georgiafan

It was by far the worst port of the 4 that we went to it did have some places to get unique souvenirs which you will see below. Carnival just didn't offer any excursion that blew me away so I didn't want to spend a 100$ on something that was just ok. I ended up taking a 16$ trolley bus tour that was located right off the ship which I said in advance I wasn't going to. It was decent and worth the low price if your looking for something cheap. In the end Carnival doesn't need to be going to this port.

georgiafan...do you happen to recall how many hot tubs were on the ship and their locations. I've been looking at some info. on the Vista and I'm getting conflicting information. TIA

I didn't ever use the hot tubs since I have one at home so I don't know the exact number. In general though It seemed like it was a little less then a normal ship. I don't remember seeing any on deck 5 which had a ton of wasted space with chairs that nobody ever used. I believe all the hot tubs was on deck 10. I will go through my pics and see if I can find any pics of hot tubs.

Grand Turk

I am right there with you on Nono. She is amazing. I was thinking the same as you. When is she getting her own ship.

All I know is Matt said he was pushing hard for her to become a cruise director I didn't want to bother him so I didn't ask a follow up question when he mentioned it. He seemed like a straight shooter so I am sure he was telling the truth. I am keeping my fingers crossed for her and it would be cool to see as they are not many female CD's.

Great review georgiafan! I have the Vista on my radar and like you I prefer the 8 day or longer cruises. I just can't bring myself to pay for airfare for anything less than 7 days.

I've been to Aruba 2 x on cruises and for some reason I'm thinking you were on Palm Beach instead of Eagle. I might be wrong. We always go to Eagle Beach since it's not as busy as Palm. I love Aruba and could go back for a 10-14 day stay easily. I'm watching airfare for a good deal.

Thanks again for a very fine review!

Thanks, that's possible when I emailed the Delphi people once they called it palm eagle beach and another just eagle. Whatever beach the Hyatt is in front of is the one I was at. The 8th day did make a huge difference as far as the time going by so fast. I like how the ship does a 8 day and 6 day makes a lot of sense

Enjoyed the review and very nice photos.:)

Thanks I should have some more photos up soon

Thanks for the review!

 

Doug

Nice review!

Thanks I have some more pics I want to post today and then I want to talk about some of the negatives

The fancy Handy dryer thing

We are leaving on a fun ship gets me every time :loudcry:

Guys BBQ

Ryan

I am going to point out the 2 best fun staff workers on the Vista which are the people that host the shows and dance at the events. Ryan does a tour of the ship when you get on and its worth checking out and doesn't take much time. He is a funny guy and mostly host the comedy shows and should work his way up soon. For some reason they was a lot of US staff workers on this ship and he was from Alabama. The funniest line he said when talking about La Romana "I am not even going to lie when you get off your going to think your in the hood.". The guy from Miami with the tattoos was good also, but he was getting off the ship.

Nono

I am not even going to lie as a single guy I completely fall in love with her during the week. If she was hosting a tiddlewinks even I was likely to be there lol. She was always smiling, extremely sweet and would stay late to talk to people after she was done hoisting everything you want when your on a cruise. I could watch her dance for hours for reasons I probably don't need to talk about lol. She was on the Vista originally and spent some time at the cooperate office and just recently got back on the ship. I told Matt that she was by far the best person he had working under him and his reply was " I am very aware of this and I am pushing very hard to get her to a Cruise Director". She would be a fantastic CD as she also has the kind of personality that other females like and get along with .

Georgiafan - Thanks for saving me money. I'll be sure to take your advice next month.

 

Doug

Your welcome, that's all of the paid things that I did on the ship as I generally stick to the free stuff. I know my family liked the coffee place I believe it was the espresso's.

I'll be on the the same itinerary on the Vista in 71 days!! Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts!

Thanks I brought my computer home from work so hope to get it finished this weekend

Great review! Since you love country music and the Vista, you should cruise out of Galveston. It's 90% country music/dancing, which is why even though it's our closest port, we prefer NOLA or Miami. LOL :DThe Vista is moving to Galveston in September 2018. :)

 

Looking forward to more of your review!

I definitely want to go on the vista again and the 6 day cruise is to short for me so I have thought about that one in Galveston. I hope Matt is still the CD at the time it would be hard to go on the ship without him on it. I don't dance, but I do like the country music part.

I was looking to do some adventures water sports and after lots of research I went with Delphi Watersports because they had variety and great reviews. It ended up being one of the best excursions I have done just a few issues that keep it from being 5*. I can post all the prices and options if anyone wants me to its located on Hyatt Hotel on Eagle Beach http://delphiwatersports.com/

I took a taxi to get to eagle beach and it was 13$ total for 2 people and then I tipped her a few bucks. It was a short ride so the cost was cheap. On the way back I took the public bus and it was like 2.60$ per person. I saved a few $ taking the public bus, but the problem was it made lots of stops so it took longer to get back.

I was going to do jetpack adventure and changed my mind and went with jetski and parasailing. The jetski itself you get 30 minutes with a price of 55$. The parasailing was 55$ you get 10 minutes in the air and those times was plenty to fill the itch. Eagle Beach was beautiful as well as the hotel around it and the pics I have don't do it justice. The activities themselves was very fun and get 5* If I had to pick I would say Parasailing was my favorite.

The problem was the people at Delphi just wasn't friendly other then when the guy was going over what's wrong on the jet ski before I got on it (incase I wrecked). I don't think they said 5 words to me the whole day and this included the people that hooked me going 400ft in the air.

They carried me on boats to get to where I was going which was fine and extended the excursion. One of the boats you had to jump up I don't know 4 feet high. The other boat during parasailing boats was swapping people to and from that had finished/starting so this was going on in the middle of the water with lots of movements. Like all good people raised in the south when you see this you get up and help the females to make sure they don't fall. The drivers wasn't going to even offer to help which just came across as very rude to me. They also didn't offer to take any pics so I had someone who was also doing it with me take them with her phone. She couldn't get them to send and I ended up not ever getting them so that was a bummer.

On the jetski this was my first time doing it and they didn't offer any tips just pointed at a sign. I am a fast learner so picked up on things quickly, but not everyone is. I ended up getting absolutely soaked and I wear contacts so I was worried they were going to fall out. The goggle's like you snorkel in should have been mandatory with the waves going in so many different directions it was a little overwhelming at first.

Even though we was at Aruba from 1:30 to 10:30 and I only had 45 minutes of excursions booked with the boat rides and other travel I didn't have much time on the beach since I also had to buy souvenirs. The entire ship got back on board at the same exact time right before it got dark so that was a cluster screw. A lot of the shops and places was starting to close around 5.

I still had a blast doing it and would prob rate it 4 out of 5* I just didn't like being treated like cattle. It was a beautiful place and I could easily spend 7 days there.

edit - sorry wrong thread

I liked deck 7 as that way I could use the stairs if you was going to either 4 or 10 and easier. I never heard any I would assume being on 7 would be more quiet then 6.

I am going to do some stuff about the ports next should have this up later on tonight

I just posted the thrill and Imax from last week check out the last few post in my review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2519857&highlight=vista&page=3

I didn't like the thrill theater as much as the others in my group which was probably due to seat location and me going to universal studios recently. I also don't think my seat was working correctly (last raw, closestto door) as one time I felt nothing and the person beside me screamed. You need to be sitting in the first row or it's not worth doing. They are 3rows and the last 2 you see the people in front of you and its just not as fun/ realistic. The 5.50$ you pay is for all 3 of the videos grouped together so a total of about 22 minutes is a prettygood deal. It was still fun and good price so I would do it again just would make sure I sit in the front row.

The documentaries are also 5.50$ and last about 45 minutes I didn't try one of these would like to next time I am on Vista.

They have a tour of the Imax the first day which talked about the basics which I would recommend as it didn't take long. You can bring any kind of food inthe Imax (not the thrill). You have to buy the popcorn which is bagged as they cant make fresh popcorn at sea. They will fill your coke up if you have BB and they have waiting area outside the theater. Its 12.95$ for adults and 3$ cheaper for kids and seniors. I saw Spiderman it was very neat and I would do it again.

I have the IMAX info at the house ill post that probably tomorrow morning.

The thrill was like 5.50$ for 3 different rides total of like 22 min. The IMAX was like 12$ or so they had Spider-Man, transformers, minions, and a few more I forget

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Was on Lido Buffet