Sister Cruise

Carnival Vista Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 75

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5
Carnival Vista

8 Night Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 02, 2017

Ship: Carnival Vista

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9260

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

A sister cruise taken just to get away for some time & enjoy ourselves. The Vista was a fun place for the 8 days away from reality.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
Had a 11:30am check in time. We were allowed to enter security, etc & instructed to get a seat until our zone was called, which didn't take too long (30 min).

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Sea Day Brunch was very good, MDR dinner was ok, except the Chocolate Melting Cake was great. JiJis Asian lunch & Guys BBQ was very good & the lines were not that bad. The Pizza Place needs a little improvement (a lot of sauce on very thin dough & little toppings)

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Sky Ride was fun & only waited about 15 min in line. Played some mini golf & fooseball. Pools were very crowded. Casino was always busy & hard to find a Black Jack table open.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Went to the 80s Rock Show, I enjoyed that & the performance was good. The Lip Sync Battle Final was the same songs/skit from our cruise in March, just different contestants, would be nice to change it up a bit. The Children's Christmas Show was good. The comedians were funny & provided good entertainment (even when the very intoxicated couple kept interrupting the one comedian & calling the wait staff inappropriate names).

Children's Programs

No kids - adult sisters only.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
Room Steward, Iwayne, was very nice, keep us stocked with towels & keep our cabin very clean. Our waiters in the MDR were ok, nothing spectacular from them. Went to the desk to talk to the ladies (there was no one else around) about booking a future cruise, since that's what they were pushing. But, we were told we had to make an appointment. Didn't make one, I figured I'd booked my previous 2 cruises & current cruise by myself, I'd do it he same for my 4th. Watch the area for 30 min & no one ever went to the desk.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
I didn't have s problem with the layout as I have sailed on Vista before & knew where most things were (definitely achieved my daily step goal & more). Areas were almost always clean or in the process of being cleaned.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Enjoyed the balcony for some quiet time & when we where docking in the ports. There were 4 of us & the Pullman bed wasn't liked much. The sofa bed was really hard. Iwayne, Steward, keep our cabin very clean. Size of cabin was ok, but next cruise, we will not have 4 people in a cabin.

Ship tip

Sail when Matt Mitchum is the CD!!! He was awesome & made the entertainment fun.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5
Did the Hop On Off bus & it was fun. Got to see all areas of Miami & South Beach.

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5
Beach is located to the left at the end of the pier. Nice clean beach with no rocks. People were very friendly.

La Romana, Dominican Republic

3 out of 5
Wasn't too impressed with this Island. Did the beach excursion to Catalonia Resort. Most workers we encountered spoke very little English & not useful in helping us. The details did not say the BBQ was a shrimp included in BBQ (2 sisters are allergic to shrimp & sea food), so it took asking 8 people what the alternative food options were & where. Drinks were watered down. Beach area was nice, relaxing & entertaining (clothing was optional) with all the Speedos, etc. Not many port shops.

Willemstad, Curacao

4 out of 5
Arrived at 1:30-10pm, so we did the $20 (2hr) bus tour we found at the Port Shops area. Very entertaining & provided a lot of information about the island. We stopped at the Blue Liqueur, Mambo Beach, wealthy & poorer areas of the island. Did some shopping downtown, walked on Queen Emma's Swinging Bridge & enjoyed the Christmas decorations before heading back to the ship

Oranjestad, Aruba

3 out of 5
Port Shops area was very small & town was very crowded. Did the DePalm Private Beach Excursion through the ship. Was not impressed with the beach area (very small & rocky). The food was ok (eating by the beach was nice), but the ladies at the bar kept the drinks coming & never watered down.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
We carried our own bags off & had nothing to claim. Went very easy. We were off & in our Uber by 8:15am
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2 Comments

cruisereckoning    4 years ago

Sounds like a great time.

LWLillie    6 years ago

Great review! Thanks!

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