The First Cruise which got me into loving cruising

Item: Carnival Spirit
Rating: 5
Author: Poshma59

Carnival Spirit Cruise Review

Poshma59

Contributor Level: Second Mate

318 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 49

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

7 Night Southbound Alaska (Whittier To Vancouver)

Sail date: July 18, 2007

Ship: Carnival Spirit

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Memorable as the first cruise and the beginning of our love for cruising.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Being our first cruise ever, we really didn’t know what to expect. But before we get into that, we arrived in Anchorage about 4 days prior to our sail date, rented a couple of RVs and proceeded to check out Alaska firsthand. Total opposite of my home state Hawaii so everything was awesome and amazing. A major accident on the main highway had us divert our travel where we honestly thought we would miss our cruise but after an unexpected overnight stay at a random RV park, we got the all clear the next day and made our bus just in time to head to Whittier where our cruise ship was. Beautiful scenery on the drive up and then going through the mountain on a one way directional road made the anticipation of cruising even more exciting. We then exit the tunnel and immediately get a glimpse of our home for the next seven days, gorgeous, breath-taking, my giddiness started to show. The whole embarkation process was painless and quick especially back in those pre-Covid years and before we knew it we were headed up the gangway to board our ship.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Our dining room experience was simply outstanding. Our waiter was awesome, the food was delicious and the dessert…mmmmm….this is where my love for the chocolate melting cake began. I’m sure there were other desserts on the menu but my mind was set on eating this at every meal that I never gave it a second look. The buffets seemed like they were overly stocked with food…diet? What diet?…and then to find out that 2 of my favorite things in the world are always offered 24/7, look out waist line…and then there’s the drinks, let me tell you…no drink package on this cruise (not sure if we were even offered one) but I just recall having a drink in my hand all the time…go figure…I know the first night on ship I got so drunk, singing karaoke and even doing duets with the bartender that I woke up late the next morning and missed the whole glacier experience…wow total bummer…no regrets because I had a blast and it was only my first night onboard.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

My wife did the spa treatments and of course she loved it. It was too cold to really do anything other than to take in the spectacular views.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

The entertainment was awesome on this ship. There was a little of something for everyone on this cruise. Spent most of our time just listening to whatever musician or band was playing. Karaoke is where we spent most of our times (and casinos) and that was always topped off with a late night foray into the discos for some dancing followed by a stop for pizza and ice cream before stumbling our way back to the cabin. Next day rinse, shampoo and repeat…little did we know that our frequent visits to do Karaoke would set us up to do a ship wide Legends show where we are the entertainers…fell for that one hard…if you don’t know what the Legends show is, you perform on stage in front of your fellow cruisers while imitating a famous singing legend…Garth Brooks, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, etc and sing one of their hits which has already been selected. You tried out for the person you wanted to imitate and you get voted on by your fellow karaoke members. I didn’t try out for any of it as I was content on just enjoying the show; however, life had other plans for me. All the spots were filled quickly and most were good picks as I had spent a couple of days with this group and had a pretty good gauge of who can do what . There was only one slot to fill and unfortunately no one wanted to do it…James Brown “I feel good”. The Carnival rep in charge of Karaoke then spotted me in the crowd and told me to do it. I lied and told her I didn’t know the song but then she called my bluff and handed me a mike and told me to try it. Needless to say, I got selected and ending up doing the show. Scary experience but had a blast!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Everyone was awesome! Super polite and friendly and some can even sing.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Loved the whole cruise. Everything was immaculate and definitely well-maintained.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was more than adequate and was always clean. Bathroom was tiny but at least we had a balcony!