My main focus when choosing this cruise was the ship. I am a huge craft beer person and the second I heard about the RedFrog Pub & Brewery, I knew my next cruise HAD to be on the Vista - and it did not disappoint!
We flew into Miami the day before but didn't do too much exploring. We spent so much money on the wedding and the cruise (plus a lot of personal stuff that happened in the last few weeks) that we tried to save as much as we could and mostly just got lunch and dinner and relaxed at our hotel. We stayed at the Red Roof Plus at the Miami airport. They offer a free shuttle to the port and let us park our car there for the week. The rooms were much nicer than I expected compared to other Red Roof Inns but they apparently were having a shortage on towels and washcloths. We had 2 rooms, 3 people to a room, and they only gave us two towels and one washcloth per room. I went up to request more and he gave me one towel. I asked for more and specifically requested a washcloth and he gave me two more towels and said they had NO more washcloths. Also my room had an iron and a hair dryer but my parents' had neither but they had a mini fridge and a microwave and we didn't. Other than that, the room was fine, but the continental breakfast was kind of a joke. The pictures online showed those make your own waffle machines but there wasn't one. All they had was cereal, plain bagels, and pre-packaged danishes.
We had priority embarkation because our wedding was on embarkation day so embarkation was a breeze and we had a private waiting area. We didn't have the same luxury with disembarkation but about 10 minutes after they started the self assist debarkation Matt announced that anyone who was doing self assist could make their way to the gangway if they did so within 10 minutes. I don't know if they had a lot of B2B cruisers or too many people with checked bags but as soon as we heard that we bolted to the gangway. We were off the ship and in a shuttle for the airport within 20 minutes. Easiest debarkation I've ever done.
The main draw for the Havana cabins was the exclusive access to the Havana pool area and that was definitely worth the extra we paid for it, however, only 4 out of 11 of us sailing got Havana cabins so my friends couldn't come to the pool with us so we spent some time there and some at the other pools. In the future I probably wouldn't get one of these cabins again unless everyone I was sailing with got them. It was really convenient, however, to be on deck 5 where everything was at. There were some days I didn't even leave deck 5! All the best bars were there, as well as some shops, entertainment, the sushi place, steakhouse, and Pig & Anchor. The taste bar also offered breakfast and lunch options most days so you don't always have to go to lido for meals. They do also offer special Havana toiletries. There was shampoo, body wash, bar soap, and lotion. I was excited to try these but they were horrible. They smelled ok but were really poor quality. I can deal with the soap but would never use that shampoo again.
Did some shopping and visited the NASA exhibit. Planned to go to the beach but couldn't find my friends once I got down there so I left.
We walked around the area right where the ship docks. There were a lot of handmade goods and art for sale, and some guys offering pictures with a monkey and a parrot. There was a fun bar nearby that was playing music and we got margaritas.
We walked around trying to find something cheap to do and ended up just getting drinks at a couple nearby bars. Mojitos had free wifi and the local beer on tap, although their mojitos were pretty average.