Spirit 5 day to Cabo,The long and the short of it

[paulred]

This is not one of those "here's what I did on my cruise" reports.

 

You just want to know the long and the short of it: Good cruise or not? How was the food? How was the entertainment? How was the service?

 

Here is the skinny.

The short of it, for those of you in a hurry. We got our money's worth, and more. In this world, that does not happen often.

 

The longer version

 

Food: All food and service was excellent. We have sailed with Carnival, Celebrity and others, and we enjoyed each equally. Lets be clear. I did not like every single thing, but even the things I didn't like were well done. its just a matter of taste. That's an important concept because every menu had several choices for every reasonable taste. Not once did we feel we had to go to the steakhouse to get a decent meal.

 

There are no celebrity chefs on board. There are a bunch of line cooks with precise instructions on how to cook and plate each dish. They follow orders well. An executive shef insures they follow the plan. Carnival understands their market and knows it can't screw up the food or people will not come back, no matter how good their ships are elseshere.

 

Entertainment: Amongst the best I have seen on a cruise ship. Not for every taste. ( there is that word again) What they do, they do very well. if you are not into big band or zydeco music, too bad, but you'll have to agree it was a good version of those styles.

 

Service: Well done. Worthy of the prepaid tips.

 

The Ship: Carnival has a reputation for being a little garish, and that is true in the La Playa Grill. The rest of the ship is as elegant as any. We sailed on Celebrity Solstice, which is a very elegant ship, and Spirit matched up well. This ship does not show its age at all, and is very well maintained.

 

On the outside, it's a hotel grafted onto a ship, as are all modern larger ships. The best that can be said of this style is each is no worse than the other.

 

The other passengers: These days, all large ship lines are pricing aggressively to fill their 1000+ cabins. They don't care about your age or looks, just your credit rating. There are good deals on all lines, and price is no longer a barrier. Itinerary and cr cruise length are the new arbitors. In Spirit's case, the folks on board tend to be younger and, let it be said, less mannerly than the older folks. Still, there are lots of older folks too, so no age range feels odd man out.

 

Bottom line: If you like the itinerary, you'll love this way of doing it.

 

Paul