Re: Carnival Spirit (long, sorry!)
We are also on the Spirit sailing northbound July 28. We are a family of four (kids are 11 and 13, we're 50 and 46) and booked within weeks of sailing the Pride to Mexico this March. I don't know what "bad rap" Carnival has, I can tell you that the Pride cruise, even though during spring break, was wonderful. The Spirit is identical in lay-out to the Pride.
The Pride was our first cruise as a family, I'd cruised years and years before on other ships which are now scrap. On the Pride there was a wide spectrum of passengers, the ship was big enough to absorb them all even though full ( there were times in the evening and early morning when we were on the outside decks by ourselves), the food was abundant, available at all hours and very good, the service was also very good from the cabin steward to the food servers and waiters, and the cabins were very comfortable and very quiet. Occasionally we heard people in the adjoining balconies, but with the doors closed there was no noise at all. We had category 8f interconnecting cabins. The ship was also very very clean. There were also activities during the day which could be joined or avoided easily, most in the large lounge. We would buy drinks at an open bar before dinner each nite then take them to one of the specialty bars that hadn't officially opened yet. We then had the room to ourselves. They left all of the public rooms open even if they weren't staffed and it was fun to nose around in them by ourselves. We showed up late for the early seating dinner several times, and were served no problem. We avoided formal nites and had dinner at the Lido deck buffet, which was practically empty on those nights but the food was still very good. And the views were better. Juice, coffee, lemonade punch and iced tea are always free at the Lido buffet which is open all the time (for pizza, calzone, etc.) so we never paid for soft drinks. Room service was also prompt and (mostly) accurate. Staff was circulating constantly and picking up plates from the tables and any trash as soon as it was dropped. The purser was very helpful. The kids liked the food, arcade, public rooms, and deck areas. No complaints from them either. We didn't spend as much time on our balconies as we thought we would. We liked the light and air from the balcony, We didn't use the balconies as much as we did other areas of the ship for viewing or gazing out to sea. The interconnecting rooms made it seem like a mini-suite, and we didn' t have to leave the room to check on the kids. We also had them open the balcony divider, so our balcony space doubled. We all seemed anxious everyday to get up and out of our cabins in the morning and cruise around the ship. In port, we had the shore excursions. So although we liked having the balconies, we didn't spend a lot of time on them.
Security was evident, we saw uniformed officers and security staff strolling the decks at all hours, and they were very friendly and willing to chat. They were also very efficient during the shore excursion disembark-embark process.
No guarantee that the upcoming Spirit cruise will be as great as the Pride, since anything can happen, but overall we were very impressed and satisfied with Carnival, and I'm the first to complain (loudly) if something is drastically wrong.
We booked on the Spirit because of our excellent experience on the Pride and with Carnival in general. We have two category 7A cabins obstructed view on the Spirit, but also interconnecting because that's important to us. We also got a good deal by booking with Carnival directly, about $100 off any other price I've found on the internet per person for being "past guests".
A couple of tips you might want to consider, for what it's worth:
1. Re: booking specific cabins: I would definitely do that if you need to be near your kids. If you go guarantee, it may be cheaper, but you also may be on different decks or at different ends of the ship. I would even try for interconnecting rooms (not many left, but more may open up after the final payment date and it's easy to change with a phone call). Carnival seemed to have more connecting cabins than Princess, or at least they were easier to spot on the deck plans. Nice to have two bathrooms easily accessible too.
2. Fill out the fun pass on line and if they have "early check-in", make sure you do that. Embarkation on the Pride was late because the ship had to stop and offload a passenger having a medical emergency. We waited on the grass overlooking the Long Beach Harbor with a few other folks, while most eager passengers lined up on the pavement in the hot sun. (Probably the same people we'd see anxiously lining up outside the dining room for dinner and lunch each day, go figure!) When the line finally started to move for boarding, they opened about 6 doors into the terminal (the line was stretched out in front of one door, herd mentality I guess) and we just walked up and in with our sail and sign cards and passports in hand. No waiting on line. Even if we had waited on line, and were last to board, we had assigned cabins and the ship wasn't going to leave without us. Again, I'm mystified as to why people chose to stand in line when they don't have to.
3. Carry all of your luggage on board if you can. We each had a backpack and small wheeled suitcase that fit through the x-ray machines. Didn't have to wait in the long line to check it or for our luggage to be delivered to the cabin after we sailed, and didn't have to wait to claim it after we docked on the last day. Much easier than checking luggage. And, the laundry facilities were near our cabins so we did a couple of loads without any trouble at all.
4. Don't buy soft drink cards (or soft drinks) unless you really need them. Like I said, the Lido buffet has free drinks (lemonade, punch, coffee, decaf, tea, orange, apple, and grapefruit juice and water) and that was fine by us. We'd stop there and pick up a drink (and food) then wander around the ship with our cups.
5. Book shore excursions through your TV as soon as you get to your cabin if you know what you want. We booked the dolphin swim right away, and it then sold out by the next morning when I checked out of curiosity. Tickets are delivered to your cabin within a few hours of booking the excursion, and you don't have to stand on line at the shore excursion desk. Again, why would anyone do that if you can book through your TV? Make sure you book shore excursions using the cabin TV where the main credit card holder is assigned. We got a notice that we didn't have any credit when I used the TV in the kids cabin to book one, since their name wasn't on the credit card. That meant a trip to the pursers desk but it was straightened out quick.
6. Get passports. I think they really helped the boarding process.
7. Don't bother with breakfast or lunch in the main dining room, use the Lido deck buffet or room service. We went to lunch once in the dining room, it was noisy, crowded, slow, and the menu was limited. You also don't have your assigned dinner table. In fact, we left before the food came and went to the Lido buffet where they had burgers, dogs, exotic cuisine (east indian, oriental, ribs, salads, pizza, etc. ) Way more variety and much quicker. We couldn't understand why people were so anxious to get into the main dining room for lunch! Again, they waited outside the doors clammering to get in....For breakfast we'd order coffee, bagels, and juice from room service then after a while wander up to the buffet where they cooked eggs and omelets to order. We did have dinner in the dining room most nites (except formal nites) because it was fun, the waiters danced and sang (so did we, even though we're pretty shy) and the menu was different than the buffet. We came a little late to dinner each night to avoid the crowd anxiously waiting for the doors to open (we showed up between 6 and 6:30 for the early seating). Again, I couldn't understand how people could have been so anxious or hungry that they had to line up for dinner, what with so much food available all of the time....If you're really starving before dinner, you can always get something light at the buffet or through room service. Otherwise if you come 15 minutes late they'll still serve you anything you want at your assigned table, they're not going to kick you out or refuse to serve you.....One night we showed up at 7:00p for the early seating, which technically started at 5:45, and the Maitre D told our waiter (who looked a little stressed) to give us anything we wanted. The Maitre D got a nice tip at the end of the cruise.
8. We took (and used) hand sanitizer as a precaution. Got those little individual bottles at wal-mart. I made the kids use it before each meal, and while on shore. No one got sick, and I usually do when I go to Mexico. The rich desserts did bother me, but I didn't stop eating them, just took Pepto bismol....It was fun to see how many different kinds of cheesecake they came up with.
9. We didn't eat at the extra charge supper club, and don't intend to on Spirit. The other food was just too good and we didn't feel like spending 2-3 hours eating dinner. We did explore the club and watched people eat there from the deck outside...
So we share your excitement, and can't wait to go on the Spirit. Have fun!
