Carnival Vista - Back to Back Review - Feb 18 - Mar 4

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A bunch of the photos are still showing " - " for me.

Enjoying your review. I’m on a B2B coming up in April. I was especially curious to learn how the reboarding worked.

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After Sail Away, we went to the Alchemy Bar for a martini tasting. Go Yulia!

 

Is that something you can order anytime or was that a scheduled event?

Is that something you can order anytime or was that a scheduled event?

It is a special they run about 2 or 3 times per week. You are given a menu with 7 choices and you pick 4. One of the choices is Mixologist Choice. She will make your samples and then ask you to determine which is which. She helps you by getting you to smell, taste and look.

1st sea day: 2/25/18

Started the day by going to the Cruise Critic meet and mingle in the Piano Bar. We met at 9:00. It was a decent turn out. There were pastries, coffee and juice available. We met for about an hour and then off to the slot pull. I did not hit anything on the slot pull, but some people were lucky. It was fun to watch.

After the slot pull, we went to lunch at the Mongolian Wok on deck 11. All was going good until some big hairy guy wanted to "parade" around in front of the window we were sitting in front of. There were lounge chairs on the outside and this guy had to park himself there. When I say parade, I mean show off his blessing. We tried our best to ignore him, but he knew we can see him so he kept parading. We were not amused.

The rest of the day was relaxing. Spent some quality time on our balcony. I played some games on my phone and then I napped. My wife and sister were out there too reading. As we were out there, Leonard brought the plate of chocolate covered strawberries/pastries. That was a good surprise for a lazy afternoon. Lazy for me... my wife, sister and friend went to the spa for manicures.

We had dinner in the main dinning room (Reflections) and it was cruise elegant night. The food was good, I had the prime rib. We had the same wait staff as last week. However for this week, they were moved to a different part of Reflections. We were confused at first when we were taken to a different location. The Maitre'D said that the servers are rotated to different tables once a month. We liked the people at the table next to us. The were from IL and very friendly.

After dinner, we had some drinks at Alchemy and then went to bed.

... Next is Grand Turk

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Grand Turk: 2/26/18

One of our favorite ports. Especially since we like Margaritaville. We have been to GT 6 times. Several times, including this one, we rented a pool side cabana at Margaritaville. When I first checked, they were sold out. However, on the day final payment for the cruise was due, several became available. I guess some people cancelled. I felt luck to get one. They are nice. The 4 of us enjoyed it. We spent time drinking, eating, swimming, shopping and strolling on the beach. I also enjoyed watching the people on the Flow Rider.

More from Grand Turk:

Inside the cabana:

Forgot my hat on the ship, so my sister bought me this one.

Good day at Grand Turk. My party wanted to go back earlier than I. I convinced them to stay a little longer. :D

Back on board, showered and went to dinner. I believe this was the Hasbro game show night. It was enjoyable. Matt made it a lot of fun.

.... Next is St Kitts

... Okay, I got my days mixed up. In my last post, I said St. Kitts was next. It was actually San Juan.

San Juan: 2/27/18

We booked a city/Bacardi tour for this port. I enjoyed it. I learned about Bacardi's history and got to have a few drinks. On the way back to the port, we stopped at the capital building for a few moments.

More from San Juan (at the port)

Nice review and pics! Looking forward to seeing the rest.

Now on to St. Kitts... 2/28/18

We booked the By Train and by Bus Excursion for St. Kitts. The tour met at the port; in the secure area. We got on the bus in that area and headed out to the train. The train takes you around the island, through old sugar cane fields, etc. There is a tour guide and each car has a server bringing around rum drinks and sodas. Each train car has an upper and lower deck. The upper deck is open air and the lower deck is air conditioned. The best view is on the upper deck. After the train ride, we got back on the bus and took a driving tour of the rest of the island. I would recommend this tour. Also, I like trains. :D

I took more video than photos. Here is a video.

I should have more on my YouTube channel.

After the tour, the ladies went shopping at the port and I went back to the ship. FYI: People have monkeys at the port and if you want a photo with a monkey, it will cost you $10. I don't like monkeys and believe they should not be pets. They are wild animals. Also, if you have to use the public restroom at the port shops, it will cost you $1.00.

... Next is St. Maarten.

St. Maarten: 3/1/18

We docked in St. Maarten next to the Celebrity Silhouette. The last time I was in St. Maarten was in 1997 and this port was a tender port. Glad there is a dock now.

This was a day at the beach (and shopping for the ladies). The beach was in Burgeaux Bay, next to the airport and Maho Beach. Maho Beach is where you can watch the airplanes fly over you as they are landing at the airport.

The water was a little rough, but I enjoyed it. Lunch was provided and good too. There was free rum punch, which is a good beach drink.

One of those really big ships:

.... Next is cruise wrap up

The last 2 sea days were good. Relaxing... very relaxing.

I forgot to mention something in my last post. Dinner on 3/1 was at Cucina del Capitano. It was delicious. For starters, we had fried calamari and meatballs. Both fabulous, especially the meatballs. They brought extra meatballs because we liked them so much. The meal was fantastic. All 4 of us order something different, so we got to try each others meal. I passed on dessert, I was stuffed. The others had dessert.

I got another fantastic massage on Friday 3/2. Before the massage, as I was having breakfast, a friend sent me a FB message stating that the power went out in our office building. He said there was a very powerful wind storm hitting our area. I decided to rub it in a little and state to him that the weather was perfect, calm seas and that I was about to get a massage.

I met my wife for lunch and then we lounged around for most of the day. We went to the casino. We played some of the "skill" games like cash cube. No luck there. I went back to the Let It Ride table and made out very well. I took my winnings and cashed out. Dinner was cruise elegant. After dinner, we had some drinks at the Alchemy Bar. After dinner, we watch the late showing of Flick. We have seen it on the previous cruise and really were glad to see it again. It is a really good show.

After the show, there was an 80s party on the Lido deck. I wish the party was more dancing instead of the CD and DJ teaching the crowd a dance to a song. Just let everyone dance they way they want to. Most of the music was 80s hip hop. There was some Michael Jackson, but they did not let Beat It, Billy Jean or Thriller play all the way through. Then there was a medley of 80s pop tunes; again the whole song was not played.

Final day at sea was 3/3/18. My wife and I were not feeling well this day. We were both congested and coughing. We tried to make the best of it. We had Guys burgers for lunch. This was the first time having Guys on this cruise. I have had Guys burgers on many other cruises and I did not enjoy it this time. I think the burger was too well done and the fries were not right out of the fryer. I guess I was missing Five Guys (originated in the area I live in).

At 2:30, we went to the Alchemy Bar for a mixology class given by Yulia. My wife had done this class on the Pride and enjoyed it. The ladies enjoyed the class this time. I had to bow out early. I really was not feeling well and I could not concentrate on the class. I went back to the room and slept for 2 hours.

In the evening, we said our goodbyes to our cabin steward, Leonard and our wait staff. I was feeling better. After dinner, we watched the late showing of America Rocks. It is a very enjoyable show. It features the house band, The Sauce Factor; plus the dancers. All classic rock tunes from groups/artists such as Boston, Styx, Kiss, Joan Jett, Aerosmith, etc. We got a selfie with Matt before the show started.

After the show, we went and played name that tune with Matt in the Atrium Bar area. Lots of fun! I and several others got all the songs correct, but was not the first person to shout out the tie breaker answer. Time for bed...

My wife got up at 6:00 on 3/4 and we were already at the port. We got ready around 7:30 and left our room shortly after. We had our last breakfast burrito at the Blue Iguana. We were zone 1 and were able to depart early. However, we decided to just wait and enjoy our breakfast. Our flight wasn't until 2:40. Finally off the ship at 9:10 and through customs and on on a bus by 9:40. The waiting at the airport is long and boring. We had lunch at the airport. I had mahi-mahi and my wife had a buger. We enjoyed our meals and thought we wasted a lot of time at the restaurant, but we still had over an hours wait after we finished lunch.

Finally on the jet to go home. We transferred in Charlotte and arrive back at Dulles Airport shortly after 7 PM. It was cold and depressing in VA. We got our taxi and headed for home.

We really enjoyed this back to back cruise and will do a back to back again. We have already booked our next cruise. It is one year from now out of Baltimore. Baltimore is about 1.5 hours drive. We don't have to fly or get a hotel the night before. That is what we like about sailing out of Baltimore. And the good thing about the ship in this port (Pride); it goes to Half Moon Cay.

Thanks for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it. Here are some leftover photos.

Thanks for the review, agree, B2B's the best way to go!

Thank you so much for your detailed and well written review as well as your amazing pictures! I sailed aboard the Vista twice and will sail on it for the third time in July!

I remember meeting you at the meet and great. Nice review!

Thanks for the great info. I can't wait to hear more!

 

Horizon 7/13/2019

Us too, Bill, why take a taxi, and not the shuttle from the Marriott?

I remember meeting you at the meet and great. Nice review!

Hope you enjoyed the cruise. I now have to wait a whole year until our next one. Maybe we can sneak one in between.

Us too, Bill, why take a taxi, and not the shuttle from the Marriott?

We took a car service because we wanted to compare it to taking the Marriott shuttle. We actually liked the car service. The driver arrived a little early. We got our luggage loaded and off to the port/terminal without having to wait for the shuttle to show, waiting for the shuttle driver to load all the luggage and stopping at other cruise ships before getting to the Vista. I don't know if the Marriott shuttle stopped at any other ships this time, but in years past, we were always the last stop.

Great review - loved all the photos!

Your review and pictures are fabulous!! Thank you for posting-we're sailing on the Vista next year!!

How is cabin 7255? I will be in that cabin May 13.

Nice start!!!

Will be following!