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

[Love2Cruz]

My 12 year old ate 2 or 3 day, and hes still skinny. If I did that I'd gain a pound a day.
Im hoping for a Baltic cruise on the Horizon. I really prefered the Northern European ports on our last cruise over this one. I wasnt a big fan of Italy or sicilily with trash everywhere. Very dirty cities, people were not friendly or helpful. Very pushy worse then the Caribbean. I also got the impression they dont like Americans. Greece on the other hand was lovely. Yes Athens is covered with graffitti, but everyone was super friendly. Everyone spoke English. Very welcoming country. Loved Rhodes. I would love to do a greek isles cruise. I know a lot of people love Italy, but I came away disappointed. Loved Malta and Marseille was very nice.

Italy has issues with garbage strikes especially in Southern Italy, but I bet you would like Rome and Venice. When I went to Greece this summer, they were also in the middle of garbage strikes, garbage littered all the roadways, luckily, when we arrived to our beach club, it was beautiful. I have a MED cruise coming up in March and just booked another for March of 2018, both with MSC...some repeat ports, some new...but I get to go to Venice again so I'm a happy camper.

 

[Ofinn]

Italy has issues with garbage strikes especially in Southern Italy, but I bet you would like Rome and Venice. When I went to Greece this summer, they were also in the middle of garbage strikes, garbage littered all the roadways, luckily, when we arrived to our beach club, it was beautiful. I have a MED cruise coming up in March and just booked another for March of 2018, both with MSC...some repeat ports, some new...but I get to go to Venice again so I'm a happy camper.

We did go to Rome. It was nice, but crowded. I really loved the people in Greece so friendly and welcoming. They are very interested in our election. We went to the hard rock in Athens. They had a debate viewing party going on. I was really trying to avoid all election coverage.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We have been on Breeze twice so we already knew what to expect. My mom and niece love the wok but chose not to wait. I am not a big fan of cucina and with all the great pasta we had in Europe we didn't need to venture there this time My DS had Guy's every day we had lunch on the ship. He's a growing boy though.

Looking forward to Horizon and anxiously stalking port calendars but nothing yet. Itineraries should be released by the first week of December according to JH on his FB page.

We're looking forward to Horizon as well, hoping for Northern Europe itineraries though!

 

[Rabb it]

It's awesome that they have the current movies in the IMAX, how fun..

 

[Love2Cruz]

We're looking forward to Horizon as well, hoping for Northern Europe itineraries though!

I too would love that but maiden voyage supposed to be in March, I doubt they would do a Northern Europe itinerary in March.....

 

[trvlgirlmq]

My 12 year old ate 2 or 3 day, and hes still skinny. If I did that I'd gain a pound a day.
Im hoping for a Baltic cruise on the Horizon. I really prefered the Northern European ports on our last cruise over this one. I wasnt a big fan of Italy or sicilily with trash everywhere. Very dirty cities, people were not friendly or helpful. Very pushy worse then the Caribbean. I also got the impression they dont like Americans. Greece on the other hand was lovely. Yes Athens is covered with graffitti, but everyone was super friendly. Everyone spoke English. Very welcoming country. Loved Rhodes. I would love to do a greek isles cruise. I know a lot of people love Italy, but I came away disappointed. Loved Malta and Marseille was very nice.

We loved Italy! I didn't find anyone to be rude. We had great service for the most part and people were friendly. We spent 4 days post cruise in Rome and can't wait to go back.

We are hoping for British Isles! I have a feeling they will split the sailings; start in the Med and then move to British Isles/Northern Europe.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I too would love that but maiden voyage supposed to be in March, I doubt they would do a Northern Europe itinerary in March.....

We won't be doing the maiden voyage, hoping she transfers up to northern after a couple months of the Mediterranean. It's my sons graduation cruise and he wants something in a cool climate.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We loved Italy! I didn't find anyone to be rude. We had great service for the most part and people were friendly. We spent 4 days post cruise in Rome and can't wait to go back.

We are hoping for British Isles! I have a feeling they will split the sailings; start in the Med and then move to British Isles/Northern Europe.

We were blown away by how friendly the Italians were, loved Italy, especially the Tuscan countryside. I think I ate my weight in pizza, pasta and gelato while we were there. I also couldn't believe how many spoke such great English.

We also really loved Spain, both Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, such nice people.

 

[Ofinn]

We loved Italy! I didn't find anyone to be rude. We had great service for the most part and people were friendly. We spent 4 days post cruise in Rome and can't wait to go back.

We are hoping for British Isles! I have a feeling they will split the sailings; start in the Med and then move to British Isles/Northern Europe.

They were always friendly, and spoke English when they were trying to sell us something. Ask directions and they suddenly couldn't speak a word of English. I could go back and have a very different experience. I can only report what we experienced on this trip. It's hard to really judge a place when you only spend a couple of days there, but you know what they say about first impressions.
Like I said I could go back to Italy tomorrow, and have a totally different impression, and come back loving it. When you write a review though you can only tell what you experienced on that particular trip. I'm glad you enjoyed Italy.

 

[Ofinn]

We were blown away by how friendly the Italians were, loved Italy, especially the Tuscan countryside. I think I ate my weight in pizza, pasta and gelato while we were there. I also couldn't believe how many spoke such great English.

We also really loved Spain, both Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, such nice people.

We were not on cruise excursions though we were out on our own. Everytime we turned around someone was in our face trying to sell us something, and they were very aggressive. It was worse then the Caribbean. Even the restaurants we ate at people would come in and beg for money or try to sell us junk. I felt like I was in third world country. It wasn't what I expected in Italy. I expect that when I go to Mexico or the Caribbean, but I didn't expect it in Italy. We did not experience this in Greece, France, Norway, Iceland, Scotland, England or Malta. It is very hard to navigate these cities on your own, and when people aren't helpful it makes it worse. Luckily we met other Carnival cruisers who were as frustrated as us and we managed to find our way around.
I went into one resteraunt and asked how much for a diet coke. He told me 4 euros. I told him he was crazy. He then came back with 2 Euros. I told him I no longer wanted to give him any of my money. I also didn't expect this type of price haggling in a supposedly first world country.

 

[Ofinn]

Appreciate this review. We've been looking at the Vista - a lot - and will very possibly book it for Feb 2018 since out DCL placeholder is expiring literally one or two days before the day we're looking to sail. I have a question about the family harbor room. We'll almost definitely choose one of those rooms if/when we book Vista. I thought only the family harbor suites had the DCL-style split bathrooms. You had that in a regular ocean-view? Also, the food by the pool (Guy's burgers, the pizza), are those included or upcharge?

Yes all the deluxe ocean views have the split bathroom. The bathrooms are a little larger than DCL's. I would avoid the suites. I heard at least 2 or 3 guest complaining about them because of the noise from galley above. Carnival did compensate them with onboard credit and some other perks. I think it was bad planning to put those rooms there. I'm sure they'll correct it on the next ship. I have really lucked out on the Magic and Wonder they have never given me a room under the galley or night club when I've booked a OGT rate. My advice would be to know what is above you when you book your rooms. We were aft of the aft elevators and had no issues with noise or vibration. A little vibration pulling into port, but that was about it. It's a very quite, smooth ship. It doesn't have the vibration problems the Fantasy has.
Since it is a family section you may hear kids crying, laughing, screaming, throwing tantrums, parents yelling at their kids, kids yelling at their parents, kids running down the hall and so on. No different then a Disney ship.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

you may hear kids crying, laughing, screaming, throwing tantrums, parents yelling at their kids, kids yelling at their parents, kids running down the hall and so on. No different then a Disney ship.

We always say, "You know you're at Disney, when you hear kids crying and parents yelling."

 

[Ofinn]

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.

We met two other DCL platinum families onboard. Both were very happy with the Vista. Both had cruises booked on DCL next year and both had cruises booked on other cruise lines. One family was on their 6th cruise this year. Their next was on Celebrity. Like the mom said there are only so many times you can visit Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Nassau, and only so many pirate parties you can sit through.
So just because you enjoy DCL doesn't mean you won't like other cruise lines for the ports and variety. I think it hit me on our 12th cruise. It was a WC and I was bored out of my mind. It was just the same old food, shows, entertainment etc. Then on our Iceland cruise when we had the worst service I've had on a cruise I realized I was really ready to branch out and try something new. I'm glad I did because I now realize that DCL may be the best cruise lines for kids, but they are not the best at everything. The Carnival Vista was every bit as good as our cruises on the Fantasy if not better in some areas. It was just different. It's not Disney so if you can get past that you'll love it.

When you cruise 3 or more times a year I think you have to eventually change it up. There's a lot of places I want to go that DCL doesn't go or I simply can't afford to do it on DCL so I'm glad I gave Carnival a try. I'm sure were not to far off from trying Royal or Norwegian.

 

[Sytrace]

We met two other DCL platinum families onboard. Both were very happy with the Vista. Both had cruises booked on DCL next year and both had cruises booked on other cruise lines. One family was on their 6th cruise this year. Their next was on Celebrity. Like the mom said there are only so many times you can visit Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Nassau, and only so many pirate parties you can sit through.
So just because you enjoy DCL doesn't mean you won't like other cruise lines for the ports and variety. I think it hit me on our 12th cruise. It was a WC and I was bored out of my mind. It was just the same old food, shows, entertainment etc. Then on our Iceland cruise when we had the worst service I've had on a cruise I realized I was really ready to branch out and try something new. I'm glad I did because I now realize that DCL may be the best cruise lines for kids, but they are not the best at everything. The Carnival Vista was every bit as good as our cruises on the Fantasy if not better in some areas. It was just different. It's not Disney so if you can get past that you'll love it.

When you cruise 3 or more times a year I think you have to eventually change it up. There's a lot of places I want to go that DCL doesn't go or I simply can't afford to do it on DCL so I'm glad I gave Carnival a try. I'm sure were not to far off from trying Royal or Norwegian.

I am definitely feeling that boredom and I really don't want to. We are taking our 5th Disney cruise of this year in December (it is the Merrytime Christmas though...haven't done that since 2014)
At this point, we love to take them for the relaxation part because we know that we are not going to go to the shows, won't get off the ship and can leave the phones and electronics at home and have a good time as a family.
After looking at the itineraries today for 2018, I am thinking we are going to have to go to Alaska, do a Transatlantic, leave out of San Juan and do a PC cruise just to stretch our wings and to stay with Disney.
Since we already have one booked for September of 2017, I think Alaska in May is going to be our next sailing.

 

[Love2Cruz]

We met two other DCL platinum families onboard. Both were very happy with the Vista. Both had cruises booked on DCL next year and both had cruises booked on other cruise lines. One family was on their 6th cruise this year. Their next was on Celebrity. Like the mom said there are only so many times you can visit Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Nassau, and only so many pirate parties you can sit through.
So just because you enjoy DCL doesn't mean you won't like other cruise lines for the ports and variety. I think it hit me on our 12th cruise. It was a WC and I was bored out of my mind. It was just the same old food, shows, entertainment etc. Then on our Iceland cruise when we had the worst service I've had on a cruise I realized I was really ready to branch out and try something new. I'm glad I did because I now realize that DCL may be the best cruise lines for kids, but they are not the best at everything. The Carnival Vista was every bit as good as our cruises on the Fantasy if not better in some areas. It was just different. It's not Disney so if you can get past that you'll love it.

When you cruise 3 or more times a year I think you have to eventually change it up. There's a lot of places I want to go that DCL doesn't go or I simply can't afford to do it on DCL so I'm glad I gave Carnival a try. I'm sure were not to far off from trying Royal or Norwegian.

Don't forget to add MSC to your list of cruise lines to try. I tried them for the first time this summer, booked another Med itinerary for March and another repo cruise for March 2018 at outstanding prices. Believe it or not, their prices are even better than Carnivals, the ships are even more beautiful and the entertainment beats Carnival. Different cruise experience as a lot more Europeans on the line..but as you have already decided, variety is a good thing.

 

[Ofinn]

Don't forget to add MSC to your list of cruise lines to try. I tried them for the first time this summer, booked another Med itinerary for March and another repo cruise for March 2018 at outstanding prices. Believe it or not, their prices are even better than Carnivals, the ships are even more beautiful and the entertainment beats Carnival. Different cruise experience as a lot more Europeans on the line..but as you have already decided, variety is a good thing.

We docked next to one of their ships. I was surprised at how pretty it was. It reminded me of a little of DCL because it had the navy blue color. Funny they were showing Nemo on the big screen by the pool. I saw quite a few kids onboard that surprised me.

 

[Ofinn]

I am definitely feeling that boredom and I really don't want to. We are taking our 5th Disney cruise of this year in December (it is the Merrytime Christmas though...haven't done that since 2014)
At this point, we love to take them for the relaxation part because we know that we are not going to go to the shows, won't get off the ship and can leave the phones and electronics at home and have a good time as a family.
After looking at the itineraries today for 2018, I am thinking we are going to have to go to Alaska, do a Transatlantic, leave out of San Juan and do a PC cruise just to stretch our wings and to stay with Disney.
Since we already have one booked for September of 2017, I think Alaska in May is going to be our next sailing.

It's great you can afford to cruise Disney that often without using discounts. I've honestly never paid more than 5k for a DCL cruise. I've been really lucky with the GT and interline rates over the years. It was easy with the old website to watch cruises and see what cruises weren't selling. It was actually kind of fun. With the new awful website forget it. I don't even look anymore.
The San Juan cruise was great. I may do that again next year because those are always discounted, same with Galveston, New York, repositioning cruises and some European cruises. I still have options if I want DCL, but I've gotten over the urge to spend the big bucks to go back on the Fantasy or Dream. After sailing on the Vista I've decided I can get my mega ship fix with Carnival.
I think the best way to overcome the boredom is to visit new ports. Spreading your wings out of Florida will help with that. San Juan, Alaska, TA all sound good. I was even excited for our Galveston cruise just because I'd never been to Galveston. Changing things up definitely helps.

 

[momof2n2]

I wish we had the money to "get bored" of DCL. We were just priced out so quickly.

I asked my kids recently if they'd like to do another 7-day on NCL or a 4-day Dream (NCL verandah < 4-day Dream interior) and they unanimously said NCL. They had so much fun. The activities blew them away.
The thing NCL lacked, in their mind, was first-run movie theater.

 

[linetbo]

Did you pay extra for any restaurant? Did you use their excursions?

 

[Sytrace]

It's great you can afford to cruise Disney that often without using discounts. I've honestly never paid more than 5k for a DCL cruise. I've been really lucky with the GT and interline rates over the years. It was easy with the old website to watch cruises and see what cruises weren't selling. It was actually kind of fun. With the new awful website forget it. I don't even look anymore.
The San Juan cruise was great. I may do that again next year because those are always discounted, same with Galveston, New York, repositioning cruises and some European cruises. I still have options if I want DCL, but I've gotten over the urge to spend the big bucks to go back on the Fantasy or Dream. After sailing on the Vista I've decided I can get my mega ship fix with Carnival.
I think the best way to overcome the boredom is to visit new ports. Spreading your wings out of Florida will help with that. San Juan, Alaska, TA all sound good. I was even excited for our Galveston cruise just because I'd never been to Galveston. Changing things up definitely helps.

We go in the off season so our rates are not out of control. I think the max we have spent on a cruise was the 7 night to San Juan and Saint Maarten in April 2015 (well worth it)
But we average about $5200.00 or so between on board discount bookings and time of year we sail. Of course, much less on those shorter cruises so it all evens out. We homeschool so it is really easy to get away here and there. The kids are getting older though and we really interested in seeing different places.
It is just so darn convienent to depart from Port Canaveral.