The cruise was awesome.
Carnival Vista Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 65
8 Night Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 16, 2017
Ship: Carnival Vista
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 2489
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
The Carnival Vista is a great boat. Just some very minor changes in my opinion. Price of the cruise for oceanview and balcony is over priced initially, other than that, it's a great experience. I would definitely do it again.Embarkation
It was good, they may need to hire more help fir that size ship. Matt the cruise director is awesome. He was upbeat and pumped the entire cruise. I don't know how he does it. He is very friendly and he works very hard to make sure the cruise guest have a great time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I give this cruise 4 stars because of the food. Not much of a choice late nights but burgers, pizza or room service which is also limited unless you pay extra for the same food you can get for free during the day. We stayed in the family harbour and the breakfast meat they served was all pork. With a small amount of smoked salmon. We asked for turkey and beef products and one day the server went and got us a few slices of turkey bacon. Then the next day she told us they didn't serve those foods in the family harbour, we'd have to go eat in the main dining room. The next day we did and it was a rush. My daughter didn't get all of her food because they were closing at 10 to reopen for lunch. Needless to say we just had to suck it up and eat what they gave us in the family harbour. So, if you or your family have special meal preferences, don't expect to be accommodated in the family harbour. It's going to be the same food over and over everyday.
Other than the limited food on the ship, the cruise is awesome. Plenty to do and very fun.
Oh, and we did bring this issue of the limited choices to the food prep manager on the 2nd day of the 8 days we cruised. He wrote it down, but nothing was done.
Onboard Activities
The activities are great. There is lots to do for all ages. My daughter loves Camp ocean. Thats all she wanted to do. The deck parties are pumped and so much fun. We experienced the lip sinc battle, we did the comedy club, check out the IMAX 3D movie theater as well as the 4D. My daughter made a build A Bear. We took pictures with the Pixel group. Ate at the 555 Fahrenheit steak house, the skjyride is an experience you don't want to miss. My daughter enjoyed the game deck miniature golf and the water park, myself as well. Yeah, I lost some in the casino, but it was all fun. I met some fun people at the club and the punchliner comedy club is a must do. My son had a birthday message. He saud it was great and relaxing but waaaaay over priced (opinion). We went to the electric all white party and had fun there. Like I said, you wont be bored at all. Like every cruise though, I never ever get to experience the pool. I don't know if it's because of all the other fun I'm having or what, but I never seen to get in the pool or hot tubs. Overall though, this cruise is great.
Entertainment
The ships DJ was the bomb.com. He always kept the deck as well as the clubs jumping.
Children's Programs
My daughter love, love, loved Camp Ocean. We had to make her get off the ship the one time she got off. She is always entertained in there. She is 8 years old and she has been doing the kids camp since she was 3 years old. We've cruised every year since she was 3 on various ships except for 1 year. She like Carnival cruise kids camp the best.
Service and Staff
Our room stewart Susanta was magnificent. He works very hard and he is very courteous and professional. Always greated us by our names and asked if there was anything we needed. An overall great guy.
Ship Quality
The ships common areas were for the most part clean. There were times there was food trays left all times of the day in the hallways and the common area bathrooms messy, but to be expected I guess. I did expect the ship to have a more luxurious look to the decor. Should be more electrical outlets in the family harbour rooms.
Cabin / Stateroom
I love,love,love the idea of having 2 bathrooms in the cabin. We were able to get up and out everyday at a good time without one or more of us having to get up extra early to get in the bathroom. It was almost like being home in that manner. I think it should be more electrical outlets around the room. I always bring an electrical strip, but doesn't help if you want to sit away from the desk and play a hand held video game or work on your laptop in bed.
Ship tip
Bring a power strip and long range walkie talkies for your family. Take your luggage off the ship by hand if you can, if you are flying out early. I promise you'll miss your flight if you leave them out the night before. Have a great time!!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Margaritaville is great. Must go there. First time there, did not realize there was a pool in there until it was almost time to go. We enjoyed the free beach though as well as the shopping.
Wasn't much to do in my opinion. We did go to Casa de campo and the Alto de Chavon church. We wanted to go down town but we were told by another couple NOT TO GO DOWN TOWN. There were police officers posted in several places in the area especially in the small market area where the tour bus takes you and the natives are very aggressive in trying to sell you things. There was also a little old man, (bless his heart) I over heard him asking about the Casa de campo and Alto de Chavon tour, asking if that tour was safe and were we Americans welcome there, and were we gonna be harmed if we went there because his down town experience made him feel unsafe seeing all the police posted with guns. Friends of ours, who we cruised with said, she and her cousin took their kids walking downtown and a native woman came out her house and told them "No Phones, they will take them." So, they put their phones away and turned around and went back to the ship.
We had a great time. We did some shopping, hung our lock of love on the heart of locks there. I went to the Pandora shop and purchased my Curacao charms and was charged double. Still waiting for correspondence from them now after I sent an email. Overall it was a great island to visit.
Great shopping and the food is awesome. Cant remember the restaurant name but there are long winding steps to get up to it.
Disembarkation
We wated from 8:30a.m. to 11:00a.m. for our bags. One of the luggage guys literally went in the back and pulled our luggage off the racks. There weren't even put on the conveyer belt yet. We may have been still waiting well into 12 or 1 before we got our bags. Luckily we were driving back. We probably would have missed our flight. They need to do better at Disembarkation luggage area.