lstrong did you review spirit?

[ukcruisefan]

We are going very soon and I would be very interested in any info on the ship or the ports.

Thanks!

Tracy

Sensation 10/98
Inspiration 5/02
Conquest 5/03

UNTIL THE SPIRIT TO ALASKA
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[cruisergrandma]

Hi Tracy.

We were on the May 12th sailing on the Spirit. It was our 2nd trip aboard the Spirit (the first was to the caribbean). The Spirit is a beautiful ship. It is one of the largest class ships in the Carnival line. The Lido deck food service is much improved over the smaller ships. Lots more choices. The cabins are larger. Shows, casino and restaurants are all similar to the smaller ships. Very nice. One of the pools has a retractable roof so, in Alaska it is an indoor pool. Wonderful to swim and view the scenery at the same time!

[lstrong]

Hi Tracy, I've never done a review, but certainly appreciate reading others. I loved the Spirit; the service, food and layout exceeded my expectations. I loved having my first balcony, especially when cruising the College Fjords early the first am. Enjoyed our cabin 4210, aft section on main deck. Right above dining room and a quick elevator ride to lido deck. The gym was beautiful and I never waited for a turn. The shows were iffy - don't miss the show on first formal night - it was terrific! Biggest casino I've seen on a cruise ship, with live music that was very good and large windows to make it light and airy. Always able to play black jack when I wanted to - plenty of tables and friendly dealers. In fact one guest won $539,500.00 on a dollar slot machine! It never felt crowded on the ship - lots and lots of cozy window lounges inside and nice outside area on lido aft.
FOOD - 24 hr pizza was great, especially the goat cheese and mushroom; the lido buffet breakfasts were very good, well laid out, good omlets, eggs cooked to order, etc. Dinning room dinners were very good with the exception of the fish. Fish seemed overcooked. Disappointed we didn't have more fresh salmon (on Celebrity 4 years ago it was on the menu almost every night). But other dishes very good, i.e. lobster, filets, prime rib, all prepared well. We had the best dining room service yet - Boris and Anna were terrific. We had late seating and noticed many tables empty, so maybe that helped our service.
PORTS - Sitka was a highlight, it is a darling and very walkable little town with lots of history. The other ports we had seen 4 years ago so we rented a car in Juneau and hiked around Mendenhall glacier, to the waterfall, on the east loop trail (beautiful trail in the rain forest above the falls) then visited the Alaskan Brewry nearby (Rent-A-Wreck picked us up and returned us to the ship) We hiked to Lower Dewey Lake in Skagway (called a moderate hike LOL it was straight up the mountain over rocks and tree roots and strenuous for us 50s and 60s). Happy to answer any questions anyone may have. IN SUMMARY it was a wonderful cruise, a great itinerary and I would book the Carnival Spirit again in a heartbeat! Laurie