Just off the Spirit Feb 6th Small review.

[t471]

We just finished our 5th cruise with Carnival. This was a 5 day out of San Diego. The ship was very clean and seemed to be well kept up. They had a super bowl party which was something different and we all enjoyed that. Out of all the cruises with carnival this was some of the worst food so far. It wasn't bad food, but didnt meet the food from previous cruises. The dinning room was very loud. They have one main dinning room versus the other cruises have always had 2 dining rooms. Again, I was not impressed that the maitre'd did not inforse any dress code. Why is that people don't dress up? If you wanna wear shorts, jeans, rock and roll shirts, sunglasses, chains, then you shouldn't be in the dining room ! I don't tip the maitre'd when they can't inforse some of the standards. The wait staff was above average, they did a good job taking care of us. They weren't as funny or entertaining as previous waitstaff, but thats just a crap shoot sometimes. We had a balcony suite and it was nice. The room steward did an excellent job. She also made sure to give us extra ice everyday for a small tub we had for pop and such. Camp carnival was perfect. Both my boys had a great time. One is 10 and the other turned 16 on the cruise. The tenders to Cabo went very smooth and efficient. We like the new "Punchliners" comedy club. There was one very bad comedian one night, but the other 3 we had were very funny. The cruise director never ruis any cruise for me but they definitly can make it even more enjoyable. I didnt like Stu, he was non existant most of the cruise and didn't seem very friendly. I also didnt like the assistant cruise director, Pip. He was kinda a smart allek to people and just rubbed me the wrong way. Again, its not a deal buster if I don't like the directors. The only cruise director that I will never cruise with again is Jen Baxter. The lido staff was excelent, along with most other general staff members. Always smiling and being pleasant. I forgot to mention earlier that the check in procedure in SD is very well done, and fast! We also loved one camera man on the ship, I didn't catch his name but he was hilarious. He always said " looky looky" when taking photos, then he would do a little dance or say something else funny. We absolutely loved him ! We still had a good time, even with some of the complaints (cruise director, food and maitre'd) I hope Carnival decides to continue service out of SD because we fell in love with SD and would love to cruise out of there again. We didnt see many of the shows because they are all so repetitive. It was funny because we watched a little of the newley wed game and they have always used the same exact jokes on every cruise, when they always say to the oldest couple's husband that his one answer to being stranded on an island is that he would take a prostitute in the missionary position. Always the same jokes and such, but thats part of cruising. Many newbies found humor with it like we did the 1st time we heard it. After you know it's fake, its not so funny. Its funny to laugh at that they do that though. Overall we had a good time, its hard not to on a cruise.

[LBumb]

thanks

[Cruise Sampler]

You are so right! Nothing is ever without one or two things going sideways, but overall a cruise is awesome. Glad you basically had a good time and loved San Diego. My daughter went to a camp there and I just thought it was beautiful!!

[bondgirl007]

What's wrong with Jen Baxter? She is the sub cd when Stu is on break in March-during our cruise. Thanks for the info.

[4myboyz]

we are going on this ship next week, also with our boys. Was there many kids in that age range? did the 16 yr old give you a hard time about going to camp or was he good to go? Thanks for the review I am so excited!!

[t471]

Jen is absolutely annoying !! Her voice drives me nuts and she just seems full of herself. She wouldn't give you the time of day. My favorite CD was Butch followed by Jeff Bronson, Jorge---very funny. The only 2 I disliked were Stu and Jen. It's all personal opinions, take em or leave them. Im sure some people like/dislike different ones. :)

[5waldos]

Oh- wish the food was better- maybe when they go to Alaska it will brighten up. But glad you had a good trip.

[t471]

4myboys, There were plenty of kids in all age ranges. Our 10 year old was able to sign in and out of camp, he had a wonderful time as always and spent much time with new friends in camp. Our 16 year ols met a buch of kids also. Again, he could come and go as he wanted to, but he chose to hang out a lot with his new friends too. They have always had fun, but they both said this was the best time because of all their new friends.

[t471]

5waldos, The food was bad, just wasn't as great as all my previous cruises. My family liked a lot of the dining room food. They all said it was not as good as last time though. The shrimp, prime rib, and other steaks were great. I usually love the carbinara, but it was not good on this cruise at all.

[t471]

Sorry, I meant to say it WASN'T bad, Just not as good as previous cruises.

[outdoorsguy1]

This was our first cruise (me and the wife) and I have to say I was not impressed with this ship. I did have a good time overall but am not hooked on cuising. We have decided that we will give a cruise another go to see how it goes. A couple of things I was very disappointed about...getting on the ship took us 3 hours, bought a excursion through carnival to avoid tender tickets and was told I still had to stand in line for a tender ticket because I wanted to leave the ship early, the food was terrible, and last the Jeep/Beach excursion was a stop at a getto market so the tour guide can get breakfast, Jeep get stuck, drive through a trash dump in a river bed excursion at 100.00 bucks a head.

 

The good: I loved just being on the water and watching the whales from my balcony, The staff where great...Loved Parna stateroom guy and Bonan the server, the shows where fantastic, the ship was clean, and the best part was on my own time dining which gave me a chance to meet some great people.

[t471]

Outdoorsguy, I hope you give cruising another chance. I agree the food was not the best. I thought the check in process was fast. I think it took us a half hour at most to get on the ship. We got there around noon and were on at 1230. What time did you get there? Granted we did get VIP check in, but the lines were small, so that maybe saved us 10 minutes at most.

Excursions, NEVER book thru carnival, unless its for like a private island cabana or something. Cruise critics is an excellent source to finding good tours at 1/3 the price. We went through Eco-cat in Cabo and we had a private zodiac with tour guide. Total of 4 of us and 40 bucks each. Got right up to the whales. Great times!