Carnival Vista Review

Enjoyable trip but could have been better (I would give 3 1/2 stars)

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Vista
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matth08
2-5 Cruises • Age 20s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Mar 2018
Cabin: Cove Balcony

I'll split this into a few subtopics and rate what I did and did not like. This is only the second cruise I've been on, so I'm by no means an expert but I'll compare it to Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas.

Embarkation/ disembarkation (Good): Very easy, painless process. No more difficult than RCI to embark and disembarkation was excellent (we arrived back early and chose to bring off our own luggage). Very good process with little waiting in line.

The Ship (Okay): The ship was impressive and had a lot of activities to take part in, some of which I thought were great and others I think are a little unnecessary and meant social areas had less space as a result. Firstly, the cinema is a nice extra and is reasonably priced, but I found it took up a lot of space meaning other areas seemed more cramped. This added to the strange layout of the ship and meant there was no real central social area. It wasn't a big problem but it did make the interior feel more enclosed compared to the Allure, which had a lot of social space. The water slides, Skyride and ropes course are great fun, but be prepared to line up for them. Sometimes the line could extended to the bottom of the steps for the slide meaning it was a 5/10 minute wait and the Skyride line often exceed an hour on sea days (note that if weather deteriorates they can close this at any point). Nonetheless, I think they are great additions to the ship and we really enjoyed them. There was a variety of bars and places to eat, but for some reason the ship just felt like it was lacking in things to do. The comedies and entertainment all took place in the same places, meaning there was little choice on what to do at any given time. On the Allure, there was lots of activities to take part in at the same time, but there didn't seem to be much choice on the Vista. The ship did also seem overcrowded at times. I don't think this is confined to this ship and we experienced the same on RCI, but there was a line for pretty much everything on the Vista. This was most prominent at breakfast, which I will go into later. It was also impossible to get a sunbed if you didn't come down early in the morning, the hot tubs were normally full and there was always long lines for food. I found the layout of the decks pretty standard and I liked the adults only area. However, the staff didn't seem to enforce the rules regarding adults only (there were clearly people there under 21) as well as the "no saving sunbeds" rule. Another criticism was the location of the outdoor smoking area (deck 10 starboard) which is next to the pool and a busy walkway. It was probably the windiest part of the ship and there always children walking past (which seemed to defeat the idea of a smoking area). I felt really uncomfortable smoking next to children and people sunbathing. This seemed to also be another rule that wasn't particularly enforced. I saw people smoking outside of the designated area regularly and none of the staff said anything. From a safety perspective, I felt its something that should really be enforced. All in all, there were aspects of the ship I really liked, but the layout could be better.

Cabin Review

Cove Balcony

Cabin 7C

We stayed in a cove balcony cabin and were really impressed. The room was clean, spacious and the bed was incredibly comfortable (I'm a flight attendant and better than most hotel beds I've stayed in). The balcony was lovely and worth the extra money. From the outside, it looks as though you wouldn't be able to see anything from the cove balcony as it below the lifeboats, but this completely isn't the case. It's nice being low down as you can see and hear the waves hitting the ship and its a lot more private than the standard balcony rooms. It was also a great price (we paid just £50 more each to upgrade from Ocean View). We really liked the room and the only negatives we had was that there was a shower curtain rather than enclosure and only had shower gel/ shampoo in a dispenser attached the wall, rather than miniature bottles, but this is us being pernickety. The room was cleaned to a good standard by the friendly housekeeping team and had everything we needed. Another thing we loved (that I don't think RCI have) is the launderettes on every floor. It cost 3 USD for the washer and 3 USD for the drier as well as 1.50 USD for detergent. There was also a free iron and ironing board. We really liked this idea and it was so handy if you like ironed clothes or forgot to pack a few bits.

Port Reviews

St. Maarten

Lots of taxi's outside but they are expensive.

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