Sailing towards our first port of call, Half Moon Cay, Day 2 onboard this six-day Bahamas cruise on Carnival Vista was spent at sea. As with any sea day, the theme is “relaxation.” Despite a schedule of activities throughout the day for kids and adults, most choose to spend the day at the pool, laying in the sun, or just chilling and taking advantage of the drink package.
As mentioned in the Day 1 report, this cruise is a bit different. The Carnival Vista is currently sailing under the power of just one azipod, which is reducing her top speed. When she returns to Port Canaveral on Sunday, a team from the azipod’s manufacturer, ABB, and Carnival’s own technical team will begin repair work. The work will be conducted in Port Canaveral, eliminating the need for the ship to head to the nearest shipyard, which is located in Freeport, Bahamas.
This particular cruise was originally supposed to visit Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove but had its itinerary changed to Half Moon Cay, Nassau, and Freeport. The following 8-day cruise on September 7, 2024, has been canceled in order for these repairs to take place.
So what about the crew? Well, it’s not going to be a week off for them. While there won’t be any guests onboard, the crew will be busy doing some deep cleaning, sprucing up, and working on other projects to keep the Vista looking great.
Speaking of looks, the 8-year-old Carnival Vista appears to have been maintained well. There are a few areas that need painting, such as the floor at the main pool used for dance parties, and there is a noticeably missing games table, as shown below, that is just roped off with stanchions but still poses a trip-and-fall risk. Then there is some carpet in areas that is in need of replacement, but overall, the ship looks good.
One of the most popular areas on a sea day for adults is the Serenity Deck. This 18+ area is designed to be a “haven” of sorts for those who want to get away from the families with kids and just have a chill day enjoying some, well… serenity!
The area, located on the top deck of the ship, overlooks the bow and features clamshell loungers, plenty of deck chairs, community seating, its own bar, and, at lunchtime, a salad bar where you can build something healthy if a Guy’s burger isn’t your thing.
While the Serenity Deck is usually packed on sea days, it wasn’t that bad today. Many people, when notified about this cruise’s itinerary change, opted not to sail, so there was a last-minute push to fill up the ship. While this cruise isn’t at its capacity of 3,934 passengers, it’s not too far from it, making it slightly less crowded than it normally would be if this were a full sailing.
Let’s talk about staffing for a moment. There have been several “WTF” moments for me on this cruise when it comes to getting service. In a moment, I’m going to talk about my experience at dinner, which is just one of them. While some venues seem to have adequate staffing, others seem woefully understaffed.
Alchemy Bar seems to be the most critically understaffed watering hole on the ship. Granted, Alchemy is the most popular cocktail bar on all the Carnival ships and usually has about a dozen or so bar seats and some tables or community seating away from the bar. The bartenders take care of those seated at the bar, while cocktail servers/bartenders take care of those seated elsewhere. Having one of those people service the same, if not more, seats away from the bar, while two bartenders tend to a dozen guests, just doesn’t make sense. Nobody wants to wait 15+ minutes for a drink, no matter how good it is.
On the other hand, slower bars, such as a pool bar in the early evening, have multiple bartenders but just the occasional walk-up guest to grab a beer.
Walking through the buffet last evening at the deli station, which was the only station open after dinner service but before the start of the late-night munchies, the line of people waiting for a sandwich was incredibly long, and the crew member looked completely and utterly stressed.
On the plus side, there are always crew walking around cleaning.
On to the evening. To kick things off, there was the Meet the Captain and Senior Officers Meet and Greet in the atrium. One would think that there would actually be some type of introduction of the officers by the cruise director or… someone. There wasn’t. They simply stood around, talking with guests, while the captain stood at the ship backdrop for photos. I did have the opportunity to talk with the Hotel Director and share in some of the pain the past few weeks have had on the crew, especially guest services, regarding the challenges with Vista.
In the main theater, the production show of the night was called Studio VIP, a so-called harkening back to the days of the legendary Studio 54 in New York City. I went to the 7:30 pm show and couldn’t make it through the first ten minutes.
Now, no offense to the performers who obviously live and breathe their productions and work hard at it day in and day out, but this was nothing more than a horrible high school musical with canned music, bad vocals, and an absolute disaster of a storyline.
It’s unfortunate that talented performers have to perform horribly written and produced shows.
There were also two comedians doing three sets, movies under the stars outside, and movies in the IMAX theater on the schedule.
When it came to dinner, I had a reservation for Fahrenheit 555, the ship’s steakhouse. Dining in the steakhouse will set you back $49 per person, and it includes two starters, your main course, and dessert.
But what about sides? Well… the menu no longer has sides. So if you wanted to pair your New York Strip with some onion rings or mac and cheese, too bad. You’re now down to what comes with the entrée you ordered. When I asked my server, “What happened to the sides?” he rolled his eyes and said, “They changed the menu.”
I arrived at 8 pm and was taken to a table right away where my server came over and took my drink order—a “bespoke” gin and tonic where you choose your gin, tonic, and accompaniments.
After looking over the menu, the “compliments of the chef” item—a mini cheeseburger—arrived with some bread.
I started out with the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and the Tuna Tartare. The shrimp weren’t what I would call anything near “jumbo,” but both they and the tuna, with its nice presentation, were good.
It’s now 8:30 pm, and I’m still waiting for that bespoke gin and tonic. When someone came to clear my appetizer plates away, I asked her if she could check on my drink.
My server came over, apologized, and said my drink is coming.
At 8:38 pm, it finally arrived, followed a few minutes later by my main course. Now let’s be realistic. You’re having dinner in what is considered the ship’s top restaurant; there is no way it should take anyone 30+ minutes to make a very simple gin and tonic. Considering the restaurant was not busy at all, adds insult to the injury.
For my main course, I went with the 18 oz Spice Rubbed Ribeye, which was supposed to come with buttered broccoli and mashed potatoes. I wanted to see just how easy or hard it would be to swap out some sides from other entrees, so I asked to have the broccoli replaced with mushrooms and the mashed potatoes replaced with skillet potatoes.
My server struggled to find a way on his mobile order-taking device to swap out different sides and eventually said, “I will just tell them what you want.”
Here’s the crazy part. This is a steakhouse. A steakhouse where you cannot even get a baked potato! I’m not quite sure what the goal was here with this switch, but every steakhouse in the country you go to allows you to choose sides and at least has the steakhouse staple—a baked potato—available.
Except here. Obviously, this change was made by someone in finance who spends too much time concentrating way too hard on spreadsheets, instead of someone with a food and beverage background.
The steak was very well-seasoned and flavorful, but the potatoes were nothing other than the same that are served on the breakfast buffet.
When it came time for dessert, I went with the Apple Tarte, which was served with vanilla ice cream.
Overall, on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being best, tonight’s dinner got a 3.5. Points were deducted for waiting 38 minutes for a simple cocktail, and points were removed for eliminating the side dishes from the menu.
After dinner, I did some walking around before heading off to bed. We are scheduled to arrive at Half Moon Cay with the first guests ashore at 7:45 am. More tomorrow, and as always, thanks for following along!
Fun Times for Day 2:
The Fun Times for September 2, 2024 can also be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.