SF Cfan

Spirit was terrific on the sail from Miami to Seattle through the Panama Canal this past April. The combination of a lot of public space and a low passenger to crew ratio really makes for an an overall wonderful experience. The décor is whimsical to bizarre, which is part of the overall charm. This is now my favorite ship class on Carnival in front of the Dream class ships, which are also nice.

Royal -- they offer straws with drinks. Biodegradable ones! Why can't Carnival give me a straw? Why do I have to pack my own or get all sticky with their candy straws?? Score One for Royal! Spirit had weird, but usable melting straws on our cruise in April, not to be confused with chocolate melting cake. My wife and I had fairly close Royal and Carnival sailings too, Vision OTS in December, Southern Caribbean and then Spirit in April, Panama Canal. Thanks for putting your observations down is such objective detail. We experienced a much more noticeable difference at dinner time. Vision's output in the MDR was poor. The MDR on Spirit was much better, really good I would say. I think it just shows that there are ship to ship variances. Others over on the RCL board have commented on the less than stellar food aboard Vision.

Too late to edit. Meant to say Quantum Class not Oasis Class.

You are not kidding. The Oasis class ships, like Ovation OTS can make it under the Lion's Gate Bridge, but only at low tide with the funnel lowered. It is a lot of fun to be up on deck for that occasion however.

Thank you for posting this detailed review. We sailed on Vision in December of 2022 and had the same lack-luster experiences in the MDR. The buffet choices were underwhelming and limited as well for breakfast and lunch. The cruise itself was fine with a terrific 10 day Southern Caribbean itinerary. Getting off and back on the ship in port was a non-issue given its relatively small size. My wife and I chalked the poor food up to an inexperienced crew. Having read you review I'm rethinking that idea. My take is if Vision is sailing on a itinerary that really stands-out as desirable then it is fine as ones transportation and hotel. Otherwise I would look to a newer more feature rich ship as a better option.

I agree with the feedback that damiross provided. Your tickets will tell you where to meet. Everything else is speculation even if it is experienced based. The tickets will also have your meet-up time. That means your husband will know how much time he has to take pics and eat breakfast. Looking at your itinerary you are docked in all 3 ports. San Francisco and San Diego both have interesting long sail-ins including the sail under the Golden Gate Bridge in SF. If your husband doesn't want to get up really early to take pics of Emerald sailing under the bridge on arrival he will have the same opportunity on sail out the next day. San Francisco and more surprisingly San Diego may include some June gloom weather while you are there. Bring windbreakers or a sweater just in case. No rain, but it could be cool and breezy near the water. Enjoy your cruise! Sat, Jun 17Saturday, June 17th 2023 Los Angeles, CaliforniaView excursions in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, June 17th 2023 04:00 pm Sun, Jun 18Sunday, June 18th 2023 At SeaView onboard experiencefor Sunday, June 18th 2023 Mon, Jun 19Monday, June 19th 2023 San Francisco, CaliforniaView excursions in San Francisco, California on Monday, June 19th 2023 08:00 am Tue, Jun 20Tuesday, June 20th 2023 San Francisco, CaliforniaView excursions in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, June 20th 2023 05:00 pm Wed, Jun 21Wednesday, June 21st 2023 At SeaView onboard experiencefor Wednesday, June 21st 2023 Thu, Jun 22Thursday, June 22nd 2023 San Diego, CaliforniaView excursions in San Diego, California on Thursday, June 22nd 2023 08:00 am 10:00 pm Fri, Jun 23Friday, June 23rd 2023 Ensenada, MexicoView excursions in Ensenada, Mexico on Friday, June 23rd 2023 08:00 am 05:00 pm

I was able to connect via my company's VPN last month on Spirit. It was very slow. I only used it when I needed to get into applications that required the VPN sign-on. This was via the premium internet package. I considered this a minor win because my experience on Royal Caribbean and Princess last year was that the VPN was not usable.

Our Day 1 Dinner, early seating does not show on our Itinerary Calendar for an upcoming cruise with a 5 pm sailing either. This is probably just an omission.

My son and I had a 2 hour window back in May of 2018 with a change of terminal going from Air France to Iceland Air. We barely made it with no missteps along the way.

Same here. We called in Panama this past December on RCL. No passports or other document checks getting on or off of the ship.

This is a great checklist. We sailed on Vision of the Seas this past December. It was a terrific 11 day Southern Caribbean itinerary. All 6 ports were first time for us including Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and ABC. No complaints about the vacation and we knew going in that the Vision is an older ship. Our cabin and the ship were fine. However... ...the quality and selection in the Lido (Windjammer) buffet was poor for both breakfast and dinner. I would rank the casual dining free food options as better on Carnival. This would include the Lido, Pizza, Burgers, Mexican, Sandwich Deli, and stir-fry (for ships that have this). As others have shared differences can come down to which ship you are on. Cheers to all of the posters on this thread for keeping it real.

On our Southern Carib cruise this past Dec on Vision we were late seating for dinner. Some evenings our main show was before dinner instead of after. Don't know if this is common across other itineraries.

My wife and I are two more instant fans of Princess due to our first cruise on Royal Princess last Sep/Oct. We are looking forward to our next cruise on Carnival but will book on Princess in the future as much as the budget allows.

To be really safe I would look at the exact day of the week and the date of the disembarkation. While it is not likely that your return coincides with an event like Fleet Week it's better to know up front that you need to allow an extra 30 minutes to get out of the City than when you are sitting in slow traffic. I think if you are on your way by 8:30 that would cover most moderate delays. The closer you can get to 8:00 the better chance you would mitigate any traffic jams.

My wife and I just sailed Royal Princess, 12 day Mexico out of SF beginning of this past October. The buffet, especially the baked goods were really good on Princess. Just off Vision of the Seas, 11 day Southern Caribbean. The buffet was poor. It's been several years since we cruised on Carnival. It will be interesting to see how it compares when we cruise on Spirit next April. Overall we would always choose Princess moving forward if the cruise fare was close to other choices such as RCL or Carnival. The food, service, elegance of the ship, activities, and shows are all differentiators for us (two 60+ers). Otherwise we go for itinerary and price. We're happy to be on a Carnival or Royal Caribbean ship too.

I would select the 11 night Barcelona to Athens. Three things in particular come to mind. The Barcelona cruise port is in Barcelona. Whether you are flying in day of or days ahead of departure it's easier getting from the hotel or hotels to the cruise port in Barcelona versus Civitavecchia. As nice as the Odyssey OTS is you'll have fewer fellow passengers in the tender queues and on shore on the two Greek Isle stops. Packing and unpacking is not the end of the world. However, the 2 cruise option still requires going through an extra debarkation and check-in with potential wait hours regardless of your status with Royal.

I just looked at my time stamp from my GG Bridge sail under video. It was at 54 minutes after the hour. about 50 minutes after casting off.

I don't know if it's a fair representation (meaning typical) to post pics from a 2015 Journey's cruise. The food in the MDR was really special including the Ahi Tuna pictured. I can't remember if this was a starter or a main, not that it makes too much difference. It was delicious as were the desserts.

Deck 1, deluxe ocean view - the extra shower is a really nice feature. I would take the extra space and extra shower/sink combination over the Lido inside.

Great observation. We were able to drop off our hand carries at 10:30 a.m. on our recent Royal Princess sailing. Our room steward was extremely polite and shared that we were welcome to watch the safety video before heading out.

I was just about to post something similar. I'll add that the Pacific Ocean water temperature is cold a fair way down Baja. Your two at sea days in February may not be ideal sit by the pool with a drink reading a book type weather. Cabo itself will be delightful.

Jam, thanks for taking the time to post menus, pictures and comments on the food. It is appreciated. We are booked on the Spirit next year.

Sorry for the "Where's Waldo" size picture of the Sun. I was very surprised to see a cruise ship in the Sound during the middle of the day. Mystery solved. At least it is a beautiful day for a sail-in. Sorry for those having to rebook travel.