Up until we got sick, and then the debarkation issues, this was an absolutely perfect cruise. I would sail on Vista again in a heartbeat and I would try to do a lot more of the activities, especially early in the cruise. Just in case ...
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Super easy embarkation. We did have FTTF, though, so that may have been a factor.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Overall really great, although we didn't get to everything. Steakhouse was so good we ate there twice. We only had breakfast in the MDR as there were always so many options for dinner. We did find JiJi to be underwhelming, though.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We were super lazy this cruise. I don't think we did any onboard activities.
Entertainment
We just wanted to spend some time reconnecting. This was a trip to celebrate our 23rd anniversary and our kids going off to college.
Children's Programs
Kids are grown and flown.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
We were in the Havana area and our room steward, Ron, was just awesome. Really went above and beyond. Bartender Olivia and waiter Yeltsin were so great.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
We had no trouble navigating the ship and thought it was beautiful and very clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Our cabin was a Havana aft balcony. It was incredibly quiet, and although it was one of the smaller ones (no couch), there was plenty of room for the two of us. We had the dreaded soot on the balcony issue, however, day and night. We probably would have spent even more time out there if we hadn't had soot and diesel fumes drifting down on us.
Ship tip
Just let the Vista be the Vista. Yes, the atrium is underwhelming, but there are so many other wonderful places to see and hang out, and that makes everything less crowded. We never had an issue with the elevators, probably because we were rarely using the midship bank.
I grew up in Houston, so I have a soft spot for Galveston. I wasn't really looking forward to visiting because it's not as glamorous as some others, but we had a great time! No excursion, but we wandered around the Strand, had a great happy hour at Willie G's watching the sunset, stayed at Harbor House (loved) and had awesome coffee at MOD coffee house and took in Artoberfest before embarking.
Jamaica is so beautiful. We hired a private driver to take us around ($60), although we enjoyed our first stop so much, we moved on to the other planned stops. We had an incredibly fresh and delicious lunch at Evelin's on the Beach (next to Sandals) and had a little swim with local kids (and a local sting ray!).
I have a hard time choosing whether George Town or Montego Bay was my favorite port. We did another simple port visit here, walked to the bus stop, took the yellow line to Cemetery Beach to swim and snorkel. Gorgeous fish, even saw a crab and a sea anemone. Such a beautiful, almost deserted beach, but new construction looks like it will be discovered pretty soon. It was fun to see the local chickens and rooster scoping us out like the squirrels back home.
I'm torn here. I don't know if my husband I had a GI issue brewing that came to fruition the evening of this port visit or if we were careless in our eating and drinking and that did it. Whatever it was we were utterly, wretchedly sick and incapacitated for the last 36 hours of the cruise. We booked a beach club excursion, but I'm not naming names so as not to cast aspersions.
We had gangway issues, and the port of Galveston does need to rise to meet their increasing cruise demand. Our FTTF was completely useless for debarkation and I felt terrible for all the families with little kids just stuck there in an endless line. The staff of the ship and the port did everything they could to make the best of things. Whatever you do when porting out of Galveston, especially at debarkation. Get. A. Porter. Because we were still pretty weak from being sick, we didn't carry our bags off as we had planned. The massive cluster that was debarkation could have been so much worse, but as soon as we had our bag, we grabbed a porter and went straight through customs and out the door. Saved us at least an hour and probably much more.
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