We haven't sailed with Carnival in 7 years, so when I saw Vista was homeporting in Galveston, I booked a 7-night to Cozumel, Belize and Honduras. A balcony for my husband and I, and an interior for our daughter when she decided to cruise with us. First of all, let me just say we had a fantastic time. It is a beautiful ship. We're locals, so no need to explore the island before sailing.

Carnival tried to use a lot of outside deck space for restaurants, so you continually have to walk through the interior to get where you're going. I know a lot of reviewers complained about the atrium, but I liked it. We stopped at the bar there frequently just to enjoy the motion of the tower/tube. I didn't miss the clear front elevators at all. My biggest complaint is all the elevators. They are way too small. The sign says 18 persons, but there's no way that's possible. We were smooshed in with 8 people, so I don't know where 10 more were supposed to go. They also were warm, bordering on hot.

It's Carnival, so I wasn't expecting much for food and wasn't disappointed there. We ate in the specialty restaurants 4 out of 7 nights. Steakhouse and Italian were good, no disappointment there, but JiJi's Asian was so amazing we went there a second time. We had any time/my time dining and ate there the other three nights. It was just blah; nothing good, not really bad. If we couldn't have gotten into JiJi's on the last night, we would have just eaten at the buffet. The food there was just as good as the main dining room Guy's burgers were really good. Great seasonings on the burgers and fries. We never waited more than a minute or two. The Seafood Shack is also good, but you do have to wait for your food. It was worth wait and the extra charge. Blue Iguana's tacos were a favorite at breakfast. Read more