Vista 11/11 - 11/18, the good, the bad the ugly

[firefly333]

We did Super 8 in Galveston, prices had skyrocketed due to a anime convention, fishing tournament, whatnot. Few hotels in the $100 range. Address is on Seawall, 1/2 B lol, so we were behind a larger more expensive hotel and had to enter thru Waffle house, but reviews were good and so was our room. So much for the beach, it was so cold. We went to Taco Cabanna on 61st for $3 Happy Hour Margaritas and Mexican, instead of meeting up with our facebook group and got toasted a wee bit. Would have been perfect if it hadnt been 50 degrees and a strong wind.

 

We used CruisePark.com which is sunday to sunday parking, locked up in between. They did have a little golf cart to take us the block to the pedestrial crosswalk, they are not allowed to bring you into the port itself. Its across from the RCL pier so they use the golf cart to get you closer to Carnival. I think it was $50 plus tax and tip to the driver.

 

Boarding was a tad slow, we heard the ship was a hour late getting in (though I heard we were 4 hours late getting in lol), but we made friends we enjoyed thru out the cruise and even exchanged FBs and enjoyed new friends a lot.

 

Got to our cabin and was a bit surprised by a few things. I posted pics in the cabin complilation thread, and will probably do a few here. We had cabin 2207, a porthole 1A. On other ships I have had them, but always further back, never had a port hole this far forward, room cute but noisy in the waves several nights. I saw someone who had another cabin mention the 2 closets, not 3 and most of the one closet was shelves and 3 drawers and the safe. We had good shelves and one closet was enough for us that had hangers.

 

The 2nd bed was made up but didnt even rate a luggage mat. 3 shelves on both sides of the mirror in the bathroom was better than usual. Cabin steward introduced himself and we said 6 to 8 pm, once a day would be fine. We came back later after the welcome aboard show, waste basket still overflowing, beds not touched and asked and was told they dont start cleaning until Monday. He said he had his assistant give us two fun times, room was normal set up, said this was normal to not get turn down or the room made up the day you board.

 

I have more pictures of the cabin, but this is a porthole 1A, deck 2, 2207. One hanging closet and one with shelves, next to it is the desk where Im used to drawers, thats the refrigerator. As you can see the bed under the port hole has no luggage mat. Room was very noisy as we found out from the waves hitting the hull. I probably would not choose it again. Further forward than on other ships, in fact the curtains are black out curtains to be closed at night for navigation. We took sleeping pills two nights, because of the sound of the waves hitting the hull every 5 minutes. crazy loud. And Ive done many 1As before, but this was by far the noisiest and closest to the front of the ship.

[firefly333]

So Monday, I went to the buffet to get coffee. Both coffee makers in the rear were out of coffee and no one working on them. The one in the front was a trickle so almost out.

 

Found our cabin steward and asked him why he didnt make up our cabin like he said between 6 to 8 pm. He said they dont start cleaning until Monday. News to me. Asked for a 2nd bar of soap and to get 2 fun times a day since I was not related to my roomie and we each wanted one.

 

First few days of buffet were so so. I did find the BBQ the 2nd day and pork fatty and i question serving cole slaw and potato salad outside on deck 5. It was better on Valor and served inside. But I went back for seconds and it was better and not so fatty meat.

 

My roomie found the salad bowls they make up in the Mexican place before I did and loved them and had them last 3 days. Said they were the best thing on the ship at lunch time.

 

I also tried the salad bar up in Serenity the 3rd day of lunch but no salt to be had.

 

Salt was my daily complaint. I eat a lot of salt and they no longer put it on the tables in the buffet, another cut back they said was fleet wide. They sure need to buy some more shakers, never hardly could find one. My roomie said maybe people are stealing them is why they are so short of salt shakers in the buffet.

 

Last lunch i tried the Mexican and agree, the bowls of sald they make with flour tortilla shells are awesome and the last couple of days on the buffet I liked the choices better. 

 

I used my "free" drink coupon the first day. Last cruise I accidently threw it away and hadnt used one in a while, but last time i did the bloody marys were included. Now bloody marys were $10.99 and the free drink is only up to $9, so i was charged the overage and tip on the overage. There were some drinks listed for 9.25 like rum punch I saw in the comedy club. I heard maybe mimosas were $9, but good luck finding a totally free drink. I get 3 free drinks on RCL and have fewer days on RCL than on Carnival. 

 

We requested Early Dining. First time I didnt get the time I requested. Vista instead of 3 regular dining rooms has 2 anytimes in the aft and 2 regular in the middle of the ship. So, I was new to anytime.

 

You had to check in on deck 5, then go to deck 3. The girl insisted you either had to have the Hub app or check in on deck 5 nightly. Lots of extra walking.

 

Service was indifferent at best our first few nights. I dont mind doing away with the asst waiter (so why are tips going up?), They put the bread and water on the tablet now, but we never got ground pepper on our ceasar salads even one night. Wanted a refill on coffee, ... guess not. We did finally find a good team and got her card and then could just go to deck 3 and check in at the deck 3 desk and ask for her. She gave us mugs of coffee, not tiny cups etc.

 

My roomie was afraid to check in via the app and if the notification a table was ready would switch her out of airplane mode, idk. I didnt have the app, and my phone isnt very smart. But I did see deck 5 showing someone how to check in for any time dining via Hub app.

 

 

[firefly333]

Elevators. My roomie decided to not take them the whole week to burn off the extra calories so she didnt care. 8 elevators in the front, only 6 go down to decks 1 and 2. So if you took either of the 2 front elevators you walked down a flight to get to deck 2 where we were. One had a button to go up to 15. We went up there just for fun the first night in the wind. We could barely walk the wind was so strong, kinda fun.

 

I finally did the sky ride about half way thru. For about 20 minutes only 2 guys got in line behind me and one moved up to friends leaving just me and another guy. I was told you need a partner (2 cars up there) and they were only letting me on because the other guy also needed a partner. They closed down the sky ride after us. Got around the first corner and was like OMG OMG OMG when the wind hit me full on. I told myself well so far its never crashed and cant go back but wow. Back side was squeaking. It was more of a adventure than I expected in the wind, plus maybe Im a chicken.

 

My roomie did both rope courses. The hard one is like 10 times harder than the easy one.The hard one you cross on just one rope two places, though you are harnessed in. If you fall off the rope which I saw a boy do, then you have to pull yourself back up onto the rope by arm strength. Our whole cruise was pretty windy, so easy to fall off the rope. 

 

[firefly333]

I went to all the singing and dancing shows, even the welcome aboard. I love this kind of shows and thought these were some of the best Id seen for at least 5 years. Only Oasis was better. Shows were top notch. I loved them all and wished they lasted longer.

 

We did go early but never had a problem finding seats. Matt said the theater was designed to be more interactive with the audience and the shows were, but with only one balcony, not two, the theater is smaller. Matt said the room originally was designed as a place for dancing, but was too large for that, and the designer of that theater is no longer working for Carnival. We went to his question and answer.

 

Shout out to Matt, he is great. I complained to him early on and he got on it and took care of it. The indifferent service at dinner and our cabin stewards. Really, I never did like our cabin steward, I had excellent ones on my last Carnival cruise. Just the well i set up your cabin in the standard 1A set up answer. So we asked for the 2nd soap and he was like you only had to ask, and no luggage mat for my roomie, no laundry bags, or forms, or just a lot of stuff Im used to getting. Like service the day you board. He said they did the cabins before we got on, that was our one time a day. Id seen someone who got a Harbor inside mention the 2 closets is why i mentioned it here, us too. And dont expect the book of excursions. Everything was a special request we had to go get ourselves.

 

I kept opening the refrigerator below the desk as Im used to the drawers being there, not in one of the two closets. usually you get 3 big drawers plus a smaller one. we got 3 plus the one where the hair dryer was that didnt hold anything. But there were more shelves than normal which was nice. Also 3 shelves on each side of the mirror in the bathroom was a nice change.

 

Only 2 ice cream stations on this ship. Another cut back imo. Though they made hand made sorbet in the middle of the first buffet line, but the two little churns often ran out, hard to get. I got some twice.

 

We got into every show and comedy club we went to see np, but that dessert line was awful. Always 20 to 30 minute wait and the last seaday with the chocolate must have been 45 minutes when i went by, no way. I skipped dessert at lunch, no way was I waited that long for a piece of cake daily, though I did try it once and it was quite good, but they really need to rearrange it so there are 2 lines coming from both directions imo. One dessert line for the entire ship is just crazy.

[firefly333]

Debarkation letter said if you are not in the dining room by 7:30 you will not be allowed priority and have to wait for your deck to be called.

 

This cruise was yet another casino cruise, wish there was a way to know so I could avoid them. 125 diamonds and total of 695 priority with platinum, so a ton of platinums. Last cruise had over 200 diamonds, another big gambling cruise.

 

Debarkation they announced we were 4 hours late docking, though might be exaggerated. We were still docking when it was time to get off the ship so we probably were late docking. They were very good about getting suitcases lined up in the order you arrived at your designated place, diamonds had the whole atrium, platinums most of the dining room, suites the other side. everyone lined up suitcases and employees made sure no cutting line like Ive seen on other ships. Best debarkatioin Ive ever seen.

 

Hats off to Vista crew and Matt. He will be a awesome CD and asset to Vista.

 

Casino was too crowded and overly smoky and Im not one to mind smoke, but people were smoking even what looked like tiny cigars. Almost impossible to get a machine if you wanted to do slots. Casino needs to be twice that size with a lot more machines or limit the casino ultra cruisers, idk, but way too few slot machines. 

 

We had a cooler than usual cruise, which other than Galveston feeling freezing the rest was fine with me. For instance i heard Carnival cancelled cave tubing, but the private tours did not. Someone said a friend did it the week before and just her face was above the water where you go thru because of recent rains. 

 

I was on the excursion i mentioned where a younger gal went with a kid (minor so he was under age 18) around a corner maybe for a massage and he physcially came on to her and she freaked and they sent her home via cab. This was a private beach we paid to enter to go past a guard. I hear the 2 for $20 lobsters were delicious and large. My chips and salsa not so much lol. Their idea of salsa was green peppers onions and a few tomatoes. But the tour overall was awesome. We saw the entire island of Roatan, Monkey Business where we got to hold the sloths and monkeys though the parrots not so much, but the sloths loved to be held like babies, though their fur was wet ... like I said weather wasnt too co operative. We even went down on a beach to see the tour guides town where there was no paved road so I got to see parts of Roatan I had not seen before. Again please stay with your group and dont go off by yourself alone with a guy. Things got a little too rowdy on the bus going back, so now my roomie says she will only do Carnival, though I think two people shouting could happen just as easily on a Carnival excursion bus due to excessive liquor. The drinks at the beach were very good and priced reasonable, about $7 for large drinks. plus we stopped at a grocerty store and loaded up. smaller bottle of rum for $5 for instance and some got chips and beers etc. before we got there. 

 

I would rate the 2nd half of the cruise much higher than how it started off, service wise, food wise etc. I just didnt like anything on the buffet the first few days and the waiters we got at any time dining kinda were bad. Cabin steward remained indifferent, though they tried harder after I complained. I just think the job didnt suit him lets leave it at that. 

 

Lots of good things about Vista, so Im glad I did it. One lady said she did more walking the first day than a whole week on any other cruise ... thats true for me as well, whew .... 

 

But i loved the sky ride. Didnt run into the lines at shows or sky ride Id read of, maybe it was the weather?

 

 

[firefly333]

Oh I have to mention the diamond and platinum party. It was the best party ive ever been to. Lots of service and you could order any drinks you wanted as many as you wanted. I tried several lol

 

And the guitar duo I liked the best sang thru out.

 

Matt got up and gave awards. one lady had I think 780 days on Carnival. They really need another tier and split up platinum and diamond and add one other.

 

The party was the best part on any line Ive ever been to.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

I would be raising H.... if my cabin was not ready on embarkation day and having service only once a day.

 

Sounds like you did enjoy your cruise in spite of the few hip cups.

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for taking the time to post your comments.

[cb at sea]

I agree with you on the cabin attendant....seems like either he had too much to do, or was simply lazy.  I wouldn't have let it slide.