Vista NYC Nov 5th Review

[JMKreno]

Hello all. Just off the Vista this morning and just got home after 10 hours of flights with a toddler and 9 year old and about 10 pieces of luggage...

 

I will be giving more detailed thoughts along with a few pictures including some Christmas decorations! I had planned on more pictures including panoramas, however, I was using my Galaxy S6 Edge for these but I decided to go swimming with the phone in Antigua and well...let's just say the S6 is not waterproof....I also had a new Fuji XP90 underwater camera but that, too, suffered a leak and not sure how many photos turned out.

 

I did have my SLR so once I offload them I will get them attached.

 

Quick summary:

I think many on this board are jaded by nitpicking small things or wish things were the way they were before and live in the past, but all I know is this was our best vacation and best cruise hands down. I've been to Club Med, Sandals, Disney World, Disney Land, and 5 other Carnival ships. There is so much to do and so much to see on board this ship. Sure, the elevators are major pain (pushing a stroller in a toddler requires some elevator usage...) and people can be rude, but I cannot speak more highly of the trip and this ship. I have a few other gripes but they are just that, gripes.

 

I will comment more over the next few days (as mentioned before I left, I was laid off just prior to leaving on the trip so that may take priority) as I am able. I did not have a chance to do everything (11 days wasn't even enough time!) as our toddler decided to become super clingy on this trip.

[jewliana]

Thanks for doing this review! We are returning to Carnival after a long absence to sail her in March. Cant wait to hear your thoughts. Glad you really enjoyed it!

[louanne93]

Thanks for doing this review! We also don't nit pick. I love the feeling of the "Best" vacation ever!

[easyboy]

Thanks for your feedback.

 

 

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[JMKreno]

Gathering up some items for this review. I didn't mean to leave everyone hanging, but a few interviews popped up and unpacking, and sick kids, has caused me to be delayed...also some technical issues with my memory cards. Planning on getting started this weekend with some photos and thoughts!!

[easyboy]

Gathering up some items for this review. I didn't mean to leave everyone hanging, but a few interviews popped up and unpacking, and sick kids, has caused me to be delayed...also some technical issues with my memory cards. Planning on getting started this weekend with some photos and thoughts!!

No worries. Your interviews are more important.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[joand452]

Subscribing!

 

 

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[reerun25]

Looking forward to reading your review and thoughts!

[dolfansam]

I was on this cruise also. It was a great cruise, but the ship was not. There were many problems with the design of the ship:

 

1. Metal plates elevated 1/2-3/4 of an inch off the floor kept tripping people. For the first time in 29 cruises I ended up in the Medical Ceonter, because of these. Even after you knew they were there you still tripped. These made pushing and/or using wheelchairs virtually impossible.

2. Unable to get from one end of the ship to another with out changing floors on certain floors.

3. Not enough stalls in the bathrooms outside of the show rooms. The Liquid Lounge holds 1900 people, but only two stalls in the bathroom.

4. MTD reservations are on deck 5 aft with dining on deck 3 forward. Why is it not in the dining room?? You cannot just take the elevator to deck 3 (see comment #2) to get to dinner.

5. Poor signage - The ships tell you where things are, but not how to get there. Do you take the left hall or the right hall. Can you access it from either hall if you went the wrong way.

6. Finding JiJis and Cucina Del Capitano is not easy. Once you figure it out it is ok.

7. Liquid Lounge is poorly designed. The chairs on the lower level move so it can be made into a dance area after the shows are over, but if the chairs are moved at show time it cuts down on the number of usable seats. The blue glass partitions on the upper level make it difficult to see the shows. There are too many huge pillars blocking views.

8. Limelight Lounge (Comedy Shows) is too small. If you want to go to the 830 show you should show up around 730 to get in and if you are lucky you may get a seat.

9. Elevators - Not enough. There are only two elevators that go to deck 14 and only one to go to deck 15, Serenity Deck.

10. No pool on Serenity Pool only two hot tubs.

11. No covered pool area.

12. Casino is very small and very smoke filled.

[JMKreno]

OK, I was planning a more comprehensive review with menus, food pictures, etc, but I was using my Galaxy S6 to capture "B-roll" stuff like menus and food, but I ended up swimming with the phone by accident in Antigua, and well that didn't end well for that phone. So I will do a more general review with a few focus areas. Again, might take a while to do all of this as I have a lot going on...but here we go.

 

A little info about myself and my traveling companions. I am 34 and work in software (well...laid off right before the trip but the industry still is relevant!). My DW is 32 and is a registered nurse. My oldest DD is 9. At the time of booking, we had another child on the way. She is now 17 months old. We live in Sparks, NV (Reno) We also tend to cruise with my parents (mid-60s from Las Vegas) and my wife's parents (mid-50s, live 2 houses down from us on the same street).

 

I planned this trip back in 2014 after our Miracle cruise. I knew the ship was coming out sometime in 2016 and I absolutely wanted to be on a new ship as the Miracle was showing some age and I wanted to try something with all the new bells and whistles. We weren't going to go to Europe, so I was hoping to get on the Inaugural US run. I waited until the home port/itinerary announcement in early 2015 and immediately told my wife I was booking NYC! So book I did! I went ahead and booked a 4 person Cove balcony in the new Family Harbor rooms. The Family Harbor looked interesting as I thought it would be nice to have some additional space as well as a place to eat/relax.

 

I also planned 2 full days of sightseeing in NYC before the trip since my in-laws had never been there and we enjoyed it last time we were there in 2014.

 

Jump up to May of 2016 and I ended up booking airfare on Southwest. Jetblue started offering direct flights to JFK from Reno, but the baggage was what sold me on Southwest. With 4 people (And 1 being a toddler) I knew having to pay for every bag was going to be costly...14 days of travel requires a lot of stuff, especially as I needed diapers, wipes, and tons of extra stuff for the little one.

 

Now the waiting began...in the time waiting I kept busy. We sold and bought a new home, moved, had a baby, and lost a job!

 

Up next...the time was finally here to get started!!

[dolfansam]

I do have positives:

1. Matt is definitely one of the best CDs I have ever had.

2.The ship is beautiful.

3. Our Suite was great. Our room steward was fantastic.

4. Lots of fun activities on board. I enjoyed the throw back day and election day festivities with the Cat in the Hat.

5. John Heald was wonderful.

6. Cookie was definitely entertaining. When he came out in drag for the Quest I almost fell out of my chair.

7. The Medical Staff and facilities were better than I could have hoped for. My mother became gravely ill the last night of the cruise and was intubated. I thought they were going to fly her off the ship. They kept her onboard until we got back to NYC. The staff was more than accommodating and helpful to my family. The port staff and rescue personnel were great too. The explained everything to us and were willing to assist us with anything we needed.

[dacsmom]

Looking forward to reading your review.

[JMKreno]

I was on this cruise also. It was a great cruise, but the ship was not. There were many problems with the design of the ship:

 

1. Metal plates elevated 1/2-3/4 of an inch off the floor kept tripping people. For the first time in 29 cruises I ended up in the Medical Ceonter, because of these. Even after you knew they were there you still tripped. These made pushing and/or using wheelchairs virtually impossible.

2. Unable to get from one end of the ship to another with out changing floors on certain floors.

3. Not enough stalls in the bathrooms outside of the show rooms. The Liquid Lounge holds 1900 people, but only two stalls in the bathroom.

4. MTD reservations are on deck 5 aft with dining on deck 3 forward. Why is it not in the dining room?? You cannot just take the elevator to deck 3 (see comment #2) to get to dinner.

5. Poor signage - The ships tell you where things are, but not how to get there. Do you take the left hall or the right hall. Can you access it from either hall if you went the wrong way.

6. Finding JiJis and Cucina Del Capitano is not easy. Once you figure it out it is ok.

7. Liquid Lounge is poorly designed. The chairs on the lower level move so it can be made into a dance area after the shows are over, but if the chairs are moved at show time it cuts down on the number of usable seats. The blue glass partitions on the upper level make it difficult to see the shows. There are too many huge pillars blocking views.

8. Limelight Lounge (Comedy Shows) is too small. If you want to go to the 830 show you should show up around 730 to get in and if you are lucky you may get a seat.

9. Elevators - Not enough. There are only two elevators that go to deck 14 and only one to go to deck 15, Serenity Deck.

10. No pool on Serenity Pool only two hot tubs.

11. No covered pool area.

12. Casino is very small and very smoke filled.

 

1) Yes, the lips/plates were...interesting..but after the first day I was used to them. Mind you I also had a stroller to push everywhere. I am sorry if you got hurt though.

2) The flow was just like any other Fantasy/Conquest/Dream class ship. If you wanted to go through you had to go to deck 4 or 5, passenger decks, or up to 10/11. This was not a surprise for me.

3) Yes the number of stalls in each bathroom, I noticed, was limited. HOWEVER, I did find the stalls MUCH larger than on the Miracle or the Splendor. My god, those bathrooms barely had enough room to sit. I actually had the size as a positive on this cruise (yes, I will review public bathrooms). I also found there were plenty of public bathrooms sprinkled throughout the ship. I had no issues with this at all the entire cruise. If there ever was a wait, I just walked another 100 feet and often found another bathroom.

4) I had fixed dining (early), so this was not an issue for me. I had no major issues with service in the dining room, except not being a fan of the menu as much as before.

5) I will disagree. HAving the maps at each elevator landing was very helpful. I looked at what floor something was on, got on the elevator, went to the floor I wanted, got off, glanced at the map right as I got off and knew exactly where to go. Perhaps my spatial awareness is better than some (my family STILL got lost after 11 days) but I thought signage was better than on the Miracle/Splendor in terms of mapping, clear signs. Now, as for some of the confusing hallways, yes, I agree. Like going aft on Deck 4. I constantly went down the elevator hallway in the middle instead of the promenade off to the side. However, like Ikea, they had cutouts in almost every elevator to access the main hallway just in case.

6) I will say I didn't have much of an issue finding those restaurants, but I also had a pretty solid understanding of the ship layout prior to getting on board. However, I know they are tucked away but it must not have taken people long to find them as I tried going for lunch almost every day and they were very busy so never went.

7) Yes, I will agree completely on the Liquid Lounge. Layout and design is terrible. Bad sitelines, HORRENDOUSLY narrow rows when all "moveable" chairs are used (people push the chairs back squeezing in the row behind). John Heald even said he hated the design and it was a trial on a few ships (Sunshine, Vista, Horizon). Uncomfortable. Also, the way the little tables between a number of chairs is setup if you have a drink you cannot put your arm down. BAD design. Definitely a D- on a scale of A-F. As a nightclub, the layout is very good I think.

8) I agree that the Limelight Lounge is small, but it's bigger than it looks especially with the seating on the back wall. It's not much smaller than on other ships and they get packed on any ship.

9) Ah, the Elevators. Yes, they are terribly setup. The biggest issue? The removal of the Atrium elevators. That's a loss of 3 right there. There were many times I had to wait for elevators a VERY long time. Normally I would just walk but I also had a baby in a stroller so going up and down stairs was not really very easy to do. SIDE TANGENT: This ship also had more wheelchairs and SCOOTERS than I have ever seen in my life. It was even a running gag on the ship. Also, etiquette seemed to be thrown out the window. I could literally be standing right next to the elevator with my daughter in her stroller, no one around, let people off and then out of no where someone on scooter would come and literally buzz past me and take up the elevator to where I couldn't easily get on anymore. This happened more times than I can count. In fact, the general clientele on this ship was the rudest I have ever encountered. Not sure if it was the age, the region of passengers (majority from the east coast, NJ/NY obviously), or what? I never encountered so many people rushing tables, pushing people, etc. Major turn off to cruising out of the region again. There were plenty of pleasant people, but far too many rude and pushy people that actually put a major downer on this cruise.

10) With Toddler and a 9 yr old, I spent little time in Serenity but this seems pretty consistent with most other ships except Sunshine and Spirit Class. I did hear lots of people compliment the overall space, though.

11) No covered pool. Knew this going in and since this ship is definitely aimed at the Caribbean, I think a non-issue.

12) Casino did seem smaller than other ships. I actually noticed this about a lot of the "revenue adding" and internal spaces which seemed counter intuitive to me. If they wanted more money from people, make them bigger, but they did the opposite and really expanded the outside areas of this ship at the sacrifice of the internal spaces. That was actually a positive to me. I don't care about the Casino as I live in Nevada but I did win 35 to 1 at Roulette (won't say how much...) when I stopped by quick. As for the smoke, I thought it wasn't bad at all. Coming from Nevada, again, you smell of smoke on your clothes just walking by a door. I had to be in the casino for a period of time to really notice on the Vista.

[dolfansam]

1) Yes, the lips/plates were...interesting..but after the first day I was used to them. Mind you I also had a stroller to push everywhere. I am sorry if you got hurt though.

 

2) The flow was just like any other Fantasy/Conquest/Dream class ship. If you wanted to go through you had to go to deck 4 or 5, passenger decks, or up to 10/11. This was not a surprise for me.

 

3) Yes the number of stalls in each bathroom, I noticed, was limited. HOWEVER, I did find the stalls MUCH larger than on the Miracle or the Splendor. My god, those bathrooms barely had enough room to sit. I actually had the size as a positive on this cruise (yes, I will review public bathrooms). I also found there were plenty of public bathrooms sprinkled throughout the ship. I had no issues with this at all the entire cruise. If there ever was a wait, I just walked another 100 feet and often found another bathroom.

 

4) I had fixed dining (early), so this was not an issue for me. I had no major issues with service in the dining room, except not being a fan of the menu as much as before.

 

5) I will disagree. HAving the maps at each elevator landing was very helpful. I looked at what floor something was on, got on the elevator, went to the floor I wanted, got off, glanced at the map right as I got off and knew exactly where to go. Perhaps my spatial awareness is better than some (my family STILL got lost after 11 days) but I thought signage was better than on the Miracle/Splendor in terms of mapping, clear signs. Now, as for some of the confusing hallways, yes, I agree. Like going aft on Deck 4. I constantly went down the elevator hallway in the middle instead of the promenade off to the side. However, like Ikea, they had cutouts in almost every elevator to access the main hallway just in case.

 

6) I will say I didn't have much of an issue finding those restaurants, but I also had a pretty solid understanding of the ship layout prior to getting on board. However, I know they are tucked away but it must not have taken people long to find them as I tried going for lunch almost every day and they were very busy so never went.

 

7) Yes, I will agree completely on the Liquid Lounge. Layout and design is terrible. Bad sitelines, HORRENDOUSLY narrow rows when all "moveable" chairs are used (people push the chairs back squeezing in the row behind). John Heald even said he hated the design and it was a trial on a few ships (Sunshine, Vista, Horizon). Uncomfortable. Also, the way the little tables between a number of chairs is setup if you have a drink you cannot put your arm down. BAD design. Definitely a D- on a scale of A-F. As a nightclub, the layout is very good I think.

 

8) I agree that the Limelight Lounge is small, but it's bigger than it looks especially with the seating on the back wall. It's not much smaller than on other ships and they get packed on any ship.

 

9) Ah, the Elevators. Yes, they are terribly setup. The biggest issue? The removal of the Atrium elevators. That's a loss of 3 right there. There were many times I had to wait for elevators a VERY long time. Normally I would just walk but I also had a baby in a stroller so going up and down stairs was not really very easy to do. SIDE TANGENT: This ship also had more wheelchairs and SCOOTERS than I have ever seen in my life. It was even a running gag on the ship. Also, etiquette seemed to be thrown out the window. I could literally be standing right next to the elevator with my daughter in her stroller, no one around, let people off and then out of no where someone on scooter would come and literally buzz past me and take up the elevator to where I couldn't easily get on anymore. This happened more times than I can count. In fact, the general clientele on this ship was the rudest I have ever encountered. Not sure if it was the age, the region of passengers (majority from the east coast, NJ/NY obviously), or what? I never encountered so many people rushing tables, pushing people, etc. Major turn off to cruising out of the region again. There were plenty of pleasant people, but far too many rude and pushy people that actually put a major downer on this cruise.

 

10) With Toddler and a 9 yr old, I spent little time in Serenity but this seems pretty consistent with most other ships except Sunshine and Spirit Class. I did hear lots of people compliment the overall space, though.

 

11) No covered pool. Knew this going in and since this ship is definitely aimed at the Caribbean, I think a non-issue.

 

12) Casino did seem smaller than other ships. I actually noticed this about a lot of the "revenue adding" and internal spaces which seemed counter intuitive to me. If they wanted more money from people, make them bigger, but they did the opposite and really expanded the outside areas of this ship at the sacrifice of the internal spaces. That was actually a positive to me. I don't care about the Casino as I live in Nevada but I did win 35 to 1 at Roulette (won't say how much...) when I stopped by quick. As for the smoke, I thought it wasn't bad at all. Coming from Nevada, again, you smell of smoke on your clothes just walking by a door. I had to be in the casino for a period of time to really notice on the Vista.

 

 

I liked the ship just did not love it. When comparing it to other lines newer ships, this doesn't even come close. I had high hopes for Vista, but was let down. I am a travel agent and took the course on the ship before the bookings were available and could not wait to book it. I did so the day they became available.

 

 

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[Atocha Shipwreck Gal]

JMKReno - thank you for your review. I feel bad as someone really hijacked your review! Kind of like the people that were somewhat rude and went around you to get on the elevator. Gone are the days of manners! I really do appreciate your insight for the future and wish you the best!

[JMKreno]

I will actually get this review moving... Just been very busy this week with interviews and sick kids (post trip crud) and thanksgiving prep. I uploaded photos so hopefully get them this weekend.

 

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[bradleyk]

I liked the ship just did not love it. When comparing it to other lines newer ships, this doesn't even come close. I had high hopes for Vista, but was let down. I am a travel agent and took the course on the ship before the bookings were available and could not wait to book it. I did so the day they became available.

 

 

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Dude... quit high jacking his review...if you want to share your experiences please write your own thread