A short four-night on my 44th cruise stopping in Avalon and Ensenada. Food was typical Carnival with the same variety and taste any prior cruiser on this line would expect. Pizza counter was only "cook to order" (they use to pre-make them) which presented some long waits if there was a line-up.

The stage production shows were two of the best I have ever seen- and I have seen a lot of them. Each almost one hour in length presented a full cast (I counted 17 performers), with the live band, chorography, and classic special effects that the newer Carnival ships should have adopted. The newer Carnival Ships are lacking the quality of the older ships showroom quality and length. The best was the Beatles tribute show. The only disappointment was how cold the theatre was. We actually had to move to the slightly warmer balcony for viewing.

The layout of the Spirit class ship clearly gives me a feeling of a ship larger then its ships of similar size. My biggest pet-peeve is this cruise line still allows balcony smoking which renders the balcony useless if you can't handle a balcony smoker in the vicinity of yours. Thank goodness most cruise lines I take don't allow this anymore. The Ensenada port day and night offered nothing to do on the ship except the main theatre game shows which was too cold to attend. Read more