Pride or Spirit...

[cruisinlawn]

Hey cruisinlawn, since I live in SD I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. I have been to long beach many times, but not really spent much time there, Everytime I go it is for business so I am not that familiar with their area. Just wanted to let you know I'm not baggin on LB! We do have some beautiful hotels in San Diego and especially around the pier area. Do be prepared though as they can be a bit pricey for some people. If you are on a budget you may want to consider a hotel in Mission Valley and take a cab or shuttle to the pier. Just a thought. There really is a lot to do in San Diego if you will be here for a few days! If you are looking for night life, the Gaslamp Quarter is pretty nice and very varied in culture. You will find everything from an Irish pub to a Spanish Restaurant and then some! We have some excellent restaurants in Little Italy as well, and if you are staying in the downtown area, you can always catch the trolley for a few quarters and go just about anywhere in the greater Downtown area. We also have a pretty large Mall right downtown with Horton Plaza. It is several blocks from the pier, but well within walking range. A lot of people love Seaport Village with shopping and restaurants as well. If you are here duing the daytime, of course we have the Zoo (this is really a full day event! It is very large!) and in Balboa Park, which is the area around the Zoo we have some really nice area with many museums, the Hospitality Houses (small houses representing different countries, kind of interesting), the Organ Pavillion, the Omni-Max theatre in the Rueben H Fleet Space Museum (always cool, no matter what they are playing!). There is Seaworld (this too is at LEAST a one day event), Old Town, gees the list just goes on and on. This is all stuff in the downtown area. If you want to drive a bit there is also the Wild Animal Park which is north off the I-15 from downtown, it will take about 30 minutes with no traffic, can be an hour or more with traffic. Also north of downtown about 1/2 hour up the I-5 is La Jolla and you can explore that area with the Aquarium, Tidal Pools, nice beach, shopping and eating.

Of course I neglected the nautical stuff downtown with the Star of India (big 3 masted schooner that still sails!), the Naval Ships, etc. There is just so much to do in San Diego I can't even think of everything. Of course I never go down there unless we have out of town visitors! :rolleyes: I guess you just never appreciate what you have! They also have a long term parking deal set up at the Sheraton Harbor Island which is right across from the Airport. I have used them before and other than my car being filthy when I returned, I was happy with them. They were reasonably priced and provided a shuttle to the airport. I assume they would do the same to the pier. Good luck.

Mike

 

 

THanks Mike for your 2 cents...this is exactly why we're leaning toward San. Thanks for all the details, very informative. I may be calling on you in the future for further details. Thanks again.

 

Ken.

[Falcon164016]

Thanks Brandon for the Info! Like you said, we are quite a bit lower on deck 4. I have read that the soot on the higher aft balconies can be a problem?? A friend that I made last year during "Roll Call" was on the Spirit with me and they had a wrap around aft balcony on the same level as you. He really complained to Carnival about the soot. I guess it really ruined his vacation?! He was very frustrated with Carnivals lack of concern, and he was an avid cruiser with Carnival 6 or 7 cruises under his belt. Anyway, he said he will never cruise with them again:( Too Bad?

But, we are really looking forward to being on the back of the ship and the only thing that would make it better is if my hammock could be hung?! :confused:

The guy I was talking about earlier brings his hammock with him on every cruise ( always a balcony suite of course ) Tee Hee.....unfortunately I did not go see how he hung it? I have seen pics of him in it during the cruise though.

 

I wonder if they will bring another chair for us? There will be 3 of us and only two chairs? I will have to check out if anyone else has ever requested this? I'm sure they have, but I am just a little curious.:D

 

Smiles, Connie

 

Yes, we were lucky with the cabin up on the Verandah deck, but it was our honeymoon, and we saved about $800 with the military discount, so we decided to splurge a little bit. :) The soot was there, but it was by no means something that ruined the vacation, and I'd have no problem staying in any of those rooms again. Like I said, I don't even think you'll have any issues with that on your deck. I'm not sure how you'd go about hanging up a hammock, but it's definitely easy to fall asleep while sitting out on those chairs :D. We didn't request another chair, but I'm sure you could get one if you asked your steward/stewardess. It would be a little bit cramped out there with three chairs, but your balcony should have a little more room, and you'll still have a great time!

[Insect]

We have been on both the Pride (Feb 06) and Spirit (Feb 07), We loved them both.

When we took the Pride, we stayed on the Queen Mary the night before. We had a first class state room. It was amazing to stay there. It is like a trip back in time.

You can also have your coffee on the aft deck and watch the Pride come in at 6:00am.

We are off to the Caribbean this year.