Carnival Vista- 11/12 Sunday, Debarkation- Post One
Sunday, November 12, 2017:
A view from our 2305 cove balcony. As you can see, there isn't a lifeboat directly over head. So glad I took the time to count windows on ship pictures and find a room like this!
Our flight wasn't until mid-afternoon, so we planned on sleeping in a bit and taking our time off the ship. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. We were woken up 1.5 hours before our alarm because of this incredibly ridiculous noise on the balcony. We had heard this clanking noise happening all week, but this morning was VERY loud. It was incredibly frustrating and made it impossible to fall back asleep. My husband went down to guest services to tell them about it and have them watch a video we filmed of the noise, but all they could do was give us a claim/incident number and told us to contact Carnival when we arrive home. In all honesty, I was looking for a little bit of a financial reprieve due to the noises, but it's our mistake for not having gone to guest services at any other point in the week to alert them to the noises. Also, we haven't follow up on the claim number since we a) forgot about it quickly and b) weren't incredibly inconvenienced by the sound, except for the last day.
We had our last Blue Iguana breakfast of the trip, and really truly as I write this, I'm getting excited for our next trip and the breakfasts that await. Those huevos rancheros and breakfast burritos are amazing and delicious, and wow, the next trip is just too far away. We grabbed everything from our room and wandered the ship. We were in no hurry at all, and wanted to wait on the ship for as long as possible before making our way off. We sat in the Alchemy Bar space and played card games and checked emails on our phones. We saw a handful of other people walking around, also clearly delaying their debarkation. It did feel weird to sit around, but at no point did anyone approach us, and we cleaned out our room before 9 so our room steward could do his job.
Very sad to leave the Vista! Also, still very proud to represent the Hawkeyes!
My strong husband carrying two 40+ lb bags down the stairs!
This seems to be a new piece of information, in that we didn't need to use customs forms anymore. That came straight from the Customs agent at the Miami port. He said they're switching away from using them. We still had ours filled out but he barely glanced at it. Not sure what they're planning to replace it with, but I suppose that's good to know. Also, Carnival didn't have them out with all of the other paperwork they give out the night before, so they must also know the practice is changing. They did have them posted at the Guest Services desk though. We made it through the customs line very quickly and ordered our Lyft to take us to the Miami airport. The driver was there in about 5 minutes, and we had no problems finding him. The ride from the port to the airport was $16, but I had a $5 credit to reduce the cost a bit. We arrive to the airport by 10:30am, and our flight wasn't until 2:25pm. We were able to self-tag our bags and check in via a kiosk, which I like. The TSA line at the airport was pretty long so that was not fun.
We had lunch at the Islander Bar and Grill in the Miami Airport, and found it to be pretty expensive. I know we're a captive audience, but do things have to be so expensive?! The food was just okay, such as the turkey burger being pretty dry, but the key lime pie was really good, so that was a nice way to end the meal. We hung out in the terminal, where I found out I got a discount from Carnival for having just sailed, so I called customer service and applied the coupon to my future cruise. We saved a few hundred bucks, so that was awesome! We flew home with no problems and were greeted in cold, windy, wintry Chicago by my parents (our taxi for the evening). We shared some of our stories with them before heading to my in-laws to hang out with them for a bit and pick up our puppy who was staying at their house for the week. We then made the 4 hour drive back home so my husband could go to work the next day. Sunday was definitely full of travel and we were absolutely exhausted by the time we reached home.
My next steps since I have wrapped up the review part of this journey:
-Posting MDR and other random menus for the ship -
Link to Food Menus
Link to Drink Menus
-Answering questions and sharing input on the ship or ports that I might have originally missed or didn't fit anywhere else
-Compiling a longer video of our cruise activities
-Taking a little bit of a breather before our next trip and therefore our next review!
THANK YOU for joining me on this lovely voyage!
Some of my favorite stairwell art!
A view from our 2305 cove balcony. As you can see, there isn't a lifeboat directly over head. So glad I took the time to count windows on ship pictures and find a room like this!
Our flight wasn't until mid-afternoon, so we planned on sleeping in a bit and taking our time off the ship. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. We were woken up 1.5 hours before our alarm because of this incredibly ridiculous noise on the balcony. We had heard this clanking noise happening all week, but this morning was VERY loud. It was incredibly frustrating and made it impossible to fall back asleep. My husband went down to guest services to tell them about it and have them watch a video we filmed of the noise, but all they could do was give us a claim/incident number and told us to contact Carnival when we arrive home. In all honesty, I was looking for a little bit of a financial reprieve due to the noises, but it's our mistake for not having gone to guest services at any other point in the week to alert them to the noises. Also, we haven't follow up on the claim number since we a) forgot about it quickly and b) weren't incredibly inconvenienced by the sound, except for the last day.
We had our last Blue Iguana breakfast of the trip, and really truly as I write this, I'm getting excited for our next trip and the breakfasts that await. Those huevos rancheros and breakfast burritos are amazing and delicious, and wow, the next trip is just too far away. We grabbed everything from our room and wandered the ship. We were in no hurry at all, and wanted to wait on the ship for as long as possible before making our way off. We sat in the Alchemy Bar space and played card games and checked emails on our phones. We saw a handful of other people walking around, also clearly delaying their debarkation. It did feel weird to sit around, but at no point did anyone approach us, and we cleaned out our room before 9 so our room steward could do his job.
Very sad to leave the Vista! Also, still very proud to represent the Hawkeyes!
My strong husband carrying two 40+ lb bags down the stairs!
This seems to be a new piece of information, in that we didn't need to use customs forms anymore. That came straight from the Customs agent at the Miami port. He said they're switching away from using them. We still had ours filled out but he barely glanced at it. Not sure what they're planning to replace it with, but I suppose that's good to know. Also, Carnival didn't have them out with all of the other paperwork they give out the night before, so they must also know the practice is changing. They did have them posted at the Guest Services desk though. We made it through the customs line very quickly and ordered our Lyft to take us to the Miami airport. The driver was there in about 5 minutes, and we had no problems finding him. The ride from the port to the airport was $16, but I had a $5 credit to reduce the cost a bit. We arrive to the airport by 10:30am, and our flight wasn't until 2:25pm. We were able to self-tag our bags and check in via a kiosk, which I like. The TSA line at the airport was pretty long so that was not fun.
We had lunch at the Islander Bar and Grill in the Miami Airport, and found it to be pretty expensive. I know we're a captive audience, but do things have to be so expensive?! The food was just okay, such as the turkey burger being pretty dry, but the key lime pie was really good, so that was a nice way to end the meal. We hung out in the terminal, where I found out I got a discount from Carnival for having just sailed, so I called customer service and applied the coupon to my future cruise. We saved a few hundred bucks, so that was awesome! We flew home with no problems and were greeted in cold, windy, wintry Chicago by my parents (our taxi for the evening). We shared some of our stories with them before heading to my in-laws to hang out with them for a bit and pick up our puppy who was staying at their house for the week. We then made the 4 hour drive back home so my husband could go to work the next day. Sunday was definitely full of travel and we were absolutely exhausted by the time we reached home.
My next steps since I have wrapped up the review part of this journey:
-Posting MDR and other random menus for the ship -
Link to Food Menus
Link to Drink Menus
-Answering questions and sharing input on the ship or ports that I might have originally missed or didn't fit anywhere else
-Compiling a longer video of our cruise activities
-Taking a little bit of a breather before our next trip and therefore our next review!
THANK YOU for joining me on this lovely voyage!
Some of my favorite stairwell art!
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