Viva Live 21 days, Rome to Miami, plus a few days in Rome

[Sugar Magnolia]

We were seated at Commodore at 5:30. Currently 7:10 and they just cleared our table for dessert. Had to request cranberry sauce for our turkey dinner. The horror. 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Sugar Magnolia

[JIMESOPUS]

19 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

We were seated at Commodore at 5:30. Currently 7:10 and they just cleared our table for dessert. Had to request cranberry sauce for our turkey dinner. The horror. 

 

Must have just missed you, damn forgot the cranberry sauce

[Sugar Magnolia]

Just now, JIMESOPUS said:

Must have just missed you, damn forgot the cranberry sauce

I did enjoy Thanksgiving dinner on the Viva. For dessert I tried the pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake, sweet potato bread pudding, and blackberries/cherries with sabayon… all delicious.
 

I was not planning to walk off the ship tomorrow in St. Thomas, but I might need to in order to buy elastic pants. 
 

[bluesea777]

We went to Surfside Cafe at 5:30 to get some turkey, and we must say it was so good. They offered all vegs (incl. Brussels sprouts that were good!) and side dishes as well as delicious giblets gravy and cranberry sauce.

 

This is our 30th NCL cruise and we have come to the realization that the Garden/Surfside Cafe really do serve excellent turkey dinners. Thanksgiving and Christmas. 
 

 

[JIMESOPUS]

Good Morning St Thomas, Sky arriving early. Don't understand why the photo is tilted, too many lemon drops last night ????

[JIMESOPUS]

Black Friday, Fleet Day and the Holiday Season in St Thomas

[JIMESOPUS]

Pearl and Viva horns leaving St Thomas, hope this works. Viva horn is in the background, Pearl too close

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by JIMESOPUS

[Sugar Magnolia]

I took three showers today. That’s three more than on my entire trek through the Himalayas. 
 

First shower was early this morning before our mandatory U.S. Customs inspection. I saw that there were not many people at the Commodore dining room waiting for inspection, so I asked whether I could get in line before my group was called. No problem. 
 

Second shower was after my death march in the sun walking to and from downtown Charlotte Amalie. I was feeling guilty about inhaling my four Thanksgiving desserts so I felt I needed to pay penance. I was such a sweaty mess that no one would sell me any diamonds. 
 

Third shower was after sitting out on deck at various venues around the ship. I ate lunch at Indulge, took pics of friends driving the go carts, and then sat at the Speedway Bar for a while. It was a pleasant afternoon on the ship except that moist tropical air is not my friend. 
 

Incidentally, I have been banned from Indulge for over ordering these heavenly bites (sans blue cheese)…

 

 

[JIMESOPUS]

Good Morning Puerto Plata, Costa / Carnival Venezia heading towards Amber Cove. A very early wake up this morning, an elderly woman was knocking on our door, don't know what she wanted since she was speaking Spanish, hope she finds the right cabin. Did the unthinkable last night and got in line at 8 PM for  9 PM Syd's,  wasn't the first one in line, about 15 PAX were already in line.     

[JIMESOPUS]

Taino Bay - our third time here this year, been there done that type of day, spent a few hours ashore then back to the ship. Guess some didn't know about all aboard at 330PM

[JIMESOPUS]

Day #20 somewhere off the coast of Cuba, the warmest morning, 82 degrees at 8 AM.

 

Question of the day has NCL replaced Puerto Rico with Tiano Bay? My next cruise out of Tampa is stopping at Tiano Bay, went searching last night and I only found the Viva with Puerto Rico listed ( home port )

[JIMESOPUS]

Winding down, Euros and pounds put on account, nice contribution from the casino also helps. Hero cards turned in. Not sure how we originally packed but the suitcases are already filled and there is stuff still in the closet. Busy day in the Channel and even passed a lighthouse. Service dog made a visit to cruise next desk.

[JIMESOPUS]

The Prom, will wrap this up in a few days, staying in southern FLA for awhile before heading north.

[JIMESOPUS]

Well back to reality, downloaded over 700 photos this morning ( still not sure what time it is ). Wish I had brought more memory for the GoPro, ran out of space by day 6.

 

So the Viva and Prima are almost identical twins, don't think any other ships in the other classes are more identical. They did free up more seating in the Food Hall and claim to have more room in Syd's by moving the couches around and eliminating one of them. The lady in the mural behind your bed was gone, at least in our cabin ( still don't understand why that upset some PAX ), and a slight change in the color scheme. They did add a butterfly wall as you walked past the Metropolitan Bar so you could touch ( don't have to touch but most did ) the mural and make them fly but I can see that as a source of noro as many PAX still don't wash your hands after going to the bathroom. So if you hated the Prima, you will hate the Viva. But in the right climate, you can really enjoy the ship.

I still don't understand why the bars on the Star ( our October cruise ) were 1000% better than the Viva, we could get almost anything you wanted on the Star but on the Viva, they were very limited. We had to get creative, no Pistactio martini but if you asked for a shot of Irish cream, Blue Curacao, and Amaretto over the rocks they made it. The bartenders were great but very limited in what they could make. Maybe that's why the Cowboy wasn't there. 

We will venture on the Aqua and hope to see more physical improvements for the folks in steerage, they already announced the two-story Haven cabins but that would eat our cruise budget for the next 4 years.

I got dibs on the next Godfather, Aquaman.

 

Dinner with officers was great both times but having the Staff Captain and the General Manager at the same time was like hitting the Lotto

 

This was for us a trip of a lifetime, all the places that we went to. Walking on roads that were constructed over 2000 years ago, hell some roads in NYS don't last 10 years. 

 

We have so many do-overs that I guess we will have to do it again. 

 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holidays (Merry Christmas ), 

 

Jim and Carol

 

58 days to go till our next cruise, did someone say slow down?

[insidecabin]

Viva has "concept" bars with limited availability.

Only some bars are full service

 

Eg Luna/Soleil was draft concept for beer cocktail and wine with limited availability of other items,  no blender.

 

Shame nearly all the draft beers ran out some very early in the cruise, only the Newcastle Brown left last night.

(Heineken does not count)

 

The cocktails are made at the bar by mixing and kegging ready for use.

[JIMESOPUS]

3 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

Viva has "concept" bars with limited availability.

Only some bars are full service

 

Eg Luna/Soleil was draft concept for beer cocktail and wine with limited availability of other items,  no blender.

 

Shame nearly all the draft beers ran out some very early in the cruise, only the Newcastle Brown left last night.

(Heineken does not count)

 

The cocktails are made at the bar by mixing and kegging ready for use.

The Local which had two machines with premixed Mudslides and something else, had to go up to the Observation lounge and get a fresh frozen drink. In fact, the Waves bar had that same machine. I should have made a Mudslide taste tour.

[insidecabin]

8 minutes ago, JIMESOPUS said:

The Local which had two machines with premixed Mudslides and something else, had to go up to the Observation lounge and get a fresh frozen drink. In fact, the Waves bar had that same machine. I should have made a Mudslide taste tour.

I think they had alcohol and non alcohol mudslide premixed.

 

I did see someone with a big tub of the mix wonder if that is made centrally.

 

I saw the Luna tap cocktails being made.

 

[JIMESOPUS]

Wish I had the GoPro available, has to be the best " Prom " night. This is for those who wonder what Syd's would be in the main theater.  The Sound was much better live, the camera filtered out all the background noise

Edited November 29, 2023 by JIMESOPUS

[Sugar Magnolia]

Here are some pics from the Prom. I like how they staged the show and thought it was a great way to end the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

[bluesea777]

@JIMESOPUS you're dead on right about the bars on Viva. I wasn't able to get my fave martinis on Viva - I was able to enjoy loads of them on other ships over the years. The Cosmopolitan martini was even pre-mixed!!!

 

Another thing, we are Trivia and Game Show buffs and enjoy going to them a lot on other ships, but on Viva .... what a joke! The only two rooms they can do trivia/game shows with visual aids (laptop and screen) are Improv and Syd Normans - only if they are available. Otherwise they are held in either Metropolitain or deck 6 atrium area without visual aids ... useless to me as I'm hearing impaired. DH said the acoustics in the atrium was so bad that he couldn't hear the person saying the questions properly!!

 

 

[bluesea777]

Here are the photos of the stage where the trivias took place - in Improv and Syd Norman’s …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bmwman]

On 11/25/2023 at 12:24 PM, JIMESOPUS said:

Good Morning Puerto Plata, Costa / Carnival Venezia heading towards Amber Cove. A very early wake up this morning, an elderly woman was knocking on our door, don't know what she wanted since she was speaking Spanish, hope she finds the right cabin. Did the unthinkable last night and got in line at 8 PM for  9 PM Syd's,  wasn't the first one in line, about 15 PAX were already in line.     

Er wrong ship Costa not Carnval

[bmwman]

Martini cocktails were available in the Haven Bar!

[bmwman]

7 minutes ago, bmwman said:

Er wrong ship Costa not Carnval

Waited an hour for a show what a waste of time got in and turned up 5 mins before the show!

[bmwman]

On 10/16/2023 at 12:33 AM, JIMESOPUS said:

After the sub spectacular Prima TA, nevermore was said by me, the raven, and many others.

 

Well never say never. We are going live in 19 days, 2 days pre-cruise in Rome, and 21 days on the Viva. 

 

So many “firsts" for us on this adventure. We are still burn’t out from the NCL Star cruise but super excited about our next adventure.

 

This will be our seventh and eighth cruise this year. We have been blessed by good health, retirement, excellent bargains, and surprising coupons found in MyNcl.

 

Thanks to all the negative reviews on the Prima and, a change in the Viva TA original itinerary we saved over 2K. This allowed us to book the 10-day cruise prior to TA sailing out of Rome.

Prices continued to drop and we saved additional money on both cruises before the final payment.

10-day cruise out of Rome to Lisbon

 

11-day TA, Lisbon to Miami

 

 

 

 

 

Great Graphs and thank you - pity you did not put October 2023 on there it dropped further