent.  Some areas seemed to have working AC but other areas (especially hallways and stairwells) were extremely hot and humid.  We had an interior cabin on both ships and our cabin on Vista never got cool enough.  In general, the Vista appears in rough shape.  We noticed ceilings with rust and mold (I took a couple pictures, one in Ocean Plaza and the other in the Lido, but there many areas like this throughout the ship), the windows were stained with hard water and rust.  We noticed what seemed to be stains on the carpet of our cabin due to flooding (and later found out the area around our cabin did have a flooding problem).  It smelled musty and the carpet in front of our cabin (about 20 cabins total) would sporadically get saturated with water.  We couldn’t see where the leak was coming from, but maintenance crew were frequently working in a closet containing pipes near our cabin.  Crew would use commercial carpet cleaners to extract the water and put out large industrial fans to try to dry it out.  Unfortunately, this ship just didn’t look or smell clean to me.  We still had a good time, I just won’t book it again. 

We enjoyed the Imax theater and the sky ride.  The food was good, but the pizza place seemed understaffed on both ships.  Always a long line and the crew seemed very busy.

Panorama – the Panorama does not seem to have the AC issues that Vista does.  The temperature was comfortable throughout.  The first thing I noticed was how clean and well maintained this ship looked.  Windows were clean and clear, carpets did not show wear or staining, and it smelled fresh/clean.  The evening we left Puerto Vallarta, as the ship turned, rain mixed with soot made a huge mess on the track and back decks (it looked like someone had poured chocolate syrup all over – I’ve never seen anything like it).  They immediately closed all impacted areas and started cleaning.  The next morning the areas were spotless – you would have never known what a mess it was.  I noticed that even the drains along the outside of the decks were sparkling clean.  In over 20 cruises, this is the cleanest ship I’ve seen (considering its age).

The Panorama does not have the Imax (unfortunately), but instead has the trampoline park, which the kids seemed to enjoy.  We loved “Fresh Creations” salads up on the serenity deck on both of these ships.  Strangely, the Asian Wok restaurant which is complementary for lunch (and becomes Ji Ji Asian Kitchen at dinner for a nominal fee) was open for lunch on embarkation day on Vista but not Panorama.

If the information I found is correct, these ships are only 3 1/2 years apart in age (Vista launched 6/2015 and Panorama 12/2018) - I would have guessed the Vista was a good 10 years older.  To be fair, Vista is going in to drydock in the near future and I feel like maybe they are deferring some maintenance until then. 

I thought both of these ships had more than adequate common space both inside and out.  I tend to avoid the crowds and never had trouble finding a quiet place to relax or read.

And lastly, as mentioned quite a bit recently, both of these ships have intermittent propulsion issues.  On our voyages, Vista seemed fine and was right on time, but Panorama was 2 hours late getting back into port.  The CD said that debarkation usually starts at 7:30 but would be 9:30 for our trip.

Vista going to dry dock in January before heading to Port Canaveral 

It sounds like it needs a rest and some over due maintenance 

[balcony bound]

54 minutes ago, joe/jack said:

Vista going to dry dock in January before heading to Port Canaveral 

It sounds like it needs a rest and some over due maintenance 

Vista starts sailing out of Port Canaveral in November.

[sunshower9]

Vista is my favorite ship and I hate hearing about how run-down she looks now.   I haven't been on her since 2017, but I have 3 upcoming cruises booked from Port Canaveral - 1 before the dry dock and 2 after.  I hope she gets a lot of much-needed love during the dry dock.

[gabriellyn]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

We have been on the Vista twice and we love her!  Bummer that she's in rough shape at the moment.  If we ever sail her again it will definitely be in the Havana section.  It's the most relaxing experience we've ever had on a ship!

Edited July 12, 2023 by gabriellyn

[slimbyspring]

We are booked in the havanna area on the Vista Dec 2024. We booked it because we loved the Panorama.  It will be our first havanna rooms so we are looking forward to them!  Sounds like she will be updated some before 2024!

[FloridaMomKW]

11 hours ago, joe/jack said:

Vista going to dry dock in January before heading to Port Canaveral 

It sounds like it needs a rest and some over due maintenance 

We are going on the Vista the first week in December (12/2-12/10) from Port Canaveral….

[sunshower9]

4 hours ago, FloridaMomKW said:

We are going on the Vista the first week in December (12/2-12/10) from Port Canaveral….

See you there! 🙂 

[CruiseAdict218]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have yet to sail on either ship but have enjoyed two cruises on Horizon, one when it first debuted in NYC (2016) and then in September 2021. The latter being when cruising first resumed and capacity was cut, that made for an even better time.

 

Now most recently sailed on the recently added sister the Venezia, with two more booked on that one.