Carnival Vista 6 Day Western Caribbean: Our First Balcony

We were looking forward to this cruise so much as it was our first balcony and our 10th cruise with Carnival. Like with most cruises, it was over much too quick. But writing a long and picture filled review will help me relive it and hopefully help some of you who are thinking about going on the Vista or sailing with Carnival in general. I'm going to start with a test photo to see if it works.

Last year, we had planned to go see the Boston Bruins before our cruise in Sunrise, FL. We were supposed to fly into FLL. Long story short, because of the gunman in the airport last year, we changed airports and missed the game. This year we got tickets to a Boston home game the day before we were to fly down to FLL for our cruise. We were supposed to get a wicked storm on Thursday, Jan. 4, so we drove to Woburn, MA to get ahead of the storm and be in the area for when the game started. Just as we were about to check out of our hotel we got notification that the game was postponed due to Winter Storm Grayson. Really?! Strike two for seeing our beloved Bruins. We had to drive home in the height of the storm. The good outcome to this story, though, is that there is a makeup game in April. Here are a few pictures of the Best Western in Woburn:

And a picture of our lovely drive home:

Friday, January 5, 2018

We scheduled a car service to drive us to the airport. They arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule, which was nice. We flew from MHT to BWI where we had to change planes. A minute after we were supposed to board the plane in BWI they told us that there was another plane at our gate that had been delayed getting in so we had to switch gates and our plane had to be towed over to the new gate. After that we figured we would be boarding in no time. Not so much. They made an announcement saying our plane had a maintenance issue and had to be fixed and paperwork had to be done. Once we finally made it onboard, the flight was uneventful and we made it into FLL 2 hours and 15 minutes behind schedule. The awesome part to this story, is that Southwest emailed us and gave us a $100 voucher for a future flight due to the inconvenience. We picked up our Ford Mustang convertible at the airport and drove to our hotel in Hallandale Beach. We wanted to spend a day in Miami ahead of the cruise.

Best Western Plus in Hallandale Beach (a little south of Fort Lauderdale):

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Our ride:

The funny part about renting the convertible is that it really wasn't convertible weather in Florida. The winter storm that we got up north hit Florida with a cold snap. It was in the 60s and breezy. Now, don't get me wrong, that was much better than snow and negative temps, but our splurge on the convertible would have gone to better use in warmer temps.

We checked out of our hotel and drove to the Bayside Marketplace in Miami. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was sunny when we arrived, but by the time we were done it had turned overcast.

We saw an older gentleman dancing and I took a little video. I will post my videos all at the end of my review.

I love your reviews... I've got FOREVER to wait before we cruise on Vista, so I'll live vicariously through your review!

I love your reviews... I've got FOREVER to wait before we cruise on Vista, so I'll live vicariously through your review!

Aww, thanks! And you're right. You do have a long wait!

After that we drove to the Vizcaya Museum, which reminded me of the Newport, RI mansions. DH didn't look too thrilled, but I enjoyed it. It was very crowded that day and it rained while we were there. Here are a few pics from the mansion:

Is it just me...but the photos only show a gray negative sign.

Is it just me...but the photos only show a gray negative sign.

I hope people are seeing them! I'm doing the image address insert thing and I am getting my photos from Google images. I tried my last review with FB images and people couldn't seem to see those.

After the museum, we checked into our Miami hotel, the Best Western Plus. This hotel was really close to the Miami airport.

eager to follow the story but I see no pictures either :(

We went to Walmart to pick up some snacks and then Denny's for supper. Once we got back to the hotel we drove around the parking lot with the top down in our convertible. We had to get SOME use of it!

This hotel had a waterfall type showerhead which was divine!

eager to follow the story but I see no pictures either :(

Hmm...can you see this one?

OR this one:

aha, now we have picture (second one only) :) carry on with your story, apologies to interrupt the flow

I can see the second one of your beautiful smiling face!

I see the - sign for most pictures. I can see the "or this..." picture though. We'll be on the Vista in April! Can't wait to read your review.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

We drove to the Miami Rental Car Center (with the top down-finally!) and dropped the car off. Alamo had a free shuttle that drove us to the Port of Miami. We got there around 11 a.m. and our check in time was noon. There was a line that said early/late check in and we got in it to see what would happen. We got right into the terminal with nobody mentioning our later time. They now scan your passport photos instead of taking a photo which is then linked to your sign and sail card. We waited for about an hour and were on the ship by noon. You show your ID, boarding pass and zone card (which they hand you when you first enter) as the line winds through the terminal. Once on the ship, you don't have to do anything (no DING :loudcry:).

We went to Lido for lunch. I couldn't find the deli, so I got a couple of chicken tacos and DH got his long awaited Guy's burger.

Okay, well let me use FB now. The only cruddy part with FB is that the photos usually disappear. :(

I'll repeat my last three ship photos (since that is what everyone wants to see). :D

Got my first soft serve!

After lunch, we explored the ship and then hung out in the sports bar until our room was ready at 1:30 p.m.

Our sign and sail cards were located in our mailbox right outside our door. Our luggage was also there which is the quickest we have ever gotten our luggage. We checked out our cove balcony (our first balcony ever!) and I unpacked while DH napped.

Our muster station was at the Alchemy Bar. We checked out sailaway from our balcony. I took some videos and talked to my mom and sister through FB Live.

Here are some more ship pics I took on the first day:

Alchemy Bar:

Bonsai Sushi:

Pixels:

Red Frog Pub and Brewery:

Coffee Shop:

Ocean Plaza:

Havana Bar:

I loved the stairwell artwork on the Vista:

Punchliner Comedy Club:

I thought this art was so cute! Made me miss my kitties back home: