Carnival Vista Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I have taken 6 Carnival cruises since 2011. My wife is a platinum member so our embarkation and debarkation were fast and nice. Our room was average, the room stewards were friendly. We found an unopened yogurt in our fridge. Our neighbors found dirty underwear in their cabin. The buffets never seemed to be open and the free restaurants always had a long lines. The carnival app never worked right. You need this to schedule ship activities including dinner reservations. The dining room always seemed to be a 2 hour experience. BTW you have to make reservations, no more anytime dining. And if the app was down "which was most of the time" you had to go to deck 5, stand in a long line and make reservations, then go back down to deck 3, stand in another long line to eat in the dining room. The service in the dining room lacked greatly. Very slow service and substandard food most nights. Forget about ordering any side sauces or anther drink, you will never get it. Many times the waiter would tell me " oh sorry, all my help is downstairs". This means NO you can not have that. The buffets were also lacking. Long lines and Cold food. The meats had a chemical taste. The Guys Pig and anchor BBQ was great. I had it twice. The Bonsai Sushi restaurant was good but, you had to pay for it. The taco, burrito and burger spots always had long lines. The room service was nonexistent and laughable at best! The menu was MOSTLY paid items. We tried to order twice and none would ever even pick up the phone. Why not just not have any room service?
The mixed drinks on the ship tasted very good and most were moderately priced. We were totally surprised to find out Carnival quit carying Coca Cola and Red Bull in lieu of Pepsi and Monster. WHY???? Because it's cheaper!!
The shows were laughable and unwatchable. First we sat thru a show call Flick. Honestly I would rather sit thru a Tony Robbins lecture on insurance policies for time shares. I sat thru the "Rock" show painfully. The bingo, photos, food, and other shopping in the shops were expensive. The movie theater is not a real movie theater. Very limited showing of substandard movies and Yes, you have to pay extra for it. The photos that Carnival's employees take of you as you wander around the ship cost as well. And they are NOT cheap! The digital download of each photo is $15. This is EACH.
Cabin Review
Balcony
The cabin was satisfactory. I think they should give you at least 4 more inches between the bed and the window so you could walk beside it to get in, instead of crawling the length of it. On every cruise I have ever taken I am amazed at how small the restrooms are. To me it almost feels like your in an old RV restroom. The flush button being behind the lid is also a PIA. The balconies are nice but again a few more inches deeper so you could turn your chairs a bit to face the water would certainly be better. Our rooms were sufficiently cleaned and the room stewards were very friendly.