Review - Vista Western Caribbean June 8-15

[aknguyen]

We just got off the Vista after visiting Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. Overall, we have a great time but we did have some hiccups.

 

This was the first family vacation we'd taken in a while and my son's first cruise. We signed up last July and have been looking forward to it ever since.

 

We live in the greater Houston area so we drove to Galveston the morning of embarkation. This time we tried a new-to-us parking and shuttle company called Falstaff. I recommend them. Parking is covered and priced reasonably. The address is Church Street but you actually enter on 35th Street. We missed the sign the first time around and had to make the block. The shuttles were new and in great shape. The staff was helpful and friendly.

 

Our boarding window was 12-12:30 PM. We approached the on time line at 12:01 PM and I don't think we ever stopped walking until we were on the ship. Getting on was a breeze. We went up to deck 10 for lunch and it was predictably a zoo. However, we found a table easily and had Guy's burgers in less than 10 minutes. It looked worse than it actually was. 

 

Soon it was 1:30 PM so we went to check out our room. We had a balcony on deck 8 mid and we really liked this location. We were located close to the middle so it was easy to get around from our room. We had 2 twin beds pushed together for my husband and I and the sofa bed for my son. The beds were definitely more comfortable than the sofa but my son had no complaints. Even with the sofa bed set up we felt there was plenty of space in the room. I brought a clear shoe holder and hung it on the closet door after seeing that recommendation here and it worked great. The balcony only had 2 chairs but my son sat on a lap whenever we spent time out there so it was fine. In the picture below he's enjoying his first pizza while still close to shore.

 

 

 

[aknguyen]

My son played in the waterworks area for a bit and then we got ready for dinner in the MDR. After that we explored the ship. We had a beautiful sunset before going to the arcade. There was an hour where the games were half price so that was nice. 

 

We used the Hub app to check in and the table was ready by the time we got to the restaurant. We would have similar experiences throughout the week. The food was quite good overall. I got 2 fish dishes that were a little bland but still good. The chocolate melting cake is of course delicious! 

 

 

[aknguyen]

We had a letter in our stateroom that evening stating "the ship is experiencing an issue that is affecting the maximum cruising speed." It also said that we'd be adjusting our arrival and departure times in all ports. This ended up working out because we could sleep a little later and stay in port a little later. 

 

Ironically, this was World Oceans Day. To celebrate, $1 was offered off a drink called Deep Blue and there were some cakes on the Lido but we didn't make it over there.

[Quilcruisers]

Looking forward to reading the rest.  Your son is adorable.  We took my son on his first cruise at 3 years old and he is now platinum, which speaks to how much he enjoys it and how great of a value it is compared to other vacations. 

[ZeeWP]

What an adorable family 🙂 We will be on the same route in reverse, February 2020. My daughter will be 5 and half, and my son almost 4. So I am very looking forward to reading your review and what you did!

[StarryBugg]

Can’t wait to read more! We are doing this trip in September (90 days!) as a family. My son (age 8) is an experienced cruiser on several lines, as am I, but it will be my husband’s first cruise, as well as our daughter (age 2). 

[aknguyen]

Here is the schedule of activities for Camp Ocean. My son loved it. 

 

[aknguyen]

Here is the overall entertainment schedule.

 

[aknguyen]

Here's the Fun Times for the first day.

 

[aknguyen]

We woke up some time around 8 AM. The curtain didn't quite block out all the sunlight so that was our alarm clock. But that's OK because we wanted to get started on the fun!

 

Our first full day on the ship started out with breakfast at the Lido buffet so that we could get the kid to the waterworks as soon as humanly possible. The offerings were varied enough that everyone had plenty to eat, even the picky kid. It wasn't that busy. I require caffeine to function and found the buffet coffee to be...sufficient. It's not the worst coffee I've ever had and it certainly wasn't the best. I drink a little coffee with my half and half anyway so fortunately that ratio helped greatly. I love that guava juice concoction they have. Love it. Between 2 cups of the juice and 2 cups of coffee I got real familiar with the locations of the restrooms on deck 10. 😉

 

 

[aknguyen]

A group on the other website did a slot pull. I've never participated in anything like this so I decided to check it out. We all brought $20 cash and decided what machine we wanted to use. The organizer put all the cash into it and each person took a turn. It wasn't looking good because most people lost and the ones that "won" usually only got half of the value of the spin. It wasn't looking good at that point. Once the last person had their turn and we were all good and disappointed in how quickly this was going to be over, someone suggested we switch to a different machine so that's what we did. Everyone took another turn. We'd win a little and lose a lot. Win a little and lose a lot. We were down to $15. It wasn't very exciting. I think someone might have left at this point. Then one guy won over $300! You should have heard the screaming! Other casino patrons ran over to see what was going on because surely someone won some $50,000 jackpot. Nope. Just $300. The confusion on their faces was hilarious. So after that big win, we decided to change machines again. We started our turns again and started winning a little here and there. We got the total back to our original amount. Then someone came up and won $600! Again, we all started hooting and hollering. LOL We all voted to cash out at this point. We all wound up with $40. Not bad! It's not that often that you double your money! It was really fun.

[aknguyen]

By now it was almost lunchtime. I met up with my husband and son at the sushi place for a snack. Apparently my son had bashed his forehead into one of the water play things while I was in the casino. He still has the bruise today. Anyway, the sushi was good. My son's nigiri had large, thick pieces of salmon and he enjoyed them. My husband and I got a roll and it was quite large for the price. Water is served in cups made out of some kind of stone. My son and husband swore it made the water taste funny but I didn't notice it.

 

 

[aknguyen]

For lunch we had Lido buffet and Guy's burgers. (Don't judge me!) Those burgers are so good. They lived up to the hype. So, so good. One odd thing about the Lido buffet at lunch is the cake station. I'm pretty sure all of them except the chocolate ones are the same cake on the inside. They all look different on the outside and have a different description but...they look and taste the exactly.the.same. It's not a bad cake but it's really just one cake. Every day. 

 

In the afternoon we did Build-A-Bear. Surprisingly, the prices at sea aren't higher than those on land. (Can anything be any higher than the prices of Build-A-Bear on land? I'm not sure that's possible. We got a Pikachu there a couple of weeks ago to the tune of $57...) The only licensed character is the Carnival bear. All the others are the generic shark, t rex, teddy bear, etc. They do have the overpriced clothing but no voices, heart beats, and other totally unnecessary additions. They come with a backpack, which will be needed to carry this thing off the ship later.

 

[beshears]

I'm reading your review so far, and enjoying it, as well as the pictures.  I am in the "thinking" mode of taking my 3 sons and wives, as well as a friend next year on the Vista, only a different direction.  At least this way, I am getting an idea of what the ship looks, has to offer as well. 🙂

 

Question, I understand the ship has the I-Max Theater.  Is there a charge to see movies there?

[aknguyen]

5 hours ago, beshears said:

I'm reading your review so far, and enjoying it, as well as the pictures.  I am in the "thinking" mode of taking my 3 sons and wives, as well as a friend next year on the Vista, only a different direction.  At least this way, I am getting an idea of what the ship looks, has to offer as well. 🙂

 

Question, I understand the ship has the I-Max Theater.  Is there a charge to see movies there?

Yes, there is a charge to see the IMAX movies. We watched a short 3D one about the oceans and it was $5.50 per person, which I felt was reasonable compared to what you'd pay for that at other places. I don't remember how much the other movies cost. I think it was around $12.

[aknguyen]

That evening we explored the sports complex. We played mini golf and tried out the exercise equipment. Husband and son tried the bowling game. Heads up: It's $3 for 3 frames per lane. 

 

 

[aknguyen]

I forgot to mention that it was elegant night so we took some pictures. You can see the bruise on my son's forehead. 😉

 

[aknguyen]

Here are the Fun Times for the day.

 

[toober]

Thanks for the info!

[aknguyen]

I'll eventually finish, I promise! As soon as I came home I was assigned a huge work project that involves ongoing travel so I haven't had must opportunity to sort photos and scan documents.

[cincicruisers]

Looking forward to more