Friday, July 22, 2022

Vacation, Vaccination, Vista-Nation- Sea Day #3

Natalie Wins Facebook
Sea Day #3 
Friday, July 8, 2022 


1-2-3-FOUR GOLDEN Ship-on-a-Stick! 

Morning
We woke up really early as we were now headed north and the sun was rising on our side of the ship. The sun was coming in the balcony windows around 5:40AM and beams of sunlight seemed to shine directly on our bed around 6:15AM. We snoozed as much as we could but we eventually got up and got ready for the day. TIP- On our next cruise in a cove balcony, I am going to try and bring Velcro to try and hold the curtain to the wall and avoid sunlight coming in. That is a HUGE plus of an inside cabin... pure darkness! 

We grabbed breakfast on Lido this morning to change it up a bit. I have always LOVED the breakfast at Blue Iguana so that is where we chose to eat with customizable breakfast burritos. TIP- This option is a great way to get breakfast quickly and have a personalized option. The burrito was good but we still prefer the sit down wait service in the MDR. After breakfast we went and got our morning coffee at Java Café and listened to music in the atrium for quite a while before going to the morning trivia in the Liquid Lounge. I did go to guest services to ask about the Vista Trophy that Keegan promised us. The representative knew nothing about it but sent Keegan an email. 

We made our way to the Liquid Lounge for morning trivia and got a front row seat in one of the booths near the stage. The morning trivia was so broad and only had 10 questions, of which we only answered 6 correct. After the morning trivia, we stayed for the Wave Show, which was essentially a morning show that was put on by Kyndall Fire and her FunSquad staff. 

After that was the "Q & Awesome" answer session with Kyndall Fire. This is always a MUST ATTEND event on any cruise and we love getting to find out details about the cruise line or living on a cruise ship. Kyndall's version did not disappoint. Here is some great info we learned: 

  • Kyndall Fire lives in Ft Worth, TX and a graduate of Texas A&M. She has literally only worked for Carnival and got the job straight out of college. She took as class at TAMU and got to come on 2 cruises as a project (Where was this while I was in college). Her boyfriend, Joey, is also a CD; although I cannot find him listed as a CD in Carnival information.  She has one more cruise and then going home until November. She will come back to Mardi Gras for 2 contracts and then hopefully will be the first inaugural female CD and take over the Jubilee out of Galveston. #KyndallforJubilee 

  • About 150-200 people do not get on the ship each week due to a positive Covid test or what Kyndall calls "Traffic in Houston". Honey, we live in Houston and the traffic ain't never THAT bad! But it is interesting to know about 4-5% of passengers get that positive result before boarding. I really hope the cruise industry takes this away soon... It is a WISH! 

  • On Carnival the CD and the Entertainment Director work together to create the best experience for the guests. Some cruise lines, like Norwegian and Princess, only have ONE person doing both of these jobs. That is why Carnival CDs are so much more fun and more noticeably around than other cruise lines. 

  • The Carnival Vista will not go into drydock until 2024. There was an azipod issue in 2019 and they "wet dock" the ship to fix that aspect of the ship but nothing else. There are lots of little issues (like the chair that broke last night on Chris) that need to be fixed. The Carnival Vista will leave Galveston in 2024 and go into drydock before relocating to Florida. 
After this Q&A, Kyndall did the debarkation presentation explaining how to get off the ship the next day. Then she asked us to give around of applause to the staff and several came on stage... Including the CAPTAIN! I never imagined we would see him due to Covid! 


Nice to see you Clauido... (That was a question on the Carnival 50th Triva) 

After this we went to the Ocean Plaza for drinks and Guy's BBQ for lunch. As the week progressed, this lunch option became more well known and there was a line. This place is not a secret anymore. TIP- Try this place out early in the cruise to avoid lines and crowds. We ate lunch and relaxed in Ocean Plaza a bit and then went to our balcony to enjoy watching the ocean sail by. 

Debarkation Information 
Passengers can choose to carry their own luggage off the ship, or they can send their luggage the last night of the cruise and have a more relaxed morning getting off the ship. If you choose to do the "regular/ relaxed debarkation" you have to go to the Lido deck on the last day at NOON and get the ZONE TAGS- Zone 1-30, and that is how you will get off the ship on debarkation day. We snagged zone 16 at 12:45pm. Get there earlier if you want a better zone number.  

Afternoon
We spent about 2 hours on the balcony (in the shade) enjoying the blue waters of the Gulf. We saw what we thought was another cruise ship headed in the opposite direction but we could never figure out if it was a cruise ship or not. We did some very light packing before heading back out to enjoy every last bit of our last day at sea. 

We argued this was a Carnival Ship but without internet I could not even check. 
IT WAS NOT the Breeze... she was in port as we got home on Saturday! 

We went to the Ocean Plaza and checked out the last few trivia's but they were not as interesting so we went up to Deck 12 to walk the track a bit. We only walked 3 laps before getting too hot and going to Deck 11 to chill. We found an open clamshell chair on Deck 11 and sat there for over an hour enjoying the shade and a little view of the wake. 


The aft wake view on the Vista... distorted by the Havana area! 


That's OK... Just tilt your head and you get the view I was longing for! 

We then went back inside and tried to found a place to sit and enjoy a few drinks but everywhere was PACKED. It took 7 days but we felt the other 4,500 other passengers. We finally found a place at alchemy bar...This place was AWESOME. Chris and I were both so upset we found this on the LAST day of the cruise! This will be our first stop on the Breeze! But be forewarned, these drinks are strong! Just two and we were DONE! 


Seriously the best drink on the ship! 


The Alchemy Bar menu... They ALL look good! 


They even offer small appetizer plates! The olives... WOW, so good! 

Evening
We ventured across the ship to Bonsai Sushi to have an afternoon snack around 5pm. This sushi is so good, especially for a cruise ship and we try to get some on every Carnival cruise we take. We got the tempura roll, the California roll and some miso soup. It was all FABULOUS and well worth the small amount extra you will pay. 


Chris's miso soup being poured by the waitress! 


The tempura roll... WOW, it was AWESOME! 

As we were leaving Bonsai Sushi, I saw a friend from a past cruise who I still keep up with on Facebook. She cruises ALL THE TIME and often times with her granddaughter. We recognized each other and then she says "Oh yeah, Natalie is the super star French Horn player." This cruiser does not recognize me (or Chris) from all of our cruise blogs or Cruise Facebook group but instead recognizes my teenager for being such an amazing musician! I may or may not post too much about how awesome my kids are but...when you got it, flaunt it!
Way to go Natalie Grace! You win Facebook! 


That's MY girl... killing it on her French Horn! 

After our sushi we went back to the room to try and do more packing to get off the ship the next day. The more cruises we take, the more we like the checked luggage debarkation option. However, this means we have to pack all of our luggage and leave outside the stateroom by 10:30PM on the last night. This really makes debarkation SO MUCH EASIER... But more on that later! 


I could really stare at this ALL DAY. It is so peaceful and our waters were some of the calmest EVER! Just incredible! 


It's almost over... NOOOO! 

After we got packed and freshened up for the evening, we went to the PG comedy show in the Limelight Lounge. Kirk Smith, the comedian, had the exact same show from a few nights ago. I really wish they would go back to "naming" their shows so we wouldn't have wasted our time. 

We went to back to our room to place our luggage outside the door and then go to dinner. When we got in the room we noticed a trophy and personal note from Kyndall Fire sitting on the table. She must have gotten word we owed a trophy. It was so sweet and personable! BUT... It still didn't have VISTA on the back! We laughed but were so grateful. Then Chris went to the vanity area and there was ANOTHER trophy WITH THE VISTA ON IT and a note from Keegan! WOW... We could not believe how nice and friendly these people were! So we left with 4 Golden Ship-on-a-Sticks... 2 EARNED and 2 GIFTED! Thank you Kyndall and Keegan and Carnival Vista!  


Ship-on-a-Stick #3


Kyndall's note... This was so cool because she technically had NOTHING to do with the trophy Keegan promised Chris for singing the Star Spangled Banner! 


THE TROPHY we needed to complete our collection! 
It has VISTA on it! 


Keegan's note... THANK YOU KEEGAN! We will NEVER FORGET YOU! 


Chris was SO EXCITED AND PROUD! 


The last view from our cove balcony! 
And a "sunset" view no less... This was priceless! 

We placed our bags outside the stateroom and went to dinner! We were a little late (8:20pm for an 8:15PM seating) so the service was noticeably slower. TIP- Always get there on time to help with the whole process! But the food and overall service was still phenomenal! Ricky, John and Jenny will still remain one of our best wait staff teams of any cruise! Thank you all so much! 

After dinner we went to Ocean Plaza to listen to music but I was not feeling 100% as the richness of pasta I ate did not agree with me. We walked around and then we ended the night at Alchemy Bar and actually shut it down shortly after 11PM. TIP- The bars and all venues close at 11PM on the last night of the cruise. Diana, the waitress, was AMAZING. She made a special drink of Sprite, strawberries and limes to help my "tummy ache" as she said. It was really sweet. 

It was a great last day aboard the Carnival Vista and while it may not be our favorite ship, this was still an AMAZING cruise and just what we needed! I cannot believe it is over... But I am ready to get home!

Up Next- Our Debarkation Experience and arrival back in TEXAS!  

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Thursday, July 21, 2022

Vacation, Vaccination, Vista-Nation- Cozumel

 Pier Runners
Cozumel, Mexico 
Thursday, July 7, 2022 

Morning
Our bodies were tired and we woke up much later, shortly after 8AM. As we got up and got ready we heard the announcement that the ship had been all cleared from Mexico customs and we knew everyone would be heading down to the gangway to get off the ship. We checked in on the Hub App for our Port Breakfast and by the time we got to the MDR, our table was ready! This proved to be the BEST change post-pandemic in our opinion. 

This is what we woke up to... The beautiful Allure of the Seas! 


The Carnival Vista was parked in spot #3 from the Puerta Maya terminal. 

Once again Port Breakfast did not disappoint with the variety in the menu and while the service was slower, it is still better than fighting 1K+ people at the Lido Buffet, in our opinion. After breakfast we went back to the Tides Bar and Pool in the aft to enjoy some more pool and hot tub time. There were a few more people but so much better than a day at sea. 


As each day of the cruise passes, I realize I am going to lose having these amazing omelets at home and that makes me so sad! 

We stayed at the Tides Bar and Pool area until about 11AM and then we decided to get off the ship earlier than we planned to explore the port, do some shopping and contact the kids via WiFi. This proved to be a good idea as we didn't need too much time in port and this allowed us to get off and back on before any of the crowds since the Vista was in port from 8AM-4PM. 

Once in Cozumel, we did some shopping at the duty free shops and then found WIFI and contacted the kids as much as we could. We were also able to see the Allure of the Seas parked at the International Terminal, next door to ours. This was a sign as we love to try and guess which ship we will be on next. I am thinking we need to book the Allure for our Spring Break #1 in February 2023! 


Hello Cozumel Puerta Maya terminal! 


The Carnival Horizon (Vista class) parked in spot #2


We will be on her soon... Just don't know how soon! 
The Allure of the Seas comes to Galveston in November 2022 when the Port of Galveston opens up terminal #3 (The Royal Caribbean terminal). That will completely change the Galveston cruising scene! 


There she is... Our beautiful ship and home away from home, the Carnival Vista! 

We were only in port for about an hour before we got back on the ship and went and got lunch on this ship. It was SO VERY HOT and we were just dying!  

Cozumel is becoming our Caribbean home away from home... This will have been our 14 or 15th trip!


I seriously LOVE the marketing the Mexico stores and government have taken here! 
You cannot say we didn't warn you... 


Our actually balcony cabin #2349. This was the BEST location! 

Afternoon
For lunch I tried the Blue Iguana burritos as they have been a favorite of mine in the past and Chris went to, wait for it... Mongolian Wok! After lunch we changed and then got back in the pool one last time as we knew the next day would be packed as we made our way back to Galveston. We stayed in the pool for about 2 more hours before it just became TOO CROWDED for us. We then went back to the room and showered and then took a brief nap before watching sail away form our balcony. 

The sail away proved to be the most entertaining we have seen in a while. I mentioned in previous posts that Carnival will wait for excursions sponsored by Carnival but they will only wait a short time for passengers not with Carnival. The all-aboard time was 3:30PM and around 3PM, Kyndall Fire and her FunSquad crew came out to the pier and had a party and the hoards of people got in line to board the ship. TIP- Kyndall Fire and her crew were just incredible. They were so personable with everyone and SO MUCH FUN! I loved watching it all from our 2nd deck cove balcony! 


Kyndall Fire and the FunSquad having FUN on the pier! 


It's almost time for sailaway! 

At 3:35PM, Kyndall yelled on her portable speaker microphone "You are late. Let's go" and then packed up her stuff and got back on the ship. There was still about 200-300 people in line to get on board. Little did we know that we will were waiting on 30-40 more passengers beyond those 200+ in line. The officers got off the ship and started to walk to the port entrance to tell the Mexican authorities about the missing passengers. All of the sudden a group of about 8 came running down the pier. We thought that was it... NOPE! 


Kyndall and her crew packing up and getting on the ship at 3:30pm! 

That same thing happened about 3 more times. Around 4:05PM we finally heard an officer say there were still 6 more people out there we were waiting on. The workers had already pulled up the gangway and we really wanted to see us push off the dock, when here came yet another group of pier runners. We later learned that about 16 of the 30 we were waiting on were on a CARNIVAL excursion but the rest were just drunk and stupid. Some running with kids in tow as well. C'mon parents... Get back to the ship on time! It was so aggravating but entertaining at the same time!


This was the most entertaining sail away (all aboard) we have ever experienced! I am so glad we got to see it all from our cove balcony! 

The Carnival Vista finally pushed off the dock back towards Texas at 4:21PM. It was a beautiful sail away and I am so very grateful we had the cove balcony to see it all! We showered and got ready for the evening and then went to Red Frog Pub for more wings and sliders. TIP- The other guest we spoke to earlier in the cruise was right... THESE WINGS ARE AWESOME! 


A view of the Puerta Maya and International cruise terminals in Cozumel as we pushed back off the pier. 


The Allure of the Seas
TIP- The Oasis class ships of Royal Caribbean offer the BOARDWALK which has ocean view AND boardwalk (or central park) balcony cabins. These cabins pictured above are wrap around Aqua suite cabins and run about $6K+ per person, per cruise... And that is during OFF SEASON! #GOALS

Allure of the Seas in Cozumel


The sliders from the Red Frog Pub 

After our afternoon snack we went and got a coffee and then did some on board shopping for ourselves and our kiddos before meeting up in the Atrium Bar. We enjoyed the live music in the Atrium before going to the comedy show in the Liquid Lounge. 


Passing by Cancun about an hour after sail away! 

Evening
There was not a main show on this night but the entertainment focused on comedy and there was a large show in the Liquid Lounge. As we arrived we saw our same raised seats in front of the bar open so we sat down. In fact, we sat down right beside one of the comedians. Chris was able to talk to him for about 10 minutes before he left to get ready for his opening show. Chris left to use the restroom and as he came back, he began to sit down in the same wobbly barstool we had sat on all week... AND IT BROKE! He fell backwards and the bar stool broke. The whole auditorium turned around and Kyndall Fire and many other workers came to check on Chris. Within 2 minutes there was a safety officer there to inspect it all and check on Chris. It was WILD. Chris wasn't even embarrassed by it all until he realized every single comedian on the ship was at the bar and watched it all. We ended up moving to a booth nearby for the show but I am sure Chris was a joke (or two) on the following cruise! Like I have said many times before...Never a dull moment with Chris Davis! 

After our excitement in the Liquid Lounge, we made our way to our late seating dinner in the MDR. Once again, our drinks and special requests were waiting for us and before we could even get seated, Ricky was taking our order and his staff was working hard to get us in and out of the MDR. WE LOVED THIS WAIT STAFF... perhaps one of our best ever! 

After dinner we went back to the Liquid Lounge for the adult comedy show with the same 2 comedians. These shows are always hit or miss... You can have a really funny comedian but very vulgar or worse. These two were not vulgar but also just not funny. The comedy shows were definitely a "Miss" for this cruise. Maybe the next set on the Breeze will be better. 

Then we went to the 80s Mega Deck party on the Lido deck with Kyndall Fire. We opted to be in the balcony section on Deck 11 overlooking all the dancing since last time it was a little too crowded for our comfort. This was a GREAT option as we were still able to see it all and sing along but not get too hot, sweaty and crowded. Kyndall Fire, the Cruise Director, and her FunSquad did a GREAT job with this party and had a GREAT time. 


The 80s party view from our Deck 11 standing room. 


Kyndall and her team were SO MUCH FUN! 


Kyndall did the traditional Dirty Dancing production in a slightly different way but we absolutely LOVED it! 

The 80s Deck Party ended with the most epic sing along ever! 

We ended the evening at the Red Frog Pub. The waitstaff here was great and we loved getting to talk to them about their contracts and their families at home. Unfortunately, many of the workers on the cruise ships are having their contracts go well beyond the typical 7 months due to being short staffed. One of the waiters in RFP was in his 10th month on the ship... I do not care who you are, THAT IS TOO LONG! Thank you so much for your service! We shut the bar down around 12:30PM and went back to our room. 

We love Cozumel and even though we didn't go to the beach this time, we loved getting to explore the port and enjoy more time onboard. 

Up next... Our LAST sea day! 

 Thanks again for following along! 

God is Good... ALL THE TIME!  

Click on a link to see our past cruising adventures:
Enchantment of the Seas- February 2020


 



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Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Vacation, Vaccination, Vista-Nation- Belize

IMAX at Sea 
Belize 
Wednesday, July 6, 2022 


Never a dull moment with this one... 

Morning
We woke up bright and early with the sun shining through our balcony and the ship beginning to arrive at Belize. As we got ready for the day, we decided to turn in a bag of laundry (I guess we forgot how to pack in those 28 months since being on a cruise because we both needed an additional set of shorts and underwear... Enter eye roll here). TIP- Carnival charges $15 per bag for GOLD members and 2 FREE BAGS for Platinum members. We will be there Soon... SOON!  

We got up and got ready for the day and checked in for our Port Breakfast in the Main Dining Room. TIP- Remember to check in on the Hub App for breakfast in the MDR. By the time we got to the aft Deck 3, our table (with a view) was ready. We got seated just in time to see the ship get anchored off the coast of Belize. 


What better view than a WAKE view!
This is literally one of the best spots for this view on the Vista class ships! 


The French toast from the PORT breakfast menu!

Belize has such a shallow reef area around it's shore, parking at a pier is impossible so all cruise ships must drop anchor 10 miles off the shore of Belize City and use tender boats to get to the island. Tender boats are somewhat of a pain as you have to get tickets to board the boat and with the new "timed" tickets, it was even more of a hassle. If you have an excursion through Carnival (or any cruise line you are taking), you will get a numbered ticket with that excursion. However, if you are using a third party to book your excursion or you just want to "see the island on your own" then you now must wait until the VERY END of the tender boat process to get on a boat. In fact, the numbered tickets were being used all the way until 10:30AM so if you were going to see Belize on your own, the earliest you could get on a tender boat was 10:30AM. 

We opted to not even go into Belize with this new change as we have been to Belize 5-6 other times and while we love its gorgeous turquoise waters, the hassle was just not worth it to us this time. That, and we wanted to be able to explore and experience as much of the Vista as we could while the ship was rather empty. 

After breakfast we went straight to the Tides Bar and Aft Pool where we spent the rest of the morning enjoying the aft pool to ourselves and the surprisingly HOT spa at the back of the ship. By mid-to-late morning, there were more people in the pool area but for at least an hour we had it all to ourselves. TIP- If you have seen the destination before, staying on the ship at a tender port is such a great idea. Especially if the ship is large with lots to do and a sold out ship. Now that we have cruised so much, we almost always plan a "ship day" on these tender ports. 


Hello Belize... We love you but we will view you from HERE for today! 

Afternoon
We got out of the pool and went to shower and get ready for lunch right before noon. We decided to have Guy's Burgers for lunch and try the new Funderstruck burger. WOW... This thing was MASSIVE and had a crazy amount of flavor. TIP- This burger was introduced fleetwide the week before so be sure to check it out on your next Carnival cruise. I later learned there were also Funderstruck tater-tots available. I will have to try those on the Breeze in September. Guy's Burgers is open DAILY 12-6PM and is a great lunch option on Port Days as you can go out and come back and still get a burger at 4 or 5PM.  Chris also went to Mongolian Wok for a later lunch as well. 

The Funderstruck burger... Debut on June 28, 2022 fleetwide! 
TRY THIS... Trust me! It is EPIC! 


And this thing is seriously MASSIVE! 

After lunch we went to the Atrium Bar to listen to music and play cards while we enjoyed our drink package. There were not many activities planned so we ventured to the IMAX theater on Deck 6-7 to see if there were a lot of kids for the afternoon showing of Jurassic Park. At the time we arrived there were only 16 tickets sold so we decided to see the new Jurassic Park movie. I was really upset as Top Gun: Maverick was supposed to be playing but we missed it by one week. The Jurassic Park movie was REALLY good and we both enjoyed it. 


This was the IMAX theater about 10 minutes prior to the movie starting! 
TIP- I would recommend seeing an IMAX movie on a port day! 


Time for some dinosaurs!

Once the movie was over we went to the Red Frog Pub to say hello to our favorite waiter as we waited for sail away. The last tender boat was supposed to leave Belize at 5:30PM and we were supposed to set sail for Cozumel at 6PM but as 6PM rolled around we realized we were waiting on a Carnival excursion. TIP- Carnival will hold the ship for passengers who are with a Carnival sponsored excursion but if you are with a third party or on your own, the cruise lines will usually only wait 10-15 minutes as each minute they wait, the cruise line loses $10K+ (info we got at a Question and Answer session in 2018). 

Evening
We went to the balcony to watch sail away and the Carnival Vista finally pulled up the anchor and started sailing right after 6:30PM. We got ready for Formal Night and then went and got in line for America Rocks, another one of the Carnival Playlist shows and the main entertainment for this evening. TIP- The Carnival Vista has the 2nd Formal Night on Night #5 instead of the typical night #6 when sailing on the Belize itinerary. A FunSquad worker mentioned doing this since so many people drink so much in Mexico, which made me a laugh a bit because it is so true.  

Goodbye Belize... Until Next time! 


Sail away from the balcony is MY FAVORITE! 

Formal Night for us... This is about as formal as it gets these days! 

The America Rocks show was FABULOUS and once again, we got the BEST seats in the house at the raised seats just in front of the bar, despite the wobbly chairs. We were able to talk to Steff, the production manager about life as a cast member. These performers are cast as dancers then promote to dancer-singer and then to singer-dancer. Beyond that, they can become a production manager or work stateside in Miami. This was fascinating to me as some people can dance but not sing and visa-versa. The America Rocks show was the first show with the new Playlist cast and it was neat to see the old cast sit and actually watch the show. If you love Rock and Roll... DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW! I could have sat and listened to another hour of two of singing and dancing! 


A view from our perched seats at the back of the bottom floor in the Liquid Lounge. 


Kyndall Fire, our Cruise Director, was PHENOMENAL! 
#KyndallforJubilee


Go to this show... You will LOVE IT! 

After the show we went to our late seating dinner in the Reflections Dining Room and once again Ricky and his staff took great care of us and even had our wine and other special requests waiting when we arrived. Mario and Mariana, the maitre'd duo, stopped by and checked on us again and were the best hosts ever. We were in and out of the MDR within an hour and the food was phenomenal. 


And in case you were wondering... YES, Carnival still does the singing and dancing at dinner. BUT they have improved the efficiency SO MUCH! We almost always had our desserts when they are started dancing!
Way to go Carnival! 

Do you Love or Hate it? 

After dinner we made our way to Deck 4 for the adult comedy show. This new comedian was a lot better than before and not too vulgar for an adults' show. We caught a few more of his shows throughout the cruise. We ended the night at the Piano Bar with some GREAT music and entertainment. We called it a night shortly after midnight. 


And our clean laundry was waiting for us when we got back to our cabin. 
TIP- Fill the bags to the brim... We only paid for 1 bag ($15). 

It was a great relaxing day aboard the Carnival Vista and we were even able to see an IMAX at sea! 

Up Next... Cozumel, Mexico! 

Thanks again for following along! 

God is Good... ALL THE TIME!  

Click on a link to see our past cruising adventures:
Enchantment of the Seas- February 2020


 


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