We had the pleasure of being on the 2nd official sailing of the brand new Carnival Vista, which had travelled the same path in reverse the week prior. With it being a new ship, it had a few kinks to work out, but overall we had an incredible experience.
We were told that boarding began at noon, however we decided to arrive a little early to make sure we were all checked-in and set to go. This ended up working in our favor as there were virtually no lines to check in and they opened up the gates at 11 am. We were able to get on, get lunch, and enjoy the atmosphere before most of the other passengers were on the ship.
We had our first meal onboard at what would become our favorite food spot on the cruise, a big, juicy burger from Guy’s Burger Joint. This was a quick-service stand where you could order various kinds of burgers (plain hamburgers, cheeseburgers, bacon cheeseburgers, and more) and each burger came with a big stack of fries (and you could always ask for more or less). There was also a toppings bar with onions, more bacon, hot peppers, and many kinds of delicious sauces.The best part is that this was one of the included dining options with the cruise. Not something that we expected, but we ended up eating here a lot throughout the trip.
After lunch we explored the ship and waited for our bags to be delivered to our room. We then relaxed by the pool at the back of the ship as we watched the ship set sail for the sea.
As with every cruise, there is the super fun and fantastic muster drill (note: sarcasm). While not usually the most exciting part of the cruise, safety is important and this is something that you are not allowed to miss. This is where you learn where to go and what to do if there is an emergency on board. Thankfully, the crew made this as short and painless as possible.
On all of our previous cruises we had chosen a pre-selected time for dinner in the dining room each night. This time we decided to try the Any Time Dining option. This allows you to eat dinner at any time that the dining room is open, from 5:30-9:30 each night. We really enjoyed having the flexibility of being able to eat when we were ready. This also gave us the chance to have different wait staff, different views of the dining room and of the sea, and also different guests around us. I will most likely be choosing this option from now on. There were nights when we wanted to eat early and there were nights where we didn’t get back on the ship until around 7, so this gave us the flexibility of being able to enjoy the ports more instead of wanting to get back for our specific time to eat. There is always the option of eating on the Lido Deck, but we preferred having the experience of the dining room most nights.
One of our other favorite on board experiences were the nightly comedy shows. All of the comedians that we saw were fantastic and has us laughing throughout the cruise. There were typically 2 PG shows and 2 adult only shows each night. We tried to see as many as we could and we enjoyed the PG shows just as much as the adult ones.
After dinner and comedy we were off to bed for the night to get ready for our first stop the next day: Kusadasi, Turkey.
It's a Magical Life 