Shirley's Journeys

We sailed on the Carnival Vista during her brief positioning in the Mediterranean in the summer of 2016 before she came to sail out of her new home port of Miami.  She is a magnificent ship with a guest capacity of 3934 (Double occupancy) and 1450 crew members.

We enjoy staying in a balcony cabin when we can, but this time we splurged: An aft-view cabin.  The balcony is larger and the views leaving ports are lovely.  That’s the upside of an aft view balcony.  Well…..some ports are prettier than others, but even the industrial ports are interesting.

The downside:  There is almost never any shade on the aft-view balcony.  Sun bathers will probably love this fact, but I like the shade. Plus the deck is HOT, so wearing shoes is a must. Also, we noticed that soot tended to land on our balcony from the giant smoke stack.  The cabin steward did a great job keeping it as clean as possible, but he could not be around 24/7.  And, another thing we didn’t consider – it is all the way in the back of the ship! (Ummm…seems obvious I know.)  But that meant it was a long walk to go anywhere on such a long ship.  It was a challenge to, “run back to the room” to get my sunglasses.  In port we would debark on the mid or forward gangway. And it was always the case on our trip that the ship would be docked in such a way that once we debarked, we had to walk the entire length of the ship again as we were leaving the port area.  So that was a walk of two lengths of the ship before we ever even started our excursions.  On the bright side, we walked off a lot of the calories we put on during this cruise.

Another downside to the aft view balcony on this particular ship is that we had a view of the Havana Pool, an exclusive area for Havana guests during the day and a “Happening Place” in the evening two decks below our room.  In fact the teenagers onboard flocked to this area and filled the pool and hot tubs at night.  When the sun was set and the hour was ripe for a serene, calm time for sitting on the balcony…..well, you get the picture.  It made for some interesting people watching, though, especially the old guy in the pool staunchly holding his “Place” while teenage girls wearing almost nothing flirted with the boys and splashed/dunked each other.  I don’t know if he was secretly ogling the girls, or the boys, or if he was just making a point and refused to budge no matter what was happening around him. I had enough of that and decided to confine my enjoyment of the balcony to sail-a-ways and for early morning coffee and reflection. (No one was on the Havana deck early in the morning.)

Don’t get me wrong. I really did LOVE this ship.

Things I really liked- Lots of outdoor seating available on the Promenade deck (5) around the restaurants. And on sea days, a BBQ buffet was served there.

The Waterslides.  The Kaleidoslide is a twisting slide with multicolor stripes inside so that it seems like sliding through a kaleidoscope on a small  inflatable raft.  The other slide is the Twister.  It uses no inner tube. Instead, entrance is face up, feet first with arms across the chest. (or folded in prayer)  I took in a snout-full of water at the bottom.  Flushed out my sinuses and gave my brain a bath.

The kids water area looked like fun, too.

Skyride: A suspended bicycle on a track above the ocean with two separate tracks side by side.  (A word of caution.  Small children who have no leg strength get stuck and have to be rescued by a worker coming behind them on a second skyrider and pushing them home.) This slows up the process. We chose to ride on a port day when the line was short.

Ropes course

Outdoor exercise equipment

Outdoor activities like mini golf, table tennis and nice sports court. Dreamscape LED lighted centerpiece (with changing scenes)

Entertainment: We had high quality entertainment and probably the best Cruise Director I have ever experienced, Matt Mitchem. He went out of his way to talk to people and he remained friendly and upbeat all the time. The show venue (Liquid Lounge) was different as the seating could be rearranged.  Arriving early for the show is a must if you want a good viewing area, but they ran the same show three times every night.

I appreciate that Carnival provides self-service laundromats.  I always pack a few detergent pods in preparation. This is a great service especially on a long cruise. Save the checked bag fee and do a little laundry.  Not all cruise lines provide a laundromat.

I have always thought Carnival dining is wonderful, and this ship exceeded my expectations. The Best dessert at sea: Warm Chocolate Melting Cake with a scoop of ice cream. (ask for two scoops of vanilla)

Horizons is the main dining room for cruisers who choose “Your Time Dining.”  First, diners check in at the desk on Deck 5 mid ship before dinner to sign in and get a table assignment. Then they proceed to deck 3 aft to be seated.  Since we are Platinum cruisers with Carnival, we get priority reservations, so we were allowed to just proceed to deck 3 without checking in.

Reflections is the main dining room for people who choose fixed dining.  Both dining rooms have the same menu.

Another new thing that started with Carnival about the time the Vista first sailed is the American Table.  Gone are the tablecloths.  I was surprised, but I didn’t miss it.  The tables are a nice woodgrain finish, and the plates are pretty with scenes American. A variety of bread is always served.  They did break out the tablecloths for cruise elegant nights.

Other free dining includes:

Lido Marketplace buffet.  (Lido deck aft) At the rear there is a carving station. In the middle sweets and desserts, and in the front all the comfort foods.  For breakfast, search out the omelet station.  Fried eggs are also made to order here if you prefer.  These are better IMO than buffet eggs any day.

Guy’s Burgers – (Lido deck) By far the best burgers and fries at sea in my opinion. This is hubby’s favorite place for a quick meal.

Blue Iguana – (Lido deck) Mexican. My favorite area. I like the breakfast burritos and the lunch ones, too.

Pizzaria del Capitano – (Lido deck far aft) Pizza 24/7.

Mongolian Wok (Deck 12 aft) Only for lunch in JJ’s Kitchen. Fill out a form to choose your protein, noodle/rice, and sauce and add some other toppings if you like.

Pasta Bar (Across from Wok) Only for lunch in Cucina Del Capitano. Fill out a form to select pasta and sauce or ask for Lasagna or Caesar salad.

Fresh Creations (Deck 15 Fwd) Salad Bar on sea days only. I liked that a server put the items in the salad bowl for me and chopped it. This is so much more sanitary than having lots of hands which have been who knows where handling the serving utensils on the salad bar.

Specialty Restaurants (require an up-charge and reservations)

Cucina del Capitano (Italian)

JJ’s Asian Kitchen (Asian)

Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse

Chef’s Table – Actually has its own permanent location on the Vista within the Galley.

Several for-a-fee venues that have al-a-carte pricing: Java Blue for coffee and shakes, Cherry on Top for candy and ice cream, Seafood Shack, and Bonsai Sushi.

O.K. Back to the things to watch out for.  The ship is HUGE, but there never seemed to be enough deck chairs on sea days. Don’t let these photos fool you. It was taken early morning on debarkation day. (And the very first photo on the post was taken on embarkation day as most people had not yet arrived.)

On our first sea day,  I went on deck at 7:30 AM and almost every lounger on the deck already had towels and assorted items (books, hats, flip flops, magazines, beach bags, etc.) to claim the chair. There was one single here and there.  There were no loungers available at all on the adults-only Serenity deck.  I snagged a spot with a table and three chairs on deck 11 under the movie screen and watched to see how this process worked.  Around 8:30AM, the deck worker started putting stickers on chairs that were unoccupied stating that the occupant had 30 minutes to return.  It seems that most people sent one representative of the family to monitor the chairs.  One man watched him sticker eight chairs then immediately removed the stickers and kept vigil.  I saw people remove stickers past the time and claim the chair for themselves but I never saw a worker remove items from the chair.  I felt funny about removing someone else’s stuff to claim their chair.  After watching for loungers to become available for over an hour more, we left for the Promenade where we found plenty of comfortable chairs for sitting in shaded area.  On the upside – I did not sunburn.  I am wondering how this will settle out for the Caribbean sea days.

FYI the following are photos of some of the accommodations.  I ran around on debarkation day and poked my head in some of the rooms which had been vacated and made ready for the next sailing. I had always wondered what some of the suites looked like.  These are several photos of one already made for 4 guests. Normally, that second bed is a sofa. These rooms have a large bathroom with a tub/shower.

   And this is a photo of one of the aft corner rooms with a wraparound deck.

And I always wondered about the configuration in an interior room when 4 people are staying. Now I know. People can request to have the lower beds pushed together for a queen or separated.  If I had 4 in the room, I believe I would opt for separate so that the lower beds would be beneath the upper beds – more like bunk beds.  Then there would be a walkway between the beds. We would be…. Ummmm…. crawling out of bed…..literally, every morning.

This was Carnival Vista when we sailed the Mediterranean. Now she sails in the Caribbean.  There are two more ships coming out in this class which will have similar configurations: The Horizon and the Panorama.