Diamond versus carnival Spirit

[beckyrxtech]

Hi everyone I have been on the Diamond princess before, have never been on a carnival cruise before, but there is a new itinery out of san Diego on the carnival spirit that I want to try, anyone here prefer the diamond over a new itinery? if you have done that one before, and cabo is a very short day in port on the diamond. 8 days on the carnival spirit is a bit less expensive also, thanks for anyones imput Becky :)

[Charliesmom]

I have not been on either the Diamond or the Spirit, but I have been on the Golden and the Miracle.

 

My observations:

 

1. I like the size of the Miracle better than the size of the Golden.

2. Decorations on any Princess ship are much more tasteful and subdued than on Carnival ships which are "over the top" - over-decorated and usually not beautifully. That said, our stateroom (category 11) on the Miracle was extremely tasteful and very nicely appointed.

3. A balcony stateroom on a Spirit Class ship (of which the Miracle is one) has a couch in it. a balcony stateroom on Princess has one easy chair and one desk chair.

4. Food quality was approximately the same in the dining room on the Carnival Miracle as on any Princess ship. I have been on the Carnival Victory and the food was so bad my husband lost three pounds. There were fewer choices on the Miracle menu than on Princess.

5. Carnival Miracle had a deli in the buffet area that was superb.

6. Carnival's hamburgers at the grill by the pool were much tastier than those that Princess has in the Terrace Grill.

7. I couldn't get an English Muffin at the buffet on the Miracle. Nor could I get a HOT piece of toast. Everything was on a hot table. However, the Miracle did make omelettes to order. Breakfast was exactly the same every day. Princess had variety on the buffet at breakfast. It was not the same every day.

8. Carnival is LOUD. They turn up the PA to unbearable (for me and my family) levels. You cannot ignore it at the pool. You cannot ignore it when they play games at dinner. We had to leave a show on the Beatles because it was too loud.

9. When you win at Trivia on Carnival, they give you a Carnival medal. When you win at Trivia on Princess, they give you luggage tags, luggage straps, clocks, little fans and sometimes Princess tote bags.

10. Carnival does a lousy job at tender ports. We had to wait in a long, long long line at Grand Cayman to get back on the ship after a Carnival-sponsored excursion to Stingray City. There was no escort back to the ship. They just dropped us off a couple of blocks from the tender pier. We had to wait almost an hour in the hot sun to get back onto the ship.

 

All of that being said, if the itinerary is important to you, you'll probably have a great time. However, what if weather or mechanical problems mean you have to miss a port? Would that ruin your good time?

 

Look up the web sites of the travel agencies that advertise on Cruise Critic and check out past passengers reviews of the Spirit. That will give you a better idea of that particular ship. There are usually several agencies listed. I think they all have reviews on their web sites.

 

Roberta

[mississauga]

I have been on both the Carnival Spirit and the Diamond Princess. However the itineraries were so different and for different # of days that it would not be fair to compare it in those areas.

We took the Carnival Spirit to Mexico for the 8 day cruise you are thinking about. The Diamond Princess was a 3 night sampler cruise from LA to Vancouver with no ports and only sea days. (We love sea days)

We have been on 5 Carnival cruises and the Spirit is my favorite. What a great ship! The Diamond was our 1st Princess cruise and boy were we impressed! We have been back on 2 Princess cruises since and are planning another one this year so you can tell that the Diamond made a very good impression on us.

We have been on 3 Mexican Riviera cruises and I have to say that the one on the Spirit is my least favorite itinerary. I had wanted to go back to Acapulco ( had been there over 20 years ago for 2 weeks and really loved it) but was disappointed in how much Acapulco has changed and was not impressed with the Acapulco of today (2005), it rained all day in Ixtapa/Zh

so we didn't see much of it, Manzillo was not very impressive. The other 2 cruises were on the Carnival Elation and the Dawn Princess and both itineraries were to Puerto Vallarta, Mazaltan and Cabo San Lucas. Much better ports than what the Spirit offers. If you don't care about the ports or do like the ports offered, then the ship is a great choice. The ship itself is beautiful, the food very good, full of fun activities and the shows were great. I can say the same for the Diamond. The food in the dining room were equal on both ships. As for the buffet, I cannot compare as I only went to the dining room for lunch on the Diamond ( prefer the dining room for lunch on most cruises). I can however say that I much preferred the buffet options on the Spirit over what most Princess ships have to offer. The buffets are basically set up the same on most Princess ships. On the Spirit, you had the option of lunch from a Chinese counter with all courses ( soups, rice dishes, meat, vefgetables, noodles etc.), a New York deli with choices of hot grilled sandwiches, a Rotessoria (sp?) with choices of chicken, ribs, roast beef etc and a Nations counter which rotated between Mexican, Italian, Indian etc each day. There were also salads and desserts to choose from. This was one ship where I could not resist going to the buffet area for lunch although I still tried to go to the dining room some days.

If I were to go to Mexico again on Carnival, I think I would go on the Pride which I hear is similiar to the Spirit but goes to the ports that I like. That's just my preference....others might prefer the Spirit's ports.

San Diego which is the Spirit's departure port is a great port.

[beckyrxtech]

I want to thank both members for the information, it will be very helpfull in deciding which cruise we want to try for next year, we are not very picky people and will probably try the carnival spirit as we find things to enjoy ourselves in new places, this will be the fourth cruiseline we are trying for the first time. So as you can see we love to do new things and see new places.

I always try and see a port we have never been to after 5 cruises that gets tough. We just got back from The Explorer of the Seas and only repeated one port we had been to but it had been 7 years since our last visit to Cozumel so it was nice to see the changes. I am sure we will go back on princess again, we have had wonderfull cruises throughout these years, only place we wont go to again is cancuun to modern for us and to much partying going on there, not that we dont like to enjoy ourselves, but we like to relax too. So anyone else who wants to talk about your experience on either the Diamond princess, which we did love, just wish cabo san lucas would have had more time, we had to be back on the ship by 130pm way too eary after getting off the ship around 9am. we have also been on the grand princess and loved that ship and cruise also! Thank you, Becky Caugherty

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Becky:

 

We haven't sailed on the Diamond, but we have sailed on Spirit twice--once to Alaska during her inaugural year and once to the southern Caribbean. We've also sailed the Pride (sister ship) to the Mexican Riviera.

 

So far the Spirit is our favorite ship and would sail her again in a heartbeat. It's easy to find your way around and the staff was great!

 

If you like the itinerary, I'm sure you would have a wonderful time on the Spirit.