Vista; cruise Europe and then transatlantic to NY

[cwb348]

We're already thinking about the new Carnival Horizon, and were hoping for some input from those that did the European cruise and then the transatlantic to NY on the Vista.

 

Was it worth it? Did you enjoy most of the ports? Did it seem too disorganized because it was a new ship and new itinerary? Would you do it again?Any thoughts helping us with our future plans would be so much appreciated!

[p_mori7]

By the time the T/A comes along, the ship has been sailing the Med for a couple of months and pretty much has any kinks worked out.

 

The European ports are fabulous, there's always lots of things to do or see. One caveat would be Malta. Get a ship organized tour there. We did the HoHo bus ourselves...it was a mess trying to get back to the ship.

 

:)

[crzndeb]

I didn't the last 2 Meds and the TA...I had only been to Ro e before, so lots of new ports for me, and I enjoyed them all. I was pretty worn out by the TA, so it gave me a chance to relax and see all the things the ship had to offer. I still didn't do everything I had planned to do.

 

I'm anxious to see the Horizon itineraries, but probably won't do the Med if they do the same ports. I prefer at this stage in my cruising career to see places I haven't seen, so my hope is that the Horizon will do Baltics and Northern TA.

 

It was totally worth it to see European ports. The ship was fine. A few clitches, but that mainly had to do zealous passengers and not the actual running of the ship.

 

While I would never do an inaugural cruise, because of things you stated, many guests love those. You just have to be prepared for certain things not being fully completed.

[Micahs Grandad]

We were hoping to do the TA but itinerary was rather pathetic. Only port was Gibraltar before leaving Europe as I recall. Have done Princess TA with at least 5 ports before heading back to US.

 

If the Horizon does some European ports on the TA good chance we will book it.

[jimbo5544]

I didn't the last 2 Meds and the TA...I had only been to Ro e before, so lots of new ports for me, and I enjoyed them all. I was pretty worn out by the TA, so it gave me a chance to relax and see all the things the ship had to offer. I still didn't do everything I had planned to do.

 

I'm anxious to see the Horizon itineraries, but probably won't do the Med if they do the same ports. I prefer at this stage in my cruising career to see places I haven't seen, so my hope is that the Horizon will do Baltics and Northern TA.

 

It was totally worth it to see European ports. The ship was fine. A few clitches, but that mainly had to do zealous passengers and not the actual running of the ship.

 

While I would never do an inaugural cruise, because of things you stated, many guests love those. You just have to be prepared for certain things not being fully completed.

You may get your wish (the Baltic's) ;)

[crzndeb]

We were hoping to do the TA but itinerary was rather pathetic. Only port was Gibraltar before leaving Europe as I recall. Have done Princess TA with at least 5 ports before heading back to US.

 

If the Horizon does some European ports on the TA good chance we will book it.

 

Besides Gibraltar, we also went to Azores, which was absolutely beautiful and a favorite, and overnighted in Bermuda. Did Princess TA go into NYC or a Florida port? That could make a difference on port stops.

 

I did an RCI TA in 2011, and it did some European stops.

Edited December 6, 2016 by crzndeb

[Micahs Grandad]

Besides Gibraltar, we also went to Azores, which was absolutely beautiful and a favorite, and overnighted in Bermuda. Did Princess TA go into NYC or a Florida port? That could make a difference on port stops.

 

I did an RCI TA in 2011, and it did some European stops.

 

We have now done two TA's on Princess with a third scheduled for next year.

 

The first one was to Europe and started in Florida and did 5 European ports.

 

The last one started in Copenhagen went to 5 N European ports and than Boston ending in NYC.

 

If Carnival would do that we would almost certainly book but the Vista TA itinerary was rather poor IMHO so we passed and did the N European TA mentioned above..

[nybumpkin]

We did the same Med itinerary, Athens-Barcelona, in July. (I'd love to do a TA but they're always scheduled when we can't take vacation.:( ) We took this cruise to see the ports, not to sail on a new ship, and it is extremely port-intensive. We really didn't see much in the way of disorganization aboard when we sailed (2 1/2 months after the inaugural). As for the ports, we did a lot of advance planning. We ended up with two ports (Rhodes and Messina) DIY, ship tours in Naples and Florence, and independent tours in Malta, Rome and Marseilles.

 

If you're sailing for the ship, you won't have much time to experience it on the Med portion unless you skip ports. There was a lot we never saw on the Vista because we just didn't have the time. More sea days (we had two - and were originally supposed to have only one, but they had to cancel Turkey) would help.

 

If Carnival was to offer another Northern Europe cruise, I think we would be interested in 2018. We did the Baltic cruise on Legend in 2013 and loved it.

[riclop]

We're already thinking about the new Carnival Horizon, and were hoping for some input from those that did the European cruise and then the transatlantic to NY on the Vista.

 

Was it worth it? Did you enjoy most of the ports? Did it seem too disorganized because it was a new ship and new itinerary? Would you do it again?Any thoughts helping us with our future plans would be so much appreciated!

 

If you have the time go for it.