Just back from the Vista...a short-ish review

[consmarci]

Just returned from the Vista 4/22-4/30 cruise. It was our 13th with Carnival and 19th overall (6 with Princess). We have had a really tough year (not going to get into that) and my husband and I needed this vacation to go smoothly. I was superstitious and convinced that 13 would be a curse and kept waiting for something bad to happen. I had heard really mixed reviews about Vista and read some really awful ones, but we are low key and also don’t get ruffled easily, so we just booked anyway and hoped our experience would be great…and it was (except for one thing which I’ll leave for last).

 

 

We arrived at the port at 10:15, got to the Platinum lounge by 10:40 after parking and checking our luggage in and were on the ship at 11:00. Our keys would be found in our mailbox outside our room and boarding just wasn’t the same without the “ding” getting onboard, but it was faster and easier overall.

The lobby is lovely, as is the rest of the ship. We were in a spa room. We like the quiet up there (inside cabin 11223) and we love inside cabins (yes, it’s true….we like sleeping late in a dark room and the lesser cost allows us to cruise more often). Our room steward, Budi, was amazing and knew our names and our preferences from day 1. We did not tip the first day…but we were generous the last day. His partner never said a word, but did an amazing job too. The spa was nice…not as nice as the Dream or Breeze and the thalassotherapy pool was so small that maybe 4 or 5 people could be in it at a time. We went twice and then not again. It was a busy cruise with 4 ports and not enough time to do everything. Serenity was lovely and we always found a shady place. Eventually we went to deck 5 and found some comfy chairs in total quiet and there was more of a breeze. It was a hot week. We just read…no tanning for us.

 

 

We love the art auctions…have purchased several pieces in the past and Daniel and his team were terrific, fun, knowledgeable and the free champagne each time was a nice treat. Roy was really sweet and they weren’t pushy…they just made it fun and this time I didn’t feel guilty for not purchasing more. Other ships we felt pushed and never went back. We also like learning about the artists and using our brains a bit on vacation.

 

 

We had 5:30 early dining and our wait staff was awesome.Amit, James and Gede did a fantastic job and we were always done by 7:00 so that we could make a show or a movie. We enjoyed the food and although the menus don’t change much from ship to ship, my favorite were still on the menu.There were quite a few maître d’s milling around…not sure what they were doing exactly, but if you needed one, they were there. Breakfast was usually in the dining room for us and we did the lunches on the lido. No complaints at all and the ice cream machines seemed always to be working which was new on this ship.

Movies on deck are my favorite, but the shows were good, the music around the ship was the best I’ve seen, and the comedians were great. The line to get in moved fast and there seemed to always be a seat even if you showed up late and just walked in.

 

 

The casino took none of our money. It was too smoky to even try to gamble…their loss! Usually we lose and we call it our donation to Carnival…but until they figure out that if the only place a smoker can smoke indoors is in the casino, then that is where every smoker will be…all day, all night. I don’t want to get into it about smoking…(my mother died from oral cancer having smoked for 50 years)..but there should be more than 1 non smoking table and more than a dozen nonsmoking slots. Shame…

 

 

We took a private tour in the D.R. and it was a blast. We did our own snorkeling in Curacao and Aruba and Grand Turk being there for such a short time seems a waste to me.

 

 

We had a great time at the Platinum/Diamond party and the drinks were flowing. Mike was a fun cruise director…to be honest, I never much cared about the CD, having never been a priority, but he was all over the ship and funny and energetic and clearly an asset to Carnival Corp.

 

 

The public restrooms were always immaculate. There were no room service dirty dishes in the hallways as in other ships. I was pleasantly surprised in a good way.

 

 

The only oops was that one day we went back to the cabin to shower at 4:00 for our early dinner. We had 5:30pm dinner seating so we wanted to shower after spending a nice relaxing afternoon in Serenity. We go back to the cabin and there is no water to take a shower or in the sink either. So, I call the desk and they say that they'll look into it. Half hour passes and no call back...so I call again...now the water is back, but it looks like CocaCola is coming out of the shower and in the sink. So, the guy at the desk makes a Coca Cola joke, and says he'll look into it. Then, 1/2 hour later (it is now 5:00pm) and my husband calls and he is told a plumber will come...15 minutes later, I call back and I'm told that "this is the 4th time you've called,we're handling it shortly". So, I tell them we have dinner reservations at 5:30 pm and we need to shower...any ideas? Rudely, we were told to eat at Lido...

Now, in all of our cruises, we have never not had dinner in a dining room. We dress up each night and it is our "thing". 5:30pm a plumber arrives, then leaves and says it is fixed...the water in the sink is still light brown and the floor of the shower and the bathroom looks like a crime scene...so, I mop it up, the shower looks clear and we both shower,however after our showers, I mop up the floor again and the towel is filthy brown, so we obviously showered in still disgusting water. Yuck!

Before we go to dinner, we find our room steward so we can apologize to him for the mess and the awful towel pile (brown and gross) and quite frankly it was embarrassing to think that he might think we were"sick" and irresponsible about it. He was kind, cleaned it up. (our towels were brown all week from the residue coming out of our shower and we drank bottled water and brushed our teeth with bottled water as well)

So we show up to dinner really late, but are seated with a"warning" not to be late again or we'll lose our table".(hostess said that) We tell her it wasn't our fault...she grunts and leads us to a table where we are rushed through dinner.

There was no apology...no bottle of wine or call to followup...nothing...every time we got mail, my husband joked that "this"would be the apology from guest services, but it never came. Really? 13 cruises and not even a bottle of wine? Not a future cruise credit for not making a huge scene at the counter? We did ask to be moved to a cabin with clean water, but were told the ship was sold out...I have never felt so dirty in my life. We couldn't wait to get home and shower in a clean shower.

This is not right...no apology...no offer to change our dinner sitting....and basically told that we were calling too often? Rude rude rude...Could a plumber not come out again? We are baffled that our many calls went unserviced.

To be honest, we could have made a scene…could have yelled and screamed, but we needed to relax and enjoy this much needed vacation. Life is too short to ruin our trip over something that couldn’t or wouldn’t be fixed. I did write a letter to guest services upon our arrival home. Have you heard from them? I haven’t.

Am I in a hurry to get back on a Carnival ship? Not sure about that after the shower incident, but I realize that things happen…I’d say sh…t happens, but that’s what our shower looked like!

 

 

And one other thing...please don't flame me. I just don't get why they talk about what the "dress" for dinner should be if no one cares and they are allowed in the dining room wearing what they like anyway. And we saw everything from flipflops, tanktops on men, cut offs, jeans, shorts, nasty tshirts, you name it...and on "formal" night. Now, whatever someone wears has no impact on my dining experience, but I question why a suggested dress code is mentioned. It seems it is merely a suggestion because no one at the front (hostesses or maitre d's ) cares anyway. On the flip side, there were some really lovely dressed people as well and when the little ones are dressed up, it is so impressive that the parents thought about it and the kids didn't fuss about it. It was nice to see that some people still do care about "suggested:" attire. Again, it doesn't affect my meal, but it still baffles us to see after so many years of cruising.

 

 

 

So, overall, if you are going on Vista…relax and enjoy her.She is mostly perfect. I’m happy to answer any questions.

Edited May 3, 2017 by consmarci
words connected

[pblack]

I'm just going to say this was a little hard to read when there isn't spaces in between all the words.

 

Couldn't you have showered in the spa and still made your 5:30 dinner reservation? Not saying that what they did was right, but if you were really wanting to not miss dinner, I would think showering in the spa would have been an option. An easy one at that since you had a spa room.

[E@syPe@zy]

Sorry to hear about your plumbing problem. But...just out of curiosity...why didn't you just use the showers in the Spa?? Particularly since you had a Spa cabin. It really would have caused a lot less stress getting ready for dinner. I know...hindsight is 20/20.

About the dress suggestion in the MDR....you just have to have a sense of humor!?! The one's I feel sorry for are the ladies that dress nice and their significant others looked like they crawled out from under a car!! I can't imagine how humiliating that must be. Personally if my DH didn't know how to dress, I'd leave his lazy rear end at home. But I have never had a problem with that....he's always been a gentleman and knows how one dresses.

Hope life improves for you soon. Life does have it's ups and downs. We just have to push through the down times and a cruise is certainly a nice way to do it. We could certainly use one about now, but I think it's going to have to wait until Fall. :)

[E@syPe@zy]

I'm just going to say this was a little hard to read when there isn't spaces in between all the words.

 

Couldn't you have showered in the spa and still made your 5:30 dinner reservation? Not saying that what they did was right, but if you were really wanting to not miss dinner, I would think showering in the spa would have been an option. An easy one at that since you had a spa room.

 

You beat me to the reply button....same thought! :)

[consmarci]

I don't know about the spaces...I just copied and pasted from a word document...sorry!

 

And yes, hindsight...of course we could have showered in the spa! But, we clearly were not thinking!

 

And quite frankly, it wasn't so much about dinner...it was about the fact that they weren't nice and also that we had dirty water all week! It never was resolved.

 

I just think guest services should have been more accommodating. I'm not budging on that opinion.

[pblack]

You beat me to the reply button....same thought! :)

 

Haha, great minds think alike. ;)

[bury me at sea]

Other than the plumbing issue, which I agree was handled poorly, yours was one of the more complimentary reviews of the Vista I've read.

 

Thanks for your review, and I hope number 14 will be entirely worry free.

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for the review, sorry about the no water issue, you should of headed up to the gym showers and shower there and dress.....how was the food and was it cool in your cabin during the night?

[E@syPe@zy]

I don't know about the spaces...I just copied and pasted from a word document...sorry!

 

And yes, hindsight...of course we could have showered in the spa! But, we clearly were not thinking!

 

And quite frankly, it wasn't so much about dinner...it was about the fact that they weren't nice and also that we had dirty water all week! It never was resolved.

 

I just think guest services should have been more accommodating. I'm not budging on that opinion.

 

Did you ever find out what the problem was with the plumbing??? Did anyone else close by have similar issues?? Usually you can thank your neighbor either above or below for flushing something they should not have. There are some people that bring their own toilet paper from home.:eek: I watched a youtube video where the woman couldn't stand the scratchy toilet paper.....good grief.....and brought her own.

[tallnthensome]

And one other thing...please don't flame me. I just don't get why they talk about what the "dress" for dinner should be if no one cares and they are allowed in the dining room wearing what they like anyway. And we saw everything from flipflops, tanktops on men, cut offs, jeans, shorts, nasty tshirts, you name it...and on "formal" night. Now, whatever someone wears has no impact on my dining experience, but I question why a suggested dress code is mentioned. It seems it is merely a suggestion because no one at the front (hostesses or maitre d's ) cares anyway. On the flip side, there were some really lovely dressed people as well and when the little ones are dressed up, it is so impressive that the parents thought about it and the kids didn't fuss about it. It was nice to see that some people still do care about "suggested:" attire. Again, it doesn't affect my meal, but it still baffles us to see after so many years of cruising.

 

 

 

So, overall, if you are going on Vista…relax and enjoy her.She is mostly perfect. I’m happy to answer any questions.

Please, I was on this sailing with you and totally agree with you. I've been getting flamed all week for telling it how it is. Did you see the clown wearing the basketball shorts, tank, flip flops and the white bath towel from the cabin worn over his shoulder to look even more stupid on formal night? I said this was the Wal Mart of passengers on this cruise, got beat up for it but still stand by my comments.

[E@syPe@zy]

Please, I was on this sailing with you and totally agree with you. I've been getting flamed all week for telling it how it is. Did you see the clown wearing the basketball shorts, tank, flip flops and the white bath towel from the cabin worn over his shoulder to look even more stupid on formal night? I said this was the Wal Mart of passengers on this cruise, got beat up for it but still stand by my comments.

OMG....that's hilarious!! :') What was with the bath towel??? :confused:

I just look at it as a "dinner with a show"!

[consmarci]

1. Cabin was cool (how we like it) and dark!

2. Food was great! I love the pumpkin soup, lobster bisque, french onion soup. My husband loved...everything! And the chocolate melting dessert...omg.

3. Missed the guy with the bath towel. Saw the guy with the cowboy hat, short shorts and a tshirt with a tie on it. And flipflops!

4. No neighbors had water issues at all. I just keep thinking how much more work it was for poor Budi, our room steward!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Excellent feedback, thanks.

[momof4girls]

Thank you for your review. I honestly appreciate people taking the time to do any review, let alone those extensive ones that Mitsugirly puts out!

 

The plumbing issue was handled with extremely poor customer service. And poor customer service is becoming more of the "norm" in lots of places, not just cruise ships. A kind thing for them to say would have been to tell you they were working on sending someone up to fix it, but would u mind showering in the spa for the time being? And for your troubles, maybe some OBC or a bottle of wine or?

 

As for the MDR, I think Carnival just needs to call it what it is now. Freestyle dining like on NCL. That way you know exactly what you're in for. I like to "people watch" so I enjoy everything I see in the MDR:cool: I'm definitely more put off by bad manners than I am bad clothing choices!;)

[easyboy]

Sorry about the plumbing problem. Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

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[MNKEITH]

Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise. I never get tired of Vista reviews, especially since I am planning a B2B on her next March. I empathize with you regarding the water issue. That's a big deal.

 

Some people would have focused their review on just that one negative aspect - and given it a title like "carnival ruined my life and the Vista is worse than the USS Minnow". I appreciate your honest opinions.

[Keys2Heaven]

Thank you for your thoughts. My wife and I were on same cruise and stayed in Havana aft cabin.

 

We also had a plumbing issue with toilet not flushing, but was resolved quickly (within 1/2 hour).

 

Do not understand why GS did not apologize and offer token gift like OBC or free bottle of wine. We met new friends on this cruise and they complained about being in a cabin right above the theater and not being able to sleep and were given $300 OBC!!!! I would definitely call Carnival on this one.

 

I will say that there were some folks on this cruise that were just downright nasty and a couple of them found their way into a clamshell lounger in the Havana pool area. Absolutely disgusting personal hygiene and eating habits, but did not see anything else that screamed "Wal Mart."

 

MDR food was good and loved our wait staff: Jose, Felix and Moi.

Had a very nice cabin steward named Xavier and assistant Ambara.

 

A couple of shows were o.k. but walked out early from "Flick." Just didn't get it. There's only so much the dancers can do with a bed sheet. The lip sync battle was awesome and happy Eric won!

[consmarci]

I just wanted to update...Carnival Guest Services rep actually called me today and apologized for the issues on our cruise. He issued us a future cruise credit for the value of 1 day of our cruise. Very nice...so happy that Carnival did not disappoint. Of course, I'm already thinking of our next one...:)

[bury me at sea]

I just wanted to update...Carnival Guest Services rep actually called me today and apologized for the issues on our cruise. He issued us a future cruise credit for the value of 1 day of our cruise. Very nice...so happy that Carnival did not disappoint. Of course, I'm already thinking of our next one...:)

 

That's wonderful! Thanks for letting us know.

[Buckett]

I just wanted to update...Carnival Guest Services rep actually called me today and apologized for the issues on our cruise. He issued us a future cruise credit for the value of 1 day of our cruise. Very nice...so happy that Carnival did not disappoint. Of course, I'm already thinking of our next one...:)

 

Thanks for the update! Glad they were able to offer you something that you are happy with. :) I do have a question for you, as I will be doing the same itinerary in January. Who did you use for your private tour in La Romana? That is the only port I am having a hard time with! Thank you.

[consmarci]

We used Pro Excursions and did the ’Pro Saona for Cruisers’ . It was definitely more of a booze cruise than a snorkel adventure though. We expected real snorkeling, but didn't see one fish...but the drinks were free flowing and the tour was fun overall. Beautiful day, beautiful catamaran...no complaints!