Perhaps our expectations were too high with only one cruise last year on Princess for comparison, but I have to admit the Spirit drained our spirits for cruising. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about cruising; being at sea, ports of call, new people and everything else that encompasses the experience. However, being on the Spirit was similar to being just a little off strip in Las Vegas, it tried to play with the big guys, but didn't quite get there.

Flew into San Diego on Thanksgiving Day, booked our own flights for less than Carnival was charging, and stayed at the Sheraton Marina Resort. We booked the room ourselves online because the Carnival block of rooms was sold out. It was pricey, but still less than Carnival wanted and there were plenty of rooms available.

About to land in San Diego when I looked out the window and realized that we weren't landing. Sure enough we gained altitude and proceeded to "go around." The pilot came on and said that a rain cell had moved in and they couldn't see the runway, so they aborted the landing. Fair enough, better safe than sorry. Found it kind of amusing coming from Portland, Oregon where it rains all the time and planes land all the time, to San Diego where it rains once and the plane aborts. Oh well. Then he proceeds to tell us there is not enough fuel to land at San Diego so we need to fly up to Los Angeles and get some more gas! Again, the logic escapes me, but I'm not in the cockpit and trust those that are. Still trying to get my frequent flyer miles for the SAN- LAX - SAN segment on Alaska airlines that was unplanned. Landed safely 2 hours later, that's why we went down a day early. Read more