JohnSpo

My booking hand went into "auto-pilot" a few minutes ago, and I'm now booked for the Carnival Magic exactly 100 days from now!!!... Join me then, for another solo adventure to the sunny Caribbean!

You lucky dawg. My next cruise is not until March 2018. Have a great time. :cool:

As a solo, I have never once had any trouble at customs... Maybe it's the military style haircut?

Same here. No trouble ever on solo cruises and I have the military style haircut too. Maybe there is something to it.:cool:

When it comes to traveling, you need to get a tougher skin when it comes to issues like medical, weather and mechanical delays. This can happen on any cruise line or airline or even your own car or rental cars. You need to prepare yourself for things like this because you never know when an issue may come up and you will feel as though you have more control and the stress level will be less.

I fly in the day before the cruise and book later flights home for these reasons. I certainly wouldn't swear off cruising because of unexpected circumstances like these.

Based on my experience, delays like these don't happen too often but you have to be prepared for them anyway.

We do exactly the same thing. No need to use phones while at sea.

 

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I do the same thing but I will call home while in a US territory port such as San Juan and St Thomas just to quickly check on things. I also use my cell phone in airplane mode for photos but other than that I am off line. It is great to be offline on a cruise. It keeps you in vacation mode and is relaxing.

If necessary I may also use Carnival's cabin phone to call home while at sea. At $1.99 a minute, it is not too expensive.:cool:

I am enjoying your review. Great photos. Nice tour of Fascination.:cool:

Will definitely keep my eye on the Cruise Planner (and my roll call). Thanks!

I am booked on Anthem out of Cape Liberty for March 2019 on the 8 day to Port Canaveral, Nassau and Coco Cay. I have only sailed Carnival and have been on 14 cruises with them. I have enjoyed Carnival very much. I am trying Anthem because I wanted to cruise out of the New York area and RCL had a great choice of cruises at great prices.

My cruise planner has started to populate with dining packages and beverage packages. The unlimited beverage package is priced at $50 a day. I am not choosing this because I won't be able to drink enough to make it worth while.

They do offer a "Buy One Get One Free" dinner option for $40. This includes 2 dinners that you can only use on the first 2 nights and this includes the steakhouse. This is a great deal and I purchased it.

The also offered a $20 lunch at the steakhouse that I purchased for later in the week.

I chose Your Time Dining that I reserved the 3rd night thru the end of the last night of the cruise.

Reserving the shows has not yet opened up for my March 2019 Anthem cruise. I like being able to reserve everything in cruise planner. I look forward to cruising on RCL for the first time.:cool:

I was on Fascination in April. It was a great cruise. My cruise went to 5 ports instead of the 6 on your cruise. It was a great cruise and I look forward to reading your review. Thank you for taking the time to do the review.:cool:

I will start reviewing my food and beverages on land if anyone is interested...

I'm in.

Thanks for your review- loved your confessions lol!

 

I have been wondering about this ship and itinerary... a girlfriend went and was not impressed. She said what I had wondered- that the ship was too old and worn...boring... and the itinerary wore her out. This is a friend is the least picky person I know and takes 3-4 Carnival cruises a year and never complained until this ship.I keep thinking it's an amazing itinerary and I'd like to give it a go but with a teenage daughter it's likely a no go - she gets run down with lost of ports and normally prefers the sea days... so maybe ill go with friends. I'd be going for the ports so I'm okay with the older ship - BUT my concern is these days I do get motion sick (not so in my 20s lol) and so I am concerned about older stabilizers....

I was on the Fascination cruise a week after this one. There are many new eateries/bar updates on the Fascination such as Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana Canitna, Bonsai Sushi Express, Blue Iguana Pub, Red Frog Pub and the Alchemy Bar. The ship is clean with a great crew. The food and entertainment were great. The only thing I missed was the steakhouse. I was a bit worn out from the ports so the last port I stayed on board for my own sea day. I would say definitely go on this cruise. It was also nice to start this cruise in San Juan. I stayed one night before the cruise in Old San Juan and it was a lot of fun and a lot to do from shopping, restaurants, bars and it was fun to walk around. The cruise terminal is in Old San Juan so you can walk right to the ship. :cool:

Same with San Juan at the security checkpoint at the pier (last time we were there, though it have have changed since).

I was on a cruise out of San Juan in April. Since the ship left at 10:00pm, I went on an off the ship 3 times while in port. Each time I entered they asked for ID along with the S&S card.

Thanks Sid for taking us along on this Vista cruise. It would have been great to actually be on the cruise but this was the next best thing. You made it feel like we were there. It was fun and entertaining to tune in all week. It was good to see you enjoyed the cruise and Miami. Thanks for sharing your vacation.

Half a shot of port wine...

 

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How were the wines at the Chef's Table? That looked like an awesome meal.:cool:

Thanks for taking the time to share it.:cool:

Wow, those lines are terrible and this is on a port day when the traffic is usually less at the buffets. Could the lines be even worse on sea days?

Enjoying your review Sid_9169. Enjoy your self proclaimed sea day today.

On Fascination last month, they had the smaller Bonsai Sushi "Express". The menu was limited but it was very good for the extra charge.

Bummer for those with the 11:00am flights out of MIA. You never know when the ship will be running late. I usually book a late afternoon flight and hang out on the ship as long as I can then head to the airport.

Have a relaxing morning Sid_9169. It looks like you have a nice walking park to enjoy the water views. Have fun.

Since you needed your passport to get the documentation you presented to Carnival, why did you not just bring your passport? That is a shame this happened to you.

I am enjoying your Miami tour. I look forward to your Vista review. I am not sure if I will like the larger Carnival ships. For sure your review will offer a fun and interesting perspective of the larger ships. Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Enjoy your cruise vacation on Carnival Vista!

Going to Nachi Cocum for the first time. Hate to miss it. May go for food and drinks and back to boat depending on weather. It’s our only port so we will need to get out by then.

 

 

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Nachi Cocom has a large covered eating area/bar so you will be fine even if it rains. Have fun. Nachi Cocum is great.

I was on Fascination last month. In the MDR, they had a chocolate panna cotta that is a new favorite of mine. It had the texture of a firm chocolate flan with a chocolate milk sauce that was poured on top. It was great.

I was on Fascination last month and I always watched them make my drinks at the bars and I didn't have watered down drinks. On this cruise they offered doubles for an extra $3.00. I thought that was a good deal. Some of the bartenders turned the doubles into triples for the price of a double. Nice!

Book now and book with the early saver rate. Check prices daily. If they go less than what you paid, submit the form to get the lower rate.

You may be better of booking the Past Guest rate now. Past Guest is only about $30 more but you have the flexibility to change dates and update your rate to a lower Past Guest rate. Once you are set on the exact date then you can leave the rate at Past Guest or you can change it to Early Saver to take advantage of a lower rate. You get much more flexibility with the Past Guest rate and there are no change fees.

No mosquitos in January.

After the steakhouse meal, sometimes all I could handle was sorbet and ice cream. Hopefully they still offer this upon request.

That is sad because the old deli was great. Most of my lunches were from the deli.

I think it had to do with sizing and something the stops don't sell, underwear. I don't think OP's wife had packed a change of cloths in their carry-on. When they got to the next port, they were celebrating a national holiday and no stores opened.

Yes, understood.

I guess this is a learning experience for all of us to pack extra clothes in carry ons and pack in multiple checked bags if possible. And don't let things like this ruin a hard earned vacation. Make the best of it.