We took a 5 day cruise out of San Diego on the Carnival Spirit, March 6-11. The sailing had 2 days at sea and 2 days in Cabo San Lucas, not our choice itinerary, but this was what we found that worked with our schedule.

First, the decor on this ship is terrible. They tried to go for "classy" and "classic", but all they ended up doing is a ridiculous collage of mediocre paintings. The ones in the atrium going up on the elevators looked like they were done by middle school art students, and non-talented ones at that. It really ruined the whole effect of the ship. Terrible artwork and themes predominated the ship, the atrium and main dining room being the major eye sores. If this theme had been executed well, it would have looked much classier.

We ate in the main dining room every evening and most breakfasts/lunches. The food on this ship was probably a step below what I've had before on Carnival. I got some really awful cuts of meat the first two nights. Another low point was our dinner mates, as a young couple in our late 20s, we would expect not to be planted at a table with retirees, but that's where we were. Looking around, I saw matchings like this all over the dining room and really wanted to ask if we could possibly put some younger people at the same table. Our table mates were nice enough, just not people we would hang out with. They didn't even get off the boat at the ports, go figure. Lido deck food was so-so, chocolate buffet was delicious. Read more