I just got off of an amazing 7-day cruise on the Carnival Vista with a pretty large and diverse group of cruisers and we all had the best time! We were a group of 12, 2 of which were new cruisers, 3 were new to Carnival and 3 hadn't been on a cruise in several years. Now because of the group I was with I tried out a few new activities that I would probably not have done otherwise and got to see a very different side of the Vista. One of my favorites was the new Deal or No Deal show which was so much fun! I purchased one gameplay card and won several of the prizes (which usually never happens to me) and was extremely excited. This game is a lot like the old Deal or No Deal game show but gives two of your fellow guests the chance to win $1000 (one of the men I saw play actually did win the $1000 jackpot). It was a fun game that was kind of like bingo if that is one of your must-do cruise activities, but is about half the price of the bingo packages, which makes it easier to play more games. Another hidden gem on the Vista is the thrill theater on deck 6. The thrill theater on board has three short 15-30 minute attractions, and you choose your showing based on your thrill level and age. Level 1 was the light thrill level and I believe is for all ages, Level 2 was the middle thrill level and was for more adventurous viewers, and Level 3 was 17 and up and included 9 minutes of Friday the 13th. There were four of us who wanted to try it out (2 guys who are very adventurous and 2 girls who were a little hesitant) and we ended up trying levels 1 & 2 with the theater pretty much to ourselves. We sent the boys ahead to try out Level 2 first, and they came back saying that it was not worth the money and that the graphics were poor, which had us questioning whether or not we wanted to spend the money to try out another level. However, later that day all of us went to Level 1 and loved it! The graphics were amazing and the movement felt so real! I would have to agree with them that, while both shows were worth the $5.50 to me, I would have paid more to do Level 1; It had the better graphics and seemed to be more for fun-seekers than fear-seekers. Level 2 was scarier and had more video-game like graphics, whereas Level 1 had more of an animated movie feel. I am not one for thrill seeking, but like I said it was very inexpensive and very worth the money we paid, with Level 1 being the best out of the two we tried. We even went back to Level 1 a second time with other members of our group ranging in ages 10-50, and everyone enjoyed it, however the younger ones are the ones who said they would go back. It was so exhilarating and the wind and motion made me feel like I was really in the episodes they were showing.
I would also like to acknowledge the amazing staff aboard the Vista, especially the person taking care of the Family Harbor Lounge. There were 4 of us who were in there for at least an hour at a time and the sweet man taking care of the food station and ice cream machine was always telling us good morning and to have a good day, and wiping down the mini-buffet that is used during breakfast and snack times. We also had an amazing waiter at dinner several nights who kept all 12 of our rambunctious group happy and taken care of.
Our ports of call this cruise were Mahogany Bay, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico, all beautiful places to explore! While a few of us did not get off in Cozumel as there were so many other ships in port that day, the other two stops were gorgeous and warm! Stay tuned for videos and reviews on the ports of call that I visited!
In closing, I would just like to say that I cannot wait for my next Carnival cruise later this year or to book my next one on the beautiful Vista!
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