Random reports from Vista

[bradpole]

53 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

I'm fairly sure the ship must have the manifest in order for the departure ahead of time.  The gangplank still in place doesn't work for the departure port.  

You are correct.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security requires all cruise lines to provide final passenger manifests 60 minutes prior to departure from U.S. ports.  So in theory if they allowed someone on at the last minute they have to start the 60 minute clock again.  

[vlthom]

We are still onboard and will be until Vista reaches Barcelona in about a week.  We had an interesting dinner in Privee last night and conversation with the General Manager, Dominique Nicolle.  There was some discussion about Ember.  He said that the concept of Ember was developed by FDR jr.  Ember was modeled after his favorite restaurant in Miami.  Dominique also confirmed that Ember will be part of the line-up on Allura but after that, they will go back to a “French country-style” specialty restaurant instead.  I guess we’ll see how it all plays out.

[babysteps]

Back to reality for us, have safely arrived home!

 

Dinner our last night was at Toscana - usually I'd avoid a last-night specialty, but this cruise that's the way it worked out. Another lovely meal, and they actually asked us about our requested pacing (faster, slower) so no problem there. We are those 'slower' people lol, to give us time to savor the wine.
 

Disembarcation was very smooth getting off the ship at Trieste. We actually did a self-walk-off instead of putting any bags out the night before. Not sure I'd suggest it, but it made more sense for us this particular trip! So after first groups had been called but just as next batch was about to be called, we took the elevator to 4 and walked off. Simple, easy, no crowding or delays. We usually get some crowding or fuss so this time I think we just say 'thank you'!

Once off the ship there was a whole special process. Related to post-G7 summit activity we were not in town, we were out at the commercial port and there seemed to be special checkpoints setup beyond 'normal'. There were continuous shuttle buses offered with an announced destination of the train station - in reality we were dropped at the bus station which is right next door. No complaints here, as we were headed for the Flix bus to Venice Marco Polo airport. We left our cabin a little before 8am and arrived at the bus station around 8:30ish.

 

Since we were flying out of Venice, the bus was a better logistic choice than train from Trieste and it was less expensive. Less comfy most likely, but value was decent in my opinion! This may not be everyone's idea of a good thing, but it worked well for us. We paid for an extra piece of luggage, the total fare was just under 25 euros pp including seat reservations and flex ticket and the bag charge. I wasn't sure how picky they were on standard vs. overweight bags, they really didn't care and I could have saved that 8e charge lol. There's no waiting area at the bus station, but it was air conditioned so we chatted with another O guest until it was boarding time. Bus loading was not super organized but all went fine, the 'conductor' was very efficient. Bus had AC, wifi and a WC. If you do this, buy ticket online ahead of time - I did this maybe 2 days ahead and there were only about 5 seats to choose from. Someone with a ticket for the next bus asked if they could switch to our earlier one and the conductor said no we were full - in fact we had 3 or so empty seats. Dropped right close to the terminal in Venice, we got in line for left luggage (took maybe 10 or 15 minutes) and checked our big bag then headed into Venice on the Alilaguna boat service. Leaving Venice, there was no one else waiting at left luggage at 8:30 in the morning.

 

Enjoyed Venice and found that it was indeed easy to avoid crowds if you wandered even a block away from the main tourist path. Of course you will likely need to be on the tourist path to get around at times, but we found it crowded without being crushed. 

 

Overall we had a lovely cruise and enjoyed Vista very much. We have pledged to avoid peak summer season plus a few weeks on either side to stay out of the heat in the future! This itinerary heat bugged us more than crowds.

 

Any questions, fire away!

[mauibabes]

@vlthom Dominique is great, had some great chats over dinner in October and learned a lot 👍. Had not heard the Ember story however, interesting. We were about 4 days into the Vista Founder’s Cruise with FDR when the whole Privee dinner table told him his Applebee’s/Ember was OK but certainly NOT a Specialty restaurant and to “Forget the Reservations “ and open it for walk in dining at lunch and dinner. Of course Lunch creates another staffing issue for the Executive Chef. I guess we will have to see what the Oceania 2027 and 2029 ships will bring for dining options since they will be even larger. 
 

Ciao and Enjoy,

Mauibabes

[vlthom]

17 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

@vlthom Dominique is great, had some great chats over dinner in October and learned a lot 👍. Had not heard the Ember story however, interesting. We were about 4 days into the Vista Founder’s Cruise with FDR when the whole Privee dinner table told him his Applebee’s/Ember was OK but certainly NOT a Specialty restaurant and to “Forget the Reservations “ and open it for walk in dining at lunch and dinner. Of course Lunch creates another staffing issue for the Executive Chef. I guess we will have to see what the Oceania 2027 and 2029 ships will bring for dining options since they will be even larger. 
 

Ciao and Enjoy,

Mauibabes

You are right about Dominique.  He’s a very hands on leader and runs things very well, in my opinion.  I tried to diplomatically state that Ember is not their most successful endeavor but most of our group of 8 had not yet dined there and I preferred not to ruin their expectations.  I think that Dominique is well aware that Ember is not as favored as the other specialties.  He also admitted that FDR Jr has a very different focus than his father.  But it is a different business environment these days so we’ll see how it goes.  We’ve been very pleased with our time on Vista and have felt that we are seeing more of the little special touches that caused us to love O initially.  Those touches were missing from our initial post pandemic cruises, which were still nice yet lacking a little something, so I’m happy to see the specialness return.  The staff on this ship are exemplary as well.  We have had no slower than desired meals in any venue (including the GDR).  Some earlier reports expressed concern over missed ports and shortened times in ports.  We’ve experienced none of that this trip.  We’ve been on time everywhere.  

[mauibabes]

@vlthom

Absolute +1 and Ditto about Vista. I am sure they will get Allura dialed in from Day 1. 
The key staff are excellent, even Susanne who was our F and B Director has become a GM. If Gorica is your Restaurant Manager, she is absolutely. AWESOME. If so, tell her Hello and give her a hug from Bonnie and Gerry, we are just up the road from you in Lincoln. 
I’m hearing it’s a bit warm on the trip but you are missing the HEAT here, 108 to111 to 114, cooling Monday to 103 🙏🤞😇🤙

Mauibabes

[vlthom]

1 minute ago, mauibabes said:

@vlthom

Absolute +1 and Ditto about Vista. I am sure they will get Allura dialed in from Day 1. 
The key staff are excellent, even Susanne who was our F and B Director has become a GM. If Gorica is your Restaurant Manager, she is absolutely. AWESOME. If so, tell her Hello and give her a hug from Bonnie and Gerry, we are just up the road from you in Lincoln. 
I’m hearing it’s a bit warm on the trip but you are missing the HEAT here, 108 to111 to 114, cooling Monday to 103 🙏🤞😇🤙

Mauibabes

I’ve been watching the weather forecasts at home and am glad that we’re missing it.  Our trip began quite hot but the heat wave has broken and it’s quite pleasant now (for now).  We’ve got another week or so left….hopefully it will be cooler at home by the time that we get there.

[pinotlover]

Fwiw, back, not long after Vista was first announced, one of our OCAs laid out many of the changes to expect that differed from the O ships. One of those was the change over from Jacques to a more country French restaurant. We got Embers instead and apparently now know the reason why. Sounds like we may yet get that French country, in about 3 more years. 🙏

[Jim_Iain]

On 6/25/2024 at 4:28 PM, clo said:

And perhaps not seen in non-food-focused parts of the country. I'm making one tonight with housemade ground Italian flavored pork, local asparagus and morel mushrooms, various other vegetables, pancetta, a brush of home made tomato sauce and olive oil and cheese. Looking forward to chatting with the pizza chefs when we get back.

 

 

Where's my invite.   That looks incredible.   You have me salivating.  

 

To me that is what a Pizza is suppose to look like.

[Jim_Iain]

On 6/29/2024 at 7:56 AM, MEFIowa said:

Begs at least two questions:

 

First, what are "American classics"? Is there such a thing as classic American cuisine? Fried chicken, pork chops, steak, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, etc. For anyone who remembers an old phone book and the yellow pages, see the sections under "Chinese", "Greek", "Italian", "Mexican", "Steak", "Thai", and more. Can't say I ever remember seeing "American"!

 

Second, what is at Ember that wasn't at the other specialty restaurants and the TC & GDR? What specific dishes are there that weren't available previously anywhere?

 

I guess we all have an image of "American Classics"  -   That can be different from person to person but to me --   It means comfort food that I grew up with and loved.    Of course depending on where you grew up in America it could range from Philly Steak to Dungeness Crab and everything in between.

 

 

[Harters]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

rom Jacques to a more country French restaurant.

I can understand the possible appeal of this. I've said before that I think the menu at Jacques represents the sort of dishes that tourists would expect to find in France, rather than the menu of an actual restaurant in a French town, that is catering almost exclusively for the local population. Something like this favourite place of mine - https://aquaraile.fr/

[babysteps]

On the topic of Ember, the menu might not completely communicate the level of food. It certainly isn't Applebee's lol - or at least the dishes we ordered were not. For example, the lobster mac & cheese has lovely chunks of lobster and isn't that cheesy. It isn't the old Polo side dish, it's a dish on its own. Ember isn't my new favorite, but it was imo on a level with other specialties on O. Not saying everyone will love it, but if you haven't been I would try it at least once and come to your own conclusions! I do think it doesn't scream "special" as a concept and might be a little close in category to Polo.

 

Definitely seek a table near the window, not sure if it's the lower ceiling or what but it did seem less noisy there - we found the main dining section in Red Ginger louder than at the window in Ember. Perhaps it was about how large (or not) a group was at the next table? Or time - Ember was 6:30 and Red Ginger 8pm iirc.

[babysteps]

Oh wait, I know what I dropped in to say - we did not see chair hogs at the pool. Yes there were some afternoons where shade needed to be sought, but we didn't see many items at all when strolling by on our way to or from breakfast. Remember our cruise was not 100% full, it was quite hot most days (more folks than usual may have stayed in AC), and we had no sea days.

 

One reason we were seeing the pool deck so often is that one of the aft elevators was out of service for our entire cruise. We were forward of the forward elevators, so made more sense to take 1 of four working forward ones than wait...wait...wait for the only working one aft.  @vlthom for your sake I hope it got fixed in Trieste!

[osandomir]

2 hours ago, Harters said:

I can understand the possible appeal of this. I've said before that I think the menu at Jacques represents the sort of dishes that tourists would expect to find in France, rather than the menu of an actual restaurant in a French town, that is catering almost exclusively for the local population. Something like this favourite place of mine - https://aquaraile.fr/

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect authentic French food on the American run cruise ship. One would need to go on a land trip to be able to eat at such kind of a restaurant. Not all the tourists in France would enjoy that surrogate cuisine you’re referring to. And bye the way, some offerings in Jacques while not authentic are tasty and well prepared using the fine ingredients.

[clo]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Where's my invite.   That looks incredible.   You have me salivating.  

 

To me that is what a Pizza is suppose to look like.

Hey, you're in Sunnyvale and we're in Seattle. Short flight.

[clo]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I guess we all have an image of "American Classics"  -   That can be different from person to person but to me --   It means comfort food that I grew up with and loved.    Of course depending on where you grew up in America it could range from Philly Steak to Dungeness Crab and everything in between.

 

 

I googled "American food" and I gotta say that I wouldn't want to eat them as a 'special' meal.

[clo]

1 hour ago, osandomir said:

authentic

That's a very argumentative word. How would YOU define it?

[Jim_Iain]

4 minutes ago, clo said:

I googled "American food" and I gotta say that I wouldn't want to eat them as a 'special' meal.

 

I just did also and agree with you.    Saying that last week - being on a Jury -   about half the Jury went to lunch at a close by Soul Food place.    All I can say is ..... Incredible, home cooked food with about 100 items everything from Cat Fish to Chicken and Waffles

 

[vlthom]

4 hours ago, babysteps said:

One reason we were seeing the pool deck so often is that one of the aft elevators was out of service for our entire cruise. We were forward of the forward elevators, so made more sense to take 1 of four working forward ones than wait...wait...wait for the only working one aft.  @vlthom for your sake I hope it got fixed in Trieste!

Indeed, the aft elevator was finally repaired while we were in Trieste, though it was out again shortly later….and then fixed again.  It’s been holding up since then, thankfully.

 

our second venture to Ember was better than the first visit and we were seated in the section by the windows.  It’s much better there, as you pointed out.  DH enjoyed the chicken while I wanted to eat lighter and actually had the lobster roll as an entree.  It’s listed as an appetizer.  Our waiter looked at me oddly when I asked for it as my main course and then brought two of them which was more than enough since it followed a starter.  Now, I am a Californian so am not a connoisseur of lobster rolls, though I have had a few that were authentic.  The one on Ember was delicious in it’s own right and made the meal enjoyable.  I may try the mac and cheese for our last visit, though I still find the Ember menu to have fewer choices than I’d prefer.

[Harters]

8 hours ago, osandomir said:

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect authentic French food on the American run cruise ship.

Me neither. 

[pinotlover]

15 hours ago, osandomir said:

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect authentic French food on the American run cruise ship. One would need to go on a land trip to be able to eat at such kind of a restaurant. Not all the tourists in France would enjoy that surrogate cuisine you’re referring to. And bye the way, some offerings in Jacques while not authentic are tasty and well prepared using the fine ingredients.

 

6 hours ago, Harters said:

Me neither. 

I disagree.

 

I believe a cruise ship can serve authentic French country cuisine.

 

I believe a ship can easily serve NoNo food.

 

What a cruise ship, or any venue can’t do is serve authentic NoNo French country cuisine. Once you’ve stripped away the garlic , onions, various Herbs de Provence, plus more, etc that makes the dish authentic, solely to appease the NoNos, the magic is gone. 

I know not all tourist want authentic food. One of the reasons Toscana is so Americanized. I would personally be happy if the venue offered just 2-3 items, in each category, that was authentic. Clearly mark those items as so, then leave the remaining items for the NoNos. I think it’s easily workable.

[edgee]

On 7/3/2024 at 10:37 AM, vlthom said:

You are right about Dominique.  He’s a very hands on leader and runs things very well, in my opinion.

Dominique is wonderful. During our recent two cruises on Vista he stood at the bottom of the gangway as we came down headed for a shore excursion. One day, as usual, he greeted me with a smile. Then simultaneously with pointing out that my shoe was untied, he got down on one knee and tied it for me. It was an embarrassingly (for me) wonderful level of service from a great, caring guy. He also was the bearer of the bad news I learned in a discussion with him, of the reasoning (legal liability) that NCLH companies do not enforce chair hogging issue, as they are not allowed to remove personal belongings from loungers. He did not say he agreed with it, merely that it was corporate policy. I appreciated his candor.