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Carnival VISTA 7 Night Cruise REVIEW With FunTimes & Photos!!


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Information About This Cruise & Me: This was my 15th cruise and my 1st time to cruise on the Carnival Vista. This cruise was May 18-May 25, 2019 and it departed from Galveston to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. I try to do the review in parts, by day. I took over 3000 pictures and will try to include as many as possible of the ship, food, and ports. The review is on my personal cruise blog (no ads), which is also where you can find Fun-Times and other scanned handouts from the cruise.

 

Here Is The Review, Photos & Fun-Times:

Review & Pictures:  http://www.embarkandaway.com/carnival-vista-7-day-caribbean-cruise-review-2019.html 

Funtimes Newsletters: http://www.embarkandaway.com/carnival-vista-7-day-cruise-review-fun-times-activity-newsletters.html 

For those that do not want to click on external links, I will post the pictures from the review to Cruise Critic after I get most of my review online (will be at least a few more days). This is the way I have done several of my past cruise reviews so I will keep the same format! 

 

I greatly enjoyed the Carnival Vista and wish I was still onboard.  🙂 

 

Feel Free To Ask Questions You Have! I will answer questions as quick as possible! One of my post-cruise activities is compiling my pictures to write a review. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. 

Edited by thecruiserofships
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Arrival In Galveston & Parking:
              After over 15 months of anticipation the day of the Carnival Vista cruise arrived! My alarm was set for 4:45am, but since I was awake since 2:00am I decided to get up around 4:30am to start getting ready for the day. I couldn't sleep because of the excitement of getting on the ship and my constant desire to keep looking up the ship's position on the tracker overnight. After getting out of bed I showered, finalized my packing, and ate breakfast. We left around 6:20am and began our journey to Galveston. Due to traffic being very light, we arrived in Galveston around 8:30am, but stopped at McDonalds first to get a dollar large drink. 
              We parked at EZ Cruise Parking and had a great experience.  
Prior to the day of our cruise, I reserved a parking space on EZ Cruise Parking's website and picked their "Park & Walk Special". Selecting this special meant we received a discount for not using the parking lot's shuttle. Upon arriving at the lot, we showed our online receipt and were instantly directed to a parking spot. After securing our vehicle, we walked about 4-5 minutes to the cruise terminal. A police officer was working the crosswalk along Harborside Drive and he stopped traffic to let us across. Having a police officer working this crosswalk made the walk across the street much safer because vehicles had to follow the officer's instructions to stop.

 

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Arriving At The Cruise Terminal & Check-In:
              After arriving at the cruise terminal our suitcases were taken by a porter. We followed the outside signage to find where embarking passengers should go to check-in. One thing I have always liked about Galveston's Cruise Terminal #1 is the signage is very clear. Since we arrived too early the doors to check-in were not yet open. As we waited outside we were able to watch debarking passengers get into taxis and parking lot shuttles. Thankfully it was not too hot outside and the wind blew every few minutes. This made the wait much better. Around 9:30am, some cruise terminal employees came outside to finalize setting up. One staff member organized the outside area into two different lines. One line was for priority guests and Faster to the Fun. The other line was for all other cruisers based on arrival appointment time windows. There was a wedding taking place on the ship and the wedding party guests were directed to another line to wait. 

 

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 Around 10:00am the doors to the cruise terminal for check-in were opened. The line with priority guests and Faster to the Fun was let into the building first. Before being allowed into the building boarding passes were checked to ensure each cruiser was in the right line. I overheard a terminal staff member tell a newer staff member to also check the ship name because sometimes cruisers will go to the wrong cruise terminal on days when two ships are in Galveston. After entering the cruise terminal building, we had our passports and boarding passes checked again. The staff member doing this scanned our passport and uploaded the passport photo into Carnival's system. If a cruiser's appearance differed from the passport photo a new picture was taken on the spot for Carnival's identification system. Thankfully my passport photo is relatively recent so my passport photo was able to be used. 
                     Following this part of the check-in process we went through security. After going through security, we were directed up an escalator to the cruise terminal's second floor. This was my first cruise being Platinum in Carnival's VIFP club and as a result I was directed to the Captain's Lounge in the cruise terminal. This area was for Platinum and Diamond guests. Some refreshments were available for everyone in this lounge to enjoy. During my wait I kept getting up to walk around and look out the nearby cruise terminal windows. I was able to see the very back of the Carnival Vista as well as the front of the Carnival Dream docked at terminal #2. 

 

NOTE:  Cruise Critic's editor is giving me a little problem with posting image links so I hope ya'll are able to see the images. 

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Boarding The Carnival Vista:
                     Boarding the Carnival Vista was delayed because the cruise terminal's gangway was broken. The gangway broke one week prior to the cruise and was unable to get fixed by the time our cruise departed. Due to the broken gangway debarking passengers had to get off the ship on Deck 0, which made the process of getting cruisers off take longer. This delayed our embarkation and meant the wait in the cruise terminal was longer than normal. Around 11:40am announcements about how the boarding process would work were broadcasted over the cruise terminal's PA and by 11:45am the boarding process began. First, wedding guests were allowed to board the ship. Next, the VIFP Diamond and Platinum guests were allowed to board.  After Diamond & Platinum guests boarded, Faster to the Fun guests were allowed to board. Cruisers with Faster to the Fun paid extra for priority boarding as well as a few other perks. There were several Faster to the Fun guests sailing on this cruise. Once Faster to the Fun guests boarded, the boarding process continued by zones and arrival appointment times.

 

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Now that your an expert on Vista, can you answer a question for me?

We are sailing at the end of the month and my daughter and I busy preparing our door decorations for the three family's cabins we are traveling with. Can you tell me if magnets will work on the doors? I have been trying to find out if the doors are metal like on a normal Carnival or RC ship. Some pictures look like they have wood planks on the doors. What can you share? 

 

Thank you!

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11 hours ago, Rail2Sea said:

Now that your an expert on Vista, can you answer a question for me?

We are sailing at the end of the month and my daughter and I busy preparing our door decorations for the three family's cabins we are traveling with. Can you tell me if magnets will work on the doors? I have been trying to find out if the doors are metal like on a normal Carnival or RC ship. Some pictures look like they have wood planks on the doors. What can you share? 

 

Thank you!

 

Unfortunately, I am not sure if the stateroom doors are magnetic. I saw a few decorated doors that used small pieces of tape (Carnival's online frequently asked questions says tape isn't allowed, but these people didn't get caught). 

 

I am so sorry I cannot give you a more specific answer. Have a great cruise! The Vista is a great ship.    

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8 hours ago, ZeeWP said:

beautiful pictures so early on 🙂 can't wait to read more!
You didn't happen to get the camp Ocean pamphlets did you?

Thank you!

 

Sadly, I don't have the Camp Ocean newsletters. I had intentions to get them and walked over to the Camp Ocean lounge on the first day. The lounge was closed because the muster station drill was about to take place and I never thought to go back and get them later. Sorry about not having them! 

Edited by thecruiserofships
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RyG- thank you so much for your comprehensive review and documentation! We have a large group of people on our FB page for our upcoming Vista cruise and your review and Fun Times newsletters answered so many questions people have had! I think you probably got a bunch more likes on your site since I found this thread yesterday!

 

We've got 2 more weeks before our cruise and hopefully you'll have it all done before we leave, but if not, what you've done so far is amazing! Thanks again for your efforts!

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On 5/30/2019 at 7:08 AM, Cairns Cruisers said:

I must congratulate you on such a comprehensive review. I encourage everyone to follow your links & enjoy the photos & commentary. Really well done,thank you.

 

Thank you! I'm glad to hear you think its comprehensive. Sometimes I feel like I don't go into enough detail. 

 

On 5/30/2019 at 12:54 PM, Shaded Lady said:

RyG- thank you so much for your comprehensive review and documentation! We have a large group of people on our FB page for our upcoming Vista cruise and your review and Fun Times newsletters answered so many questions people have had! I think you probably got a bunch more likes on your site since I found this thread yesterday!

 

We've got 2 more weeks before our cruise and hopefully you'll have it all done before we leave, but if not, what you've done so far is amazing! Thanks again for your efforts!

 

Thank you for sharing it with the people on your cruise FB group. I hope everyone is enjoying it!  Have a great cruise on the Vista! Ya'll are in for a great ship. I hope to have the review done by the time you cruise, but will likely be close if I'm not finished by then. These reviews take forever to write and upload pictures! 

Edited by thecruiserofships
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8 hours ago, JerseyGirlJen said:

Looking forward to reading, excellent start so far 😁😁

 

Thank you! Please let me know if you have any questions at any time!

 

On 6/5/2019 at 3:34 PM, Rheba said:

Thank you so much for the work you’ve put into this. We’re booked for September and I’ve used your review several times for reference. Thank you again!

 

Thank you!  Have a great cruise in September. It will be here before you know it. Please let me know if you have any questions at any time!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/30/2019 at 1:13 PM, Stallion said:

Just curious-how did you take hundreds of pictures  without a single passenger showing in these pictures-did you have the Vista to yourself all week

 

It’s easy to do when you first board the ship. Everyone goes to the lido and all other parts of the ship are pretty much empty. I frequently spend the first hour or so on a ship taking pictures of all the other parts of the ship, and I am able to take many pictures with no people in them. 

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