We booked this cruise on the Carnival Vista for several reasons: 1) We wanted a 7-day cruise out of Galveston, 2) we enjoyed the cove balcony on the Breeze so much last year we wanted that again, and 3) we wanted to see Grand Cayman instead of Roatan or Belize like last year.
Embarkation went pretty well. We had a 1pm appointment and by the time I got back from parking the car it was just after 1. The boarding area was busy but things moved along and we only had to wait a few minutes to get to our cabin at 1:30. We dropped out carry-ons and headed for a pasta lunch on Deck 11 which was very good. After lunch, we met our room steward and asked for evening cabin service.
After dinner, we went to Red Frog and decided to order a couple of beer samplers - Cheers wouldn't be activated until the morning after departure. It seemed like from the menu that we could pick any four beers to sample, but apparently it's a fixed set. Neither of us like IPAs but figured as a sample it'd be ok. However, after we put in our order at the table it seemed like our waiter disappeared. The place wasn't that busy, and it was a simple order, but my wife had to hunt down the bartender to get our order. Not a great start.
Good location, convenient to stairs/elevator especially for getting on/off the ship since we could just use the stairs easily. Had to walk aft for MDR but just one deck up. We could hear music from the atrium most evenings but nothing after 11 or so. Liked being near the water and having a shaded private balcony.