The food just keeps getting better on Carnival Cruise Line. The latest example? The high-quality dining venues on Carnival Vista, which launched in May.
And while technology steals the innovation spotlight on the Vista, the ship’s newest food and drink offerings have been a huge hit for the foodies and drink aficionados looking for new experiences onboard.
Here are our picks of 10 of the best dining spots and attractions on Carnival Vista.
Seafood Shack
Fresh catches have always been a daily specialty in Carnival’s dining rooms, but seafood has a permanent home on Vista in the form of a New England seaside shanty. New England clam chowder, Lobster BLTs and lobster rolls are the featured dishes at this additional-charge eatery.
The fish and chips is the value play and each lightly fried filet we ate during the cruise tasted fresher than the last, reminiscent of the Nova Scotia chefs who catch haddock on their docks and instantly prepare it. The lobster roll and lobster BLT are excellent as well. While a bit pricey, the portions and preparation make the price tag worth it. You’ll get more lobster per dollar spent here than you do in Maine.
Pro tip: Vista hotel director Pierre Camilleri suggests ordering the fresh catches that chefs pick up at ports throughout the cruise. You pay market price for the local delicacies, but can order the dish at the Seafood Shack earlier in the day to enjoy in the Reflections or Horizons dining room for dinner.
Havana Bar
While not a new concept, the Cuban-themed Havana Bar got a stylish upgrade fitting of the modern color schemes evident shipwide on the Vista. What at times felt like a hidden-away afterthought on Carnival Breeze feels like a point of pride here. A steady menu of music, daily snack treat surprises and outdoor seating have made this a nighttime hotspot for young and old. And each of the booths has a domino rack smartly worked into the design, adding to the authentic feel by providing ample space to take part in the country’s unofficial national pastime.
Al fresco dining
The Havana Bar isn’t the only one to have open-air seating. Carnival Vista was designed to give diners and revelers both indoor and outdoor seating options. Enjoy the great outdoors with al fresco seating at Bonsai Sushi, Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse, The Library Bar, RedFrog Pub and Ocean Plaza.
The Clubhouse
While a bar in the Sportsquare area is not a new concept for Carnival, Vista has reimagined the space. The Cloubhouse bar is now inside this newly conceived space, with an outdoor ordering window still available. The bar is flanked by new gaming experiences and old favorites, with sky billiards (a combination of pool and soccer pictured above) on the right side of the space and Ping-Pong and a two-lane mini bowling alley (a first for the fleet and similar to what families have seen at Great Wolf Lodge) on the left side.
The Library Bar
The library space has been the ugly duckling for most cruise lines over the past decade. Here, Carnival has created the typical reading space with a bar area to freshen up the concept.
While it creates more of a hipster hangout feel, we would suggest going all in on the space and also sell pastries and cookies in the bar to give it the full-on Starbucks vibe. Still, good to still have the quiet space for reading or playing games.
The biggest miss: no extra outlets to plug in laptops anywhere in the bar area. Again, if you want to create a true quiet hangout space, do it up right. Each table should have a slew of plugs going up the base.
Dreamscape
Those who have been to the Cowfish Café in Universal’s Citywalk in Orlando will recognize this new feature. In the atrium bar area and the mezzanine area, you’ll find this electronic installation, full of digital jellyfish swimming up the brightly lit centerpiece.
Old favorites
Guy’s Burger Joint is once again centerstage on the Lido deck and more popular and delicious than ever. Carnival is expanding its relationship with Fieri by creating a branded barbecue space on the ship in the near future (Guy's Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que, a feature already available on Carnival Magic).
While the EA branding is gone, The Skybox offers a similar sports bar experience with a bank of connected TVs that eat up the backdrop wall and XBox gaming stations available when live sporting events aren’t featured in the bar.
The atrium bar and the casino bar are still on Carnival Vista but have more clearly defined, circularly cordoned main seating areas. And the popular Cucina del Capitano is now offering a free lunch bar while the popular Mongolian Wok serving station has been repositioned as the lunch offering at the Pacific Rim-themed JiJi Asian Kitchen.
Beer bonanza
While the first-ever brewery aboard a cruise ship in North America is impressive to witness, the beer coming from the brewery is quite impressive. Miami's Concrete Beach Brewery was chosen as the onboard partner for the Vista and the result is three unique brews: ThirstyFrog Port Hoppin' IPA, a hop-heavy taste with hints of passion fruit and citrus; ThirstyFrog Caribbean Wheat, an unfiltered lager; and FriskyFrog Java Stout, a creamy dark beer with an infusion of coffee flavor. These join the ThirstyFrog Red, a winner already used on many ships in the Carnival fleet that is on par with a Blue Moon or comparable offering. Always cold and goes down smooth with plenty of flavor and minimal kick.
Shake Spot
Soft-serve ice cream is available 24 hours a day on the Lido deck, but the deck 5 marvel Shake Spot features milkshakes and floats for an additional fee. This dairy delight was retrofitted into the Carnival Sunshine, but the Vista is the first to feature a built-in space for brain freeze heaven.
Improved room service (for a price)
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There is still a menu of delicious free items available for cabin delivery 24 hours, but aboard the Vista, there is an additional page of nine new offerings, priced between $1.50 and $6. Chicken wings tossed in five flavor options, chicken tenders, spicy fried shrimp, chicken quesadillas, Philly cheesesteak, pan pizza, regular and sweet potato fries and a banana split are now available for delivery for a fee. We sampled many of the offerings, and found each dish to be worth the additional charge. While we don’t welcome the end of all-inclusive dining making its way to the room service menu, it’s at least an affordable upcharge that feels premium.
— From Cruiseable news services
