Carnival Spirit 10/8/22: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

[natefish95]

What's up Cruise Critic family. I have a long wait at the Miami airport, so I figured I'd share some thoughts on my recent 8 day cruise on the Carnival Spirit from Miami to Puerto Plata, San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. I'm not going to be super detailed because I have the attention span of a goldfish and with the exception of a few great posters, no one cares about that kind of detail. 

 

If you have any specific questions about things I didn't touch on, feel free to ask! I'm going to break down the onboard part into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (and there will be an ugly bit, so stay tuned), and the four ports of call. 

 

For some background, I'm Nate and live in Arlington, Virginia and I've been traveling solo since the NCL Escape back in 2017. As you can see from my signature, I mostly do Carnival and NCL, with some Royal sprinkled in recently. My preferred line is NCL because they treat the solos well, but I still love Carnival and keep coming back. 

[natefish95]

Let's be positive for once on her and start with...

 

The Good

• The ship-This was my first time on the Spirit class and first time on the Carnival Spirit. I loved the layout of the ship and it never felt too crowded or jam packed (unless you get stuck behind a Berlin Wall-like blockade of scooters and walkers. Let's have some spatial self-awareness puz-lease!)
• Embarkation-I used Verifly, but they didn't bother to look at it. It was still super quick and painless. 
• Debarkation-Again, super quick and painless. I walked off with my bag around 8:45 and it was not crowded or chaotic like it normally is
• Alchemy Bar-Seriously, this was a genius part on Carnival's end. Amazing drinks and amazing bartenders as always. I love craft cocktails, so this is my favorite place on board. Viktor, who just ended his contract today actually, has been on Spirit for almost NINE MONTHS, since before the initial startup in Jacksonville. He's coming to Miracle in a month, so make sure you seek him out. Katiya and Giovanni were the other alchemists and were also amazing. (Gio kept making me a strawberry vodka drink with raspberries that was incredible)
• The Cruise Director Erin-She might be one of my low key favorites. She's not cheesy and doesn't rely on gimmicks or lame jokes to be a CD. She's personable and engaging. Specifically I really enjoyed her during the Military Appreciate gathering and the Love and Marriage show
• The Military Appreciation Gathering-Carnival is the only one who does something like this and it's one of my favorite things every cruise. I love that they have a dedicated event for us to support our military
• Most Food-I'll get into a few notable misses in The Bad section, but by and large, the food was really good. This is super subjective, so I won't drag this out
• Blue Iguana Cantina-these burritos and tacos are always delicious. I had so many this week. The exact number I had is between me and God only
• Chopsticks in the buffet-I love Asian food and eat it frequently at home. Every time I went this food was delicious. I really appreciated all the sauces (including hot oil!!!) at the end of the buffet.
• Steakhouse-A friend graciously invited me to join him in the steakhouse. The food was excellent and the company was even better. The wasabi mashed potatoes are an unusual pairing, but absolutely delicious
• Fitness Center/Spa-I love that this class as a free sauna and steam room in the locker room. I hate the trend of tiny co-ed thermal suites that are an upcharge. I actually used the gym and there was a lot of equipment, free weights, etc. Everything you need for a ship workout. The rower may have been broken or I'm just idiot.

 

 

I'm sure there is plenty more, but that what I have for now. I'll add more when I think of it. Goldfish-like attention span, remember? 

[natefish95]

Now to what y'all really want to hear...this won't be too long, but a few things i want to mention

 

The Bad

• The music in Serenity. Oh my god it was awful. They were playing the hits of the 1930's it felt like, which was appropriate because the music made me depressed. I heard someone else complain and the staff member said they can't change it. 
• Love music in general- Reallyyyyyyy weak offerings this week. There was a quartet that played that I didn't care for. There was a duo that played that wasn't very good in my opinion. There was always a latin band, but I didn't hear them much. The guitar player was also just...meh. I only saw the piano bar on the schedule once or twice. I never saw him, but heard he was good. The music this weak was just bad in general (i miss the country duo from the Valor)
• Housekeeping- I'll get into this in The Ugly section, but my room steward was not great. I found a dirty nail file in the closet, didn't get fresh towels sometimes, cups weren't taken away, and he tried to force me into AM service. Really disappointing. 
• Service in the steakhosue- the food was great, but service was not great. It wasn't crowded and they didn't seem understaffed. We kept having to ask for drink refills. Items were forgotten. And it took FOREVER
• The Deli-They apparently got a new menu (which I probably would have never noticed honestly). The sandwiches this were just not good in my opinion. I got a buffalo chicken sandwich and she put something on it that looked and tasted like a carrot, but still not 100% sure what it was... Most of them were so bread-heavy with not enough inside. They also didn't have fries but once and had regular lays chips instead. Personal preference, but I'd rather have fries.
• Bonsai-So it wasn't thaaaat bad, but if I'm going to an upcharge restaurant, I'd expect something a bit better. The salmon tiradito was really, really tiny (good flavor though). I also got two rolls and they were fine, but nothing outstanding. I've had much better sushi on NCL honestly. For dessert I got the yuzu custard and it was not great. This might have been a texture issue, which is on me admittedly, but it was just weirdly gelatinous and chunky at the same time
• Guys Burgers- Y'all, this is the most overrated thing in the entire Carnival universe. The burgers are overcooked and flavorless. The fires are bland and not like the good, seasoned ones they used to have. The burger I just had in the Miami airport was far better than Guys

 

None of these were all that major, but I feel like it was worth mentioning. Mostly a personal opinion, so feel free to disagree and judge for yourself!

[icft]

I'm salivating for the ugly 😁

[havanadaydreaming]

Looking forward to the thread. We sail Spirit in Dec.  Will be my 10th different Carnival ship but ive really had fun on each one. 

[natefish95]

And now for...

 

The Ugly

So this was not great. I stayed in cabin 8118, which is forward on Deck 8. It was directly below the spa and I thought it was a great location. Would stay in this location again. My issue was with houskeeping. I touched on it above with finding a dirty nail file, towels, cups, etc. That wasn't the main issue.

 

(side bar-the bed was really comfy and I had nice firm pillows that supported by head well. I hate the flat pancake pillows)

 

On night two at about midnight, I was in that weird half-asleep/half-awake phase. I felt something fall onto my head and thought a hair was just tickling my forehead. I have very short hair (and a receding hairlines), so there isn't a long hair to get out of place, but that's how I rationalized it when I was half asleep. THEN I FELT SOMETHING SCURRY ACROSS MY FACE. Let me say that again. Something quickly crawled across my face in my bed. I flipped the light on so fast and found a COCKROACH crawling around in my bed. I ran and grabbed some toilet paper and killed it and flushed it. 

 

I went down to guest services because I feel like a cockroach running across my face in my cabin is something to be reported and not just me being a Karen. The guest services guy really didn't seem interested at all and just said he'd call housekeeping. Went back to my room and the housekeeping deck manager and another guy came by. I didn't have a picture and they couldn't find anything, so they just kinda left and said to call them if I need anything. Fine. Whatever. I just want to go bed.

 

On the St. Maarten night, it was about 2am and I woke up and felt something crawling on my chest. IT WAS ANOTHER COCKROACH. I flipped out again, but this one escaped my wrath, BUT I got a picture of it to prove that I'm not crazy and there was indeed cockroaches in my cabin. I called housekeeping and the deck supervisor and the pest control guy came by. They couldn't find anything, but left some traps and said they'd do a thorough search when I'm in St. Thomas and check every nook and cranny. Ok cool.

 

Got back from St. Thomas and it looked like they had indeed searched my cabin but didn't leave a note or anything. Waited until my steward turned down my cabin. Still no note or mention of anything. I walked down to guest services that night and showed a lovely guy named Angel the pictures and asked if there was any news. He pulled up my account and read me the report from housekeeping. They did search my cabin and found a cockroach (and killed it). He actually took the time to listen and empathized that two cockroaches have crawled across my body while trying to sleep. He refunded some onboard charges and tried to offer more, but I politely declined because refunding charges was more than enough. I was just glad someone listened and cared. 

 

He offered me to move cabins, but I did not want to pack everything up, move it, and unpack for the last 4 days. 

 

On night 6,  lightning struck a third time in the same spot and I found a third cockroach on my bed and a fourth on my wall. I killed them both with a fury and went to bed angry. I didn't bother going to guest services because there isn't much else they can do. They refunded charges and it's too late in the cruise to move cabins. Thankfully I had no issues the last two nights. 

 

In summary, I found FOUR COCKROACHES in my cabin. The first guest services guy couldn't care less. Housekeeping was not communicative and my steward was not the best. 

 

This was a frustrating issue to deal with, but has to be (hopefully) a rare occurrence onboard a ship. 

 

TL;DR-don't stay in cabin 8118 on the Carnival Spirit unless you're an entomologist. 

[natefish95]

14 minutes ago, icft said:

I'm salivating for the ugly 😁

just posted about my roach roomies haha

[knagl]

Thank you for your review. We sail on Spirit this December and I appreciate the information you shared.

 

As far as the Ugly part: O.M.G.  I think I would have required a helicopter evacuation off the ship after the first incident, and I'm pretty sure I would have insisted that they light the room on fire after the second time. Ugh! I'm good about letting minor stuff slide, but that's horrible. You're a lot braver than I am -- I wouldn't have been able to sleep in that room after the first time.

[ShakyBeef]

Oh. My. Gosh.  I am legit nauseated by your cockroach encounters.  Just one would be enough to freak me out for the rest of the cruise.  But FOUR!!!???🤢🤮  That is utterly disgusting and unacceptable!  I'm no Karen, but I would want a lot of compensation for that horrible experience.  Thank you for taking the time and telling us about it.

[icft]

20 minutes ago, natefish95 said:

just posted about my roach roomies haha

It was worth waiting for. Thanks for the warning! I won't be sailing on Spirit. We have over 30 cruises on Carnival and have never seen a roach on a ship - at least not the living creature kind.

[ShakyBeef]

1 minute ago, icft said:

It was worth waiting for. Thanks for the warning! I won't be sailing on Spirit. We have over 30 cruises on Carnival and have never seen a roach on a ship - at least not the living creature kind.

 

Neither have I, thank the Lord. 

 

So... I'm now morbidly wondering if the whole ship is super-infested (which I think would make them fail inspection), or if possibly more likely a previous guest in this room brought super-infested luggage from home.  I know that some people live in such conditions, as disgusting as it is for me to think about.  I've seen "Hoarders" and even saw an episode of a cruise fanatic hoarder with a roach-infested home.🤮

 

Excuse me, I think I need to go clean something, or sanitize something, or shower for the second time today.  Or anything to get rid this creepy gross ick feeling.  Wine.  Lots and lots of wine.🍷🍷🍷

[ShakyBeef]

And then the work that would have to be put into making sure you don't bring any of the roaches home with you in your luggage... OK, I gotta stop thinking about this and go open the wine.

[icft]

17 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

 

...So... I'm now morbidly wondering if the whole ship is super-infested...

 

🍷🍷🍷

I figure it either is or soon will be. That many in one cabin makes me think they are in the walls, ceiling etc. They could catch it early if they were willing to block off that part of the ship and do some heavy fumigation. But my guess is they have the rooms booked and are not going to cancel a bunch of folks. Instead they will probably do spot treatments with the roaches spreading out and away from the danger zone, until the treatment dissipates at which point they will be moving from the new spot treatment areas back to the newly safe areas - an endless cycle. 

[ShakyBeef]

So, the first thing I do upon entering my cabin is a thorough bedbug check.  I educated myself online how to do this properly.  But how does one do a roach check?  I mean, they don't just 'hang out' in one particular area, right?  Thank God, I fortunately have practically no experience with roaches, and so am quite ignorant of their habits.  I know to inspect under and around sinks, for example, but where and what else should I look for?  Admittedly (and also thankfully) I have no experience with bedbugs, so maybe I should just go to Professor Google, as I did about them for the roach inspection tips?  Ick, I hate this!  I'm so grossed-out right now.😟

[icft]

3 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

So, the first thing I do upon entering my cabin is a thorough bedbug check.  I educated myself online how to do this properly.  But how does one do a roach check?  I mean, they don't just 'hang out' in one particular area, right?  Thank God, I fortunately have practically no experience with roaches, and so am quite ignorant of their habits.  I know to inspect under and around sinks, for example, but where and what else should I look for?  Admittedly (and also thankfully) I have no experience with bedbugs, so maybe I should just go to Professor Google, as I did about them for the roach inspection tips?  Ick, I hate this!  I'm so grossed-out right now.😟

I'm not going to even think about it. I will just avoid Spirit. Like I said, over 30 weeks of cruises and I have never seen a roach on a cruise.

[icft]

1 hour ago, knagl said:

Thank you for your review. We sail on Spirit this December and I appreciate the information you shared.

 

As far as the Ugly part: O.M.G.  I think I would have required a helicopter evacuation off the ship after the first incident, and I'm pretty sure I would have insisted that they light the room on fire after the second time. Ugh! I'm good about letting minor stuff slide, but that's horrible. You're a lot braver than I am -- I wouldn't have been able to sleep in that room after the first time.

You are the brave one, you will be sailing on Spirit.

[knagl]

44 minutes ago, icft said:

You are the brave one, you will be sailing on Spirit.

 

True. I think the reality is that most every ship probably has bugs on it. I've been fortunate to not have unwanted guests in my room so far.

[Indiansbaseball]

Oh Lordy…we leave in 5 days for …yep Spirit. I am the worst when it comes to creepy crawly things ! I would move cabins and I would take all OBC offered. Now I’m dreading this cruise 😢

[ledges1]

Now we know why they are moving the Spirit to Mobile next October. The last stop before the Roach Motel checks out (Fantasy, Sensation, Ecstasy).

[kona_wahine]

We cruised Spirit in July deck 8 and thankfully never saw any bugs, yuck! Hopefully they fumigated after you vacated the room. 

[mz-s]

Carnival's food has taken a serious nosedive since COVID.

 

I hate that you found roaches in your room 4 times. I would have definitely moved rooms no matter if it was the last night! Disgusting! I hope you seriously leave your suitcases outside for a day or so and wash them IMMEDIATELY before you bring them inside.

 

I know it's hard for hotels and cruise ships etc to keep bugs under control with so many people coming and going all the time - but nasty!!!!

[natefish95]

5 hours ago, icft said:

It was worth waiting for. Thanks for the warning! I won't be sailing on Spirit. We have over 30 cruises on Carnival and have never seen a roach on a ship - at least not the living creature kind.

Don't let me one (very isolated) experience sour your on the Spirit. I still had a great time and loved the ship!

[natefish95]

3 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

Oh Lordy…we leave in 5 days for …yep Spirit. I am the worst when it comes to creepy crawly things ! I would move cabins and I would take all OBC offered. Now I’m dreading this cruise 😢

Don't dread it! There are like 1000 cabins onboard and I just drew the short straw this week I guess. I had such a great cruise-one of my favorites actually. I would do a cruise again on Spirit again!

[Ferry_Watcher]

40 minutes ago, natefish95 said:

I would do a cruise again on Spirit again!

Amazing review (honest, concise, well written) - Amazing attitude.  Thank you!

[1kaper]

18 hours ago, natefish95 said:

And now for...

 

The Ugly

So this was not great. I stayed in cabin 8118, which is forward on Deck 8. It was directly below the spa and I thought it was a great location. Would stay in this location again. My issue was with houskeeping. I touched on it above with finding a dirty nail file, towels, cups, etc. That wasn't the main issue.

 

(side bar-the bed was really comfy and I had nice firm pillows that supported by head well. I hate the flat pancake pillows)

 

On night two at about midnight, I was in that weird half-asleep/half-awake phase. I felt something fall onto my head and thought a hair was just tickling my forehead. I have very short hair (and a receding hairlines), so there isn't a long hair to get out of place, but that's how I rationalized it when I was half asleep. THEN I FELT SOMETHING SCURRY ACROSS MY FACE. Let me say that again. Something quickly crawled across my face in my bed. I flipped the light on so fast and found a COCKROACH crawling around in my bed. I ran and grabbed some toilet paper and killed it and flushed it. 

 

I went down to guest services because I feel like a cockroach running across my face in my cabin is something to be reported and not just me being a Karen. The guest services guy really didn't seem interested at all and just said he'd call housekeeping. Went back to my room and the housekeeping deck manager and another guy came by. I didn't have a picture and they couldn't find anything, so they just kinda left and said to call them if I need anything. Fine. Whatever. I just want to go bed.

 

On the St. Maarten night, it was about 2am and I woke up and felt something crawling on my chest. IT WAS ANOTHER COCKROACH. I flipped out again, but this one escaped my wrath, BUT I got a picture of it to prove that I'm not crazy and there was indeed cockroaches in my cabin. I called housekeeping and the deck supervisor and the pest control guy came by. They couldn't find anything, but left some traps and said they'd do a thorough search when I'm in St. Thomas and check every nook and cranny. Ok cool.

 

Got back from St. Thomas and it looked like they had indeed searched my cabin but didn't leave a note or anything. Waited until my steward turned down my cabin. Still no note or mention of anything. I walked down to guest services that night and showed a lovely guy named Angel the pictures and asked if there was any news. He pulled up my account and read me the report from housekeeping. They did search my cabin and found a cockroach (and killed it). He actually took the time to listen and empathized that two cockroaches have crawled across my body while trying to sleep. He refunded some onboard charges and tried to offer more, but I politely declined because refunding charges was more than enough. I was just glad someone listened and cared. 

 

He offered me to move cabins, but I did not want to pack everything up, move it, and unpack for the last 4 days. 

 

On night 6,  lightning struck a third time in the same spot and I found a third cockroach on my bed and a fourth on my wall. I killed them both with a fury and went to bed angry. I didn't bother going to guest services because there isn't much else they can do. They refunded charges and it's too late in the cruise to move cabins. Thankfully I had no issues the last two nights. 

 

In summary, I found FOUR COCKROACHES in my cabin. The first guest services guy couldn't care less. Housekeeping was not communicative and my steward was not the best. 

 

This was a frustrating issue to deal with, but has to be (hopefully) a rare occurrence onboard a ship. 

 

TL;DR-don't stay in cabin 8118 on the Carnival Spirit unless you're an entomologist. 

 

 

Oh god.  
We are booked on the Spirit next month.  Most of your issues I could live with but not the cockroach.  Eeeek!

We are on the 7th floor.