I would say that overall we must have liked it, for we already booked another cruise on the Spirit for next year.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Due to a horrible traffic experience getting from Ft Lauderdale to the Miami Cruise Port, our 12:30 scheduled embarkation did not occur until close to 2PM. What a blessing in disguise. We walked right in, and we were on the ship within 5 minutes after entering the terminal. No walking the long and noisy rope lines. Lesson learned.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
It's Carnival folks. While the food on their ships isn't terrible, it will never be on par with the high end lines. The MDR gave me the typical range of meals from one "bad" to a couple of "very good", and the rest being "ok". The steakhouse gave us very good $48 steak dinners (awesome desserts). I will say the buffet was a bit better than last year on the Magic, for I did not experience them ever being out of an item I wanted while in line. I was disappointed with Guy's Burger Joint. The burgers I had (different days & times) were both under the heat lamp too long. Either my bad luck or they're ignoring the time to give up on serving it.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Stayed on the ship during a port day and had the pool and hot tub all to ourselves for over a half hour. I don't do fitness centers.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Very good dance troupe performing entertaining programs. Saw all [3] comedian's acts. One was hilarious, one was very funny. The third was OK, but in his defense it was the early evening PG rated show. We couldn't see his later show.
Children's Programs
No Kids
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Top notch service all around.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
This ship worked well for us. It was a size that my wife and I could navigate without a compass and GPS device. It did not wear us out. My kudos goes to them for the layout of the Serenity area on Deck 9 aft.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Typical Carnival Balcony Cabin. Clean and well maintained. We had a problem with the ships safe when we arrived. I informed the Steward and a ships maintenance man came and corrected the issue before we we finished unpacking.
Ship tip
Look folks, this is one of Carnivals smaller and older ships. If you're young and want to have a lot of nightlife variety, or if you have kids and want them to have a different onboard thrill every day, then this ship may disappoint you.
Nice beach, although I would have liked it better if there were only one ship in port. We had to share the beach with the Vista that day, and it got pretty crowded.
OK, this may be unfair. We did a shore excursion visiting Mayan ruins with "lunch". I won't go into excruciatingly long detail, for I don't want to expend that kind of time. We were suppose to meet in port at 9AM (ships time) There were [3] CCL ships in port (Spirit, Vista, Dream). It was extreemly windy and the ships were moored at least 6-7 miles offshore. The tender boats took 25 minutes to get from the ship to the docks. The ships time did not match the local time. All that insured a perfect storm of causing everything to be 2 hours late. While the tour itself was interesting and informative, getting there (and back) was no fun at all, and it put a taint on the whole experience. In fairness, I would give it another star had we not experienced all the delays.
We had to laugh when you said it was easy to navigate without use of compass or GPS. We are always turned around on a ship not knowing which way is aft..lol we sail on the Spirit and have always loved smaller ships(Fantasy, Ectasy, Freedom). Mardi Gras is another world…which we will tackle next year in a B2B. Did y’all get to the Jungle on the Spirit? It looks like a great place to read. You sealed the deal that Belize will be a day to spend on the ship for us. Thanks for your time and review!
Appreciate your details. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. You have your three more ships in this class that you may enjoy: Pride, Legend & Miracle. I too dislike it when too many ships are in port.
6 day. "Cruise Elegant" nights were night 2 (Monday) and night 5 (Thursday). Not that it mattered very much. Most people (including ourselves) don't wear suits and evening gowns anymore. Can't fit it into the carry on. For the most part sundresses and Dockers w/Polo shirts are about as dressy as it gets.
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