a little late - but here are my thoughts on the Carnival Vista 1st Oct Med Cruise

[minikiss]

Review Carnival vista

We have cruised before but this was our first on Carnival. We decided it would be fun to try something else and as we are from the UK, took advantage of the Vista sailing the Med for the season. We booked back in Feb and choose a Spa Balcony cabin, although as I suffer from sea sickness I was a little concerned about the fact the one we picked was on the 14th floor. Can honestly say I was never bothered by it and the room was lovely and bright and our Steward Nu-lah was wonderful. Should I ever want to get back on the Vista again (never going to happen- read on) I would defiantly stay in a spa room again. Although we did not use the spa guest access much what we did was wonderful. On the 2 sea days we went there early in the morning before going for breakfast and it was almost empty, in fact the 2nd time there was only us there. The showers though were not easy to set and we spent more time trying to get hot water from them than the time we were under them. Having sat in the hot rooms a freezing cold shower was unpleasant and unwelcoming.

 

The only thing I did not like about the cabin was the balcony door! I hate slamming doors and prefer to make sure it shuts quietly. The type used make it near impossible to do that. I see why they choose them over a sliding one with the Air con but I had to put my Full weight behind it to close without the slam. Sorry much prefer a sliding door. One point to mention is there are only 2 lifts that go that high up so a lot of the time we had to go to 12 and walk the rest.

 

After booking I did lots of research and we both were looking forward to going in to the Imax, having a ride on the Skyride and the water slides. Of those we only did the Skyride. Me once, my husband twice. I had read somewhere on here that one of the cars had a mount for a Gropro – No they don’t so Hubby took ours and was not able to use it as he did not have any other mounts with him. The queues were not that long although we did go on a port day. We were both disappointed with the films showing so didn’t bother spending money on the Imax, pity as I was looking forward to saying we had been in it.

 

While in Livorno we were stopped by a young guy trying to sell tours in Naples, we politely said sorry we already have one booked. Truth was we really did as we used Joe banana and were taken to Herculalum & the Almafi coast. Well he asked me what I thought of the ship as he was sad it was only in Europe for this year. My reply "having sailed with a few other cruise lines, all have their positives and things we don’t like, so far the Vista was no different"

 

I'll split this in to 2-3 posts to make it easier to read.

[loubetti]

Great so far, can't wait to read the rest! :)

[easyboy]

Interesting start. Will be following.

 

 

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[minikiss]

So here goes – the ship it’s self is lovely and we had no real complaint with it. We never felt it was crowded even on sea days although on a negative we only got to use the Serenity area once as the rest of the time it was packed solid. One thing we did notice was a thoughtlessness of some of those that did use it, was when while on the double beds with canopies, once in the shade they would push and turn them to stay in the sun. Ok who wouldn’t but one set of idiots did that so much that as we were in a corner they pushed it so close we were almost left with no way of getting out and boxed in. We had to squeeze through a small gap and then passed them, they did not even look or care that they had driven us from it (not being racist but they did not speak English).

 

We were surprised to see so many none English speaking guests on this Europe cruise. No idea on numbers but it seemed higher than on other Europe Cruises we had been on with Princess.

 

Food – This to me is always subjective and not everyone’s taste is the same. For us it was Ok not great, not wonderful, not dreadful either.

 

The Breakfast we found after a few days to be the same old same old and to make it worst the hot food was cold! None of the hot plates kept any of it Hot. We found the choice to be small with no real variety other than a change of sausages every few days. Hubby tried the breakfast burrito but neither of us liked it. Tried the main dining room once but that was only just a bit better. On a plus the buffet was never packed to the point you could not find a table, one positive over Princess.

 

Lunch – I liked the tacos although they were a bit small to wrap and eat with my fingers. Hubby liked the burritos and Guys burgers. I didn't try the burgers as for me they looked a bit to greasy. We tried the Mongolian Wok which was nice, but never got to the Italian as our one complaint about both was the opening time was to short, the same went for the Blue Iguana, quite often we only got back on board just as or after they had closed. I was not impressed with the Buffet choice, again very boring with not much choice of dishes. Never had the pizza, if I’m honest here the fact that it was hidden at the back of the ship meant we forgot it was there, plus hubby said he thought they looked not as nice as Princesses, we do like theirs. Crab shack, no was not going to pay for that, the extra tax killed that off for us. One afternoon I fancied a nice bit of cake with a cuppa of tea. Oh I had to take my own tea bags as the free stuff is yuck, hubby didn’t like the free coffee either so was glad when I told him I had coffee sachets. The hot chocolate and lemonade were though very nice. Anyway it was about 3.30 and I could not believe my eyes when I saw all the cakes and cookies being removed before I got there. Princess have things like that out all day!

Oh loved the ice cream but it was so popular when they ran out some people got very nasty having to wait for the machine to make more.

 

Dinner – I’ll start with the food, then I will get to the bits I did not like. We never had a bad meal everything was nice some things were a little on the small side. Hubby was not keen on the sides that came with the steaks, prefers chips. Yes I know we could order sides in fact that is what we did a few times. The bread was yummy and 5/10 it was still warm. I was not a fan of the some of the deserts the chocolate melt cake I found to be to heavy. I had the pie a few times and found it strange that it was not warm, was so wrong to be cold….. Is that a English thing?

 

We eat just once in the buffet for dinner as we wanted to catch the film. I thought the lunch menu was boring but I found the evening to be very unappetising. I struggled to get a plate of food to make a nice meal, nothing seemed to go with anything else so I ended up with a bit of this and a bit of that. I think I ended up leaving half of it.

 

more to follow.......

[CJHAN]

Not trying to troll but why did it matter they didnt speak english? That said interesting review so far.

 

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Edited November 18, 2016 by CJHAN

[minikiss]

Ok food aside now to my biggest complaints and dislikes in the MDR. We had anytime dinning and did not mind booking in on another deck and only had to wait for a table on the 2 formal times the rest we went almost straight to the desk. One thing that did not sit well with us was the Lack of dress code enforcement! (there is a sign by the entrance stating what is not acceptable) This made us change from our normal request of a sharing table to tables of 2 the entire cruise! We like to dress for dinner and the evening but the amount of t shirts shorts and flip flops left us feeling we did not want to share a table in case……… We all have our choices and that was ours. To us a dinning room dress code should be that of a nice restaurant back home. I would not dream of dressing down for a meal out so why do it on a ship. Sorry but other lines would not have allowed it. For us it went part way to spoil the experience.

Now to the issue that I know a lot on here don’t like – Table cloths. I can see why they want to cut down on them but when you have glass of cold ice water they do at least soak up the condensation. Maybe a mat or coaster would help. Then and this is the final nail in the coffin, there was not enough silverware laid out when we sat down! 1 fork and 1 knife and a small plate! I do not like to eat all my courses with the same knife and fork and to have to butter my bread with the same knife to – No sorry should not be expected! I’m sure some on here will say why did you not ask for more – well for me a table should be set at the start and why should I ask for more……

 

more to follow......

[Rosethorn40]

Reading with interest as we leave in less than a month for our Vista cruise. I think even with Princess you will find a large number of non-native English speaking people, of course depending on when you sail. We did a 7-day Athens to Rome on the Royal Princess this past September, and while there were plenty of Americans, Canadians, Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis (New Zealanders) on board, there were a large number from Russia, Italy, and several Asian countries.

 

I can't wait to see the dining room for myself. You are not the first person to dislike the lack of tablecloths. I have seen photos, and the dining room to me appears to have a modern vibe that I am fine with, but in person???

 

Most of the mass market lines are moving away from formal night. On Carnival its called "Elegant Night" (Open to interpretation), on NCL they call it "Dress Up, or Not", Celebrity seems to have given up all together, and I think on this last Princess cruise they called it "Gala Night." Interesting enough, it was on a Carnival ship, the Fantasy, back in 2012 on a 6-day Bahama/Key West Cruise that I saw more evening gowns and black tie then on any other cruise before/since. With luggage fees, I am not paying an extra $100 on a flight to Europe just to lug my husbands dinner jacket, dress shoes, etc.

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Frogdogpal]

So I guess you aren't going on another Carnival cruise! Was there anything you did like?

[easyboy]

Can't blame you. After taking efforts to dress formally, it's really hard to sit with those only on t-shirts. Good you get to have a table for 2.

[minikiss]

Can't blame you. After taking efforts to dress formally, it's really hard to sit with those only on t-shirts. Good you get to have a table for 2.

 

It wasn't just formal nights it was every night, Getting a table for 2 was never a issue, all but elegant night, we got one with out a wait.

Most of the nights we went straight to desk to.

[minikiss]

So I guess you aren't going on another Carnival cruise! Was there anything you did like?

 

First off no, no year soon, We only holiday once a year.

And yes that part is coming.

[minikiss]

Not trying to troll but why did it matter they didnt speak english? That said interesting review so far.

 

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It is a general observation, not noticed so many before.

As I said We have not been on a ship with that level of non English speaking passengers before. Out of Europe we did expect European passengers but there was just as many from other continents to.

 

I do know it's expensive for us to do a USA / Caribbean cruise due to airfares, so assume it most be just as expensive for those outside of Europe to go on a Med cruise.

Hence I was surprised on how many there were.

[minikiss]

Reading with interest as we leave in less than a month for our Vista cruise. I think even with Princess you will find a large number of non-native English speaking people, of course depending on when you sail. We did a 7-day Athens to Rome on the Royal Princess this past September, and while there were plenty of Americans, Canadians, Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis (New Zealanders) on board, there were a large number from Russia, Italy, and several Asian countries.

 

I can't wait to see the dining room for myself. You are not the first person to dislike the lack of tablecloths. I have seen photos, and the dining room to me appears to have a modern vibe that I am fine with, but in person???

 

I quite liked the openness of it and yes i'd say it does look very modern, The tables though let that down as they do look to me to be a bit cheap looking.

 

Most of the mass market lines are moving away from formal night. On Carnival its called "Elegant Night" (Open to interpretation), on NCL they call it "Dress Up, or Not", Celebrity seems to have given up all together, and I think on this last Princess cruise they called it "Gala Night." Interesting enough, it was on a Carnival ship, the Fantasy, back in 2012 on a 6-day Bahama/Key West Cruise that I saw more evening gowns and black tie then on any other cruise before/since. With luggage fees, I am not paying an extra $100 on a flight to Europe just to lug my husbands dinner jacket, dress shoes, etc.

 

I hear what you are saying but I what ever any of them call it Formal / Elegance / Gala night I will always dress up a extra notch. I once heard someone say, "If a ship has a high amount of Brits on board you will see more tuxes and dress on formal night." Us Brits do like to dress up.

That said as I mentioned what ever the night, smart casual / Casual / normal night I will always dress for dinner. I'm not saying I will wear a long ball gown / cocktail dress every night but I will wear a nice dress or trousers and a smart top.

Luggage costs for us so far have never made me consider taking out Hubbies Tux from my cases. In fact I did pay a bit extra to fly with a different airline than my TA offered knowing we would get a higher case weight. That said we did not use all of that anyway.

[minikiss]

We did enjoy the evening entertainment, all the shows were really good and we never had a problem getting a seat in the liquid lounge. Did not go in to the punchliners and only sat 1 night for a while in the piano bar.

 

Took in a few of the evening films on the outdoor screen but felt it was wasted in the day.We made the same complaint on the Indy when we were on it. The popcorn was for us not as nice as princess as it was so plain it was boring. To have to book out the blanket was a new thing for us, Princess don’t but I can see why.

 

Jamie did a fab job filling in for Matt she had so much energy and really loved what she did. I have to say I think she has been the best Cruise director we have ever had.

 

I really liked the alchemy bar and the girls made me a wonderful cocktail one night, it looked like well I won’t say, but it tasted yum. But due to the exchange rate and the extra tax all the drinks were expensive.

 

As soon as we could once on board, we both logged in to the Hub app and was our main guide to the day. It was very good being able to track our accounts and we loved being able to see our photos on it. My own complaint about the funtimes on it was it DID NOT MATCH THE PRINTED COPY. On the whole it did but and I’m wondering how many on this sailing spotted the meet and greet! It was listed in the printed but not on the app. We only used the app so it we did not see it until it was over.

 

None of the other ships have spa rooms and I loved the concept of it. I would never pay for any of the things offered, likewise I would not pay for a bed in a adult only deck space, So the free access to serenity we found nice. Just a pity we only got to use it once it was just to full the rest of the time. The beds there are nice (liked the doubles) but found the sofa's and chairs to be to deep and uncomfortable to sit in for to long. I'm only 5ft 2 and found them to be to deep to sit back in.

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

I'm sorry you felt that way. I was on the same cruise and had a fabulous experience. Maybe California is a lot less formal than England but I can't remember the last time I ate at a restaurant with extra knives and forks or a table cloth for that matter. One part of your review confused me, you said you ate at the buffet to catch a movie but you said the movies weren't interesting to you so you didn't see one(we watched 2 movies in IMAX and several at the dive in movies) I'm not sure I'm understanding what you are writing.

 

 

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[tandemcruzr]

I took it as she was talking about the 'Dive In' movie.

[minikiss]

I took it as she was talking about the 'Dive In' movie.

 

Yep was referring to the Dive in movies.

[minikiss]

So as I said to the guy in Livorno.

The Vista had it’s good and bad points

 

Good - the App, the room as a whole, our steward who was a pleasure to talk to each day, the use of the VIP section of the spa (Although I think we should have had a tub of scrub free which we never got) , the evening shows, the cruise director, the alchemy bar, the ship looked very good, the skyride was fun although I did scream, it never felt crowded on deck unless you were in serenity, enjoyed the 2 guitarists saw them around the ship, Glow 80’s night (took my back to my teens), was nice not to be hounded by waiters asking what you wanted to drink, pixels (I hate to see all the printed photos go in the bin. I hope more cruiselines go this way in the future. The usb charging ports in the cabin. luv'd the towel animal and the invasion, the quiet spa rooms was very nice. Oh the free hot chocolate.

 

Bad - lack of dress code in dinning room, buffet food border line, Dining room food ok but not fantastic, lack of table clothes and silverware on the table, extra tax due to loss of Kusadasi ( I know it could not be helped but it did make it expensive for us), balcony door, choice of free tea and coffee both horrible. Guys burgers looked a bit to greasy, to many food options that were payable.

 

So you will see from above that there are more good points but the bad still out weigh them due to level of bad for us.

We enjoyed our cruise but can honestly say Carnival is not for us. I will be looking to get back on a Princess or Royal Caribbean ship next year.

[3redheads]

I was on the same cruise and absolutely loved it!

 

Food is very subjective. We ate at all of the specialty restaurants, the sushi place and Guy's Burgers. The only place which didn't impress was the Seafood Shack. Probably because we ordered fried food.

 

We were a couple who did not dress up, even though we brought the clothes. Plus, we only ate in the MDR one time. Is Carnival my favorite? It's right up there with RCCL. In fact, we love Carnival beds and their bedding more than any line.

 

We were fortunate enough to stay in a Havana aft balcony. Loved the Havana area!!!

 

This was my 10th cruise, and 3rd with Carnival. While I missed an atrium which spanned more floors, the ship was laid out in such a way that the only time it felt crowded was when there were events at the main pool such as the Hairy Chest contest.

 

I would not hesitate to book in it again. In fact, I cannot wait for the new ship to open up their bookings.

[carnivalcruzchick]

So here goes – the ship it’s self is lovely and we had no real complaint with it. We never felt it was crowded even on sea days although on a negative we only got to use the Serenity area once as the rest of the time it was packed solid. One thing we did notice was a thoughtlessness of some of those that did use it, was when while on the double beds with canopies, once in the shade they would push and turn them to stay in the sun. Ok who wouldn’t but one set of idiots did that so much that as we were in a corner they pushed it so close we were almost left with no way of getting out and boxed in. We had to squeeze through a small gap and then passed them, they did not even look or care that they had driven us from it (not being racist but they did not speak English).

 

We were surprised to see so many none English speaking guests on this Europe cruise. No idea on numbers but it seemed higher than on other Europe Cruises we had been on with Princess.

 

Food – This to me is always subjective and not everyone’s taste is the same. For us it was Ok not great, not wonderful, not dreadful either.

 

The Breakfast we found after a few days to be the same old same old and to make it worst the hot food was cold! None of the hot plates kept any of it Hot. We found the choice to be small with no real variety other than a change of sausages every few days. Hubby tried the breakfast burrito but neither of us liked it. Tried the main dining room once but that was only just a bit better. On a plus the buffet was never packed to the point you could not find a table, one positive over Princess.

 

Lunch – I liked the tacos although they were a bit small to wrap and eat with my fingers. Hubby liked the burritos and Guys burgers. I didn't try the burgers as for me they looked a bit to greasy. We tried the Mongolian Wok which was nice, but never got to the Italian as our one complaint about both was the opening time was to short, the same went for the Blue Iguana, quite often we only got back on board just as or after they had closed. I was not impressed with the Buffet choice, again very boring with not much choice of dishes. Never had the pizza, if I’m honest here the fact that it was hidden at the back of the ship meant we forgot it was there, plus hubby said he thought they looked not as nice as Princesses, we do like theirs. Crab shack, no was not going to pay for that, the extra tax killed that off for us. One afternoon I fancied a nice bit of cake with a cuppa of tea. Oh I had to take my own tea bags as the free stuff is yuck, hubby didn’t like the free coffee either so was glad when I told him I had coffee sachets. The hot chocolate and lemonade were though very nice. Anyway it was about 3.30 and I could not believe my eyes when I saw all the cakes and cookies being removed before I got there. Princess have things like that out all day!

Oh loved the ice cream but it was so popular when they ran out some people got very nasty having to wait for the machine to make more.

 

Dinner – I’ll start with the food, then I will get to the bits I did not like. We never had a bad meal everything was nice some things were a little on the small side. Hubby was not keen on the sides that came with the steaks, prefers chips. Yes I know we could order sides in fact that is what we did a few times. The bread was yummy and 5/10 it was still warm. I was not a fan of the some of the deserts the chocolate melt cake I found to be to heavy. I had the pie a few times and found it strange that it was not warm, was so wrong to be cold….. Is that a English thing?

 

We eat just once in the buffet for dinner as we wanted to catch the film. I thought the lunch menu was boring but I found the evening to be very unappetising. I struggled to get a plate of food to make a nice meal, nothing seemed to go with anything else so I ended up with a bit of this and a bit of that. I think I ended up leaving half of it.

 

more to follow.......

 

Sounds to me like you are a bit on the picky side, did you have any fun at all on your cruise?