I am going on the Spirit Feb 3, 2007. Anyone been on this ship. This will be my 2nd cruise and I can hardly wait!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raoul Fiebig,

Yes

What would you like to know?

It is a typical Carnival type cruise. The ship has a very friendly and easy layout.

The dining room is very nice and you can get a nice table for two in the upper level along the rail looking down into the dining room below. Just ask the Maitre'd and he will change your seating.

Shows were great and activities were fun.

My only complaint was the female dancers from the show and waitresses would always hog all the chairs on the topless deck and there was no space left for us dirty old men neck strainers.

There are very few reviews for the Spirit. I was just wondering if the shows are different on the Pride since from the only information I can find is that they seem to be very similar. I love to cruise and it seems like I day dream about it a lot. Especially since no one seems to have done a review. Any information I can get I would love to have. I have a balcony on the upper deck with an obstructed view which I have been told is just as good as the other balcony rooms.

Hi h2o, Have not been on Spirit. But most of the ships have a theme/production they use for that particular ship and season. I would not think you would see the same show on a different ship. You do sometimes get the same tired jokes from the Cruise Director

Best to you,
IslandCruz

I've been on the Spirit. A balcony on upper with an obstructed view means "lifeboat" How much do the claim it is obstructed? Partially, fully??? You might want to ask if you are heartset on being able to see a whole lot. We stared at a lifeboat hull out of our "fully obstucted" view (if you looked just right you could see water, but not much of it). Since we paid for an inside cabin, I didn't complain.

The shows are different I'm sure, but the themes may be similar (they all seem to do a "Las Vegas" style review) And I think the cruise directors have a shared "lame joke" book they circulate amongst the ships..

I can tell you whatever you want to know .. fire a question at me... The layout of the Spirit is different from the Conquest class of ship in that the Promeade deck is on deck 2 instead of 5, so it takes some getting used to. But overall the layout makes sense and works well.

from what I am told by my TA is the "obstructed view" is that if I look down I will see the top of the life boat but I will be able to look out and see the ocean and everything else. It is cheaper and the only thing supposedly I won't see is looking straight down to the ocean. I enjoy the Vegas style shows and the comedians and other type of entertainment. Sometimes I am grateful that I didn't pay a per person fee for the shows but as they are included I find them entertaining

I was on the Spirit in 2004 and will be on her again in April next year. I think that the Spirit is a very easy ship to get around and is very spacious. I like it more than the Glory because there is a deck above pool level that you can walk all the way around the ship and on the glory you needed to go down a level and then back up.

7thson or Jim C or anyone else who could help, have you ever stayed in one of the penthouse suites aboard the Spirit. Looking for input.(Size, Balcony, Decor, etc) The picture in the catologe leaves alot to be desired.

Not a penthouse suite, but one our party did stay in a suite. It was the size of a standard hotle room with a sofa and small wetbar.. the bathroom had a full size spa tub and a seperate changing area. Very nice.

h2owatson- IF you are on the upper deck, what your travel agent told you is accurate, you will be looking over the top of the lifeboat. If you are good with that, then fine. The shows are about what you stated. its you normal mix of dance shows, comdey, magicians etc..

Jim do you think its worth the extra money? We have 5 sea days after island hopping for 7 days.Plus its an anniv. cruise

upon seeing it, my cheap wife who thought you only needed an interior room because "you are only in the room to change and sleep" stated "next" time we book a suite. And she is standing over me as I type this.. her response is "absolutely". If the extra $$ is not going to break you, for that occasion I would go for it.. especially with the long at sea time (you get a balcony with that suite too)

Thanks Jim, I see you are booked on NCL. That was one of the cruise lines a was looking into for our trip to Hawaii. I was just alittle concerned about the making reservations for eating at night. After having been on a few cruises with the assinged seatings and reading about free style I decided on Carnival. Hope you and your wife enjoy your cruise and again thanks for the help.

quote:

Originally posted by Chuck E:
Jim do you think its worth the extra money? We have 5 sea days after island hopping for 7 days.Plus its an anniv. cruise

Chuck E,

I will be doing the Hawaii cruise next April and booked a suite. Our friends had a Suite on the Glory this past April and it was very nice and being that we do have 5 sea days and a total of 12 days on and off ship it seemed worth it to me. I have always booked a balcony cabin when avaliable and to be honest the suite is not that much more on this cruise so we are going for it. It will also be an anniversary cruise and this will make it that much more special. Any feedback you can provide after your cruise would be great.

Bdog, did you by any chance check out the difference between a balcony room and suite. We are taking my 2 boys (young men) and I kinda thought we would have more room also with a suite but thought they were probably on the expensive side

ChuckE-

Yes, the NCL cruise is our first Non-Carnival cruise. We thought we would try someone else. We want to try an RCL next. We are unsure about the freestyle cruising also, but won't know until we try it on how we feel about it. I stated that the wife said wwe are booking a suite next time but we had booked the NCL cruise before she saw the suite, so its not in a suite. We would have upgraded, but my sister's family is coming with us on this one and she booked a cabin very near ours and we felt it would a bit rude to say "Sorry but we decided to upgrade to a suite.."

We cruised on the Spirit in Alaska, she is a wonderful ship, you should enjoy your cruise.
We have also been looking at the Hawaii cruises and comparing CCL and NCL.. I have heard recently that the NCL ships used to cruise Hawaii do not have casinos... that would never do..

Jim,
Have you checked out HAL to Hawaii (or is that line a little too quiet for you)? By the way, I've had GREAT luck on HAL's craps tables!

quote:

Originally posted by h2owatson:
Bdog, did you by any chance check out the difference between a balcony room and suite. We are taking my 2 boys (young men) and I kinda thought we would have more room also with a suite but thought they were probably on the expensive side

h2owatson,

There is quite a bit more room in the suite and there are several suites that have the soafa bed and an upper bunk that folds dsown from the wall. If there are going to be 4 people in the cabin I would certainly go with the suite.

ChucksOk- No I haven't.. HAL may be a bit more reserved then I like, but I certainly will consider them too. Do they do the same thing as Carnival? Leave from Mexico and sail to the Islands.. or do you fly to Hawaii and then cruise and fly back?

After the spanking I got from Dave on saying RCI would be more expensive than CCL on a cruise and being proved very wrong... I'm not against checking on all the lines (do you have a HAL agent or do you have a local travel agent you use? We have had good luck with a CCL agent.) We are trying to decide between a Europe cruise and a Hawaii cruise for our next one, and once I can get the wife to make up my mind for me, we will start looking at options.

Jim,
HAL sails in and out of San Diego and they do offer some great deals. I've not done it (used to live on the islands back in the 60's and just recently in the San Diego area - Rancho Santa Fe, actually - close to the Del Mar racetrack where the turf meets the surf).

I can put you in touch with a professional, certified TA that has cruised on most of the cruise lines, visited every continent speaks five languages and who manages an agency specializing in Luxury and Leisure travel.

Not sure if I am ready for the Luxury travel market. I still have young ones living at home that push us towards the less expensive vacation alternatives.... But thanks for offering. I think a suite on a CCL or RCL cruise is about as luxury as we can go at this point..