Tried Carnival for first time since 90's and I would say......

[Oceansaway17]

That the ship Vista met my expectations very nicely for my 8 day cruise July 14-22

 

Liked:

1-Plenty of room in the Lido area compared to other cruise lines

2-A middle deck around the pool area for lots or shady seats. Most ships including other Carnival ships don't have this setup. Also plenty of other shady areas toward the back. Loved the Dive In movies and lots of folks were there every night. Not so much on other ships. It is the 2nd level that keeps the wind down and helps those sitting at pool level too.

3- Very comfortable mattress and great sound proofing in the walls too. I was in an interior SPA cabin on deck 11. Did not even hear the music in the hallway.

4-Round the clock availability of soft ice cream or pizza.

5-Hamburgers and wraps by the pool not part of Lido. Burgers were hot and not swimming is juices

6-Being able to view the ship up front on 3 levels. So many ships have stopped doing this and have only rooms.

7-Really good food in Lido for lunch including nice 4 layer cakes. Dinner was also pretty good. I think about 30% of the ship eats only in the Lido. I ate in MDR once and it was just okay.

 

Disliked but would not keep me from going again - just a few comments:

1-The main theater was strangely designed and with large metal poles and many different chair setups, it made for odd viewing at times. Also upstairs at the front middle section, they put a row of single chairs in front of padded comfortable booth like seats that blocked the view of those sitting there. So many folks come and go looking for something better.

2-The setup of Lido with 4 sections and 4 lines. At times the lines would be long and felt like cafeteria style. They should have cold and hot sections separate. Also would be nice to have larger beverage cups. 8 ounces is small.

3-The air conditioning in the comedy club was very chilly as was the Ocean Plaza on Deck 5 aft.

4-Pools a bit too small especially the main pool. They should have made it 3 feet longer and 3 feet wider.

5-Sky Ride. I showed up and did not want to go first so they told me that folks like to go in pairs and I would have to wait a while. To me it is a solo ride and even if you show up with another person, most of the time one would be further ahead. I did not see many riding alongside each other. I did not appreciate the snotty attitude of the folks running the ride. Just let people go as they come up.

6-The terminal for luggage retrieval needs to be different!!!!!!!. They did NOT line up the luggage by tag number but rather used 4 airport like carousel type setup. Many folks luggage got mixed up or delayed and was a lot of angry folks (July 22 in Miami). Worse setup in my 25 cruises ever. NCL next door has a totally different setup back in November when I took the Escape. So Carnival needs to get Miami to fix this or change the setup. I would say walk off with your luggage in Miami if you can.

7-A few more elevators would be nice. The elevators were also about 20% smaller in size from other cruise ships

 

Overall I did like my cruise and will tell anyone who bad mouths Carnival ships to at least look into the newer ones. Folks were friendly and it was FUN. The two atriums were beautiful.

[LuckyStar]

This was very helpful as sister and I are looking at Vista going out of Galveston next April. Thank you!

[K&RCurt]

Thanks for the balanced review.

 

I found it funny that the one thing that didn't work for you was the one thing that I thought was great at debarkation - the baggage carousels! Our first Carnival cruise was this past February, and we were used to the way HAL and Celebrity did the baggage, lined up in sections on the floor of a large hall. We found it easy to find the correct carousel in Miami, and had our bags and were in line for customs and immigration the fastest we have ever been.

 

Just goes to show different experiences from the same type situation!

[Oceansaway17]

The issue was with baggage handlers putting things in wrong place.

Trust me so many annoyed folks beside me. But it was a Sunday ans they might have been short handed.

[pascalburns]

glad you enjoyed your cruise.thanks for the review.enjoyed it.

[melvis1804]

Thanks for the balanced review.

 

I found it funny that the one thing that didn't work for you was the one thing that I thought was great at debarkation - the baggage carousels! Our first Carnival cruise was this past February, and we were used to the way HAL and Celebrity did the baggage, lined up in sections on the floor of a large hall. We found it easy to find the correct carousel in Miami, and had our bags and were in line for customs and immigration the fastest we have ever been.

 

Just goes to show different experiences from the same type situation!

 

I agree with you. We liked the baggage carousels. All of our luggage was at the correct carousel and we weren't walking around searching in huge piles of luggage for ours. :D

[shotodrag]

We'll be sailing on the Vista in September of next year, and I'm hearing from a lot of people on these boards about how bad the theater setup is. I'll keep this in mind and make sure to show up early to any shows we want to see.

 

Vista will be in Galveston by then, so maybe the debarkation process will be better there. I haven't sailed out of Galveston yet (just moved to TX last year), so I have no experience with it yet.

[riclop]

Welcome back.

[kona_wahine]

As for the sky ride I would just say if you threw off the whole couples things then they wouldn’t catch up until the next single comes along. I would ride with my hubby or other family member.

[Pellaz]

The issue was with baggage handlers putting things in wrong place.

Trust me so many annoyed folks beside me. But it was a Sunday ans they might have been short handed.

 

Note that this cannot be blamed on Carnival. The shore-side baggage handlers are not Carnival employees, but well-compensated union longshoremen.

[lazydays2004]

Great review!! I'd love to cruise on Vista.