Carnival Vista Dec 2-10

[jedi bobs]

Carnival Vista Dec 2-10 2023
I was on the Carnival Vista  From dec 2=10 going to Aruba, Curasau, and Grand Turk.  Embarcation was easy peasy, just delayed by 15-20 minuts due to Cost Gaurd Inspection.  Lunch at the buffette was Typical Carnival stuff.  There was some drips from the celing, you can tell that this ship was in despreate need of a dry dock. The first thing that went wrong, My father tried to order the bubbles package from a roaming wainter but he said that he couldn't do it, system wouldn't let anybody order it. Dad got a soda anyway and he siad that it would be remove when bubbles was added, it wasn't and on top of that he got dad for 2 more full priced sodas with auto gratuitiy, I told dad he should go to guest services but he said that karma will get him.
 My room was a 4J oddball cabin at the fron of the ship right next to the secret deck door, right under the bridge.  
First thing that went south was we were delayed departure. I love sail away and I was not going to get this becuse we would be at dinner.  I know ship happens. The 7 nights that we had dinner in the MDR food was hot and cooked well, very happy with this.
Went to Welcome abord show, Typical CD stuff, except no play list production, I asked the ED and he said that the Playlist cast just boarded the ship and would not be preforming till day 5 with Flix. I thought that was wierd and very disapointed about the playlist and wondering why they put a Brand new cast onboard when they are doing Dry dock in a few weeks. Not once did they do the full shows when they preformed and it was the "Concert" versions.  The fun squad said that they were not used to working on a ship, and it was to rocky.  Safty first I guess, but it was not very rocky at all, and I have done 15 cruises with carnival.
Seaday Brunch was a cluster. wainted over an hourfor my food and was not even luke warm and my wifes was wrong.  Complained to front desk and they didn't really care. I then complained to John Heald.  A matra'd came to visit me at dinner and asked me to give a second chance, ok and food got to me a lot quicker but was luke warm again. They need to change the 1 free drink at seaday brunch for D/P to 1 drink at any bar any time.
Night2 was quest night, and I got in line for the main show room, and the line goes all the way back to the Casino, and on top of that they were doing the Motown Atrium party. People were pushing to get though, butting in line, and I got my feet steped on multable times. The quest was suposed to start at 11 but the doors did not open till 1105 causing a big pinch point. I was very angry getting shoved and steped on. the Doors should have opened at least 15 minuts before. Ed said the room was not ready till 1102.
Aruba, we went on ship excursion Kunokuoo Bus  Tour.  was fun, but did not get bottle water as avertised, but was offered to buy it at $1 a bottle, also did not go to the prestine beach as avertised full of sea weed and such wound up with a %10 refund.  In Curasou went on the tour with Ostriges and it was fun.  In Grand turk went on a small island tourn and it was enjoyable as well.  
Lets talk about Debark, witch was a cluster againwas told as Plat that I was to waint in the Main show room, but it was full so we wainted in the loby deck 4 they said when my number was called they would come and get us.  never happened the CD did not make a ship announcement only one on the main room, this reall made me upset becuse how was I to know this when there was no room in the sowroom.
Thanks to this cruise I am looking into other cruise lines/  Thank you for reading

[sunshower9]

I was on this cruise as well.  I'm not platinum yet so I purchased FTTF.  I agree that embarkation was super easy, but debarkation was awful (we carried off our luggage).  There were a LOT of platinum guests on our sailing so apparently that made the priority line go slower than usual. 

 

Drinks were good and strong.  Found some great bartenders who kept me happy lol.  I thought the food in the MDR was okay for the most part, though some items were downright terrible (worst calamari I've ever had).  People are talking about the lido cakes in another thread.  Sadly, I found them to be awful on this sailing, including the famed Funfetti cheesecake that I finally got the chance to try.  After a couple of days I stopped going by to see what they were offering because I knew they wouldn't be good.  The steakhouse and Jiji were delicious.  I never made it to Cucina because I got sick on the last day and spent the whole day in bed so I had to cancel our reservations.  

 

I didn't watch any of the playlist shows, which is a first for me.  I heard they weren't very good because the cast was new and there were injuries/illnesses that kept them from performing like they normally would.  I did see the Marcus Anthony show, which I thought was really great.  Afterwards we did the Motown party and Quest.  The line for Quest was crazy long but we didn't have issues getting in and finding good seats, even though we were really far back in the line.  I'm sorry you had a rough time with that.  There were definitely some rude and entitled people on this ship.

 

Sad to say that the Vista is not in good shape.  We were on deck 6 in a Havana room.  Our room was fine but the floors on that deck were sagging, there was a sewage smell almost constantly, and there were drips from the ceiling on deck 5 in the Havana bar area.  IIRC, deck 6 flooded not too long ago, so all of those issues make sense.  I'm so glad she's going into dry dock soon because she needs it.  I'll be on Vista again in April so I'm looking forward to her being in much better shape.

[1BDNANA]

We will be going on the Vista also in April. Man I hope this drydock will fix most of these issues. My family has been talking about going to another line a lot lately and if things don't improve it may be time to move. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

We boarded the Vista on the day you debarked. We also experienced random drips from the ceiling, especially in the casino. The food was a huge disappointment; random items in the menu descriptions did not appear, as in a salad described as having peppercorn dressing being served completely dry, and when I insisted on dressing, I was given a container of garlic-flavored mayonnaise. I gave up on the tall cakes at lunch after two tries, then tried the key lime pie on the last day. Not a drop of key lime juice, just a mouthful of nasty sweetened condensed milk. We were issued one knife and one fork each in the MDR, and that was it. The server moved my dirty fork from my uneaten appetizers and placed it on the bare table so I could use it again for my entrees. I could go on and on, but this thread is a review of the previous sailing. 
 

We heard and partially saw two playlist productions, Flix and America Rocks. The seating in the Liquid Lounge is just horrible, almost impossible to find a seat without a huge post in front of it, so we never saw all of the shows. With the possible exception of one female, the singers were just plain not good. 
 

Lines and people everywhere, difficult to even move around the ship. And for the first time ever, we both came home with Covid. We have cruised 32 times since the restart on five different cruiselines, and never had Covid until this crowded ship. 
 

Never again on the Vista, and we are cancelling the Venezia. Something needs to change before we will try Carnival again. 
 

 

[princess76021]

@jedi bobs @sunshower9.

Thanks for your reviews!!

Hugs from Texas

[audcc77]

Wow!   Thanks for the posts.  I’m on Vista twice next year.   I’ve never been so I was really looking forward to it.   
 

Looks like I’m going to need to lower my expectations.   😳

[jedi bobs]

Honestly there was another incedent on the ship that I am keeping to myself, and using back doors to get it addressed. I also didn't disclose that I got Covid on the ship as well, I can't hold carnival responsable for that.

 

 

 

 

 

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[sunshower9]

15 hours ago, audcc77 said:

Wow!   Thanks for the posts.  I’m on Vista twice next year.   I’ve never been so I was really looking forward to it.   
 

Looks like I’m going to need to lower my expectations.   😳

Vista goes into dry dock in about 2 weeks so all of the maintenance problems will be fixed by then.  I still had a good time despite any issues.  I'm also going on Vista again twice next year and looking forward to it.

[mz-s]

10 hours ago, jedi bobs said:

I also didn't disclose that I got Covid on the ship as well, I can't hold carnival responsable for that.

 

Carnival certainly can't control a respiratory airborne virus. But I've had coronavirus twice and both times I got it on a Carnival cruise. So there is a correlation for sure.

 

Like you I don't blame Carnival because it is an airborne virus. But I do question their commitment to cleanliness, ventilation, etc.

[Jamman54]

12 hours ago, jedi bobs said:

Honestly there was another incedent on the ship that I am keeping to myself, and using back doors to get it addressed. I also didn't disclose that I got Covid on the ship as well, I can't hold carnival responsable for that.

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for your review. Sorry your cruise didn't live up to your expectations, and you wound up sick. Hopefully,  the upcoming dry dock will take care of the ship issues. We will be on the Vista for a B2B in April, but in a Havana cabin. Hope your next cruise is a great one. Give our best to Ann. 😎

[stlrboo]

thinking about a sailing on Vista in 2026!  Hope its 'better' by then..  😉

This will be our 10th cruise on Carnival, but I like to try different ships, unless I can get a neat sailing from Baltimore as I am close by!

[luv2kroooz]

On 12/21/2023 at 5:25 PM, audcc77 said:

Looks like I’m going to need to lower my expectations.   😳

Yeah, at least you know what you might be dealing with. It is too bad, but sadly it is industry wide right now. How can we do less and charge more. I predict the entire industry will be in for a serious adjustment in the not too distant future. They've been able to enjoy record bookings at record pricing. However, at some point, the value received for the price charged won't reconcile and people will start looking for alternatives. We still enjoy cruising, but we used to sail four or five times per year, but now we only sail once,maybe twice per year. We rent a Florida resort condo or do an all inclusive for the rest. Hope you have a good cruise. We sailed Vista last year and had a decent cruise. 

[Jules8888]

Hello all,

 

We are sailing this itinerary in February. Do you happen to have the fun times for the 8 day southern Caribbean?

 

[jedi bobs]

Wouldn't do you any good, they are getting another CD and ED and this will be post dry dock

 

[Jules8888]

Oh gotcha. Thanks for the info!