9 Days on the Carnival Spirit -- October 7th to 16th

[zanydoc]

Thank you for your review! We are leaving for Long Beach tomorrow and boarding on Friday. Can't wait!

[iggy's mom]

From Pharaoh's Palace, we along with most of the rest of the ship, made our way down to Deck A to board the tender boats. The sea wasn't too rocky on this day and the tender ride over to the pier seemed quick.

 

On the tender ride over we overheard people planning on what they wanted to do in a few days time when we'd be back in Cabo.

 

Pictures on the before the tender docks at the pier.

 

 

 

 

 

Once on pier we found where our shore excursion was meeting. We choose to do the "Exclusive Beach Resort" excursion. We signed in and then waited and people watched. About 20 minutes later the vans/taxis arrived to take us to the resort. I'd guess there was about 25-30 people on the shore excursion.

 

Once at the resort we were given a quick tour, told what time and where lunch would be served and then told what time to meet back in the lobby for the return ride back to the pier.

 

DH & I spent the day hanging out by the pool.

[iggy's mom]

Resort pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

[iggy's mom]

More pictures from the resort.

 

 

 

 

 

[iggy's mom]

Thank you for your review! We are leaving for Long Beach tomorrow and boarding on Friday. Can't wait!

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[iggy's mom]

We had a lovely day at the Resort but all too quickly it was time to pack up and leave. When the van dropped us off at the pier we had thought about going through the shops but decided to leave that for when we would return in a few days.

 

From the tender ride back to the Spirit.

 

 

 

 

[iggy's mom]

Later in the afternoon, I went to one of the trivia events and then we hit the gym.

 

At dinner, I am not sure what DH & I had for starters as I don't have any pictures of those.

 

For the main course, DH had the lamb chop

 

I had the cornish game hen. It was good and had a bit of "kick" to it.

 

For dessert DH had the banana split from the kid's menu while I had this. I think it was the white chocolate bread pudding. It was yummy.

 

The main show for the night was the "Hillarious Comedy Hypnosis - Jac Renee." While we wasn't "hillarious" the show was good and he picked some good people to go up on stage with him. I swear DH and I have seen him on one of past cruises, I just can't place which one.

 

As a side note -- DH and I usually go to most of the shows in the theater at night. Some we stay for, some we do not. This is the first cruise I can remember that the seats were not filled at showtime. It just seemed odd as we have become so use to having to get to the theater early to find seats together.

 

After the show, I spent sometime at the piano bar. I had never been to one of the piano bars on the ship and I wanted to see what it was all about. When I was there, the crowd was small (it was still somewhat early in the evening) but it was a lot of fun. The piano player got everyone signing and into the what was going on.

 

Although poor light by me, this was our towel animal on this night.

[mjl1960]

Thanks for the review, we cruise March 2nd on the Spirit on the 9 day cruise, really looking forward to it. We have sailed the Splendor twice, and wanted to change up and try something different, see some different ports, but the Splendor is fabulous, once you get used to all that pink - which becomes more of a coral color by the end of the week.

[surfer_00]

Thanks for the review, we cruise March 2nd on the Spirit on the 9 day cruise, really looking forward to it. We have sailed the Splendor twice, and wanted to change up and try something different, see some different ports, but the Splendor is fabulous, once you get used to all that pink - which becomes more of a coral color by the end of the week.

 

hey there! if you are not already there, you should ome and join the 3.2.2012 roll call!

[iggy's mom]

Day #5 -- La Paz

 

When we awoke on this morning we were not yet docked in La Paz, but we were close. The pier area is in a very industrial area.

 

 

 

 

 

DH & I had never been to La Paz and when the port was added to the itinerary on Friday, we weren't sure what we wanted to do or see. We wound up booking the "La Paz Historical City Tour" as we figured we'd see a little bit of this and little bit of that.

 

The drive from the port area to the city started off a like reminding me I was on the road to Vegas and then it turned very pretty.

 

 

[iggy's mom]

The tour first stopped a bit out of downtown. On one side of the street was the gifts shops ;) and the other side of the street was the waterfront.

 

 

 

 

The next stop was the Cathedral. I was looking forward to seeing this however I did not take many pictures as there was a funeral starting when our tour arrived.

 

 

The third stop on the tour as at a local museum that covered the history of the area. It was interesting and the tour guide did a really good job of explaining what the displays were.

 

After the museum we drove to one of the popular beach areas and it was beautiful. This is the beach that is used for the beach shore excursion booked through the ship as well as one that people came to independently.

[iggy's mom]

 

 

 

 

The waves appeared very strong and close together.

[iggy's mom]

I forget how long we spent at the beach area but it was around 35 minutes.

 

Pictures on the way back to the Spirit.

 

 

 

It was about 1:30 when we got back to the ship we decided it was time for lunch. Before that though, we had to get back on the ship.

 

 

On the Lido deck, I had a yummy grilled Reuben for lunch.

 

 

Later in the day we went to trivia, where DH won a 2nd ship on a stick.

 

 

[iggy's mom]

Great review! We will be on the Spirit in March. Your review is getting me even more excited! Do you remember seeing a wine tasting event at the steakhouse listed in your Fun Times?

 

 

I checked the Fun Times and did not see a wine tasting event.

[iggy's mom]

Shortly after sitting down for dinner, the "ding" over the PA system came and dinning room seemed to get really quite. I figured if an announcement was being pipped all over the ship, it couldn't be that good of news.

 

The Captain came on and said something like "you know that hurricane we are trying to avoid...well it's headed straight to Puerta Vallarta so we won't be going there. Instead we will be spending another day in Cabo, so you'll now have a total of 3 days there." Okay, he didn't say it just like that, but close enough. There was a cheer in our part of the dinning room and everyone seemed to be happy. DH & I really didn't care where we were going we were just were happy to avoid the hurricane.

 

For the starters at dinner DH had the potato cream soup and I had the spinach and portobello salad.

 

 

 

Nothing appealed to DH for the main courses, so he went with the "gourmet" burger. He said it tasted like one served at the grill on Lido Deck.

 

 

I had the vegetarian enchiladas. They were very good.

 

 

For dessert, DH had WCMC and I had tiramisu

[shonandsuzie]

Great review! You are a true superstar getting it on here so quickly too!

 

The beach that you saw looked much nicer than the one we visited in La Paz.

[iggy's mom]

Tonight was the night of the Mega Deck Party. We had fun! The CD taught a few dances to the people down by the stage. It was great people watching!

 

 

 

 

This was our towel animal this night.

 

[iggy's mom]

Great review! You are a true superstar getting it on here so quickly too!

 

The beach that you saw looked much nicer than the one we visited in La Paz.

 

 

Thank you!

[!David!]

Do you have a fav between the two ?

 

For me' date=' it's a very tough choice. I truly enjoy both ships, but if I could only choose one, it would be the Spirit. I think the size of the Spirit is perfect. Big ship, but not huge.[/quote']

 

 

The Spirit seems so easy to get around. Over all how did you like the new Menu ? Great job on your review.

[iggy's mom]

The Spirit seems so easy to get around. Over all how did you like the new Menu ? Great job on your review.

 

Thank you! Yes, the Spirit is very easy to get around!

 

I liked the new menus. They added a few things that I wanted to try and none of my favorites were removed. :) DH did miss the shrimp cocktail as starter every night.

[iggy's mom]

Day #6 -- Cabo San Lucas #2

 

Another beautiful day! The anchoring process was done by the time we went up to the Lido deck for breakfast. DH & I didn't have anything planned for this day. DH wanted to stay on the ship to read and play his iPad game. I decided to go ashore for while just to look around in the shops and take some pictures. We figured the next day we'd probably go to the beach.

 

I didn't go off to the tender boats right away. Instead DH & I walked around to get some pictures. And look who was in port with us today.

 

Carnival Splendor and the Disney Wonder.

 

When I did go down to the tender boats, I told DH that I'd be back to the ship for lunch.

 

The seas was much more rocky and wavy today than it had been the previous days. It was like that the reminder of the cruise. I did feel sorry for some of the older cruisers and cruisers with young kids as getting on the tender boats today was a challenge.

 

 

[iggy's mom]

While ashore, I just walked around the waterfront area taking pictures and trying to figure out what we should do the following day.

 

Pictures at the pier and the waterfront area.

 

 

 

 

[iggy's mom]

 

 

 

 

[iggy's mom]

 

 

 

 

The Carnival Splendor

[iggy's mom]

Once I finished my jaunt ashore, DH & I had lunch up on the Lido. While eating, the Captain came over the PA system. We thought it was going to be his usually "Noon Update" (which were a hoot to listen too!) however he had a different message for us (at least for those of us on the ship at the time).

 

His message went something like..maybe not exactly but close enough :)

-- "so you know that hurricane we've been avoiding...well it has passed over Puerta Vallarta, didn't do much damage, so we are going to Puerta Vallarta tomorrow after all. oh and by the way, if you know anyone who went ashore make sure to get ahold of them and let them know as we are now leaving an hour earlier than scheduled."

 

DH & I looked at each as said "yikes, hope no one gets left behind." Then I asked DH since we won't be return back to Cabo if he wanted to go ashore. He didn't. He was enjoying his lazy day. He did join me at one of the trivia's in the afternoon where he won another ship on a stick.

 

Some random pictures of the ship and Cabo.