FOR FIRST TIMERS ONLY
Carnival Spirit Cruise Review to Alaska - Gulf of Alaska
7 Night Northbound Alaska (Vancouver To Whittier)
Sail date: June 27, 2007
Ship: Carnival Spirit
Cabin type: Suite
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 14 years ago
Review summary
BACKGROUND: 50 yr old male traveling with my 11 yr old son and 9 yr old daughter. I have cruised Princess 4 times, Disney 2. Kids have taken Disney 3. Embarkation: Suite renters are told to report to the VIP desk for immediate service.....NO SUCH DESK. We stood in line with hundreds of others for 45 minute to 1 hr being herded here and there like cattle. SHIP: Done in very dark tones, Only bright spott on the shipp was the casnio. FOOD: First timers will say fair to good. Having traveled other lines I would say it lack a great deal. Do you like scrambled eggs that should be served in a cup? Carnival is attempting to save money by having everything portioned out to you. Not at the buffets of the other lines. CAMP CARNIVAL: Is definately and after thought by Carnival. There attempt to "compete" with Disney. The room is shoved under the front of the ship. HOT and STUFFY. The hours of operation are worked around the crew staffs availability and luch hours. I spent most my time retreving my daughter so that they could go eat. ROOMS: We booked room 7298 at the back of the ship. I guess the deck is was made it a suite. It was in fact twice as big as most. The lay out could have been better. A changing room should actually be removed. It is unusable with three doors entering into it. Entertainment was "acceptable" More for the kids would have been nice. In room TV is 1/2 commercials for Carnival owned lines, 1/4 weather and direction charts and 1/4 stations pulled in from Colorado GLACIER VIEWING: On previous cruises the captian took the ship within 2 miles of the Glaciers. You could see and here them fall apart. On the Spirt the captian parked the ship 6 miles away( they said so) from the Harvard Glacier.You could not hear them or see them fall. We then waited 1 hr while they lowered a tender to allow crew members to sail in to with in 1/4 to 1/2 mile from a glacier to take pictures. WHAT'S WITH THAT? This devastated my son who was looking forward to seeing what I had been telling him about for years.EMARKATION: went quickly and smoothly as they already got what they wanted out of us. In fact that is one of the jikes the cruise director uses. "Got any more money? No? Then you got to get off the boat! Debarkation when off quickly......they already had your money!Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Pros: Friendly staff....most of them
Cons: Food, food service, embarkation, glacier viewing