Carnival Vista- November 2017- Intro Post

Introduction: 

Photo Review of the Carnival Vista sailing from November 4-12, 2017.

We booked this 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Vista back in December 2015. We were recently engaged and had started the wedding planning process, which of course includes the honeymoon! We ONLY had to wait 687 days to get on the ship and experience the magic of the newest ship in the Carnival fleet. We were swayed by the SkyRide and the Red Frog Pub & Brewery, as well as several other awesome features. The itinerary was also AMAZING, and we couldn’t wait to experience 4 brand new-to-us ports, including San Juan, Grand Turk, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts.

Unfortunately, we fast-forward August/September 2017 when multiple hurricanes hit the Eastern Caribbean and sustained unimaginable amounts of damage. The video footage coming out of some of those islands was truly gut-wrenching. We understood the need to change our itinerary, and although it was very upsetting, it wasn’t near the amount of pain that the citizens of the Caribbean islands were experiencing. The night before our wedding, we found out what our new itinerary would be.

The November 4-12^th Vista cruise would officially be stopping in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, and oh boy we were excited! These ports would also be new-to-us and ones that we’ve never really even considered visiting due to time and price constraints, so this was pretty exciting.

Who We Are:

We’re newlyweds! My husband and I got married this October (2017) and were incredibly excited to celebrate our honeymoon on the Vista in November. We are both originally from the Chicago area but are living life out in Iowa (Go Hawkeyes!). We are both in our mid 20s, and this was my 9th cruise and his 5th. I had experienced Carnival as a teenager with my parents, and was so excited to introduce my now-husband to the cruise life starting in 2015. We have taken two Royal Caribbean trips, one Norwegian, and this was our second Carnival cruise together. It’s very safe to say that cruising plays a huge role in our life and we’re always looking for the next adventure.

The Equipment:

Some of the photos were taken on our Sony a5100 mirrorless digital camera, a little gift we bought ourselves since we knew we'd want to properly document our cruising adventures in the future. We also have a YI 4K Action Camera for videos and some of the pictures, including waterproof casing and head and chest mounts to get some awesome footage. The rest of the photos were either taken on an iPhone 7 or a Samsung Galaxy S7. 

This Review:

This review will cover our pre-cruise experience and the cruise and ship itself, including menus, Fun Times, and lots of photos. Of course opinions will be peppered throughout but I think that I’m fair enough that the negative opinions get outweighed by the positive experiences. I don’t want to tell you “how it is,” but only give insight and explanations of the things we encountered, struggled with, and loved. We know vacations are all about what you make them, and the Vista was quite honestly the best cruise either of us have ever been on! That's not to say there aren't some negatives we encountered (which will be covered), but let's all take a second to realize that the room to complain is very small when someone else cooks and cleans for you 8 days in a row. Oh and floating on the ocean while basking in the sun instead of working is a pretty nice benefit too.

UP NEXT: Friday, 11/3/17, Pre-Cruise Travel
LINK: Pre-Cruise Day

LINK: Drink Menus
LINK: Food Menus
Fun Times Links: Saturday and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Friday and Saturday