All things Vista!

[eknowlton]

Sailing on her in December.  Please share your experiences…good and bad. Have seen a lot of mixed reviews.  Thanks in advance. 

[Essiesmom]

If you back up to the main Carnival page, in the upper left you will see See posts about: and next to it in blue select ship.  Click there and you will get a drop down menu to select your ship.  That will give you several days worth of threads to read through.  Sorry my screen isn’t large enough to get the entire ship list:

[coondog99]

Sailed on the Vista in 2017 and really enjoyed it. No complaints about the ship other than the theatre. It has mainly flat level seating complicated by obstructed views caused by supporting pillars. Worst theatres in the fleet but other than that, the ship was great. Will be sailing on it again in Dec 2024. 

[SailawayKC]

All the photo are digital that you view and select on a table. I prefer the printed photo to view.

[firefly333]

JiJis is on this ship. My favorite pay restaurant. I also thought the lobster rolls were awesome from the fish place in the aft. 

[Chief93]

Vista is my least favorite ship.  That being said, it's the DW's favorite, and I'm sailing on her (the Vista, not the DW) for the 3rd time in September.

 

I don't like the enclosed atrium.  To me it doesn't feel like a cruise ship.  But the DW loves both of these things.  We both don't care for the theater seating, so we arrive early and try to sit upstairs.   It has my favorite, the Alchemy Bar.  

 

And to be clear, I've always had a good time.  To me, 80% of why I cruise is sitting on my balcony in my underwear watching the ocean go by.  In the morning with coffee, in the evening with wine, and at night with whatever.  In the world of TMI, I like to drink plenty of water before bed time to insure I have to get up in the wee hours (no pun intended), sit out on the balcony and watch the inky black ocean go by.  

 

 

 

 

[Momma1980]

6 minutes ago, Chief93 said:

Vista is my least favorite ship.  That being said, it's the DW's favorite, and I'm sailing on her (the Vista, not the DW) for the 3rd time in September.

 

I don't like the enclosed atrium.  To me it doesn't feel like a cruise ship.  But the DW loves both of these things.  We both don't care for the theater seating, so we arrive early and try to sit upstairs.   It has my favorite, the Alchemy Bar.  

 

And to be clear, I've always had a good time.  To me, 80% of why I cruise is sitting on my balcony in my underwear watching the ocean go by.  In the morning with coffee, in the evening with wine, and at night with whatever.  In the world of TMI, I like to drink plenty of water before bed time to insure I have to get up in the wee hours (no pun intended), sit out on the balcony and watch the inky black ocean go by.  

 

 

 

 

Hello!  We will be sailing on Vista for the first time as well.  

From the reviews I have read, most people dislike the two things you have mentioned (closed-off atrium and horrible main theatre seating).  You found the best theatre seats to be upstairs? Any particular area upstairs? How early did you get to the theatre to get your preferred seats?

 

Thanks for the advice. 

[Chief93]

56 minutes ago, Momma1980 said:

You found the best theatre seats to be upstairs? Any particular area upstairs? How early did you get to the theatre to get your preferred seats?

 

 

The problem with the balcony lever is in most seats there is either a support pole in front of you, or the top of the railing is in your line of sight.  I suggest you go sometime during the day when it is open but not being used and find seats you like.  I personally like a row of bar stool seats, top level, way at the back.  How early I go depends on how much I want to see the show.

 

The floor level isn't bad, especially if you can get one of the semi-circle couch looking things.  But beware, for some folks those are as precious as that pool side lounge chair.

[FastShip24]

6 hours ago, eknowlton said:

Sailing on her in December.  Please share your experiences…good and bad. Have seen a lot of mixed reviews.  Thanks in advance. 

The best advice I can give you here is don't ask .  Some people complain about everything.  Just go with no expectations and you will never be disappointed 

[BlerkOne]

A great ship.  One of my early pictures of her taken from our hotel balcony in Trieste

 

[JCrewz]

1 hour ago, FastShip24 said:

The best advice I can give you here is don't ask .  Some people complain about everything.  Just go with no expectations and you will never be disappointed 

I was horrified by all the poor reviews of the Luminosa before our June Alaskan cruise.  I was prepared for a bad experience.  Fortunately, the Luminosa was just fine and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I sailed the Vista back in November.  The big stateroom advantage is the menu of complimentary movies to select...over 100.  The regular television channel offering (Dream, Breeze and Luminosa) is shockingly limited.

 

Not much elbow room in the MDR.  The food was good, but the tables are often three inches apart.  If you are a couple, hard to have a private conversation.

 

Like others have mentioned, the entertainment venues are packed.  Get there plenty early.  The crew was friendly with wonderful service.  We had a female room attendant for the first time and she was busier than Lucille Ball in a chocolate factory.  I think she said she had 36 rooms to service each day...but always smiling.

 

I don't get how some passengers label the food as horrible, but it's a big treat to my taste buds for a week.  You should have a great time and enjoy the beautiful ship.

[FastShip24]

1 hour ago, JCrewz said:

I was horrified by all the poor reviews of the Luminosa before our June Alaskan cruise.  I was prepared for a bad experience.  Fortunately, the Luminosa was just fine and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I sailed the Vista back in November.  The big stateroom advantage is the menu of complimentary movies to select...over 100.  The regular television channel offering (Dream, Breeze and Luminosa) is shockingly limited.

 

Not much elbow room in the MDR.  The food was good, but the tables are often three inches apart.  If you are a couple, hard to have a private conversation.

 

Like others have mentioned, the entertainment venues are packed.  Get there plenty early.  The crew was friendly with wonderful service.  We had a female room attendant for the first time and she was busier than Lucille Ball in a chocolate factory.  I think she said she had 36 rooms to service each day...but always smiling.

 

I don't get how some passengers label the food as horrible, but it's a big treat to my taste buds for a week.  You should have a great time and enjoy the beautiful ship.

I agree.  It's your vacation. Enjoy it.  Food is subjective. They must make 4000 meals for dinner and people expect 5 star food. Do they really think that dinner was specially prepared for them?  That ship probably sees 200000 passengers per year yet only the complainers come here.  Take all the comments with a grain of salt. It's a budget cruise line

[Saint Greg]

I like it. JiJi's is the best specialty restaurant for the money.

 

Vista has my favorite RFP bar. 

 

 

Also love it's skybox sports bar. Nice big bar with lots of stools.

 

[hurricane0226]

11 hours ago, Chief93 said:

Vista is my least favorite ship.  That being said, it's the DW's favorite, and I'm sailing on her (the Vista, not the DW) for the 3rd time in September.

 

I don't like the enclosed atrium.  To me it doesn't feel like a cruise ship.  But the DW loves both of these things.  We both don't care for the theater seating, so we arrive early and try to sit upstairs.   It has my favorite, the Alchemy Bar.  

 

And to be clear, I've always had a good time.  To me, 80% of why I cruise is sitting on my balcony in my underwear watching the ocean go by.  In the morning with coffee, in the evening with wine, and at night with whatever.  In the world of TMI, I like to drink plenty of water before bed time to insure I have to get up in the wee hours (no pun intended), sit out on the balcony and watch the inky black ocean go by.  

 

 

 

 

Like to sit out in my underwear also

[Caps_Shield]

I was just on it!  Great ship!  Only complaint is that for my sailing every bar was closed by 11pm.  Maybe that was just a odd thing for my sailing and maybe that isn't a concern for you.  Just something to keep in mind.  

[ABQrobin]

We have done the VISTA 3 times now.  We love it and hate it... I know, that's crazy but.

LOVE all the restaurants, entertainment, Cruise directors, etc.

Hate the main theatre, its a mess and unless you get there an hour before shows you won't get a decent seat, especially if you're short like me.  

Hate that the Comedy Club is so popular, and again you need to stand in line for awhile to get in to shows 9pm and later.

[jnguyen1218]

23 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I like it. JiJi's is the best specialty restaurant for the money.

 

Vista has my favorite RFP bar. 

 

 

Also love it's skybox sports bar. Nice big bar with lots of stools.

 

 

 

Are kids allowed in the Skybar at night? The reason I'm asking is that we are about to sail in a couple of weeks and leave on a day that there is a big boxing and a UFC match and my son loves to watch them. Do you think they will have those on the TVs that night?

[Butterbean1000]

2 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

We have done the VISTA 3 times now.  We love it and hate it... I know, that's crazy but.

LOVE all the restaurants, entertainment, Cruise directors, etc.

Hate the main theatre, its a mess and unless you get there an hour before shows you won't get a decent seat, especially if you're short like me.  

Hate that the Comedy Club is so popular, and again you need to stand in line for awhile to get in to shows 9pm and later.

We are booked on Vista for next spring.  After the ship was released, I noticed the way the main theartre was set up.  I am not looking forward to that.  We only go to 1, maybe 2 shows so hopefullfy it won't be a big issue for us.

[Saint Greg]

23 minutes ago, jnguyen1218 said:

 

 

Are kids allowed in the Skybar at night? The reason I'm asking is that we are about to sail in a couple of weeks and leave on a day that there is a big boxing and a UFC match and my son loves to watch them. Do you think they will have those on the TVs that night?

I don’t think there’s an age restriction at any of the bars. Other than the Serenity and Adult comedy and night club in the limelight.

 

I’m guessing you’re talking about Crawford vs Spence and UFC 291 on the 29th. I wouldn’t expect any of that PPV boxing to be on. For UFC they won’t have the PPV portion but there’s a good chance the prelims, which are on ESPN, will be on. I got to see UFC on Panorama.