Spirit Review - November 27 to December 2, 2011

[MissyMac13]

 

This is the view from the restaurant. I had no complaints about the service once our order was taken or the decor, but the location was loud. The restaurant is above the La Playa on the Lido and we could hear noise during the meal. It would have been nice if it had been a little quieter. I noticed after the meal that there was a grand piano in the restaurant, but no one was playing that night. It would have been nice to mask some of the noise from the atrium.

 

 

Our waitress took this photo of my husband and I before we left.

 

Our daughter had eaten on the Lido with the Camp Carnival folks and returned for the evening. We signed her up for the "Night Owls" program which was advertised as a party from 10pm to 3am. Unfortunately, there were not enough kids signed up to allow for the party to go on and we picked her up at 10pm. We went back to our room and were greeted by our towel animal.

 

 

Our daughter had learned that afternoon how to make towel animals. I am still waiting for her to make one at home - LOL.

[cathyz]

Thanks for the great review! I can't see to open the pictures in your post #162, but maybe it's just me! We were on the Spirit in October and will be again in March and had great dinners at the Steakhouse a couple of times during the 9-day cruise and probably will again!

[isadelia]

Thanks for the great review! I can't see to open the pictures in your post #162, but maybe it's just me! We were on the Spirit in October and will be again in March and had great dinners at the Steakhouse a couple of times during the 9-day cruise and probably will again!

 

 

I agree, great review. And I think it is post #22 that the pictures aren't showing.

[luv cruising 007]

OMG Great review on my Fav. carnival ship(SPIRIT) with my fav. cruise director STU! Thanx for taking the time to post the pics/food porn & narrate your fun review! SO COOL for you to see the SPLENDOR & The PARADISE the next day, did you wave GOOD BYE:(:p to the PARADISE for the lastime? I did the Splendor this year as well as the Spirit & Paradise & you need to try the Splendor! Its a neat ship with different features & lido food choices like an Indian Tandoor ETC, but my heart still resides on the SPIRIT:eek::D! On the edge of my seat for more lol!

[cathyz]

I agree, great review. And I think it is post #22 that the pictures aren't showing.

Sorry, you're right...........

[MissyMac13]

Thursday was our last full day on the ship and a sea day. It started out with a visit to the swimming pool on the lido deck. My husband and daughter found that the pools were rarely full and enjoyable. I forgot to post from yesterday, but I was able to purchase a coveted DISCO BALL and would have done it without the fruity drink inside, but my husband enjoyed the drink.

 

 

 

After the swim, we went down to the second floor to do the Beary Cuddly event, which had been moved there due to the weather, as it was windy. There seemed to be some confusion about this because it was originally supposed to be at the Lido stage and Camp Carnival did not put someone up there to direct people to the right place until about 15 minutes after the event was to start. Some people were upset about that, but my thought was that I was on vacation and there was no reason to be upset! After my daughter got her stuffie, she stuffed and dressed it. We now are proud owners of yet another stuffed animal - a cat named Maria. We paid $22 for the animal and two outfits. A bargain when considering how much it costs to do this at Build-A-Bear!

 

After this, we took our daughter to Camp Carnival as we wanted to attend the Future Cruise talk. We've heard about the future cruise certificates and wanted to learn more about them. Nate gave this talk and he was pretty informative about how to book your cruise and look for the best deals. We ended up purchasing a cruise certificate for $100, which will get us $100 off our next cruise, as well as $100 in OBC if we take a 7 day cruise. We have two years to use it. Since we plan to cruise within the next two years, we felt it was a good value. We also found out from this talk that if you own 100 or more shares of Carnival stock, you automatically get $100 in OBC.

 

Before this talk started, we were noticing how rough the water was around us. I've been on seven cruises and I have never noticed the movement as much as this. I started to feel a little sick so I went back to the room to lay down. I took a nap through lunch and my husband took our daughter to lunch. When they were done, she came back to the room with me and he went to try and win at the quarter drop machine. He was not successful.....

 

I became increasingly more aware of the movement of the ship and my daughter had some sympathy sickness, as neither of us were in the mood to eat dinner that night. I should mention that neither of us got sick, but that we were both feeling the ship's movement pretty badly. We went downstairs to shop and the clerk in the shop told me that the movement was the worst she had felt. After a while, I took my daughter to the Lido to get something in her stomach. I had the Mozarella on Foccacia sandwich (my favorite from the deli) and she had a turkey sandwich. Once we were done with dinner, we went to the elevator and saw that they had hung barf bags near the elevators. When we got to our floor, we saw the same thing. I spoke to a man in a group of 16 and he said that 7 of his group had gotten sick. It was around 8pm when we got back to the room. My daughter watched television while I laid down (which I understand is one of the worst things you can do - live and learn!) We ended up going to bed at 10pm as I felt that if I was asleep, I wouldn't feel the movement. It was the first time on any cruise that I truly wanted to be off the ship. Stu made an annoucement that the evening show was cancelled due to the movement of the ship.

[MissyMac13]

I am seeing the all the photos but I didn't when I wasn't logged in. Maybe a glitch somewhere as I am now seeing them on #22.

 

Thanks for the kind comments. It was ironic to see Paradise on her last West Coast trip and then Splendor as well. When we were on Paradise, we saw Spirit in Ensenada and said "we want to go on the Spirit" so that was the next ship we booked. We really want to try Splendor so I think that will be the next one that we book.

[crusinpsychRN]

Thanks for your review. I just was on Inpsiration. The talapia was horrible! So was the penne mariscos. I'm sure it's cooked differently on different ships.

[MissyMac13]

Friday morning came and the sea was much kinder. Stu came on the PA to let us know that the cause of the rough seas was partially due to the Santa Ana winds and that we were about an hour behind schedule for our arrival in San Pedro. This meant that we'd have time to eat breakfast in the MDR and still come back to the room to see our arrival. This was the only meal where the service wasn't up to the other meals, and I mentioned before that I honestly think that the staff is anxious to get things set up for the next cruisers. I've noticed this on all three cruises this year. Maybe we should eat on the Lido for breakfast - LOL.

 

We got back to our room and were able to see Spirit dock where the Disney Wonder had been when we arrived. Stu came over the PA and announced "Let me be the first to welcome you to Honolulu..." since the next cruise going out was to be a 15 day Hawaii cruise. We were joking that the wind really must have knocked us off course! We had put our bags out the night before and had a little extra time to get our carry-on's packed and ready. We took them to the Lido deck to wait for our group to be called. We typically wait in this area in case anyone gets hungry or thirsty, we have food and drink available.

 

 

While we were waiting, my husband went around and took some photos, Here is one of the steakhouse that he took from deck 10.

 

 

Because of the delay in getting into San Pedro, we were delayed getting off the ship. The estimate was that we would be off around 10:435am. We finally were off at 12:30pm. While we waited on the Lido, they closed the roof.

 

Lots of people were complaining that it was taking so long to get off the ship. We had no where to go and my son was waiting for us in the parking lot, so we weren't anxious. When they finally called our group, we waited in a long line to get off the ship.

 

I had seen John Heald's blog (I am a follower of his) and saw that Spirit would be decorated for Christmas on December 2, the day we returned. I was disappointed that we wouldn't see Spirit in her decorated state, but as we were leaving, my husband spotted a decorated tree and he took a photo.

 

 

 

This photo was taken once we were off the ship and waiting in line at customs. When we were in Galveston, it seemed to take much longer in the customs line. Here, the wait was on the ship and in the gangway. While waiting, we noticed that they processed the back-to-backers by checking them out and then right back in. Most of them had leis. Made us jealous - again!

 

The customs line was painless and getting our luggage was as well. What was strange is that once we had everything, we walked out to the sidewalk and it was packed. You could barely move with all the people there. There's got to be a better way to get people out of the terminal and a better place to wait. Cars were pulling up and stopping in the middle of the road to pick people up and others who were at the curb were apparently waiting for people but they were no where in site.

[MissyMac13]

I haven't mentioned our room stewart, Marlon. He was outstanding. He always called us by name and gave us whatever we needed. I have a photo of him with my daughter but it is on the home computer, so I will post that later.

 

Despite the rough sea day, we thoroughly enjoyed the Spirit and her crew. Stu was probably the best cruise director we have experienced and we really enjoyed his morning show on television. Although the menus changed, the food was good quality and tasty. The casino was not kind to us - I also noticed that it appeared to be smaller than the others I have seen. Most of the time, the penny slots were busy and I would just leave and come back at a later time. Our table-mates in the MDR were great and even came by the room on Thursday for a visit. We exchanged emails and I am hopeful that we'll keep in touch. Even though my daughter didn't do much with Camp Carnival, the staff we interacted with were great and the schedule of events looked fun. The ship was beautiful and well laid out. Our room was big enough for us and our balcony was a once in a lifetime experience. All in all, it was a great vacation.

 

Thanks to those who have been patient enough to read this review. I'll post a few more photos when I get home.

[gatorphin]

Great review! We're going on the Spirit to Alaska at the end of May and we booked the same exact room as you had. Glad to see the pictures of the room and happy to see the extra large balcony. That's why we chose it too. Enough room for 2 adults and 2 girls (9 & 12) in the room? Can't wait. Glad you had a good time. Thanks again! :)

[cathyz]

I am seeing the all the photos but I didn't when I wasn't logged in. Maybe a glitch somewhere as I am now seeing them on #22.

 

Thanks for the kind comments. It was ironic to see Paradise on her last West Coast trip and then Splendor as well. When we were on Paradise, we saw Spirit in Ensenada and said "we want to go on the Spirit" so that was the next ship we booked. We really want to try Splendor so I think that will be the next one that we book.

I still can't see the pics, but maybe it's me even tho I can see all the others. When we were on the Spirit in October, they set up customs tables on the ship near the exit to the gangway and we passed by there talking to the agents who had come on board, no lines, etc., I thought it was a great way to do it. Maybe it depends on how many ships are in port.

[fisherguy]

Thanks for the review. We were on the Splendor the first day that you guys were in Cabo. I guess we were fortunate to miss the rough weather on our way back a couple of days later than you. We had heard about the hurricane force Santa Ana winds wreaking havoc and hoped that they would subside when it was our time to come home. There was a bit of a ground swell but nothing that would cause us to get sick.

 

You must have gotten lucky with the Tilipia. I ordered that on the first day and it was not good at all. The Mahi wasn't much better (had that frozen fish taste to it). I did enjoy the ribs though (they make just like we do at home, lots of sauce and fall off the bone!).

[MissyMac13]

You will LOVE the balcony. I could sit out there for hours and it was almost as if I was alone on the ship!

 

I forgot to mention the Past Guest Reception, which was on the Wednesday on the second Cabo day. My husband and I went since our daughter was at Camp Carnival. The appetizers were delicious and drinks tasted pretty good. The family in the cabin above us - 7232 - won a dinner for 2 at the steakhouse, 6 chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne and 20 raffle tickets for a free cruise.

 

On the debarkation day, my husband misplaced his phone case and someone had turned it in to guest services. He had the good fortune to meet the wife of the captain and said that she was really nice; they had a good conversation about cruising. The guest services staff was very pleasant.

[hotdaug]

Many thanks for this thread, we have the same room for the 1/1/2012 cruise. We are all getting excited about it and this helped a lot.

[CanWeGoYet?]

[quote name='cathyz']I still can't see the pics, but maybe it's me even tho I can see all the others.[/quote]

Same here, on post #22.

What a great review! I loved reading it. Thank you for posting it and so many great photos. Staying on for the hawaii cruise would have been great. I'd be sad too seeing the back to backers wearing leis.

[MissyMac13]

For some reason, photos are not uploading for me tonight. I will re-do the photos in #22 and put more on tomorrow.

[contracosta]

Great review![quote name='hotdaug']Many thanks for this thread, we have the same room for the 1/1/2012 cruise. We are all getting excited about it and this helped a lot.[/QUOTE]
I'm really looking forward to our cruise, I have the same room on the preceding cruise! Sorry about the smell! :D