Just booked Vista - 3 questions (including a Camp Ocean ?)

[Aoumd]

Just booked the Vista for November after a ~5 year hiatus from Carnival (and nearly as long from cruising, had several major land/air vacations crossed off the bucket list).  Two questions:

 

1) Camp Ocean - do they have any activities on embarkation day, or is it only registration on embarkation day then activities start at 10am on the first sea day out?  The photos/videos I see of the Penguin room and the description of the activities sound like my son is going to LOVE them!

2) What are the water park's hours on sea days (in good weather)?

3) Does the Vista's Serenity deck get a lot of noise from the lido further aft?  I remember this being an issue on some older Carnival ships.

 

Vista looks amazing, looking forward to the cruise no matter what the answers are!

 

Thanks!

[Eli_6]

I have been on Vista and can't answer your questions, but I do want to know about sail day and the kids club.  I would suspect it doesn't open until after muster because they were strict about muster.  They were calling passengers over the intercom. But they did this on other ships, too. 

 

Quite honestly, we did the Havana area and I barely left my area of the ship.  I didn't even realize there was a thrill theater or IMAX theater and it was on my floor. 🤯. I did do the cycling thing and that was neat.  I initially wanted to do the ropes course but decided it looked like more effort than I wanted to exert.  

 

I am super pumped about the Panorama that has a trampoline park!  And they even have a toddler jump and a glow in the dark jump.

[Aoumd]

11 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I have been on Vista and can't answer your questions, but I do want to know about sail day and the kids club.  I would suspect it doesn't open until after muster because they were strict about muster.  They were calling passengers over the intercom. But they did this on other ships, too. 

 

Quite honestly, we did the Havana area and I barely left my area of the ship.  I didn't even realize there was a thrill theater or IMAX theater and it was on my floor. 🤯. I did do the cycling thing and that was neat.  I initially wanted to do the ropes course but decided it looked like more effort than I wanted to exert.  

 

I am super pumped about the Panorama that has a trampoline park!  And they even have a toddler jump and a glow in the dark jump.

 

Agreed any activities would be after muster.

 

Would love to try a Havana cabin on a future “grown-ups” cruise!

[BandBWCsmom]

I haven't been on Vista, but our last cruise Camp Ocean didn't start until after dinner on the first night and that's what we are expecting on the Breeze in a few weeks. Do make sure you stop by though when you board. That was better for all of us to have my kids see it and meet the counselors and get excited to come back. You sign them up online before you go. Once there, the counselors pulled up our information, created their name tags etc so drop off was a breeze later on.

[PhillyFan33579]

We have spent a lot of time in the Serenity area on both Vista and Horizon. I don’t recall ever hearing noise from the Lido deck on either ship. 

 

Like you mentioned, noise from the Lido deck can easily be heard in the Serenity area on some Carnival ships, with Sunshine being the worst when it comes to hearing noise from the Lido deck. 

[Aoumd]

51 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

We have spent a lot of time in the Serenity area on both Vista and Horizon. I don’t recall ever hearing noise from the Lido deck on either ship. 

 

Like you mentioned, noise from the Lido deck can easily be heard in the Serenity area on some Carnival ships, with Sunshine being the worst when it comes to hearing noise from the Lido deck. 

 

Thanks, sounds like Vista will be an improvement over my experience on Victory, looking forward to it!

[Aoumd]

55 minutes ago, BandBWCsmom said:

I haven't been on Vista, but our last cruise Camp Ocean didn't start until after dinner on the first night and that's what we are expecting on the Breeze in a few weeks. Do make sure you stop by though when you board. That was better for all of us to have my kids see it and meet the counselors and get excited to come back. You sign them up online before you go. Once there, the counselors pulled up our information, created their name tags etc so drop off was a breeze later on.

 

Thanks!  We plan to take our son to get him set up right after embarkation; I was just curious if it really would be almost 24 hours before he’d be able to go to camp after doing so if there was nothing on embarkation day and camp started at 10am on the first sea day.  If camp opens at 7pm, sounds like he’ll be able to start enjoying it much sooner.  The list of activities for his age group sound right up his alley and of course my wife and I won’t mind the break at all that first evening, so we’re looking forward to it!

[JaxsMama]

Camp ocean will have a set time to visit, register and pick up a schedule.  After that it opens officially at 10pm for night owls day one. 

[CruisingViper]

Is the first night one where you have to pay $15 or hourly?

[JaxsMama]

2 hours ago, CruisingViper said:

Is the first night one where you have to pay $15 or hourly?

Yes, first night doesn't open until night owls which is pay. Some nights are hourly and some are a set price if there is a theme party plus grats on both.

[Flytko]

We did the Vista back in April with our three year old twin boys.  Yes, on the first day, there really isn't anything scheduled in Camp Ocean until late/night owl paid time.  They did love it there, when they were in there. Unfortunately, we didn't get to utilize it as much because they would get a bit rowdy and we would get calls from the councilors to talk to them. My wife would just pick them up.

 

We did spend a lot of time at the water park, i'm not too sure if they had strict hours though.  We were usually done before 5pm though.

[Aoumd]

Thanks everyone for your responses; looks like "regular" Camp Ocean starts at 10am on the first sea day then (especially since my kiddo will have bedtime by the time Night Owls starts!).  We'll make the first afternoon/evening a great family time!

 

Still curious what the hours of the water park are on embarkation day (and sea days); DW and DS both love water parks!

[aknguyen]

The water park was open when we first got around to it on embarkation day. I didn't pay attention to the exact time but it was before sail away.

[mom2oneXY]

Definitely his Camp Ocean on embarkation day even if you registered online.  It help build anticipation 🙂  It always gets my son really excited.  My son's favorite embarkation day tradition is to look at the schedule for the week in Camp Ocean and highlight his "must dos".  No Camp Ocean the first night, so we spend it playing putt putt, watching the Dive In Movie, or playing games.   Have fun!!!

 

Most ships the waterworks open times are listed 9am-sunset in the Fun Times.

[CruisingViper]

I just read an article that said the Hub app is being updated to add the Camp Ocean activity schedule and the waterworks times, along with the Dr. Sues activities and others.

 

Edit: I found an article covering it: https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/carnival-hub-app-now-includes-youth-programming.html 

Edited August 6, 2019 by CruisingViper

[carribbound]

I loved the Vista, one of my favorite ships. The only question I can answer for you is about noise. If I remember correctly, noise was not an issue from the Lido area. I think the water park kinda drowns out the awful music played by the mid pool. Hope this helps. Have fun!

 

[MamatoJack]

I believe the water park opens at 1 pm on the first day, I saw it somewhere but can't find the link to the daily schedule any more. It closes down for the safety drill of course.