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Live from The Spirit 10/27/08

KLLund

By KLLund,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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KLLund

KLLund

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Good Morning .. Catch up day while we are at sea. As you will see, I had a bit of a mishap in Acapulco but I seem better now so I will try and get us all caught up to date and then do some general impressions of the ship .. Any questions .. now would be a good time to ask!!

Oh and Bev everyone says hi and we miss you!!!

Acapulco

Acapulco was HOT and no breeze. We had nothing planned so we decided to get off the ship, go to a couple of shops (we needed a sombrero for Bill’s costume) and then go back to the ship and relax. We docked at about 11AM and we left the ship about noon. We wandered out of the dock area and were immediately besieged by taxi drivers, merchants, beggars etc. We managed to get away from that crowd when we met Victor. Victor had a green shirt and badges on lanyards and most importantly of all a whistle. He explained that he was paid by the government to guide tourists and since we couldn’t shake him we decided what the heck and followed him.

This is where the whistle came in extremely handy. He strode out into the center of a very busy street blowing the whistle and the cars all stopped to let us across… hmm maybe we were on to something here. He took us past all the “American made in China” shops to a local market with crafts etc. We found a sombrero and I needed a beer. After the cervesa, I was ready to go back to the ship but Victor had other ideas. He took us to the plaza where the Soledad Cathedral was located. It was beautiful and we looked all around inside. Then the trouble started… I misses the first step leaving the Cathedral and twisted a couple toes pretty badly while re-injuring my back, but hey I can see the ship from here lets just walk. Big mistake, but we did make it and immediately went for a Drink of the Day to ease the pain!!

My foot got about twice the normal size and .. darn it all.. it is Halloween and I have a costume that is sure to win the prize. No way was I missing the party. So we got our selves all dressed up and then it was time for the shoes.. ummmmm perhaps not maybe the dirty flip flops and since they are the only possibility on they went… just lovely!! Off to dinner we trooped and it was a very lively group since all of our group had elected to wear costumes.

All of the guests in costume and some not were to meet, after dinner, in the atrium lobby while the entertainment crew decided on the finalists for the costume contest. Sure enough I was asked to be a finalist and off we all went to the Pharaoh Theatre for the judging. It was a lot of fun even if I didn’t win .. sigh.

Here is a picture of my costume .. and more later on Zihuantenjo …

1837516110_CarnivalSpiritNov1187.jpg.65019853e34f457c5e0216d7c05a2176.jpg

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scperk

scperk

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KLLUND,

 

Who did you book your fishing excursion with? My hubby really wants to go sailfishing while we're in Manzanillo. What was the cost?

We were on the week before and when we went to re-board the tenders they were hauling sailfish down the pier one after the others...I wish I had gone fishing while I was there.....Dennis

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KLLund

KLLund

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KLLUND,

 

Who did you book your fishing excursion with? My hubby really wants to go sailfishing while we're in Manzanillo. What was the cost?

 

The trip was booked with Vidal Davalos .. here is his email

 

luckiestfishing@yahoo.com.mx

 

I believe he charged $400 for the day which included everything required plus beer and soda and sandwiches. And here is a picture to whet your appetite

Fish.jpg.b3c9449598116fa95eedf68b6a5a71f3.jpg

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desperatehousewife

desperatehousewife

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Kathy~ you RAWK!!

:D

Thanks for taking the time to post all of that- it was great!

 

Your costume was unreal and it was awesome to see it 'in person' after knowing how much work went into putting it together.;)

 

Have a safe trip home and I will see you in Vegas ( woo-hoo) woman!!:D

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Bucky3

Bucky3

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Thanks for keeping us all posted. Especially interested in the fishing in Manzanillo info for DH. Great picture!

 

Who is the CD onboard, and would love it if you could ask who will be the CD on the Christmas cruise. I heard the CD now is Chris Roberts, but it seems like it might be vacation time for him coming up?

 

Your comments are much appreciated.

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Beverlyf

Beverlyf

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Kathy...sorry to hear of your mishap....a few days before we left for our cruise i tore a tendon in my foot and couldn't even stand on it....I opted for a wheel chair on board to get me place to place....I'm glad Jim was willing to push! My foot is almost 100% now.

 

Your costume should have won 1st place....geez what won?

 

Judy...hope you are having a great cruise too!

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KLLund

KLLund

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Good Evening all ..

Lovely day at sea today .. very relaxing !!!

And here is the scoop on Zihuantenjo..

Zihuantenjo

What a beautiful setting as we anchored off the bay at Zihuantenjo. It was a lovely day, hot but not overwhelming like it was in Acapulco. Because this is a tender port we lingered over coffee and rolls on the balcony and made our way to the tenders just as they were announcing that tickets were no longer necessary. We walked down the stairs and on to a tender for the short ride over very smooth water to the dock.

I was walking a bit better today although still limping and I had taken a pain killer because I was NOT going to miss this port. We picked up a pair of sunglasses for Bill (he managed to lose his overboard) and wandered out of the immediate port area. (Note there are a ton of taxi drivers on the port, but if you walk out of the port market area and onto the main street, there are plenty of taxis and they are a bit less money.)

We asked the driver how much to La Perla at La Playa Ropa and we settled on $10.00 for the three of us. Off we went on a lovely drive up the side of a hill and then down. La Perla is a restaurant and bar with all of the usual beach chairs and umbrellas etc. We found our group on the beach and procured the beach chairs ( no charge ) we needed them to add another umbrella and the guy drilled a hole in the sand and placed it just right .. that was $4.00. It is a beautiful beach with parasailing, jet skis, banana boats and swimming. Drinks were ordered and food was ordered. Some of us at down on our beach chairs with small tables and some gathered in a group at the larger tables in the shade. The food was wonderful, the food was very reasonably priced and they just ran tabs or whoever wanted them to so that it was easy to pay once as we were leaving.

My son loves cigars and they have a walk in humidor which is well stocked. He bought several cigars, most of which he will need to smoke before we get back to the U.S. (Cubans of course). There is one small gift shop there.

The most outstanding part of all of this was the fantastic service. They never let anyone go without anything for long. The prices were really good and after a day of drinking and eating ( and trust me here my son can drink and eat A LOT) and the cigars that he bought, the total bill for 4 of us was $100 after adding a generous trip. Others in the group reported smaller bills (more normal appetites and no cigars) so we all felt it was quite cheap. Everyone said that this was the best stop and many of them who usually cruise the Caribbean admitted that they would love to go back there.

They it was another smooth tender ride back to the ship and a couple of hours of relaxing on the balcony. This is where I made another mistake .. I decided that I better not take a painkiller for my back since I wanted a drink or two during the evening. So we got dressed and went to the casino bar for a before dinner drink and a cigarette. I stood up to go to the dining room and the pain shot through me. Off to the dinning room, and the minute the appetizer was served I realized there was no way I could eat or sit. I excused myself and returned to my cabin where I was asleep in a matter of minutes and slept for about 12 hours. So I have nothing to tell you about last night!!!

Feeling better tonight ( 2nd Elegant Night). Tomorrow I will write up some observations and information about the ship which I hope will be helpful.

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SmooCruise

SmooCruise

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Me too!!! Enjoying your review....

 

What can you tell me about the piano bar? Do you know who's there? Is it too soon to find out who will be CD and piano bar player at the end of January??

 

Sorry to hear about your foot! :( Sending well wishes your way.......

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AZlabs

AZlabs

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Good Evening all ..

Lovely day at sea today .. very relaxing !!!

And here is the scoop on Zihuantenjo..

 

Kathy, thanks for posting. So sorry to hear about your mishap, :( but you seem to be making the best of it.

 

We board the Spirit when you get off on Tuesday. Zihua is my favorite port, it seems almost untouched by tourists. I can't wait to get there.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

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julia

julia

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You know what? 12 hours of sleep is your bodies way of saying "WAIT JUST A MINUTE GIRLFRIEND! I'M IN CHARGE HERE, AND I'M NOT TAKING THIS S*** ONE MORE MINUTE! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

 

Hope it helped! Hope you are back on your feet and rockin' the Spirit!

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jetwet1

jetwet1

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You know what? 12 hours of sleep is your bodies way of saying "WAIT JUST A MINUTE GIRLFRIEND! I'M IN CHARGE HERE, AND I'M NOT TAKING THIS S*** ONE MORE MINUTE! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

 

Hope it helped! Hope you are back on your feet and rockin' the Spirit!

 

That is so very true, we are hoping it gets better soon.

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KLLund

KLLund

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Here it is .. the last sea day

I have tried to put together some general impressions and I warn you it is long. I will post about disemarkation tomorrow when we get home and we will get the web site finished .. somehow we have been very busy !!!

General Impressions

First, let me say that there is not a one size fits all cruise line. Each of them have their strengths and weaknesses. It does not make one cruise line better than another, it just makes them different.

Ship – The ship is in good shape and obviously well maintained. As is usual on a ship there were people cleaning constantly. In reading these boards I was actually expecting a much “gaudier” décor than we found. It is lively and colorful, but all in all I think it works. The traffic patterns were all good and we found it easy to get around.

Demographics – There are very few children on board this week. They did have Halloween activities for them, but we seldom saw most of them. In general, this was a much older than I was expecting with a great many seniors and it did appear to us that most of the passengers were in the 40 – 60 age range.

Cabin – I do not think we have ever had a better cabin steward than Wayan!! He not only put up with all our decorating and antics, he was happy to help with the pranks and to join in the fun. Our stateroom was always immaculate and we never had a request that was not fulfilled immediately. We loved this stateroom. Again, aft cabins are not for everyone and in fact, on member of our group said he never used his balcony because it was too noisy. I have read differences in opinion on the configuration of the aft wrap cabins on the spirit class ship because it is really cut into a living area, the bathroom/dressing area and the bedroom. We found this to be a great configuration and enjoyed it immensely. The mattresses rival the ones on HAL and I hope Carnival gets on the stick and makes the change on Princess too. They were very comfortable.

Food – This is probably the single most subjective area on reviews of a cruise. As with every cruise, we found some things we loved and some things that were just awful. We enjoyed the Nouveau Supper Club and will be going for the second time tonight. The dining room was really hit and miss. Some wonderful dishes ( the lobster was as good as any I have ever had at sea) and some not so good ones ( most of the beef dishes.) I will state right here and now that I am in the very small percentage of people that did not like the chocolate melting cake, again personal preferences. The Buffet was identical and limited every morning for breakfast. (We were never up early enough to make it to the dining room) The lunch was varied and had some good things and some not so great but again it is easy to pick and choose at a buffet. We liked the pizza and the hamburgers and the pasta. We enjoyed having soft serve ice cream available.

Service and Staff – This is where we hit the real problem areas. We never saw the CD out and around on deck. He was at some games and some trivia etc, but as far as meeting and greeting passengers, none of us saw him. Our waiter was arrogant and uninterested although his assistant was wonderful. On Halloween, the CD said in an announcement if you didn’t bring a costume just grab a sheet or make something up. So one couple in our group did just that and fashioned togas, the gentleman’s shoulder was bare but the wife’s was not. The Maitre De refused to allow him in the dining room. What was up with that ?? When all was said and done, the only people that we felt deserved extra tips were our steward and assistant and the dining room assistant. That has never happened to us before.

Communication – The order and some of the hours of the itinerary was changed. Apparently some people got flyers about this at embarkation, but most did not. No general announcement was made and the only place we ever saw it in writing was the reservation for shore excursion form. How simple would it have been to include a piece of paper with the first capers?? Also, I can actually read my own capers, I found it annoying that the CD read the whole thing over the loudspeaker each day.

We didn’t go to the entertainment. We did have a ball at the Piano Bar with Steve, and I saw the question about whether he would still be here in January , I will be there tonight and get an answer. If I see the CD I will ask him too, but I am not holding out much hope.

Embarkation was a mess, but that was a fluke. It would, however, have been much smoother if so many passengers had not insisted on bringing their luggage on board with them and completely clogging the passageways to the gangway while waiting for their zones to be called. The flip side of that, we got our luggage much quicker than expected, I am not sure they had much to deliver.

General Information

I don’t remember reading a few things that surprised me on these boards so I will mention them here. We had two sign and sail cards with different numbers on the same credit card. Every charge that my husband made was on his folio on the TV and also on my folio so it looked like it was charged twice. This caused many passengers to crowd the pursers desk for an explanation the first couple of days. Also, the pursers desk does allow a check to be cashed for $5.50 / $100.00. So if you wanted $400.00 it would cost you $22.00.

Overall – We have enjoyed ourselves. Our group from cruise critics, many of whom have sailed together before had a ball with all our goings on and antics. Would I cruise Carnival again? Yes, if this group decided that that would be next years cruise. I would pick a different line for my husband and myself because we did find some of the things that we value most in cruising to be lacking.

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MDavis23

MDavis23

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Kathy,

 

Thank you so much for your live posting. I have so enjoyed reading and have been getting on every day hoping you had posted. I am glad that you mentioned the fee for check cashing. I had not even thought about that. Glad you had a great cruise.

 

Welcome home!

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scperk

scperk

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Kathy,

 

Thank you so much for your live posting. I have so enjoyed reading and have been getting on every day hoping you had posted. I am glad that you mentioned the fee for check cashing. I had not even thought about that. Glad you had a great cruise.

 

Welcome home!

They will cash traverers check with-out a fee...........dennis

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