Thought this was supoused to be the "Fun Ship"

Item: Carnival Vista
Rating: 3.6
Author: sbice88

Carnival Vista Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

sbice88

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 2

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

Verified Review

6 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 13, 2018

Ship: Carnival Vista

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 1391

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Wasn't the best trip we've been on. Maybe I just don't care for this cruise line? It was my first experience with them and may be my last. I think that since it is a newer ship that they are trying to implement a newer way of doing things. I wish that food was open later, and more variety was served. I feel led astray by their website and what we actually got. Maybe it was bad timing getting to the buffet, but we never caught the sweet spot when it was open. we were very excited for the things they showed photos of online, but when we were there we didnt get anything, they just never were open...until the last day of the cruise... I went looking for cookies at like 1030 on the late night buffet and it was like they opened a box of chips a hoy.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Things ran smoothly. We arrived at our appointed time, and were handed a number. I'm not sure why, as we never ended up needing it. We were told to go one way by 2 staff and then the lady standing at that end told us we had to go to the other side... i asked wy sincec we were just sent from that side... she immediatly got an attitude and said that if we wanted to wait in a line then by all means go ahead or just go back that way since there isnt a line on that side. There was a line on both sides, we wasted more time going back and forth.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Took forever. I've cruised before, they must have been understaffed or something. We were always hungry. Nothing was ever open. Food closed too early. The buffett room was massive, but they never opened more than one spot at a time, i understand this is to allow for change over from meal to meal but it was rediculous the size of the line to get to one window for food. Everything was open for lunch, for like 2 hours.. so if you wanted something different you better grab it and save it for later. Maybe just get it for later anyway when you're hungry at 930 and they litterally pull the curtain of the buffett shut on your hands because god forbid you get to eat the food you paid out the butt for.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Didn't really participate because we were always still waiting to get food... waiting on this ship. always waiting. The skyride was really cool and the ropes course. Long lines, but that was to be expected. Show times were hard to make if you wanted dinner as well. Piano bar was ok, seemedto sing the same songs time and time again. Night club closed earlyish and the bar in there wasnt very good. Adult area was nice. Crowded and hard to find a seat, staff would not enforce the 40 minute towel rule, kept telling us to talk to someone else... bar closed at 530 for "cleaning" or something every day. Havanna lounge was cool, staff seemed angry everytime you asked for a coffee.. i get that they have to put in some effort to make it, but it's their job, and we only ordered when they werent busy and we were the only people there. Didnt realize we could have been the outside area for Havana, would have utilised the hot tubes. Realized it on the last day, i thnk they open at a certain hour. "Fun times" was not very informative. they are really pushing the carnival app, which is nice, but i prefer the paper...

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Staff seemed angry. We interacted with a wide array of people and most of the ones we passed in the hallway were not friendly or resposive to our hellos and good mornings. Our cabin steward was great. Very friendly and did a great job, a couple others in the area were also nice. Activities director was great. Had a fantastic personality as is needed for her job. Our waiters were friendly, and about half of the bar staff we interacted with were nice.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

I got lost as usual. one of the hallways goes only to one side of the stairwell. If you don't realize you can go that way then you miss a huge portion of the ship. Casino bar had a neat centerpiece. Ship seemed clean, however I did get sick after the 2nd day onboard. I'm used to there being someone at every enterance to the food and back on board with hand sanititzer. there was no one. they did have handwashing stations and sanitizer, however they were hidden and hard to spot. It took us all a few days to notice them as they were by the beverage dispencers and people were always infront of them getting a drink! Bad placement!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5