Live from Vista—Montreal to Miami

[Redtravel]

Been in several different categories on O.  Boarding times and room access times don’t really interest me.  I used to think getting on the ship early was a plus. It isn’t.  If you go later, there are no lines.  Spend your time seeing the sights. Waiting on a deck chair to go to a cabin is ridiculous.  We did an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. We arranged a full day tour that finished by dropping us off at the pier.  Had a great time, ate lunch locally, and didn’t wait to board.  On our most recent O cruise, using O air, we got the ship at 3 pm.  We checked in and got on the ship very quickly. Terrace buffet was closed.  Our food choice was Waves or room service. We ordered room service. My days of hurrying to get onboard early are done.  

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, jwindham said:

I for one am glad that the beds are not so high. At 5 feet the couple of times we stayed in an Oceania Suite I had to hoist myself up on the bed, not fun. Open the suitcases and they will go under the bed or just lift up the end of the bed. I did this on the Vista in August and it was not hard at all. Julia

Our suitcases don't open up. The beds don't need to be higher. The bottom of the bed frame needs to be higher. My wife is barely over 5 feet tall and has no problem with other cruise ship beds because they are all a standard height. The frames on these are too big or too low. And to be honest, the ones in this stateroom are darned heavy. I am 6 foot, two inches and lift weights, but I could not lift the bed high enough while still pushing the suitcase to get them under there. That's why the stateroom attendants have a special lever tool to do it.

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, Redtravel said:

Been in several different categories on O.  Boarding times and room access times don’t really interest me.  I used to think getting on the ship early was a plus. It isn’t.  If you go later, there are no lines.  Spend your time seeing the sights. Waiting on a deck chair to go to a cabin is ridiculous.  We did an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. We arranged a full day tour that finished by dropping us off at the pier.  Had a great time, ate lunch locally, and didn’t wait to board.  On our most recent O cruise, using O air, we got the ship at 3 pm.  We checked in and got on the ship very quickly. Terrace buffet was closed.  Our food choice was Waves or room service. We ordered room service. My days of hurrying to get onboard early are done.  

Different strokes for different folks. And once again, my problem with boarding times was NOT with the time change but with the way it was handled. To us, we want the cruise to last as long as it can and to start as soon as it can. And once we were checked out of our hotel, it's a little hard to continue touring with luggage. Yes, we could go and drop it but I carry a 35lb bag with my camera and computer it in that I WILL NEVER check with anyone. Carrying that around a city is impossible.

[DrKoob]

Montreal, Day 3:

Yes, there are two posts today. If you are a cruising fan and missed the earlier one on our stateroom, it is below this one.

Here they are for my readers who follow me for my photography and have been asking about what happened on my third day in Montreal. I'm so sorry I forgot to put them out there. I got into the cruise stuff and forgot to add them.

On our third morning, I awoke onboard Vista. One of my favorite things about overnights on cruises is that you can get on or off at any time of the day or night. So I was up at my usual 5:15 and walking out of the port at 5:30. If you would like to see more than the one photo I can post here, you will need to jump over to my blog at jimbellomo.com.

 

 

Back on board for breakfast

Once back on board, we met the group (sans later sleepers Jamie and Steve) for breakfast in the buffet—which was outstanding. I will do a whole post on the food toward the end of the cruise. Then we took a walk down the waterfront with most of the gang to see Old Towne. I took about 25 photos, and I am not happy with a single one of them. The light was directly overhead and incredibly harsh. Not even going to bother to show them to you. Just know, they were bad. And nothing I could do made them in any way special, and I can usually fix them somehow.

 

Afternoon boat tour

We wanted an activity that didn't involve a lot of walking, so we decided to do a harbor cruise on a smallish boat. We used Bateau Mouche. Don't use them. It was NOT a good value. $21CAN for a 45-minute ride, of which half was the same sights as the first. We got to see the river and learned some fun facts, but we all voted that we wished we had gone with another company or skipped it altogether.

I got some photos, but the best ones were of the Six Flags amusement park that sits on a man-made island in the middle of the St. Lawrence. Those were fun. And a couple of other river-cruise-type shots. Stop by my blog at jimbellomo.com to see the photos. Hope you enjoy them. 

[EJL2023]

5 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Our suitcases don't open up. The beds don't need to be higher. The bottom of the bed frame needs to be higher. My wife is barely over 5 feet tall and has no problem with other cruise ship beds because they are all a standard height. The frames on these are too big or too low. And to be honest, the ones in this stateroom are darned heavy. I am 6 foot, two inches and lift weights, but I could not lift the bed high enough while still pushing the suitcase to get them under there. That's why the stateroom attendants have a special lever tool to do it.

How do you get your clothes out if your suitcases don’t open up? 😉Also, I believe they will store your suit cases for you if they will not fit underneath the bed. 

[DrKoob]

5 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

How do you get your clothes out if your suitcases don’t open up? 😉Also, I believe they will store your suit cases for you if they will not fit underneath the bed. 

You unzip them. When people say the open them up, they have hard sided ones like my brother has. So when he opens them both sides are flat and thus, half the height. Ours stay the same size, the zipper cover lets us take out our stuff. But they are still the same size to fit under the bed. We asked about them storing them and that's when we found out that they have a tool to lift the beds because they don't have room for everyone's suitcase.

[EJL2023]

18 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

You unzip them. When people say the open them up, they have hard sided ones like my brother has. So when he opens them both sides are flat and thus, half the height. Ours stay the same size, the zipper cover lets us take out our stuff. But they are still the same size to fit under the bed. We asked about them storing them and that's when we found out that they have a tool to lift the beds because they don't have room for everyone's suitcase.

Yeah, I know..was just kidding about the suitcases. 

[basor]

57 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Our suitcases don't open up. The beds don't need to be higher. The bottom of the bed frame needs to be higher. My wife is barely over 5 feet tall and has no problem with other cruise ship beds because they are all a standard height. The frames on these are too big or too low. And to be honest, the ones in this stateroom are darned heavy. I am 6 foot, two inches and lift weights, but I could not lift the bed high enough while still pushing the suitcase to get them under there. That's why the stateroom attendants have a special lever tool to do it.

Interesting, as we commented that our large suitcases fit under our bed without having to lift up like usual.....appears DH happen to find the right spot without the lowered railing or our bed has a different bed frame.  We have 2 large and 1 carry on under our bed closed (in fact we have a carry on inside one of the large cases and a medium case inside the other.). apparently bed frames differ on Vista...will have to get down and look under there to see.

[sandpiperbay]

Dr. Koob. When did you get your key cards? I assume During check-in at the port on the way to boarding the ship? We embark in 2 weeks on Vista out of Miami. 

[basor]

7 minutes ago, sandpiperbay said:

Dr. Koob. When did you get your key cards? I assume During check-in at the port on the way to boarding the ship? We embark in 2 weeks on Vista out of Miami. 

Yes - the key cards were given to us when we checked in at the terminal (basically the same as always) and then were scanned when we walked onboard

[sandpiperbay]

1 minute ago, basor said:

Yes - the key cards were given to us when we checked in at the terminal (basically the same as always) and then were scanned when we walked onboard

That’s what I thought. Thanks. 

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, DrKoob said:

 I am 6 foot, two inches and lift weights, but I could not lift the bed high enough while still pushing the suitcase to get them under there. That's why the stateroom attendants have a special lever tool to do it.

My DH is 5'11  does not lift weight & had not problem lifting the frame up

 Would you like him to come help? 😈

 

Maybe the cabin steward  could help

[jo-b]

Strange that your cases wouldn’t fit under the bed, we’ve recently been on Vista our clam shell style hard cases fitted under fine without being opened up. I think cabin stewards on all ships will lift beds to put cases under if required, or store them elsewhere if necessary. 

[GerryL13]

51 minutes ago, jo-b said:

Strange that your cases wouldn’t fit under the bed, we’ve recently been on Vista our clam shell style hard cases fitted under fine without being opened up. I think cabin stewards on all ships will lift beds to put cases under if required, or store them elsewhere if necessary. 

My MO is to open my clamshell style case, slide it under the bed, and then use it as a "laundry bag." Slide out. Dump dirty clothes. Slide back under bed.

[Jancruz]

On 10/1/2023 at 9:37 AM, Wheelhouse said:

I went out to the pool yesterday afternoon to read and noticed very few empty chairs in shaded areas.  This might be a significant problem on warm weather itineraries.  

 Thats what I love people that project ahead of time..remember if its cool it may be empty  why would you even think about that..

Amazing..

Jancruz1

[FetaCheese]

On Regatta last month, 1 valise did no fit underneath the bed.  

 

Asked steward to store it.  No problem.  When we needed it one day during voyage, (forgot something in it), asked him to return it.  He did, and then he put it back in storage.

Edited October 2, 2023 by FetaCheese
Clarity

[Azulann]

So glad I found your  live trip report! I so enjoyed your trip report on Viking Ocean. My question is : does the new Vista  have the same openness as a Viking ship? Can one see sky, water when in common spaces ? Or is there drapery  hanging from the  ceiling ,are there  walls of windows?  I am a Viking Cruiser because of the ship design ,first and foremost.  Eating on he Aquavit deck and enjoy the expansive view from the Explorer  lounge are my favorite spots on an any cruise ship I have ever been on( Celebrity 10 cruises) before I found Viking. 

Look forward to your wonderful photo of your journey to Miami.

[DENIE]

Thanks for posting!  Following!....

[DrKoob]

8 hours ago, Azulann said:

So glad I found your  live trip report! I so enjoyed your trip report on Viking Ocean. My question is : does the new Vista  have the same openness as a Viking ship? Can one see sky, water when in common spaces ? Or is there drapery  hanging from the  ceiling ,are there  walls of windows?  I am a Viking Cruiser because of the ship design ,first and foremost.  Eating on he Aquavit deck and enjoy the expansive view from the Explorer  lounge are my favorite spots on an any cruise ship I have ever been on( Celebrity 10 cruises) before I found Viking. 

Look forward to your wonderful photo of your journey to Miami.

I'm glad to have you back reading my humble musings. I would say, on the whole, this ship is more closed up. I know exactly what you mean. I find the Viking ships to be VERY open. Like most cruise ships, some lower decks are public. In the case of Vista, that is five and six and some upper decks that are public: 12 through 15 (there is no 13). You can only see the water from the upper decks or your own verandah. I am typing this sitting on deck six. You can't see a thing anywhere on this deck except in the dining room, and there, we have been put in a windowless corner every night because of the size of our party. Most of the rest of the dining room is covered with sheer curtains you can see through. Some people sitting by the windows have opened those up. 

 

If it's sky and water you want, stick with Viking. And thanks for making me think about this. It's not something I normally would even contemplate, but you really made me realize how little there is below deck 12. When I got up in Québec, I wanted to see the city. I had to climb to Deck 14 and go into the Horizons Lounge to be able to see the Hotel Frontenac. On Viking, I could have done that from at least three lower decks. 

 

This also reminds me that on sea days, I exercise by walking on the ship. On Viking, there is a wrap-around promenade deck that I walk on. Here the only place to do that is a very nice walking/jogging track around the back portion of deck 15. The Viking promenade is 1/4 mile and the Vista track is 1/10th of a mile. So you see a lot of the same things again and again. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by DrKoob

[DrKoob]

Québec City...in the Day Light

I tossed in that "in the daylight" line because the last time we were in Québec City, we were here overnight, and I was lucky enough to be able to get some incredible shots. This time, I got a chance to actually take the same photo at midday that I took five years ago at 5:00 a.m. It will give me a great photo to show to people when they think I am crazy for getting up so early just to take photos. If you pop over to today's blog post at www.jimbellomo.com you can see the comparison. 

 

 

We had a pretty good day in Québec City. Kathleen and Jocelyn had gotten totally worn out from our three days in Montreal, so I set out with Cathy, Mike, Steve and Jamie to explore the city. As I mentioned above, we were here just about exactly five years ago. It was a lot warmer yesterday than it was five years ago. Our ship was docked just a few hundred yards up the pier from where we had been that time. But both were just a short walk from downtown. We walked through the lower town to the funicular that, for $5CAN, would take you to the upper town. It's a good thing we were early because when I walked by the lower station later in the day, there was a line the proverbial mile long.

 

Once up at the top, we found something that amazed me—the Québec Marathon. What were the chances that the two times I would come to Québec City in my lifetime, I would be there for the marathon? Of course, that meant that we would have to see the city and work our way around the city, avoiding the race. We were able to get across the track with the help of race officials, but we still seemed to run into the racers wherever we turned.

 

We walked around, as Cathy was looking for a kind of embroidery museum that she had seen on her previous land-based visit. It was part of the works of the Ursuline nuns who pretty much-founded education here in Québec City. When she had been here before, she said it had been a cute little shop attached to the convent. Now, they have a complete museum, but it was more about the order's history than the embroidery. The others decided to take a look and I decided to shoot a couple of photos of the church next door. Mike and Steve were out in almost no time, but Cathy and Jamie really enjoyed it.

 

I decided at that point to head off on my own to take some more photos and then head back to the ship to have a late lunch with Kathleen and Jocelyn. We ended up trying the Waves Grille. I would tell you all about the lunch and the Grille, but I am saving those thoughts for a big post on the food. That is really what Oceania is all about, and I want to hit it all at once. You can see my meager number of photos from Québec on my blog post at www.jimbellomo.com. The light was just too harsh for me to really get into taking photos. 

 

I'll be back tomorrow (or maybe later today—another sea day) with more about the public spaces on Vista.

[beechwood]

14 hours ago, Jancruz said:

 Thats what I love people that project ahead of time..remember if its cool it may be empty  why would you even think about that..

Amazing..

Jancruz1

Perfectly valid comment by Wheelhouse. We were on Vista in August and there was far less shaded seating on Vista compared with Riviera and Marina.  The shaded seating that was available was quickly “reserved” each morning which shows that shade is important to many people (although I don’t agree with reserving a shaded seat and then being absent for significant periods). 

 

 

 

 

[Vineyard View]

On 10/2/2023 at 8:17 AM, DrKoob said:

Vista Day 1–Embarkation and Our Stateroom

 

When last I wrote, we had just boarded Vista and been through a beautiful embarkation. When we left the hotel in three separate Ubers, we truly believed we would not be boarding until at least 1:30 or 2:00. But about halfway through our Uber ride (Kathleen, Jocelyn and I), my brother texted that they were letting anyone on and should they go through. We said to hang on; we would be right there. The cruise port was only a 10-minute drive from the hotel. But by the time we got there, the others had gone through and were waiting to board the ship.

 

We got in line (which was a little longer by then) and were also on board within ten minutes. The port of Montreal is the EXACT opposite of the port of Vancouver, where on our last cruise in May, embarkation had taken three hours and forty-five minutes (you can read about that fiasco here).

 

When we reached the inside of the ship, we were met by an officer who asked for our key cards (which came to us in a really cool little leatherette folder) so he could see where our muster stations were. We had already watched the video at home when we did our check-in and again a few days later when they sent another reminder (I think we got about five e-mail reminders to watch the video). The officer directed us to our muster station (we were in the main dining room), and we headed there immediately, got our key cards scanned and as far as Oceania was concerned, we were through with them until we sailed the next afternoon. We headed up to the buffet for lunch, where the rest of the gang was holding a table for seven for us, and we started to sample the amazing food that Oceania calls "the best at sea." Just a note here. I could start going on and on about the food here, but I am going to do a complete post on the culinary glory that is Vista cuisine (at least so far).

 

Our stateroom–Concierge Verandah 9118

When we boarded, we were told that our suites would be ready by 2:00 p.m. and the rest of the staterooms soon after. But about halfway through lunch (close to 1:00), there was an announcement that suites (not us) were ready. We were in a Concierge verandah, and they announced that those would be available by 2:00 and the rest of the staterooms by 3:00. Lo and behold, at around 1:30, there was an announcement that our staterooms were ready. It was then I realized what had happened with our embarkation time, and what was now true about stateroom readiness was that Oceania was one smart cruise line. They were practicing one of the greatest marketing tools known to business: underpromise and over-deliver. Tell us things will be bad; we grumble a little and then be a hero by getting them done a lot better. It's impressive to me and something I love to have happen. Should they not have been able to deliver early, they were fine. I had already grumbled.

 

But getting back to our stateroom, we are in Concierge Verandah 9118, which is aft of amidships on deck nine. We had read that the staterooms were pretty large, and our last stateroom on HAL's Koningsdam was only 185 square feet, so we thought these would be much bigger at 250 square feet, but honestly, they don't feel any bigger. Sadly, we have been spoiled by our last three major cruises. In July of 2021, our first cruise back after the pandemic shut down was on Celebrity's Flora in the Galapagos. Those staterooms are HUGE—almost suite size (330 square feet). Then we were lucky enough to snag a Neptune Suite on HAL's Nieuw Statendam, and they are even bigger (380 square feet). And last year, we did 21 nights on Viking Ocean in a Penthouse Veranda, and it was smaller than the Neptune but much larger than we are now (338 square feet).

 

All in all, we feel like this Concierge Verandah stateroom is a poor value when compared to a similar-priced Penthouse Verandah stateroom on Viking Ocean. Score one for Viking. But that might 

Curious as to whether the layout of the stateroom is comfortable. Has the size adjustment after a few days brought you to be able to enjoy your stateroom as much?  We tend to spend time on our balcony more than inside, but I am curious as to how you are enjoying yours after the initial thoughts.

We always sailed in PV on Viking so I understand the comparison. Our stateroom on Seabourn wasn’t quite as large, but the layout was great and didn’t feel small at all. We are booked on Marina, but with an extended balcony, so different ship and likely a very different comparison. 
 

[GerryL13]

I'll be boarding Vista in less than 2 weeks. After cruising 22 days on the Saga Spirit of Adventure earlier this year, where Deck 6 features a full wrap-around promenade, I know I will miss that feature. Plenty of other great things to be looking forward to -- including my own beautiful, light-filled stateroom and my brother's luxurious suite -- but I will miss the promenade.

[Wheelhouse]

The single ply toilet paper on this ship is about the worst I have ever encountered.  I’ll bring my own next time. 

[turnip eater]

We’ve sailed on SAGA too. We haven’t been on SofA, but we sailed on her sister ship SofD (Spirit of Discovery ).

You will love the Vista. Lots of different places to eat.

The time will fly by.

Enjoy your cruise.