Loved the Spirit!

Carnival Spirit Cruise Review

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 129

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5
Carnival Spirit

16 Night Panama Canal Carnival Journeys - Westbound (Miami To Seattle)

Sail date: April 16, 2023

Ship: Carnival Spirit

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 6145

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Wonderful trip. Once in a lifetime! The Spirit was a fantastic ship with amazing crew. Can't wait for our next cruise!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
We wanted to explore Little Havana before so we boarded at 2:30. We're on the ship within five minutes. No lines, super easy, room was ready and bags arrived within an hour.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Food was fine. It's Carnival so we don't expect 5-star but we enjoyed it nonetheless. The cooking demos had amazing food and stuff I never would have tried otherwise. Arrive early, the demos full quickly. For a long cruise, we expected repeat food. Nope, different every night.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Loved 80s Pop to the Max and the Fifties show. Lots of fun and great energy! Ship was moving too much for the full Epic Rock show so they just did it in concert and sang the songs. Still tons of fun!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Staff and crew are so amazing! They work so very hard and they do it with a smile. And, the Captain was quite social... out and about meeting people. I called him Captain Hunky. Erin, the cruise director was fantastic.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
I was unsure I'd like an older ship and was nervous it would be falling apart. Not so! We were pleasantly surprised! We loved the smaller ship, it was surprised exceptionally clean and well maintained. Very easy to find out way around. We would for sure sail the Spirit again!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We loved our cabin location. Toward the front and right near the elevators. Would pick this spot again. Cabin 6145

Ship tip

Go to deck 9 fwd for sail away. Right above the bridge. Have fun! You can't go on a Carnival so and not have fun!

Ports of call

Cartagena, Colombia

3 out of 5
While we really, really enjoyed our tour and feel Cartagena is a beautiful city, the constant pestering of the peddlers was tiresome and took away from the city. We did the La Popa Monastery and Walking tour excursion through the ship. Tour guide was great and easy to understand. We went to the Monastery, a short stop at the fort and then to Old Cartagena. At the port, there is a huge aviary that is completely free. I had perma-grin going through there! So much fun and beautiful birds you can get very close to! We did not see any monkeys but others did! Unfortunately, because of the pushy peddlers, this is not somewhere we'd like to return to explore more.

Seattle, Washington

3 out of 5
Seattle is a fun city with a ton of stuff to do. Exceptionally expensive which will be what prohibits is from going back unless leaving from the cruise port. We enjoyed the Chihuly Museum and liked Pike Place market more than we thought we would. Meet some lovely people waiting for their cruise the next day. We're glad we went but, went spend much time there again. Tip: a lot of places, even in the market, do not take cash. Very strange.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5
We loved Cabo San Lucas as well! We hired a small boat for $20 a person to take us to Land's End and El Arco. Sea Lions, pelicans and fish everywhere! The rock formations are stunning. We'd like to spend more time here as well.

Panama Canal Transit

3 out of 5
So amazing to have experienced a full PanamaCanal transit! Commentator on the ship was excellent. We learned so much!

Santa Marta, Colombia

3 out of 5
Not great. Not bad but not great. I feel like I read somewhere this is a fairly new cruise port so maybe will get better with time. Shipping port which we don't mind. It's interesting to watch all the work going on. From afar, Santa Marta, is beautiful. It's but too dirty but just wasn't for us. Lots and lots of peddlers which, to us, isn't pleasant.

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5
We'd never been to Miami. It was cool to see all the ships. Spent a few hours in Little Havana prior to boarding and had a great time!

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

3 out of 5
We thoroughly enjoyed our Tarcoles river tour in Costa Rica. We would like to spend more time in this beautiful country.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Slow but no different than any other disembarkation. It was fine.
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