Little Havana & More; Our Vista Cruise

[Rosethorn40]

Five of the seven nights we paid for dinner. One reason was I wanted to try the steakhouse, JiJi's, and the Seafood Shack. We fell into Bonsai Sushi one night, and had Chef's Table reservations another.

 

I had made reservations for Fahrenheit 555*(Steakhouse) back in March. I had high expectations because I had heard so many wonderful things about the steakhouse. Our reservations were for 6pm and we arrived a few minutes early, and were seated right away. I noticed that the outdoor seating appeared already full (Only 4-tops out there). They were having a promotion of 50% off a bottle of wine, or a free bottle of the house white or red. We bought a bottle.

 

We each ordered an appetizer, soup, entrée and sides. First our waiter brought us a mini burger as a taste from the chef. It was really good, and we both agreed we could have made a meal out of about 10 of them. Next they brought out muffins (I think one was blue cheese), and after a short wait our appetizer. Can't remember what my husband had, but he enjoyed it. I had the Beef Carpaccio, which was delicious. This was followed by our soups; French Onion for me (wonderful, flavorful) and Lobster Bisque for my husband (He said it was good). Finally our steaks came out. My husband got the ribeye while I had the filet. They were cooked perfectly to order, and while good, I did have steak with more flavor later in the cruise.

 

Service was a little uneven, and not as stellar as I had been led to expect. They were very good at keeping the wine glasses filled, but there was a long wait between courses, especially soup and the main course. Our sides came when we were well into our steaks. I was observant and it appeared that other tables were getting better service then us; several tables that had placed their orders well after us, got their food*sooner. I did see one couple that had come in just after us not get their*main course until just as we were leaving.

 

Cost: $35pp plus the cost of the wine

Grade A- (Food was good, but service not as attentive as I expected)**

 

The 2-tops in the steakhouse. One person will sit on the long banquette and the other across the table in a chair.

 

 

 

[Rosethorn40]

Our second night we went to the Seafood Shack as my husband loves fried seafood. Its opened 11:00am-9:00pm so*you can go for lunch or dinner. Its priced by the item rather a set price. My husband had the New England Clam Chowder, served in a bread bowl ($4) and proclaimed it the second best he had ever had. Her also had the friend seafood platter ($10.00). I had the fried*shrimp & clams ($6). Service is very casual, you go up to the counter and order, and they give you a pager for when the food is ready. You get your own tea/water/lemonade. Its a fine casual option if you don't want to dress for dinner, and the lido buffet isn't your idea for dinner.

 

Cost:*By the Item

Grade A (thought the fried shrimp*was okay, liked the fried clams a lot)

 

On the third night we were walking on Deck 5, trying to decide about dinner and we came upon Bonsai Sushi. My husband is not a fan of Sushi, but they had noodle bowls, and teriyaki steak as well, so I convinced him to give it a go. They were fairly busy, so we had to wait about 5-minutes for a table. Once seated, service was a little slow, and we waited (and waited) for refills of water, but the food was delicious! *I had a salad with an orange & ginger dressing ($2), California Roll ($5) made with real cooked crab, not the imitation stuff its normally made of. Husband had a Noodle Bowl ($7-I think), and we both had the teriyaki steak ($8 ea.) which was better than the steak in Fahrenheit 555.

 

Cost: By Item

Grade A+ for food** B- for service (although our server was very nice)

 

 

 

 

[bindy1]

The Magic. I know we had one on Vista ( a woman died in St. Martin).

 

I thought I saw the coroner van at the Magic after it came to Vista.

 

Not sure which stop you are referring to but at Grand Turk an older gentlemen was taken off the ship for heart issues. We were on the Magic. I was coming into the infirmary as he was being taken out. This was about 5:30pm ship time as we were getting ready to leave GT.

Edited December 27, 2016 by bindy1

[Coach Pedro]

Not sure which stop you are referring to but at Grand Turk an older gentlemen was taken off the ship for heart issues. We were on the Magic. I was coming into the infirmary as he was being taken out. This was about 5:30pm ship time as we were getting ready to leave GT.

 

In San Juan...... it looked like the same van pulling off the pier. No big deal.

[Rosethorn40]

For years now I've been reading posts from people on the Carnival boards, and other cruise lines that offer it, the fantastic experiences they have had at a Chef's Table. Having never tried it before I was excited about the opportunity to do it on a ship, that had a special venue just for it. As I mentioned in an earlier post*I had reserved our spots 10-months earlier, and when I got on board it appeared that our reservation had been lost, but miraculously*found when the Maitre d' was faced with my confirmation. At the appointed time (In our case 6:30), we went to the Atrium Lobby on deck 3 to meet up with the chef. I thought it rather neat that they found all of the participates by our photos (I saw the print out) and gather us up. The Chef came out, introduced himself and escorted us through the dining room to the kitchen.

 

The first thing we did, was stand around a stainless steel work table and drink Champaign while we ate olives and shaved parmesan cheese. To the left of each person, on a piece of black slate, was the evening's menu, printed on thick cardstock, with your name printed on the top. I have to admit that my heart sank a little when I saw the menu. There is only one food (Other than fried bugs) that I refuse to ever put in my mouth again, and that is green beans. However, I'm willing to give any other meat/fruit/vegetable/grain a first or second chance. I've eaten Haggis for God sake, that's proof I'll give any dish a try. Anyway, the first course was Pea Soup. I just not that found of peas. The next course was Pork Belly (Had it, its okay, but feel its too "trendy"), then came lamb with something to do with beets. Beets???, again, not a favorite food. However, I wanted to be slightly adventurous, and at least there were no fried spiders, or poached crickets on the menu.

 

Then the Chef took olives and spun sugar around them; think tiny cotton candy on a stick with*an olive in the middle (Sounds yucky, but it kinda worked).*There were 2 other Hor'dorves before it was off to the special dining area they have, exclusively for the Chef's Table.

 

 

 

 

[Rosethorn40]

The Chef's Table to me is all about style, a performance art with the canvas being food, and one using their taste buds, as well as their eyes to experience. I can't see anyone trying to duplicate any of the recipes at home.

 

The first course was pea soup and I was so taken with the presentation that I forgot to take a photo. I actually liked the soup very much, even if I could taste the peas. The soup was followed by the Pork Belly that tasted fine, but wasn't any different from the Pork Belly I had tried a year earlier in Portugal. That was followed by lamb, perfectly cooked and delicious, and Sea Bass in a light, delicate sauce. My favorite dish was next; quail breast on mushroom risotto. Our last savory dish was veal, which was tasty, but all I could think of while chowing down was that I was eating a baby calf with big brown eyes. Finally we had two desserts. The first was a Citrus Crème that everyone seemed to enjoy, followed by a chocolate*dish the looked wonderful, but wasn't to my taste.

 

Dinner, from start to finish took 3-hours. That is because there were breaks between courses to tour some of the kitchen (Very interesting) and watch a presentation by the pastry chef on how the Chocolate Melting Cake is made.

 

It's been a week, and I still don't know what I thought of it. On one hand it was fascinating and I learned some things about the workings of a kitchen that needs to feed thousands. The food was good (for the most part), but for big appetites like my husband it may not be enough food. The service was on another level from any restaurant I've ever been to. But the length of time, and the cost makes it a once and done for us.

 

Cost: $75 when I booked, price has increased to $95 (They honored the $75 for us)

Grade: Service A+, Presentation A+, Food A-, Value B

 

Pork Belly

 

Lamb

 

Sea Bass

 

Quail

[Rosethorn40]

 

[Rosethorn40]

After I knew what day our Chef's Table reservations were for I made reservations for JiJi's Asian Kitchen. This was my favorite dinner of the cruise. The food is served family style, and since it was just the two of us the suggestion was for 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 sides to share. *We had as appetizers the duck and chicken spring rolls, and for entrees the peppered beef and stock pig. Sides were fried rice and Chinese Broccoli*with Ginger.*To drink we both had a Bali Sunset, which I enjoyed so much I ordered a second (That's rare for me).

 

Service was excellent and I wish we had eaten there a second time.

 

Cost: $15pp plus cost of cocktails

Grade: A+

 

 

[b]Chicken Spring Rolls)[/b]

 

The Duck-The "Nests" were very good as well

 

Bali Sunset-Favorite drink on trip

 

[JaniceB]

Loving your review....following along

[amyh13]

Thank you so much for your awesome review. We set sail on the Vista in 95 days. But who is counting.

[Love2Cruz2015]

Since I was with my parents for this trip, I did not specialty restaurants, but intend to try them on my next Vista cruise.

[serene56]

After I knew what day our Chef's Table reservations were for I made reservations for JiJi's Asian Kitchen. This was my favorite dinner of the cruise. The food is served family style, and since it was just the two of us the suggestion was for 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 sides to share. *We had as appetizers the duck and chicken spring rolls, and for entrees the peppered beef and stock pig. Sides were fried rice and Chinese Broccoli*with Ginger.*To drink we both had a Bali Sunset, which I enjoyed so much I ordered a second (That's rare for me).

 

Service was excellent and I wish we had eaten there a second time.

 

Cost: $15pp plus cost of cocktails

Grade: A+

 

if we wanted a 3rd course could we have it? there is 2 of us and we share but there is like 3 entrees we like

[Rosethorn40]

if we wanted a 3rd course could we have it? there is 2 of us and we share but there is like 3 entrees we like

 

I don't know for sure, but I don't think it would be a problem. The steakhouse menu clearly states that additional entrees may have an additional charge. I don't recall seeing that on JiJi's menu.

[Rosethorn40]

Breakfast was served in the buffet every day of course, but of course its usually a mad house up there. Seated breakfast was offered in the Horizons Restaurant between 7:30-9:30, but except one breakfast in the lido buffet we ate every morning at*The Taste Bar. The Fun Times state its a Continental Breakfast, but its so much more. Yes, they offer wheat and white bread for toasting, and croissants as well as banana bread. But they also have scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, bacon and sausage. Fruit, cottage cheese, cereal (Cold & Oatmeal), and even baked beans. You can get either apple or orange juice as well. And best of all it was on deck 5 aft, just off the Ocean Plaza. Never crowded, we could just walk up and serve ourselves.

 

The Horizon's restaurant was opened on sea days only for lunch from 12:00-1:30

 

We had Anytime Dining, but never used it. As its been widely reported, one has to get in line on deck 5 to get a table assignment for the 2-story anytime restaurant, and then go to deck 3 (or 4?) at the appointed time to actually get in. We heard of people having to wait an hour for a table, which is not how anyone wants anytime to work. I think the problem was too many people wanted dinner between 6:30-7:30, and with being at full capacity that just wasn't possible. People told me if the went at 5:30 there was no wait, and the line on deck 5 would dissipate at about 8:00. If you are on a sailing with a lot of kids (Families are going to want the earlier times because of the little ones), and you can be flexible, save yourself the aggravation and go later.

 

And finally (As far as food is concerned) pizza. I have to put in my two cents about pizza. I just don't understand all the angst about pizza. Yes, there were usually lines and waits for pizza. But you need to have a little perspective; there were 1200+ kids on board, kids love pizza, kids eat a lot of pizza, and quite frankly, wasted a lot of pizza. The pizza area could have been twice as large and they couldn't have kept up with demand. The pizza isn't even that good. We all have a place on land that we feel makes the BEST pizza in the world, Carnival's can't even come close. So why, would you waste precious vacation time waiting in line for something that wasn't even that good, when there were other choices to keep from "Starving" to death? My husband witnessed something that was probably a fairly common occurrence; There is a line, waiting for the precious pizza to come out of the oven, suddenly a group of teens come by and spy a friend waiting in line and "join" him/her, and the poor person who thought they were second in line finds himself 8th or 9th. He protests, words are exchanged. Security shows up and make the kids go to the back of the line, but warn the man if he doesn't calm down he could be kicked off the ship. Man did calm down and get his pizza, but it probably didn't taste that good after that. Off soapbox now.

[firemanbobswife]

And finally (As far as food is concerned) pizza. I have to put in my two cents about pizza. I just don't understand all the angst about pizza. Yes, there were usually lines and waits for pizza. But you need to have a little perspective; there were 1200+ kids on board, kids love pizza, kids eat a lot of pizza, and quite frankly, wasted a lot of pizza. The pizza area could have been twice as large and they couldn't have kept up with demand. The pizza isn't even that good. We all have a place on land that we feel makes the BEST pizza in the world, Carnival's can't even come close. So why, would you waste precious vacation time waiting in line for something that wasn't even that good, when there were other choices to keep from "Starving" to death? My husband witnessed something that was probably a fairly common occurrence; There is a line, waiting for the precious pizza to come out of the oven, suddenly a group of teens come by and spy a friend waiting in line and "join" him/her, and the poor person who thought they were second in line finds himself 8th or 9th. He protests, words are exchanged. Security shows up and make the kids go to the back of the line, but warn the man if he doesn't calm down he could be kicked off the ship. Man did calm down and get his pizza, but it probably didn't taste that good after that. Off soapbox now.

 

 

Well if the pizza area was twice as big and they had twice the staff the wait would be half as long [emoji849].

 

It's not the fact that the pizza is the best in the world, but rather that there's not a lot to choose from late at night when everything except room service is closed. And who wants to be stuck waiting in their cabin for over an hour? Sometimes pizza hits the spot. Obviously I'm not the only one that feels this way as evidenced by the lines. Never said it compared to pizza places on land. But it IS good and it is free (as in included in your fare). If you don't get it then I'm sorry. You'll find me in line with the rest of the crazies [emoji39].

[Rosethorn40]

Because we spent days relaxing in the Havana Area and evenings in the Thermal Suite, and in-between eating, there wasn't too much time for other activities. I had wanted to try the IMAX, but being the only person in the world that doesn't watch Harry Potter world movies, I had no desire to watch "Fantastic Beasts......" and husband didn't want to see "Dr. Strange"

 

The last night the Dive-In movie was "Finding Dory" and husband was okay with us (okay really just me, he napped) watching it. The other movie that night was "The Secret Life of Pets" Other movies shown were fairly recent, which was an improvement over our cruise 3 years ago on the Magic when they showed "Forrest Gump," "Sweet Home Alabama" and other older movies that had been shown on TBS for years.

 

We went up to the sky ride a couple of times, but it always seemed to be closed. The hours were posted at 9-4:30 on sea days, and 11-4:30 on port days.

 

But my favorite thing to do was trivia, and they offered it a lot. Usually in the Ocean Plaza (Deck 5 aft). I was getting my Ship on a Stick, just needed the right categories.*Several days into the cruise husband and I finally won a coveted trophy in Decades. Husband was satisfied, but I kept going back*if the*category was right. Lost in Broadway, but won in another Decades game, History (Gave my trophy to the runner up because I was impressed he went toe to toe with me, and came oh so close, and was half my age), and tied with a perfect score of 20 with three other teams on the final day in Movie Quotes. Trivia was usually hosted by Fluffy, and she is loads of fun.

 

There were other games besides trivia in the Ocean Plaza, so there are lots of opportunities to win a worthless piece of plastic, currently holding court with our trophy from the Magic (Musicals), and my medal from trivia on our Celebrity cruise on the bookcase. *

 

Fluffy, a member of the entertainment staff

 

Look at him grinning, like he actually knew any of the answers

 

[jewliana]

Oh!! My husband will be very happy with Lots of trivia!! Not that we ever win...Well just once LOL!!! But we have fun trying.

[JaniceB]

Congratulations on winning the ship on the stick!

[cynt]

Loving your review. Keep up the great work.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[lele100]

How was the service at JiJi? how long did it take? Also did you go to Cucina? if so how was it there and how long did it take? Thanks

[Rosethorn40]

How was the service at JiJi? how long did it take? Also did you go to Cucina? if so how was it there and how long did it take? Thanks

 

Service at JiJi's was excellent. I don't remember how long we were there, but we didn't wait long for food (Its cooked right there). After two Bali Sunsets I wasn't remembering much :)

 

We didn't go to Cucina for dinner, but did go twice at lunch and the service was good. Lunch was served quickly, we were in/out in less than 45 minutes. Again, the food is prepared at a nearby kitchen, not the main kitchen on deck 3

[taylortess]

Hi there,

I'm enjoying your review. I'll be on the vista in a week or so. Can you tell me what's in the Bali sunset? I also wonder in the havanna bar has a drink menu of items not normally served at the other bars. Thanks

[taylortess]

Hi there,

I'm enjoying your review. I'll be on the vista in a week or so. Can you tell me what's in the Bali sunset? I also wonder if the havanna bar has a drink menu of items not normally served at the other bars. Thanks

[Rosethorn40]

Hi there,

I'm enjoying your review. I'll be on the vista in a week or so. Can you tell me what's in the Bali sunset? I also wonder in the havanna bar has a drink menu of items not normally served at the other bars. Thanks

 

Bacardi limon, orange & pineapple juice, grenadine. Sometimes the simplest of ingredients have the best taste.

 

Below is a link to the bar menu for JiJi's. If we had gone back I would have tried the sangria.

 

https://www.carnival.com/~/media/Images/explore/dining/menus/ji-ji-asian-bar-menu.pdf

Edited December 29, 2016 by Rosethorn40

[Buckett]

Thanks for your informative review! I will be on the Vista on March so am getting really excited and reading all the reviews I can!

 

I always buy the thermal suite pass on board (I don't recall it ever being available ahead of time online in the past) but it seems that buying it ahead of time gives you a little discount? This time I'll just be buying it for myself as my niece isn't old enough yet. $109 for 6 days sounds like a pretty good price!