Carnival Spirit - Nov 5th to 13th, 2022

[Therobielyn's]

Been a lurker and minor contributor on this site for a few years and have never really been compelled to do a review, but our recent cruise aboard the Spirit is one to talk about, so here is a brief review.

DW and I along with a couple of close friends set foot aboard the Carnival Spirit on Saturday, November 5th for an 8 day sojourn that took us from Miami to the islands of St. Maarten, St. Kitts, the city of San Juan and the beautiful port of Grand Turk.

 

Day 1 - Miami

 

Embarkation was the easiest we have ever encountered. We are Platinum with Carnival (and Royal) and were able to book our arrival time a couple of days before others, so we were able to book the 10-10:30 arrival time. Our friends (their first Carnival cruise) were able to get the 10:30 - 11:00 arrival time, so we waited to arrive with them.

We arrived into the lineup at 10:25 and were quickly through security by 10:40.

By the time we got upstairs (10:45 am) into the boarding area, they were already calling Platinum to board. 

We asked if our friends could come with us and were told, "Yes, absolutely", so the 4 of us were on board by 10:50 and went directly to our muster station to get that done.

With that out of the way, we dropped off our luggage into our room and were up on Lido by 11:05.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, unpacking, eating (of course) and in the Serenity pool (people soup, we called it).

It was stinking hot outside!!!!!!

 

Day 2-3 - Sea Days

 

We did the normal sea day stuff of lounging, eating, "pooling". napping etc.

The one thing that I will mention is that even though we have seen every Carnival show (except for the new Celebration ones) there was something different about this cast.

They were tighter, more in sync, were better singers and dancers than we had remembered.

Day 2 brought 88 Keys. A great show and great performance.

 

Day 4 - St. Maarten

 

Today we did the America's Cup sailing regatta.

We have done this one before and told our friends about it and they wanted to do it as well.

It did not disappoint!!!

Racing those yachts and actually being part of the crew is a great feeling.

If you get a chance to do this excursion, do it!!

The show tonight was 80's Pop to the Max. Another fantastic performance.

 

Day 5 - St. Kitts

 

The ATV and beach adventure excursion was on tap today.

This was a blast (at least the ATV's were). We off-roaded for quite a while and saw some great views. 

The ATV's were easy to ride and the scenery amazing.

The disappointment was the beach time.

They gave us one hour at one of their "best" beaches. I can't remember the name but it was horrible.

The beach was rocky and almost unenterable.

 

Day 6 - San Juan

 

The typical early arrival into San Juan and we simply walked around old San Juan and up to San Cristobal fort.

The only issue is that they do not take cash for admittance into the fort????????????

Both parties left their credit cards in the safe this morning and we only brought cash, so a long walk up a steep hill for no reason!!!!

Oh well, the city is beautiful and it was a nice morning (but waaaaayyyy too hot) for a walk.

Back to the ship for a 3 hour nap!!!!

Tonight was the Love and Marriage game show. Same old, same old, but still good for a few laughs.

 

Day 7 - Grand Turk

 

Well, the secret is out now and Jack's Shack ain't the quiet, out of the way beach bar that it used to be.

It was packed down there!!!

Of course the water was incredible and the sand soft and easy on the feet.

I will say that it was beyond hot today! Being in that water was a great way to cool down, but it masks the effect of the sun on you.

We all got way too much sun and our red bodies proved it!!

The show tonight was Getaway Island.

Even though the cast was so good, nothing can help this show. Easily the worst in the Carnival playlist (at least in our opinion).

 

Day 8 - Sea Day

 

Packing, eating, "pooling" were on tap today, always a sad day for us!!

The show tonight was Epic Rock and let's just say that this particular cast pulled this one off to the max!!!! Everyone was on their feet and it blew everyone away!!!

 

Day 9 - Debarkation

 

Off the ship and at Fort Lauderdale airport by 10 am. Easy Peasy.

 

Here are some highlights for me.

 

1) The staff and crew were OUTSTANDING!!!! Our wait team of Michael, Margo and Joeven was the best we have ever had!!! Spectacular!!

2) Our room Steward Ramel was great!! He was telling us that they now have 35 rooms to do each day. This is a corporate decision. These people are grossly overworked!!

3) The overall crew was so good!! Interaction, friendly, happy!!!

4) As I mentioned above, we are platinum on both Carnival and Royal and we both say that this was our favorite cruise, simply because there were no "misses" by anyone. The food was great, the entertainment was awesome, the crew (how many times can I say this?) was top notch.

 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate!!!

 

 

 

 

[Island Dog]

Sailing Spirit soon. Thanks for the review, just made me even more psyched. We love St Kitts but the "beaches" there leave a lot to be desired. The fort there is amazing with the views high above the hilltop.

 

How were the lines to get a drink? Heard that long lines were experienced recently. Particularly on Lido. Hope this was an aberration and not the new norm.

[Therobielyn's]

25 minutes ago, Island Dog said:

Sailing Spirit soon. Thanks for the review, just made me even more psyched. We love St Kitts but the "beaches" there leave a lot to be desired. The fort there is amazing with the views high above the hilltop.

 

How were the lines to get a drink? Heard that long lines were experienced recently. Particularly on Lido. Hope this was an aberration and not the new norm.

For the most part, it wasn't a huge issue EXCEPT in the casino, where drink service was hard to come by.

We asked one of the dealers we were playing with and he said that the lack of service seemed to happen beginning the cruise prior to ours.

He said that before then, the service was excellent and then boom, the servers were all but gone.

Weird.

[momof3cruisers]

7 hours ago, Therobielyn's said:

For the most part, it wasn't a huge issue EXCEPT in the casino, where drink service was hard to come by.

We asked one of the dealers we were playing with and he said that the lack of service seemed to happen beginning the cruise prior to ours.

He said that before then, the service was excellent and then boom, the servers were all but gone.

Weird.

He must have missed the cruise before that then. 😂 We were on Spirit Oct 22nd until you got on. Service was deadly slow especially in the dining room. We heard a LOT of complaints about bar service in the casino. We don’t spend much time in there but people were griping! The only even remotely fast service was the lobby bar, Red Frog on Lido and Alchemy. Comedy Club was okay. 

[mondello]

Thank you for the update on the shows. I just booked Spirit for Spring Break, 4/3/23, 6 days. I know the cast of performers may differ by then but, I’d like to see 88 Keys; haven’t seen it before.

[knagl]

On 11/14/2022 at 1:55 PM, Therobielyn's said:

Our wait team of Michael, Margo and Joeven was the best we have ever had!!! Spectacular!!

 

Were you doing fixed-time dining or anytime?

[Therobielyn's]

On 11/15/2022 at 9:05 PM, knagl said:

 

Were you doing fixed-time dining or anytime?

We were fixed. 5:30 pm.

Table Empire Dining room - table 172

[Therobielyn's]

On 11/14/2022 at 9:57 PM, mondello said:

Thank you for the update on the shows. I just booked Spirit for Spring Break, 4/3/23, 6 days. I know the cast of performers may differ by then but, I’d like to see 88 Keys; haven’t seen it before.

This is a good show, featuring Billy Joel, Elton John, basically anything to do with "Piano Men".

The only super weak show is Getaway Island. Even the best cast cannot possibly do this tire fire of a show any good.

We just returned our survey and made sure we mentioned that.

We expressed that even though Carnival really does cate a lot to the new cruiser, they need to start updating their shows so that repeat Carnival cruisers can look forward to something as well.

[slavigne5577]

You mentioned a pool in serenity. Is it s pool or hot tub. We thinking of booking the Spirit when it comes goes to Mobil. We live close to Nola but wanted to sail a different ship. So we are curious about all things Spirit.

 

[1kaper]

2 minutes ago, slavigne5577 said:

You mentioned a pool in serenity. Is it s pool or hot tub. We thinking of booking the Spirit when it comes goes to Mobil. We live close to Nola but wanted to sail a different ship. So we are curious about all things Spirit.

 

 

It has both. But the pool is quite small. We sailed Spirit over Thanksgiving and on seaday the pool was the most crowded of all the pools. Last seaday I’m not sure they could have gotten anyone else in. 
The hot tub was also always full. 
 

I also found it difficult to get a spot. But we aren’t early risers. 
 

But. I also sailed when the ship was full over a holiday so YMMV

[crooooze]

We were on the Spirit the same week as OP.  Loved the ship and the crew. We did Any Time dining and was assigned different tables and servers each night. Dinner service was consistently quick, but breakfast/sea day brunch was consistently slower. With several cruises on the Pride and Legend, the Spirit class ships are our favorite. 

 

My biggest gripe is they have many of their loudest lido activities by the pool under the partially closed dome. The extremely loud volume with sound reverberation vibrates my teeth fillings out. 

[slavigne5577]

41 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

 

It has both. But the pool is quite small. We sailed Spirit over Thanksgiving and on seaday the pool was the most crowded of all the pools. Last seaday I’m not sure they could have gotten anyone else in. 
The hot tub was also always full. 
 

I also found it difficult to get a spot. But we aren’t early risers. 
 

But. I also sailed when the ship was full over a holiday so YMMV

What pool does the waterworks come down in?

Is serenity open deck or what is above it?

Does it have the spa pass?

Edited December 4, 2022 by slavigne5577

[1kaper]

3 minutes ago, slavigne5577 said:

What pool does the waterworks come down in?

Is serenity open deck or what is above it?

Does it have the spa pass?

The waterworks don’t come down into a pool. They end at the deck above the serenity deck and other pools. 
Serenity Deck is open above. It is aft. 
 

I don’t know what the spa pass is. 
 

 

 

[slavigne5577]

1 minute ago, 1kaper said:

The waterworks don’t come down into a pool. They end at the deck above the serenity deck and other pools. 
Serenity Deck is open above. It is aft. 
 

I don’t know what the spa pass is. 
 

 

 

Thank you

[CajunOyster]

On 12/3/2022 at 6:41 PM, 1kaper said:

 

It has both. But the pool is quite small. We sailed Spirit over Thanksgiving and on seaday the pool was the most crowded of all the pools. Last seaday I’m not sure they could have gotten anyone else in. 
The hot tub was also always full. 
 

I also found it difficult to get a spot. But we aren’t early risers. 
 

But. I also sailed when the ship was full over a holiday so YMMV

 

By comparison, we had the exact opposite experience on Spirit serenity.  It was 12/3 - 12/11 and Serenity was never crowded.  Always room at or in the pool.    I guess it depends on when you go.