CCL didn't exceed expections

Carnival Spirit Cruise Review to Alaska - Gulf of Alaska

JerryG4

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 30

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Northbound Alaska (Vancouver To Whittier)

Sail date: June 27, 2007

Ship: Carnival Spirit

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 14 years ago

Review summary

Carnival Spirit....a good ship but did not exceed expectations. Carnival's mantra is "we want to exceed your expectations".Unfortunately, not on this cruise to Alaska.In order to exceed expectations, one must focus on the big picture and the significant little details. Carnival meets the "letter of the law" in being a fun ship but not the spirit. it'sevident that they are more hype than delivery. evidence of corner cutting and ultimate cost savings abound, primarily in staffing ratios and response to requests. It started with a non-functioning toilet and await of over 10 minutes to get someone to answer the phone to take my service need. The 10 minutes here was followed by over 4 hours to get an engineering response to correcting the problem which recurred sporatically. This wait was further topped by an over 75 minute wait to get coffee and tea delivered for an afternoon room service request. Other smaller details were things like no signage on port days as to where the gangway was located (which changed frequently due to alaska tides). serving ground radish for horseradish at dinner with prime rib and acting like it was the same.....what's the chef thinking????? No Mojitos at any bar except one day as aspecial????? (mint is not that expensive). Overall, the Alaska scenery trumped the lack of attention to detail by the ship. Carnival please try harder!!!!!!!!!!!