Review Spirit Hawaii 4/17

[AllenF]

Wow what a great cruise. There is way to much to cover so this will be a short review.

 

First off the bad. We knew that the 1st day was going to be bad so we were prepared for it many others wernt. Carnival really needs to improve on the bus situation to Ensenada we were lucky being on the 2nd zone to be called. We beat the ship to the port and had to wait for about 2 hrs before we could board it was much colder than we anticpated and there was no place to sit. Many others were forced to stay on the bus for 2 or more hours. The seas are rough the first 36 hours. But after the 1st day it got better and better.

 

For all you who love sea days 5 days in a row is just too many I needed land after day 3 and so did my wife. We were glad we sailed over because it made the time adjustment much easier we are from the east coast so the 6 hrs difference was better to adjust to for us and by the time we got Hawaii we were fully adjusted. We had a balcony cabin on the panorama deck

 

The food was very good we ate in the main dining room for dinner 85% of the time for breakfest and lunch we used the lido 95%. The food was always hot and there was some variety. We had the best table mates we could have ever wished for very funny and great conversations. They were all english though Bill and Eileen had been in the states for 30 yrs and they were joined by Eileens sister Pauline and her husband Fred who lived in england. The other couple were english and were traveling around the world Jason and Jennifer. The service was terrific Vitaili and Vladimir were are servers. Vitali was being consider to be a Maite D. Are room steward was Louis he also did a great job.

 

The ports:

Hilo we rented a car and went to Volcano National park and then drove to the waterfalls above Hilo.

Kauia we did a private tour thru Movie Tours it was a great tour I highly recomend them. The ship was late getting into port and they returned to get us and we were glad they did great tour and lots of Movie info. I did not realize so many movies had been filmed there.

Maui we rented a car for both days visited my wifes sister and a friend of a friend of mine who used to live there we drove around the 1st day. Day 2 we went to Molinikini crator and did a snorkel tour thru Maui Classic Charters they did a great job also.

Kona we did a ships snorkel tour with Captain Zodiac all I can say is wow and make sure you HOLD ON.

Honolulu we rented a car the 1st day and drove to the north shore. We ate lunch at the Shrimp trucks VERY VERY GOOD. Then we just drove back down on the coast rode around diamond head. On debark day we did ships tour on Pearl harbor and city with airport transfer.

I never really care much about the CRuise director but I must say Micheal Mundane is the best we have had so far.

We only went to see a few shows. Norm Crosby was the headliner and he was very good.

There was a local couple who played hawaiian music every day Malcom and his wife Irene they were great and very friendly the do these cruise every year as there vacations we got to know them very well and he would say Hello to us every time we saw them playing or if we just walked by.

Any questions just ask

[AllenF]

Oh yeah LOL to all those great wonderful people we met onboard from cruise critic hope all of you had a safe trip home :)

[DaytonCruiser]

Thanks for the review. I had considered doing a cruise to Hawaii, but opted to do a land based Hawaiian vacation. Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

[AllenF]

Dayton,

 

We met some people when we did the Movie tour in Kauai who were staying at Bed and breakfest on each of the islands anywhere from 5 to 7 days each. I dont have that much vacation time to stay 30 days. But what surprised us was how cheap the B&B's are the couple said the ones they were staying at were anywhere from 70 to 100 $ per night. Also they were highly rated and endorsed thru BBonline.com. They said they got to meet locals and do some of the out of the way things most tourist dont know about. That got us thinking about if we visit again to do the Big Island and kauai by staying at B&B's instead of big resorts.

[DaytonCruiser]

Dayton,

 

We met some people when we did the Movie tour in Kauai who were staying at Bed and breakfest on each of the islands anywhere from 5 to 7 days each. I dont have that much vacation time to stay 30 days. But what surprised us was how cheap the B&B's are the couple said the ones they were staying at were anywhere from 70 to 100 $ per night. Also they were highly rated and endorsed thru BBonline.com. They said they got to meet locals and do some of the out of the way things most tourist dont know about. That got us thinking about if we visit again to do the Big Island and kauai by staying at B&B's instead of big resorts.

 

Yes, there are some great deals in Hawaii. There are a series of "Revealed" books on each Hawaiian Island that provide lots of great info on saving money and getting the most out of your stay.

[MrPete]

I'm jealous. I've been wanting to do this cruise again for 7 years now!

[voyagerfl]

Thanks......great review.

 

Sigh.......we were signed up for this sailing.....but due to other factors had to cancel. We did the Spirit to Mexican Riv. instead.

 

Please give us more details....about what you saw on the tours....:)

[Bucky3]

Can you remember what time you were able to tender into Kona? We are doing this cruise in the fall and want to make it down to take the Fairwind snorkel trip by 9am. I believe it's about a 20 minute taxi ride. Did you notice waiting taxis at the dock? Thanks for your great review. We're looking forward to September.

[AllenF]

Bucky in Kona we did the ships tour and were on the 1st tender we got to shore around 8:20 but we never left the dock the Zodiac people pick us up there and we were gone. I would suggest using them if you are physically fit to ride at 45 mph its a little bumpy but very fun its like riding a rollar coaster for 45 minutes each way

[AllenF]

Voy,

 

Well on the Maui snorkel trip to Molokini we saw 3 whales the captain said 90% of them had left so we were lucky. Saw 3 large pods(40 to 50) of dolphins when we snorkeled in Kona at captain cooks monument tons of fish at both places.

The Movie tour was awesome way to see Kauai went to the coco palms saw Elvis cabana. Saw where almost every major movie over the last 50 years was filmed on the island.Hilo we did are own tour of VNP and the waterfalls which were 2 separate tours on the ship. So much still overwhelmed

[Bucky3]

Allen - thanks for your reply. Unfortunately someone in our party has back problems so no Zodiac for us. We'll just hope we can make the Fairwind by 9AM!

[voyagerfl]

So how was the Volcano National Park....

 

Did you get to see any volcano activity on the cruise ??

[AllenF]

The park was awesome we had a rental car so we did it all. As far as the ship we did not go by it at night which was a bummer.

[Bucky3]

If you took the Movie Tour on Kauai, did you book it on your own or through the ship? Thanks and any/all info welcome as we are doing the reverse of this cruise in October.

[AllenF]

We booked the tour on are own for 101$ each worth every penny. But i believe now it is offered thru the ship. If they still allow it I would book it on your own instead of the ship there were only 8 people including us on the tour. We had to walk just outside of the port gate where security is and they picked us up there. It was really enjoyable. We were the only people from the ship on that tour the rest were staying on the island. One guy on the tour was from my hometown and went to my rival High School small world sometimes.

[Bucky3]

Allen - thanks for your reply. We'll look into this. Yup, it's a small world!

[tanstaafl]

I was also on this cruise and was really glad to meet you in person, Allen, along with the others at the Champions bar on the first full day of the cruise!

 

I'd like to expand on a few things. Some are negative, but don't get me wrong - it was a GREAT cruise.

 

The whole transportation thing on day one was a fiasco. It started with riding into San Diego on board a bus from the airport at noon and seeing the Spirit still docked. Said to myself "Self, why hasn't the ship left for Mexico yet?" The ship finally set sail at about 2:30 P.M. We then started leaving on buses for Ensenada at about 3. My bus left at 4:30. After a 2 hour ride we arrived where the Spirit was docked, sat outside the pier gates, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, after an hour and a half of waiting, we were allowed on to the pier, only to find ourselves at the tail end of the group Allen was in. Yet another half hour wait as we cattle were herded on board the ship (MOO!). Seems the port authority wouldn't allow passengers to board until 2 hours after the ship had docked. Woulda been nice for just ONE Carnival person to come out and explain this. We finally sailed at about midnight. Okay, rant is over.

 

The crew and staff were absolutely terrific on board the ship. I could not have wished for better or friendlier service than I received.

 

I enjoyed the comedy acts (although I found I liked the "R" rated late shows better) but was not too thrilled with the dancers or the female lead singer. Several people who were on the cruise last year said that the shows were exactly the same.

 

The food was absolutely delicious. As Allen can attest, I'm a big guy and I like my food. I HIGHLY recommend the Supper Club to anyone who goes on this ship. Yeah, it costs an extra $25 per person, but you can not get a meal like that anywhere for that kind of money. Run, do not walk, to make your reservations.

 

I personally stuck with the ship's excursions since I'm still relatively new at this. They were organized very well, although twice we had to leave without people who had not shown up. We did wait beyond the scheduled departure time, but eventually had to leave to get back in time.

Hilo - did the Chain of Craters tour. While physically impressive, this tour does not involve seeing any actual volcanic activity. Still very enjoyable.

Kauai - tubing the ditch. This journey down irrigation canals and through five different underground tunnels on an inner tube was a blast!

Maui - bus tour of Haleakala, I'ao Needle, and Lahaina. The view from the top of Haleakala is absolutely breathtaking. We had a perfect day for the trip, which really helped. If you are going to go to the top of the mountain, do so in the morning before things cloud up.

Kona - I love coffee, so I went on the Coffee Plantation tour. Wasn't quite what I expected. I thought we would see an actual plantation tour, but the tour was actually run by an historical society and showed how the early Japanese coffee farmers lived and worked. Still very interesting, and I bought some Kona coffee to bring home.

Honolulu - another bus tour. Went to Pearl Harbor (VERY moving) and various other points including the North Shore, a macadamia nut farm, the Dole Plantation, and several spots the driver knew about.

 

Sorry for taking up so much of your posting, Allen. I hope to meet you and the others on future Carnival cruises!

 

Jack Nickels

[PACURN]

Thanks for the great info. i'm booking the same cruise next year. I'm not looking forward to the 5 days at sea. It have 2 kids who, by then will have gotten on my last nerve I'm sure. I'm thinking playstation. It's too bad they don't have an Island cruise like NCL. The one way airfare has to be expensive.

Thanks again

[AllenF]

Hey Jack,

 

You forgot to tell them about you locking yourself out of your room ;) .

 

It was very nice to meet you also and please provide any details or info about the cruise for everyone in other words expand away :) .

Jack is correct the 1st day is a BEAR for sure but it improved tremdously the closer we got to Hawaii.

[Flip2cruise]

Great review! I might end up doing this cruise in 2007.

[Flip2cruise]

Allen, did you happen to keep your Capers for this cruise?

[AllenF]

Yes i did because someone from here asked me to mail them to them which i did so I no longer have them . I believe they are going on the April 2006 cruise so if you find their roll all you can asked them about them. I deleted the email info I had on them a while back sorry but I can try to answer any questions you might have

[cruise pup]

Allen, did you happen to keep your Capers for this cruise?

 

Hi, Liberty Cruiser. The thread for the solo bookings has been closed down, but I had a quesiton for you so I hunted you down to another thread you were currently on to ask it. First of all, thanks for th clarification about the window 1A cabins. I know which ones you mean. They are towards the aft and there seems to be some kind of internal stairwell it is "wrapped around". Since you are familiar with these cabins I was wondering what the layout is like due to the irregular shape of the cabin.

[Flip2cruise]

Hi, Liberty Cruiser. The thread for the solo bookings has been closed down, but I had a quesiton for you so I hunted you down to another thread you were currently on to ask it. First of all, thanks for th clarification about the window 1A cabins. I know which ones you mean. They are towards the aft and there seems to be some kind of internal stairwell it is "wrapped around". Since you are familiar with these cabins I was wondering what the layout is like due to the irregular shape of the cabin.

 

Hi..I have just heard that they are larger(220 sq feet?? ) than the regular 1a and have a window. Let me see if I can find the thread where someone was giving lots of details about it. I plan to take lots of pics of the cabin in December, because I know lots of people are curious about them.

[Flip2cruise]

Yes i did because someone from here asked me to mail them to them which i did so I no longer have them . I believe they are going on the April 2006 cruise so if you find their roll all you can asked them about them. I deleted the email info I had on them a while back sorry but I can try to answer any questions you might have

 

Thanks, I will check out that roll call. I didnt really have a specific question right now, why just curious about the daily activities and how it differed from the usual caribbean cruises.