Carol Jones

We spent some time lounging at the Serenity area. No problem at all finding one of those clam shell loungers and then later lounges to lay in the sun. We ordered some margaritas and I had a small salad from the Fresh Creations area of serenity.

We went to play the afternoon bingo. Didn’t win but had fun. Then, back to the room to get ready for the Platinum and diamond party.

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After breakfast we went down to guest services. My DH was going to put some cash on our account while I looked around in the shops. There seemed to be quite a few people at the guest service line. We were applying gambling cash money I brought toward my account balance because I spent a little more in the casino yesterday than I had planned on doing. I broke my own rule of not playing much on slot machines toward the end of the cruise. I swear those machines get tighter as the cruise progresses. They pay out a good bit at the beginning to get you hooked. I don’t ever count on winning much on slot machines ( I have a couple of times) and I never spend more than the cash I bring for this. I know there is money to be won in the casino but I think (for the most part)that’s more with the table games. My brother cruises a good bit and has won a lot at Black Jack. He’s lost a lot too, but he will never tell you about those times. I had heard that the Vista casino was very smoky. I have not really found that to be the case until last tonight. Actually last tonight was the first night it seemed to be even somewhat crowded and very smokey.

My DH, what a great guy, mentioned to the lady at guest services about it being my birthday and being surprised that I didn’t get anything considering every other time we’ve cruised on an occasion we did. He would’ve never done that if it was something for him. But for any of the rest of us he would. He looks out for us. He’s that kind of guy. Anyway, the lady at guest services says there seems to be no rhyme or reason for this- sometimes they do it, sometimes they don’t. She indicated that it creates a bit of an issue for them because sometimes They’ll have people come up and say “look we have cruised 20 times for someone’s birthday or anniversary and got this 19 times, but not this one time.” Anyway, she was kind enough to give us two coupons for free drinks. Wow!! even better, I wasn’t expecting that!!

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What a great review! Looking forward to the Vista in April. BTW those were the “Havana cabana” rooms you saw. There are also balconies in Havana, we are in an aft Havana balcony in April.

I’m heading that way after seven for the hot tub. I’ll have to try to check those out. It’s a lovely area!

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Carol thank you so much for your wonderful review!

Thank you!!

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If you are going to buy pictures you want printed I’d strongly suggest you do this early in the cruise. There are a ton of people over there right now. Definitely don’t wait till the last day.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review. 84 days seems forever away, so I really appreciate it.. :)

Thank you and enjoy your cruise. It will be here before you know it!

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Thanks for your review and the pics. Always good to see the latest pics of what ships look like. That skyride looks scarier than anything in the "Dare to be scared" theater LOL. Looks like you had beautiful port days in Grand Turk and Aruba. Enjoying your review.

Thank you and yes, the Sky Ride looked scary.

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Today we went to the sea day brunch in the Horizon dining room. It’s a great breakfast. You can get a good breakfast on the Lido deck too but I enjoy this one more. If you have the time for it I’d recommend it. Of course if you’re on a tight time budget definitely do lido buffet breakfast. We had the tomato soup. I always look forward to that coming on a cruise. Really good!! We also had the steak and eggs, the bagels with salmon and the pancakes.

While we were eating breakfast we heard a lady at the table with us talking about the birthday gift carnival gave her. A card to get a certain dollar off on spa services. For the past many cruises it seems like someone we’re cruising with has a birthday or anniversary and got this. When you do your online check-in they ask you if you’re celebrating anything on your cruise. I was kind of waiting on getting this to do a spa service but when I didn’t get it I figured they weren’t giving those out for this cruise and Just had a massage on la ramano. Back to this in a bit..

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Last day- sea day fun times

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I've never played bingo lol! Except as a kid in grade school?

How much is it? No age limit i guess from the post above.. DD is 15.

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Oh! Any decent photos packages on board?o

 

I sail her next Saturday! Yay!

This is what I found for photo purchases. We only purchased “digital download”

Sorry, you will have to turn sideways.

No questions. But thank you for such an awesome review! We are going in a few weeks on the same ship/trip. My daughter (11) loves bingo ever since she won a jackpot on her first cruise 2 years ago. Was fun to see a theater full of people booing a nine year old when the emcee announced “we have a stander” before she got her last number in blackout.

Lucky girl! That’s awesome! The fun squad really does make bingo fun. The fun squad member doing this bingo is a hoot. His name is James and if I remember correctly he’s from Alabama. He was on our last cruise too- Fantasy 2017 Christmas Cruise.

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Tomorrow is my last day so if anyone has any questions or if there’s anything you need me to try to find out be sure to let me know.

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We went to our cabin and changed out of our formal clothes. I put on the shirt I bought at the fun shop earlier in the cruise. Here’s for you, Helene109.

We went to the show “America Rocks” in the Liquid Lounge”. They had a preshow that started about 30 minutes early and by the look of the crowd with the best seats, they apparently gave out headbands with American flags on them and glow sticks. If you have younger children and you’re going to the show, I’d get there in time for this. CD Adam has very high energy and really got everyone very excited about the show.It really was a great show. Carnival has definitely improved in this area. After seeing the show I am starting to maybe understand what they were thinking when they designed the liquid lounge with chairs that could be moved. For this show there were four smaller stages set up off the stage, so obviously several chairs had to be moved out. I hope you can see this in the photo below. The guitarist, who by the way was awesome is standing on one of the smaller stages.

The last thing we did for the evening was go to the comedy show. Tonight we saw Al Romero. He’s pretty funny! We’ve seen him on another Carnival ship. The other new comedian is Sheila Kay. We’ve also seen her on another ship and she did the same comedy show they have listed for her on this ship so I don’t think we will go see her.

We went and got a pizza to take back to the room to eat. I’m a messy eater and I needed a napkin to take with me, but I don’t really like those polyester blend cloth napkins that they have. They really don’t seem to absorb anything and the pizza is greasy. Earlier in the cruise I found a great solution for this. In quite a few places in the Lido marketplace (buffet area) they have these really cool machines that you put your hands into and the machine washes them. Above the machine there is a dispenser that has cloth napkins. I took a stack back to the room. I had a stack earlier in the cruise but I’ve used them all. I will definitely do this on any cruise that has the hand washing machines with paper napkins.

Very cool reveiw.

 

 

 

Is it bcuz you are "Platinum" I think you said, that you get access to the Havana area after 7?

 

 

 

You are creating wonderful moments for the rest of us, by sharing - thank you!

Thanks!! No, it’s not just for platinums. Anyone can go to the Havana section after 7 PM and I highly recommend it.

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I know some pics are posting twice. I’m not sure why that is happening some time and I cannot seem to correct this. My apologies! Doing this review on my phone is challenging. I also apologize for any and all spelling and grammar mistakes.

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We all had the filet as our entree.

For dessert we had melting cake and the grand mariner soufflé.

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Tonight was the 2nd formal night. The crew members danced and sang “Uptown Funk”. Most of the the songs they do I’ve seen a few times... I still enjoy them... but, this was new for me. I really like Bruno Mars so of course I enjoyed this.

Tonight’s menu-

Our dinner- appetizers- mushrooms, salad and shrimp. The shrimp was on the entree menu but my son ordered it as his appetizer. My DH also got crab cakes.

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We went to the liquid lounge for the afternoon bingo. I just love bingo!!! We bought the cards but not the bingo dabbers. We keep a ziploc bag of dabbers in our suitcase. I told you I like bingo! If you are going to play, get there early so you can get one of the few tables or at least a clipboard. They ran out of clipboards. If you don’t get there early you could end up like this....

Those little circle things aren’t on the arms of every chair, so you could even end up like this, using your lap..

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I am so enjoying your review ;o)

Thank you!!

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Every place seemed crowded for lunch (Bonsai, Mongolian Wok and Lido too) I made a discovery for my lunch that might be helpful to a Vista cruiser that would like to have the buffet lunch but not contend with the crowd. On deck 5 (aft) in the Ocean Plaza (were they do the karaoke) across from the stage and in the back left corner there is a buffet lunch line set up. No line at all!

My son and I went to check out the library and maybe play a board game while my husband went to the spa. Don’t laugh too hard...more on that in a bit. Anyway, the Vista has a very nice library and there is even a wine dispensing ($) machine.

My DH went to the spa for the complementary foot analysis. His back and knees hurt all the time and the write up on the foot analysis said foot issues could cause this. Well, he has very flat feet and they gave him these shoe inserts “edura step by Good Feet” to try out for a day. If he decides to keep them it’ll be $200. I’ll let you know.

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For lunch today they wanted to eat at the Bonsai sushi place. DH had been thinking about it all week. I know it’s extra $ but if you like sushi I think it would be well worth it. Can’t remember if I posted menu before or not. Anyway...

They ordered: tempura roll and California roll

wagyu kakuni

Teriyaki Steak

And beef skewer.

They loved everything. I tried all the beef/steak items and loved them too!

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The ropes course and sky ride were both very busy today. The sky ride lines were not so busy on the first days, when I told DS to do them. When we got in line the wait sign said “45 minutes” and that seemed accurate. My guys really enjoyed the ride. If you’re going to do this go early in the cruise.

Here’s the ropes course

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Fun times for Friday ...

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We got drinks from the Red Frog Rum bar ( a Miami Vice and a Blue Margarita). It was very hot so a frozen drink really hit the spot. The Red Frog Rum bar... not to be confused with the Red Frog Pub that is on 5th floor...is next to the lido deck pool. The Blue Iguana Bar has a similar menu and is on the other side of the pool.

The lido area was crowded. It always is on a sea day, but you could still find a seat. We really wanted solitude and shade so we enjoyed our drinks on the Lanai (5th floor). It seems you can always find a nice padded lounge chair out here.

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