LIVE! Spirit Panama Canal Journeys Cruise 4/17-5/3 Let’s Cruise!

[TravelBluebird]

 

Sigh...the bad Internet on this ship is definitely turning my LIVE! into an ALMOST LIVE!

 

Internet has sludged down into a crawl again. I’m not sure if it is connected at all (satellite connections?) but Cellular at Sea has also been in and out all trip. This is concerning if there is an emergency with one of our Moms at home (although we did give my son Carnival’s overall emergency numbers).

 

I sometimes can get better internet late at night but the next 2 mornings (Cartagena and Panama Canal) will be super early mornings, so it may be awhile before I can catch up with photos.  I drafted this post (and the next one) offline. Here goes—

 

I’m worried my husband will decide really long cruises are NOT a great idea if we can’t be connected. 

 

OK, internet rant off!  A few general observations about the cruise so far.

 

There is a TRIVIA MAFIA on this ship! I have never seen so many people play trivia in my life, and there is tons of trivia offered on this ship. My husband and I are TOTALLY intimidated...I don’t think we’ll be trying our hands at that!

 

I miss all of the food options on the Mardi Gras. However, I really appreciate all the quiet, out-of-the-way inside sitting areas that don’t seem to exist on the Mardi Gras. I also REALLY love that this ship doesn’t have those high-plastic barriers everywhere that the Mardi Gras and many other newer ships have. I can’t take photos off those ships ANYWHERE almost, except my balcony, and I LOVE being able to look over the rail into the water.

 

Great staff, everyone is so friendly and good at their jobs, too.

 

The spirit is a beautiful old gal. Just gorgeous; her dining room is so pretty, her atrium is stunning, and I’m happy she still has her white table cloths. If you are new to cruising and just want to experience old-time elegance on a ship, the Spirit is a good choice.

[TravelBluebird]

A few notes on the balcony stateroom on the Spirit.  

 

I love the size of the balcony staterooms on the older Carnival ships. Nice size sitting area with the large couch, a table, and nice sized desk/dressing counter.

 

Also a TON of storage (much more than we had on our Celebrity ship in September).  A triple-door closet (one of them has shelving), four drawers, and a skinny cabinet that is good for my camera equipment, my husbands laptop and a bunch of other stuff. Plus two little storage compartments under the night stand. 

 

Then in the ample-sized bathroom, there are 6 little shelves for all your toiletries.  Very nice sized sink, and the shower has one of those wands you can adjust the height of. Good water pressure and lots of hot water. Yes, unfortunately there is a shower curtain instead of a glass door to close the shower off but you can’t have everything.

 

Balcony is a decent size, with 2 standard chairs (one that reclines) and a small table.  It was cleaned today and so looks really good!

 

Bed is super comfortable (a little on the soft side which I need for my RA) and the pillows, 4 of them, of various softness.

The room we are in is worn though..the edges of the desk/sitting area are major chipped. The TV is tiny and has major snow (not watchable, but then again, we don’t watch it and the only channel we watch is the map channel, so that is just fine. We’ll tell our cabin Steward about it toward the end of the cruise so maybe they can fix it for the next passengers in our state room. Our table by the couch is also quite worn AND wobbles (it knows Carnival’s fav line dance!).  Couch is faded.

 

SO, if you are looking for visual elegance in at least our balcony stateroom right now, you won’t find it. However, it is VERY functional and comfortable so no complaints there!

[lazydayz]

So glad you are enjoying your cruise.  Glad you are grabbing coffee in Columbia.  It’s delicious.  We brought some home with us and loved it.  

[CruisingFromLA]

When you get the chance, can you run a speed test on the internet? My past sailings on Carnival were painfully slow (avg 0.15 Mbps upload speeds on the premium plan, and that is if it was even working). I will be sailing on the Spirit in July and am curious if it is still just as bad as the other ships.

[Hunter69]

Sorry about the Patchy Internet..😥😥

Yes Trivia is popular on Journey cruises, plus as you have said Trivia Mafia. Larger groups getting very high scores, had it on a couple of my Journey cruises.. Pissed me off too..

At least your loving the Space Spirit class is offering, can always find a quiet spot to just relax, to do something or Nothing..😃

[TravelBluebird]

Unfortunately My trip has come to an unexpected end.  I have started a new thread for those interested in an emergency medical situation on a cruise.  Here is that—I will post as appropriate here as well. 
 

sad and sorry all

 

 

[SenatorsFan]

Sorry to hear this. 😪

[irishclover59]

On 4/15/2022 at 10:31 AM, TravelBluebird said:

Day before the trip!

 

Was going to post last night but Safari on my iPad was not letting me open Cruise Critic at all (I was getting some weird technical error) but its fine this morning! I downloaded Chrome right before I went to bed and that seemed fine; so I have that as a back-up browser for the cruise.

 

Today is my “complete the pre-travel list” day! I’m a serious list maker, and I have a list of things that MUST be completed before I leave, and a list of things I’d LIKE to complete before I leave, but don’t have to if I run out of time.

 

Packing, for me, is substantially done. I say substantially because my husband will either pack late tonight or tomorrow morning.  Normally this is fine with me (I’m the person who has to pack all the medicines//sunscreen//camera stuff) since all he packs are his clothes BUT this time we are taking a mutual carry-on with a couple days of clothes and shoes in case our luggage is lost or we test positive embarkation and can’t retrieve our luggage. SO...I own’t know if what I gave him will fit in this case till....well, till whenever he packs!  There is a bit of room in my checked case, but re-packing may have to occur.

 

And about packing...gosh, 16 days is hard to pack for! I can’t even imagine what the folk who are going to do a B2B with the first Spirit Alaska cruise are going through! Two weather zones! For 7 days, I have it down to about 40 pounds, one checked case and 1 small carry on.  For this, I’ll be closer to 50 pounds plus the 1/2 of mutual larger carry on.  I will do laundry on the ship, but heck, anything I wear once for a dance class or deck party or exercise class, I don’t want to wear again until laundered, and I don’t want to be doing a TON of laundry on vacation!

 

I have most of the pre-cruise stuff done now...all the stuff in Carnival’s checklist (vaccination status, health assessment, 3 day covid test) and also VERIFLY as well.  Off to tackle a list for my house sitter!

Would you be willing to share your pre-travel check list?  I just started created one and then decided to check cruise critic first.  Thanks for considering.  Amanda

[mavrick2oo]

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear this!

[FreightlinerFan]

On 4/18/2022 at 10:44 PM, TravelBluebird said:

Dinner tonight was not as planned.

 

We went to Manny Acosta’s 5:30 PG show. We enjoy his comedy; very observational and talks to//incorporates the audience (we were in line of fire tonight!).

 

Right at the end of the show at 6pm we immediately put in for dinner (hoping to eat at about 7 the latest, even with a wait). . Well, the Anytime Dining wait for a table showed 120 to 130 minutes before we could get at table!  (So, 8pm or later). We decided that was WAY too long of a wait (although we hoped that it might go quicker, no guarantees) so we decided to just get dinner at the buffet instead.

 

This wasn’t a tragedy as we enjoyed our dinner BUT, and this is a big but, Carnival is allowing way too many people to have Any Time dining if there is EVER an expected wait that long. I’d rather be told when booking the cruise NO, sold out, please pick set time dining.  Now we are paranoid that we’ll have trouble getting a table//timing things the rest of the cruise. 

 

We were not the only ones in this boat. LONG line upstairs at the buffet, and pretty much everyone on line said they had tried to book a table for dinner and didn’t want to wait 2 hours.  

 

As for the buffet, on the plus side they had items from the MDR menu from the night including the Leg of Lamb (very very good; medium rare, carved at buffet) and the sugar free panna cotta for desert (very good!). Other main items included baked ziti, pork chops, butter chicken etc. Desserts included strawberry cheese cake, apple crumble with vanilla sauce, and cappuccino mousse. On the minus side, I never find the buffet food to be TRULY hot. Also no one ever came and asked us if wanted anything to drink.

 

Keep your fingers crossed; I think tomorrow our dinner strategy will be to put in for a table right when MDR opens OR we’ll just plan to eat really late.

 

 

 

[FreightlinerFan]

I saw that you were on the MG recently, did you have issues with anytime dining waits like you seem to be having on this trip?

[natefish95]

5 hours ago, FreightlinerFan said:

I saw that you were on the MG recently, did you have issues with anytime dining waits like you seem to be having on this trip?

I find it hilarious that OP is on her way into surgery right now, yet you're asking about dining times on the Mardi Gras. 

[lazydayz]

All the best to you, tonight with the surgery and then during your recovery.  

Edited April 22, 2022 by lazydayz

[ChutChut]

5 hours ago, FreightlinerFan said:

I saw that you were on the MG recently, did you have issues with anytime dining waits like you seem to be having on this trip?

She was injured and is awaiting surgery.

Edited April 22, 2022 by ChutChut
spelling

[ChutChut]

13 minutes ago, natefish95 said:

I find it hilarious that OP is on her way into surgery right now, yet you're asking about dining times on the Mardi Gras. 

Perhaps the poster didn't see the last post from the OP when she posted her own question.

[Bostwick girl]

So sorry to hear of your accident! Hope you have a speedy recovery!

 

[TravelBluebird]

19 hours ago, FreightlinerFan said:

I saw that you were on the MG recently, did you have issues with anytime dining waits like you seem to be having on this trip?

 

No worries about the question; its a long thread and I’m sure you didn’t see the posts about my accident!

 

That said, thank you to all of you who were so protective of me yesterday during my very bad day. 

 

You can read it more in detail on my Mardi Gras LIVE thread, but my recollection was we did, but only a couple of times. FOrmal night was a long wait, and the times changes, and the night we had the free meal at Cucina was a long wait AND very long to get service. Overall we didn’t have problems, but we only ate in the MDR 3 times I think because we tried Cucina, Teppanyaki, and the Chi Bang.

[TravelBluebird]

By the way I have one or two days bored in the hospital right now so if anyone does have questions about my short trip on the Spirit or Jamaica etc I’m happy to answer, Will probably post some of the gorgeous photos I got sailing into Cartegena and some of my Jamaica excursion, plus more from the boat. 

 

Silver lining; the hospital has rocking good internet (unlike the Spirit...worse internet I’ve had on a ship in many years).

[rwest898]

On 4/20/2022 at 6:27 PM, TravelBluebird said:

A few notes on the balcony stateroom on the Spirit.  

 

I love the size of the balcony staterooms on the older Carnival ships. Nice size sitting area with the large couch, a table, and nice sized desk/dressing counter.

 

Also a TON of storage (much more than we had on our Celebrity ship in September).  A triple-door closet (one of them has shelving), four drawers, and a skinny cabinet that is good for my camera equipment, my husbands laptop and a bunch of other stuff. Plus two little storage compartments under the night stand. 

 

Then in the ample-sized bathroom, there are 6 little shelves for all your toiletries.  Very nice sized sink, and the shower has one of those wands you can adjust the height of. Good water pressure and lots of hot water. Yes, unfortunately there is a shower curtain instead of a glass door to close the shower off but you can’t have everything.

 

Balcony is a decent size, with 2 standard chairs (one that reclines) and a small table.  It was cleaned today and so looks really good!

 

Bed is super comfortable (a little on the soft side which I need for my RA) and the pillows, 4 of them, of various softness.

The room we are in is worn though..the edges of the desk/sitting area are major chipped. The TV is tiny and has major snow (not watchable, but then again, we don’t watch it and the only channel we watch is the map channel, so that is just fine. We’ll tell our cabin Steward about it toward the end of the cruise so maybe they can fix it for the next passengers in our state room. Our table by the couch is also quite worn AND wobbles (it knows Carnival’s fav line dance!).  Couch is faded.

 

SO, if you are looking for visual elegance in at least our balcony stateroom right now, you won’t find it. However, it is VERY functional and comfortable so no complaints there!

Our TV also had snow and then just quit.  We now have a working TV and a working refrigerator  (also wasn't working). I thought I saw you once walking around but not sure, but this was the first day. Maybe I will see you at another time to say hello. 

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, rwest898 said:

Our TV also had snow and then just quit.  We now have a working TV and a working refrigerator  (also wasn't working). I thought I saw you once walking around but not sure, but this was the first day. Maybe I will see you at another time to say hello. 

 Sadly I was disembarked with a medical emergency in Colombia (there is another thread with my experiences since the injury, a fractured ankle) since the experience I’m now sharing is more about what happens with a medical emergency while cruising, travel insurance, what it feels like to be cruising one minute and disembarked with your bags on the way to a hospital in a foreign country the next.

 

But I hope that I get to see you on a future cruise. Hope the Internet is better on the ship now!

[rwest898]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 Sadly I was disembarked with a medical emergency in Colombia (there is another thread with my experiences since the injury, a fractured ankle) since the experience I’m now sharing is more about what happens with a medical emergency while cruising, travel insurance, what it feels like to be cruising one minute and disembarked with your bags on the way to a hospital in a foreign country the next.

 

But I hope that I get to see you on a future cruise. Hope the Internet is better on the ship now!

I didn't know it was you that fell,  I heard you fall.  I  hope you are on your way to healing.  I think you are doing the Jubilee transatlantic right?

[TravelBluebird]

56 minutes ago, rwest898 said:

I didn't know it was you that fell,  I heard you fall.  I  hope you are on your way to healing.  I think you are doing the Jubilee transatlantic right?

Agh sorry you had to hear that! And yes I’m doing the Jubilee Transatlantic!

[Mobile Fry’s]

Get well soon. We had a successful transit of the Panama Canal aboard the Carnival Spirit. We are now at Puntarenas, Costa Rica. 

[TravelBluebird]

20 minutes ago, Mobile Fry’s said:

Get well soon. We had a successful transit of the Panama Canal aboard the Carnival Spirit. We are now at Puntarenas, Costa Rica. 

 I’m so glad it went well!! And you did the old locks; the ones I wanted most to do. Also heard there were some incredible excursions today in Puntaneras; the one I was supposed to be on, the Tarcoles River Safari Eco Adventure saw MAJOR crocodile action and some amazing bird life. I brought my telephoto lens for my FujiFIlm camera along especially for that excursion.

[srnash]

Hopefully others will continue this thread. I am joining for a week to Alaska in a couple of weeks and I am enjoying seeing the pictures and hearing about the amenities of the ship. I have to say I was concerned reading some of the reviews of the Spirit on Cruise Critic but TravelBluebird's descriptions have convinced me that I will enjoy the ship. So thank you! And I wish you a speedy recovery.