My husband and I had a GREAT time on Carnival Vista. We set sail the first week in January, after New Years. I had heard quite a few things about Carnival being dirty or being the ships that get people sick; I'll address these further below.
TIP - Our overnight stay at the Harbour House in Galveston was lovely. The location allowed me to watch the Vista come in to port that morning! I'm a very excited cruiser, so I was tracking it all morning and LEAPT out of bed to watch it pass. It passes VERY CLOSE to the hotel and what an epic view! Highly recommend Harbour House!
Embarkation was very smooth. LOVELY people working at the Galveston Terminal. We were 20 minutes early for our 1-1:30 boarding time, so we got in that line and didn't wait on anything except for a few minutes to get our carry on bags scanned by security. We were on the ship in no time!
Great. Will always book Havana rooms on Carnival from now on!