Carnival Spirit Review

15 days of a Circus

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Carnival Spirit
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roseandjohn
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jan 2012
Cabin: Extended Balcony

This was the most disorganized cruise we have ever been on. This was our 6th cruise and definitely the most disorganized. It seems you don't care (Carnival) you have our money. This was our first Carnival cruise and it was more like a Circus than a Carnival cruise, it was not ready to disembark.

Let me begin: Departure what a joke! 4-5 hrs to get on the boat while we watched the Holland America passengers walk right on to their ship. We had no explanation just it will be just a little bit longer and when we did get on board, we watched from our balcony them loading luggage and provisions that sat on the dock all day on to the ship until 11pm. The 1st time cruisers lost the excitement and fun of leaving the harbor because it was so late, they will never get this back, thank you Carnival! Like I said no info why we were departing so late other than the ship was previously at dry dock. Next, the water slide. What a joke! I hope you know how many children and families you disappointed. Stu the cruise director telling us everyday, maybe tomorrow and then we had to watch them film promotion for the slide, the only mock that it worked for the Australian's. Stu even told us they had to cover all the construction stuff, paint and bare steel laying around the deck for the filming advertisement. We weren't even aloud to get up on that area of the ship due to all the stuff unfinished. Then there was getting on and off the ship at each Port, again what a joke have you never done this before? 2 hours to get back on at Hilo and we weren't waiting till the last minute. Tender day was even worse, we spent 2 hours waiting in the sun for the last departure at 4:15pm and we were the last boat and it was 6pm. Then there was the shore excursions. The cruise line recommends you go through them to guarantee getting back on the ship but they were not what we expected. Volcano park, we only got 1/2 hour view time and had to miss the second stop due to construction. So we rode 1 1/2 hour each way for 30 minutes of viewing, thank god our buss driver was very informative of the area. North shore and Pearl harbor, another joke. Excursion didn't mention North shore was a drive by, thank god we stopped at Dole Factory to go shopping. Maui, it was whale watching time but no excursions through the ship were offered. We elected to go on our own and was the best trip of all. We had to hurry back of course so we could do the Luau but the ship should offer that type of tour since it is the same area that we had to go back to the ship, get on the bus for the Luau and go back to were we just came from. The food was fine but disappointed shrimp cocktail and escargot is only offered on the nights they were listed and you couldn't get them on other nights. They are available nightly in the Steak House. Steak House is Superb for an additional $30.00 per person.Overall food was ok to good but not much of a selection. Then their was the washer/dryers that didn't work. We went to guest services and they told me to try deck 1 & 4 but we waited over 2 hours. When we went back, guest services said they were not accepting anymore complaints on the matter. Not able to wait I was forced to used the laundry available for $15.00 per small bag through the Cruise. Shows overall most were good, hey something was right. 2 entertainers made our experience, Guy and Doug. Drink prices are out of control, $7.06 for a beer, price gauging, I think!

The balcony is our favorite on a Cruise and Carnival decides to pressure was on our way back so we cant even have access to it from 9am - 1pm but everything was soaked up to 3pm. This should of been done at a port of call when everyone is off the ship.Disembarking was a joke. We had our luggage taken to a bus but we were in line as directed by Carnival personnel. My sister in law went to check where the porter put it and it was being placed on a bus and none of us were with it. Thank god we were able to pull off before that would of been unclaimed. Thank god we are off, this was the first time I wanted to go back to work.

Cabin Review

Extended Balcony

Cabin 8J

Great Balcony over life boats, that was comforting.

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