Best Carnival ship so far. Very contemporary design. Lots of dining and entertainment options. Cove balcony was great. Be sure to download the Carnival Hub app to your phone. It makes it easy to find activities and includes maps to guide your way.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Like rats in a maze. Traffic around the port is horrible. They supposedly have staggered check-in times but no one was outside giving instructions. Everyone just got in a huge line outside and shuffled toward the door to the building. More mazes inside the building.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Main dining room staff were great, Elena from Romania was our head waitress and she did a great job during our stay. She and her two assistants always greeted us by name. MDR food selection was good. Especially liked lobster night (at two plates). Don't expect Texas-size portions. But that's a good thing as you do so much eating on board. The Carnival chocolate melting cake with ice cream is still my favorite dessert. The Omelette station on the Lido deck was my favorite for breakfast. I wish Blue Iguana had corn tortillas. We didn't eat lunch much on the Lido. Just seemed like the same old food. We liked the salad bar in the Serenity Area. Also had made to order pasta dish for lunch at the Italian restaurant that was very good. BBQ was decent at the new Guy Fieri BBQ restaurant on Deck 5. Pizza restaurant was always crowded. Wish they had more that cheese or pepperoni pizzas.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Really enjoyed the fitness center to work off all the food I ate. The Serenity deck was also nice, but always crowded on sunny days. The one negative was the Sky Ride was rarely open due to "winds." But it's windy anytime the ship is moving. I picked the Vista so I could try the Sky Ride but never got the opportunity.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Great line up of comedians. The first couple nights were really packed, but after that it was pretty easy to get a seat. The Rock show in the Liquid Lounge was incredible. Sarah in the piano bar was great. The Electric Strings trio was also great. The great thing about the Vista is there are a lot of venues for music so none get too crowded.
Children's Programs
No kids on trip
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Elena from Romania was our head waitress and she did a great job during our stay. She and her two assistants always greeted us by name. Gunter was our room steward and always worked around our schedule to clean the room. Always pleasant and always greeted us when we saw him in the hallway.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The crew kept the ship very clean. The only complaint was the casino was so smoky and sometimes we had to walk through to get to where we were going.
I didn't really like the new atrium design with that LED lighted funnel. I prefer the open atrium with the glass elevators. Just seems classier.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Nice size for two with plenty of closet space. But bring your own shampoo as the shampoo provided isn't very good. We had a cove balcony on deck 2. It was great to be so close to the water. We were mid ship and didn't feel the ship rocking at all.
Ship tip
Don't book an early excursion. The lines to get off the ship early are horrible.
Traffic around the port is horrible. They supposedly have staggered check-in times but no one was outside giving instructions. Everyone just got in a huge line outside and shuffled toward the door to the building. More mazes inside the building.
Great review! I’m glad to hear it’s your favorite ship so far cause we cruise on her in July. I’m really dreading the embarkation/disembarkation as your complaint seems to be a common one. We experienced that with the Valor last December and it was chaotic.
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