SF Cfan

Spirit was terrific on the sail from Miami to Seattle through the Panama Canal this past April.  The combination of a lot of public space and a low passenger to crew ratio really makes for an an overall wonderful experience.  The décor is whimsical to bizarre, which is part of the overall charm.

This is now my favorite ship class on Carnival in front of the Dream class ships, which are also nice.    

Royal -- they offer straws with drinks.  Biodegradable ones!   Why can't Carnival give me a straw?  Why do I have to pack my own or get all sticky with their candy straws??   Score One for Royal!

Spirit had weird, but usable melting straws on our cruise in April, not to be confused with chocolate melting cake.

My wife and I had fairly close Royal and Carnival sailings too, Vision OTS in December, Southern Caribbean and then Spirit in April, Panama Canal.

Thanks for putting your observations down is such objective detail.

We experienced a much more noticeable difference at dinner time.

Vision's output in the MDR was poor.  The MDR on Spirit was much better, really good I would say.  I think it just shows that there are ship to ship variances.  Others over on the RCL board have commented on the less than stellar food aboard Vision.

35 minutes ago, SF Cfan said:

You are not kidding.  The Oasis class ships, like Ovation OTS can make it under the Lion's Gate Bridge, but only at low tide with the funnel lowered.  It is a lot of fun to be up on deck for that occasion however.

 

Too late to edit.  Meant to say Quantum Class not Oasis Class.

6 hours ago, latebuyer said:

I'm a little concerned what is going to happen if these small ships like the radiance class age out and i'm wondering if royal caribbean is building new ones. Not all of us like these big ships. I'm also from Vancouver and the big ships can't go under the bridge.

You are not kidding.  The Oasis class ships, like Ovation OTS can make it under the Lion's Gate Bridge, but only at low tide with the funnel lowered.  It is a lot of fun to be up on deck for that occasion however.

Thank you for posting this detailed review.  We sailed on Vision in December of 2022 and had the same lack-luster experiences in the MDR.  The buffet choices were underwhelming and limited as well for breakfast and lunch.

The cruise itself was fine with a terrific 10 day Southern Caribbean itinerary.  Getting off and back on the ship in port was a non-issue given its relatively small size.  

My wife and I chalked the poor food up to an inexperienced crew.  Having read you review I'm rethinking that idea.  My take is if Vision is sailing on a itinerary that really stands-out as desirable then it is fine as ones transportation and hotel.  Otherwise I would look to a newer more feature rich ship as a better option. 

On 6/8/2023 at 1:11 PM, floridacruiser14 said:

We are going on a Californian Coastal cruise on Emerald Princess June 17.  Can anyone tell me where the ship sponsored excursions meet?  Do they meet somewhere on the ship or on the pier?  My husband likes to take pictures while were coming into port so want to see if we’ll have to do that and get breakfast.

It will be easier if the excursion meet up point is on the pier.  Thanks.

I agree with the feedback that damiross provided.  Your tickets will tell you where to meet.  Everything else is speculation even if it is experienced based.  The tickets will also have your meet-up time.  That means your husband will know how much time he has to take pics and eat breakfast.

Looking at your itinerary you are docked in all 3 ports.  San Francisco and San Diego both have interesting long sail-ins including the sail under the Golden Gate Bridge in SF.  If your husband doesn't want to get up really early to take pics of Emerald sailing under the bridge on arrival he will have the same opportunity on sail out the next day.

San Francisco and more surprisingly San Diego may include some June gloom weather while you are there.  Bring windbreakers or a sweater just in case.  No rain, but it could be cool and breezy near the water.  

Enjoy your cruise!

I was able to connect via my company's VPN last month on Spirit.  It was very slow.  I only used it when I needed to get into applications that required the VPN sign-on.  This was via the premium internet package.  I considered this a minor win because my experience on Royal Caribbean and Princess last year was that the VPN was not usable.

Our Day 1 Dinner, early seating does not show on our Itinerary Calendar for an upcoming cruise with a 5 pm sailing either.  This is probably just an omission.  

My son and I had a 2 hour window back in May of 2018 with a change of terminal going from Air France to Iceland Air.  We barely made it with no missteps along the way.  

On 3/16/2023 at 1:42 PM, jagoffee said:

Panama must have made a recent change?

we were in an Ocean to Ocean Panama cruise in January 2023 and Princess did not collect our passports nor did we need to get anything stamped in Panama.  Perhaps they do it electronically now?  Our cruise included the Panama City stop.

 

Of course that does not mean that we did not need a passport that was not expiring in the next six months.

 

 

Same here.  We called in Panama this past December on RCL.  No passports or other document checks getting on or off of the ship.

On 3/1/2023 at 7:38 AM, Cayman1 said:

We sleep around quite a bit... so here are my personal opinions/observations in no particular order. While your opinions may vary, that is ok too.

 

1) Shows/Entertainment - RC

2) Live Music - Carnival

3) General stuff to do (Bingo, misc activities, etc.) - Carnival

4) Overall food quality - RC

5) Buffet - RC

6) Pizza - RC (and much faster than Carnival)

7) Food Options - Generally RC but with the Mardi Gras and Celebration, may give this one a tie

😎 Pool parties and pool activities/events - Carnival

9) Cruise Directors - Carnival

10) Innovative Ships - RC

11) Price - Carnival

12) Private Island - RC w/ CoCoCay

13) Excursions - RC

14) Variety of different room types - RC (though Carnival has stepped their game up some on Mardi Gras)

15) Onboard shopping - Tie

16) Loyalty Program - RC

17) Itineraries - Tie

 

I think that covers a lot, but I am sure I am missing something. We actually made a comparison a while back and both my wife and I agreed to mostly everything.

 

At the end of the day, there is no "Perfect" cruise line. They all have their specialties and strengths/weaknesses. It's about choosing what is right for YOU and YOUR FAMILY, or whomever you travel with. And while I think one thing is better on RC, someone else may feel Carnival is better. That is ok too... that's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream, or even Neapolitan. 🙂

 

 

 

This is a great checklist.  We sailed on Vision of the Seas this past December.  It was a terrific 11 day Southern Caribbean itinerary.  All 6 ports were first time for us including Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and ABC.  No complaints about the vacation and we knew going in that the Vision is an older ship.  Our cabin and the ship were fine.  However...

...the quality and selection in the Lido (Windjammer) buffet was poor for both breakfast and dinner.  I would rank the casual dining free food options as better on Carnival.  This would include the Lido, Pizza, Burgers, Mexican, Sandwich Deli, and stir-fry (for ships that have this).

As others have shared differences can come down to which ship you are on.

Cheers to all of the posters on this thread for keeping it real.

On our Southern Carib cruise this past Dec on Vision we were late seating for dinner.  Some evenings our main show was before dinner instead of after.  Don't know if this is common across other itineraries.

On 2/9/2023 at 12:53 AM, Caribensun said:

Only m opinion;

love Royal Princess, my favorite ship over all of the newer ships as previously stated.

Princess to Alaska, I prefer Sapphire Princess or HAL smaller ships as they have an indoor pool and covered full promenade deck for walking and viewing.  HAL is best they open up the bow for glacier Bay viewing and offer pea soup and hot chocolate, Neptune suites have chairs to sit down on if needed and blankets. Also the smaller ships get the closer docks to town. Princess brings sled puppies onboard and both lines do bring rangers onboard and lectures throughout the cruises.

 

My wife and I are two more instant fans of Princess due to our first cruise on Royal Princess last Sep/Oct.  We are looking forward to our next cruise on Carnival but will book on Princess in the future as much as the budget allows.

To be really safe I would look at the exact day of the week and the date of the disembarkation.  While it is not likely that your return coincides with an event like Fleet Week it's better to know up front that you need to allow an extra 30 minutes to get out of the City than when you are sitting in slow traffic.

I think if you are on your way by 8:30 that would cover most moderate delays.  The closer you can get to 8:00 the better chance you would mitigate any traffic jams.

48 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Thanks for the thoughts. Could you elaborate on why you thought the buffet was horrible? We are looking at Princess because as mentioned Princess Plus brings the two lines very close together pricewise. 

My wife and I just sailed Royal Princess, 12 day Mexico out of SF beginning of this past October.  The buffet, especially the baked goods were really good on Princess.  Just off Vision of the Seas, 11 day Southern Caribbean.  The buffet was poor.  It's been several years since we cruised on Carnival.  It will be interesting to see how it compares when we cruise on Spirit next April.  

Overall we would always choose Princess moving forward if the cruise fare was close to other choices such as RCL or Carnival. The food, service, elegance of the ship, activities, and shows are all differentiators for us (two 60+ers).  Otherwise we go for itinerary and price.  We're happy to be on a Carnival or Royal Caribbean ship too.

I would select the 11 night Barcelona to Athens.  Three things in particular come to mind.

The Barcelona cruise port is in Barcelona.  Whether you are flying in day of or days ahead of departure it's easier getting from the hotel or hotels to the cruise port in Barcelona versus Civitavecchia.

As nice as the Odyssey OTS is you'll have fewer fellow passengers in the tender queues and on shore on the two Greek Isle stops.

Packing and unpacking is not the end of the world.  However, the 2 cruise option still requires going through an extra debarkation and check-in with potential wait hours regardless of your status with Royal.

6 hours ago, tutumomickey said:

Can you tell me approximately how long after leaving the dock you sail under the Golden Gate bridge? Trying to plan a viewing party on our balcony.

I just looked at my time stamp from my GG Bridge sail under video.  It was at 54 minutes after the hour. about 50 minutes after casting off.  

I don't know if it's a fair representation (meaning typical) to post pics from a 2015 Journey's cruise.  The food in the MDR was really special including the Ahi Tuna pictured.  I can't remember if this was a starter or a main, not that it makes too much difference.  It was delicious as were the desserts.

Deck 1, deluxe ocean view - the extra shower is a really nice feature.  I would take the extra space and extra shower/sink combination over the Lido inside.

10 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

A reminder, particularly for folks who are new to Princess: Princess is noted for allowing access to cabins quite early in the boarding process. Just because the cabin is available for you doesn't necessarily mean the cabin is finished for you to "move in to". The majority of the time we've boarded a Princess ship, the cabin has been accessible to us and we've been able to drop off our bags (On the Enchanted a few weeks ago, this was actually before 11AM), but in every case, Stewart has been nearby finishing off his/her cabin prep, so we simply drop of our carry-on bags and leave immediately.  These room stewards are very diligent and incredibly over-worked these days, so the last thing they need is to have newly arrived passengers intrude on their last-minute work, trying to unpack carry-ons etc.. Please give them the time to finish your cabin and only return after lunch when the official announcement has been made that cabins are ready.

Great observation.  We were able to drop off our hand carries at 10:30 a.m. on our recent Royal Princess sailing.  Our room steward was extremely polite and shared that we were welcome to watch the safety video before heading out.

13 minutes ago, NownZen said:

You might also consider that February is winter in California and sometimes it gets down to 50 degrees and there has been rain at times.

In any case, you will have a hard time being unhappy on either ship.

I was just about to post something similar.  I'll add that the Pacific Ocean water temperature is cold a fair way down Baja.  Your two at sea days in February may not be ideal sit by the pool with a drink reading a book type weather.  Cabo itself will be delightful.

Jam, thanks for taking the time to post menus, pictures and comments on the food.  It is appreciated.  We are booked on the Spirit next year.

Sorry for the "Where's Waldo" size picture of the Sun.  I was very surprised to see a cruise ship in the Sound during the middle of the day.  Mystery solved.  At least it is a beautiful day for a sail-in.  Sorry for those having to rebook travel.

First of all wishing you and your husband a wonderful trip.

Quick background, I previously lived in SF and my wife and I were on a Pacific Coastal that called there for two days.  I can't respond to the embarkation experience other than the relative location of the cruise terminal to your hotel.

 Is it easy to get to the port?

It looks like you have chosen a very convenient location.  The 6-1/2 blocks between  your hotel and the cruise terminal is relatively flat.  If it wasn't for your luggage I would suggest walking over to the cruise terminal on embarkation day.

Here is a link to the cruise terminal website which may be helpful too.

https://sfport.com/maritime/cruise

Since you are packing for Alaska I probably don't need to mention that it can be cool and breezy in San Francisco especially right before sunset.  Bring appropriate outerwear.  The overall weather in the City in May should be very nice.

52 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Just what I said. I took breeze b2b and vista since the restart. And yes the 2 ships I took were sisters to the 2 the op mentioned. I guess you are a newbie to think someone living in texas wouldnt know these ships. ..and very well. I've been on all 3 dream class, dream, magic and breeze .. and know them very very well.

 

Have you done both classes since restart? I'm not sure why you are talking down to me. Might not be the most experienced here but I mainly go out of texas, sometimes new orleans ..so these are the ships I know backwards and forwards. 197 pts on carnival ..almost all out of Galveston on these two classes of ships. Though i do go back to ecstasy days out of Galveston.  If you have any questions ask, but dont lecture. 

I apologize and wasn't talking down to you.  The original poster referenced the Magic and the Horizon.  I was just clarifying for the OP that they are in different ship classes and which came first.  I understand your subsequent reference to the Breeze and the Vista.  Again, sorry this got sideways, because that was not the intent.