We chose this cruise because its sailing was the day after our wedding and I had always wanted to go abroad the Vista. We flew into Miami so we checked in at the airport. This lead to confusion once we finally got on the airport transfer to the port. We went through security and Carnival employees were handing out boards stating your boarding zone. We were never given one since we had checked in at the airport. Finally I asked an employee what to do and she said not to worry about it. Once they called zones, just join the first one so we did. Everything seemed smooth after that.

We enjoyed the dining room very much and had excellent service. Baked Alaska is back and as delicious as ever! While we did not pay for any of the specialty dinner restaurants, we did pay for the Seafood Shack and it was totally worth it! The portions were large for the $6 price tag. Guys Burgers and the Blue Iguana Tacos are some of my favorite things about Carnival cruises and they were delicious as always. We enjoyed the theaters on the ship several times. We saw a scary movie trio at the Thrill Theater, a 3-D IMAX movie, and a brand new movie that had come out that week. While the movie tickets were extra, they were no more expensive than a movie at home and there were new releases. We enjoyed a massage the second day on the ship. There are tours the first day on Carnival ships with the Cloud 9 Spa. If you go to them you can enter your name in a raffle where they give away coupon books and vouchers off treatments. Even if you don't win they offer special pricing for services just for attending. We turned our massage into a couples massage with no problem. We also paid for use of the thermal suite. By purchasing it ahead of time (because I knew I was gonna use it) I paid $169 for couples where it was $229 for couples once you get on the ship. The entertainment provided was not very good. We went to two different productions and did not enjoy either of them. Also, not very many people attended them. I'm not sure if it was the time of year since I've never sailed in September before but the ship seemed quite empty. There was no trouble snagging a sun lounger on the lido deck and hardly any lines for food.

Our cruise took us to Ocho Rios - Jamaica, Georgetown - Grand Cayman Islands, and Cozumel - Mexico. We did one excursion in Ocho Rios and one in Cozumel. For Ocho Rios we booked an excursion through Viator. It was a private taxi that took us to the Blue Hole and later to Konoko Falls. I had already been to Dunns River Falls twice and my husband said it didn't matter if we tried something else. The tour was very nice and got us back to town in plenty of time. We chose just to go shopping in the Grand Cayman Islands because there are so many stores. We loved the Guy Harvey store and got sheets at Cariloha. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Lobster Pot (although it was pricey). It was about a 10 minute walk from the port. In Cozumel we did an excursion through Carnival. We snorkeled looking for turtles - we only saw one but we enjoyed it anyway. Then we rode to a cenote (underground cave? I'm not sure of the exact translation). It was beautiful but very cold! Afterward we went to a beach resort where we had lunch and got to enjoy the property. The only disappointing part of this excursion was there was no time to do any port shopping. A tender picked us up right off the cruise ship at the start of the excursion and took us back by tender as well. Read more