Carnival Vista Review: Day 12 – Kusadasifeatured

I didn’t think we were going to make it to Turkey this time.

We almost didn’t. Our scheduled stop in Izmir was cancelled for safety concerns due to the political climate weeks before we left for Barcelona. We weren’t entirely heartbroken – we had no plans for Turkey, having done an extensive tour of the ancient ruins of Ephesus the year before, and with only one sea day on our voyage and a brand new ship to explore, a cancelled port in Izmir meant an extra day to enjoy the Vista.

As we were boarding our flight to Barcelona (literally!), we received an email from Carnival announcing we would be making a stop in Turkey after all – Kusadasi instead of Izmir. So while we’d be back to one sea day, I was super excited to return to Kusadasi and explore some of the things we didn’t have the chance to see the year before.

Kusadasi is a fairly modern port, a gateway to a big city. The dock is right at the entrance to town, and there are plenty of options for a day here. There are two big historical sites nearby: the Virgin Mary house and the ancient ruins of Ephesus. Ephesus is breathtaking and magnificent, and if you haven’t been there, it’s a must-see. With that under our belts, we opted to explore the port area and do some shopping at a local bazaar.

It was gray with some bouts of rain when we left the ship, having docked alongside a Celebrity ship. Unlike many of the ports in the Mediterranean, the pier at Kusadasi had tons of shopping both in the terminal and in a mall immediately outside.

Carpet weaving is the local art and there were weavers in the window fronts of many stores we passed on our way to the bazaar. Unlike the year before, though, we were free to browse at our leisure.

The Kusadasi Bazaar was no more than a ten minute walk from the ship, and there are plenty of signs pointing the way. We weren’t sure what to expect – we encountered some pushy vendors on our visit to Kusadasi the year before at Ephesus and again at the carpet weaving school – and we were relieved that we were generally left to ourselves as we explored the bazaar.

Oh, and the shopping? Amongst the best we found on the trip, maybe second to Florence. If you’re looking for textiles or ceramics, Kusadasi is your port. The same bowls we saw the previous day in Rhodes for upwards of €10 were €2 in Kusadasi. We stocked up on ceramic bowls (they make excellent souvenirs for friends!), pashmina scarves and little odds and ends. We marveled at the colorful accents that we’d find in unexpected places and made our way in and out of as many stores as we could.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and creeped closer, and we started our walk back to the ship in the hopes of avoiding the impending rainstorm.

As we approached the secure shopping area that leads to the ship, Stephanie realized she didn’t have her ship card. She couldn’t find it in her purse and wasn’t sure if she dropped it while she was shopping or if she got pickpocketed. It took 15 minutes of searching before she found it in a safety pouch inside her purse (I guess you can be too safe!). Relieved and ready to reembark, we flashed our cards at the security checkpoint and made our way through the mall, picking up some last minute souvvies and ducking into a Starbucks when the skies opened up. A heavy downpour made way for some brilliant sunshine and we hopped back onto the ship before the next round of rain came.

With most of our fellow cruisers ashore, we walked around the ship, taking pictures of the unoccupied decks and making our way up to Sports Square, because with everyone exploring Kusadasi, it was the perfect time to try out the Skyride!

The Skyride is a brand new attraction, the first of its kind on Carnival’s fleet, where you can pedal around the aft of the ship, taking in panoramas of the sea and ports of call. The ride, itself, only takes a couple of minutes to complete the loop, but the lines got lengthy really quickly since only two people can ride at a time. I had about 15 people ahead of me and waited upwards of 45 minutes. They have lockers for small items (you can’t have anything on you when you ride, like your phone or a camera) and you need to wear closed-toe shoes to ride. As my turn to ride came up, the Sports Square staff helped me into a harness and then buckled my harness into the Skyride – there was no turning back now! You can go as fast (or slow) as you want, so while there are a few dips in the ride, it’s definitely on the mild end of wild. And the views can’t be beat, especially if you’re in port!

When the ride was over, Mom and Stephanie were waiting for me at the exit and we headed down to the Lido deck for a quick lunch from the Blue Iguana Cantina. Many of the Lido eateries have outward facing seating (one of my favorite features of the Vista), and we had a beautiful view of Kusadasi as we enjoyed our burrito bowls.

We split up after lunch – Mom went to do some laundry and start her packing. I can’t pack until we’re about to leave, so Stephanie and I went out to the Havana pool to catch some of the sun that hid from us while we were exploring the port.

After an hour in the sun, we were ready to head in and get ready for the Diamond and Platinum Party in the Liquid Lounge. A year or so ago, Carnival changed the party from past guest (where anyone who had sailed before was invited) to just Diamond and Platinum guests, theming the party as a family reunion kind of affair. I can’t say I miss the old parties – there are so many past guests at this point that they were out of control, with lines to enter that started an hour before the doors opened and long waits for drink service. There weren’t many people at the party this time, and the servers were more than willing to bring out custom drinks (read: come at me, Miami Vice). Sushi and small appetizers were handed out by servers making the rounds, and a string trio provided some live music before Matt came out to introduce the senior staff.

After a couple of rounds of fruity umbrella drinks, we took our last round to go and headed out to that secret deck space we’d discovered a few days earlier and watched as we pulled out of Kusadasi.

When our drinks were empty and there was nothing ahead of us but open sea, we headed inside for dinner. It wasn’t formal night, but the menu for the evening was one of the formal night menus.

We had a little time to kill before the headliner show, so we headed back to the room to sit out on the patio and enjoy the sea air and plan out our day in Athens.

The Liquid Lounge was packed for the headliner show this evening, a new Playlist Production show – Amor Cubano. We grabbed some seats and as we were getting settled, I felt it – that tickle in the back of your throat that makes you stop and say “Shit. I better not be getting sick.” Maybe it was too much sea air. Or the changing weather (high winds and rapidly cooling kept the ship rocking as we made our way back to Greece). Whatever it was, while the Vista part of our trip was coming to an end, our vacation wasn’t – we still had nearly a week in Zurich and Paris after our cruise, and I hoped hoped hoped my spring sinus infection wasn’t popping in to say hello while I was overseas. The show started before I could run through my I-watch-a-lot-of-Grey’s-Anatomy-so-I-can-totally-self-diagnose checklist. I thought Amor Cubano was an interesting show – it’s super high energy and they ditch the pre-recorded music for a live band, which is the greatest improvement these productions can make. The cast is smaller than America Rocks and the songs are lesser known, but it was nice to see the improvements Carnival is making as they iterate the production shows.

The Cuban fiesta continued in the Havana Bar, but we headed out to the shops to explore the bag options – predictably, we bought more than we could fit into our suitcases. Our overnight in Athens the following evening meant after this evening, the shops would not open again before we disembarked, so we scoped our options and picked up some last minute souvenirs.

This also meant it was our last chance for some Cherry on Top, so we indulged in one last sundae.

Mockingjay Part 2 was playing upstairs at the Dive In Movies, so Stephanie and I changed into our sweats and headed upstairs. It was very cold and very windy, so I grabbed blankets while Stephanie grabbed us some water glasses so that we could…toast with some Emergen-C. It was pretty clear at this point that something was invading my body to challenge my immune system and Stephanie won’t travel without Emergen-C because she’s convinced it will ward off anything.

We didn’t make it through the entire movie – it was just too cold – so we ducked inside to make some hot tea and finalize our plans for Athens. It was hard to believe our time on the Vista was just about drawing to a close, and that we only had one day and one port left.

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