Carnival Vista Review

Great ship, poorly staffed

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Vista
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Cruisergal1975
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2017
Cabin: Balcony
Traveled with children

This was only my second cruise so, to be fair, I may not have a lot of experience to rely on. That said, the ship was amazing - really just beautiful, the food was very good, the amenities and entertainment were top notch. Matt, the CD, was phenomenal! However it became obvious on day one that the ship is terribly understaffed. Very long lines/waits a just about any bar and I'm not talking about 5-10 minutes but typically 20+ min. and the wait staff that walks around was very sparse and took (often) 20+ min for them to return with your order - in several cases it was 30+ min. I am no way blame the staff for this as every single one of them was working as hard as they could and was certainly being as efficient as possible; there simply wasn't enough of them for the number of people that were on board the ship. Same story in the dining room. 2-3 hours both times I ate dinner there so I simply started eating on Lido to avoid those waits. Honestly I still enjoyed my cruise very much and would 100% do it again/recommend it to others, but I would advise everyone to pack some extra patience and to be willing to be flexible with their dining expectations.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8D

I really like my cabin very much. The balcony was a little smaller than I had realized it would be but it was sufficient. I do wish there was just slightly more room overall in the cabin but particularly more closet/drawer space as I felt it was a little limited for three people. The bathroom was good and I loved the shelves - lots of storage there for the little necessities.

Port Reviews

Grand Turk

Loved the beach and Margaritaville! No excursion necessary.

Bonaire

For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the beach we went to. The water taxi ride was a little nerve racking as they definitely over loaded the boat on the way there. The beach self was rather small and the shore was pure coral/rocks. If you have water shoes it was not a good time. However the beach did have several water sports you could do such as water bikes, tubing, etc.

Aruba

We took the city bus which was about a block away from the port to Palm beach and we had the most amazing day ever! Aruba is incredible, palm beach was beautiful - we will definitely come back here and do a week-long vacation at this location alone!

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