The Ship Post #5

I'll post just a few more photos outlining some interesting things on the Carnival Vista.

Carnival is known for its towel animals.  On a sea day, you can expect to see towel animals overtaking the pool deck in the morning.  Normally the animals would take up space on the loungers, but the rain foiled their plan.

One night we visited the piano bar, featuring Ben.  Ben encourages audience participation with sing-alongs, hats, wigs and other accoutrements to add to the fun.

The ship has an Imax and Thrill theater and we checked out both.  The Thrill theater was lame.  We saw a 15-minute short film called A Beautiful Planet and I expected the seats to move around.  They didn't move, though there were a few surprises meant to make the audience feel they were in the movie itself.  The Imax theater was much better and we visited it several times.

Finally, Carnival now has something new with their Pixels photo gallery.  Whenever our photo was taken, the photographer would ask our room number.  Pixels had touch screens throughout the area and by logging in we could look at all our photos and decide if we wanted to purchase any.  The only drawback is if the photographer doesn't type in your room number correctly.  I think this couple might be looking for their photos.

Up next, the actual cruise. Off we go!

The Ship Post #4

Now I'll move from food to other parts of the ship.  The atrium is a little different from other Carnival ships.  It covers only a few floors, has no glass elevators, and has an LCD funnel with interesting video which changes each day.

Stringed group playing Christmas music.  It was nice!

We really love the pool on the Lido deck.  This ship has the Dive In Movies, which our locally based ship does not.  We love, love, love movies under the stars with accompanying popcorn and a blanket.  We had rain one night, but that didn't stop us!

We tend to start our day on the Lido deck at the buffet, called the Marketplace on this ship.  Breakfast and coffee and Kindles lead into a lot of sitting and staring out the window on sea days.

In the photo below, notice the umbrellas over the tables.  This ship had many cute touches that made it quite different from most ships we've been on in the past.

There was music all over the ship.  Carnival started taking away the live bands and replacing them with DJs.  That might work on a short booze cruise, but not on longer cruises with an older crowd.

The ship not only had a hellacious water slide, it also had something called a Sky Ride.  I should have taken a ride, but didn't.  Grant did, though.

I tried to remove the above photo, or at least move to the other lido deck foodie photos, but the website I'm using won't allow me to do such a thing.  Sometimes I love technology, sometimes I hate it.

The Ship Post #3

Down from the Pig and Anchor was one of our favorite places to park it and read. This area remained open and clear of crowds for most of the cruise, which I appreciated.  I know we have a balcony, but I also enjoy watching people walk by.  People watching is one of my favorite activities on a ship.

Another of my favorite places to eat was the Pizzeria del Capitano. It's free and open 24 hours.  The Quattro Formagi (I know I'm not spelling that right.  It's a four cheese pizza with a white garlic sauce) was probably my favorite pizza.  I tried to stay away from it, I really did.

This is located in the back of the ship at the aft pool.  The Seafood Shack is on the opposite side of the ship from the pizza place, but it's not free and has things like fish sticks, fried shrimp and chowder.

We both liked the area, the view and spent plenty of time back there.

Aft pool just near the pizza place.

This nice lady is sitting at our table. Humph.

This is the view from our pizza table.

Note the line.  I had to time my visit right.

There are so many places to eat and snack on this ship.  I didn't weigh myself when I got home.  I didn't want to. :-\

Ice cream and frozen yogurt open 24 hours a day.

Breakfast at the main dining room.  I ordered the Froot Loops French toast. I was surprised at how good this was.

Typical room service lunch.  BLT and chips.

There's a chocolate extravaganza on the last sea day.  The lines for this are insane and the desserts mediocre at best.  This is what I stood in line 30 minutes for.

Most mornings a nice young lady would wheel by breakfast baked things.  This was a cinnamon brioche that was really very good.

Cherry on Top is the candy/ice cream store (for a fee).  Grant and I both tried the ice cream.  We agreed it wasn't all that great or worth the extra cost.

The Ship Post #2

The Vista is a new ship, coming out just this year, and has a few things on it not offered on other ships.  Here's the library, also known as the Wine Bar.  You can get pours of wine just by swiping your room key.  Who knew?  We really enjoyed this area, that is until the other 4200 cruisers discovered it and suddenly it was crowded and a little noisy.  If you pass through the library to the outside, there were very nice loungers for enjoying a book and the sea.  Sadly, those were discovered, too, soon into the cruise and hard to get.

Carnival now brews its own beer on the ship, if you can believe it.  This is the Red Frog Pug and Grant took a tour of the brewery, enjoying several of the beers made on board. The tap the bartender used to pour those beers came directly from the vats used to brew the beer. Talk about fresh!

We really enjoyed the pub for both the outside tables (barely seen here) and the live music that played inside nightly.

The Taste Bar (closed in this photo) opens in the evenings and serves single appetizers that are featured in the ship's pay restaurants.  I have a sneaking hunch this works in increasing reservations.  Below that picture is a photo of the coffee place, JavaBlue Cafe.  Buy six, get one free!  I loved the Americano coffee and Grant the frapuccinos.  There were pastries and desserts for sale and I might have tried one or two.  I should have done that earlier in the cruise because by the time I bought something sweet I was tired of the constant eating one does on a cruise.

Next we have the Alchemy Bar, which those who like to imbibe seem to enjoy.  Apparently, there are many strange concoctions to try with daily specials.  Martinis seem to be prevalent.  The photo following is of the Bonsai Sushi restaurant, which we never tried because 1) it costs, and 2) sushi is nasty!

The Pig and Anchor is another Guy Fieri offering on the ship.  I really liked this restaurant.  It's free and only open for a short time on sea days, so you had to get there early.  There was tri tip, sausages, pulled pork, and chicken.  I had the pork.  Sides included corn on the cob, bean, slaw and greens. After loading up your plate, around the corner were tables with different sauces to add to your dishes.  I especially loved the honey barbecue sauce.