My wife and I, along with another couple, recently went on a 7-night cruise from Galveston, TX, on Carnival Vista. Our ports of call were Montego Bay (Jamaica), Georgetown (Grand Cayman), and Cozumel (Mexico). My wife and I feel very blessed to have traveled to a number of destinations across the U.S., including numerous trips to Hawaii. However, this was our very first cruise and our first time to the Caribbean Islands. I must say that we absolutely enjoyed it!
Although we didn’t have another ship experience to compare it to, we thought the Vista was great. Our friends, on the other hand, who have cruised multiple times, were a little disappointed. Carnival is their favorite cruise line and with Vista being one of Carnival’s newer and larger ships, our friends were expecting it to have a little more “wow” factor. They missed the larger, central atrium area with elevators and felt Vista’s floor plan was more “chopped up” than other Carnival ships. They were also a little disappointed with the main entertainment venue (Liquid Lounge). With portable chairs on the main floor instead of theater seats, they felt it was less theater-like than on other ships. Of course, having chairs that can be moved quickly allows for more flexibility to host a greater variety of events. They stated, “The differences aren’t really bad—just different.”
We did have an interesting issue with our balcony room (6309). Each night as we slept, like clockwork, there was a weird mechanical-sounding noise at 1:00 AM and then again at 5:00 AM, which was definitely loud enough to wake us up each time. We spoke to Guest Services and they seemed baffled by it and got their technicians involved. Not sure if they ever figured out what it was, but they moved us to another room without us requesting it. So we were pleased with the way they handled it.
Cabin was very clean and comfortable. Everything seemed very new still. See above review for more details.