Great time. We'll be cruising on Carnival again later this year!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very smooth. Never stood in line for anything except sitting in waiting area waiting for number to be called to board the ship.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We purchased the drink package. Horizon dining room, Marketplace, Italian specialty restaurants were all good. Lido deck restaurants were all good as well. The steakhouse was a bit of disappointment due to long, long wait for food.
Havana Bar
5 out of 5
Great ambience during the day and at night.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Havana pool was great! Havana pool requires a wrist band. You get the wrist band if you are staying in a Havana cabin. They did great job of monitoring guests that weren''t staying in a Havana cabin. We played pool (both the table and kicking the balls), putt putt, foosball, and shuffleboard. Those were all fun. We did purchase the Couple''s Thermal Suite for the week. We would never do that again. We thought it would be relaxing to spend some time there. We went one time for about 20 minutes. If you have the place to yourself it would be nice, but if it''s crowded (10+ people) it''s not too relaxing or comfortable. Definitely not worth the $200. I wouldn''t do that again for free. The Serenity area was nice, but really needs a small pool to cool off. It does have 2 hot tubs and a bar. They need to do a better job making sure cruisers are 21+ to enter the Serenity.
Vista Casino
5 out of 5
Nice size casino for a cruise ship. Wish it was non smoking!
Havana Pool
5 out of 5
Awesome. Never too crowded. Great service from Jose, Pedro, Robert, and Santos.
Entertainment
We did not attend any entertainment except for casino. We were either eating, in the casino, hanging out on our balcony, or at the Havana pool/bar most of the time.
Children's Programs
Just me and my wife, BUT this cruise had very few kids due to the vaccination requirements. Very few kids if any running around.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone on the ship was great. Only compliments here. Not a single complaint. Every single Carnival employee was friendly and respectful. Even the guest services employees were nice (we only had to go once thankfully) and they deal with some really difficult cruisers that want everything for nothing. Hats off to all of them.
6 stars!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It took some time to understand the layout of the Vista. lol We did a lot of walking to avoid waiting for elevators. Ship was very clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
This balcony is absolutely amazing. 6461 is a corner Havana cabin overlooking the Havana pool area. Worth every penny although it does cost a bunch of pennies. The room itself is laid out a bit different then the other rooms due to it being a corner cabin, but I don''t believe it has any extra square feet. I thought the small cabin size would be an issue, but it was fine. We overpacked unfortunately.
Ship tip
You can walk everywhere without waiting for elevators. We were on deck 6 at the very back of the ship. For example, if we wanted to go to Lido deck 10 or casino deck 4 we would walk the deck 6 hallway all the way forward and take stairs up to 10 or down to 4. You can't take stairs from deck 6 aft to 10 and expect to walk across to Lido. This will make much more sense once you are on board. Also, if you have a Havana cabin there is a private stairwell port side aft. If you are on deck 5 you don't need the stairwell, but since we were on deck 6 we could walk down the stairwell to 5 and that puts us right inside the Havana bar. Awesome for getting quick drinks when chilling out in the room. We also had 2 bottles that we bought before the cruise. Due to Texas law they weren't delivered to the room until the 2nd day/afternoon. We really wanted them the first day since the drink package doesn't start until the 2nd day. We didn't even open one of the bottles. You're not supposed to take them off the ship even when you disembark. I put the bottle in my carry on and no one checked it.
We did the VIP Bungalow beach day ($350). Julie was our guide and she was great. A lot of construction on the main road. It took about 30 minutes to get to the beach (Turquoise Bay). The bungalow was awesome. Drinks and food included. We actually kayaked and had a great time! Only 4 hours to enjoy the bungalow. We could of stayed much longer.
Unfortunately not much good to say here. This is a tender port. They were having mechanical issues with the boats. Delayed by about 2 hours getting off the ship. Our excursion to a private beach was canceled at 1:30 and we were supposed to leave at 10:15. We used the delay time to play putt putt, foosball, etc. The 2 stars is really based on the port village area not the fact our excursion was canceled. The stores were not very impressive and the people weren't very friendly. I'm really not sure why this is a port. We had a few drinks at the restaurant and then sat on a tender boat for an hour until it was completely full. Then of course a nightmare line trying to get back on the cruise ship through security.
The port village area is really nice. It seems safe to venture away from the port area (unlike Belize). We did a Farm to Table excursion. We met Frank (Viator) outside the port area and he took us to Carlos' farm. Carlos was great and this was a really fun and unique experience. He has 2 dogs, chickens, and a cow named Estrella. The cow thinks she's a dog. She followed us everywhere. If you want a unique experience and take a day off from the beach and sun give this a try! We really loved it!
We walked right off the ship (once our number was called), through customs and right to our car across the street. Seemed odd, it was way too quick. No one stopped us for anything. The TABC was closed so we didn''t have to pay taxes on the alcohol we purchased.
sandsunfun2019
I believe they had live music every night. They have a stage in the middle of the Havana Bar. They have a lot of unique seating in the bar. Great place to relax and have a few drinks and listen to live music at night.
Thank you for sharing sounds like you had a wonderful time will be on ship July 31st we are staying in a Havana suite corner 7450. Did you go to the area in Havana where there is supposed to be music?
Thanks for sharing your experience on a recent cruise. Your descriptions were wonderful and made me wish October was closer! Glad you enjoyed your cruise!🚢😎
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