We booked this cruise for Our 16th anniversary. We have never taken “real” vacation with just the two of us as most of our time off has been camping with our kids. Overall I would not be opposed to taking another cruise maybe in a couple years. Good: 1. The staff on board was excellent. Our room steward Arthar. Corina served us at both the pool and in the main dining hall on several occasions and she was awesome. Oscar and Mark at Alchemy bar were great 2. La Cocina Italian restaurant 3. Gigi’s Asian restaurant Bad: 1. The sushi bar was edible but I would not go back. We did have a cooked sea bass that my wife raved about. 2. Most of the mixed drinks at the bars were supper sweet, weak, not very good. Go to Alchemy 3. The dinning hall was ok but nothing to rave about Read Less

Chose this Cruise for our 27th wedding anniversary. We had so much fun on this cruise. All the staff we interacted with were very professional and always had a smile. Especially Milan and Mark in the Alchemy Bar. We stopped here for drinks before dinner every night, best dirty martinis I have ever had. The decor of the ship was plain but did not bother me. We did not even miss the glass elevators. The Havana area is great. I would recommend choosing a room that allows access to this area. No crowds at the bar or at the pool area. Walked out at 10 and plenty of loungers still available. Since this was an anniversary cruise we only ate in the main dining room twice. The food was good it was what I expected. The other night we ate at the specialty restaurants and the food was exceptional. We had so much fun on this cruise we booked another cruise on the Vista. Read Less

I have been cruising for over 20 years and a lot has changed over the years. Most importantly, the lack of staff. Carnival boosts they have a 1 staff for 2 person ratio but when you think about it, most of that staff is behind the scenes and you never come in contact with. The stateroom attendant and dining attendants are short severely short staffed. For the most part, I certainly cannot blame the staff for having to serve so many people at once with little assistance. With the exception at the casino. When playing at the casino, if you are lucky to have a server come to you for your drink selection, it takes nearly 45 minutes for the drink to arrive. Carnival Vista is a nice ship. A quite large ship. Banging doors were the norm all hours of the day and night. And parents (some that is), what's up with not supervising your children? The majority of the young adults run the ship unsupervised, swimming in the hot tub, running around the decks, running into people and lacked common courtesy . And adults (some), what's up with you going on deck early in the morning, putting your towel on a chair and leaving it unattended for hours on end? I guess people like that feel entitled to take for themselves and not respect other's that truly want to sit down and relax. It is amazing how disrespectful people can be! Matt the cruise director is awesome. He was an amazing host for the Veterans Appreciation program. I had a balcony room on the 8th floor, which was decent in size for four people. Only complaint....slamming doors! Food was okay, nothing impressive compared to years ago. I was amazed that not one night was there a non cream based soup on the menu. I was also shocked that other than the salad bar at the buffet, I couldn't find and grilled or steamed vegetables. I've some to realize that cruising is no longer a pleasure for me. To many rude people, bad food, short staffed. Read Less

BACKGROUND This was our second cruise experience. We had previously sailed on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas to Cozumel-Cayman-Jamaica in 2016. Since we wanted to visit different destinations and would only be able to cruise during the week of 3/17/2019, we decided to go with Carnival Vista since it was going to Cozumel-Belize-Roatan. Moreover, there was the added attraction of being on Carnival's new ship - the Vista. THE SHIP - MEDIOCRE The Vista is Carnival's new ship and can hold upto 4500 guests. However, other than being large, we did not find the ship to be very interesting, especially when compared to RCL's Liberty o.t. Seas. To begin with, the ship has a very closed and boxy feeling. Public areas have low ceilings everywhere and there are hardly any wide and open areas indoors. Even the promenade/atrium was just a small circular area, only 3 floors high. The LED screens are quite cool though. The performance theater called Liquid Lounge is very poorly designed. There are many large columns inside and block the view for a large number of seats. Also, if you are seated in the balcony, you will miss parts of a performance when the artists get off stage. The comedy shows happen in a lounge called the Limelight Lounge but it has very limited seating requiring many gusts to stand during the shows. Also, navigating through the ship is not very obvious (example to get from the aft to forward of the 3rd floor, you need to switch to either 4th or 2nd floor and then come back to 3rd again. ACTIVITIES - AVERAGE The swimming pool is tiny (even when compared to that of ships smaller than the Vista) and there are not enough hot tubs to cater to the number of people this ship carries. There are some cool facilities such as the skyride, the rope-course and the waterpark but there can be long lines due to the number of people on-board CABIN - GOOD The cabin was good and so was our room steward. We had a balcony on the 6th floor. There were power outlets as well as USB ports for charging devices which was quite handy. The bathroom was well designed and made great use of space. All in all, very comfortable and exceeded expectations. DINING - OKAYISH The main ship buffet, named the Lido Marketplace is on the 10th floor and is broken down into small areas. I guess the ambience they were going for was an Italian Market. Unfortunately though, this being a ship, they ended up creating small areas with narrow passsages and low-ceilings (again!) with poor ventilation. The entire area always had a smell - probably from tables being wiped and from leftover food at tables (which the crew did their best to clear but with 4500 people on board was a challenge) The food in the main buffet was OK. Nothing to complain about but nothing to go wow about either. I personally found breakfast to be better than the lunch and dinner options. Water and juices are served in colored plastic cups which seriously took away from the ambience and feel. There are coffee and soft-serve machines spread throughout the buffet area which is good. We were forced to use 'Your Time Dining' and were never presented the option of fixed-time dining. Your-Time Dining took place in the Horizons restaurant which was on the 3rd and 4th floor towards the aft. The food here was quite good and they always had 1-2 vegetarian options for those who are vegetarians (if you like Indian food, there was always 1 Indian vegetarian main-course item). The desserts were good but nothing fancy or 'wow'ing. Also, Carnival would only bring out the table-cloth on the formal nights. We also dined at Jiji's Asian restaurant and Cucina del Capitano which are paid restaurants. Both had really good food and were well worth the extra price. Thge ship has a 24 hour pizzeria but the pizzas are just meh -- probably becuse they are having to continuously keep making and serving pizzas without much time for quality control During the daytime, Jiji's turns into Mongolian Wok restaurant whose meals are included in the price of the cruise ticket. This restaurant can get really busy but when they are not, the food is very tasty There is also a Seafood shack($), a Mexican restaurant and Guy's burger joint on-board but we didnt get a chance to try them out (except for fries from Guy's burger joint which were great) My recommendation would be to avoid the Lido for lunch and dinner unless you want a quick meal. There are several other options onboard and you may need more than 7 days to try them all anyways. ENTERTAINMENT - OKAYISH We are not hard-to-please folks but we still found the entertainment to be no more than just OK. There were shows in the (poorly designed) Liquid Lounge every night. Some of them were great but others focussed more on the 70s and 80s era -- is Carnival trying to turn away the younger crowds ?? The trivia in the Ocean's Plaza was fun from time to time The comedy shows in the Limelight lounge were something we looked forward too but not all of them were good. Some of them just played on stereotypes instead of being witty or interesting. Also, the lounge seemed too small to accomodate everyone and people were always having to stand up during the shows. The casino was fun. Min bets were $5 or $6 on most tables. They had several slot machines as well with min bets ranging from 1c to $1. There was a trio which performed instrumental music on electric violins in the atrium and they were always a pleasure to listen to. There were several movbies played on the main screen by the pool which was fun, along with the popcorn that was served out of the pub. DISEMBARKATION - DISASTER!! Just like any other ship, you had the option of carrying your luggage out or have it check-in and have the crew carry your luggage out. Either way, you were required to exit your rooms by 8.45am. Guests were supposed to be called deck by deck for self-checkout and zone-by-zone for checked-luggage. However, it took the crew 1.5 hours just to call and clear deck-1. Therteafter, impatient guests from other decks started to deboard out of sequence and there was no enforcement of rules by the crew. From time to time, the shore-side staff would pause the disembarkation. This caused such a delay that the decks of the ship were filled with people and luggage (who were asked to leave their rooms by 8.45am but who could not leave the ship). The ship's crew tried to make light of the situation by suggesting that this was just an extemnsion of our vacation but obviously it was not -- all bars werre closed in prep for the next cruise, all services / stores etc were offline and restaurants were not serving any meals either. WE were supposed to have disembarked between 8.30-9am but ended up exiting the ship at 11am and then were stuck in the immigration queue for another 40 mins. SUMMARY We definitely enjoyed our vacation but were not impressed by the ship and its design. Our experience could have been compounded because we travelled during one of the spring-break weeks. However, several other guests who had travelled on other Carnival ships also found thios ship unimpressive. I wouldn't go as far as to suggest avoiding this ship altogether but you may want to rethink booking it during peak travel periods. Also, being newer or bigger does not necessarily make this a better ship -- a ship not only needs interesting featured but also needs to be able to make those easily accessible to ALL guests. Read Less

Looking for Spring Break cruise out of Galveston, decided to try a bigger ship. The Vista feels like a just a bigger Carnival ship with more people and same number of spots. Everything seemed more expensive from drinks to seemingly everything "new" being a fee. The show theater "Liquid Lounge" is a joke. Pretty sure one could not come up with a worse design. Very few seats actually have an "acceptable" view of the stage and performances. Also much smaller, poor column placement, no floor rise, etc. The shows were also by far the worst I've seen on any ship. I don't know that I can blame the performers though as the stage and productions themselves would be near impossible to overcome. After 3 shows we like most people we talked too just stopped going. Every single person I discussed the shows and lounge had same opinion. If you love going to shows on your cruises, definitely would skip the Vista (and Horizon - same setup apparently). CD Matt was the highlight. He was great! Staff and crew on Vista was also great, no complaints there. Food was typical, good but tending to be bland. Guys burgers awesome. Piano bar great setup and musician. Overall the ship was "good", not "great". Plenty to do, but I guess was expecting more or something new that wasn't an extra fee. All three Carnival booked excursions though were bad. Poorly organized, behind schedule, very rushed. For this alone we plan on trying another cruise line or two before returning to Carnival. They seemed to really not care. All previous trips we had only minor issues if any (same destinations). I don't know what has happened but its definitely not the same as it was. Read Less

Took 3 grandsons for Spring Break. It was Spring Break, that says a lot about crowds, lines and slow service. It was expected and didn’t disappoint. The memories made with our grandsons are priceless, the cruise was expensive and just a cruise. I’m normally not one to write negative reviews but the cruise was simply a means to spend quality time with the grandsons. Nothing about the cruise was “over the top impressive” all week. Carnival Hub is a must to communicate on board. $5 each for 5 of us. Works sometimes, but never dependable. Only free movies (outside your cramped cabin) are outdoors at pool. We had 2 ship days that weren’t good weather. IMAX theatre are $12 tickets. Long waits for “anytime dining” and one night when we FINALLY were seated to find table still dirty and only a 4 top. More waits and they treated us like it was our fault. I won’t go on and on here, I am planning to write Carnival about the issues that we experienced. None of this takes away from the fact we made some awesome memories with our three grandsons. That is priceless! Read Less

We had to go on spring break due to grandson being in high school now. I was worried about crowds on spring break and worried about Vista. Saw a lot of negative reviews regarding elevator waits, decor, food, chairs in lounges etc. I was pleasantly surprised. Decor didn't bother me at all. Didn't miss the lack of big atrium. Elevators were no problem other than not being air conditioned. My husband passed out twice on elevator when we had to stand in long line to get on elevator at embarkation and then it was packed with no air. It was his blood pressure but the heat I think really escalated the issue. I will agree the food was sub par compared to other Carnival cruises we have taken..but it wasn't horrible as some reviews stated. We ate at JIJIs one night it was wonderful! Lido food was good.Great breakfast at Horizons every day. Staff was excellent. Very friendly. Only negative for me, which I read lots of reviews about...the Punch Liner Comedy..our favorite place to go..I agree it makes no sense they made it smaller and the chairs are very cheap and broken. Also in area where all the shows and bingo are...why on earth did they put in straight back chairs and do away with little tables. Bingo is done on a clip board and very inconvenient. Every time someone sits down their straight back chairs slides into your legs...its a design nightmare...whoever designed those areas should be given 40 lashes with a wet noodle. We only played bingo once and only went to one show because of the set uo. Overall, very pleased and wouldn't hesitate to go on Vista again. Read Less

We are avid cruisers. Platinum Carnival, Princess, and RCL. This ship by far is the poorest designed ship this cruiser has ever experienced. We sailed on her when she first started in Miami and decided to give her another chance now that she has been in the system a while. First Matt, the cruise director is outstanding! Does what he can with what he has. Embarkation, outstanding, best ever seen. Room steward, probably the worst. Arrived at stateroom, no refrigerator, no life jackets, called pursers desk, purser argued with my wife about refrigerator being there “you just need to look in cabinet”. Reconfirmed life jackets missing, looked under bed for life jackets where they should be located now and confirmed that they were missing. Room steward met us in hallway and said refrigerator is on the way and life jackets are under the bed. I assured him that they were not. He asked if we wanted morning or evening service, I said both. He repeated morning OR evening service. My wife said evening is fine, New change in policy? I confirmed that it was not. Atrium music cancelled first night, no explanation. Atrium floor design bad for dancing, major thoroughfare for bartenders, photographers, and fellow cruisers. Also large support beam in middle of floor. Shows, main theater very poor design. Large beams block view of anyone lucky enough to get a seat. Seats on back row do not provide height to see over seats in front. Dancers were good, singing.... voices did not compliment each other. Comedy show, too small a venue, no seating 3 out of 4 shows arriving 20 minutes prior. Dancing, two floors suitable for dancing, Havana Bar and Ocean Plaza. Limelight lounge a impromptu floor, small and inadequate. Havana bar, small, good for Salsa, Rumba, and cha cha if no one else is dancing, band good. Ocean plaza, farmer band played polka after polka, only one beat. Voices did not compliment each other. Other band was good sometimes accompanied by three piece horns. Wednesday night singers didn’t show due to illness. Thursday night singers didn’t show for country but did show up later for Motown. No scale in fitness center. Was told that it’s use was only available during spa treatments. Food was adequate during cruise but had dropped in quality since last on vista. Carnival Magic and Dream are much better ships! Read Less

While I love Carnival and have cruised them for years, I would have to honestly say that their newer ship, the Carnival Vista, quite disappointing. Pros and Cons from my perspective: For the Pros: -due to the overall size, the ship appears to be very stable for handling the seas making for an enjoyable smooth cruise for those that sometimes fear feeling the motion at sea. While there is always some movement, considering the seas we encountered, I think it did well. -security and safety seemed to be good as well and I’ve always felt safe on the carnival line cruises. -Unfortunately I had to visit the infirmary during my cruise for a nasal infection, but as seen on previous times, Carnival has a very adept and professional medical staff aboard their vessels, and the Vista was no exception here. -The water recreation area, sky bikes, workout and outdoor activities on the upper deck for sports and activity enthusiasts are a plus and seem to be a real hit with everyone. -There were plenty of bar areas to adequately accommodate everyone’s thirst in a prompt time frame. -And, as with with all Carnival cruises and ships I’ve been on, the fun crew staff was very personable and accommodating. The Vista crew and staff went overboard, excuse the pun, to make sure everyone had a fantastic vacation. My personal hats off to our dinner host, Darko, our head waiter, Corina, our room steward, Putu, and to the Alchemy bar tender, Mark. I’d say Mark was one of the best bar tenders I’ve seen in some time for making custom drinks. His incredible ability to multi-task several customers and orders simultaneously, and quickly, without a flaw was very impressive. Now for the Cons: -Although the ship is larger allowing for a larger number of passengers, Carnival severely missed on addressing several areas such as: The rooms, the lido and pool areas, the casino, the dining experience, and food. -The rooms appear to be smaller than previous ships I’ve been on. We were in a porthole room, which compared to previous rooms of similar type, this one had far less space and closet storage. Speaking with a few others in different room types, it sounded as if the inside rooms and some of the window rooms were smaller, while the suites still similar to other ships. -As for the pool areas, while this ship boasts a larger size, the pool areas did not see an increase in size, which was a disappointment. The common pool areas appeared to be the same size as other boats. Finding seating was difficult and with a larger number of passengers. I would have expected more area for these pools and accommodating guests. I should add that this boat does have a third pool area at the rear of the boat this area was a private area only for guests that paid for the exclusive Havana suite rooms. A final comment on pools is that although Carnival will sometimes advertise adult only pool areas, this is not enforced and kids can be found in all pools, if that’s something important to you. -The casino area is a complete failure in my opinion. The Casino on the Vista appears to have been an afterthought. There is very little room to move around in this Casino, so much so that I saw at least two arguments between players that did not have enough room to get into a table area. Additionally, due to the poor design and limited space, Carnival put the Casino bar in the middle of the under-sized Casino area resulting in an overwhelmingly smoky atmosphere. (I noted earlier that I had to go to the infirmary for nasal issues which I highly attributed to the smoky conditions.) Speaking with many others that are Carnival Casino regulars, I heard the same resounding statement that they would not be taking this ship again due to this Casino. I should add that the Casino appears to be such an afterthought that to find a men’s restroom from the casino required going upstairs or a hike to the front of the ship on the Casino floor. My personal note for Carnival, I would love to see Carnival initiate a smoke free casino, with possibly a smoking area that is adjoining in a separate room or area that is far better ventilated. Unfortunately, with the Casino bar allowing smoking and being in the middle of the casino, you had many passengers that prefer to sit and smoke while dunking creating a very smoky casino area. -For food and dining, we were disappointed in the dining room itself. The atmosphere felt more like a Luby’s cafeteria rather than a luxurious dining hall as we would have expected. The food also was a bit less than expected. While we’ve always felt the food on the Carnival ships was ok, this one felt like they cut corners with the quality. We did have an opportunity to dine in the Italian restaurant, JiJis and the Sushi restaurant. All 3 were fanatics although they all require a premium for dinner services. Overall, as as Carnival has always strived to provide a great vacation for the common person without breaking the bank, I would have to say that the Vista does provide an opportunity for a good family vacation, but do expect some shortfalls with this particular Carnival ship. I personally would recommend the Carnival Breeze and/or Freedom. Read Less

Vista Cruise special notes: - pay for “faster to the fun” or get priority boarding if you hate lines - Try the Pig and Anchor BBQ or Taste Bar on 5 Midship for no-wait lunch after boarding, since they don’t appear on most deck maps - Don’t try to get in the aft Havana pool or hot tubs unless you have a Havana cabin (or it’s after 7 pm) - Gift cards from the spa are restricted - can’t use for thermal suite - Get tickets for Imax at a kiosk on deck 6 forward (there’s a senior discount for 55+!) - The Dive-in theatre (free) and IMAX (Fee) show new movies - very worthwhile. Free popcorn - Two of the speciality pay restaurants are FREE for lunch under different names: JiJi’s->Mongolian BBQ, while Cucina del Capitano->Pasta Bella (both are excellent!) - The taste bar is only open during boarding and on sea days but is worth a try - Aft cabins with the extended balcony are GREAT if you like sitting outside privately (be aware - the deck 9 aft cabins have an overhand that precludes most sunbathing) - SkyRide and Ropes require close-toed shoes - Ropes course is easier if you hold on to the safety harness as high up as possible - “Anytime dining” actually means “request table at the kiosk or via the Hub App, then wait from 5 to 90 minutes” - “Pancho’s Backyard” at Puerto Maya cruise terminal in Cozumel is a great place for a margarita and chips (and guacamole!) - Room power outlet includes usb charging ports - Dock pharmacy in Belize is less crowded than the one in Cozumel but prices seem comparable - You can make specialty restaurant reservations months in advance via the carnival website cruise manager - Pay-per-view movies in rooms are only $5 for new movies and lots of free older titles - You can bring your own food & drinks into the Imax theatre - SkyRide line moves very slowly; good to go at off times - Pre-paid value plan is a good deal for internet. Some streaming is supported—e.g., YouTube - Carnival hub app is buggy and unreliable it necessary 3/3/19 Sunday boarding We drove to Galveston this morning. It was a bit rainy but traffic was fine. Mardi Gras is in full swing so traffic was a little bad near the cruise terminal. Shawn dropped me off at the cruise terminal and went and parked at EZ cruise park then walk back. As soon as he got back we were able to board. Boarding was extremely simple and very fast since I’m a platinum member. After checking our passports and entry documents we were ushered right through to security then up and onto the ship. Unfortunately, cabins were not ready. Shawn found a hot tub working on the Havana deck. I met him and we went to the promenade where we grabbed a snack at the Pig and Anchor - great BBQ but it’s not listed on any of the maps - find it midship on Promenade (deck 5). There was no line at all – everyone was up on Lido on 10 in lines that were long. We went to the aft section of the Havana area and tried to get in the hot tub, but were told by a crewman that only Havana cabin guess could use that hot tub. We then went to the ocean view lounge and the taste bar midship near the elevators. It was lovely and there were no lines and there were a number of different interesting foods to try. Everything was very very tasty. At 1:30, we were able to get into our cabin number 9470 aft extended balcony. It is a lovely cabin, but I should note that because of an overhang from the Lido deck it will not be good for sunning or sunbathing. One of our bags was delivered early and the other an hour later. We partially unpacked. We realized we were seated for dinner in the midship restaurant (despite our cabin being as far aft as possible) so we need to try to change that. First, we made our way to the deck 3 aft restaurant, Horizons Dining Room for the mandatory safety briefing. Then we wandered thru Lido as the Sail Away party started. Went up and checked in at the spa since I purchased a week of Thalassotherapy there. Then we went to the Vista Atrium, deck 3 forward, to get a drink and await an Electric Violin Duo. We had a Sex on the Beach - yum! Listened to the Electric Violins with Polaris trio for a bit (very good!) then went up to Deck 11 to look around. The Skyride has appeared inactive all day. Went back to the cabin and watched a free movie. We’d requested a Steakhouse reservation online prior to the cruise but were told they were sold out. Once aboard, I was able to get a 9:30 reservation- late, but .... Went by Reflections dining at midship and the maitre de was very helpful in getting us changed to “my time” dining in the aft Horizons dining room. We got to the 555 Steakhouse early and were seated immediately. Wonderful service and excellent food! They offered complimentary house wine and we had the Chardonnay. We ordered: baked onion soup, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail, baked sole, filet mignon, wasabi mashed Yukon gold potatoes, and garlic rapini. They also gave us a wonderfully flakey and delicious roll with basil butter and some incredible little wagyu sliders, compliments of the chef. We said we were too full for 2 deserts and asked for a recommendation- our server replied that she’d bring us the Chocolate Sphere (hard to explain but cool and yummy) for us to share and a “to-go” cheesecake for later. So sweet! The Sphere even had “Happy Anniversary “ written in chocolate on its plate. They also gave us complimentary champagne for a postprandial toast. It was an incredible experience overall - try to get an earlier reservation as everything slows down as it gets late. Back to the cabin, tired and replete!! 3/4/19 Monday at sea Shawn up early (5 ish) to do laps on Promenade but a complete circuit was impeded by the Havana cabins. He still did 6 laps then came back and snoozed until breakfast time at 8:30. I figured out how to get my laptop on the paid WiFi - we chose the value package before the cruise. The trick is to put your laptop on airplane mode then access the WiFi and go to Carnivalhub.com and put in your folio number. Down to Horizons for sea-day brunch. Natalya from the Ukraine was our head waitress and was lovely. Back to the cabin to change into a swimsuit then I went to the Cloud 9 Spa to use the Thermal Suite while Shawn went to get tickets for the IMAX showing of How to Train Your Dragon. The Thalassotherapy pool and areas were wonderful. Changing rooms with lockers, towels, showers and a dry sauna were available. The main thermal area had the heated mineral jacuzzi, a steam room, aroma steam room, infrared sauna and dry sauna as well as heated zero-g lounges, all facing huge windows looking out at the passing ocean. I stayed for over an hour then got some orange flavored water and went to meet Shawn for the movie. You have to buy tickets ahead of time at a kiosk and there are no assigned seats. A senior discount (over 55) is nice! Popcorn, sodas and other traditional fare are available for purchase, and drinks from other parts of the ship can be brought in as well. Fun movie and it let out in time for us to go to Blue Iguana grill on Lido for a late lunch. I had a fajita beef taco bowl and Shawn had a grilled shrimp burrito - delicious and filling. We went back to our cabin for a brief siesta and found complimentary choc-covered strawberries (one of the perks of Platinum). We started watching a movie and when the hub app showed only a 5-10 minute wait for “My Time” dining, we requested a table (via the app) and went down to 3 Horizons. Where we waited and waited and waited. We finally got the notification that our table was available and were seated (about 30 minutes into the 5-10 minute wait). The braised kale tarts with Pork were a delicious appetizer. Back to our cabin to finish The Favourite then read and sleep. 3/5/18 Fat Tuesday at sea Shawn went for 7 laps then we went for an early bfast on Lido. I went to the spa while Shawn checked out the ropes course and sky ride. I arrived a little early but they checked me in. A woman offered me a shoulder massage then talked me into a bamboo massage at 4:30. I locked my purse and phone in the provided locker and entered the thermal suites. I started on the heated recliner and read for a bit then went in the mineral jacuzzi and on to the aromatherapy room which worked only briefly. I notified a spa attendant when I headed to the infrared room then the dry sauna. It was almost too hot, making the seats almost burning, but the huge windows were nice. I relaxed and dried out a bit then went to the relaxation room for orange flavored water. I headed back to the cabin. Shawn had gone and observed a huge line for the sky ride and a much shorter line for the ropes. We went to Pasta Bella for lunch. Since it sits below the sports deck and ball court, the banging from the ceiling is a bit annoying- the food is great, though! Choose one of 3 pasta then pick sauce and “add ins” plus Italian bread or Cesar salad. Liberal use of good olive oil made it rich and flavorful. I went to the shops to get a carryall for excursions (forgot to bring one) while Shawn went to the cabin. Louie our steward was working in the cabin so Shawn went up to 12. When I got back to the cabin, it’d been decorated for our anniversary with magnetic dangles from the ceiling, a bottle of champagne and flutes, plus a tumbler and a towel. There were also candies from My Time dining. We went back up to 12 aft (stairs required from 11 :-( so not great for us gimps). Shawn went on both the easy and hard ropes course, back to back, because there was no line. He says the trick is to grab your safety harness rope up near the wheel for balance!! The Skyride line was only a 30 minutes wait, so we got in line but realized I had on sandals (a no-no). We went back to our cabin after watching the Skyride and ropes for a while. At 4, Shawn walked me to the spa. They directed me to the relaxation room where I drank green tea and filled out paperwork. Sheila took me back and gave me a full body bamboo and hot stone massage for about 80 minutes. Very nice although they always try to upsell stuff. Met Shawn on 15 Serenity deck and looked around then headed back to our cabin. Dinner reservations at JiJi’s Asian restaurant got there early and were seated. Food is served family style so we picked 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, 2 sides and 2 desserts. A small “compliments of the chef” appetizer came out first. Wonderful and delicious food – definitely worth the extra charge! Back to our cabin to watch Crazy Rich Asians on pay per view. . 3/6/19 Ash Wednesday at Roatan Up early - 530 for Shawn to do 5 laps. Went to bfast on Lido at 6:30 - lots of folks. Back to cabin to sunscreen up. An announcement at 8 that debarking was allowed so headed to 0 forward. Easy getting off and found mtg spot for Tabyana Beach and Gumbalimba Park but the tour directions folks weren’t very clear and a bunch of us headed off with the wrong group. Finally, our guide, St. Christopher, gathered us and led to the bus. VERY cramped bus - larger folk barely fit down the aisle. A 35-minute ride to GumbaLimba Park. Beautiful day! Saw 2 woodpeckers near the huge fig tree. Saw iguanas and island rabbits (capybaras) before going thru the Insectarium and Coxen’s cave. Climbed lots of stairs then crossed the bamboo bridge (Puente Bambusa) to see the birds. Scarlet and green/Military macaws as well as green parrots, turkey vultures, toucan and peafowl. Onward to see the monkeys although one visited us at the birds. I was winded when we got to the monkey area so the trainer told me to sit on the swing. Macheco, the white-faced capuchin monkey almost immediately came to sit on me!! The monkeys were fun and friendly except for some infighting with a male harassing a momma and her baby. Mango monkey also sat on my head. We hiked back, said goodbye to Christopher and took the bus to Tabyana Beach. Had a drink then got into the beautiful azure water up to my neck - incredible beach!!! Had a Monkey LaLa (frozen Vodka, Baileys and coconut rum drink with chocolate swirl) while Shawn dipped his feet in the waters. Headed back to the boat for lunch. Went to Guys Burgers with no line, though by the time we left, the line was long. Back to the cabin to change and rest then I went to the spa. Very crowded so did the steam aromatherapy room until the pool was less busy then onto a heated lounge for reading and to get my ankle up. Met Shawn on 15 to watch the Carnival Magic depart. Decided to do an early dinner and movie so requested a table at 5:30 and were seated by 5:45 next to 2 elderly sisters. Nice dinner - Shawn had the “local flavor” Pescado Asado with a wonderful broccoli soup (which we didn’t know was soup until it arrived at the table). I had the tenderloin with an excellent polenta. Back to the cabin to watch Arthur- Legend of the Sword. Bed early. 3/7/19 Thursday in Belize Same as yesterday for laps and bfast then down to the Liquid Lounge to await our excursion: Wildlife Adventure boat and zoo. BTW the Carnival Hub App has a bad tendency of locking up. Got told to go down for our Tender to shore. Two women argued about opening a window on the tender. One of them complained or yakked constantly and she ended up on our tour with her whiny kids. We were greeted and led by our guide, Anne, to a restroom and then our boat for the river tour. The boat was partially covered and had hard seats. We went to the manatee area at the mouth of the river then up river. We saw: 5 Bats, several Manatee, iguanas in trees, several Howler monkeys, 2 Morelet crocodiles, parrots, egrets, herons and two rare Jabiru storks w/nest. Stopped at The Iguana Spot for lunch: rice, beans, stewed chicken and a local Belikin beer for Shawn. On a bus for a 35-minute ride to Belize Zoo. Anne led us thru the maze-like zoo. Saw: King Vultures, black vulture, spectacled owl, cougar, margay, ocelot, howler and spider monkeys, jaguarundi, harpy eagle, tayra (bush dog), wild turkeys, jabiru storks, a keel-billed toucan, tapir, ornate hawks, alligators and crocodiles, whitetail deer, tarantula, and boas. Back on the bus for about a 50 minute ride back to Belize city. Got to the port, and the line to get on the boat was already very very long. We shopped a little then had a daiquiri before getting in line. A security guard came and saw my cane and walked us up to the front of the line after we had been in line about 15 minutes. We got on a tender and were back at the ship by about 415. We went up to 10 and crossed over and had an ice cream cone each then came to our cabin to rest and shower. Found out it was “elegant night” so decided to eat on Lido instead of the dining room - the Hakka noodles were great! Then we found a couch on deck 11 where we watched Antman and the Wasp at the Dive-In Movie. Also, the ship told everyone to set clocks ahead one hour for Cozumel and daylight savings time. Enjoyed the film although we sat too close to the starboard smoking area. Changed my watch and ended up going to bed after 11:30 PM. 3/8/19 Friday in Cozumel It was already light at 6 AM because of the time change and Shawn got up to run laps or rather walk them. Searched the cabin but could not find the laundry bag so I had to call Louie our Steward. Went to breakfast on Lido and they announced gangways were open and last boarding extended to 4 pm because we were a little late getting into port. Filled the laundry bag for Louie and read on the balcony until 10. Went ashore and shopped a bit before going to Pancho’s Backyard restaurant at Puerta Maya dock. Shared a marg and had chips, guacamole and a quesilla con salsa verde. Listened to local musicians then strolled back to the ship. Saw parrotfish, trumpet fish and sergeant majors in the lovely Caribbean blue waters along the dock. Stopped by the cabin to try on purchases and rest before heading to Mongolian Wok for lunch. Went up to try to ride the sky ride but they were doing maintenance and weren’t sure if they’d open today. Shawn did the ropes course (both sides) then we went to the Promenade to watch people returning from Cozumel and to laugh at drunks. The last stragglers were 48 minutes late. We went over to Red Frog for pub grub ($3.33 per ordered item): coconut shrimp, rhoti and sliders. After eating, Shawn went to the cabin while I bought rum cakes and got our anniversary pictures of the ship. Back in the cabin, our clean laundry was delivered then we watched First Man. To bed about 10. 3/9/19 Saturday at sea Up at 6 am for Shawn to walk laps (35 total this trip) and me to purchase pics. Lazed about until 8 then down to Horizons in hopes of sea day brunch opening early. They opened at 8:17 and we got a separate table. I ordered a croissant and we got a basket of 4 egg-washed butter croissants-delicious! I had eggs Benedict and a parfait. Shawn had the parfait and breakfast pasta - unfortunately, it was spaghetti in a cream sauce rather than the red sauce he wanted. The Sky Ride was scheduled to open at 9 so we hurried there after breakfast to find only a short line. I unknowingly got into the car on the inside track which turned out to have more steepness but it was great fun!! Back to the cabin to change shoes (the ride requires closed-toe shoes) and a little digestion time then we put on swimsuits and headed to the spa. Unfortunately, the $50 gift card we received was only for “spa services” and didn’t include the thermal suite so we paid $45 for Shawn to join me. Went into the jacuzzi then the steam-aromatherapy room then onto the heated lounges - Shawn fell asleep. I went for infrared and dry sauna then we cooled off in the relaxation room. Back to the cabin to change and rest and read. Down to the Ocean Plaza Taste Bar to try some incredible dishes while listening to Caribbean Sounds with Mikhail on steel drums. Back to the room to read before going to listen to violins and get our free drink. The funnel of art/images in the Vista Libby 3 forward was composing and decomposing impressionist artworks as we listened to the trio and shared a Sex on the Beach. Went to Bonsai Sushi for dinner: 2 miso soups, wagyu kakuni (beef appetizer), spicy tuna roll and Katsu chicken - all superb!! Picked up the photo I bought then went to our cabin. Saw Louie and tipped him $50 for his amazing service. Started packing. To bed early but I had trouble getting to sleep. 3/10/19 Sunday debarkation Alarm at 5:30. Shawn did 2 laps while I finished packing. Went to bfast on Lido them back to cabin for last check and luggage. Went to 3 midship Reflections for Priority debarkation - supposed to be there by 7:45 but already a line. They had us line luggage up to ensure everyone got off the ship in the order they arrived in the priority area. Left the restaurant at about 7:25 and finished customs at 8:03. (Customs Inspector on line 5 was SSLLLOOOOWWWWW) Shawn left me to go get car. We drove away by 8:30 am!! Read Less