scowat

Other than that how was it ?, we are sailing the same itinerary in September.

I've still to do a proper review but here's a summary of thoughts :D

Itinerary

we missed Kusadasi due to the coup and had an extra day at sea. Sad to have missed it but understand the need to exclude. That aside we loved Rhodes Town, Valletta (Malta) and Messina (Sicily) but beware nothing is open if you're hitting the port on a Sunday. Naples aside, the remaining ports you were docked very far away from town with the need for a shuttle that Carnival were charging what we thought were exorbitant prices so we stayed on the ship.

Embarkation/Disembarking

Constantly moving flow of guests at the port in Athens. Felt very slick and we were through it and on the ship within 30mins. Very well managed. Same story for Barcelona (although that may be as we were some of the first off the ship)

Stateroom

We were in room 7218, just below the bridge on deck 7 forward. Category 8B. Lovely stateroom, functional more than anything but perfectly serviceable. Strange having a door to the balcony as opposed to a sliding door like most but it was no problem. Some issues with the TV not switching off and a smell of sewage from the A/C in the first night but these were rectified very quickly by Carnival. Our steward, Predrag, was excellent and always helpful

Food

We switched any time on the first night to an 8.15 sitting and were very glad of it after hearing and reading of all the issues with waiting. We were in the Reflections dining room and had absolutely no issues with staff, waiting times or food with the exception of the first formal night where the lobster was terrible. That being said, it was very quickly replaced for something else so top marks to our waiting team who all were lovely (Nedka, Arnel and Jestoni were stars).

Dinner aside, Lido is limited but OK for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Cucino del Capitano we only made lunch and it was great. Mongolian Wok was very disappointing and made us glad we didn't do JiJi. Bonsai Sushi was always busy and looked great. the 555 Steakhouse always looked empty. Top hits for us were the Pizzeria del Capitano that did amazing pizza and for me the Blue Iguana taco/burrito bar where I got hooked on huevos rancheros for breakfast :D ...the less said about Guy Fieri's burger joint the better, I've never tasted anything so disgusting and filled full of grease, salt and no taste as that place. Looked at the seafood shack but wouldn't give them the money for what they were selling... $12 for a lobster roll I thought was ridiculous.

General Thoughts

The ship is nice but there was no real wow factor to it. The atriums and their digital pillars were cool to see change each day but it feels really enclosed. Same with the main pool area. It feels really enclosed when it's busy. The pools themselves are far too small given the size of the ship, but the water park is a lot of fun, especially both slides and were a big hit for me and my boy of 8. Sky Ride and Sky Walk were cool but be prepared to queue for a long time to use them. Carnival photographers are everywhere taking your photos which means a lot of choice come the end of the holiday for those perfect pics, but again be prepared to pay. Very little staff around the ship taking drinks orders. Was always faster to go to the bars and order in person.

PHEW! ...and that was just a summary :D

So, it seems to me if you are late dining and they are 45 minute shows, you go to the 7:30 show, being maybe 5 minutes late getting to dinner. We never go to dinner anyway till about 8:20 to allow line that forms to clear and then we can walk right in.

Pat

Exactly... what I thought was really good was that if you are sharing a table with other guests the waiting staff won't begin any service until everyone is seated. They tend to allow 10-15mins for everyone to come in before beginning.

Beware thought that you will need to queue for a long time for the Skyride once it's open. You either need to be there for when it opens up (as early as 30mins before sometimes to get on in the first group).

It's a brilliant thing, but Carnival should really look to have it open for longer than they actually do. We found most days they wouldn't open it until 1pm or 3pm and even then it was only open through to about 6pm.

In terms of the Sky Walk, it's nowhere near as busy but is still a lot of fun to do.

The waterpark slides have similar height restrictions. The kaleidoslide uses a rubber ring that you queue to get at the exit of the slide at the bottom whereas the twister is a simple jump in and slide down one but it is very fast :D

I'm sure Camp Ocean was open from the afternoon for kids under 12 if I remember right. The club for those over 12 didn't start until the first evening (after 5pm I think)

I believe that the production shows were at 7:30 and 9:30.

Just off the Vista there last Friday and as mentioned above, 7.30 and 9.30 were the times.

Shows were 45mins each and you were recommended to be in 30mins before the performance.

We were on late dining and never once made them due to (what we felt) poor timings. Perhaps those on the early sitting found this workable, sadly we didn't :(

Only just come off the Vista yesterday in Barcelona and thought it was very poor form that not one port did Carnival provide a map of the local area or how to get to and from the port (unless you wanted to use Carnival's own services supplied).

First time we've ever had this where you're given little to no info on where you are disembarking.

So we're now more than half way through the 10 days and not a thing. Guess we'll need to eat our Scottish treats we brought aboard on our own :D

Kinda defeats the purpose of a meet and mingle when your cruise is on its way to being over isn't it

We're currently on day 5 on the Vista out of Athens and there has been nothing in relation to a meet and mingle mentioned in the fun day news. No times or anything. Unless I've missed it :(

Loving the review so far... we're heading off on the same cruise from Tuesday and really looking forward to it.

Plenty of great pics and tips here :D

WOW... that's some pretty expensive costs for shuttle buses :'(

There's usually a lot of good info on this kind of stuff over at http://www.whatsinport.com

Only one I remember is last time in marseille the cruise company put on shuttle buses from the terminal into the harbour front of the town that cost a few euros but Carnival may run a different setup.