A view from Vista

[Steelydad2021]

Great tips and lots of complaints on these here CC boards all of which helped prep for the much needed vaca on the Vista now

 

To compare various threads w/ the actual current on-board experience & naturally YMMV, its all IMHO ...

 

• Thin walls/loud neighbors – for the 1st time in 5 days, we heard a bit of the TV next door last night and only for a short time, DW & I are on the sound sensitive side so brought a travel noise machine which did the trick but she actually said it was “too quiet” at night a few days ago, hah
• Chair hogs/pool crowds – well yeah but knew it would be like that and has been said around here, I tend to go to the pool to be in the water which is cooler than expected so keeps the masses away nicely
• Full ship/crowded – you’d never know we are at capacity, staff say the guest demographic (read older) means many stay in their rooms or do not more around the ship much so it almost eerily empty, reminds of when we sailed the X Apex just after Covid w/ only 25% but the Vista is full up
• Older clientele – sure but very well behaved, so who cares? We are all getting there
• Small gym – it is small for the ship size but O knew the demographic they serve apparently and I have never had to wait for the equipment even on sea day AM's
• Slow internet – N/P, enough to keep up w/ the necessaries work-wise
• Smokers – N/P w/ wafting odors
• Odd flavor drinking after – nope, only if you let it sit too long
• GF- decent enough job accommodating dietary needs
• Loud or lousy sound track – now this is important – volume is appropriate, tunes heavy on crooners from all decades and this just me but more by a certain yacht rock band would be welcome … what was that group’s name?

 

Nothing is perfect but “you’ve go to learn to live w/ what you can rise above” … so this really into the nits

 

• Aquamar - hot tub tiny tiles are coming off, odd since its a new ship
• Room was not vacuumed when we arrived, quickly fixed
• Surprisingly no emphasis on hand washing … like less than pre Covid? 
• filet was medium not medium rare in Polo

 

Overall, the formula is solid - 4 included lightly themed specialty restaurants, emphasis on food sensations, libations, call it on par w/ say a Luminae & WS, way above a Holland A

 

We booked well b/f “Simply More” so jury’s out on whether its “Simply More Money” … you say it’s a crazy scheme, I already bought the dream

[ORV]

15 minutes ago, Steelydad2021 said:

and this just me but more by a certain yacht rock band would be welcome … what was that group’s name?

Kid Charlemagne? Black Cow? Parker's Band? As long as they bring back the Boston Rag it sounds fine to me. 

[Steelydad2021]

This kids got the eye

call it pirate radar 

[Waltershipman]

48 minutes ago, Steelydad2021 said:

Great tips and lots of complaints on these here CC boards all of which helped prep for the much needed vaca on the Vista now

 

To compare various threads w/ the actual current on-board experience & naturally YMMV, its all IMHO ...

 

• Thin walls/loud neighbors – for the 1st time in 5 days, we heard a bit of the TV next door last night and only for a short time, DW & I are on the sound sensitive side so brought a travel noise machine which did the trick but she actually said it was “too quiet” at night a few days ago, hah
• Chair hogs/pool crowds – well yeah but knew it would be like that and has been said around here, I tend to go to the pool to be in the water which is cooler than expected so keeps the masses away nicely
• Full ship/crowded – you’d never know we are at capacity, staff say the guest demographic (read older) means many stay in their rooms or do not more around the ship much so it almost eerily empty, reminds of when we sailed the X Apex just after Covid w/ only 25% but the Vista is full up
• Older clientele – sure but very well behaved, so who cares? We are all getting there
• Small gym – it is small for the ship size but O knew the demographic they serve apparently and I have never had to wait for the equipment even on sea day AM's
• Slow internet – N/P, enough to keep up w/ the necessaries work-wise
• Smokers – N/P w/ wafting odors
• Odd flavor drinking after – nope, only if you let it sit too long
• GF- decent enough job accommodating dietary needs
• Loud or lousy sound track – now this is important – volume is appropriate, tunes heavy on crooners from all decades and this just me but more by a certain yacht rock band would be welcome … what was that group’s name?

 

Nothing is perfect but “you’ve go to learn to live w/ what you can rise above” … so this really into the nits

 

• Aquamar - hot tub tiny tiles are coming off, odd since its a new ship
• Room was not vacuumed when we arrived, quickly fixed
• Surprisingly no emphasis on hand washing … like less than pre Covid? 
• filet was medium not medium rare in Polo

 

Overall, the formula is solid - 4 included lightly themed specialty restaurants, emphasis on food sensations, libations, call it on par w/ say a Luminae & WS, way above a Holland A

 

We booked well b/f “Simply More” so jury’s out on whether its “Simply More Money” … you say it’s a crazy scheme, I already bought the dream

Really enjoyed our February sailing however ship felt very crowded especially in Terrace and elevators 

 

More hand washing would have been great.  Dw tested positive for Covid the day we got off shipm.  I tested positive for 1st time ever4 days later

[Steelydad2021]

Yikes 

Very sorry

No crowds in Terrace or elevators this sailing

Maybe they figured out some things out? 
Or

maybe just dumb luck for us my friend?

Or 

maybe O is on best behavior since there is a celebrity critic on board?

One Mr Gary Bembridge 

Spotted him drinking a Zombie from a coco shell 
 

[Waltershipman]

23 minutes ago, Steelydad2021 said:

Yikes 

Very sorry

No crowds in Terrace or elevators this sailing

Maybe they figured out some things out? 
Or

maybe just dumb luck for us my friend?

Or 

maybe O is on best behavior since there is a celebrity critic on board?

One Mr Gary Bembridge 

Spotted him drinking a Zombie from a coco shell 
 

They have ordering well organized at Waves grill so maybe they followed that example. Enjoy its lovely 

[Steelydad2021]

Waves rocks

and so does the Ocean 

so much so we missed port in Mexico today 

pool water going nuts

Rock n roll but steady goes the Vista

[Mareblu]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your considered review.  We are sailing with friends on Vista in a few weeks, and really looking forward to trying a new Oceania vessel.  We've enjoyed Marina, Nautica and Sirena (a few times on Nautica) so it will be interesting to compare.  No voyage is perfect, and food and wines are subjective commodities, so we don't embark expecting Utopia.  It's always a great idea to begin from a positive perspective, we find, so we'll see.

[Techno123]

Do staff still serve from the buffet - if so that at least removes some of the horror of other guests with unwashed hands using all the serving utensils then leaving the handles in the food 😱

[Steelydad2021]

7 hours ago, Mareblu said:

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your considered review.  We are sailing with friends on Vista in a few weeks, and really looking forward to trying a new Oceania vessel.  We've enjoyed Marina, Nautica and Sirena (a few times on Nautica) so it will be interesting to compare.  No voyage is perfect, and food and wines are subjective commodities, so we don't embark expecting Utopia.  It's always a great idea to begin from a positive perspective, we find, so we'll see.

All good Mareblu 

 

Sounds like you are a big Oceania fan.  Glad to hear you like the line enough to ...do it again.

 

[Steelydad2021]

45 minutes ago, Techno123 said:

Do staff still serve from the buffet - if so that at least removes some of the horror of other guests with unwashed hands using all the serving utensils then leaving the handles in the food 😱

Yes, indeed the staff do serve from the buffet Techno123.

 

And yes, that removes the horror of the great unwashed reaching, leaning, breathing, coughing, maybe putting items back ... yechhhh. 

 

And they serve quickly, can answer dietary questions, its generally service w/ a smile and maybe they help over doing it at the ice cream bar so we don't lose that number ... on the ole scale.

[pinotlover]

2 hours ago, Steelydad2021 said:

Yes, indeed the staff do serve from the buffet Techno123.

 

And yes, that removes the horror of the great unwashed reaching, leaning, breathing, coughing, maybe putting items back ... yechhhh. 

 

And they serve quickly, can answer dietary questions, its generally service w/ a smile and maybe they help over doing it at the ice cream bar so we don't lose that number ... on the ole scale.

Plus, don’t forget, they are fairly fluent in English. What this means is that no pecking in the glass while making subhuman guttural grunts and indistinguishable noises are necessary. Nor is sticking one’s arm under the shield to point directly into the food looked favorably upon. A simple “ May I have some bacon please?” gets one very good service with a smile.

Edited March 15 by pinotlover

[Twiga]

I love your Steely Dan references, @Steelydad2021.  Very clever!  I would love to hear Steely Dan at the pool!

[MEFIowa]

37 minutes ago, Twiga said:

I love your Steely Dan references, @Steelydad2021.  Very clever!  I would love to hear Steely Dan at the pool!

Though almost no one knows where their name came from. See William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch.

[Steelydad2021]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Plus, don’t forget, they are fairly fluent in English. What this means is that no pecking in the glass while making subhuman guttural grunts and indistinguishable noises are necessary. Nor is sticking one’s arm under the shield to point directly into the food looked favorably upon. A simple “ May I have some bacon please?” gets one very good service with a smile.

We got grunts, noises, pecking and whatevahhhh 

In all my travels as the facts unravel, I have found this to be true

 

JK - passengers superfine here on the Vista

 

Hurry the bottle pinolover

[Steelydad2021]

1 hour ago, Twiga said:

I love your Steely Dan references, @Steelydad2021.  Very clever!  I would love to hear Steely Dan at the pool!

Right?

 

A lil yacht rock for the kids is all 

 

nothing wrong w/ crooning but a tad more toe tapping grovessential 

[Steelydad2021]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

Though almost no one knows where their name came from. See William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch.

Like that

 

Now your trading fours 

[DrKoob]

On 3/14/2024 at 12:57 PM, Steelydad2021 said:

Loud or lousy sound track – now this is important – volume is appropriate, tunes heavy on crooners from all decades and this just me but more by a certain yacht rock band would be welcome … what was that group’s name?

 

Was it still so loud in every lounge that you could not carry on a conversation with a person sitting across from you? If you could do that, they have turned it down. We were fine with the music selection, just that there was nowhere to go where we could have a drink and talk. Music everywhere at a level that prohibited discussion. 

 

[Steelydad2021]

Not so loud anywhere, never had to ask for example "are you with me Dr. Wu? can you hear me doctor?" 

 

But riddle me this Dr. Koob -- at say afternoon tea where there is live music w/ a string quartet but also food being served, is that a proper setting for chatting or would that disturb the listeners?  Because looks like daggers flew around the room at talkers there.

 

Where does it stop? Where do you draw the line, where one can't go for that?

 

... but then again, that's another 70's band.

[basor]

We found chatting was not frowned upon at afternoon tea but was when the string quartet was playing in the evenings....the evening crowd comes to "listen" to the string quartet.

[oskidunker]

A lRge group with southern accents talked so loud We could hardly hear the violins one night so we left. One woman was literally screaming. Get a hearing aid, geez.

[Steelydad2021]

... or playing a loud video on a cell phone at lunch, geezer geez

 

Listeners v. socializers, who is right?  Or does it depend on the time and place?

 

Ya know who would know the right balance?

 

One Sir Gary Bembridge, knower of all things cruising and who was at tea today and whose advises is second only to CC opinions or maybe it's a tie.  Should have asked him what is proper.... dang...

 

or a teenage rocker 

or the girls in France

Yes we all are partners in this cosmic dance 

 

but that's another tune

 

 

 

 

[LuAnn]

1 hour ago, basor said:

We found chatting was not frowned upon at afternoon tea but was when the string quartet was playing in the evenings....the evening crowd comes to "listen" to the string quartet.

Same here. The evening crowd was REALLY into the music. Horizons is big enough that during tea time there are plenty of places to sit away from the quartet if you want to chat. At least that is what we found. 

[Kay S]

If the music is performed in a lounge-like theater, socializing would be rude.  If the performers are there for "background," then that's a different story.  Problem sometimes is that one person might view classical music in general as "background" sound where another views it as a musical performance in its own right.  (I'm pretty much in the latter camp.)

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, Steelydad2021 said:

Not so loud anywhere, never had to ask for example "are you with me Dr. Wu? can you hear me doctor?" 

 

But riddle me this Dr. Koob -- at say afternoon tea where there is live music w/ a string quartet but also food being served, is that a proper setting for chatting or would that disturb the listeners?  Because looks like daggers flew around the room at talkers there.

 

Where does it stop? Where do you draw the line, where one can't go for that?

 

... but then again, that's another 70's band.

Hmmm you think anyone talks at a Steely Dan concert?  LOL.  I have a close friend who is not a classical music lover, and she thinks classical music lovers are pretentious when it comes to keeping quiet in the presence of live classical music.  But put many of those folks in a Jazz Club/bar (such as Take 5 on Princess ships) and they will talk loudly without any consideration for the jazz lovers.   And how about in a piano bar?  Should folks have conversations when an entertainer is playing/singing?  

 

While I think most agree that it is proper to be quiet when in a theater setting, it is very open to debate about doing so in a bar/lounge where there is some entertainment.  

 

Speaking about classical music lovers, on some HAL ships they used to have classical (often chamber music or perhaps a violin/piano duo) that would play in a room that had an adjacent main corridor.  Folks would come walking along (it was a main route after leaving the MDR) that wide corridor chatting away and "disturb" the classical music lovers sitting in the adjacent lounge (which was completely opened to the corridor).  Some of the music lovers would try to "shush" the masses coming from dinner, and it was almost amusing.  While many of us would show respect for the audience and not make much noise, there were others that could care less that some folks (the audience might be 100) want everyone to be quiet.

 

So what is the proper decorum?  You will likely get all kinds of answers.

 

Hank