Thoughts on the new Carnival Vista

[Ofinn]

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?

This is great. Asia's on my list. Disney cruises are great, but the food and entertainment options don't change a whole lot and either do the ports. What made our last cruise great was the ports. The cruise was the same old same old. I think I can say this after 13 dcl cruises. We will keep cruising dcl when the price is right, but it's going to be fun to try something new.

 

[hanscarlet]

oh and the sky ride, I might just shat my pants! holy crow heights! but I still want to try it

I love cruising because it lets me see the world without too much planning or hassle and so ultimately we expect to get beyond the traditional itineraries of DCL but with the kids' ages right now DCL works for us but nice to see the other cruise lines being a viable option...

also does anyone watch Dream Cruises on AWE channel? That show is awesome

 

[Ofinn]

oh and the sky ride, I might just shat my pants! holy crow heights! but I still want to try it

I love cruising because it lets me see the world without too much planning or hassle and so ultimately we expect to get beyond the traditional itineraries of DCL but with the kids' ages right now DCL works for us but nice to see the other cruise lines being a viable option...

also does anyone watch Dream Cruises on AWE channel? That show is awesome

How old are your kids? Mine are 12 and 13 and still love DCL. Cruising is an awesome way to see the world. I just wish we could eliminate the flying and time changes. The high from our 19 day trip is wearing off and the tiredness and jetlag is setting in. I feel like I need a 19 day staycation to recover. Now I'm starting to rethink a return to Europe so soon and looking at Caribbean cruises on the Breeze or Vista.. A 7 day cruise with all sea days sounds good at the moment.

 

[hanscarlet]

How old are your kids? Mine are 12 and 13 and still love DCL. Cruising is an awesome way to see the world. I just wish we could eliminate the flying and time changes. The high from our 19 day trip is wearing off and the tiredness and jetlag is setting in. I feel like I need a 19 day staycation to recover. Now I'm starting to rethink a return to Europe so soon and looking at Caribbean cruises on the Breeze or Vista.. A 7 day cruise with all sea days sounds good at the moment.

My youngest just turned 5 and my oldest turns 8 in 2 weeks but ODD is on the Autism spectrum and sometimes she can be she can be unpredictable on flights but she has been getting with each flight she goes on but a 6-7hr flight kind of has me a little terrified at this stage... that and the fact that both of them I don't think would really appreciate a European trip just yet... and yes on the last cruise I was surprised at how much more they enjoyed sea days than port days... i had all of these expensive excursions and they seemed to prefer the ship... so next time we are going to Bahamas and I'm just doing a basic day pass to British colonial so I don't feel guilty about the $$ in case they want to head back to the boat early

 

[Ofinn]

My youngest just turned 5 and my oldest turns 8 in 2 weeks but ODD is on the Autism spectrum and sometimes she can be she can be unpredictable on flights but she has been getting with each flight she goes on but a 6-7hr flight kind of has me a little terrified at this stage... that and the fact that both of them I don't think would really appreciate a European trip just yet... and yes on the last cruise I was surprised at how much more they enjoyed sea days than port days... i had all of these expensive excursions and they seemed to prefer the ship... so next time we are going to Bahamas and I'm just doing a basic day pass to British colonial so I don't feel guilty about the $$ in case they want to head back to the boat early

I'm a big believer in keeping vacations age appropriate. My kids were 5 and 6 before we started traveling. We did WDW trips, cruises on the Dream, then the we started adding the Caribbean cruises, Universal, Southern Caribbean, Hawaii and now Europe. One thing to keep in mind though is kids don't necessarily get easier to travel with as they get older. Puberty sets in and they go from angry, to happy to crying all in a span of 5 minutes, and then it's rinse and repeat all day.

 

[Chernabog#1fan]

I'm a big believer in keeping vacations age appropriate. My kids were 5 and 6 before we started traveling. We did WDW trips, cruises on the Dream, then the we started adding the Caribbean cruises, Universal, Southern Caribbean, Hawaii and now Europe. One thing to keep in mind though is kids don't necessarily get easier to travel with as they get older. Puberty sets in and they go from angry, to happy to crying all in a span of 5 minutes, and then it's rinse and repeat all day.

I feel like you have just described my kids to a tee! We did the Transatlantic with them (16 and 13), and yes, there were times it was a 5 minute cycle of emotions!

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

My youngest just turned 5 and my oldest turns 8 in 2 weeks but ODD is on the Autism spectrum and sometimes she can be she can be unpredictable on flights but she has been getting with each flight she goes on but a 6-7hr flight kind of has me a little terrified at this stage... that and the fact that both of them I don't think would really appreciate a European trip just yet... and yes on the last cruise I was surprised at how much more they enjoyed sea days than port days... i had all of these expensive excursions and they seemed to prefer the ship... so next time we are going to Bahamas and I'm just doing a basic day pass to British colonial so I don't feel guilty about the $$ in case they want to head back to the boat early

I have to agree with your kids! I love sea days, and can hardly wait until my wife retires from teaching so we can do PC, round trip Hawaii, (Princess has a great spring itinerary), and transatlantic cruises. The only thing I didn't like about the Mediterranean cruise was there was only 1 sea day.

 

[PackYourPixieDust]

I'm cruising the Vista in January so I'm loving the review!!! I've cruised Carnival in the past but with my toddler we've been mostly DCL for the past 3 years. I was nervous about giving CCL a chance again. I've gotten quite spoiled. I can't wait to get to the punchline (at the end of the first page now.)

 

[Ofinn]

Just an FYI. You can now book Carnival cruises through Costco, and get a Costco cash card. I don't know the exact date Carnival starting letting Costco sell their cruises, but I know it's happened in the last 3 weeks.

 

[PackYourPixieDust]

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.

Celebrity is fabulous- I dare unsay it's my favorite. But I've been loving DCL now with my kid. I do think they do amazing family activities. Try Celebrity- we love them. In terms of the little touches (cushions on the lounge chairs by the pool, Etc.)

 

[linetbo]

The cruise looks good, how many things you have to paid extra? I LOVE DCL but the only thing I don't love, not that I hate it, just not love it, is the dining room menu. I do like the breakfast and lunch.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

The cruise looks good, how many things you have to paid extra? I LOVE DCL but the only thing I don't love, not that I hate it, just not love it, is the dining room menu. I do like the breakfast and lunch.

The only thing we paid extra for was a couple non-alcoholic dacqueri drinks and we paid $5/person for the Dr Seuss breakfast. We also ordered a Few 12 packs of water, (only $3.99/12 pack), and also ordered a couple 6 packs of Diet Coke. My wife and I both like 1 soda per day do it was cheaper for us to do that than the soda package. The soda package is $6/day for adults and $4/day (I think) for kids.

We paid less for the cruise and airfare to Europe than we paid for cruise fare only for our western Caribbean on the fantasy in June, 2014.

For us, carnival worked out great and we are happy we tried something new!

 

[momof2n2]

I'm a big believer in keeping vacations age appropriate. My kids were 5 and 6 before we started traveling. We did WDW trips, cruises on the Dream, then the we started adding the Caribbean cruises, Universal, Southern Caribbean, Hawaii and now Europe. One thing to keep in mind though is kids don't necessarily get easier to travel with as they get older. Puberty sets in and they go from angry, to happy to crying all in a span of 5 minutes, and then it's rinse and repeat all day.

I just am seeing this today. This is not something I've had issues with. We have a 13 year age span from #1 to #6. We've never even thought about the possibility of certain trips being more or less age appropriate than others. Thankfully all my kids travel very well.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

The cruise looks good, how many things you have to paid extra? I LOVE DCL but the only thing I don't love, not that I hate it, just not love it, is the dining room menu. I do like the breakfast and lunch.

We also cruised the Carnival Vista this summer. We only paid extra for a couple of fruity adult drinks, the kids got Shirley Temple's twice, we bought some of the cases of water and purchased 3 pictures. We did buy DS 3 t-shirts from the on board shop when they were having a sale. I think I put about $250 cash into our Sign & Sail account and I cashed out change at the end.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I just am seeing this today. This is not something I've had issues with. We have a 13 year age span from #1 to #6. We've never even thought about the possibility of certain trips being more or less age appropriate than others. Thankfully all my kids travel very well.

Me too! I took my boys to Europe for the first time when they were 4 and 11. They loved it! We did age appropriate things of course but kids are never too young for any kind of travel. We have returned to Europe 5 more times, been to Hawaii, on several Caribbean cruises and to WDW several times. The boys and my niece (who we take everywhere) love to travel and are really great about long plane trips, traversing all kinds of airports (we did Istanbul this summer) and generally acclimating to new places. I never once thought they were too young for anywhere.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Thank you for this report. I do love DCL but one thing I would love is a buffet option in the evening when you don't feel like going to the MDR. They had this on NCL. Did they have this on Celebrity? Thank you.

 

[elaine amj]

Thanks for this amazing review!!! It looks like a really amazing ship. Very very impressive.

 

[DCLBACH]

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.

Are the evening shows kid/family friendly ? Our only experience on CCL was 10 years ago on a older ship (I think it was the Destiny??). While my wife and I enjoyed the shows we felt the presentation would have perhaps been a little "coarse" had we had younger children with us. There seemed to be a lot of dancers in thongs, sexually explicite jokes and rough language. We also found the evening atmosphere to be rowdy enough (a lot of intoxicated people) that we were glad we didn't have kids with us. I'm not saying this to criticize carnival, my wife and I had a blast... It's just our experience (10 years ago) has kept us from considering CCL now that we have kids. .....vista is giving me second thoughts.

 

[Ofinn]

I just am seeing this today. This is not something I've had issues with. We have a 13 year age span from #1 to #6. We've never even thought about the possibility of certain trips being more or less age appropriate than others. Thankfully all my kids travel very well.

My kids are 17 months apart. I always take it into consideration. It would be different if they were far apart in age.

Me too! I took my boys to Europe for the first time when they were 4 and 11. They loved it! We did age appropriate things of course but kids are never too young for any kind of travel. We have returned to Europe 5 more times, been to Hawaii, on several Caribbean cruises and to WDW several times. The boys and my niece (who we take everywhere) love to travel and are really great about long plane trips, traversing all kinds of airports (we did Istanbul this summer) and generally acclimating to new places. I never once thought they were too young for anywhere.

Of course kids are never too young to travel. Since my kids are close in age I didn't see the benefit of a Europe trip at age 5 and 6. If one of them would have been 11 that would have been different. They also weren't really interested in it. I'm glad we did the Mickey Mouse WDW stuff when they were young enough to really enjoy. We have been all over the Caribbean, Hawaii and Canada. We are about to make our second trip to Europe this year, and have plans to visit Asia and Australia over the next two or 3 years. They are currently 12 and 13. As a homeschooler I wanted to wait until they could really appreciate the trips overseas and remember it.

My response was to a poster who was concerned about taking a 5 and 8 year old on a long flight to Europe. She didn't feel they were ready for it. My kids certainly weren't at that age. Every family is different. You have the funds to go to Europe every year, but for some people it's a once in a lifetime trip.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

You have the funds to go to Europe every year, but for some people it's a once in a lifetime trip.

I wish. Those 5 trips have spanned 9 years. We don't stay in hotels and eat out 3 meals a day in order to afford it. Rent apartments and houses, grocery shop and cook breakfast and dinner and it really helps fund the trip.

My niece is 22 months younger than my youngest DS and she started traveling with us when she was 4. Her first "big" trip was Hawaii when she was 6. Does she remember every detail? Nope, but that is not why we chose to travel with them when they were so young. Too us it was about giving them a view of the world and a love of travel to take into adulthood.