The Vista looms large and is pretty darn impressive looking up at it from the dock but, once on board, doesn't seem merely as big.  Most of the public places on the ship felt smaller than usual - there is no grand foyer or lobby, just a couple smaller areas - the "lobby" floor you cannot even get across without having to go up a floor and back down since parts are blocked due to interior restaurants.  The larger aft restaurant (the Horizon) just didn't seem grand at all, it is difficult (unless you are right in the middle of the room on the 3rd floor) to even realize it is a 2 story dining area.  Pools areas felt congested and smaller.  Generally, this cruise seemed like there was less wait staff than any we've been on - lots of tables with dishes and drinks and we had to find a bar for a drink as there was rarely anyone rotating around serving in the pool areas (waved one guy down at one point and he said we should go to the bar if we wanted a drink).  They've done away with some hot tubs (there are 2 in serenity and 2 in the back of the ship on Lido were all we found).  The electronics were incredibly spotty... still some kinks to work out there (Thanksgiving day football anywhere but in the sports bar was pretty much impossible to watch and wireless was largely unusable 2 of the 3 days I purchased the "top end" connectivity package).  That said, a bad day cruising is far superior to just about any other day on the planet.  Carnival isn't close to competing with the likes of an Oasis-class ship with the Vista - they don't have the crew, the processes and procedures down at all.  General consensus of those we spoke with was that the ship was just ok at best - there really isn't anything the ship does better than others or that really differentiates it - too bad, we were hoping from more from Carnival's latest and greatest.