Carnival Spirit Review

wonderful time

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Carnival Spirit
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toowoombatourist
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Feb 2011

My husband & I decided to do a Mexican cruise as an add on to our trip to Las Vegas for our son's wedding in February. We were originally booked on the Splendour but were changed at the last minute due to that ships much publicised problems.This cruise gave us an extra couple of days plus an extra two ports, so we were excited to get started.Our cruise departed Friday 11th February and returned to San Diego on Sunday 20th February 2011.We had pre-arranged the pick-up from San Diego airport with Carnival, and this ran very smoothly even though our flight from Las Vegas landed a little late. The bus ride to the cruise terminal was quick and we even had a short, informative sightseeing commentary from the driver!This also meant that our luggage was automatically checked in for us...an added bonus! The actual embarkation was quick & painless too, with only a 30 minute or so wait before we were processed.Our first impressions of the Spirit was that the decor was definitely different from ships we had sailed on in Australia or New Zealand. It had a much darker feel and a lot of mixed themes throughout the ship but the Atrium was certainly impressive. After a little exploring, we found our cabin and we were pleasantly surprised. This was the first time we had booked a balcony cabin & it was the perfect cruise, weather wise, to have one! The cabin itself had plenty of storage space, and the seating area was handy. The bathroom had lots of shelf space too so you could actually unpack the bits & pieces you need. The cabin staff introduced themselves & explained the procedures. All the crew we came in contact with were courteous, helpful & hard-working and always had a smile on their faces!We ate all our dinners in the formal restaurant. We were seated at a table for four but we never had any dinner companions!! This was slightly disappointing as part of the fun of cruising is meeting new friends ( we had been used to tables with ten diners on other cruises we'd been on )The waiters went out of their way with magic tricks and extra chat to make us feel welcome. A nice touch that this ship did, was that after each dinner session, the wait staff sang or danced for the guests. The food was always delicious & our only complaint would have been for a few more choices on the menu. We ate breakfast in the buffet & lunch either on the lido deck or in the buffet. It was never too difficult finding a table and the quality & selection were very good.The entertainment offered on this ship was probably the best we had had on any cruise. Not only the on board entertainers who were exceptionally slick & professional, but also the hypnotist, magician, comedy acts etc....definitely something for everyone! Our only surprise was how few people actually took advantage of these shows....getting a seat, even at the last minute was never a problem.There was a wide variety of other activities during both the day & evening. Things like karaoke or trivia often overlapped with set meal sittings, so this was sometimes a nuisance but you could always find an alternative.This ship seemed to have an obssession with photo opportunities...not just available on formal nights & arrival in ports! Photographers were everywhere , every night ...not too pushy but by the end of the cruise it became a little tedious trying to politely avoid them! None the less, we purchased our fair share, so I guess they did their job well!!We had never been to Mexico before, so we decided to book our shore tours through Carnival. We actually found these tours to be quite affordable compared to ones we had booked through other cruise lines. All of the tours turned out to be roughly what we had expected after attending the shore tour talk. In Puerto Vallarta we did the city & jungle tour, in Mazatlan the city tour which included the cliff divers,in La Paz the artisans tour, in Cabo the whale watching tour and in Ensenada the blowhole tour. Our favourite would have been the whales...perfect weather in a perfect spot & lots of sightings!! We also did the behind-the-scenes tour on board the ship.This tour wasn't cheap but was a well worth the expense. We had never seen a tour like this offered before...engine control room, galley, crew areas, food & beverage storage areas, the bridge and meet & greet with the captain & head chef, plus some little gifts & photos...definitely a morning to remember!Disembarkation , even with the non-citizen portion, was the smoothest we'd ever experienced. We were off the ship, with all our luggage by about 9am & the holiday was only another wonderful memory!!

Cabin Review

Cabin 8G

Ample cupboard space, good bathroom shelving and great balcony. Nice quiet area close to elevators to dining room.

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