Spirit Cruisers where are you

[lizabet623]

Hey Spirit cruisers were dying to know about the ship after she was in dry dock. What did they do? How was the cruise? Who is the new cruise director?

 

Just a few questions??????

 

Elizabeth

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

Hi - Just returned from the Spirit - will do full review in the morning -

basically - could not figure out exactly what they did in dry dock -

The "new" bedding (as I understand it) was already in place last month

(P.S - it's GREAT !) -

Lot's of angry kids because the water slide was still "being refurbished" - (out of order)

The Cruise Director was Shawn Bussey- she was pretty bad........

If anyone has specific questions - let me know - will be happy to answer if I can

[wannacruisemore]

Finally a review on the spirit!!!!! Don't forget us, we really need to know everything....I am so excited we booked the spirit for October 06. I know its a long way off, but I think about the cruise and do research everyday!!!!!!!!!!:)

[phat cruiser]

I am also on Spirit in October. PLEASE more info...........

Thanks

[Guest Crazeecat5]

My DH and I will sail her in July. Would love to hear about the refurbishment.

Thanks.

[HeidiHo]

ccliff5 - did you see the show *Singin' With the Big Band*? I just found out that the headliner for that show is a guy I knew back in the early 1970's (he dated my sister). His name is Ned Rifken.

[trustthedj]

We'll be on the Spirit next month - ccliff5, do you think the slide will be up and running? That's a must for our kids! Can't wait to read your report! Thanks!:)

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

ccliff5 - did you see the show *Singin' With the Big Band*? I just found out that the headliner for that show is a guy I knew back in the early 1970's (he dated my sister). His name is Ned Rifken.

 

Hi - Sorry we didn't see that show - how cool to see someone you know from "way back when "!! - as I mentioned in another post - we didn't get to see as many shows on this trip as we usually do - there were several large groups on board (wedding, family reunions, etc.) that would send a couple of "representatives" on ahead to "SAVE SEATS" (hell..they saved 2 whole rows at a time) -grrrr........how rude...

We got to the 9:00 show at about 8:30 - all the (good) seats on the lower level were "SAVED" -

I even managed to politely say (embarrasing my DH) "seat saving is not allowed" - one of them just answered - "WE ALWAYS DO IT "

so we left

(went to listen to music in the Atrium and have a drink)

I did hear (from people the next morning) - that the show was pretty good.......

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

We'll be on the Spirit next month - ccliff5, do you think the slide will be up and running? That's a must for our kids! Can't wait to read your report! Thanks!:)

 

As mentioned in another post - really hard to say about the slide - you would have thought they would work on it during dry dock - we didn't see any one working on it at all - the whole time -

and it was hard to tell what "renovation" was to be done when they did get around to it....

The daily note in the Capers said "The Water Slide is currently under renovation. For your safety, the slide is closed and not expected to be opened during this cruise. Please accept our apologies for any disappointment."

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

We'll be on the Spirit next month - ccliff5, do you think the slide will be up and running? That's a must for our kids! Can't wait to read your report! Thanks!:)

 

 

Just found some more information on the water slides - seems like all of the ones on the Spirit Class ships are closed. The problem may be with the slides that don't go into the pools. Slides on the Spirit Class ships end into little box of water at the end of the slide

Seems like there was a thread somewhere about a possible lawsuit..........??:confused:

[wannacruisemore]

Still waiting for ccliff5 to tell us all about the spirit!!!! :)

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

Still waiting for ccliff5 to tell us all about the spirit!!!! :)

 

Hi - Just back from the Spirit yesterday - I took a few notes so I could pass on a few comments/observations

Please let me know if you have specific questions - I will try to answer

 

Embarkation

Have never left from San Diego before - not quite as organized as other ports - but not too bad We arrived at the pier (by taxi from airport - only 10 minutes) at about 12:30 - were in our room at 2:00

 

Room

We were in an awsome wrap-around aft balcony room (we are totally hooked on aft balconies - always try to book them) - Room 6329 - Category 11 - Balcony was huge - room had a strange floor-plan - kinda "chopped up" - lots of doors (that slammed shut in the middle of the night when the seas became a litte rough) - Nice marble in bathroom - nice little bowl of bathroom goodies (razors, lotion, toothpaste, etc.)

"Carnival Bedding" was great !

 

Food

ALL THE FOOD WAS GREAT ! - Better than ever expected - Dining room and Buffet were all good - Omelet Bar was great - NY DELI sandwiches were to die for ! (Note: Room service was so-so - coffee, juice, dry cereal - no big whoop - just was super nice to have coffee on the balcony in the morning - so food didn't matter all that much!)

The (free) ice cream available 24 hours was pretty neat - as was the Pizza

 

SERVICE

This is the area that disappointed us - Several of the staff were "rookies" (common after just coming out of dry dock) - you could tell that they had not been properly trained yet - Dining Room staff was very nice - just very very very slow - waiter assistant was on his first cruise - very anxious to please - grated the cheese into my wine glass (missing the salad altogether !) - Room Steward forgot to leave laundry bag - forgot to leave the signs for "MAKE UP ROOM NOW" - forgot to leave ice - very nice guy - just new, I think - (I used my yellow sticky's to leave him notes on the mirror each day !)

We ordered Continental Breakfast from Room Service (hung the little thing on our door the night before) for the first morning that we were due to golf early - THEY NEVER CAME ! (had to leave for our tour - just grabbed an orange from the buffet)

 

Ship

Heard comments from several passengers "what did they do during dry dock ?" - really unable to tell - in fact our Tour Guide (Golf Pro - we went on Golfing Shore Excursions) - anyway - our Tour Guide said that the crew were even asking. The Water Slide didn't have anyone working on it at all - didn't look like it would be ready to go any time soon - Ship looked fine

carpet was all nice - floors were all shiny -

Casino was one of the nicest we have ever seen on a ship - very attracive - Gym was also one of the nicest we have ever seen - lots and lots of equipment -

We were sorry that the Sports Bar was so smoky (wanted to watch some of the Olympics) - Other bars were very nice

 

Internet Cafe/Library

There were always PLENTY of PC's available for use - hardly anyone ever used the Library it seemed - only a very few books/games - always under lock and key - seemed a bit strange - some days only open limited hours (i.e. 11:00-noon and 3:00 - 4:00)

 

 

Cruise Director was Shawn Bussey - she was just "OK" I guess -just not as personable as others we have sailed with

 

Entertainment

We didn't go to as many shows as we usually do - although the Pharaoh Theatre is a wonderful theatre - went to the Welcome Aboard Showtime - and the Broadway Songs show ("Standing Room Only") - both were very good - tried to see the Singin with the Big Band Show - but there were no seats left when we got there (at 8:30 for the 9:00 show !!) - SO MANY SEAT SAVERS !! GRRRR..........

Hypnotist another night didn't interest us (not enough to go an hour early to beat the seat savers) - same for "Carnival Legends" (fellow cruise passengers imitating stars)

 

Of course - we had a GREAT TIME (how can you go on a cruise and not ?)

[soniamarie]

Had a wonderful time! This was my second cruise on the Spirit, same itenarary.I honestly could not tell at all that the ship had just been dry docked. That is not to say the ship is in poor shape, the Spirit is simply stunning. Although it did look like the carpets had been cleaned/replaced.

 

The cruise was excellent from the minute we arrived at the terminal. The embarkation process was a breeze.

 

The food was much improved from last year. I loved all of my dinners in the Empire Room. We ate twice at the Supper Club! You MUST try it. One of the best meals that I have ever had.

 

My husband is doing a newspiece on this cruise so we had plenty of opportunities to meet with the captain. He is a great guy! The cruise director Shawn was O.K.

 

The only negative was that many of the crew seemed new to the ship and had a hard time answering questions, but they were very accomodating.

 

They say that this is the "fun ship" for a reason. We had the time of our lives. The ports are amazing. We traveled with 8 families from our neighborhood who are all hooked on this cruise and plan on doing it again next year.

 

I've done many cruises and I must say that the Spirit is my favorite ship. If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.

[SunFunCruiser]

How long do these cruise directors stay? I booked the Spirit for June 2007, would hate to have an okay CD.

Sometimes after Dry dock you really can't tell, because they may have fixed internal things or just spruced up stuff but didn't change it.

I have been on DCL a few times after dry dock. This last time was the only time we noticed any changes because they made structural changes and added a Jumbotron.

[lstrong]

Would appreciate any information you can share with us what you did/liked about the ports of call. Thanks Laurie