Thoughts on the new Carnival Vista

[aidtrismommy]

I seriously considered a cruise on this ship and was about to book until I had trouble understanding the sleeping arrangements. It appeared that most/all rooms slept only up the three people except for the suites. I have three people in my family (myself and two children). While we could all fit in the room it would mean that I would have to share a bed with one of my children. It isn't the end of the world but I would rather not. I liked the family suite concept and we could all have our own sleeping spaces but in terms of cost it was about the same as a DCL. How did you guys split up the staterooms and what were the sleeping arrangements? TIA.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I seriously considered a cruise on this ship and was about to book until I had trouble understanding the sleeping arrangements. It appeared that most/all rooms slept only up the three people except for the suites. I have three people in my family (myself and two children). While we could all fit in the room it would mean that I would have to share a bed with one of my children. It isn't the end of the world but I would rather not. I liked the family suite concept and we could all have our own sleeping spaces but in terms of cost it was about the same as a DCL. How did you guys split up the staterooms and what were the sleeping arrangements? TIA.

The beds on Carnival split so you each of you would have a twin. Also the family ocean view rooms sleep up to five without having to go in a suite. With one of those you could keep the king sized bed in tact and each kid could have a twin.

 

[darnheather]

I seriously considered a cruise on this ship and was about to book until I had trouble understanding the sleeping arrangements. It appeared that most/all rooms slept only up the three people except for the suites. I have three people in my family (myself and two children). While we could all fit in the room it would mean that I would have to share a bed with one of my children. It isn't the end of the world but I would rather not. I liked the family suite concept and we could all have our own sleeping spaces but in terms of cost it was about the same as a DCL. How did you guys split up the staterooms and what were the sleeping arrangements? TIA.

There are pull down bunks over each twin bed. So kind of like bunk beds. It wouldn't work for my family of three because the rooms are much smaller overall than the DCL and they have fewer 3 or 4 person rooms.

 

[kaseyC]

I seriously considered a cruise on this ship and was about to book until I had trouble understanding the sleeping arrangements. It appeared that most/all rooms slept only up the three people except for the suites. I have three people in my family (myself and two children). While we could all fit in the room it would mean that I would have to share a bed with one of my children. It isn't the end of the world but I would rather not. I liked the family suite concept and we could all have our own sleeping spaces but in terms of cost it was about the same as a DCL. How did you guys split up the staterooms and what were the sleeping arrangements? TIA.

When we originally booked our cruise we booked a verandah cabin for me and my husband and inside triple for our 3 DDs. With specials and price drops we ended up moving our DDs to the adjoining verandah cabin for about the same price as the inside. Their verandah cabin could sleep 4. Two twins, sleep sofa and bunk above the sofa.

 

[kaseyC]

We are hoping Vista II does the same cruise you were on in June 2018, my son wants that for his graduation cruise.

It was a fantastic itinerary. I hope they keep Kusadasi, Turkey. It ended up being our favorite port, Ephesus is amazing. The savings compared to a similar itinerary on DCL literally paid for our private tours and post cruise stay in Mykonos.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I seriously considered a cruise on this ship and was about to book until I had trouble understanding the sleeping arrangements. It appeared that most/all rooms slept only up the three people except for the suites. I have three people in my family (myself and two children). While we could all fit in the room it would mean that I would have to share a bed with one of my children. It isn't the end of the world but I would rather not. I liked the family suite concept and we could all have our own sleeping spaces but in terms of cost it was about the same as a DCL. How did you guys split up the staterooms and what were the sleeping arrangements? TIA.

Oceanview and above tend to have the two twins plus a couch that converts to a single bed - no bunks required. You could also look at porthole cabins (classed as interiors) or 4Js (interior with obstructed views), they tend to have two beds and a couch as well. It's usually only the true interiors that have the bunks as bed 3 (though in just about every category, the 4th bed is a bunk - either over the bed or over the couch).

When you're booking, just put in for 3 people and it will show you some of what's available in each category. If you call it or use a TA, they have access to all available cabins.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

It was a fantastic itinerary. I hope they keep Kusadasi, Turkey. It ended up being our favorite port, Ephesus is amazing. The savings compared to a similar itinerary on DCL literally paid for our private tours and post cruise stay in Mykonos.

We are already planning for Vista 2 as well. I'll be trolling the port websites come fall looking for clues on stops! We loved Kusadasi too and wouldn't mind a repeat.

 

[TXDCLfan]

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Menu from the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast, this was the only food we paid additional money for and it was a whopping $5/person

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Daughters Green Eggs and Ham in the background and my son had cereal encrusted french toast


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I had Steak and Eggs and it was fantastic, excellent Filet, not Ruth's Chris worthy but better than Outback

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Interior hallway for the Cloud 9 Spa rooms, these are a different category of room that have unlimited access to the Cloud 9 Spa facility, similar to the Rainforest Room

GREAT REPORT!

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Interior wall decor for the regular cabin hallways, it was definitely a Caribbean beach theme


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Seafood Shack pay counter service restaurant. In my opinion a completely wasted part of the ship, hardly ever saw anyone there and I hope they do away with it.

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And this is why I love cruising so much, you just can't see stuff like this anywhere else

FINAL VERDICT: So as you can probably already tell, we loved our 8 nights on the Carnival Vista. We had a ton of fun, felt safe, ate good food and just had a great experience, there is definitely a reason these are called the "Fun Ships." We enjoyed it in a different way than DCL, not better or worse, just different. We are all looking forward to our next trip on her for an 8 night Southern Caribbean, (Aruba, Curacao, Dominican Republic and Grand Turk), for 6/3/17. Once again, price drove us to the initial booking, only $5200 (including gratuity and insurance), for the 4 of us, whereas we would’ve been above the $10,000 mark for the same week on the Fantasy for a 7 night eastern cruise, (which we’ve already done). At this point we would consider other Carnival ships but probably just their Dream class ships, which was the class built before the Vista class. We are also looking at booking Vista II, (name hasn’t been released yet), in the Mediterranean for summer 2018. If Carnival follows the same timeline of Vista, they should start selling cabins in January 2017, maybe this time we can score a Havana Cabana! Does this mean we won’t be on DCL ever again? Not at all, both lines have something to offer us but in different ways. We have B2B Mexico cruises booked on the Wonder in October 2017 that we are looking forward to and who knows what else we’ll book in the meantime on other cruise lines. I’m so happy we tried the Vista as we’re no longer afraid to try something different and we realized we have no desire to be loyal to a certain cruise line. We can sail the itinerary and line that best suits us at the time we are looking to sail. Other cruise lines also offer us the chance to try different locations that unfortunately DCL just can't do yet because of the size of their fleet.

Thanks for reading this and I apologize for it being so long but I really don’t feel there is anything I could have left out. If you have any specific questions, please ask.

Happy Sailing,

Jack

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Can I ask about evening entertainment please

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Can I ask about evening entertainment please

I didn't go to every show but enjoyed the 5 I did go to. One was a magician who was good. The other 3 were all singing and dancing and were very good, especially the show called "Flick" it was absolutely amazing. We also went to "Hasbro the Game Show," it was very fun. The teams were kids vs adults and the kids legitimately won, they played basketball connect four, giant Simon and I can't remember the third game. We laughed a lot watching this and had a really good time. I don't think younger kids will enjoy the Vista shows as much as the DCL shows but those older than 12 probably will.

 

[mikayla73]

Thanks for the updates. I'm looking forward to our southern Caribbean cruise on the Vista next year. I'm also keeping a watch for Vista II and potentially doing the Med on her in 2018. DCL prices in the Med are crazy!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I am almost a platinum member on Carnival - we do most of the longer itineraries, and have never had a bad experience. I still have friends from every cruise that I've done on Carnival. Did I enjoy my Disney cruise? Yes. If I had children, perhaps I would be more into it...however Carnival gives me amazing food, same ports, and decent entertainment.

I have now sailed on all the major lines outside of Celebrity and Princess, and still think Carnival was amazing.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thanks for the updates. I'm looking forward to our southern Caribbean cruise on the Vista next year. I'm also keeping a watch for Vista II and potentially doing the Med on her in 2018. DCL prices in the Med are crazy!

We're planning on Vista II as well, hopefully a Northern Europe itinerary will be offered, if not will for sure be at least a 10 night. I emailed our Carnival PVP to make sure he lets us know when they start booking, hopefully will be in January.

 

[itzkelly]

Stumbled upon this trip report and now I'm off to the CCL website to do some more research! Thanks for a great report!

 

[Ofinn]

Sitting in the Athens Airport Sofitel hotel after a fabulous post cruise stay in Mykonos. We were on the June 11-21 10 night cruise Barcelona to Athens. I agree with everything @Club Disney Chandler posted in his review. Very impressed with this ship. I think one of our favorite things was the Dive in Movies at night and the included freshly popped popcorn. Absolutely loved how some movie nights were port themed... Roman Holiday and the Davinci Code movies for Rome, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mamma Mia for our first Greek island.

My 15 and 13 year old did participate in the youth clubs. They had a blast. Club O2 for 15-17 and Circle C for the 12-14. They went the first night and most other evenings for specific activities or just to hang out with new friends.

My husband and I ate at the steak house. It was fantastic from the presentation (trolley with cuts of meat and description of each) to the attentive service. So worth the $30 charge. Delicious.

We loved CD Matt. So upbeat and he was everywhere. I have 3 DDs who were crushing hard on him. I also loved how many of the evening shows had audience participation. So fun.

I'm thinking of cancelling my DCL Southern Caribbean cruise in April of 2017 and rebooking the Vista for their 8 day.

I'm close to booking this cruise in October. I stayed way under budget on our Iceland cruise so I'm about 90% sure. I'm waiting for the paid in full date to pass to see if any family harbor rooms open up or the price drops(not sure how it can get any lower). With everything going on in Europe I'm expecting some people to get cold feet. My kids really do love the clubs. They are worried about no kids on board in October, but I'm thinking maybe with all the Fall breaks there will be a few. Since the family harbor rooms are sold out I'm thinking there must be kids.

Did you feel safe in all the cities. Any concerns about picket pockets. Love any advice. Since I like to travel a lot I like to keep costs low. I avoid ship excursions at all cost.

BTW nice review Disney Chandler.

 

[kaseyC]

I'm close to booking this cruise in October. I stayed way under budget on our Iceland cruise so I'm about 90% sure. I'm waiting for the paid in full date to pass to see if any family harbor rooms open up or the price drops(not sure how it can get any lower). With everything going on in Europe I'm expecting some people to get cold feet. My kids really do love the clubs. They are worried about no kids on board in October, but I'm thinking maybe with all the Fall breaks there will be a few. Since the family harbor rooms are sold out I'm thinking there must be kids.

Did you feel safe in all the cities. Any concerns about picket pockets. Love any advice. Since I like to travel a lot I like to keep costs low. I avoid ship excursions at all cost.

BTW nice review Disney Chandler.

The itinerary was awesome. We felt very safe in all of the ports as well as pre and post cruise in Barcelona and Athens. My DH flew back home after our time in Athens and I spent a week and an extra day in Athens with my 3 DDs. We took our basic precautions like we do in any major city but nothing extreme. Wearing our purses cross body, not carrying more than we needed and being aware of our personal space and surroundings. We didn't do any ship tours. For our family of 5 it was more cost effective to do private tours, it would have been even less expensive to DIY. Since we had been to many of the places before on previous cruises and land trips, we didn't want the standard tours.

One piece of advice, join the cruise meet group for your cruise. Many folks on our FB/CC group got together and shared tours/transport to different cities. We just stuck with our own family except for our horseback riding in Crete.

If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask.

edited to add. @trvlgirlmq was also on this sailing. I believe she did a lot of DIY. You may want to ask her about her experience too.

 

[hanscarlet]

OK. So I have been tough on Carnival in the past and I never thought I would consider cruising with them but this review is a mind blown experience for me. Thank you! I think what intrigues me is the look of the ship - it's not bad! There are a lot of beautiful spots to that ship and the fact that it doesn't feel crowded is a huge thing for me. I am seriously going to check them out, thank you for this review!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

OK. So I have been tough on Carnival in the past and I never thought I would consider cruising with them but this review is a mind blown experience for me. Thank you! I think what intrigues me is the look of the ship - it's not bad! There are a lot of beautiful spots to that ship and the fact that it doesn't feel crowded is a huge thing for me. I am seriously going to check them out, thank you for this review!

I'm happy you enjoyed the review. It was so hard for us to bite the bullet and try something new and honestly, had we not been going with my parents, I'm sure we would have ended up cancelling.

Carnival is certainly not for everyone but it really was a FUN ship and I'm just happy this cruise opened a whole new world for us. We're no longer scared to try something other than DCL. I was actually on the NCL website yesterday, you should check out the new Norwegian Joy launching in 2017. It's going to be exclusively in Asia and has a go cart track on the top deck! Are you frickin kidding me, how awesome is that?

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Thanks for the shout out kaseyC! I can't compare Carnival to DCL because we have never been able to justify the cost of DCL but I have sailed exclusively with Carnival and we are not loud, drunk, trashy people so I think I can give sound advice

We liked the Vista a lot. They really did a great job of adding fun things for everyone to do with the SkyRide and the new waterslide. We have sailed the Breeze a couple of times too and it is our favorite (does not have SkyRide or the special room types but otherwise the exact same ship).

Happy to help with DIY as we did that for most of the ports (loved the horseback riding in Crete and would highly recommend).

 

[Ofinn]

The itinerary was awesome. We felt very safe in all of the ports as well as pre and post cruise in Barcelona and Athens. My DH flew back home after our time in Athens and I spent a week and an extra day in Athens with my 3 DDs. We took our basic precautions like we do in any major city but nothing extreme. Wearing our purses cross body, not carrying more than we needed and being aware of our personal space and surroundings. We didn't do any ship tours. For our family of 5 it was more cost effective to do private tours, it would have been even less expensive to DIY. Since we had been to many of the places before on previous cruises and land trips, we didn't want the standard tours.

One piece of advice, join the cruise meet group for your cruise. Many folks on our FB/CC group got together and shared tours/transport to different cities. We just stuck with our own family except for our horseback riding in Crete.

If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask.

edited to add. @trvlgirlmq was also on this sailing. I believe she did a lot of DIY. You may want to ask her about her experience too.

Thanks for the tips. We will most likely diy. I'm not a huge fan of tours. I feel like I really experience a city by walking, and using public transportation. I'm also a runner so I love running in new cities. I'm not sure I'll be able to run in port like I did on our Iceland cruise.I guess I'll assess that when I get there. I have a family harbor room on hold for Oct 1. I have to pay it off in the morning. I'm holding out to the last minute to see if one opens up on Oct 11. The pif date for the Oct 11 is a week away. I was going to wait and see if there is cancellations. but now I'm worried about losing the Oct 1 room. I really want the lounge.Grr. The total cost with gratuties was less than 2500. Pretty incredible compared to dcl.