Carnival Vista Review: Inside the Havana Cabana Cabin & Pool Deckfeatured

One of the most exciting new features of the Carnival Vista is the addition of a new class of cabins – the Havana Staterooms, particularly the Havana Cabanas.

The Havana Staterooms, located primarily on deck 5, but also along decks 6 and 7, are similar to their counterpart Interior, Oceanview, Balcony and Suite counterparts size-wise, but have a fun, Cuban-themed décor, additional amenities (like their own brand of bath products) and most notably, exclusive access to the Havana Pool and Deck until 5:30 pm every day.

Deck 5 is where most of the action is, with the Havana cabins flanking the hallways that run parallel to the Havana Bar. This is also where you’ll find the new class of cabin, the Havana Cabana.

Havana Cabana cabins are a new breed of cabin, with standard oceanview/balcony accommodations and a patio, larger than a standard balcony, with less privacy and a slightly more obscured view of the water.

As with anything new, Havana Cabana cabins are difficult to come by on most bookable Vista sailings. When we were scoping cabins for our Mediterranean cruise, the Cabana cabins were booked up and just as we were about to pull the trigger on a standard balcony cabin, a Cabana cabin for three popped up and we wasted no time whipping out a credit card and putting a deposit down. New class of cabin *and* a new ship? My excitement levels were through the roof.

The Cabin

Our home for our ten day voyage was cabin 5228, which was towards the aft of the ship right in the middle of a row of cabana cabins. These particular cabins are located right next to the Havana Bar, which features live Cuban music every night. Noise was a concern, but thankfully, nothing we had an issue with throughout our cruise.

The accommodations felt familiar, with a similar layout to the Oceanview and Balcony staterooms we’ve sailed in numerous times across our Carnival cruises. Two twin beds, a couch, a table, a desk and some closets, all standard, with some fun Cuban accents theming the décor to the room.

A flat screen television was mounted to the wall across from the beds, featuring on-demand movies (both complimentary and for a fee – a nice change of pace from the daily rotating movies), digital Fun Times and access to your onboard account. Unfortunately, the functionality to order room service or view the dining menus through the television wasn’t built into this system as it had been on some of Carnival’s more recent builds.

The closets were updated, with an additional set of drawers that we were thankful for with ten days of clothes to unpack across the three of us. A set of three drawers were below three shelves and a safe in one closet, another had two hanging rods (and plenty of hangers) and a shelf, and a third just a single hanging rod.

The bathroom was also typical of Carnival staterooms, but instead of the small bowl of samples and soaps, there was a set of toiletries branded for the Havana cabins. The standard shampoo and body wash dispensers were in the shower, as well.

The Cabana Patio

The most unique feature of our cabin was the patio that sat just outside of it. Situated on the aft section of deck 5, the Havana Cabana and Suite staterooms share a neighborhood, of sorts, of semi private patios.

Each patio, regardless of cabin type, was appointed the same way with a full wicker lounger, a wicker chair and ottoman, a small table and a hammock swing. While we missed the full, unobstructed ocean views, being able to all sit around comfortably more than made up for it. And the views of the water (and ports) wasn’t all that obstructed, anyways. We had the best of both worlds.

It all sounds great, right? And for the most part, it is. But there was one design flaw that kind of bugged us — instead of a hinge door to the cabin, the Havana patios have a sliding door. And this is great. It means if you want the door to stay open, if you want some fresh air in your cabin or to sneak out while others are sleeping without slamming doors, it’s easy and quiet. The flaw is that when the beds in the cabin are separated, the bed closest to the door is right next to the sliding door – less than a foot in between – and you kind of need to maneuver yourself against the curtains (or scooch across the bed) to get in and out of the patio.

That said, if given the choice between a standard balcony and a Havana Cabana, we’d choose the Havana Cabana any day. Are they as private as a standard balcony? No – anyone walking by has full view of your patio (though there is some privacy on the lounger and swing by the shutters that divide each patio if you’re looking out to the sides). But they’re such a unique experience and incredibly spacious. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people (we enjoyed chatting with our neighbors as we sat out before dinner every night) and on sea days, there’s no better way to catch some sun than from your very own lounger on your own patio. Oh, and did I mention they pipe in the live music from the Havana Bar at night? You won’t hear it inside your room – they’ve insulated the room from sound really well – but if you want to sit out at night, enjoy the cool sea air and listen to some live tunes? There’s no better way.

Safety

Before the Vista set sail, there were a lot of questions about the safety of these cabins. While the Havana pool area is only open to Havana stateroom guests during the day, at 5:30 pm, it opens to everyone, and if you can access the pool, it’s not difficult to access the cabins.

When we first entered our cabin, there was a letter welcoming us and describing our Havana perks. Along with the letter were wristbands (the indicator that we were Havana guests, and they did check at the pool – any time we were at the Havana pool during the day, security was constantly making the rounds and removing anyone who didn’t have a Havana wristband on) and magnetic key cards. The key cards not only open the doors to the Havana patio area from the Lanai, but more importantly, it opens the door to your cabin from your patio. Those sliding doors automatically lock behind you (unless you rig them not to, which isn’t difficult but takes some intention), and there is a card pad outside the door that you need to use your card to unlock the door. This means that when you’re in your cabin, even if someone randomly decides to enter your patio (which never happened on our cruise, but the possibility exists with the guest space opening up in the evening), they cannot enter your cabin from the outside.

The Havana Pool

As comfortable as the staterooms are and as awesome as the patios are (because that swing chair is pretty sweet!), the best part of our Havana Cabana was the exclusive access it granted us to the Havana Pool.

There are only two ways to enter this area: from the patio deck (which you’ll need one of those magnetized keycards to enter) or from the Havana Bar. Those brown rubber wristbands left in our room meant we had an entire outdoor oasis at our disposal until 5:30 pm every day (port days and sea days). A large pool, two full size whirlpools, loungers, sunbeds, the whole nine.

It was like our own mini Serenity deck. Our itinerary was port intensive (eight ports in ten days), so our time to enjoy the pool was limited to a sea day (well, a sea day and a half – we didn’t do an excursion in Kusadasi), after we returned from port and in the evenings, but it was nice to have that space to relax and read or grab some sun, or even swim without getting splashed by a group of kids having a cannonball contest.

In a Nutshell

Havana Staterooms are currently exclusive to the Carnival Vista, but given the opportunity to book a Havana Cabana again, we wouldn’t hesitate to whip out a credit card. Not only are the rooms comfortable and well-appointed, the patios put a unique spin on balcony cruising and the exclusive access to the Havana pool is the best perk offered across any cabin type.