We went on a 5 night Sydney to Tasmania cruise with myself, my partner and our 3 year old son. This is the first cruise I have done. Although it was a okay experience overall, there are a few reasons why I would not cruise like this again (or at least not in the immediate future).

1. Our 3 year old was not really accommodated for. Carnival Spirit has excellent facilities for teens and older children, but not really anything for under 5s. Our son refused to attend Camp Ocean as they did not let parents in and he was scared as he didn't know anyone there. This is normal for his age and other parents on the cruise had similar issues. However, outside of this, there was nothing else much for him to do. Although there was an outdoor water park that he loved the first day, it was closed much of the cruise and too cold the other part. There were no designated play areas that we could attend as a family and no play equipment. The other passengers and staff were excellent though and he was treated very well by everyone on board - but no facilities on the ship were for him. Even a small local shopping center will usually have a designated play area for children with some play equipment or toys.

2. The on-board charges were excessive and were not transparent (the prices of extras were not available on the website that I could see prior to boarding). Another review from Dec 2015 also complained about this and said that beers were $7.50. Not true for us - it was $8.25 per beer. Wine was also expensive (around $9 per glass). Cocktails were reasonably priced, however there was not much alcohol in them and some were also 'pre-mixed'. A box of chocolates that the RRP is $13 for were selling for $29 on board. The day spa was also $$$ with 'bargains' being offered at $170 for a 75 min treatment package (in the real world, our university-trained professionally qualified masseuse charges $125 for a 90min massage). You also need to pay for 'real' coffee, $3.75 (again too expensive) and this was also bad quality and tasted weak. It would up being very expensive for us taking all these extra charges into consideration. Read more