SF Cfan

First cruise overall and first cruise on RC, 4 day Baja out of San Pedro on the Viking Serenade, October of '90 or there about.  Catalina Island, San Diego, and Ensenada calls, the cost was more expensive in real dollars, seems like $360.00 per person inside cabin.  Service and food were terrific.  Disco in the Viking Crown Lounge was terrific.

Our last 2 cruises were on the Explorer and Ovation, with the latter this past May from Honolulu to Vancouver.  Didn't notice smoke on either.  But, have complete empathy with original poster.  We were on the Carnival Vista when she was brand new and there was a substantial lack of ventilation in the Casino.  The smell of smoke was overwhelming.  We're not super sensitive to cigarette smoke.  But, it was enough to cause us to avoid walking through the casino.

Club TWO70, the Solarium, and Northstar are terrific all-weather spaces on Ovation (noting Solarium is age restricted and Northstar is a limited time view).  The sports court is all indoors.  Bundle-up and there is plenty of viewing space on the open decks.  Famy27, I believe you will enjoy an Alaska cruise on Ovation.

On 6/11/2019 at 11:39 AM, reallyitsmema said:

 

I would put the $100 towards a voom package and then just enable wifi calling.  You will then be able to make callls and text plus have internet access.  Don't you need to access your emails for work too?  No need for both voom and the at&t package, total waste of money to do both.  The $10 per day plan will cover your port days and then you just use Royal wifi for everything else.

AT&T with iPhone and Voom package, that is correct - enable the WiFi calling feature and keep the phone in Airplane Mode when on the ship.  The iPhone will use the ship's WiFi for placing and receiving phone calls.  I have done this on the past 2 cruises.

My wife and I sailed from Honolulu to Vancouver on the May 2nd sailing on the Ovation.

2) this will be my first sailing on the Pacific Ocean so I’m a little concern about sea sickness

The ocean was smooth to small chop most of the way.  One day in the open ocean the wind was blowing 30+ knots across the bow.  That would put the wind at your back going the other way.  One thing to keep in mind is that the water temp of the Pacific is cool to cold until you get even with lower Baja California.  This means the outside temp may range from the 50's to 60's for the first 3 days on the open ocean, perhaps 4.  It might rain part of the time too.  However, the Ovation has several really good indoor spaces with open views as you are probably aware, including Club 270.

(3) how’s the entertainment on the Ovation? 

Multiple major productions with about 24 cast members, 2 sets of female singers, 1 male pop singer, Jimmy Hopper (who was terrific IMHO, noting that taste in music is subjective), an Aerosmith cover band, comedian, magician, pick-pocket expert.  There were 2 or 3 matinee performances with different material in addition to the primary evening entertainment.  Plus, there were the live bands that performed in the bar & cabaret spaces.  

Enjoy your cruise.

32 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

MDR lunch has one that's not bad.

Agreed.  Just had one on the Ovation sailing from HI to BC.

22 hours ago, Phamer55 said:

I was on the Ovation of the Seas Hawaii  to Vancouver.  There was lots of disappointment before the cruise about the late itinerary changes. Also, the windy weather caused some more disappointment with the tendering process in Lahaina. But that hardly mattered because I had such a great time onboard. The ship was beautiful and I loved the layout and all the venues. Met a lot of fantastic crew; service was great and memorable. Although I didn’t really meet a lot of the cruise critic folks, I enjoyed the mingle, the cabin crawl, and the slot pull. Everyone was so nice and it was a great group of fun people. Funny to hear people complaining about their cruise on the way off the ship when my friends and I had such a great time. 

My wife and I had the same observations and good time.  

Just got off the Honolulu to Vancouver sailing on Ovation.  The ship and the crew were wonderful.  The vast indoor spaces make her weather proof for having a good time.

The food in the main dining room was generally good to very good (lobster tail, prime rib, lamb).  My only advice is to avoid the "New York Steak" from the MDR menu.  I wasn't expecting it to be fantastic.  It was mediocre at best.

Enjoy your Alaska cruise.

Missing the call on the Big Island was bad enough.  Now, if Royal is honest with itself and us, it is canceling the Mother's Day call in Victoria ( a 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. stop is not materially similar to an 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. call).  Docking at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night in Vancouver is not really giving us additional time to explore there, with the added note that we get leave the ship if we don't like it.

The cruise is reduced to 2 days in Maui.  How many people would have booked such a sailing? 

The casino is quite large, and very smoky! Worst I have ever experienced and it is sad because it is a brand new ship and you would think they would have the ventilation down.

 

At the bar in the casino where everyone was smoking, you could not tell or smell; the smoke must have been ventilated out into the casino area!

 

I was on the inaugural cruise and the smoke stench was awful. Saved me lots money as I didn't visit it as often as I would have normally.

Agreed. I was really surprised that the smoke smell was as bad as it was. We walked up to Deck 5 to avoid walking through it.

Granted the European itineraries are different than the upcoming Caribbean sailings, but it was not a problem getting a table up to 6:30 p.m. and even after this past July on the Vista. You may be just fine taking anytime dining for your November cruise.

We were on the June 11 sailing and enjoyed the ship. I can kind of see where people may think the hallways are dirty, especially in the stairways and elevator areas. The brown carpeting already showed some staining. I think it was a poor color to pick not that the crew wasn't trying to clean up spills and such. We aren't fans of the AT but it doesn't stop us from going to the MDR every night even if we just get several appetizers and skip the rest of the menu. Several nights we went straight to Lido to get dessert as there was better choices for us there.

 

I thought I would love Vista but I kind of only like it. Maybe there was too much hype and buildup for me :D We are planning Horizon for 2018 and really hope for another European itinerary (British Isles crossing fingers).

We unknowingly copied your dining strategy, starters in the MDR and dessert in the Lido - even salad bar in the Lido, starters in the MDR, and dessert back up in the Lido.

I concur with your assessment of the Vista. I think I expected it to be much nicer than the Dream class ships.

Could you also bring them to dinner in the dining room? open?

We did bring our own bottles of wine to dinner. We were charged the standard corkage fee of $15.00 plus the $3.00 tip. We were as-you-wish dining this time.

In past cruises with fixed dining times we were either never charged the corkage fee or just once for the entire cruise.

You know, I kept looking at pictures and videos of the main atrium and could never put my finger on what was missing until now - the glass elevators! You don't realize how much they add to the whole expansive "wow" factor of the lobby until they're gone.

 

A very odd design they chose for the focal part of the ship. It seems very underwhelming to me. I'll have to sail it for myself but as of right now I have to admit I'm not too impressed.

My wife and I agree with you. The reduced height lobby and lack of glass elevators make for a very underwhelming experience, just as you put it.

We sailed Vista in May. We did not see port maps available at Guest Services or elsewhere. We had purchased Rick Steves' paperback book, "Mediterranean Cruise Ports" via Amazon and used it in every port, taking only the port-appropriate section of the book to port with us each day. Very helpful as we did most of our port days on our own. Great maps and detailed information.

We had Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Port book. It was very helpful.

Just to clarify your other post, you only saw this happen in Crete, correct?

 

You were very specific on your other post, yet it then turns into somethings bigger here. Others that have been on more recently, have had no issues.

 

So I guess until we hear other ports where it has been taken away, avoid taking it on in Crete. I plan on getting a couple of bottles in Barcelona, since I will have 33 days on the ship, and it looks like it's a possibility we will have VAT on 2 of the 3 cruises.

Sorry for the delayed response. Yes, there were only a couple or few ports in which Carnival staff were even running the security check-point. In most cases security was handled in the port terminal. Carnival security staff were only scanning everyone's sign and sail card as they re-boarded. I did not mean to make more out of this than is the actual case. I was surprised as anyone that a bottle of booze was confiscated given what we experienced 5 years ago on our Mediterranean cruise.

On the July 9 sailing out of Barcelona-

Livorno: We did the combination of the port shuttle and the city bus to the train station. Rick Steves describes the process perfectly including buying the bus ticket at the Tobacconist in his Mediterranean Cruise Port travel guide. No doubt about it, this is the quirkiest port to deal with. But, everything worked as advertised and we had a nice time in Florence.

Civitavecchia: We cruised here 5 years ago, the route has changed. The free port bus drops you much further from the train station. It would not be a quick walk. We opted for the station shuttle bus, which was a couple of Euros each or so. Yes, one has to ride a free bus then transfer to another bus to get to the train station.

We had skip the line tickets for the Vatican Museum, which saved a 2 to 3 hour wait that day. My advice is to get there about 30 minutes before your actual entry time. We did and that was spot on in terms of when we actually entered the exhibits. The e-ticket line outside the museum entrance was long, but moved along very quickly.

We spent 4 hours at the Vatican between the museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's. When you exit the Sistine Chapel, there is a door on the right marked "Groups Only". If you blend in with a group you can exit through that door and avoid the long walk back to St Peter's. There is even a return box for the audio tours if you can take advantage of this trick (credit again to Rick Steves).

There were no assists for self guided other than a pitch for the Carnival sponsored shuttle, which with the exception of Marseille was typically not a good value relative to the local shuttles or taxis available at the port.

In Athens for $17.00 per person Carnival offered a bus to the Plaka round trip. The city bus the X80 departed directly across the street from the cruise ship terminal and was 4.50 Euros (about U.S. $5.00) round trip to the Acropolis (and museum) or Plaka and included unlimited bus and metro rides for 24 hours, plus the flexibility of being able to come and go at various hours.

I'm not complaining because Carnival is a good 30 to 50% less than a similar cruise on its sister line HAL. I've cruised HAL and know that their self guided information is pretty helpful.

On the Baltic Cruise the HAL CD stood at the base of the gangway to make sure that everyone knew where they were going or needed help getting to town.

It is annoying that one needs to figure it out on their own on Carnival and that the CD is hawking shuttles that are not necessarily more convenient and certainly not the best deal. However, for the incredible value I am willing to do my own research and not hold it against the Carnival CD for being misleading.

Just wondering what the times were for the evening production shows. If you have late dining in MDR will you have a problem or will there be a late show scheduled?

I seem to recall that you could attend the early show before late seating. Sorry that I cannot quote exact times. We had anytime dining this cruise. I was only vaguely paying attention to the fixed dining times.

I was gold on my cruise on Vista at the beginning of June. On the first night, I went to the 5th floor check in and was told I have reserved seating and to go directly to the restaurant. Went directly to the restaurant from then on and was always seated quite promptly. Don't know if it was gold or done for some other reason.

We were on the July 9th sailing and had the exact same experience. We are Gold, checked in on deck 5 on the 1st night and told that we could go directly to the MDR using the line on the left that night and for the rest of the cruise.

As I posted in another thread I personally observed hard liquor being confiscated at the security check-point while trying to be bought back on board. As with many things it is possible that the woman ahead of me encountered a stricter crew member. Nonetheless it happened (during the July 9 sailing).

With Barcelona port, just follow the lines of people. Drop your bags off with the porters outside the terminal. Then proceed inside where you will be directed where to go. Representatives will be around to ask but you'll more than likely simple follow the line of people. Have your passport and cruise documents readily available.

 

As far as Cheers. With a Mediterranean cruise, it's less likely it will be a good value (but it may for you). You're off the ship a lot with port visits and you can bring on bottles of wine, etc.. back from the ports visits. This is normally not allowed but it is in Europe. Also with Cheers, everyone in your cabin over 21 will be required to buy it. Search for some threads on Cheers and you'll get a good handle if it's for you or not.

For what it's worth I observed Carnival security confiscating booze brought back on board during the July 9 sailing. I agree that they are more liberal in general on the European cruises. I would not bank on being able to bring alcohol on board from the ports, save the one bottle of wine per adult passenger that is permitted at the beginning of the cruise.

Just off the Vista (last week) in Athens. We were a little late docking in Athens on the 18th of July (port traffic). We were on the Vista overnight and disembarked on the 19th.

We noticed a few folks leaving on the 18th.

One could return to the Vista on the evening of the 18th whenever desired and disembark really early on the 19th if necessary (pre 7 a.m.).

We disembarked about 8:15 a.m. without delay.

At 1.40 euro per ticket, the regular metro beats out the express X80 bus as the cheapest way to get into Athens. The X80 costs 4 euros per person, but I think that ticket lets you ride other public transportation in Athens.

 

The walk to the metro can be rather long depending on where your ship docks. You may be able to get a public bus to take you to the metro station. (If so, the ticket you buy can be used for both the bus and the metro ride, so still the cheapest option.)

 

Since you've been before you'll remember that the transportation only takes you so far, but you'll have to walk most of the way up to the Acropolis on your own steam. A taxi can get you the closest to the entrance, and taxis from Piraeus to Athens should cost around 20-25 euro total.

The X80 stops right across from the cruise terminal and is 4.50 return, which also includes 24 hours of access to all metro and bus lines.

When the bus driver let us out at the Acropolis stop at Hardrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus he gave everyone a nice orientation on how to get to the Acropolis and the Plaka.

The X80 was a great option for us.

I was told my one of the food service officers that the Tandoor was not up and running but will be added to the later cruises. I posted it based off of that. There were a few areas that were not fully up and running yet. I have a feeling though that it is not the true Tandoor though but just Asian/Indian food served with the regular buffet.

That would be nice if they add the Tandoor lunch option to the Vista. The space where it normally resides is the casual seafood spot, which is an extra cost option and opens at 2:00 p.m.

Bringing a bottle of wine on board at the start of the cruise is solid, we did just that on the July 9 sailing.

I saw at least one bottle of spirits being confiscated at security when boarding the ship in Crete. I wouldn't bank on being able to bring a bottle of Gin on board at the beginning of the cruise. Although as others have stated, enforcement of this policy seems less consistent at European ports.