The Spirit

[KatSt]

Wondering if anyone has been in an aft wrap suite on the Spirit and did you notice how many electrical outlets there were? We are taking our IPOD and our little portable speakers and DH wants to put them out on the balcony. He figures he will probably need an extension cord but wants to know how long? Anybody have any idea?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Canuck

We were in an aft wrap cabin on the Miracle (same layout as the Spirit) this past June - cabin 4228. There was onlye 1 electrical outlet in the vanity area. We were actually suprised with 3 rooms that there was only 1, but that's how it was. I can't tell you how long since I don't know the layout of your cabin. In our cabin the vanity area was between the bedroom and living room.

[CanuckCruizer]

KatSt - Wow - only one plug in the vanity/dressing room area - is that what you mean? You would think that there would be one on the little desk area underneath the tv in the living room. Well, if it is in that dressing room - that would be one looooong extension cord and we would be tripping over it - lol. (Not to mention that the cabin steward might not be too happy!) Guess he will have to operate the speakers with batteries. We will have to charge the video camera, two cameras and I am sure DH has more electrical equipment I don't even know about (lol) so I guess we better bring a power bar!

 

Another question - I have read that the Lido buffet closed at 3:30 pm each day and the La Playa Grill at 6:30 pm (this was on an Alaskan cruise). This seems very early to me - what about people that don't want to eat in the dining room - do they not have an option for a dinner buffet? We always eat in the dining room but the night we are in Acapulco - we may be back too late for dinner, so does that mean our only options will be a cold sandwich from room service or a slice of pizza for dinner? This sounds strange to me - I have never been on Carnival but on Princess, RCCL & Celebrity - you can go to the Lido for a dinner buffet - so just wondering if this was an "Alaska only" type of thing?

 

Thanks very much,

 

Canuck

[KatSt]

KatSt - Wow - only one plug in the vanity/dressing room area - is that what you mean? You would think that there would be one on the little desk area underneath the tv in the living room. Well, if it is in that dressing room - that would be one looooong extension cord and we would be tripping over it - lol. (Not to mention that the cabin steward might not be too happy!) Guess he will have to operate the speakers with batteries. We will have to charge the video camera, two cameras and I am sure DH has more electrical equipment I don't even know about (lol) so I guess we better bring a power bar!

 

Another question - I have read that the Lido buffet closed at 3:30 pm each day and the La Playa Grill at 6:30 pm (this was on an Alaskan cruise). This seems very early to me - what about people that don't want to eat in the dining room - do they not have an option for a dinner buffet? We always eat in the dining room but the night we are in Acapulco - we may be back too late for dinner, so does that mean our only options will be a cold sandwich from room service or a slice of pizza for dinner? This sounds strange to me - I have never been on Carnival but on Princess, RCCL & Celebrity - you can go to the Lido for a dinner buffet - so just wondering if this was an "Alaska only" type of thing?

 

Thanks very much,

 

Canuck

The electrical outlet had 2 plugs, but that was it.

 

There is a short period that the Lido Buffet closes between breakfast and lunch and then again during lunch and dinner. The dining room is open for breakfast everyday and for lunch on sea days.

 

Here are the buffet times, according to my Capers from the Miracle.

 

Sea Days:

 

6 am Coffee and Danish

7:30 am - 10:30 am Breakfast

10:30 am - noon Breakfast for Late Risers

 

11:30 am - 11:00 pm Deli

12:00 pm - 6:00 pm Grill

12:00 pm - 2:30 pm Lunch & Salad Bar

 

Port Days:

 

 

6 am Coffee and Danish

6:30 am - 10:30 am Breakfast

8:00 am - noon Breakfast for Late Risers

 

 

11:30 am - 11:00 pm Deli

12:30 pm - 6:00 pm Grill

11:30 am - 3:00 pm Lunch & Salad Bar

[glrounds]

We love the Spirit class ships and have sailed the Pride and Legend with the Spirit booked for February :D .

 

Sitting out by the aft pool at night with a DOD, listening to the ship move through the water is the BEST ;) !! Ahhhhh...it does not get any better than that!!

 

Yes, yes, yes, exactly why I love Spirit-classed ships. I've also sailed the PRIDE and the LEGEND.

The entire Aft Lido deck is open to the sea (unlike Conquest class which has the entire deck surrounded by steel and glass :eek:). This aft deck has a bar overlooking an adult pool with the buffet just through the doors forward. My favorite spot. :)

The layout is terrific for pax traffic too, with an, in effect, double promenade. No having to go up when leaving the dining room to again go down in order to get around the galley.The bars and entertainment venues are spread throughout the ship making the layout even more desirable to me.

Thinking of doing a November cruise on the SPIRIT with the run to the Southern Mexican Riviera AGAIN. :D Had a great time. I thought the service was excellent and the accomodations immaculate. :)

[CanuckCruizer]

KatSt - Thanks for posting the times. So, I guess there is NO buffet on Carnival for dinner. I see that the deli is open till 11 & I guess there is pizza too if we miss dinner in the dining room one night.

 

Thanks!

 

Canuck

[cathyz]

KatSt - Thanks for posting the times. So, I guess there is NO buffet on Carnival for dinner. I see that the deli is open till 11 & I guess there is pizza too if we miss dinner in the dining room one night.

 

Thanks!

 

Canuck

Yes, there is a buffet for dinner from 6-9 p.m. in the regular lido buffet area, not sure why it's not listed in the list above. We were in 7347 on the Pride, check the pics in my signature. Have a great cruise!

[Fazzdaan]

We sailed on the Spirit last August and have two more cruises booked on her. She is a wonderful ship.

 

Prior to sailing I had read a huge list of things to bring. One was a power strip that will handle low wattage items such as an I-Pod, cellphone, shaver, etc. I suggest you bring one.

 

Terri - May I ask which date in December 2009?

[CanuckCruizer]

cathyz - thanks for that - that makes more sense to me - couldn't figure out why there was no dinner buffet! I will check out your pics - thanks!

 

Canuck

[7toEleven]

Sailed on the Spirit 3 times, once out of Miami and twice out of San Diego. She has to be the best ship on the Left Coast. Best crew and service. Out of 3 ships that I have had Supper Club, the one on the Spirit was the best by far.

 

Best time to get onboard Spirit is when she does the 2 week transition cruise in mexico and stops in La Paz. She makes this trip once or twice right before heading up to Hawaii.

 

Fred

 

 

Fred:

 

When are the 2 week transition cruises? We are going again in October (this will be my second time on the Spriti) and I just LOVED HER!!

[terri910]

We sailed on the Spirit last August and have two more cruises booked on her. She is a wonderful ship.

 

Prior to sailing I had read a huge list of things to bring. One was a power strip that will handle low wattage items such as an I-Pod, cellphone, shaver, etc. I suggest you bring one.

 

Terri - May I ask which date in December 2009?

Dec. 5th sailing.

 

Our anniversary is the 6th.

[Wennfred]

Fred:

 

When are the 2 week transition cruises? We are going again in October (this will be my second time on the Spriti) and I just LOVED HER!!

 

I just checked Carnivals Website and that 7 day is listed for Apirl 5th 09 only. Some years they do this one twice.

 

Mexican Riviera:

 

San Diego, CA ; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico ; Mazatlan, Mexico ; La Paz, Mexico ; San Diego, CA

 

 

Fred

[southbayer]

You will like it Kathy:D

We have never been on Carnival so the Spirit to Mexico is October will be our first .. but we have friends that are interested in he Honolulu to Vancouver next year .. so I have been looking at it. It will depend on how we like the Spirit .. so I will read this thread with interest.

[southbayer]

Fred, do you know if SD Port has a VIP embarkation line ?

I just checked Carnivals Website and that 7 day is listed for Apirl 5th 09 only. Some years they do this one twice.

 

Mexican Riviera:

 

San Diego, CA ; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico ; Mazatlan, Mexico ; La Paz, Mexico ; San Diego, CA

 

 

Fred

[happy cruzin]

Fred, do you know if SD Port has a VIP embarkation line ?

 

 

I'd like to know that too :) !! We will have our first Cat 11 wrap for the Spirit in February :D !!

[Wennfred]

Fred, do you know if SD Port has a VIP embarkation line ?

 

Yes, they do and they are pretty good there in San Diego. Just follow the sign that says VIP and once they check you in you wait until called. They give you a VIP card that you hand over when VIP is called. We are always the first to board.

[happy cruzin]

[quote name='Wennfred']Yes, they do and they are pretty good there in San Diego. Just follow the sign that says VIP and once they check you in you wait until called. They give you a VIP card that you hand over when VIP is called. We are always the first to board.[/quote]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=3]Thanks Fred ;) !!

Any suggestions for where to stay Sunday night - before we board on Monday???[/SIZE][/FONT]

[glrounds]

[quote name='southbayer'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][COLOR=blue]Fred, do you know if SD Port has a VIP embarkation line ?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]

[I][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]I'm not Fred :D , but when I boarded the [B]SPIRIT[/B] in SD, after documents they gave me a VIP card, also. I was told to sit with those at the front of the huge warehouse, facing all the others. There was about 20 of us up there. Then they called for V.I.P. boarding and up and on we went. I was the 5th or 6th to board. Excellent setup. :) [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/I]

[Wennfred]

[quote name='happy cruzin'][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=3]Thanks Fred ;) !![/SIZE][/FONT]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Tahoma]Any suggestions for where to stay Sunday night - before we board on Monday???[/FONT][/SIZE][/quote]

Holiday Inn on the Bay is where most folks stay, its just across from the cruise terminal.

[URL]http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/sanem?rpb=hotel&crUrl=/h/d/hi/1/en/hotelsearchresults[/URL]

[happy cruzin]

[quote name='Wennfred']Holiday Inn on the Bay is where most folks stay, its just across from the cruise terminal.

[URL]http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/sanem?rpb=hotel&crUrl=/h/d/hi/1/en/hotelsearchresults[/URL][/quote]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=3]Excellent!! Thanks again Fred :D !![/SIZE][/FONT]

[KatSt]

[quote name='CanuckCruizer']KatSt - Thanks for posting the times. So, I guess there is NO buffet on Carnival for dinner. I see that the deli is open till 11 & I guess there is pizza too if we miss dinner in the dining room one night.

Thanks!

Canuck[/quote]
Yes, there is a dinner buffet. I thought the question was about breakfast and lunch, but when I reread it I see it was about dinner. Sorry for the confusion.

I've never eaten at the dinner buffet so I can't give any feedback on it.

[CRUZBUDS]

We did the transition b2b in the spring - normal 8 day trip, then a 7 day to Matzatlan, La Paz & Cabo.

We we're even required to leave the ship on the turn-over day. We were asked to report in the early morning to customs officers with the non-U.S. citizens. The officer asked if we were on the next cruise and we said yes, that was it.

We felt a little like a salmon going up river when we decided to get off for a while after lunch - our cards (that we had gotten the day before) were activated when we left the ship.

It was a great trip on a great ship!

[CanuckCruizer]

KatSt - Thanks, no worries. Like I said, we don't usually eat at the dinner buffet but it might come in handy should we get back late in Acapulco.

On another note - just found out about the "new" dress code. My DH & I would still like to dress up as we usually do (for formal nights). When did this new dress code start and are people still dressing for formal nights? Does anyone know or have any opinions? This will be our 1st Carnival cruise.

Thanks,

Canuck

[CanuckCruizer]

CruzBuds - Hey - I finally found someone that did a B2B out of San Diego!:)
Do you remember if you had to wait until a certain time to get off (did you have to wait until the ship was cleared of all the other passengers) or did they tell you that you could disembark at any time? Do you remember if you had to meet in a bar/lounge somewhere 1st and then be taken to see customs?

We have done a few B2B's but just out of LA, and Miami and every cruiseline handles it differently. We only have two nights before the cruise in San Diego (which isn't long enough!) so we would like to have another day in San Diego in between the cruises. So, we are trying to figure out how much time we will really have as the ship sails at 4pm, so we would have to be back quite early.

Thanks for your help!

Canuck

[KatSt]

[quote name='CanuckCruizer']KatSt - Thanks, no worries. Like I said, we don't usually eat at the dinner buffet but it might come in handy should we get back late in Acapulco.

On another note - just found out about the "new" dress code. My DH & I would still like to dress up as we usually do (for formal nights). When did this new dress code start and are people still dressing for formal nights? Does anyone know or have any opinions? This will be our 1st Carnival cruise.

Thanks,

Canuck[/quote]
Again, I can only answer for the Miracle in June. Most people dressed as they would on formal night even though the dress code has changed. There were a few that weren't very dressed, but I would have felt out of place.

The Miracle left out of NY and the East Coast is a bit more formal than the West Coast.

My advice is to dress the way you normally would on formal night. I would feel better being over dressed rather than under dressed.

Since this is your first Carnival Cruise I would recommend that you eat at the Nouveau Supper Club at least one night. The charge is $30 pp and is well worth it.

[CanuckCruizer]

KatSt,

Thanks for the info on the dress code - I feel the same way - I would rather be overdresssed than underdressed!!! ha ha Yes - we are planning to go to The Supper Club four times (remember, we are doing a B2B) as we have heard so many good things about it. I guess you have to make final payment before they will accept your reservations?

Thanks,

Canuck