This was our second cruise with Carnival. We sailed the Carnival Pride last year for our honeymoon and wanted to sail the Carnival Spirit for our anniversary.

Embarkation -- San Diego port was very small. There was another ship in port with the Carnival Spirit that day so the traffic getting into and out of the pier was congested. We parked our car at a Park & Ride lot for $9 per day rate, and got free shuttle service to the pier. Since I had read recommendations from the various boards about arriving to the San Diego port really early or really late to avoid the crowd, we did not drive into San Diego until 1 p.m. and got to the pier around 2 p.m. It took us less than 30 minutes to get on board.

Ship -- The Carnival Spirit was clean and easy to navigate. All the dEcor was nice and not too gaudy. The public rooms were all laid out nicely. The gym facilities were good. I really liked the steam room and the showers in the gym. Read more