Add me to the list of DCL cruisers that loved the Carnival Vista

[Ofinn]

We just returned from our 10 day med cruise on the Carnival Vista, and since I can't sleep I've been up since 3 am I thought I would start a review. Despite working a 12 hour shift yesterday in which I thought I was going to fall asleep standing up I was still up at 3 am this morning. I hate jet lag and time changes.

I know Carnival gets bashed on these boards, and a lot of people on these boards have it in their head that DCL is the best cruise line, and will never be convinced otherwise. For the rest of you open minded folks who may be looking for a less expensive alternative to the Fantasy this review is for you.

The ship itself is brand new and absolutely gorgeous, but I'm going to try to break it down into categories. Sorry no pictures there are plenty of pictures online and on these board all ready so just google it.

Just a little about the cost we paid roughly 3k that included gratuity for a family harbor oceanview room for the 4 of us. This was with no special discount just Carnivals "more the merrier" rate which made the 3rd and 4th passengers almost free about 200.00 each.

THE ROOM- We have gotten used to being on deck 2 on the Magic and Wonder so being on deck 2 on the Vista was not a big deal for us. The room itself was 230 sq ft. A little larger than Disney. There were 2 bathrooms one with a shower and toilet, and one with a bathtub, shower and sink. The two showers was nice. The rooms of course were brand new so great AC, great plumbing, fridge worked great,super comfy beds, huge big screen tv on the wall, and there were lots of outlets. I loved the nautical decor. There was a lot more storage space then DCL. There was two big closets one with shelves to put clothes and one with room to hang clothes. I preferred the closet shelves to the little tiny drawers on the DCL ships.
The only thing I didn't like was having the bed next to window. I prefer the couch next to the window. The room were of course much nicer than the Wonder or Magic, and equal to the Fantasy. I would give the edge to Carnival on this because of the double showers and the storage space.

FAMILY HARBOR LOUNGE.
What a fantastic concept this is. The whole deck 2 aft section is the family harbor area which is designed for families, but not exclusive to families. The Lounge area is huge and consists of tables and chairs, sofas, 2 large screen TV's, 2 Apple desktop computers, 2 play station large screen TV's, and a large selection of board games. Oh and of course the food. In the morning they put out a hot breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, oatmeal, cold cereals, pastries, meats cheeses, fruits, and for you Brits beans. In the afternoon the put out cookies, brownies, cakes four different kind of sandwiches always PBJ and Ham and then different specialty sandwiches such corned beef and cabbage, cucumber, BLT, chicken salad etc. At night they put out 3 different kind of cookies and brownies. Everything was delicious. They even serve real eggs not powdered....Are you listening Disney?
The fridge was always stocked with white and chocolate milk, and several different kinds of yogurt.
Iced water was always available along with lemonade and iced tea. They also had a soft serve ice cream machine.

Ok and now for the best part a Cappuccino and latte maker. Yes fresh ground coffee everyday.

The upcharge for the this section of the ship was around 50.00 per person when people figure how awesome it is I'm sure that will go up or maybe not since it's on deck 2. They also have balcony's on deck 2 in the family harbor section and family suites. The suites are pretty pricey and are under the galley. I did hear some complaints. Like on any ship including DCL make sure you know what's above you on deck 3 when you book a room on deck 2. We had no noise issues. I loved the convenience of walking 30 feet in the morning to get coffee, or a glass of water. It was also very convenient on a port intensive cruise like this. Breakfast was very fast and easy. To be continued......

 

[Ofinn]

THE SHIP LAYOUT
This is an area where the Vista is hands down better than the Fantasy. There is tons of outdoor seating. Everything opens outward toward the ocean. The adult bars on deck 5 all have outdoor seating. Chair, couches, loungers, rockers you name they have it. Deck 10, 11, 12, and the adult area on deck 15 have tons of seating areas. There is lots of shaded areas and quiet areas. You will have no trouble finding a place to relax on this ship. I loved that you can see the ocean from just about everywhere on the ship including the dining rooms. On Disney everything is inward.

SPORT DECK and ACTIVIES.
The sports deck is on deck 12. It includes a running track that never closes...Are you listening Disney? A ropes course, sky ride, bowling alley, minature golf, ping pong tables, elipticals, some restastance machines, and basketball court.

 

[blondietink]

Can't wait to read more! Love Carnival for the amenities and price. Have been looking at the Vista itineraries but haven't booked anything yet on her.

 

[Love2Cruz]

So glad to hear you enjoyed Carnival. I'll be Platinum next year with them...maybe we'll be on the same sailing one day.. I'm anxiously awaiting the release of Horizon dates and itineraries.

 

[Ofinn]

THE GYM- Basically the same as DCL just larger.

MOVIES- They show free movies by the pool generally pg movies with free popcorn. They also have an IMAX on board. Which is 12.95 for adult and 9.95 for kids. Expensive yes, but worth it too me. I'm not a huge fan of Disney or Marvel movies. We saw Sully, and Deepwater Horizon. They were premiering Jack Reacher the last night, but we did not catch it. They also have a 4D thrill theater which is 15 dollars for unlimited movies. My kids forgot to try this so I can't comment if it's good or not.

ENTERTAINMENT- The DCL shows are good quality, but extremely boring to me and my family. I haven't been since our first cruise. We saw FLick on the Vista which was very good, and America rocks which was even better. We went to a family comedy show... not totally family friendly I'll admit, but I'm an adult and I liked it. Were not big on shows, but I liked what we saw.

ADULT BARS- Loved them all. Loved the outdoor views. Drinks were pricey because of the VAT tax otherwise about the same as DCL. They do have 4.00 dollar pour your own beers. We bought the wine package with dinner like we always do on DCL. It was much cheaper than DCL selection was equivalent.

POOL FOOD- I know food is subjective but I don't think anyone can argue that Carnvial's pool side food is far superior. Guys burgers, blue Iguana, fresh wood fired pizza all excellent and really high quality. Blue Iguana was incredible I could eat there everyday. The burgers... just awesome. They also have a shake bar and Ice cream parlor for an upcharge. The ice cream parlor is in the candy store and you get unlimited toppings that is why the upcharge of 5.00. My kids loved it though.

BUFFET. DCL has a better selections, but Carnivals was good. Carnival has a better salad bar and desserts. They also have homemade ice cream.

MDR. Again I thought Carnival was 100% better. Some of the best soups I've ever had, Desserts were fantastic. My dh and thought the pasta dishes were better than what we had in Palo.

Specialty dining- We didn't try any due to the VAT tax. Since we didn't stop at a non EU port( Turkey was cancelled) they had to charge 24% vat tax on food and drinks. They did allow people to bring as much alcohol on board as they wanted at each port. AKA Disney's old policy.

 

[Sytrace]

This sounds amazing !
I think I might have to give them another try sometime soon...it has been a long time since I have been on a Carnival ship.
Thank you for your report.

 

[Ofinn]

OK now the Big one SERVICE- I went into this with low expectations for service. After being on these boards for the last few years I was convinced nobody could possible hold a candle to Disney... well I was wrong.

I will start with embarkation. We left our hotel in Athens at 1100 am. Walked to the metro, took the metro to the port, a taxi to the ship, checked in, dropped our carry on bags in our room, and were having lunch by 100 pm. We went back to our room at 2pm and our luggage had arrived. So I would say embarkation was fast. Considering on our last three DCL cruises they lost our luggage and it didn't arrive until 7 pm I was thrilled. The room stewards do not deliver luggage on Carnival. They have a special team for this. This really frees up the room stewards and makes it much easier for them.
Our room steward Widi was probably the best we've ever had. He was always in the hallway smiling greeted us by name everytime. He serviced our room two or three times a day and it was always spotless. All the room stewards were friendly just like on DCL. No issues at all. He never mentioned the word Excellent either. I loved that.

We had "Your time dining" I waitlisted for the 815, but did not get it. They have two dining rooms one for scheduled dining and one for your time dining. We checked in between 8 and 830 everynight. Only twice did we have to wait for a table and it was only 5-10 minutes. This was on both formal nights. We had a different server everynight. They always addressed us by name. Service was friendly, efficient, and orders were always correct, and served in a timely manner. A pitcher of water was always on the table. Fresh bread and whipped butter was on table. No packaged butter like on DCL. The bread was incredible. I don't know if it came from Greece, but it was really good. The servers don't do magic tricks and make you funny hats, but the service was excellent.
They also don't bug you for an excellent rating. In fairness there are so many dining choices on the Vista that the dining room was only about 70% full so the waiters seemed pretty relaxed.
Service around the ship was great. Bartenders, guest services etc everyone was great. Not really any different than DCL. To be fair I've been on 13 DCL cruises so I've had service ranging from Excellent to just so-so, and I've only been on one Carnival cruise.

I will come back with more. I have a lot more to say including a few negatives and also more positives.

 

[Ofinn]

TEEN CLUB- This was really hit or miss on this cruise. A lot of it had to do with the demographics of the cruise. It seemed like half the ship was over the age of 65. There were more kids then I expected since European schools were on Fall break, but it seemed like European kids really just hung out with their families. Another problem was hours. The teen club "circle C" unlike the Edge was not open all day. It opened at 1200 on sea days and on port days an hour before or after leaving port. Since we were in port until 8pm many days. The Club did not open until 830. My kids were bored at times. The space for the Club is great. Better than the Magic or Wonder and similar to the Fantasy.
I don't think this cruise was indicative of a normal Carnival cruise. The counselors told me on a Caribbean cruise there is a lot more kids and on port days they usually open about 4pm. The activities were similar to that of DCL. My kids loved the ship, but wished the club was open more like the Edge. It was hard to meet up with other kids when the meeting place was closed. Next time we cruise on the Vista I will make sure it's during a school break or a Caribbean cruise with more sea days.
They also tried combining Circle C with CLub O2 so there would be more kids, but that really didn't work. They said they normally never do that. The older kids really don't want to be with 12 year olds.
My kids did make some friends though. There was a kid from our Hawaii Wonder cruise on the ship. They are also DCL platinum, and they met a kid from Curacao they really liked.
My kids liked the ship better than the Fantasy, but liked the Edge better than Circle C.

INTERNET- on DCL we always buy the 89.00 dollar 1000 mb package. On Vista we got unlimited interenet for 90.00. They also have Apple desktops available on deck 3 and deck 5 for public use.

 

[Ofinn]

Some other negatives were the elevators and the smoking areas. A lot of this had to do with the demographics of the cruise. Since there were a large amount of seniors that couldn't walk up or down one flight of stairs getting an elevator was nearly impossible. I burned some calories walking up and down 10 flights of stairs several times a day.
Since I didn't know where the smoking areas were on the ship I seemed to keep wandering into them and Europeans smoke like chimneys.

These two things and the Circle C hours are about the only negatives I can think of.

POOLs- I almost forgot about the pools. They have 3 pools and 4 hot tubs. One pool and two of the hot tubs are in the Havana area which is only for Havana guests until 5pm and then they open it to everyone. The pools seemed bigger then DCL. The hots tubs were probably twice the size of DCL's. They also have two big slides and a splash area similar to that on the Fantasy.

 

[Quellman]

The thing that has struck me in all of your comments "exterior views" clubs, lounges, bars, all are designed to show you the outside. i didn't realize I was missing that until you said it. Might be why I enjoy my verandah so much. I like being outside and seeing things. not outside on the pool deck with 800 of my closest neighbors, Just areas to enjoy the scenery as it passes by.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Sounds like a great experience you had. I've been on Carnival and Disney and from my experience there's no comparison, Disney was an A and Carnival a C. But I'm hoping your report will draw more people over to Carnival and reduce DCL demand so prices come down.

 

[wonderlandwego]

Sounds like a great experience you had. I've been on Carnival and Disney and from my experience there's no comparison, Disney was an A and Carnival a C. But I'm hoping your report will draw more people over to Carnival and reduce DCL demand so prices come down.

From everything I've been hearing the Vista is not your 'typical' Carnival experience. It has already won awards and looks pretty amazing.

 

[momof2n2]

THANK YOU!!!

Love this review. !!!! Yay.

Vista is on our short list for May 2018. Either that or either Getaway/Escape on NCL. It will come down to price and who is out of Florida at the time.
I really want to try Vista, though. My kids spent most of their time with us, so the club issue won't matter, really. And I did find the smoking smell would catch me off guard on Getaway, as well.
So glad you did the family harbor rooms, too.

Glad you had a blast. I hope you get some sleep, soon!!

 

[momof2n2]

Sounds like a great experience you had. I've been on Carnival and Disney and from my experience there's no comparison, Disney was an A and Carnival a C. But I'm hoping your report will draw more people over to Carnival and reduce DCL demand so prices come down.

Have you done Vista? I have not done a Carnival yet, but NCL and PCI were every bit as fun as our DCL cruise... Perhaps it was the ships we selected.

 

[Ofinn]

NICKEL AND DIMING- I read a lot of people complain about nickel and diming on other cruise lines. I didn't feel that way since everything is optional. I spent about 300.00 more than I did on our 10 day Hawaii cruise. About 75.00 of that was for movies. I also gave my kids 100.00 each to charge on board. I never give my kids charging, but since the teen club was hit or miss I let them hit up the arcade. Not a huge difference in what I normally spend on board. I would have had to spend 10k onboard to come close to the price of DCL's 12 day med cruise.




Final thoughts- I think everyone in my family agreed that this is the best ship we have been on. It is designed so much better than the Fantasy with all the
open seating areas, outside views. I can't emphasize enough how much I enjoyed being able to see the ocean from just about anywhere on the ship. I loved the adult bars having outside seating areas. I loved all the outside seating areas that were in the shade. The ship is completely different in decor from the Fantasy. The Fantasy is a little more elegant. The Vista is more modern with very subdued tones. A lot of browns and teal colors. There is also a lot more to do on the ship. I think my kids would have a blast on a cruise with more kids.

I still love DCL and will continue to cruise on them. Most likely on the Magic and Wonder that have the better itinerary's. I really like the size, and intimacy of the Magic and Wonder, but for a Mega ship the Vista wins for us. I really can't see paying Fantasy prices when we like the Vista better and it's half the cost.

I have been on 13 DCL cruises in 4 1/2 years. I have had Excellent cruises, and just OK cruises, I can't say I have ever had a bad cruise on DCL. I've had things go wrong. I think my perspective is different than someone that has been on a handful of DCL cruises because I've cruised enough on DCL to know they are not perfect. I'm sure if I cruise 13 times on the Carnival Vista I would at some point run into some problems.

The Vista is Carnivals new flagship. I could really tell they are trying to make this ship a real standout in Florida. Lots of maintenance and painting going on around the ship. Carpets already being replaced and the ships only 5 months old. The crew was fantastic. Our room steward had a helper I'm not sure if this is normal for Carnival, but they did not seem overworked at all. Having a luggage team deliver luggage also seemed to make it a lot easier on them. The wait staff also seemed a lot more relaxed. I saw most of them going to shore everyday. I think they are going to bummed out coming back to the Caribbean where the guests are on the ship more.



Another interesting thing that happened on this cruise. On the second day of the cruise they started making announcements about handwashing and some people were being quarantined. Rumor was a norovirus outbreak. I talked to the wife of one the sick passengers. She said he had no vomiting only diarrhea. Neither her nor her son had gotten sick. She said there were about 20 people sick with the same symptoms and 6 of them had stayed at the same hotel in Athens and eaten the same eggs for breakfast. My husband started getting diarrhea about 2 hours after we boarded, but it only lasted 12 hours and he was fine. He was the only one in our family that had eggs at our hotel that morning. As it turned out these poor 20 people were quarantined the whole cruise because their symptoms did not go away. Many of them were getting daily IV's with potassium. As it turns out they had Salmonella. I guess there was a bad batch of eggs floating around Athens. They did say the medical staff took very good care of them. It was funny seeing room trays delivered by people in Hazmat suits the first few days of the cruise. I guess they all tested negative for Noro, but they had no idea what it was so they were being very careful.

I know DCL will be releasing their 2018 Caribbean cruises soon. There will also be a "priced out thread" with a lot of p****off people. If your one of those people I would give the Vista some consideration. We loved the ship and can't wait to sail on her again.

 

[Ofinn]

Honorable Mention- The cruise director. We did not have the infamous Matt I've heard so much about. We had Jamie. The cruise directors on Carnival don't dress as officers and they are everywhere. I really wonder when they sleep. If you don't know who your cruise director is on DCL you certainly will on a Carnival cruise. We disembarked at 0630 am since we had a 10 am flight. Jamie was at the door at 630 am to say goodbye to the passengers and surprise so was Matt since he was back for the next cruise.

 

[Ofinn]

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Also we did everything on our own at every port. If you are doing a med cruise next year and don't want to pay excursion prices please ask away. I'm not an expert, but we muddled through it, saw what we wanted, had a great time, and saved a ton of money. Also keep in mind kids get in free to a lot of things in Europe so before your fork over a hundreds of dollars to see Pompeii or the tower of Pisa do some research.

 

[Ofinn]

THANK YOU!!!

Love this review. !!!! Yay.

Vista is on our short list for May 2018. Either that or either Getaway/Escape on NCL. It will come down to price and who is out of Florida at the time.
I really want to try Vista, though. My kids spent most of their time with us, so the club issue won't matter, really. And I did find the smoking smell would catch me off guard on Getaway, as well.
So glad you did the family harbor rooms, too.

Glad you had a blast. I hope you get some sleep, soon!!

I have no trouble with jet lag going East. Coming home is a different story. My kids went to bed at 9pm and have been up since 3am. The same thing happened last time we went to Europe. It's just strange how none of us can sleep, and we usually have trouble waking up. Normally my kids will sleep to noon if I let them.
As far as the club goes I don't think this will be an issue on a normal cruise. My kids don't spend all their time in the club, but it is a meeting place to meet up with their new friends and do other things around the ship. I'm lazy on a ship I just want to curl up with a good book. When they were younger I would play golf, ping pong etc with them. Now I just want them to go do their own thing. If your going to try the Vista book early. I never do that with DCL, but the Vista is very popular and is selling very well. Our family harbor room slept 5. You could easily get by with an Oceanview or Cove and an inside room. I would definitely do the Family Harbor with your group.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

I just did a Vista vs. Fantasy comparison just strictly on pricing, and it was pretty interesting. They actually are fairly comparable. For the same week and same route in 2017 (same type cabin, family of four), the Vista came out to avg about 1500 per person whereas Fantasy was about 1800 per person.

 

[NHDisneyFan]

I just did a Vista vs. Fantasy comparison just strictly on pricing, and it was pretty interesting. They actually are fairly comparable. For the same week and same route in 2017 (same type cabin, family of four), the Vista came out to avg about 1500 per person whereas Fantasy was about 1800 per person.

So a family of four would save $1,200?