Spirit Review 04/27/2007 Honolulu to Vancouver repositioning cruise

[lnew1gd1]

My husband and I are mid to late 50s and we are experienced cruisers with this being my 6th and my husband’s 8th cruise. This was our second Carnival cruise. We stayed in a Cat 12 (Penthouse) suite. Prior to our departure, we filled out our pre-boarding information on the Carnival website, and printed out our Fun Passes.

 

We booked this Hawaiian Island/Alaska repositioning cruise with Carnival in October 2005. We sailed Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii to Vancouver, British Columbia, April 27, 2007 through May 9, 2007. We only did the Hawaii portion of this repositioning cruise.

 

We are East coast USA residents and flew Continental from NJ to LA, California where we stayed for 3 days at the Westin LAX. We then flew Hawaiian Airlines from LAX to Honolulu and stayed at the Sheraton Waikiki for 4 days before boarding. If you stay here make sure you ask for an updated room. Some of the rooms are showing a lot of wear and tear and have very old bedding. This hotel is a very busy hotel but is a great location right on the beach. We had an awesome view of all of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head and the ocean from our Lanai.

 

After disembarking at Canada Place in Vancouver, British Columbia we drove to Seattle and stayed there for 2 days at the Sheraton Seattle. We used our Sheraton Vacation Owners points for all our hotels and we were upgraded to Concierge level in Seattle.

 

We flew from Seatak on Alaska Air back to Newark Airport in NJ. The “meal” was $5.00 on Alaska Air and it was not edible. We both threw it away after only a few bites taken. Continental provided a microwaved pizza and a wilted brown very small lettuce salad and a non-alcoholic drink of choice at no charge. Hawaiian Airlines was the best airline of this vacation. The seats were the most comfortable and the meal was editable and free!

 

The overall tone of this cruise in general was not what we had paid for or had expected from a Hawaiian Island cruise. Please let me elaborate on the issues so that I may make myself clearer.

 

Please note that my complaint comments are not for myself but so that future Hawaii cruisers may not have to experience some of these issues which could have been easily resolved.

 

I only hope that the passenger that saved for many years to have a great Hawaiian Island cruise has not been turned off to Carnival by these “occurrences”.

 

We listened to many, many complaints from multiple passengers over our 12 day cruise with Carnival on the Spirit. All were in agreement that we were made to feel like Hawaii was just thrown in to Carnival’s schedule and that we really didn’t mean anything to Carnival’s management. Just a way for Carnival to make money until the cruise line was able to take the Spirit to Alaska.

 

Please don’t misconstrue my comments. We truly enjoyed this cruise and the wonderful new friends that we made on our very active Cruise Critic roll call! These wonderful people made this cruise very special for us.

 

I will only address the complaints and issues and compliments that we have personally experienced.

 

Embarkation at the Honolulu port:

We were able to drop off the luggage anytime after 11:00 AM and boarding began at 1 PM. If you are renting a car for your overnight in Honolulu please be aware that parking near the pier is very limited and almost non-existent. We did get into the lot right by the pier because my husband has a handicap parking placard and those were the only spaces available. The cost to park there overnight was $25.00 and it is not a secure lot. The attendant told us that there is a lot of vandalism at that lot and we should take that into consideration. We had no problem.

 

The line (singular) for embarkation was extremely long and slow and the area is very crowded. Lots of Honolulu traffic and foot traffic in the area. No real drop off area to unload luggage.

 

We had VIP status but it meant nothing, we were standing outside the building in the sun and heat in a very long, slow line. We witnessed passengers that required wheelchair assistance waiting in the heat and sun for a very long time before a wheelchair was provided for them.

 

There was nothing for VIP status until you got into the building past the security check, of which there were only two stations for the 2,124 passengers embarking and by that time VIP really didn’t matter. So, forget VIP status as it meant nothing at all. Once we passed the one check point at the entrance to the building and the 2 security stations inside we were on the ship in a matter of minutes.

 

There are no perks for VIP status if you are not Platinum level once you are on board. Every other ship line we have sailed has some type of perks for the upper level pricing staterooms.

 

Our cabin was ready and we dropped off our carry on luggage and went to explore the ship. All our luggage arrived before 4 PM. Then we were back off the ship to do some last minute shopping for water, and soda. We had no problem carrying back onto the ship one case of bottled water and two cases of 12 ounce bottles of Diet Pepsi. I do not like Coke and that is the cola of choice on Carnival. The soda card for this sailing was $64.00.

 

Our embarkation pictures were awful and for the first time ever we did not purchase the embarkation pictures which I love to have. Like I said...I guess we just didn't count and this should have been our first warning.

 

The pictures were done in a large public hallway and there were countless people walking in background. No Welcome to Hawaii sign or anything like that and many of the pictures we had seen including ours had industrial fans and other equipment in the pictures.

 

When the photos were processed wording with the islands that would be visited were added to the photos but that didn’t make the embarkation photo any nicer or worth bothering to purchase.

 

Our mandatory muster drill was performed our 2nd day on board in Honolulu at 5PM before sailing. This lasted about 20 minutes.

 

The Ship:

I must comment that the ship was very clean, in good physical condition and well laid out with a nice décor.

 

Sail Away:

Everyone I spoke to (including myself and my husband) really expected a nice sail away party. Well, it flopped. There was minimal fanfare for this sail away but there was some Hawaiian music from a 2 piece band at the Fantail Bar Deck 9 aft. Nothing like sail aways that we have experienced from the Caribbean Sea and on other ship lines.

 

No Hawaiian Leis (real or fake) on boarding or at sail away, nothing to make this cruise feel special. Actually, my group of friends that I sailed with from our roll call on Cruise Critic had used our own money to purchase a few hundred artificial flower, shell and Kukui Nut Leis and we all passed them out to other passengers on the Lido Deck at the buffet area on May 1, 2007, which was Lei Day on the islands.

 

The passengers and crew that we shared the leis with were very happy and appreciative of the gesture. This is truly something Carnival should have done, not the paying passengers.

 

Food and dining services:

We did not have any issues with the food in the main dining room at anytime or on the Lido deck for breakfast or lunch. In the main dining room everything we had was good or very good with some selections being excellent. Anything we didn't care for was replaced ASAP for us.

 

We were at 2nd seating, table 144, lower level and our wait staff was great. "Coko", our head waitress, had just received the employee of the month award and she was over the top trying to please us. She is extremely friendly, happy and always smiling and laughing. Our assistant waiter, Miklos, was excellent and aimed to please us no matter what our request.

 

Carnival likes to play a game of Teams of Red, White and Blue and the first night at dinner you will find out what team you are on. Throughout the rest of the cruise your team earns points for activities and the leading team is announced each night at dinner. We were on the white team and came in last! There is no award for the winning team but it encourages participation in the activities.

 

The dining staff entertains you each night after dinner with dancing, singing and frivolities.

 

On the Lido deck at the La Playa Grille I do have a few comments….. we were in Hawaii! Where was the fresh Hawaiian fruit that everyone was expecting? We saw some Pineapple but there was no Papaya or Coconut seen at all. Pineapple was also available on the fruit buffet but mostly the fruit buffet was oranges, bananas, apples, grapes and watermelon. We can get any of those at home at any time of the year and the ship ran out of bananas before the cruise was over. Again, nothing special was done for us being in Hawaii.

 

The La Playa Grill was horrible for dinner and you were almost forced to eat in the main dining room if you were hungry. Only one station was open, all the others were closed except the grill and the Pizza station and the selection of courses at the one open station were minimal. The quality of the food was very poor for dinner at the La Playa Grille. Nothing like the dinner buffets on other cruise lines or like we had experienced on our past Carnival cruise on the Sprit’s sister ship, the Miracle.

 

Hot dogs, Hamburgs, steak sandwiches and salads and all the fixin’s were available during the day at the grill on the Lido Deck.

 

There was a Sushi station set up in the evenings on Deck 2 by the Fountain Café.

 

The Fountain Café had baked goods, milk shakes, coffee etc. available for purchase.

 

The ice cream stations were wonderful and it was very nice to see toppings to make Sundaes occasionally.

 

Kudos’ to the Nouveau Supper Club on it’s delightful décor. The food was excellent but the “background” dinner music and singer were so loud that we could not hear one word that the waiter was saying to us. This is to be background entertainment not center stage!

 

There was a group of 10 of us and 2 gentlemen were hearing challenged. Our group ranged in ages from 40s to 60s. The background music and singer were so loud throughout the entire evening that these gentlemen could not enjoy their “special” dining experience with us. Hearing aides amplify background noise and this background noise bothered everyone, not only them.

 

We had asked the waiters and the hostess multiple times to ask the entertainers to turn down the amplifiers but to no avail. We could barely have any conversation during dinner because we just couldn’t hear each other even if we yelled.

 

We did get an apology after our dinner was over and we were leaving the restaurant but it was to late, the evening that we had all looked forward to for months was not what it should have been.

 

I must note here that the supper club was just about empty and that could have been the reason that it was so loud.

 

Another evening our Empire Dining Room table mates had dinner in the supper club and they told us that it wasn’t loud at all.

 

The food at the supper club was excellent and the service was impeccable. I had lobster and my husband had the Filet. Both were done to perfection. Everyone was pleased with the appetizers, salads, soups and main courses. Dessert was enjoyed by all! If you order the Cheesecake please be aware that it is not what you normally would be served. It is more like a mouse but, all the same, it was very good. The charge for the supper club was $30.00 pp plus drinks.

 

Stateroom:

Our cabin was wonderful. We had Cat. 12, Penthouse, stateroom number 6207 and it was all we expected except for one small issue. There are no longer any chaise lounges on this lovely larger balcony. All we had were two tiny chairs (one which the back did recline somewhat) and one small round table. The one main thing that we were looking forward to this trip was being on this larger balcony and being able to relax in a chaise lounge, especially on our 5 sea days….what a huge disappointment.

 

I did ask our room steward to see if he could bring us two chaise lounges or at least one and his supervisor refused to allow us to have any. I do know of some Cat. 11, corner aft wraps that were allowed 2 chaise lounges on their balcony.

 

The stateroom balcony is very large but the life boats are directly under the balcony on Deck 5 so you could not look straight down and see the ocean. But, you could see over the life boats to the ocean. Not a problem….we loved it anyway!

 

Our room steward “Boom” was otherwise exceptional in his service. He always greeted us by name and never missed an opportunity to say now nice we looked or to wish us a good day, tell us to enjoy our dinners or to ask if there was anything else we wanted or needed.

 

Our stateroom was always spotless and he was “Johnny on the spot” with any other of our requests.

 

The bathroom was huge! A full size whirlpool tub/shower, a bidet, a toilet and a vanity with 2 sinks. Storage on both sides of the very large mirror for toiletries. There is also a large vanity just off the bed area that has one sink and drawer storage where the hair dryer is kept. Large mirror with lights on 3 sides.

 

Word of advice. The hair dryer has a very short cord and is connected to a power source inside a drawer. Not much cord so that you had to sit on the stool to dry your hair….no standing to see in the mirror while you are using it. Also, you have to continuously hold the button down to keep the hair dryer running. Bring a heavy rubber band to place over the button so you don’t have to hold it all the time. Or, better yet…bring your own!

 

There are no usable outlets in the bathroom, just one marked for shavers. There is only one outlet in the cabin and that is on the vanity outside the bathroom. About ½ way through the cruise we found out that if we pulled the one TV in the cabin all the way out of the entertainment center and rotated it toward the bed that there was a power strip behind the TV but it isn’t easy to access.

 

There was a ton of storage in this cabin. 3 closets, one had shelving down the left side and a hanging area on the right and an overhead storage shelf, the other two had hanging storage and an overhead storage shelf. There was one full size dresser, storage in the end tables on either side of the bed and in the end table at the end of the couch. There were drawers in the desk area and drawers under the couch. The small table in front of the couch moves up and down so you can adjust the level if you want to use it as a table to eat. 2 chairs are in the cabin opposite the couch and table.

 

The lighting was awesome in this cabin. More lights (ceiling, small table lamps, mirror lighting) than you needed. The beds had the Carnival Comfort bedding and we slept like babies!

 

Entertainment and on board shopping experience:

We had small issues with the entertainment in that it seemed that they just brushed off all of Hawaii travelers and anything to do with Hawaii in the way of entertainment. The cruise director did wear a Hawaiian Lei everyday.

 

Carnival concentrated on the following Alaska portion of this B2B “Fire and Ice” cruise. There was nothing in the gift shop for Hawaii, lots of leftovers from the Mexico sailings and all the toys, shot glasses, magnets, shirts etc. were are for Alaska! Great for the 400 people that were on board doing the B2B but not for the over 1700 people that were only doing Hawaii.

 

I understand that the stores are not Carnival owned but when we asked why we could not purchase anything on board that was Hawaii related we were told that since this itinerary is only done 4 times a year that nothing for Hawaii is stocked. Sorry, but I do not want to take home a shirt that says Carnival Spirit, Alaska or a box of smoked Salmon when I sailed Hawaii!

 

If you are going to market an Hawaiian Island Cruise then you need to provide the Hawaiian Island experiences that go along with being in the Land of Paradise and that includes shopping on board.

 

Our first night on board in Honolulu the entertainment in the Pharaoh’s Place was Fito Giron, a comedian. My husband attended this show and said it was very good. I did not go to this show.

 

The 2nd day on board was still in Honolulu and the entertainment was the Welcome Aboard Show hosted by cruise director Shawn Bussey. The Carnival dancers and vocals of Stephanie Bell and Jason Pritchett were very entertaining. Lowell Sanders, comedian, did two shows this evening and an Adult Only show at 11:00 PM.

 

The hypnotist on board was Chuck Milligan and his performance heavily involved the audience. He did 2 shows and a late night Adult Only show.

 

Mrs. Hughes, a female comedian, performed 2 shows and one late night Adult Only show.

 

I am not going to go into daily details about all the shows and entertainers except to say that they were all fair to very good.

Don’t miss the “Standing Room Only” show by the Carnival Dances….WOW, awesome show.

 

Tendering:

Our tender lines in Lahaina were horrible when we were returning to the ship. Very long, extremely slow and it was hot, hot, hot!!! No water set up for Carnival passengers or even an apology. Celebrity was there with us and they set up linen covered tables with ice water and juices for their passengers and their lines and tenders moved very fast.

 

We were on the first non-Carnival Excursion Tender at 9 AM for Kona. We and 15 other passengers had an 8:45 AM private excursion booked. Something that we wanted to do that Carnival didn’t offer. Again an area where if Carnival wasn’t getting our money we were ignored.

 

We told the staff working the tender lines that we had to be off earlier for a privately booked excursion but they absolutely refused us. That didn't happen on our other Carnival cruise. The staff on the other ship was very understanding and did everything possible to accommodate us.

 

Then the tender driver didn't know how to work the tender or it’s steering and we sat in the harbor for almost 40 minutes while he tried to figure out how to drive it. He had to radio into the ship for instructions. Then he stalled it for a long while before he could get it restarted and then he couldn't dock it. We hit the Celebrity tender in front of us and we hit the dock a few times. Thank goodness our privately booked excursion was very understanding and they waited for us. We did not miss our excursion because of Carnival’s unwillingness to accommodate passengers not purchasing excursions through them.

 

Non specific issues:

On the last sea night there was a drawing for a cruise. The drawing was at 10 minutes to 10 PM and we found out after we spent $20.00 for the tickets, that we had to be present for the drawing or you would be ineligible.

 

Well, long story short, we had 2nd seating in the dining room and this was our last night with our wait staff and table mates. We had to cut our dinner short and there would be no deserts for us this evening. We were unable to say a proper good bye and thank you to the staff and our new friends. We had not ever been out of the dining room before 10 PM. We literally had to run out of the dining room to the Pharaoh’s lounge on the opposite side of the ship.

 

There was no reason for this drawing to be held so late and interfere with our dinner and why did we have to be present?? We were all on board at sea….where could we have gone???

 

We did complain to the Carnival Staff selling the tickets but we were rudely brushed off and we were told “well, don’t buy them then”. Of course, this was too late. We had already made the purchase of the tickets.

 

Ship’s Captain:

Our Captain seemed non-existent until sea days but then acted like it was a bother to be present at the Captains Party or Past Passenger Party.

 

At the Captain’s Party, 1st formal night, he didn’t even have the decency to be present to greet guests upon their arrival at the Pharaoh’s Lounge. He did show up on stage ¾ of the way through the party to tell us what a good job he and the staff were doing and to tell us that he plans to retire soon.

 

The Captain never showed up at the Past Passenger Party to acknowledge us at all. What a disappointment he was as a ship’s captain. But, I must say, our sailing was a good one except for weather related issues over which he had no control. He did his job well and I guess that is what matters the most!

 

SPA services:

I used the salon (which I know is a consignment to Carnival) twice. It is the last time I will use salon services on board. I had my nails done the day of the 1st formal night for a cost of $50.00 which is $30.00 more than at home and my hair “done” later that day for a cost of just short of $50.00.

 

Before the completion of the cruise, 4 days later, one acrylic layer had completely lifted off and broke my natural nail. This is a service that should have lasted 2 weeks.

 

As far as my hair, it was a total waste of money. I left the salon at 6:15 PM and within ½ hour at 6:45 my hair was completely straight and sticking out in a million different directions. I had to hurry and re-wash my shoulder length hair and re-style it myself. I barely made it to formal night dinner in the Empire Dining Room in time to be seated for dinner.

 

I made 2 attempts to contact the SPA manager to complain and request a refund but to no avail. I was told the first time that he was at lunch and the next time that they were unsure where the manager was and to try again later. I just gave up and learned a good lesson. I will not use the salon services ever again.

 

We did not use the gym but did explore the area. The gym area is laid out nicely in different levels. There are free weights, treadmills, and more. The Hot Tub in the Spa was large and the water was much hotter than those on deck.

 

Cruise Director:

Our cruise director, Shawn Bussey (female) was excellent. She was full of energy and excitement and really knew how to get the crowd motivated and in the Aloha spirit. She always wore a Hawaiian Lei and made sure that she used the terms Aloha and Mahalo you frequently. Her cruise assistants were great also.

 

Ports and excursions:

First let me say that we did not do any Carnival excursions. We either rented a car, used a shuttle or did privately booked excursions with people from out Cruise Critic roll call group.

 

Ports visited were Honolulu 2 days docked, Kahului, Maui one day docked, Lahaina, Maui one day tendered, Hilo, Hawaii one day docked, Nawiliwili, Kauai one day docked, Kona, Hawaii one day tendered. We then had 5 days at sea.

 

Honolulu: We stayed 4 days in Waikiki before boarding the ship. We had rented a car for all days. Visited were the “musts”. Of course, Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor, The Japanese Fisherman’s Shrine, blow holes, the swap meet at the Aloha Stadium, Polynesian Cultural Center, Turtle Beach, Sharks Cove, Sunset Beach, Wailua Bay beach and jumping rock, Byodo-In Temple, Dole Pineapple Plantation, Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, Leonard’s Bakery for malasadas (yummy) and more!

 

You definitely need more than the 2 days the ship is docked in Honolulu to see everything. Wonderful sites to see but Honolulu reminded us of Miami, Florida. Busy, heavy traffic and tons and tons of people.

 

Our roll call group had our meet and greet at Duke’s Canoe Bar Waikiki Beach and had an awesome time…..make sure to try the Hula Pie!

 

Kahului, Maui: Rented a car and drove the road to Hana. Took us 7 ½ hours to complete the trip. We stopped everywhere! Tons of waterfalls, rainbows, and beautiful foliage to see.

 

Stopped at a black sand beach to swim but the bottom was very rocky. Water was a beautiful clear deep blue. We drove all the way to the Seven Sacred Pools at Oheo Gulch. Watch out for all those one lane bridges! What a ride.

 

Lahaina, Maui: We had a motorcycle reserved but due to a “glitch” in the reservation we cancelled. We then took the free shuttle bus to Whaler’s Village and spent the day at the beach there snorkeling and sunning. Beautiful beach; cabanas and water toys available for rent.

 

Then we spent the rest of our time walking around the area and visited some shops and Banyan Tree Park. Wow, that tree is something to see.

 

Hilo, Hawaii: We did a private tour with a group of people from our roll call and had an awesome time. Visited another black sand beach, Volcanoes National Park, an Orchid farm, Liliuokalani Gardens-a Japanese themed garden, Big Island Candies (free samples of Kona coffee, candy and cookies), Banyan Tree Boulevard, Rainbow Falls, Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut farm (more free samples), walked through a lava tube. A great day.

 

Nawiliwili, Kauai----our favorite island!: We rented a car and shared it with a couple and their 10 year old son for the day. Drove to Waimea Canyon and spent a long time there. What a sight to behold!

 

Then we drove to Poi Pu Beach and got the treat of our lives. The Monk Seals were on the beach! Beautiful beach and the seals. What more could we have asked for?

 

Next was a drive to Spouting Horn and a look a some very active Blow holes. Made the blow holes on Oahu look pitiful.

 

Kona, Hawaii: We did a privately booked snorkeling excursion again with some of our roll call group. We rode a zodiac type boat to Place of Refuge to snorkel and saw literally hundreds of Spinner Dolphins swimming and playing. Green Sea turtles made a visit also.

 

Then we sailed to Captain Cooks Monument at Kealakekua Bay, the snorkeling there was good. Nice coral. Had to watch out for the sea swells. Changing seasons seas and swells made snorkeling around the islands a challenge at times.

 

Other things we did on ship usually involved our roll call group. We did a cabin crawl with a “poker run”, a slot pull, had our picture taken as a group with our life jackets on after the muster drill on the Atrium Lobby stairs, dinner together at the supper club, passed out Lei’s on Lei Day to everyone at the La Playa Grill. It was an awesome trip that we will never forget.

 

The ship had the usual Hairy Chest Contest, Battle of the Sexes, Newly Wed and not so Newly Wed game, ice carving exhibition, deck party on the Lido deck one night with good music, dancing and tons of fun, Survivor game, trivia by the pool, lots of dance lessons and other games and contests.

 

The adult disco changed their music around midnight to Hip Hop and so we usually left about then. (not our choice in music)

 

Our seas days were overcast for the most part and became quite a bit cooler the last 3 sea days as we neared the great Northwest Coast. Seas became rougher with 8 foot swells one day and lots of “sloshing” of the pools.

 

Didn’t see many people even at the pool sunning themselves the last few days….too windy. The stairways to upper decks were roped off die to “dangerous winds”.

 

We cruised past the Lava Flow on the Big Island about 11:00 PM the night we left the islands. The Captain turned the ship around 360 degrees so everyone could get a view of the flow.

 

Other than the few “challenging” areas I noted we did enjoy our experience in Hawaii and our time cruising. We could not and would not dwell on small issues.

 

Thank you for letting me express my joys and my disappointments related to this cruise. Will I sail Carnival again? Yes, but never to/from Hawaii again.

 

Would I recommend Carnival’s Hawaii repositioning cruises to anyone? No. In fact, I will recommend that they do their homework and look at other lines to sail the Hawaiian Islands.

 

For now, Mahalo and Aloha. At least we heard that from the crew throughout the journey.

 

We are looking forward to our repeat Carnival Cruise on the Miracle in December. Hopefully that experience will be as wonderful as our first experience was with Carnival Cruise Lines.

 

If you would like to view any pictures of this cruise you may visit my Picasa web albums at www.picasaweb.google.com/lnew1gd1

[SmooCruise]

Thanks for the informative review. Personally I feel Hawaii is better to do as a land-based vacation rather than from a cruise ship. There is just too much to see and do! I also always recommend to my friends going to Hawaii to be sure to include another island along with Oahu. Yes...there is TONS of must-see on Oahu. But as you stated....it has gotten very crowded. I feel that more of the "Hawaiaan Spirit" shines through on the other islands.

 

I do have a question for you....can you tell me more about the "cabin crawl poker run"?? I am doing a group cruise to Mexico in Jan '09...on the Spirit!!! This sounds like something right up our alley!!! If you'll look in my signature there is a link to my Pride website. You can get my email from there. Or just answer here....thanks!!!

[luv2cruise777l]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your Hawaiian cruise on Carnival. Since they don't sail this itinerary all the time that could account for some of your disappointments. Maybe a land Hawaiian vacation is more of what you are looking for? Anyway I hope your next cruise is more enjoyable.:)

[lnew1gd1]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your Hawaiian cruise on Carnival. Since they don't sail this itinerary all the time that could account for some of your disappointments. Maybe a land Hawaiian vacation is more of what you are looking for? Anyway I hope your next cruise is more enjoyable.:)

 

Oh no, please don't get me wrong...we had an awesome time. We met great people from our roll call, saw wonderful sights and had a blast on board mostly because of the great people we met!

 

Those were just small concerns that we and many, many others were disappointed in. It had no impact on our enjoyment of this cruise.

 

I just wouldn't recommend this particular Carnival sailing due to the fact that they do only do this route 4 times a year. They made us very aware of that fact and you definitely knew it.

 

Carnival has provided us with a great cruising experience in the past and hopefully in the future but, you make you own fun/good time. And, that's just what we did!

 

We will have wonderful memories of this trip. No way did any of the little concerns have any impact on our vacation. On the whole, it was wonderful!!!

 

I mentioned the small problems that occurred and the lack of making the Hawaii portion of this sailing important to Carnival so that any future cruisers know what to expect and are not disappointed with their trip.

 

I also emailed Carnival to voice our concerns and hopefully they will add a little more Hawaii ambiance to this portion of the repositioning cruise ( just put a few items in the gift shop for purchase in case you forgot something while shopping the islands!! LOL)

[lnew1gd1]

Thanks for the informative review. Personally I feel Hawaii is better to do as a land-based vacation rather than from a cruise ship. There is just too much to see and do! I also always recommend to my friends going to Hawaii to be sure to include another island along with Oahu. Yes...there is TONS of must-see on Oahu. But as you stated....it has gotten very crowded. I feel that more of the "Hawaiaan Spirit" shines through on the other islands.

 

I do have a question for you....can you tell me more about the "cabin crawl poker run"?? I am doing a group cruise to Mexico in Jan '09...on the Spirit!!! This sounds like something right up our alley!!! If you'll look in my signature there is a link to my Pride website. You can get my email from there. Or just answer here....thanks!!!

 

All the islands were wonderful and cruising them was a blast. It did help us to find our favorites and someday maybe we will go back and vacation on land. I don't know though, I hate to give up my cruises!! Love them!

 

As far as the cabin crawl/poker run what we did was we gathered the cabin numbers of anyone that wanted to participate. Each person threw in $5.00 a piece. We had small "snack type" items in the cabin and some had alcohol and or sodas available to offer visitors.

 

7 of the cabins had a deck of cards (we pre-determined which cabins would provide the cards.) Upon entering the cabin with the cards each of us pulled one card and I recorded the card by the names.

 

At the last (biggest) cabin on the crawl we determined who had the highest 5 card hand out of the 7 cards they drew. 2 cards were discarded from the hand at the end. High 5 card hand won the pot! $175.00 ---was a very nice chunk of money...we had a very large group that participated.

 

If your group is very large like ours was I would recommend not going to everyone's cabin but going to cabins by cabin type. It took too long to get to everyone's cabin and the line was long in the hall because we couldn't fit that many people in the cabin all at one time.

 

Everyone had a blast and we thoroughly enjoyed it!!! Especially our winner!!

 

If this isn't clear I would be more than happy to answer your questions!

[MrPete]

We did a similar cruise on the Carnival Jubilee, but FROM Ensenada to Hawaii, which was WONDERFUL, except for one thing:

 

TOO MANY OLD FARTS.

[lnew1gd1]

We did a similar cruise on the Carnival Jubilee, but FROM Ensenada to Hawaii, which was WONDERFUL, except for one thing:

 

TOO MANY OLD FARTS.

 

LOL!! Yes, the crowd was an older, more sedate crowd on the sailing. Not old...just older (us included!!!!)

[Wennfred]

LOL!! Yes, the crowd was an older, more sedate crowd on the sailing. Not old...just older (us included!!!!)

 

10+ day cruises are like this because the majority of the folks are retired. Everyone else has to go to work after 7 days. :D

 

 

Fred

[bluefintuna]

We sailed to Hawaii from Vancouver many years ago when Legend of the Seas was brand new. Loved every minute of the trip except we had to bypass Khuai because of rough seas. But the bright spot was seeing the octogon chapel from the ship. We were married there in 1988. They were still doing duct work on the ship as we sailed to Hawaii. We didn't see land for four days, but it was truly paradise when we did.