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the_lovely_voyage

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    Vista Photo Review: November 2017, 8-Day

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Check-in for dinner was easy, as it had been, but when we reached the stairs descending to the dining room, we were greeted with a monster line. We were very surprised as we had never seen a line that long before, but then we realized the dining room hadn't opened yet, which is why people were corralled like cattle. The doors opened at 5:32 and we were seated within a minute or two. After ordering, my husband disappeared and returned with a Cosmo cocktail that I had been eyeing the night before. Dang, what a keeper! My husband had the braised rabbit on puff pastry that he said was "a mix of lamb and tuna flavors." Umm? Who knows. I had the Greek salad and that was wonderful. We both were super lucky to have the lobster for entrees, since Chef Danny told us that we missed it while at Chef's Table and we could request it on the last night. The waiter took our room number so he could check that we did indeed attend Chef's Table the first formal night, and then placed our order. Yay! It was so good! We split a Baked Alaska for dessert, which is totally not how I remember them looking from my last Baked Alaska back in 2007 (yes, things change in 10 years, but did they have to change the Baked Alaska!?). It was still good but I was a little disappointed after telling my husband all about my first dessert many moons ago.

    Cheers to a unforgettable honeymoon!

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    The lobster dinner we were thrilled to have:

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    How long has the Baked Alaska looked like this?

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    This is how I remember it, but even thicker and with more meringue and fruit. (photo is not mine. Credit to Oh-So Yummy's 2009 blog)

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    We missed the 6:30 comedian show that we planned on attending, but were able to make the 7:30 pub trivia. Yet again, no dice and no win. We listened to the Caribbean steel drum for a while and enjoyed that music over a few drinks and games. I need to reiterate- the staff in the Pub/Brewery were amazing the entire week and we had so much fun with them! We headed to the Limelight Lounge for comedy at 9:10 to ensure seats for the 9:30 performance, and had many great laughs to end the evening. We returned to the room to finish packing, signaling the end of a wonderful, memorable, relaxing, and romantic honeymoon.

    The last drink (Mango Magic) of the trip:

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    UP NEXT: Sunday, Debarkation and Wrap-Up

    Vista Photo Review: November 2017, 8-Day

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Thankfully it seemed like the rain was really gone, so we walked to the back of the ship and saw the Tides pool, which we never actually spent time at. That was pretty unfortunate since it looked like a nice space! We got in line for the BBQ, and were (somehow) surprised that the line was longer than we expected, but it did move fairly quickly. We had our food within 10ish minutes and ate outside on the Lanai. We thought the food was pretty good, but almost preferred the BBQ we had on the Liberty in April 2017 before that started getting branded by Guys label (and potentially changing recipes?).

    We made our way to the Pub for card games and a drink, before heading to Pixels Gallery to ask about photo packages. I know that Carnival is out to make money but COME ON. We were told that for $200, we could get 10 pictures on our phone, those same 10 on a USB stick, 2 large printouts, and a canvas photo. That's outrageously priced. We were also told that we could buy a digital photo on our phone for $15, and printouts started at $20. We were hoping for a much better package than that, but decided that we would find a few photos in our large gallery that we really liked and buy 3 of them. Would I normally pay $45 for 3 digital downloads? Absolutely not. But it was our honeymoon and we wanted nice photos of us.

    Veteran's Day event:

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    I hate packing up!

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    After (sadly) packing our items and watching some football in our room, we got dressed for our last MDR experience and went to the Alchemy Bar for more custom martinis. My husband's had pineapple and lime as the base ingredients, and mine was something with Limoncello, and I was greeted with an incredible concoction. I really am kicking myself for not trying out the Alchemy Bar in April 2017 when my husband tried out his first Carnival experience, the drinks are just so fun and wonderful. From what I could tell, I received a Limoncello/ginger/berry mix of deliciousness. So good! I really should've paid attention to what was happening during its creation.

    My husband's drink:

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    My amazing drink:

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    Vista Photo Review: November 2017, 8-Day

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted · Edited by the_lovely_voyage

    Saturday, November 11th, Sea Day (sadly our last):

    A tropical start to the day:

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    Who wants to write about their last day on their favorite vacation ever? I sure don't, which is part of the reason I've procrastinated. The other reason is that I was able to crank our a lot of writing over the holidays and winter break since I work in education, but now it's back to real life and I'm having a hard time catching up. Thank goodness for notes on my phone in this awesome app. I'll give it a quick plug solely because I think it's really cool. It's called "TripRider" and it organizes basically everything you can think of for travelling! You can enter info about each traveller, have note sheets, maps, and a packing list. The trip plan is the best, where you can include how many days you're going, what you're doing each day, enter hotel and airfare info, upload PDF attachments of tickets and reservations, and estimate how much money you need for each day. It doesn't need wifi so you can access TripRider in the middle of the ocean too. There's a "lite" version to test it out, and a pretty cheap paid version to get full access to all of the tools. I'm a big fan.

     

    Since we were up very late/early into the morning dancing and eating buffet food, we slept in but only until 9 or 9:15, so not too crazy. Of course we went to Blue Iguana for breakfast, where I decided to get the huevos rancheros (big surprise) but then loaded it up at the salsa bar with extra goodness, such as cilantro, salsa, and limes. Wow, I'm kicking myself for not doing that on any of the other six days I ate there! Definitely know for next time though.

     

    We then headed to the water park where my husband attached our action camera to a head mount or chest mount so he could go down the Kaleid-o-slide. He went twice, and said it was a blast and he wished we spent more time in the water park area. I really thought this would be the cruise that I would try out the water park, since the Vista's slides look awesome, but I'm not into swimming all that much and wasn't up for the adventure of the slides. It'll happen next time, promise. While I was taking pictures and enjoying the sun, I had a chance to look around and see that not all of the beach chairs on the lido deck were taken by 10am. I was genuinely surprised seeing as it was the last sea day and final chance to grab the rays.

     

    He lost his raft!

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    Water Works area:

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    Riding the Kaleid-O-Slide! (Lower right button to watch full screen!)

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    We headed up to the Serenity and were surprised to find a two person lounging bed that was empty! We quickly walked over and...oh...it's not empty, it has towels and books on it. But look! What do I spot? A Carnival sticker on their towels that notes that a deck staff visited the lounger at 9:40, and that if the owners didn't return within 40 minutes, their stuff would be moved to the Serenity bar. We showed up at 10:33 (53 minutes after the note was written) but of course I was still hesitant to move the items. My husband is a lot more bold than I am so he had no problem scooping up the belongings and bringing it to the bar. I felt badly, but I suppose rules are rules and there was a clear limit set that they exceeded. I plopped our stuff down and started enjoying what I could of the sun, which was now being pushed out quickly by ever-darkening clouds. When my husband returned, he said that there were about 6 other sets of towels at the bar that had also been moved. I guess that people really do think their stuff is safe for a very extended period of time and that it's no big deal.

     

    We hung out in the lounger for 30+ minutes until the sky turned very dark and it got blustery. I'm talking chair pads getting blown up (especially if they weren't tied down all the way) and empty glasses knocking over and hats blowing off peoples' heads. Then it started to rain pretty heavily and my husband stood up to pack up our things, when our own mattress lifted up in the wind and partially flopped on top of me. Guess ours wasn't tied down correctly either.

     

    The most unfortunate part of this story is that I had ordered a drink right before the wind picked up and the rain came. So when the rain did start falling, I didn't want to abandon the waiter that would (hopefully) be returning, but I also didn't want to get drenched. My husband was such a sweetheart and said that since he was still slightly wet from the water slides, he would stay in the rain for the drink and I could stand inside. Thankfully he wasn't out there for more than 45 seconds but it was such a kind gesture! We were still ready to relax, so we walked up to the spa and got in our final push of the thermal suites. We beat the rush and were able to get loungers and get seats in the different rooms. The rain only lasted about an hour, so we headed out to the sports deck and played a round of mini golf. We tied, which is such a rarity because my husband golfed in high school and still goes a handful of times per year with friends and colleagues. Just as an FYI, the last three holes of the mini golf course are up a set of stairs near the SkyRide, but we didn't feel like that was clearly labeled. Hopefully you can find it with little trouble now!

     

    Clearly the rain went away and made it so sunny my eyes couldn't open!

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    Sports Square:

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    Vista Photo Review: November 2017, 8-Day

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Friday, November 10th, Sea Day:

    How do I get a Dreamscape for my house?

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    We started off with Sea Day Brunch in the MDR and found it to be just alright. The conditions were very cramped. I'm talking like, stick my elbow out to the side and I'd be very close in someone else's personal bubble. It makes it hard to stay out of others' conversations when you're basically eating side to side while at physically different 2-top tables. The food was good but really no different than the Lido breakfast. We had brought some champagne down with us and ordered orange juice to make our own mimosas, which was a nice twist to start the morning off with. We didn't have to wait too long for our food to arrive and we're pretty quick eaters so our visit there was probably under 30 minutes total.

    What we lovingly call "The Willdra Special" (if you haven't read Willdra's AMAZING reviews on Cruise Critic, you're doing something wrong. She is a hundred times more witty and funny than I could ever hope to be and her photos are fantastic!). She always seems to have this breakfast combo so my husband wanted to try it out!

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    Even though we had received a ship-on-a-stick from Mr. Heald, we were greedy and in search of a true trivia win, so we attended three different trivia events that morning with no luck (or skill). It was very nice to not feel rushed to get of the ship or have to do anything in particular, so we decided that being lazy in the spa for almost two hours was definitely our next task. Between the thermal rooms and the heated loungers, I was sufficiently relaxed. There's something about reading a good book and having an awesome view through giant glass windows that adds to the whole pampered on a cruise experience. I'm also realizing that as I type this, I don't have a lot of pictures to add because, who takes pictures in a spa? But I agree it makes it more boring to read- sorry!

    After changing from our long morning session at the spa, we headed to Guys Burgers for lunch, and found that there was basically no line at 1pm, which was nice. We brought our food to our favorite venue, the Red Frog Pub & Brewery and played card games while enjoying lunch and a few beverages. Still not entirely discouraged at our lack of trivia wins, we made our way to the Ocean Plaza for yet another attempt at a ship-on-a-stick. Guess what the outcome of that was?

    Spoiler: We didn't win. I would like to clarify though that we consider ourselves fairly intelligent people who know a lot of random things, but apparently not enough to win a Carnival trivia event. One day, it will happen. And I will be ecstatic.

    The smaller, yet also cool, casino bar Dreamscape:

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    We watched some Netflix on our balcony and enjoyed the weather and views. Which reminds me, I received a question from a reader that I thought might be helpful to answer in a more public setting. We have a Netflix subscription and recently discovered that some (not a whole ton) shows allow you to download episodes to your device so you can watch offline. In preparation for the trip, I downloaded multiple episodes of the Great British Bake Off and The Office, as well as a movie that I can't remember now. It was an awesome discovery and something I'll definitely plan on doing on future trips. We watched an episode of the Bake Off before heading to take a nap. Turns out, relaxing at the spa and the balcony actually made us more tired than going out and doing things in port.

    It was the last formal night on the trip so we gussied up and went to dinner. Quick Note that I'm still really impressed with how Your Time Dining works on the Vista. I'm very much a fan of checking in and having a table basically ready for us by the time we make our way down two flights of stairs.

    My husband ordered the pasta fagioli soup for his appetizer, but unfortunately found it very flavorless and not a great texture. He will eat a lot of different types of food, including some leftovers from the fridge that are on the edge of questionable, but really didn't enjoy this soup. He felt terrible asking for a new appetizer but I reminded him that Carnival really enjoys plumping people up with their food and that he was allowed to ask for something else. Our waitress was so nice about it, but he still felt badly. He got the crab cake instead and really like that choice. I had the salmon teriyaki I believe, which was pretty good, and we loved the Spanikopita.

    After dinner we walked around the ship and took more formal pictures at a few different venues. I really like that the atrium has photographers and their set up on levels 3, 4, and 5. It makes it very easy to walk around and quickly spot which backdrops look good. After smiling far too much and being blinded by the camera flashes, we found our way to the Pub/Brewery at 7 for trivia and did really well, making it through 2 sudden death rounds before ultimately succumbing to a loss.

    One of the many pictures we took that night. Loved the set up in the Havana!

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    We saw Tommy Drake perform comedy at the 9:30 show, but arrived at 9:10 and found a fairly decent seat. The lines of sight aren't fantastic in the Limelight Lounge, so that combined with how packed it gets so quickly makes for some challenging views most of the time. We were determined to stay awake long enough to actually make it to dance at the club, and we actually felt like tonight was the night since we took that afternoon nap. After the comedy show, people had to clear out so they could quickly turn it into the dance club, so we went over to the sports bar and grabbed a mix drink and talked to the bartenders.

    We hung out the club for a solid 2 hours, which is crazy how fast time flies when you're dancing like a fool. I really don't claim to have a ton of dance skills, but I do enjoy music a whole ton and burned a lot of calories while attempting to show off my moves. Let me tell you that dancing to the Wobble with a room full of strangers is absolutely a highlight of the trip. We stayed at the club until 1, when the late night munchies overtook us and we went in search of food. We discovered the lido deck had Late Night Snacks, including an awesome meatball sub, Mexican pasta salad, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and cookies. It was so delicious that we got seconds (and thirds). After wheeling ourselves back to the room, we watched some more Netflix before falling asleep around 2:30am. We're in our mid-twenties but I can tell you we've only stayed up that late about 4 times in the last year. That college energy is definitely gone.

    A pretty terrible picture, but I felt bad that I didn't have many from the day!

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    UP NEXT: Saturday Sea Day (Our last day!)

    Current Chef's Table Menu

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    We did the chef's table on the Carnival Miracle a couple of years ago. As a dedicated foodie, I must say it was too over-the-top, unfortunately to the meal's detriment. Each course had three or four competing flavors and although everything was expertly prepared, nothing was harmonious and everything felt rich for the sake of being rich.

     

    The current menu posted in this thread looks a lot more restrained/refined, and a lot better.

     

    We're doing Chef's Table on the Splendor in a couple of months. I'll post back afterwards to share how it was.

     

    Does anyone remember if wine pairings are included (or available) with the meal?

     

    They weren't necessarily "pairings" but they had red and white wine available all night, then they did pair a port wine with the dessert.

    I did this menu in November 2017 and it was PHENOMENAL!

    Phone agent was deceitful

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    The deposit can be applied to a future booking, so you can move that money over to a new sailing. It’s not a total loss if you have to cancel that specific sailing. Also, you can call back and talk to a new rep about troubleshooting it instead of just writing about it here. I also find that the Facebook reps are helpful and you can message them for help.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    Vista Photo Review: November 2017, 8-Day

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hey everyone, many apologies for the delay in finishing up this review but I super appreciate anyone still reading along! I love writing these reviews and sharing my pictures and experiences with all of you, but I work in the education system and winter break is over so it's back to the grind making that money (solely to cruise more, of course). I'm hoping to finish this up super soon!

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