Nice cruise overall, but lacking in some areas
Carnival Vista Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 52
8 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 19, 2019
Ship: Carnival Vista
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
The Vista is a good ship, and we enjoyed the cruise, though we felt like we had more fun and a better experience on the Carnival Freedom a few years earlier. I had talked to a few other people on the Vista who also said they didn't enjoy the Vista much and/or thought the Freedom was better.Embarkation
Embarkation was fine. We were able to get on the ship at our chosen time period.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I ate at the buffet, burger place, sandwich grill near the buffet, and the Horizons dining area. The food was decent. The buffet had many of the same items each day, which can get a little boring (though they did change up some things). Also, the buffet had fish items next to the other food, which can be a problem for people who have fish allergies due to possible cross-contamination. It would have been nice if they had kept the fish separate from the other food. Also, the scrambled eggs at the buffet were a bit soggy. The food at the Horizons dining area was fairly good.
Onboard Activities
I played some mini golf and also used a hot tub one night. I thought the hot tubs could have been warmer. I didn't use the billiard tables, skyride, or basketball court, but I appreciated that they were there.
Entertainment
I went to see one of the comedy shows and a couple of the music performances (both by a band called Powerline), saw a Hasbro game show, and went to a "Sorry" board game competition, and also watched a movie on the big screen near the middle pool. Overall I enjoyed the entertainment. The "Sorry" board game competition seemed a little boring though. Powerline seemed to be playing quite a few music shows on this cruise. I thought they were a decent band. There was an 80s rock show with Powerline, and they had a good song selection, though they played shortened versions of all the songs (no complete songs).
I previously went on a cruise on the Carnival Freedom, which I feel was more fun.
Children's Programs
I didn't visit the children's programs
Service and Staff
The cleaning staff were hard-working and very nice and friendly. It was good to talk to some of them. However, after we brought up an issue with our room, I don't like how we were treated. Part of the floor in our room was bowed up and had a gap in the floorboards, which we tripped over a few times. We notified guest services of the issue, and 2 of them came up to look at it. They said they thought it was pretty bad and were even aware of the issue (in our room and a couple others), and that it was scheduled to be fixed, but it hadn't been fixed yet. One of our party had a sore and swollen ankle after tripping on it. Carnival didn't do much to address our concern though. They said they'd issue a credit on our account but they didn't. They also had security calling our room at midnight on our 2nd to the last night, and they even sent a few security officers up to the room to talk to us about the floor issue, which seemed a bit weird and intimidating. Also, when leaving the ship on the last day, the other member of our party was held and hassled by security - She was pushed into a security officer, who tried to say that she was shoved by the member of our party. She was worried she would get in trouble. It was a very weird experience.
Ship Quality
The ship was clean. The layout is a little weird though, as some of the decks don't have hallways that go all the way through. Sometimes you have to go up/down one deck and then go back to the deck you were on in order to go through. That was the same on the Carnival Freedom too. Also, the Vista isn't decorated as fancy as the Freedom. The Vista looks more plain. Also, the dining/buffet area on the lido deck has a few fake trees in the middle of some of the walkways, which look nice, but I thought it would have been better if those walkways didn't have those obstructions.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin was small, but that is understandable. And as mentioned above, our cabin's floor had a section that was bowed upward and had a gap in the floorboards, which was an issue. Guest services said they knew about the issue in our room and a couple others and that it had been scheduled to be fixed, but obviously it had not been fixed yet.
Ports of call
This was where we left from. There's a Starbucks and a Jimmy John's across the street where we ate.
Thumbs Up
4
We didn't do an excursion. Costa Maya only had a tourist area with a bunch of shops, which seemed like a big tourist trap. It would have been good to see an actual city where we could see more of the local people and visit some actual local shops & things.
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
We didn't do an excursion. We left the tourist area and walked in the city, which was interesting to see.
We didn't do an excursion. Like Costa Maya, this had a tourist area with shops, but Cozumel had a bigger tourist area. We visited a shop with some local crafts, which I thought was nice.
Disembarkation
As mentioned above: When leaving the ship on the last day, the other member of our party was held and hassled by security - She was pushed into a security officer, who tried to say that she was shoved by the member of our party. She was worried she would get in trouble. It was a very weird experience.