rabbit1971

Hi all,

My family of 6 ( hubby, myself, 15 yo daughter, 10 yo son in wheelchair and two grandmas) all travelled for 12 days on the spirit.

We had two normal interconnecting extended balcony cabins, with 4 in one room and 2 in the othere ( the two bathrooms worked well:D)

Rooms were larger than I expected with ample space to unpack all our clothing, we took a bathroom organiser to hang on the back of the bathroom door (which was fabulous idea picked up from this forum)

Food We really could not fault the food, we ate in the lido buffett for brekkie and lunch and the empire dining room of an evening, and the staff were amazing, if my son didn't like his meal they quickly and happily swapped it, or if he really liked it they were happy for him to have a second go at it.

if I did have to pick a fault , some of the food at breakfast in the bain marie was not overly hot ( particularly the scrambled eggs), but it was not enough to spoil our holiday, and if you were happy to que for a few minutes at the omelate station you could get hot eggs done however you wanted.

Service we found the staff to be amazing. They went out of their way to be helpful, to the extent of carring my son down a flight of stairs in his wheelchair ( a combined weight of around 50kg) so he could get onto the tender boats, no mean feat i can assure you. Our fears of him not being able to participate in the islands stops were unfounded as he was able to get off at all our ports, regardless of whether they were docked or tendered.

Embarkation/Disembarkation Again, found this to be stress free and very quick, even with the wheelchair, with many helpful staff around to give assistance iof needed.

I will add that this was our first cruise so i have no comparison to be made with other lines, but we were all really impressed with our experience and would definuitely do another cruise with carnival.

We also ate at the chefs table and the noveau steakhouse and found the meals to be outstanding, and we have eaten at some top rate restuarants including Quay and Aria, and found the quality to be as good.

So all up a very positive experience and one I can recommend to those less mobile.

Any questions fire away and i will do my best to answer them

Cheers maree

PS the only downside is I now cannot wait to book our next one:D

My 15 yo daughter and my 60+ MIL tried kava at a suva market, made from the powdered roots and water, daughter sa1d it was not the worst thing she had ever tried ( that was fermented soy beans in japan:eek:) made both their lips tingle but that was it. They both put it down as an experience, the fijians were stoked that they were happy to give it a go, and at $1 fiji ( around 60 aus cents) it was a cheap experience.

Cheers maree:)

Hi All,

I definetly booked on the day I arrived and I am fairly sure it was with the skybus service , it was all organised through the travel concierge desk where you collect your luggage. I'm fairly sure it was the skybus, as I remember being suprised at the time that the sky bus service in sydney was not wheelchair accessable, and that they used smaller shuttles, compared to the large coach bus used in melbourne that is wheelchair accessable.

Hope that helps.

cheers maree

Hi barry, i used the shuttle in may this year. super easy, went up to the travel concierge desk located near the luggage carousel ( virgin domestic terminal) and booked my return ticket for $34, short walk to the mini bus, I think it was a Tarago, and 20 min later I was at my hotel.

Only reason i wont be using it again next week for our cruise is they are not wheelchair accesible for my son.

Cheers maree

Of course then you have

Put a snag on the barbie ( sausage)

Pass the dead horse ( tomato sauce)

and been on the dog and bone ( telephone)

plus the nicknames we give people,

like Bluey or wranger for a redhead.

Cheers bigears

Maree:D