Looking at Carnival and Have Some Q's

[Jeebs]

Hello All -

 

My wife and I are looking at taking our first cruise with Carnival. We have cruised with NCL in the past (and have another booked). The trip we are looking at trying is a 2 day cruise to nowhere out of San Diego, California. We figure this would be a good way to test run a new line. Its out of our home port and short so if there was anything we found to be horrid (which I HIGHLY doubt) we would not be stuck for a week or more. I do have a few questions, though.

 

First, when booking I notice there are a few different levels of balcony stateroom. There is obstructed (not really feeling that just from the name alone), extended and premium. Can anyone break down what these are? There isn't much info on them on the Carnival website. A balcony, at the minimum, is a must for us.

 

Second, are we selling ourselves short of the Carnival experience by doing a trip to nowhere? We test fired NCL on a short 3 day trip to the Bahamas and enjoyed every bit of it. Unfortunately, this trip doesn't stop anywhere. It is appealing because there are no flights (20 min drive) and it is only a long weekend.

 

Lastly, how does the Spirit compare to other Carnival ships? More specifically, the Splendor. I ask because they both leave out of SD and a longer trip on the Splendor is not out of the question.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jeebs

[2 cruzen]

I'm probably not the best person to answer your questions, but since no one else has, here's what I know. The Spirit is a smaller/older ship than the Splendor. We are sailing the Spirit for the first time this October, but have been on her sister ship, the Miracle, which we enjoyed very much.

 

Extended balconies are a little bigger. Don't know anything about premium.

 

I don't think because you aren't actually stopping anywhere will sway your opinion of Carnival or not. Carnival is about fun, food, entertainment, and service. So IMO, go have fun and check them out. I have wanted to try NCL, but just haven't had the chance yet. Plus, now we are trying to reach Platinum, so we always look at Carnival cruises first.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Hello All -

 

My wife and I are looking at taking our first cruise with Carnival. We have cruised with NCL in the past (and have another booked). The trip we are looking at trying is a 2 day cruise to nowhere out of San Diego, California. We figure this would be a good way to test run a new line. Its out of our home port and short so if there was anything we found to be horrid (which I HIGHLY doubt) we would not be stuck for a week or more. I do have a few questions, though.

 

First, when booking I notice there are a few different levels of balcony stateroom. There is obstructed (not really feeling that just from the name alone), extended and premium. Can anyone break down what these are? There isn't much info on them on the Carnival website. A balcony, at the minimum, is a must for us.

 

Second, are we selling ourselves short of the Carnival experience by doing a trip to nowhere? We test fired NCL on a short 3 day trip to the Bahamas and enjoyed every bit of it. Unfortunately, this trip doesn't stop anywhere. It is appealing because there are no flights (20 min drive) and it is only a long weekend.

 

Lastly, how does the Spirit compare to other Carnival ships? More specifically, the Splendor. I ask because they both leave out of SD and a longer trip on the Splendor is not out of the question.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jeebs

 

Not sure if a 2 day cruise to nowhere is how to introduce you to a line since the clientel will be totally skewed with lots of younger pax who will try to make do in 2 days what it takes a week to do usually.

 

Think not much sleep and partying.

 

Bill

[k2excursion]

Second, are we selling ourselves short of the Carnival experience by doing a trip to nowhere?

 

In my opinion, yes, that would be selling yourselves short, and it would not be a good representation of a regular Carnival cruise. On Carnival, these short cruises to nowhere tend to be more of a party cruise, with drinking, drinking, and more drinking. (At least that's what I've heard.) Carnival cruises are not as "classy" as many other lines, but that's what many of us like about it. We enjoy the more casual atmosphere, with more activities and games going on. The shows are always great! I don't think that Carnival tries as hard with these things on the cruises to nowhere, since most people just want to drink. Again, this is just what I've heard. A better representation would be a 5-day cruise or longer. Many people who are used to cruising very classy, elegant, upper-class cruiselines tend to be a little disgusted with Carnival cruisers' more casual style. That would be even worse on a short cruise to nowhere. Regular Carnival cruises will have drinking, but it's not like it's a big frat party. There is alot of fun activities and games, without it becoming obnoxious, except for high society people.

[k2excursion]

First, when booking I notice there are a few different levels of balcony stateroom. There is obstructed (not really feeling that just from the name alone), extended and premium. Can anyone break down what these are? There isn't much info on them on the Carnival website. A balcony, at the minimum, is a must for us.

 

Lastly, how does the Spirit compare to other Carnival ships? More specifically, the Splendor. I ask because they both leave out of SD and a longer trip on the Splendor is not out of the question.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jeebs

 

The obstructed balconies on the Spirit will be on Deck 5. The obstruction is the lifeboats which stop at about the railing of the balcony. So when you look out, you see ocean. When you look down, you see the top of a lifeboat. The extended balconies will have a 60 sq.ft. balcony as opposed to a 40 sq.ft. regular balcony. However, all of these extended balconies sit above the lifeboats as well. So you will still see lifeboats when looking down; they will just be further down. A few of the extended balconies are extra extra long. The premium balconies will have a bigger balcony, at about 85 sq.ft, plus a bigger room indoors: around 230 compared to 185.

 

I have not been on Splendor, but I've been on a couple ships that are set up very similar, and I've been on a sister ship of the Spirit. My preference would be Splendor, but most on these boards will prefer Spirit. The young and young at heart seem to like the Splendor setup more. Spirit will be less crowded, but it might be more difficult to find some of the indoors public venues. Splendor will have a big screen ("seaside theater") around the main pool that Spirit will not have. Both ships have a great waterslide. Splendor's is around the same area as the main pools, while Spirit's is hidden away in the back.

[Essiesmom]

A cruise to nowhere is often a booze cruise. the ship goes out beyond the international limit and opens the duty free shops, and everyone can buy an unlimited amount of stuff without worrying about customs on your return. My only NCL cruise was a one night CTN from NYC. For the money, I would not do one again, unless it was to inspect the ship. You won't get a representative experience of a Carnival cruise. EM

[tweakes]

I was in a similar situation as you ... cruised on NCL twice and then moved to San Diego. Took a 3-day cruise to Ensenada out of SD, and honestly I think it was pretty bad. The entertainment was HORRIBLE ... let me repeat HORRIBLE ... my poor high school put on better shows than what they had. But they aren't going to put their best entertainment (or ships) in the SD market - especially on a short cruise.

 

Did I have a good time? Yes - but it had nothing to do with Carnival really. I did not have a negative experience with Carnival (other than the entertainment), but I do not think I got the whole experience. Based on reviews and other friends who have been on Carnival, I am still interested and going on a week long cruise out of Miami this November.

 

If the price is cheap and the time is great you should definitely go. I would do another 3-day to Ensenada ... just to cruise. I think you can have a good time on any cruise, any time of year, as long as you're with the right person and have the right attitude.

[evilelf]

Compared to a 2-day cruise to nowhere, I would definitely recommend the longer cruises. As everyone already stated, the shorter cruises are party boats. The Splendor is a beautiful ship, and I highly recommend it to people. We were on it in March 2010, and will be going on her again in April 2012. We had great food, great service, and very good entertainment.

[CanWeGoYet?]

Another vote for skipping the 2 day cruise to nowhere, if your goal is to give Carnival a test run. On the 3 day bahamas cruise I took, it was not a on par with the food, dining room service, or atmosphere & activities of the other cruises I've taken on Carnival. I've only taken 7 day cruises on carnival aside from this one. If I had not cruised carnival before, I would have accepted as gospel all the negative cliche's & this would have been my first & last on this line. There was fighting & shouting not far from the pursers desk early on in the cruise, and a huge amount of police & customs activity I witnessed as I disembarked.

 

I really like Carnival, but will never take a short cruise with them again.

[okwriter]

Add me to the list... I don't think you can get a realistic representation in two days. And as others have said, you'll likely have a different type of passenger. Take the plunge and book something longer, then come back and write a review! :)

[gunther619]

This is an "obstructed" view from the obstructed cabin on a spirit class ship. The life boats hung at my feet...

 

[elcuchio24]

Hello All -

 

My wife and I are looking at taking our first cruise with Carnival. We have cruised with NCL in the past (and have another booked). The trip we are looking at trying is a 2 day cruise to nowhere out of San Diego, California. We figure this would be a good way to test run a new line. Its out of our home port and short so if there was anything we found to be horrid (which I HIGHLY doubt) we would not be stuck for a week or more. I do have a few questions, though.

 

First, when booking I notice there are a few different levels of balcony stateroom. There is obstructed (not really feeling that just from the name alone), extended and premium. Can anyone break down what these are? There isn't much info on them on the Carnival website. A balcony, at the minimum, is a must for us.

 

Second, are we selling ourselves short of the Carnival experience by doing a trip to nowhere? We test fired NCL on a short 3 day trip to the Bahamas and enjoyed every bit of it. Unfortunately, this trip doesn't stop anywhere. It is appealing because there are no flights (20 min drive) and it is only a long weekend.

 

Lastly, how does the Spirit compare to other Carnival ships? More specifically, the Splendor. I ask because they both leave out of SD and a longer trip on the Splendor is not out of the question.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jeebs

 

Obstructed is about how it sounds, sometimes they are ok, but not really for us. We usually do a standard or extended balcony. Extended is just how it sounds, too. Bowling ally. The premium balconies are usually the aft wraps, which are pretty much 3 sided balconies at the back corners of the ship. We cruise both NCL and CCL, we don't find them very different from each other. You ARE selling yourself short going on a cruise to no where, I would not judge how you'll like CCL in general for that cruise.....

[crusinpsychRN]

Add me to the list... I don't think you can get a realistic representation in two days. And as others have said, you'll likely have a different type of passenger. Take the plunge and book something longer, then come back and write a review! :)

 

I agree. You'd get on and off and not much in between!

[rhcpchika1]

Another vote for the longer cruise.... I agree with what everyone else has already said about the short cruise!!

[Jeebs]

Thanks for all of the responses. I didn't consider the fact that the cruise would be largely filled with the booze crowd. My wife and I are both 28 and don't mind the partying but at the same time don't want to spend a long weekend with drunk college kids. After thinking about it, the timing would be horrid too. It is in April, prime spring break time.

 

I'll start looking at the 5 and 7 day trips to Baja California and the Mexican Riviera.

 

Thanks again!

[fuzzmane]

We took the Spirit to Mexico a couple of years ago and it was awesome. Great ship, not as new as some, but we had no complaints. Have also done the Cruise to Nowhere and would not do it again. Will be on the Splendor for Hawaii in 2013. Go for the longer cruise, stay away from the holidays, summer and spring break and it will be a lot cheaper. It will be worth it.