Carnival Spirit - Appreciate advice for first time cruisers!

First time cruising and have a few questions. Booked a Carnival Spirit balcony cabin midship on level 5. Is this a good deck to be on? Where is smoking allowed on Carnival Spirit, and can smoke cause issues for non-smokers on their balconies? Is it easy to avoid cigarette smoke if you have asthma? Where's the kid's club/s situated? Is one side of the ship better than the other for cabin location? Any other hints or tips?

Carnival Spirit has just had a $44 million refurb in Singapore. Mid ships on deck 6 is best on the Spirit class (Spirit and Legend in Oz) but the best areas are taken by the Grand Suites. We sailed recently to Singapore on deck 5 in cabin 5207. Great sailing. There is no smoking on any balcony on Carnival. Smoking is on deck 10 where ash trays are provided and also in the smoking room. Kids club is forward but they have activities all over the ship during the cruise. The side of the ship value varies with your need for sun or not and your destination. You may get little sun on the starboard side right now heading to Noumea or Port Vila but lots on the way back. Depends on the course the ship is heading on as to how much sun is available. The pools get good sun all day though. Cheers...

Zarbs

Smoking is on deck 9 next to the sun forward pool and also on deck 10 same spot., right side, facing front of ship.

You can easily avoid the smoking section.

Kids club for younger kids is at the front of the ship, decks 4 & 5 and older kids (teenagers) deck 10 at the front next to the gym.

Deck 5 midship is great, either side would be fine.

More questions.......do the tours ever book out before everyone has boarded the ship? Is it worth bringing your own snorkelling equipment? What things have you brought on board that were a great idea and what things were a waste of time? Can you stock the cabin fridges with your own snacks that you have brought onboard and can you take snacks off the ship at ports? Thank you!

We took our own snorkeling gear on the last 2 cruises, you can hire it or buy it in port but if you've got it at home and have room in your luggage, I would bring it with you.

There is so much food available on board that you shouldn't need to put in snacks in the fridge but there is a small fridge in your cabin if need be.

No food is usually allowed off the ship in port only water.

You can book shore excursions online before your cruise and yes some tours do sellout.

I was really only thinking snacks like muesli bars, etc. to have on island beaches for those times when you don't feel like another meal or are unsure what and where to eat.

Each country has there own quarantine laws but I'm sure it was mentioned on the ship about not taking food ashore.

Also bags are scanned or checked when you board after being ashore can't remember if they checked them before getting off.

Oh, I didn't even think of quarantine laws elsewhere. The cruise is to New Caledonia.

Although they say "no food is to be taken ashore" commercially pre-packaged food like muesli bars or crackers would be OK. Just be discreet about it.:)

Some tours book out before the cruise starts. I am not sure what the Carnival policy is on cancelling tours. If you can cancel up to a couple of days before the excursion (as you can on Princess), then it is better to book the tours ahead of time.

The best place to get accurate information about Carnival Spirit is on the Carnival Australia social media page or on their website.

I don't think you can book tours online beforehand with Carnival cruises. From what I've read, it can only be booked onboard. I'd hate to board later in the day and then find the tours are already fully booked.

When booking a cruise if I see a shore tour that I like I booked on line. However when we did our CS cruise at Easter I was surprised to find that I could only book the tours when we got on board. Although a bit unusual their way of handling shore tours worked.

We felt the cruise the standard of customer service on board was great, however we felt the standard of food and entertainment was a let down.

For a first time cruiser you would probably think it is very good.

Enjoy your cruise.

Which cruise line would be a favourite if you were looking for good food and great entertainment? I am concerned that there won't be enough to do and it will be boring. I'm not sure if this cruise will turn us into cruise lovers, but we will see.

Which cruise line would be a favourite if you were looking for good food and great entertainment? I am concerned that there won't be enough to do and it will be boring. I'm not sure if this cruise will turn us into cruise lovers, but we will see.

I found the production shows on the Carnival Spirit to be excellent. Carnival has just extended the contact for the Music Manilla Band. They are excellent and they have just added a female singer to the group. They also perform on the pool deck on a sea day.

Hi,

In answer to your query regarding pre-booking excursions on Carnival we found you could only book once on board, ,luckily we arrived early in the day for embarkation so we could get a booking.

Princess on the other hand allows you to pre-book on line, I was able to book a learners scuba diving course in Vila for my husband and grandson. I was even luckier to be able to book for a tour of the Hobitville film sets out of Taraunga, NZ. I was able to pre-book these about 6 months ahead, lucky because there were only a few places available for both excursions. Princess has a good choice of excursions to choose from.

Regards:):)

Lea I'm a Princess convert as the food and entertainment on the cruises we have done has been very good with shows on every night with quality guests artists. Whereas on the trip we did on the CS earlier in the year whilst some of the artists were ok there wasn't a show on every night. We did however enjoy the trip and my suggestion is to try a cruise for yourself and see if you like it.