Back from the Spirit - any questions?

[mared1]

Went on the Spirit on 1/28/05. Will try to answer any questions you may have about the ship.

[Litewait]

Actually, We are sailing April 2-10. Me. 2 teens and an 11 year old. I keep getting more and more stressed as the reviews I see aren't very good. We have cruised Carnival before and always had fun. But the ports seem questionable?? How the cruise director? I've never given them much thought but people seem to be picking on the new couple?

Dining room service? What did you in ports?

 

Any and all info would help.

 

Thanks SOOO Much!

Happy Cruising,

Donna

[Bethwte]

I'll try to help you when I return in two weeks...my advice for right now is.. dont worry too much about what you've read. People are more likely to remember/type gripes than good things. A cruise is what you make it :)

[daveandjules]

We are sailing on the Spirit on 3/25 and would love to hear about your trip on 2/21. I am having trouble deciding what to do in the ports. We are taking our 3 boys, ages 11,17 and 20 on this trip. Can't wait to hear your ideas and suggestions. Have a great trip!!:o

[Bethwte]

Have you checked out the "ports of call" boards on this site... They have a lot of great information that should sustain you until I return... lol

 

BTW, daveandjules, I think my review may be especially helpful for you as I am 17 (will be 18 in three weeks) so I'll have some insight on what the older two of your boys might think of the cruise...

 

Thanks for the good wishes! :)

[CabinBoy]

I'm going on her in June to Alaska. Any advice as far as obstructed views in any of the cabins?

[mared1]

I wouldn't worry about the bad reviews, either - I wrote a reveiw but it hasn't been posted yet.

The ports are different than the Caribbean! Acapulco is a large rather dirty city - but there is plenty to do. We went to a public beach and just relaxed during the day - it isn't very clean, the beach, that is - lots of litter, etc. But it was relaxing. At night we took a Carnival excursion to the Cliff Divers - something we wanted to see. I would recommend a day trip to that so you can see more and also not taking Carnivals excursion - it is cheaper to go on your own. Just hire a taxi.

In the other 2 ports, we once again just went to a beach and relaxed. None of the places had very good shopping - atleast not in comparison to St. Maarten or St. Thomas. Acapulco probably had the best shopping.

We had an extended balcony cabin with a very large balcony on the Vernada deck. We liked it a lot.

The ship was clean, the food was hot and good in the dining room, the staff was friendly. Really we had no complaints to speak of.

If you go looking for things that are bad, you will probably find them, but if you go with the idea of having a good time and remembering they have a lot of guests, you will have a great time!

[daveandjules]

Bethwte and mared1 thank you! I will be very curious what you would recommend on excursions for the 17 & 20 year old (we won't let them go alone, so it would be for the 5 of us) Bethwte! We are leaning towards the Elephant Rock snorkel in Manz and being on our own in the other ports. The cliff divers are for sure in Acapulco and from what I have read it is better to be on your own there. Do you know anything about Ixtapa Island or another resort in Ixtapa. I know a day at the beach with Boogie Boarding would be great. Can't wait to read your review Mared1 and then hear back from you after your cruise Bethwte. Thank You:p

[mared1]

Quite a few people from the cruise went to Ixtpa Island - said it was a good place to snorkel.

 

Definetly go to the Cliff Divers on your own - I would recommend a day show while the evening is dramatic with the last diver carrying torches you really can't see much. Day light would be much better and go early as it fills up fast and the closer you can get to where they actually dive, the better.

[RANCHOVISTA]

LITEWAIT....Please give us a short review and any comments (positive or negative) re: your experience on the Spirit. Thanks in advance.

[RANCHOVISTA]

Actually the question is for MaredI

[Litewait]

I won't be on until April 2nd. A while back I wrote a rather lengthly review of the Elation from LA and people loved and appreciated it. I will do the same after this cruise. I appreciate all the info I can get before hand and like to pass what I learn along as well. Thanks to all of you keeping us updated in the mean time!

 

Happy Cruising,

Donna

[mared1]

LITEWAIT....Please give us a short review and any comments (positive or negative) re: your experience on the Spirit. Thanks in advance.

I have written a shorter version of the review and posted it - Also I see someone just posted a review from a February sailing.

[Deb&Bert]

Do you know if the balcony dividers on the balconys opened?

 

I heard that the DON'T and then I read that they did??

 

Thanks

[mared1]

Do you know if the balcony dividers on the balconys opened?

 

I heard that the DON'T and then I read that they did??

 

Thanks

They do open some, but I have heard only 20 per cruise. You have to go to the pursers office when you first get on board and request it.

[cmptrwiz]

So what is the deal with the stage being closed. Are they working on it or just talking about repairing it. This is crazy it has been having problems since November or December! Wiz:)

[mared1]

So what is the deal with the stage being closed. Are they working on it or just talking about repairing it. This is crazy it has been having problems since November or December! Wiz:)

 

I really don't know about the stage - on our cruise on 1/28, it worked fine and all the shows were in the Pharohs lounge.

[emporess]

I booked the Ixtapa Island Getaway and Snorkel. Well, I received and email from Carnival stating that it was cancelled. It is such a bummer!

I think there are 2 formal nights and that is pretty obvious on how to dress. What about the other nights? Are they all casual or are there some "semi-formal" nights?

We sail 3/25!

[jmike]

Hi Emproess, we were on the 1/12/05 Spirit cruise. While in Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa we spent the day at Las Gatas beach. The beach was just great and we enjoyed the snorkeling. They rent equipment there if you need it. There are several beach resturants with tables, unbrellas and chairs you can use for the price of a drink. Just catch a water taxi at the tender dock. Get tickets at the ticket window for $3.00 round trip before boarding the water taxis. The water taxis run all day long and take about 10 minutes to make the trip to the beach. All other non formal nights are casual including the Supper Club. Enjoy your cruise. Mike

[mared1]

I booked the Ixtapa Island Getaway and Snorkel. Well, I received and email from Carnival stating that it was cancelled. It is such a bummer!

I think there are 2 formal nights and that is pretty obvious on how to dress. What about the other nights? Are they all casual or are there some "semi-formal" nights?

We sail 3/25!

The other nights are fairly casual in the dining room. No Shorts or jeans. You will see women in sun dresses, capris, nice slacks, dressy dresses, etc. Men usually wear slacks and a polo type shirt. Casual slacks like Dockers are fine.

So just wear what you are comfortable in - I worse sun dresses every night except formal nights as I have a lot of them for work and they are for me comfortable. My husband wore a polo shirt and slacks. We did not go to the Supper club, but sailed on the Legend last year and ate their one night - it was considered semi formal - men were suppose to wear a jacket, but I am sure one would not be turned away if they didn't.

[savandbarb]

I booked the Ixtapa Island Getaway and Snorkel. Well, I received and email from Carnival stating that it was cancelled. It is such a bummer!

I think there are 2 formal nights and that is pretty obvious on how to dress. What about the other nights? Are they all casual or are there some "semi-formal" nights?

We sail 3/25!

We booked the the ixtapa island getaway w/o the snorkel( we have or own stuff to bring with) I have not recieved anything,boy I hope they don't cancel ours!!

when are you going?:)

[SheilaS]

I was also on the Spirit 1/28/05 cruise and I did a review somewhere on this board. :) Here is a piece of it for you. And BTW- I thought the ship and service was very good!!!

 

Ports:

Acapulco was a big city with lots of people. The traffic was awful. There are at least a million Volkswagon taxis and they are cheaper to take than a bigger car. My husband is 6'6" and not skinny, so we rented a van to take us on a tour of the city ($60 for the 4 of us for about 4 hours.) Not really a lot to see. We went to Walmart, where we had to pay to park, so I could buy a few things like gummy worms and chips for our kids that had Mexican labeling. I also bought my mom a collector spoon for 70cents. Godiva Chocolates for about $3.00. I was happy with my purchases. We stopped at a little roadside store for Corona and paid $9 for the 6pack. The taxi driver was surprised it was so much, but we looked like tourists and were charged like tourists. Yes? :) We did go to the gated community where all the celebrities (and taxi drivers) live: Robert Redford, Frank Sinatra's house, Sylvester Stallone. If we found a house we liked, we just made up who lived there. ;0) We stopped by an Acapulco beach for a beer and a walk. We didn't walk far on that beach. It was like a pebble bed. Hurt our feet. We went back to the ship to eat dinner and then caught a taxi to see the cliff divers. $10 taxi, $17 ea to sit in the La Perla Restaurant to watch the divers. (2 drinks of your choice come with the $17 charge.) We arrived about 9pm for the 9:30 show. It took about 30 minutes from the time they walked down the steps until the last diver dove from the cliff. I am glad I have seen it, but will not worry my little head about it any more. We have a consensus on that.

 

Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa was the best! This is a tender port, so although you dock early, unless you have a ship tour, you might not get off until 8:30 or 9am. We got off about 9- we were group 4 again. We hired a driver with a big car ($100 for the 4 of us for about 8 hours.) The only thing we really wanted to see was the beach that Andy (from Shawshank Redemption) escaped to. It was gorgeous! We were almost the only tourists there that day. The sand is like fine powder, light color with a black mist of color that came to the top. It made beautiful patterns in the sand. The locals were throwing out nets for fish. The children were running, laughing, fishing. There was a restaurant there with all kinds of fresh fish dishes. We had the fried shrimp,open-fire grilled red snapper,and calamari. The red snapper was just slit open, gutted and threw on the fire with a wonderful seasoning. We were all tasting it when Kayla picked up a corner and looked at the other side of it. Scales, eyeballs, and teeth still there. An "Oh" of surprise popped out of her, but it didn't stop us from eating. :0) We stayed there as long as we could. We had stopped a couple of times for Corona and Victoria Beer at little road side stores. $1.00 each. Luis, our tour guide, took us to a friend's home to see his iguanas. ("Mexican *****") They were everywhere and they were huge. He said there were about 100 of them running around the open yard, up in all the trees. We tippee-toed everywhere and still had a scare or two. That was exciting. A little boy there was walking around with a pet squirrel on his shoulder. On the way back to Ixtapa, we passed a river with a couple of tiki huts built in it and people on the banks and in the water. We asked him to stop, so he drove down a little dirt road to get to where they were. It was wash day. Kids playing everywhere. Momas scrubbing clothes on with brushed on the rocks and rinsing them out, while the children scurried up the banks to hang them on the line. Men cooking food over open fires and drinking beer. I took a few pictures and one of them men ask did I want a beer. I ask how much? He said 10 pesos. I said one dollar? He said si! It was down in a cooler full of ice and COLD! Just right. We bought 4. The man was happy. We were happy. Life is good! Luis took us to a little town market with lots and lots of jewelry stalls. It cost 5 pesos to use the restroom and the lady had the toilet paper already torn off and pre-folded for you. My husband almost bought a ring, but we didn't have enough cash with us. (Note to self--next time take plenty of cash for jewelry and a little extra toilet paper.) :0) By the time we got to Carlos and Charlies in Ixtapa, we only had about an hour and a half left before we had to be back on board. The beach was very nice. My favorite part was the massage. $10 for 30 minutes. $20 for an hour. Wooonderfulll! And Carlos and Charlies had the best Pina Colada I had all week. I think it was about $5. We ran into Doreen and Butch there, but other than them, the place was about empty. The calmest C&C I have ever been in. Lots of things happening on the beach tho. You can even sky dive if you want!

 

Manzanillo is a busy port city. Pretty clean for a port city. We were impressed. Lots of 18 wheelers. Lots of plumbing supply stores. Don't ask me why, but there were. I had booked a tour online with gomanzanillo.com. We wanted to do the LaSalto Waterfall tour. The site said a 45 minute scenic drive thru a jungle with beautiful foliage, flowers and birds to a breathtaking waterfall inside a Water Park. Well, it was a beautiful waterfall. But it was more like an 1 1/4 hour ride on the curviest mountain road I have been on since the Smoky Mountains. No flowers to speak of, but we did run over an iguana. The water park is not. There were a couple of empty pond-like pools with green water in them. And it cost 5 pesos to use the bathroom with no toilet paper. :0) We stopped at a little store and bought Corona for 70cents each. We sure needed it by then. However, we did finally make it off the mountain, and our tour driver, Daniel, took us to a great little restaurant called Susan's for our second authentic Mexican meal. There were no dishes with beef or chicken, which we are used to. Everything was made with fresh fish of some kind. Daniel ordered about 10 different dishes for us to try and there was plenty of everything. Shrimp soup with a whole shrimp in it, eyes, tentacles.....add a little fresh squeezed lime- mmmmm. Salsa with fresh onion, sweet peppers, tomatoes, tortillas. Calamari, blue marlin, dorado, octopus, shrimp 2 or 3 different ways. Fresh tortillas with refried beans and wonderful rice on the side. We were all hungry, which helped, but, it was exciting to eat things I might not ever eat again. :0) And live to tell about it. :) We did finally make it to a pretty Manzanillo beach. There was a market there and a little restaurant that didn't charge us for umbrella and chairs as long as we bought a drink now and then. Even though the sun didn't come out until we were leaving, it was a nice relaxing finish to the day. Oh yeah, well, after my bathing suit top catch broke and I flashed what felt like most of Mexico, I relaxed behind the big umbrella.)

[BluexMoon]

I booked the Ixtapa Island Getaway and Snorkel. Well, I received and email from Carnival stating that it was cancelled. It is such a bummer!

I think there are 2 formal nights and that is pretty obvious on how to dress. What about the other nights? Are they all casual or are there some "semi-formal" nights?

We sail 3/25!

 

Did they say why it was cancelled? That was by far my favorite excursion!

[emporess]

Carnival did not state why this tour was cancelled. The email stated to check their website often as they are always adding new tours. Maybe we'll get lucky. It is just depressing since this was the only tour that really "fit" our family. The kids were so excited to snorkel.

[SheilaS]

That is very strange. The Ixtapa Island tour was very popular with the people on our cruise. Altho we didn't take it, we heard good things from it.

 

Sheila<------------watched the video of the tour on ship TV many times:)