Newbie questions

[Jenjer]

So we are Carnival newbies. Thought we would do RCCL but Vista has a great southern itinerary for June 2017. I have a good idea about the rooms. unfortunately Havana is sold out. I am trying to get a handle on the evening entertainment options.

 

When I look thru the deck plans the only theater I see is the liquid lounge. It does not look large enough for nightly shows. What kind of evening entertainment options does Vista have? Does it have any Broadway style shows? Do these shows require reservations?

 

 

Any tips for a RCCl and NCL cruiser trying out Carnival. What requires advanced reservations? How much is the Italian restaurant and the steak restaurant. Any dinning plans?

 

 

Thank you

[Dave & Mel]

No reservations for any of the shows and no full Broadway shows. They normally have a main show in the liquid lounge and then a couple of comedy shows in the Limelight Lounge. It is all first come first seated. You can make reservations for dinner. The steakhouse runs $30 I think, but the Italian and Asian are only $15. I highly recommend the Asian JiJi restaurant.

[Jenjer]

Thank You for the information.

 

Since no big production shows, does the entertainment change regularly? What is it generally like? music and dancing? just music?

[Dave & Mel]

They have song and dance show with the ships cast along with a few fly-in entertainers. the shows are okay, but are not close to the quality of RCCL.

[Jenjer]

I heard the food is a little bit better is that your opinion? I tried to check out the menus on beyond ships but Vista is too new. What ships menus should I look at?

[MistyRo76]

So we are Carnival newbies. Thought we would do RCCL but Vista has a great southern itinerary for June 2017. I have a good idea about the rooms. unfortunately Havana is sold out. I am trying to get a handle on the evening entertainment options.

 

When I look thru the deck plans the only theater I see is the liquid lounge. It does not look large enough for nightly shows. What kind of evening entertainment options does Vista have? Does it have any Broadway style shows? Do these shows require reservations?

 

 

Any tips for a RCCl and NCL cruiser trying out Carnival. What requires advanced reservations? How much is the Italian restaurant and the steak restaurant. Any dinning plans?

 

Thank you

 

It really depends on what you enjoy as far as evening entertainment. The nightly shows vary from song/dance type production shows, to comedy (including adults only) to variety shows (magician, talent shows). There is also the Quest Adult Scavenger Hunt which our group did on the Breeze last year. It was a riot...but don't go if you are easily offended! There is also the casino (it will be smoky though), other bars with music options offered, lido deck parties, movies showing on the Lido Deck Big Screen, dancing, etc. Lots of options!

 

Dining - you can find samples of the Carnival menus here: http://www.zydecocruiser.net/menus/CarnivalCruiseLineMenus.htm. Vista will probably be on the American Table dining menus. If the site doesn't have them listed for the Vista yet, you can find them for other ships just to get an idea of what to expect. The steakhouse is amazing and well worth the upcharge. Just a tip - if you dine in the Steakhouse the first night of the cruise, they give you a free bottle of wine. The pay dining options for dinner also include JiJi Asian and the Cucina del Capitano Italian (which is free for lunch). Bonsai Sushi is also a pay option for lunch or dinner - but it is very reasonable. Red Frog Pub has some snack options available (think bar food - wings, coconut shrimp, etc.) for a small fee as well. Be sure to check out Guy's Burgers, Guys Seaside BBQ (sea days only) and Blue Iguana Cantina for lunch - all are included. You can also get breakfast burritos from Blue Iguana.

 

Enjoy! We are going on the Vista in November of next year. Can't wait!

[Jenjer]

great thank you for the information.

[Club Disney Chandler]

So we are Carnival newbies. Thought we would do RCCL but Vista has a great southern itinerary for June 2017. I have a good idea about the rooms. unfortunately Havana is sold out. I am trying to get a handle on the evening entertainment options.

 

 

 

When I look thru the deck plans the only theater I see is the liquid lounge. It does not look large enough for nightly shows. What kind of evening entertainment options does Vista have? Does it have any Broadway style shows? Do these shows require reservations?

 

 

 

 

 

Any tips for a RCCl and NCL cruiser trying out Carnival. What requires advanced reservations? How much is the Italian restaurant and the steak restaurant. Any dinning plans?

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

We were on the Vista on 6/3, our first CCL cruise after 4 Disney cruises. Disney has some of the best shows on the sea but Vista has "Flick" and it blew me away!!! Absolutely amazing show by the entire cast, truly spectacular. We also enjoyed, Hasbro the Game Show, there was one night with Cuban themed song and dance which was good but not great, another night had a Rock themed show which was really good but unfortunately was the night after Flick so it just wasn't quite as good for me.

I was pleasantly surprised by the evening entertainment.

 

We didn't do any pay restaurants but were very happy with Guys, the pizza and the Italian place for lunch. During lunch the Italian place is a free pasta bar with some great offerings, we ate there 3 times on our 8 night cruise. Also, when the Vista gets stateside a new Guy's BBQ place will be joining the line up. We were actually very happy with the food offerings on Vista with the exception of the Lido buffet. I thought they were pretty limited and was very surprised there were no chicken strips or Mac and Cheese. I'm hoping those will be added stateside also! I do have to give major Kudus to the Lido fir the homemade ice cream they serve at lunch, that stuff rocks! This isn't the 24 hour soft serve in the machines, it's good quality, churned ice cream, very much like frozen custard. They had 2 flavors daily and it's only served at lunch, don't miss it!

 

We'll be on 6/3/17, 8 night Southern Caribbean cruise next year. We greatly enjoyed the Vista. Here is a link to my review I posted on a Disney cruise board, there are lots of comparisons to the way Disney does things but there's also tons of pictures. It's not a trip report with info on the ports so you won't have to skip through that kind of stuff, it's strictly a review of Vista,

 

http://www.disboards.com/threads/thoughts-on-the-new-carnival-vista.3521334/

 

 

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