Onboard Vista Now Thoughts

[RCmommy]

Some thoughts about the Vista while onboard..

 

MDR - approximately 10-15m wait each night for MDR table. Service hit and miss but overall good.

 

Cabin - definitely had cleaner staterooms.  Still like the cute towel animals. We are on deck 9 below the buffet.  Only sound we occasionally hear is the trolley they push the plates with.  Sounds like a roll of thunder now and then. Not bad at all.

 

CD - Louis.  Meh. No offence to him.  He isn’t bad, just not in the least bit memorable to me.  Kind of bland.

 

adult game show - hilarious.  Definitely XXX rated. Not for the faint of heart.

 

atrium - very underwhelming.  
 

Elevators are slow as molasses. Seriously.

 

comedy club had to turn people away last night because there was no room.

I won a ship on a stick in Trivia! 

 

[tweak89]

Can you clarify your dining comment? I assume you are My Time Dining?  We depart in 10 days and have Your Time for the first time.

 

[happy cruzer]

How crowded does the ship feel?  Are there many lines for items like for Guy's, buffet, ropes course, etc?

 

Thanks for checking in.

[blyle]

When you docked at Grand Cayman did you stay on Galveston time or Grand Cayman time?  I'm doing private excursions with family and need to know.  Thank you!

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, blyle said:

When you docked at Grand Cayman did you stay on Galveston time or Grand Cayman time?  I'm doing private excursions with family and need to know.  Thank you!

 

It is up to the captain. Typically they switch to Cayman time but it is not required.

[pirate4me2]

Hope you are having a good cruise!

Vista is one of my favorite ships. I agree the decor is a bit blah compared to the older ships, but I do like it...just miss the tall, grand atriums of the past. 

[CruisingCouple13]

I'm sailing the vista for the first time in June. Some of the reviews are making me nervous. What was wrong with the cleanliness of the stateroom?

[RCmommy]

Dust on the shelves.  Not in corners, but right on the flat are. So the spots were a simple wipe would get. The light switch on my bedside table had gunk around it.  I used my make-up wipes to clean it.  It was like old soda syrup dried up.  Our stateroom is only getting attended once a day.  That could be the norm now and that isn’t a big issue for us. It does mean you are stuck with any dirty dishes you have though.

2 hours ago, CruisingCouple13 said:

I'm sailing the vista for the first time in June. Some of the reviews are making me nervous. What was wrong with the cleanliness of the stateroom?

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by RCmommy

[RCmommy]

5 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

It is up to the captain. Typically they switch to Cayman time but it is not required.

We are not going to Grand Cayman. 

[RCmommy]

11 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

How crowded does the ship feel?  Are there many lines for items like for Guy's, buffet, ropes course, etc?

 

Thanks for checking in.

Nothing horrible, no. Sometimes before the show doors open there is a long line but we expect that with this size ship.

[RCmommy]

16 hours ago, tweak89 said:

Can you clarify your dining comment? I assume you are My Time Dining?  We depart in 10 days and have Your Time for the first time.

 

Each night the app says under 10m wait for a table.  It has been around 10-15m.  Brunch the first sea day was about 25m at opening.

[mz-s]

14 minutes ago, RCmommy said:

We are not going to Grand Cayman. 

 

I didn't say you were, I was replying to someone else (the person I quoted in my post).

[satxdiver]

We just left the Vista on Saturday.  We had fixed early dining at 6 PM so no wait and the servers quickly learned our names, what we like to drink (iced tea) and our other requests.  Excellent service.

 

The ship stayed on Galveston time and reminded everyone that we were out of sync with the ports - Mahogany Bay, Belize and  Cozumel.  

 

The cabin was clean and they only service the cabin once each day with you selecting morning or evening.  Towel animals every night.  Room steward came by shortly after boarding.  Cabins not available boarding day until after 1 PM

 

Breakfast/Brunch app always said 10 minute wait.  Never saw any other time.  We reserved a table before we left the cabin near the front elevators deck 9.  We did have to wait a few times.  Lunch is not served in the MDR.  Menu never changes.   Brunch only on sea days. 

 

Never went to the theater or to comedy shows.  Spent time in evening either at the piano bar or listening to rock band.  Some nights it was SRO in either place. Both were excellent. 

 

There were two "elegant nights"  mostly in name only as pax wore about anything and got in. 

 

We had 11:30 - 12:00 boarding time with little lines.  We were on the ship by noon. 

 

If you are going to Belize be aware there is a ~30 minute tender ride into the port.  You have to have tickets to board the shuttle on a first come basis.  

 

CD Louis (Louie) was from UK and was OK but nothing outstanding. 

 

On the second sea day we had two medical emergencies that required patients being removed from the ship.  Captain announced at ~7 AM that a patient was being airlifted to Cancun.  At ~1 PM we made an emergency stop at Cozumel to offload a patient into a waiting ambulance.  It happens. We arrived at Mahogany Bay one hour late.

 

On the last port day in Cozumel we were sitting at Fat Tuesday's having a beer and chips watching the Carnival Horizon since it was in front of the Vista.  We saw two different ambulances about 30 minutes apart go to the Horizon and remove patients.   

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by satxdiver

[RCmommy]

We did Belize today.  We were blessed to get on a tender shortly after 9 to make our meet up spot for a 10:00 excursion.  Private tour.  Between that boat ride and the ride to Caye Caulker we are little-boated out.  Fun day though!

[sanmarcosman]

Carnival says that the removing of our dirty dishes from the hallways is done by the food server teams. We're asked to place our dirty dishes and the tray they rode in on in the hallway with a napkin over it. Not ideal for sure but the stewards may have time to dust if they weren't busy doing unassigned work like busing out our dirty dishes from the cabins.

[RCmommy]

Well the only dishes we ever have are maybe a cup or mug.  I think the dishes out in the hallway is nasty so I don’t leave mine out there.  
 

I knew some would think I’m being nitpicky about things, like dust.

 

I am a Carnival fan.  Always will be.  I don’t complain easily.  If I say there is dust in the rooms where it shouldn’t be, there is. I mean I could write my name in it.

 

I know the crew are hardworking. I appreciate that.  

[RCmommy]

We made all three ports without fail or delay.  I know the propulsion issues is something many have spoken of regarding the Vista.  
 

I will say that the ship definitely rocks way more than I recall any of my previous cruises.  

[RCmommy]

Off the Vista this morning.  A great cruise!  I think we are leaning towards the Magic and similar sized ships being our favourite.

[kinaida]

Thanks @RCmommy! We are on the Vista in April and with all of the negative posts on here about the Vista I was starting to be a bit worried. Did you experience any of the propulsion issues? Did you make it back to Galveston on time?

[RCmommy]

If there were propulsion issues I don’t know about it. We made every port and on time or darn close to it.

 

The ship was rocking side to side a bit more than what I would consider normal.  I heard mumbles about stabilizers not working.  No idea if that is true or not.  It wasn’t horrible by any means.  I know last night they taped barf bags up by the elevators because they were expecting the seas to get really choppy coming back to Galveston.  We didn’t go to bed until about 1am and it didn’t feel any different to me.
 

It’s a great ship. Sure it has some flaws. Nothing drastic in my opinion.  

[hillbillycruisers]

We were on the Vista in November and had a great Cruise Director...apparently she is no longer there. Vista was a good Cruise, but we did have the propulsion issues, and was late getting back to Galveston. We very much enjoyed Ji Ji's restaurant as a lunch alternative...and it's free. Liked the fact that...unlike the Dream...Vista has a Red Frog Pub...fun place to hang out as a group, play shuffleboard, etc. Didn't care for the drab piano bar atmosphere...it was like being in a morgue...at least on our cruise. And didn't like the theater seat set up....very poor designed, with few tables for drinks. Our Vista cruise went to our three favorite ports, at least when sailing out of Galveston. 

[Buffalobills]

Is the Red Frog Pub serving finger foods yet? 

[RCmommy]

11 hours ago, Buffalobills said:

Is the Red Frog Pub serving finger foods yet? 

Not that I noticed.  Only there a couple times, but never saw any food.

[RCmommy]

17 hours ago, hillbillycruisers said:

We were on the Vista in November and had a great Cruise Director...apparently she is no longer there. Vista was a good Cruise, but we did have the propulsion issues, and was late getting back to Galveston. We very much enjoyed Ji Ji's restaurant as a lunch alternative...and it's free. Liked the fact that...unlike the Dream...Vista has a Red Frog Pub...fun place to hang out as a group, play shuffleboard, etc. Didn't care for the drab piano bar atmosphere...it was like being in a morgue...at least on our cruise. And didn't like the theater seat set up....very poor designed, with few tables for drinks. Our Vista cruise went to our three favorite ports, at least when sailing out of Galveston. 

The piano bar always had a crowd and appeared to be quite jovial whenever I walked by.  

[hillbillycruisers]

7 hours ago, RCmommy said:

The piano bar always had a crowd and appeared to be quite jovial whenever I walked by.  

That's good. Maybe they switched piano players. The one on our cruise in November was very drab...and set the tone for a dismal piano bar. Two weeks ago on the Dream, we had a great one...fun...interacted well with the people...lots of crowd participation....very loud and fun. We always do the piano bar on cruises, and the one on the Vista in November has been our only bad experience. I know they do change the piano guys...our guy on the Dream told us he was a couple weeks away from a vacation.