Vista Cruise Review with Lots of Photos and Menus

[MVPinBoynton]

 

I have just posted a review to my website with lots of photos of a recently completed Colonial America cruise on the brand-new Oceania Vista that went from Montreal to Miami.   I also have the menus from the restaurants, spa and lounges.

 

We had a great time on an awesome ship.  Below is a photo from before the Aura show at Montreal’s Notre Dam Cathedral.  Just a gorgeous experience

 

The review is located on my website, which is linked to in my signature.  You can also just Google “Mike and Carol’s/Cathy’s Cruise Reviews” to find a link to it.  I hope it is helpful for those of you that are planning to cruise on the Vista; or that it brings back some fond memories to those of you who have already cruised on her or the ports.

Edited October 30, 2023 by MVPinBoynton

[Harters]

Your review was linked to on another thread. I had a very enjoyable read of it this morning. We are booked on Vista next year, so it was really good to get a feel for things. 

[MVPinBoynton]

1 minute ago, Harters said:

Your review was linked to on another thread. I had a very enjoyable read of it this morning. We are booked on Vista next year, so it was really good to get a feel for things. 

My buddy Jim couldn’t wait to post the link. Glad you enjoyed it. 

[Pandazoo]

@MVPinBoyntonThank you very much for sharing my DW and I enjoyed it very much.  We look forward to our Vista cruise and your post has gotten us even more excited!  Great pics!

[ToxM]

Thank you for your very thorough (as usual!) review. I think your site kept a very large number of cruisers going through Covid as we could go look at the menus and dream, so thank you! 

[MVPinBoynton]

3 hours ago, Pandazoo said:

@MVPinBoyntonThank you very much for sharing my DW and I enjoyed it very much.  We look forward to our Vista cruise and your post has gotten us even more excited!  Great pics!

It is a cruise to look forward to.  I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[MVPinBoynton]

2 hours ago, ToxM said:

Thank you for your very thorough (as usual!) review. I think your site kept a very large number of cruisers going through Covid as we could go look at the menus and dream, so thank you! 

 

Thank you so much for your lovely comments.  They are appreciated.

[Croooser]

Excellent review. Appreciate the time, effort and expertise tha you have put into it. May you have many more great cruises.

[SeaWatch12]

Thank you for the thorough review. The menus and meal photos have me looking forward to our January Vista sailing even more. 
I liked that you included some info on The Artist Loft. Do you know if guests have to sign up in advance for the classes?  
Mark

[basor]

5 minutes ago, SeaWatch12 said:

Thank you for the thorough review. The menus and meal photos have me looking forward to our January Vista sailing even more. 
I liked that you included some info on The Artist Loft. Do you know if guests have to sign up in advance for the classes?  
Mark

Yes - they have an open house the first day or two and you sign up then......several of the classes are multi day .  Space is limited so need to sign up.  

[MVPinBoynton]

24 minutes ago, basor said:

Yes - they have an open house the first day or two and you sign up then......several of the classes are multi day .  Space is limited so need to sign up.  

Thanks for that info.  I knew there was a sign up, but didn't know about the open house.  By any chance, do you know the cost of the classes?  If you do, I will add it the review.

[basor]

1 minute ago, MVPinBoynton said:

Thanks for that info.  I knew there was a sign up, but didn't know about the open house.  By any chance, do you know the cost of the classes?  If you do, I will add it the review.

The art classes are free - only the culinary classes have a fee (to cover the cost of the materials provided).  The IT classes held in the Internet room are also free but require signing up.

[ak1004]

This review is absolutely fantastic! Thank you!

 

As someone who sailed on Oceania, Azamara and Viking, how would you compare them? I'm mostly interested in food, service. itineraries and excursions.

[MVPinBoynton]

1 minute ago, ak1004 said:

This review is absolutely fantastic! Thank you!

 

As someone who sailed on Oceania, Azamara and Viking, how would you compare them? I'm mostly interested in food, service. itineraries and excursions.

Thank you.  I will give you some thoughts about my preferences for the three lines.

 

Food - This is a very important item for me when choosing a cruise, since it can make or break one. Since the chef and staffs can change every cruise, my experience could be different than what others experience.  My tastes will definitely be different than others, as would be expected, but below are my thoughts.

Oceania has the best food in the MDR/buffet, as well as the specialty restaurants.

Azamara has the next best food in the MDR/buffet, but the specialties weren't special.  It seemed like the same food as the other restaurants.

Viking Ocean was very disappointing for us.  I had great expectations based on others reviews, but we weren't pleased with it.  We do like the food on their river cruises though.

 

Service on all three is very good, so I have no favorites.

 

Itineraries on all three are enjoyable because they can include some ports the larger ships can't and/or don't go to.  Itineraries are my driving force for booking a cruise.

 

As far as excursions go, we normally try to book private tours when possible.  Ship tours are normally on a big bus, so they are just not as enjoyable to us.  Since they contract out all their tours, they all probably use the same companies in particular ports.  Oceania's and Vikings are much more expensive than Azamara's.

 

I will also say that we loved the Viking ship layout and cabins better than Oceania.  V has many more windows and is open to the outside than the O ships, With Azamara only having the old R class ships, they aren't in the same league as V or the O class ships.  They are still nice ships, but my least favorite.

 

My favorite line is Oceania.  I have following cruises booked:  Oceania - 2; Azamara - 1; Viking River - 3.  So, you can see I do like Oceania and Azamara but no Viking Ocean for me at this point.  I will say that if they have an itinerary I can't live without, I will try them again.

 

Having been on 61 cruises, it is harder to find an ocean cruise that I desire.  The river cruises and land tours are much more appealing these days and I am sticking with the lines I have been happy with.

 

 

[Tr1v1alCru1ser]

Thank you so much @MVPinBoynton for the great photos and excellent review. 

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, MVPinBoynton said:

Thank you.  I will give you some thoughts about my preferences for the three lines.

 

Food - This is a very important item for me when choosing a cruise, since it can make or break one. Since the chef and staffs can change every cruise, my experience could be different than what others experience.  My tastes will definitely be different than others, as would be expected, but below are my thoughts.

Oceania has the best food in the MDR/buffet, as well as the specialty restaurants.

Azamara has the next best food in the MDR/buffet, but the specialties weren't special.  It seemed like the same food as the other restaurants.

Viking Ocean was very disappointing for us.  I had great expectations based on others reviews, but we weren't pleased with it.  We do like the food on their river cruises though.

 

Service on all three is very good, so I have no favorites.

 

Itineraries on all three are enjoyable because they can include some ports the larger ships can't and/or don't go to.  Itineraries are my driving force for booking a cruise.

 

As far as excursions go, we normally try to book private tours when possible.  Ship tours are normally on a big bus, so they are just not as enjoyable to us.  Since they contract out all their tours, they all probably use the same companies in particular ports.  Oceania's and Vikings are much more expensive than Azamara's.

 

I will also say that we loved the Viking ship layout and cabins better than Oceania.  V has many more windows and is open to the outside than the O ships, With Azamara only having the old R class ships, they aren't in the same league as V or the O class ships.  They are still nice ships, but my least favorite.

 

My favorite line is Oceania.  I have following cruises booked:  Oceania - 2; Azamara - 1; Viking River - 3.  So, you can see I do like Oceania and Azamara but no Viking Ocean for me at this point.  I will say that if they have an itinerary I can't live without, I will try them again.

 

Having been on 61 cruises, it is harder to find an ocean cruise that I desire.  The river cruises and land tours are much more appealing these days and I am sticking with the lines I have been happy with.

 

 

 

Thank you very much, very helpful!

 

While cabins are not the high priority for us, I agree that cabins on the R ships are not the same league and below our comfort level. I'm curious what did you liked better in Viking cabins. O cabins are slightly larger according to the specs (240 sqft vs 225 sqft), and you mentioned lack of drawers as the only drawdown of the cabin on Vista.

[WESTEAST]

@MVPinBoynton Thank you for once again providing a stellar review.  Your site is always one of our 'go to' sources when researching upcoming itineraries 😀

[WESTEAST]

8 hours ago, ToxM said:

Thank you for your very thorough (as usual!) review. I think your site kept a very large number of cruisers going through Covid as we could go look at the menus and dream, so thank you! 

@ToxM Agree with you as during those long days, it was always refreshing to scan the site for new itineraries for our future travels and revisit ones we have great memories of. 

[MVPinBoynton]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

Thank you very much, very helpful!

 

While cabins are not the high priority for us, I agree that cabins on the R ships are not the same league and below our comfort level. I'm curious what did you liked better in Viking cabins. O cabins are slightly larger according to the specs (240 sqft vs 225 sqft), and you mentioned lack of drawers as the only drawdown of the cabin on Vista.

Actually I shouldn’t have compared them since we had a Viking Penthouse Veranda.  But it was about the same price per day. The new Vista is higher than the others. 

[chance001]

I have not sailed on Vista but just had a VERY disappointing food experience on Insignia. Our Panama cruise 9 months ago was excellent on the same ship and I don’t understand why this last cruise (New England Canada) was so different. MDR menus were bad as were descriptions and execution of entrees. Executive chef was the same on both cruises but we were told they have no flexibility on menus. Why HAVE an Executive chef then? Fish entrees were dry and overcooked and in general just poor food in MDR. 

[Vineyard View]

6 hours ago, MVPinBoynton said:

Thank you.  I will give you some thoughts about my preferences for the three lines.

 

Food - This is a very important item for me when choosing a cruise, since it can make or break one. Since the chef and staffs can change every cruise, my experience could be different than what others experience.  My tastes will definitely be different than others, as would be expected, but below are my thoughts.

Oceania has the best food in the MDR/buffet, as well as the specialty restaurants.

Azamara has the next best food in the MDR/buffet, but the specialties weren't special.  It seemed like the same food as the other restaurants.

Viking Ocean was very disappointing for us.  I had great expectations based on others reviews, but we weren't pleased with it.  We do like the food on their river cruises though.

 

Service on all three is very good, so I have no favorites.

 

Itineraries on all three are enjoyable because they can include some ports the larger ships can't and/or don't go to.  Itineraries are my driving force for booking a cruise.

 

As far as excursions go, we normally try to book private tours when possible.  Ship tours are normally on a big bus, so they are just not as enjoyable to us.  Since they contract out all their tours, they all probably use the same companies in particular ports.  Oceania's and Vikings are much more expensive than Azamara's.

 

I will also say that we loved the Viking ship layout and cabins better than Oceania.  V has many more windows and is open to the outside than the O ships, With Azamara only having the old R class ships, they aren't in the same league as V or the O class ships.  They are still nice ships, but my least favorite.

 

My favorite line is Oceania.  I have following cruises booked:  Oceania - 2; Azamara - 1; Viking River - 3.  So, you can see I do like Oceania and Azamara but no Viking Ocean for me at this point.  I will say that if they have an itinerary I can't live without, I will try them again.

 

Having been on 61 cruises, it is harder to find an ocean cruise that I desire.  The river cruises and land tours are much more appealing these days and I am sticking with the lines I have been happy with.

 

 

Thank you for this comparison. We have not sailed VO since before Covid and from what I am reading the food is not quite what it used to be. I do like the design and lay out of many parts of their ships…except the MDR.  It was just very unimpressive to us. PV cabins are really comfortable. 
 

I am curious as to your thoughts on Seabourn if you have some to add. We found that their smaller ship (we were on Quest) had a lovely regular balcony stateroom that far surpassed the PV on Viking. 
 

We have not sailed Azamara. We keep jumping over there because of the itineraries, but the cabins are a concern in terms of size - for us, it would mean a suite. 
 

We have yet to experience Oceania but we are booked in a B3 extended balcony on Marina. 

[Waltershipman]

4 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you for this comparison. We have not sailed VO since before Covid and from what I am reading the food is not quite what it used to be. I do like the design and lay out of many parts of their ships…except the MDR.  It was just very unimpressive to us. PV cabins are really comfortable. 
 

I am curious as to your thoughts on Seabourn if you have some to add. We found that their smaller ship (we were on Quest) had a lovely regular balcony stateroom that far surpassed the PV on Viking. 
 

We have not sailed Azamara. We keep jumping over there because of the itineraries, but the cabins are a concern in terms of size - for us, it would mean a suite. 
 

We have yet to experience Oceania but we are booked in a B3 extended balcony on Marina. 

Having just sailed on Explora Journeys and having sailed on Azamara as well as oceania i can highly recommend Explora journeys for the best food i have ever had at sea. The food in the various venues rivaled 5 star land restaurant. I will sail.on Vista in January and hope it is great. I see from recent revues that it should be wonderful including great food 

 

I loved Seabourn Quest as well as Azamara and sailed on Sirena just as Covid ended cruising 

 

You might want to try EJ for a true foodie at sea experience and the ship is beautiful 

[Vineyard View]

19 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Having just sailed on Explora Journeys and having sailed on Azamara as well as oceania i can highly recommend Explora journeys for the best food i have ever had at sea. The food in the various venues rivaled 5 star land restaurant. I will sail.on Vista in January and hope it is great. I see from recent revues that it should be wonderful including great food 

 

I loved Seabourn Quest as well as Azamara and sailed on Sirena just as Covid ended cruising 

 

You might want to try EJ for a true foodie at sea experience and the ship is beautiful 

Thank you. I’ve read that on multiple threads. Their pp/pd seems to be reflective of this, and maybe rightfully so. 

[ak1004]

28 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Having just sailed on Explora Journeys and having sailed on Azamara as well as oceania i can highly recommend Explora journeys for the best food i have ever had at sea. The food in the various venues rivaled 5 star land restaurant. I will sail.on Vista in January and hope it is great. I see from recent revues that it should be wonderful including great food 

 

I loved Seabourn Quest as well as Azamara and sailed on Sirena just as Covid ended cruising 

 

You might want to try EJ for a true foodie at sea experience and the ship is beautiful 

 

Explora gets a lot of good reviews, but their fares are exactly double compared to O. 

[Waltershipman]

7 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Explora gets a lot of good reviews, but their fares are exactly double compared to O. 

Understand i will be able to form accurate comparison after i sail on Vista in January both being new beautiful ships

 

Thanks