Carnival Vista Review Day 8 Galveston Debark

Carnival Vista 2019 7-Day Caribbean Cruise Review
Day 8 (Debarkation)     May 25, 2019 Debarkation - Galveston, Texas
Scheduled Arrival: 8:00AM
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Last Morning Walk Around The Carnival Vista:
My alarm was set for 4:30am, but I woke up earlier so I went ahead and got up. After getting dressed, I packed my remaining clothes and tolietries in the suitcase. My packing was officially done and I was able to zip up my suitcase. One of the reasons why I got up early was because I wanted to enjoy one last morning walk around the ship. The last morning and last breakfast of the cruise are usually hectic, but one last time walking around the ship is something I try to always do on the last morning of the cruise. I left my stateroom around 4:50am and began my going to the Deck 3 atrium area. The ship's lobby was empty, but crowd control barriers were in place for the debarkation process that would be taking place in a few hours.

Deck 3 Atrium LED Centerpiece

Deck 3 Atrium Lobby - Getting Setup For Debark Process

Deck 3 Atrium Lobby - Tucked Away Seats Around The Atrium

After looking around Deck 3's atrium area, I went up to Deck 4. I ran into a few crew members cleaning the ship while on Deck 4, but otherwise I did not see any other guests out.

Atrium Lobby - Deck 3

Deck 4 - Atrium Area

View From Deck 4 Of The Atrium

My last time on Deck 4 began with me taking a look inside the Liquid Lounge. Some of the top lights of the Liquid Lounge were on, which made taking pictures a little easier.

Liquid Lounge - Deck 3

After leaving the Liquid Lounge I headed towards the back of Deck 4. I walked through the ship's casino and noticed several crew members were doing a deep cleaning of the casino. The floor, carpet, and bar area were being cleaned. I did not take any pictures of the casino because pictures are not allowed (per signage). After walking through the casino, I stopped in the SkyBox Sports Bar, but I am not including any of those pictures on here because I featured the SkyBox Sports Bar several times earlier in the cruise review. I continued walking and entered the Limelight Lounge. The Limelight Lounge was dark, but a crew member saw me taking pictures and asked me if I wanted the lights on. She turned the lights on for me and that allowed me to get better pictures of the Limelight Lounge. This why Carnival is so great - the crew members are willing to do something as simple as turning the lights on for a guest. Thank you to this crew member. Unfortunately, I did not get to see her name to include it in the survey.

Limelight Lounge

When I reached the very back of Deck 4 I went into the Horizons Dining Room. The dining room was setup for breakfast on the Deck 3 level. I did a quick walk through the dining room on Deck 4 and went down some stairs to the Deck 3 level of the Horizons Dining Room.

Horizons Dining Room

After walking around the Deck 3 level of the Horizons Dining Room I headed up to Deck 5. My first stop on Deck 5 was the Havana Bar. The back area did not have signage indicating Havana wristbands were required. I guess since the Havana Pool was closed for duration of the cruise, the crew members weren't enforcing the wristbands for the final hours of the cruise.

Havana Bar

I walked through the Ocean Plaza after leaving the Havana Bar and began walking towards the front of Deck 5. Along the way I was able to get a last look at the Ocean Plaza, Shake Spot, Java Blue Cafe, and Your-Time Dining Check-In area. One thing I didn't realize before my cruise was the Java Blue Cafe and Shake Spot share a counter. I used to think these are separate venues on the ship, but they share a counter.

Deck 5 Promenade Walkway - Side View Of JavaBlue/Shake Spot Counter

YourTime Dining Check-In Counter

4 FunHub Computers For Internet Access

The Pixels Photo Gallery was still closed for the morning, but it would be open for a few hours on the last morning. This allows guests to make last minute photo purchases. All of the photos are on digital screens, which means the days of looking through paper pictures are over for Carnival Vista's cruisers. When someone's picture is taken the photographer will ask for a stateroom number. Guests can search for their photos on the screens using a stateroom number or in some cases a Sail & Sign folio number.

Pixels Photo Gallery

Deck 5 Promenade

While on the Promenade Deck, I stopped in the Library Bar. Here are a few pictures of the Library Bar:

Library Bar

Across from the Library Bar is the Piano Bar 88 lounge. Typically, this lounge was dark and had terrible photo opportunities. However, the lounge was open and had lights on so I walked in. The next two pictures are of Piano Bar 88.

Piano Bar 88

Promenade Deck (5)

Last Walk Around The Carnival Vista's Outside Decks:
After walking around Deck 5, I headed up to the ship's outside decks. I began on Deck 11 and ended up going to Deck 12. My camera lenses were foggy at first, but quickly unfogged. The area around the main Lido pool area was filled with light, but the ship's SeaSide Theater was off. There were a few people outside, but we mainly saw crew members cleaning the outside decks.

Looking Down At the Main Pool Area

Looking Towards The Ship's WaterWorks

Lido Deck Main Pool

Ship's Funnel

Mini Golf Course

While I was on Deck 12 in the SportsSquare area, I decided to walk up to Deck 14 to see the SkyRide entrance station. A sign was posted by the entrance saying the ride was closed for the remainder of the cruise due to unexpected repairs. I do not know if the SkyRide opened for the next cruise.

Sign Indicating SkyRide Is Closed Due To Maintenance

Ropes Course Entrance On Deck 14

Mini Golf Course - Looking Out From Deck 14

Almost all of the ship's amenities are closed on the last day of the cruise. This includes the pools and WaterWorks. Out of all the ships I have sailed on, the Carnival Vista's WaterWorks is the largest and had the most features. During my walk around Deck 12, I saw the WaterWorks area being cleaned.

WaterWorks Area Outside On Deck 12

WaterWorks

Basketball Court

Tides AFT Pool (Deck 10)

Tables Near The AFT Pool/Pizzeria Area

Tides Aft Pool

We walked through the Lido Marketplace about 30 minutes prior to breakfast being served and found an empty buffet. A few crew members were out, but I think we only saw 1 guest at this early hour of the morning. The continental breakfast pastries and fruit items were already being served, but the main breakfast buffet lines still had about 30 minutes until they opened. The juice, coffee, and hot chocolate machines were open (they are 24 hours).

Lido Marketplace

Lido Main Pool

When we first began walking around the ship, I had stepped outside and tried to determine how far from Galveston we were. At that time, Galveston was just a small spec in the distance. However, we were now extremely close to Galveston and about to be nearing Galveston's Harbor.

Lido Main Pool Area & SeaSide Theater

Lido Main Pool Area

Lido Main Pool Area - Booths Outside

View Of Galveston As We Entered The Harbor

Galveston

Ferries Docked At Galveston

Tugboat - View As We Approached Galveston

Galveston

Tides Bar

Last Breakfast On The Carnival Vista:
Unfortunately, since the cruise was nearly over this meant we had only one breakfast (and meal) left on the Carnival Vista. The last breakfast on the cruise is always a sad occasion because that means tomorrow's breakfast will not be as good. The Carnival Vista's Lido Marketplace was open from 6:00am until 9:30am. This included the main buffet lines as well as the Continental breakfast option. The Blue Iguana Cantina was opening at 7:00am and would be open until 9:00am. For cruisers that did not want to eat in the buffet, the Horizons Dining Room was serving breakfast from 6:30am until 8:30am. The Horizons Dining Room was serving the port of call day breakfast menu, according to the Carnival Hub App. In addition to these options, the Ocean Plaza was serving a continental breakfast from 6:30am to 8:30am.

Here are my pictures of the continental breakfast buffet line located in the Lido Marketplace:

Carnival Vista Continental Breakfast Buffet Line

Lido Marketplace Continental Breakfast Buffet Line

Below you will find my pictures of the Lido Marketplace's main buffet lines. One thing I should note is Carnival is moving away from the individual cardboard cereal boxes in order to comply with environmental & food waste sanctions placed on the company in a recent court case. Future cruises will likely no longer be serving the individual cardboard cereal boxes.

Lido Marketplace Main Breakfast Buffet Line

My Plate Of Breakfast Food

My Plate of Fruit

Watching Our Galveston Arrival:
Due to eating breakfast as the ship arrived in Galveston, I missed the ship turning around. After eating breakfast I went out to the back of the Lido Deck (10) to see our arrival. Since the ship had turned around, we were sailing in backwards. The Carnival Vista was scheduled to dock at Cruise Terminal #1 and the Carnival Freedom would be docking at Cruise Terminal #2. The Carnival Freedom arrived after we were already docked.

View From The Ship's Back As We Arrived

After spending a few minutes watching the Carnival Vista sail backwards in order to dock, I headed to the front of Deck 10. At this point, we were very close to docking and the ropes were about to be secured. I was able to see the Carnival Freedom in the distance turning around.

Galveston

Carnival Freedom Turning Around

Carnival Vista Front Area As Carnival Vista Arrived In Galveston

View From The Ship's Front Deck 9 Area

Ship's Front & View Of Galveston

Pier & Gangway As We Were Nearly Docked

Pelican Island

View Of The Harbor From My Cove Balcony

Barge Sailing By - View From Cove Balcony

Deck Chairs On My Cove Balcony

Disembarking The Carnival Vista:
Around 7:35am, the ship was cleared to start the disembarkation process. VIFP Diamond guests were allowed to go first and had a separate waiting area from the Platinum guests. VIFP Platinum guests were instructed to meet in the Reflections Dining Room (mid-ship) in order to get off. Following these guests was Faster to the Fun. After these guests, self assist disembarkation by deck began. For a cruiser to get off as self assist, he or she must carry off all luggage and bags. All self assist guests would be allowed off before the general disembarkation guests. The general disembarkation (checked luggage) guests would be ones that put luggage outside their door. These people would be allowed to disembark after the self assist guests because the pier workers needed time to unload all of the luggage.
Since we were Platinum, we met in the Reflections Dining Room in order to get off with the other Platinum self-assist guests. The crew members assigned to work this area had everyone put their suitcase in a line and then told people to sit down instead of standing by their suitcase. This was a very organized process because people could have their suitcase hold a place in line, while being able to relax in a chair during the wait. People followed directions (for the most part) and this was a very nice process. Great job to the Carnival Vista crew members on having an organized debarkation.
After the Diamond self-assist guests were off, the Platinum self-assist guests were able to get off. When we left the Reflections Dining Room in line, we walked through the Deck 3 level of the atrium and were then in line to get our cards scanned by security. After getting our Sail & Sign Cards scanned we exited the ship and went down the gangway. The line for customs was long, but I don't think we were in line more than 15 minutes. I have seen worse so I'm not complaining! When were up at the counter, the process only took a few minutes with the agent. Essentially, the customs agent looked at our passports and asked a few questions. We did not have to fill out a customs declaration form again this year.

Atrium LED - Earth Scene

View Of Carnival Vista's Back From The Gangway

View Of The Carnival Vista's Front From The Gangway

After the customs checkpoint, we were directed to the TABC table. Since we did not purchase or bring alcohol off the ship, we did not have to stop to pay taxes at the TABC checkpoint. After passing up the TABC checkpoint, we were out the doors of the cruise terminal. Cruise terminal employees were standing outside directing people to shuttles or passenger pickup. Since we did a Park & Walk special we walked to EZ Cruise Parking and came back by the cruise terminal to pickup some members of our family that were waiting for the luggage. Once we were done with this we left the cruise terminal area and began heading back home.

View Of The Carnival Vista From Harborside Drive

Front Area Of The Ship - View From Cruise Terminal Road

Overall, this cruise on the Carnival Vista was great and I enjoyed every aspect of the cruise! I would definitely cruise again on the Carnival Vista in a heartbeat. The food, service, and ship were all great! I hope this cruise review has been interesting and informative. Please feel free to write to RyG's Cruise Guide on Facebook (click here for our Facebook) if you have any questions, comments, or want to know something about Carnival or the Carnival Vista. Thank you for reading my cruise review of the Carnival Vista and thank you for checking out my personal cruise blog.

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