Carnival Vista – The Verdict

I haven’t actually been on Carnival’s new ship but have spoken to many customers last week who have recently returned from their cruise.
Overall everyone seems very impressed with the ship but less impressed by the Carnival brand.
Here is what they have said:

The ship is amazing and the facilities offered were fantastic
However there is no theatre so the entertainment was not as good with no west end style productions. The shows that were provided had limited seating and the views were often obstructed by pillars and no structured seating.

The food was very good with lots of choice in the main dining room and self service areas. The service was very rushed and the staff seem under a lot of pressure. A lot of people have commented that it was strange that they had to go down to deck 5 to ask for a table to then go back up the higher deck for the restaurant. However most people have said they were seated very quickly and with a choice of dining alone or with a choice to join another table. They have also said that when a table wasn’t immediately available they were given a buzzer so they were not left hanging around.
Overall the open dining arrangement seemed to work well.

The biggest complaint related to the drinks. They actually ran out of soda drinks such as coke and lemonade for 4 days of their cruise. This i have never heard happen before and apparently after speaking to staff on board they were told they underestimated how much soda the American passengers would drink. This is find surprising as Carnival are all American ships and cater mainly for the USA market. No excuses here and even though they were in port during this time they made no attempt to restock. This was a school holiday cruise so lots of children on board and no popular soda drinks on offer. Also it meant no mixers for spirit drinkers. A lot of people had purchased the drinks package and those that complained were refunded part of their package but those that didn’t were not offered a refund. So if this affected you i would suggest you write in to Carnival and apply for a refund as it may not be too late. They also added a gratuity to all drinks even with the drinks package which made it an expensive deal.

Another customer commented that they never once hard from the Captain which is most unusual. Although you don’t tend to get formal meetings anymore you do usually see the Captain or senior officers at some point during your cruise but they said there was not even an announcement at any time during their cruise.

Have you been on Carnival Visa ? If so what are your thoughts and do you think these points are justified ?