I spent a couple days in Athens before departing and it's a very cool city, tons of history to explore. Our hotel was fabulous (Hotel Amalia) and every place we ate was phenomenal. Particularly the hotel, best breakfast I've ever had with tons of Greek food options. I recommend spending a little extra time there if you can.

Embarkation was very smooth, sign & sail card, time in the holding area and getting onto the ship took about an hour. It seems however, all the air conditioning allotted for the Vista was spent in that holding area.

The ship was FAR too hot. This was my 5th cruise and I've never had this issue before. I'm normally cold and have no problem with being hot, however, the cabin was literally unbearable. Even after the ship gave us a fan to use, it was still uncomfortable unless you were right in front of the fan. I contemplated sleeping on the Serenity Deck to be quite honest. The service desk advised me there were blocks on the rooms only allowing the minimum temperature to 74F, numerous studies including one from the National Sleep Foundation cite optimum sleeping temperatures in the 60-67F range, well below the allowed temperature in the rooms. (Further supported by my Fitbit in that I averaged less than 3 hours of sleep each night on the ship even though I was in bed for an average of 7 hours each night). Many times the Piano Bar, LimeLight and Liquid Lounges were very warm particularly when full of people. I took cold showers every day and took a couple dips in the chilly pools but still developed a heat rash on my forearms, legs and stomach after 4-5 days on the ship. The rash actually hadn't completely subsided a week after I was off the ship and had to be treated with a steroid cream. This really detracted from the enjoyment of being on vacation. Read more