We loved the cruise and hope to cruise again in the future. The food was amazing the cruise director "Schwartz" was a blast. The entire staff from the captain on down were great. We hit a cold front on the way back to Galveston which made the seas a little rocky but no big deal. Some people did go to the Guest Services desk to complain about it which to me is kind of funny. How in the hell can the captain control the seas? You are out on the ocean it has waves. If you want a vacation without the ship rocking go to a hotel.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Arrived just a little early and was onboard before our original check-in time. The process was quick and painless.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Over-all the food was amazing. We ate at Guy's Burgers and Fries which had excellent food. The Blue Iguana did great with breakfast burritos. JiJi's for dinner one night, which was amazing and also for lunch one day which was good too. We only had lunch at the Lodi Market Place once for lunch and it was very good too, we did have late night snacks there a fews times which were very good too. The Horizons Dining Room was great for dinner and breakfast.
Horizons Restaurant
5 out of 5
I'm not sure five stars is enough for this place. Doing the "Your Time Dining" we never had the same wait staff. That didn't matter to them they were very nice and more than happy to serve us. The food was great for every meal that we had there. We did breakfast here on some port days, brunch on all of the sea days and of course dinner all but one day. They would always address us by name even when we were not in this restaurant, I though this was great too, how did they remember my wife and I's name out of 4000 plus people that they meet each week?
Lido Marketplace
5 out of 5
For a Buffett this food was amazing. They had one lady walking around talking to everyone and telling us when our rooms were going to be ready the first day. Then on Valentines' Day she went around wishing everyone a happy Valentines' Day. The workers seemed to be very happy.
JiJi Asian Kitchen
5 out of 5
We had our anniversary dinner here. The food was amazing as was the staff.
Guy's Burger Joint
5 out of 5
These burgers were awesome!! The fries were even better. The staff was very nice and accommodating with things that were a little different than the menu.
BlueIguana Cantina
5 out of 5
My wife and I had breakfast there a few times and it was amazing. they sure can make a huge breakfast burrito.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We did not swim or anything like that but we still had a ton of fun.
Fun Hub
5 out of 5
I liked being able to use the app to see what I wanted to attend and mark it so I would get a reminder that something was coming up. It was a little glitchy when it came to reservation for dinner for those of us that did "Your Time Dining" but it wasn't bad enough to take away a star. It did work ok most of the time for scheduling dinner.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
My wife and I thought the shows were very good. They did have a couple of country singers on the ship that may have been singing out of tune most of the time so we just went somewhere to listen to something we enjoyed. the ship has plenty of things going so if you didn't like something you could go do something else. The Playlist Performers were excellent, my wife and I made sure we didn't miss a show and we are musical in our family.
Children's Programs
No children with us.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Every member of the ship crew were polite and they went out of their way to learn your name and call you by name every time they saw you on the ship. I did not run into a single rude staff member. The members of the "Fun Squad" were just that, they loved to have fun. The cruise director "Schwartz" was a blast. he brought people into the fun at times. His staff was always there to help make things more enjoyable.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It's a huge ship. The only down fall of the ship was where the casino is located, you either had to go up an extra deck to get to the aft dining room or brave the smoke. Being non-smokers my wife and I typically went up an extra floor to walk aft. That's not going to take away a star though, so what I got a few extra steps in.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our cabin steward Asih was very stealthy when it came to cleaning our cabin. She was in the hall many times during the day and always treated my wife and I by our names when addressing us. She always had time to talk for a little bit as we passed her if we wanted to chat (which my wife and I are talkers).
Ship tip
This is your vacation you get out of it what you put into it. Do things that you haven't done before and have fun. Try food you haven't tried before. Most of all loosen up and have fun.
Spent the night there the night before and that's about it. Be prepared for traffic going to and from the port. Tip: Uber and Lyft drivers don't like doing runs just on the island from the port.
This port was amazing. We did a Carnival sponsored excursion "Tabasco's Chef Maestro's Cooking and Tasting. This was great way to start off doing an excursion for the first time.
The island was beautiful. Our tour driver seemed a bit rushed to get us to every place that we had on the list to see giving us very little time to really see anything.
This was by far our favorite port that we stopped in. We did an other Carnival excursion, this one was "Giving Back With a Purpose". We made a few stops on this one also. My favorite stop was the Pineapple Basic School. This school was in a very impoverished section of town. We had the opportunity to speak with the children, the teachers and the principal. I only wished we had know we could take things to the school prior to going (I had room where I could have packed a few items for the school).
You are going to have crowds when you are leaving a ship with 4000 of your closest friends. Our only issue was getting and Uber to the hotel where our car was. This has nothing to do with the CruiseLine.
Great review! Thanks for staying so positive - we try to do the same! Heck - if you’re blessed enough to cruise, then you are blessed! Vista is one of our favorite ships!
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