We Love Our Cruise on the Spirit...Mobile, AL Not So Much w/Pics

[Oakman58]

We had a great cruise on the Spirit and even though I point out some of the negatives in this report, they were all minor.  The crew was some of the best and hardest workers we have ever experienced.  My wife and I have cruised with NCL, Holland, Princess, and of course Carnival, and with over 17 cruises the crew on the Spirit was among the best.

 

February 2nd

 

We flew from St. Louis to Mobile via Charlotte a day early for our Feb 3rd Western Caribbean cruise.  Every time we fly, I’m always amazed at the number of dogs you see in airports, especially larger dogs.  I took this photo while waiting at the boarding gate in Charlotte.  Our plane to Mobile was so small I don’t think a dog that size would have fit in our plane. LOL!  I have no issue with service dogs on planes but this was no service dog.

 

I actually like the smaller planes because you don’t have to worry about who’s going to sit next to you in the third seat.  Our plane was small enough that you had to be very careful when standing up so you didn’t smash your head on the overhead storage bins.

 

After getting our luggage at the Mobile airport we caught a cab to take us to our hotel.  We had booked a room at Springdale Inn and Suites and unfortunately the GPS in our cab didn’t have the correct route and took us to the wrong hotel.  The driver was sure he knew where the hotel was, and we ended doing a grand tour of Mobile.  My wife and I got so frustrated we finally used Google on our phones to get the correct directions and told the cab driver where to make turns.  I thought the driver was just trying to run up the fare but when we finally got to our hotel he cut the cost of our fare in half.  I was satisfied with that.

 

The hotel we were staying at was previously a Holiday Inn Express & Suites.  The new owners hadn’t replaced the sign and instead simply covered it with black tarp, Sheesh.  The hotel was OK but definitely dated and showing wear.  Still, it was good enough for a one night stay and they offered a free hot breakfast.

 

February 3rd

 

Before our cruise, when we did the online check-in with Carnival we were given an arrival time of 12:00 to 12:30.  A couple of days before our cruise, Carnival sent us an email warning us of closed roads around the cruise terminal due to Mardi Gras and to plan for extra time getting to the terminal.  The Senior Bowl football game was also that day.

 

Due to that warning, the morning of the cruise I called Superior Cab at 9:15 AM and scheduled a pick up at the hotel for 10 AM.  With no cab in sight by 10:10 my wife called the cab company and was told they were scheduling the cab right then.  By 10:20 we called another cab company and decided whoever got there first would take us to the terminal.  At 10:55 the second cab company we had called showed up so all was good.

 

Well, all was good until we were on the road by the terminal and traffic was stopped.  We were blocked by Mardi Gras floats.  So we waited and waited and waited some more.  We were frustrated and so was our cab driver. 

 

 

 

The Mardi Gras floats finally moved on and we arrived at the port just after 12:00.  It’s just as well that we were delayed because employees weren’t allowing passengers into the terminal until their scheduled arrival time.  There were a lot of people standing outside.

 

Inside the terminal there was a very long line to get through security screening.  Many passengers were required to open their carryon luggage for inspection after going through Xray which really slowed the process.  This was the tightest security screening I’ve ever seen at a cruise terminal.

 

I’m guessing this tighter security was in response to the incident last month when a passenger brought a loaded gun onboard the Margaritaville at Sea ship in Florida.  The gun wasn’t discovered until the passenger went through customs at the end of the cruise.

 

Once past security the rest of the boarding process was quick and simple.  Onboard we went directly to our muster station, checked in, and had a very brief lifejacket demonstration.

 

From there we headed to the buffet for lunch.  Naturally the buffet was packed.  After eating we walked around looking for a place to sit and relax while we waited for our cabin to be ready.  I thought for sure it would be an exercise in futility but surprisingly we found a place at the bar in Serenity area so we relaxed with a beer.

 

The cabins were ready at 1:30 so we headed down to deck 6.  We were in balcony cabin 6147.  We unpacked our carryon luggage and then I went to one of the bars for two beers and brought them back to our cabin.  While I was gone our cabin steward came by and introduced himself to my wife.

 

We drank our beers on the balcony while we watched the dock workers loading luggage and performing maintenance on the ship.

 

 

When we finished our beer we went into our cabin and were surprised to see our checked luggage had already been delivered.  After unpacking we discovered we had forgotten our electrical outlet extension, NUTS.  Most cruise ships we’ve been on had one DOUBLE 110v outlet.  This ship had only one single 110V outlet.  Oh well, we were able to make do and keep our electronics charged.

 

The ship departed on time at 4 PM and we watched from our balcony as we headed out into Mobile Bay.  I did notice that there was a viewing area above the ship’s bridge that stuck out from the ship.  The only other ship we’ve been on that had an area like that was the Diamond Princess.  I promised myself I would visit that deck and take some pictures.

 

As we departed the Port of Mobile we passed by a train yard that had huge piles of coal and a lot of smoke coming from a fire in one of those piles.  I was surprised there wasn’t any activity to put out the fire.

 

Back inside our cabin we discovered our balcony door wouldn’t close tightly enough and it was making a high pitched whistling sound.  There was no way we would be able to sleep through that so we called guest services but couldn’t get through.  My wife then called our room steward on the phone and he said he would get someone to work on it.

 

We had assigned dining at 6 PM and were surprised they let people into the dining before 6.  When we were on the Glory last year the doors to the dining room were closed until precisely 6 PM.

 

Our dinner was very good although I have no memory of what we ordered.  The food portions were much larger than I expected. On our December cruise on the Explorer the food portions in the main dining room were very small. Our wait staff was attentive but we were surprised that our no one asked us what we wanted to drink for dinner, so we just drank water.  Oh well, it saved us the cost of wine which I thought was ridiculously priced at $11.50 a glass. We didn’t have the drink package, so Carnival missed out on an alcohol sale.  We’re both in our 70’s and can’t consume alcohol the way we did when we were younger and since we had a $300 onboard credit we felt the drink package wasn’t worth buying.

 

By the way, if you’re hoping to see food pictures in this report, forget it!  I’m way too busy shoveling food into my mouth to take pictures.  After dinner we went to the Punchliner Comedy Club for the 7:30 PG show with Chris Cope.  We enjoyed his show, but we both felt he was just an OK comedian.

 

Somehow I was able to stay up past my bedtime so we ended the evening by attending the 9 PM Welcome Aboard show.  Alex was the Cruise Director on the Spirit, Meh.

 

When we returned to our cabin the balcony door had been fixed, thank goodness. The ship was cruising through some big ocean swells and was doing a bit of rocking and rolling.  We’re experienced cruisers so with the rough seas it simply rocked us to sleep.

 

I have to stop for now but I will definitely continue this report tomorrow.

[chrislaurn]

Sorry you had a bad experience with traffic in Mobile.  The terminal is located near the start of the downtown parades.  Next time, consider staying downtown in one of the hotels.  There are some great and historic hotels downtown all within walking distance of restaurants and entertainment.  If you're looking to save a little money, staying across Mobile Bay is also an option.  Spanish Fort has several hotels that are newer and the pricing would be comparable to the hotels by the airport.  It's an easy 15-20 minute ride to the port from there.  

[pcvtmom]

Great start to your review! I LOVE Spirit class ships, in general.

[Oakman58]

February 4th     Sea Day

 

We slept in until 8 AM which is very late for us.  I guess the ship’s rocking really put us into a deep sleep.  I grabbed our mugs and went up to the buffet for coffee and hot water for tea.

 

Since the Empire Restaurant (main dining room) opened for brunch at 8:30 we went down there for breakfast.  REJECTED!  We were told we needed to make a reservation through the Carnival App, however if we were willing to wait 30 minutes they could seat us.  No thanks.

 

We went up to the buffet for breakfast and I always dig to the bottom of serving trays for my serving, I thought the food was lukewarm at best.  So I discarded that plate and got in line at the omelet station and got a made to order, good and hot, omelet.  After eating we walked back to the Serenity deck and ordered a Peach Bellini and enjoyed the windy but warm weather.

 

We decided to try our luck with some trivia on the subject, cartoon theme songs in the Fountain Cafe.  We sucked at it and only got 5 out of 15 questions.

 

After that we went looking for the Internet Café on the ship.  Although I had purchased the premium plan, I couldn’t use Facebook or text.  We finally asked one of the Cruise Director’s staff where the Internet Café was and we were told it had been removed from the ship.  We were told to go to Guest Services for Internet issues.  This is the first ship we’ve been on that didn’t have an Internet Café.

At Guest Services they showed me the proper way to connect to the internet so I was able to Facebook.  I was also told I wouldn’t be able to text because blah, bablah, bablah.  Not being able to text didn’t seem right but I’m basing that on the fact that when we were on the RC Explorer of the Seas in December I had no trouble texting.  Oh well, at least I was able to use Instant Messenger.

 

Guest Services was located on deck 2 in the Spirit Lobby.  I loved the colors, the glass elevators, and the openness of the lobby which was open all the way to deck 10.

 

We ate lunch at the buffet and again the food seemed to be just lukewarm.  The flavor of the food was very good it just didn’t seem hot enough for me or for food safety.

 

After lunch my wife went back to our cabin to relax for a bit and I went off to explore the ship and take a few pictures.  Naturally the first place I headed to was that viewing area above the ship’s bridge on deck 9.  I love being able to get a picture of the side of the ship from an extended part of the ship.

It was a mostly cloudy day but the temperature was warm and very windy at the front of the ship.

 

Also deck 9 was a great area to take pictures of the bow of the ship.

 

On the landing of the stairs between the decks there were display cases that contained beautiful glass art vases.  If and when Carnival decides to scrap the Spirit, I would love to be able to purchase one of those pieces of artwork.

 

 

I also took a walk on the exterior promenade.  This ship doesn’t have a full outside wraparound promenade because the front of the ship is blocked.  You can still do a full walkaround by going inside and walking though “The Jungle”.  The Jungle is a hallway with seating by windows that wraps around the entire front of the ship. On our cruise this was always the quietest part of the ship. If you have an inside cabin this is a great place to sit, read, and see the ocean.

 

I was surprised that on the outside promenade there wasn’t single lounge chair for passengers.  This is the first ship we’ve been on that didn’t have at least a few deck chairs for passengers to relax and enjoy the ocean.

 

This door on the promenade deck intrigued me.  Fashion Boulevard?

 

No walk around the ship is complete without an aft photo of the ship’s wake.

 

By this time my ankle was beginning to bother me, so I headed back to the cabin to rest up a bit.  Back in 2019 I shattered my right ankle and it required surgery and lots of screws and plates to repair it. 9 months later I had to have surgery to remove all that hardware because I developed a staph infection in the ankle.  Although I’m very mobile, my ankle still swells up a bit when I overwork it.

 

Later in the afternoon we went to a comedy show in the Punchliner with Chris Cope again.  His show was OK.  From there we went to the Red Frog Pub, got a couple of Rum Runners and then sat just outside the pub and people watched.

 

The sun was starting to set as we got ready for dinner.

 

It was formal night that night and I was surprised at the low number of passengers that dressed to the “nines”.  As for myself, I was a real trend setter wearing my sport coat and bolo tie.  During dinner my wife asked the waiter for iced tea and every night after that they automatically brought her a glass of tea. My wife and I ordered the filet mignon and short rib that was on the menu.  We both felt the short rib meat was much tastier than the filet.

 

After dinner we stopped at the Alchemy Bar and had a drink called the Remedy.  It was one of our favorite drinks on the ship.  The drinks were pricey at the Alchemy Bar at $14.00 each, which made the gratuity just over $5 for two drinks.

 

We went to the Punchliner for the 8:30 PG show with Chris Strait.  He was very funny and made me laugh out loud quite a few times.

 

After the show we stopped by a bar to get a glass of Pinot Grigio to take back to our cabin.  Tomorrow we would be in Cozumel.

 

I'll continue this report later.

 

 

[pcvtmom]

With the social media plan, you can definitely use Facebook Messenger to text.  It's the only reason I get an internet plan, at all.  I have to be able to message my kids back home, and we can both text through messenger AND facetime.

[Journey11]

Thank you for this very interesting review. I’m enjoying reading it.

[ninjacat123]

Great pics and review!! Looking forward to more👍😁

[Frank12]

We love all of the Spirit class ships! 

[Oakman58]

Feb 5th        Cozumel

 

We were up early and after having morning coffee and tea we went to the buffet for breakfast.  Again the food seemed only lukewarm so I put my plate aside and got a made to order omelet.

 

Our excursion today was Cozumel by Land and Sea with a meeting time on the dock at 9:45. We left the ship at 9:00 and the wind was incredibly strong with a lot of whitecaps on the ocean.  By the way, the excursion meeting times were based on ship’s time which was CST.  This can be a bit confusing because Cozumel is in EST and most smartphones will automatically change to the local time.

 

We were the first to arrive at the meeting spot for our excursion.  While I was off taking pictures, a man in charge of excursions told my wife that the part of our excursion in the semi-submersible boat was cancelled due to rough seas.  They would be replacing that part of our excursion with a trip to an aviary.  Given the size of the waves in the ocean, that cancellation was no surprise.

 

As we sat there, other couples began showing up for the excursion.  We all enjoyed watching people getting soaked with ocean spray as the waves broke over the seawall. At the assigned meeting time the man in charge of our excursion told us our entire excursion had been cancelled.  He offered two other excursions we could go on, but we declined and decided to take a full refund.  That refund increased our onboard spending so I was really glad we didn’t bother buying the Cheers beverage package.

 

 

Before heading back to the ship I took a picture of her at the pier. Considering her age I think she is still a beautiful ship.

 

We caught a pedicab back to the ship and that poor guy sure earned his tip as he pedaled directly into that strong wind.  Back onboard the steward was cleaning our cabin so we went up on the Lido deck for a couple of drinks.  I ordered two banana daiquiris at the Red Frog Rum bar and the couple next to me who were getting bottled water commented how early it was for a cocktail.  I told them a banana daiquiri was the perfect breakfast drink, banana, cherry, ice, and a splash of alcohol.  I called it the “Breakfast of Champions.”  From then on, in the morning when the bartender would see me, he would always say, “two breakfast of champions coming up.”

 

For our lunch we had a Guy’s burger.  Without a doubt these are the best burgers across all the cruise lines.  Along with the burger he has great seasoned fries and at his toppings bar there were shoestring potatoes too.

 

While we were eating, a crewman in the buffet called out our names and came up and started talking to us like we were old friends.  He mentioned how he looked different since he was working in the kitchen that afternoon.  We had a short and cordial conversation and then he went back to work.  We had no clue who he was until that evening at dinner when we realized it had been our waiter. Obviously names and faces are not our strong suit.

 

After lunch we went back to our cabin to chill out for a bit.  When I went out on our balcony there was an ambulance on the pier directly below us.  Seeing that bummed me out.  Here we are at the beginning or the cruise in the first port and someone is being taken to a hospital.  This is also a reminder that, unless you’re filthy rich, you should always purchase travel insurance.

 

The wind continued to increase in intensity and it was actually causing the ship to shake to the point that if felt similar to air turbulence when flying. The waves had increased in size and were really smashing into the seawall sending water almost as high as a three story building.

 

Later in the afternoon two more ambulances show up to take passengers off the ship.

 

Our 4 PM departure was delayed by the strong wind and the Captain announced that we couldn’t leave until the winds were below 30 knots.  After getting dressed for dinner, we went down to the Alchemy Bar for pre-dinner drinks and ordered The Remedy again.

 

Looking at my notes, it says dinner was very good in the main dining room.  One thing I loved during dinner was between the main course and dessert, a crewman would sing a popular upbeat song while other crewmembers danced and invited guests to join them.

 

After dinner we went to the Red Frog Pub and enjoyed an adult beverage while we listened to a four piece band, Music Power.  They were very good.  From there we went to the 8:30 comedy show with Chris Strait again.  That guy is very funny.

 

After his show we got a glass of wine and went back to our cabin.  That’s when the Captain announced that due to the strong winds, we would have to spend the night in Cozumel and then skip Belize tomorrow and instead have a fun day at sea.

 

To be continued.

[ninjacat123]

That's what I say "Breakfast of Champions" when I have a cocktail before noon on a cruise.  Sounds like you all are having fun!  That pic of the wave against the 3 story building was impressive! Here’s a pic of me with my “breakfast” on Grand Turk. Check out the time stamp🤣

Edited February 23 by ninjacat123
Needed breakfast pic😁

[pinklucky61]

Went on Spirit with my sister in Oct.  We had car issues embarkation day, about 3 hours late for our boarding time. They had us go to back of line, but eventually 1 of the workers let us skip part of the line. Everything went quickly after that.  I don't remember it happening in Spirit MDR, but on Glory, drink service was absent nights I was there.  Really no complaints overall on Spirit.  We had a couple of rough sea days, but nothing like you saw in Cozumel.

[mimmy52]

I just found your trip report and am enjoying it. I got a giggle out of you having a conversation with your waiter while not realizing who he was. I wouldn’t have known him either had I been in your place.

Hugs from your sister

[Oakman58]

Feb 6th        Sea Day (no Belize for you, come back one year)

 

I was up before dawn and we were still in Cozumel and while the winds were strong, they weren’t nearly as bad as yesterday.  We finally departed Cozumel at 6 AM ship’s time. We would be skipping Belize and spending the day at sea heading to Costa Maya.

 

We ate breakfast at the buffet and the food was hot.  Every day after that the food in the buffet was nice and hot.  I wonder if someone had complained about the temperature of the food.

 

We had brought Mardi Gras magnets with us to decorate our cabin door but when we tried to use them they weren’t strong enough to adhere to the door.  During breakfast my wife got the idea to try putting them on the wall next to our door.  So after breakfast we gave that a try. Sure enough, that worked.

 

Yes, it was still early in the morning but it was time to go up to the Lido deck and have our favorite breakfast drink, banana daiquiris.  This is a picture of me with my “Breakfast of Champions.”

 

We spent the rest of the morning in the Fountain Café playing Trivia.  The first game was General Knowledge.  The second game was Science Trivia, and the third game was Urban Myths Trivia.  We love playing these trivia games but we never come close to getting enough answers to win.

 

For lunch we went to Pirate Pizza and ordered a Prosciutto pizza.  They put a garnish of greens on top of that pizza, and I think it was to cover the fact there were so few slices of prosciutto on it.  Still, the pizza was good enough to satisfy.

 

For some reason we had both been craving potato chips so after lunch we went down to the shops and bought a can of Pringles.  We also stopped by The Cherry on Top candy store and bought some salted caramel chocolate pretzels. 

 

When we went back to our room to drop off our purchases, the towel animal the room steward left us was identifiable as a frog.  He left us a towel animal every day but the only two we could identify were the frog and a rabbit.

 

One thing we both found funny, the phone in our cabin had the wrong date and time on the display.  No big deal, we just thought it was funny, at least it had the correct ship.  Just don’t rely on the phone for date and time.

 

My wife wanted to chill out in our cabin for a while so I decided to take a few more pictures of the ship.

 

I took a few pictures of the Lido deck which never seemed crowded to me.  I could be wrong, but I don’t think the ship was even close to passenger capacity.

 

This is a picture of the back of the Serenity deck.  I don’t know what you call those black things at the very rear but they really blocked off the view of the ship’s wake, unless of course you were actually sitting in one.  I think the correct name for them is clam shell loungers. 

 

On deck 10 there were some more of those clam shell loungers. Deck 10 was usually a very quiet deck, probably because there was no bar service on that deck.

 

I like to play mini golf so I took the stairs up to deck 11 on the forward section of the ship to see what it looked like.  It was a 9-hole course, and I have to say it was one of the better courses I’ve seen on a cruise ship.  The worst course I’ve seen was on the Diamond Princess, that one was laughable.  I didn’t see any way up to deck 11 on the Spirit other than stairs so I don’t think anyone with mobility issues would be able to play.  I could be wrong though.

 

I went back to the cabin to get my wife to play some afternoon trivia in the Fountain Café.  They played a lot of trivia on this cruise which was something I really like about the ship’s activities.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a seat to be had in or around the Fountain Café.  What to do, what to do?  I know, FOOD!! 

 

We hadn’t experienced the Deli yet so we went up to the Lido for a sandwich.  I ordered the Reuben and my wife ordered the Turkey Swiss.  She said her sandwich was delicious and it was obvious they put plenty of meat on her sandwich.  My Reuben was good with plenty of meat but without the Russian dressing if fell flat for me.

 

We went back to our cabin and sat on our balcony for a bit enjoying the beautiful blue ocean.  At 5 PM we headed down to the Alchemy Bar for pre-dinner drinks and once again ordered The Remedy.

 

During dinner, the crewman in this picture sang the song “Can’t help falling in Love” and he knocked it out of the park.  He not only sang the song without an accent, he sounded like Elvis too.  He got the standing ovation he deserved when he finished the song.

 

We went to the 7:30 show in the theater, Getaway Island.  As you entered the theater you could pick up a pair of 3d glasses so you could enjoy the special 3d effect during the production.

 

After the show we went to the Piano Bar and enjoyed Josh Mille for about 45 minutes before calling it a night and going back to our cabin.

 

To be continued.

[csm5986142]

On 2/23/2024 at 6:16 AM, Oakman58 said:

Considering her age I think she is still a beautiful ship.

 

I agree - of all the Spirit class ships, I think they've done a great job keeping it clean and well maintained.  We were on Spirit for the Panama Canal transit when she moved to AL and it was such a great trip (so nice and relaxing).  We have been on Spirit multiple times and it has never felt crowded to me either.  Enjoying  your review and loving the pictures of the big waves!

[Amadawn1]

Thank you so much for bringing us along! I'm really enjoying your review and sense of humor (breakfast of champions--hope to join y'all next time!) I'll be sailing the Spirit to Alaska in 2025.  I really appreciate all of the great ship photos.  And wow, I've never seen Cozumel like that.  We almost didn't make it into Mahogany Bay due to winds and rain the same week as your sailing.  Cozumel was our last stop, so the wind and waves had calmed a bit by then.  Looking forward to the rest of your adventure!

[Oakman58]

Feb 7th       Costa Maya

We were up at 6:30 and I went up to the buffet to fill our mugs with coffee and tea.  As we approached Costa Maya the Carnival Jubilee was already in port.  Passengers were already leaving the Jubilee and heading into the port. 

 

 

Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas was right behind us coming into port.

 

We didn’t have an excursion planned for Costa Maya and instead we thought we would walk around the port and tease the souvenir and jewelry vendors into thinking we might buy something.

 

We decided to try breakfast in the Empire Restaurant, so we used the Carnival Hub App on our smartphone and made a reservation.  Within ten minutes we received a notification on the smartphone that our table was ready.  In the restaurant we were seated at a table with three other couples.  I had to wonder how long they had been seated because a waiter didn’t take anyone's breakfast order until we were seated and filled the table for eight.  Here’s a picture of the breakfast menu.

 

Our breakfast and the service were nothing to write home about.  I had ordered the Broken Egg Sandwich which I took for granted would have eggs over hard. Nope, when I bit into the sandwich yellow from the yolk ran out.  It was so messy I took the top slice of bread off and ate it like an open-faced sandwich.

 

After breakfast we went back to our room so I could change shirts because I managed to get egg yolk on the front of the one I was wearing.  Harmony of the Seas was docked directly across from us. I went out on our balcony to look at her and was shocked to see the huge crowd of passengers heading into Costa Maya.  Holy Guacamole, we made the decision right then to stay on the ship and skip going into port.

 

We went up to the Lido deck and had a banana daiquiri. The morning daiquiri has become our new go to breakfast drink replacing peach bellinis and mimosas.  By the way, when you order a frozen drink you get a candy straw which becomes soft and sticky unless you drink quickly.

 

I challenged my wife to a game of mini golf so we went up to deck 11 and played 9 holes.  With most passengers heading into port we had the golf course to ourselves. Although we didn’t write the scores down, my wife informed me that she beat me by ten strokes.  I didn’t think I played that badly, but who am I to question my wife.

 

 

After that it was back down to the Lido for another banana daiquiri, or two.  For lunch we had a Guy’s Burger again.  After lunch we got our travel Scrabble game and went to the Serenity deck and played a game of Scrabble.

 

I noticed there was another ship on the other side of the Jubilee and it was the Celebrity Constellation.  Good grief, with four ships in port it must have been wall to wall people in the port.

 

Our balcony was directly across from the Aqua Theater at the rear of the Harmony.  I sat out and watched the water safety crew go over their important role in the water show and that was followed by the performers practicing their entrance for the show.  Perhaps someday I’ll book a cruise on one of Royal Caribbean’s mega ships…or not.

 

 

For some reason, in our cabin and in the hallway there was a strong smell of varnish.  I guess the crew was painting somewhere nearby.  Because of the varnish smell we went to an afternoon trivia game in the Fountain Café.

 

When we returned to our cabin the varnish smell wasn’t nearly as strong. We had dinner in the Main Dining room again.  There was always something on the menu that appealed to me, and I thought the food overall was very good.

 

After dinner we spent the rest of the evening having drinks in the Alchemy Bar while we listened to music by The Blue Notes.  I didn’t realize that by staying there we crashed a scheduled 8:15 LGBTQ mixer in the bar.  It wasn’t until two middle aged men got up and danced that I looked around the room and realized we were probably the only straight couple there.  No one seemed to be bothered by our presence, so we stayed.  The two men dancing seemed to be doing a form of ball room dancing and they were very, very good.

 

By staying for the next set of The Blue Notes we inadvertently crashed the 9:15 singles mixer in the bar.  I guess we should pay more attention to what’s scheduled where in the evenings.

 

The Blue Notes were done with their set at 10 PM so decided to get a glass of wine and call it a night.

 

To be continued.

[dan110]

Gonna be on her in December. Thanks so much for this!

 

Dan

[Amadawn1]

10 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Harmony of the Seas was docked directly across from us. I went out on our balcony to look at her and was shocked to see the huge crowd of passengers heading into Costa Maya.  Holy Guacamole, we made the decision right then to stay on the ship and skip going into port.

I couldn't agree more.  I stayed on the Jubilee as well. It was a really nice afternoon!  Loved seeing the Spirit on our Starboard side.  I was trying to locate my future stateroom on the Port side 😊 Thank you for sharing your pics.  

[lasvegascruising]

Oakman58, great job on this review!  I have enjoyed reading about your trip and it sure sounds like you and your wife are having a great, relaxing cruise. 

[nydney1]

Great job on the review. 

[Oakman58]

Feb 8th         Roatan, Honduras

 

I was up early and I could tell my wife would be sleeping in, so I went up to the buffet early and ate a continental breakfast.  When wifey finally woke up I had a second breakfast in the buffet.  Well, someone had to keep her company at breakfast.

 

SECURITY…SECURITY, where the heck was security last night.  At some point in the early morning hours the towel animals took over the pool area on the Lido Deck.  Those rascals!  I hope Carnival never stops doing this.

 

 

 

 

 

After checking out all the towel animals we had our morning breakfast beverage on the Lido.  We were already in port and passengers were getting off the ship.  We were in no rush since we didn’t have an excursion planned for Roatan.  We actually enjoy staying on the ship on port days because it’s like having the entire ship to yourself.

 

We did a bit of walking around the ship and the crew was practicing with the lifeboats. It always gives me a feeling of confidence when I see the crew doing safety drills.

 

Later in the morning, we went into port to do some souvenir shopping but didn’t buy anything.  The most interesting thing in the port for me was this seahorse made from ocean trash.

 

As we were walking back to the ship, I saw this sign outside one of the shops.  I’m not sure what the message is, no guns, no knives, no nuclear weapons? Who carries a nuclear weapon in Roatan?

 

Back on the ship we ate lunch in the buffet and the food was nice and hot. After eating we went back to our cabin and spent much the afternoon on our balcony enjoying the beautiful weather.  How long has this rusting hulk been in the harbor, I know it was there when we visited Roatan for the first time in 2011.

 

We had a predinner drink in the Alchemy Bar before going to the main dining room for dinner.  After eating we went to the theater to watch the Deal or No Deal game show.  We both feel the game is a rip off unless you’re the one called up on stage. The chances of winning anything of serious value are slim.  At the end of the first round only 2 people won anything of real value.  That's just my opinion of course.

 

We didn’t stay for the final round because we went down to the Punchliner to get a seat for the 8:30 show with Brad Trackman.  He is an excellent comedian and his PG show was very funny.

 

We decided I should try to stay awake for the 10:30 comedy show so we went to the Skybox bar.  We got a couple of beers and watched some women’s basketball on one of the many TVs in the bar.  The Skybox bar was relatively empty every time we walked past it.  Perhaps that was due to the stale smoke smell wafting in from the adjacent casino.

 

We went to the 10:30 adult comedy show with Seth Buchwald.  This guy was hilarious and had me belly laughing quite often.  At the end of his show, the next adult comedy show was just 15 minutes later so we stayed for that one too.  The 11:15 show was with Brad Trackman again and he did not disappoint.  Both comedians were excellent.

 

After the show we called it a night and went back to our cabin.  Hokey Mokey, I had stayed awake until midnight.  I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been since I was able to stay up that late.

 

To be continued.

 

 

[Oakman58]

Feb 9th       Sea Day

 

We were up and at ‘em around 7:00 this morning.  Today and tomorrow we cruise back to Mobile, AL.  Even though we still have plenty of time to enjoy the ship, there’s always a twinge of sadness knowing the cruise will be ending soon.

 

At the breakfast buffet I switched from omelets to fried eggs.  The only negative I have about the morning buffet is they didn’t offer bacon every morning.  I’m a simple man and when it comes to breakfast, if I can get eggs, bacon, and hash browns for breakfast I’ll be happy the rest of the day. Otherwise, it might take some alcohol for the path to happiness.

 

There was a military appreciation gathering scheduled in the theater and the crew hung a large American Flag in the atrium Lobby.

 

There was a Seuss-A-Palooza Parade at 9:30 for the kids on our cruise that started in the lobby and marched to the theater for a reading of Horton Hears Who.  We happened to be in the area when it was getting organized, so we stopped to watch.  I knew there weren’t many children on this cruise, but I was still surprised at how few showed up for the parade. The Seuss characters that lead the parade were Thing 1 and 2, and Horton.

 

We played another trivia game in the Fountain Cafe and came close to winning a game when we actually got 12 correct answers on some tough Seinfeld questions.  14 correct answers won.

 

We did a little shopping after the game and Joyce found a ring she loved in the jewelry shop, but refused to pay the “discounted price” they wanted.  We currently have a local jeweler looking into making a similar ring for us.

 

We attended the military appreciation event at 11:00, and I was surprised how many veterans showed up, it was a very big turnout.  The event was really well done, kudos to Carnival.

 

I think we were both beginning to wear down a bit because we spent most of the afternoon relaxing in our cabin and on our balcony.  The weather was perfect for sitting on the balcony.

 

We had 6:30 dinner reservations at the Nouveau Restaurant (steakhouse) on deck 10.  We were seated at a table for two and the tables on either side of us were way to close for my liking.  I could have easily reached over and sampled the food on the plate of the diners next to us.  I don’t mind tables being close together in the buffet, but I don’t like closeness like that for an evening meal.

 

We both ordered the Lobster Bisque and neither of us cared for it much.  For our entrées my wife ordered the Filet Mignon and I had the Surf and Turf.  Our filets were very good but my lobster was overcooked and tough.  We also had to ask for salt and pepper to season our side dishes.  In my opinion, it wasn’t worth the $98 for our meal.

 

We spent the rest of the evening in the Alchemy Bar listening to The Blue Notes.  At 10 PM we called it a night.

 

To be continued.

[Oakman58]

Feb 10      Sea Day last day of the cruise

 

I was up very early today.  While my wife slept, I went out to take a few pictures of the ship before everyone else got out and about.  I loved the seating in the theater, the lower level had bench type seating with a table and the upper level had very comfortable high back seating.  I didn’t get the connection of the Egyptian theme of the theater to the rest of the ship if there even is a theme.  Even the tables on the lower level of the theater had the Egyptian motif. 

 

 

 

Even though we never use it, I wanted to see what the laundry room on our deck looked like.  I was surprised it was being used so early in the morning, and on the last day of the cruise at that.  The laundry room was absolutely spotless.

 

When I got back to our cabin my wife was awake so we headed to the buffet for breakfast.  I was happy to see they had bacon available.  After eating we headed outside to the pool area and ordered a couple of, what else, Banana Daiquiris.

 

The Fun Times mentioned the shops were having a $10 sales event, but we went there we were told all the sale items were up on the Lido Deck.  Back up on the Lido Deck we were disappointed the only things on sale were cheap watches and T-shirts. Oh well, we decided to get another “breakfast of champions.”

 

I’m sure by this time, when we ordered our banana daiquiris this cartoon typifies how the crew viewed us.

 

We went back to our cabin before going to lunch and our cabin steward had left us a towel heart on the bed.  That was a nice touch.

 

After lunch my wife went back to the cabin and I wanted to look at deck 10 by the steakhouse.  When we went to dinner the previous night I noticed some picnic tables outside on the deck.  Somehow I missed seeing these tables when I explored the ship on the other sea days.  The tables were on both the port and starboard side of deck 10.

 

Back in our cabin we enjoyed our balcony for a bit and then decided it was time to start packing for the trip home tomorrow.  We took a break from packing and watched the Jimmie Stewart movie, Harvey, on Turner Classic Movies.

 

We knew Mardi Gras parades were scheduled for our port day tomorrow so we decided to do the self-assist debarkation with our luggage.  We scheduled our walk off for 7:30 AM.

 

We ate dinner in the Main Dining room and then went back to our cabin to finish packing and chill out.  We loved this cruise, but we were ready to get back to the comfort of our home.

 

Feb 11th     Mobile Alabama

 

I think it was around 6 AM when we arrived back in Mobile. 

 

We didn’t realize we had been assigned to a specific self-assist group number/letter when we scheduled our walk-off.  We went down to debark at 7:30 and we were asked what group we were assigned.  We had no clue and the crewman looked at our app and told us our group hadn’t been called yet. We were apparently too early to leave the ship.   It turned out we were assigned to group E.  We had to wait until our group was called for walk off.

 

By the time they called our group to disembark it was 8:10 and we must have been among the last to do the self-assist walk off.   Going through customs was Facial Recognition and was a breeze.

 

Outside the terminal we expected to get a cab at a cab stand.  That’s when we found out there was no cab stand and by the time we left the ship all the cabs and airports shuttles were gone.

 

With the noise outside the terminal and me being hard of hearing, calling a cab was an exercise in comedy but we finally caught a cab to the airport.  The ride to the airport took about 45 minutes and we were charged $65 which I thought was high.

 

In the airport at the American Airlines counter there was one employee checking passenger luggage.  There were two kiosks for checking in but those machines didn’t issue luggage tags, we had to check our luggage at the counter.

 

There were only 5 people in front of us to check in but it took forever because a group of 6 family members who were currently being checked in all had overweight luggage and kept shifting clothes around and reweighing over and over to avoid paying extra.  That went on forever and it took over 45 minutes in line before we finally had our luggage checked.  Man, as far as I’m concerned Mobile Alabama ain’t ready for prime-time cruising.  That’s just my opinion.

 

Our flight back to St. Louis via Charlotte was easy but we did experience heavy turbulence on most of the flight from Charlotte.  And that my Cruise Critic friends is the end of this cruise report.

 

We will be on the Spirit again in March 2025 when we take her from Miami, FL to Seattle, WA for her Alaska cruise season.

 

[ninjacat123]

14 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

Feb 10      Sea Day last day of the cruise

 

I was up very early today.  While my wife slept, I went out to take a few pictures of the ship before everyone else got out and about.  I loved the seating in the theater, the lower level had bench type seating with a table and the upper level had very comfortable high back seating.  I didn’t get the connection of the Egyptian theme of the theater to the rest of the ship if there even is a theme.  Even the tables on the lower level of the theater had the Egyptian motif. 

 

 

 

Even though we never use it, I wanted to see what the laundry room on our deck looked like.  I was surprised it was being used so early in the morning, and on the last day of the cruise at that.  The laundry room was absolutely spotless.

 

When I got back to our cabin my wife was awake so we headed to the buffet for breakfast.  I was happy to see they had bacon available.  After eating we headed outside to the pool area and ordered a couple of, what else, Banana Daiquiris.

 

The Fun Times mentioned the shops were having a $10 sales event, but we went there we were told all the sale items were up on the Lido Deck.  Back up on the Lido Deck we were disappointed the only things on sale were cheap watches and T-shirts. Oh well, we decided to get another “breakfast of champions.”

 

I’m sure by this time, when we ordered our banana daiquiris this cartoon typifies how the crew viewed us.

 

We went back to our cabin before going to lunch and our cabin steward had left us a towel heart on the bed.  That was a nice touch.

 

After lunch my wife went back to the cabin and I wanted to look at deck 10 by the steakhouse.  When we went to dinner the previous night I noticed some picnic tables outside on the deck.  Somehow I missed seeing these tables when I explored the ship on the other sea days.  The tables were on both the port and starboard side of deck 10.

 

Back in our cabin we enjoyed our balcony for a bit and then decided it was time to start packing for the trip home tomorrow.  We took a break from packing and watched the Jimmie Stewart movie, Harvey, on Turner Classic Movies.

 

We knew Mardi Gras parades were scheduled for our port day tomorrow so we decided to do the self-assist debarkation with our luggage.  We scheduled our walk off for 7:30 AM.

 

We ate dinner in the Main Dining room and then went back to our cabin to finish packing and chill out.  We loved this cruise, but we were ready to get back to the comfort of our home.

 

Feb 11th     Mobile Alabama

 

I think it was around 6 AM when we arrived back in Mobile. 

 

We didn’t realize we had been assigned to a specific self-assist group number/letter when we scheduled our walk-off.  We went down to debark at 7:30 and we were asked what group we were assigned.  We had no clue and the crewman looked at our app and told us our group hadn’t been called yet. We were apparently too early to leave the ship.   It turned out we were assigned to group E.  We had to wait until our group was called for walk off.

 

By the time they called our group to disembark it was 8:10 and we must have been among the last to do the self-assist walk off.   Going through customs was Facial Recognition and was a breeze.

 

Outside the terminal we expected to get a cab at a cab stand.  That’s when we found out there was no cab stand and by the time we left the ship all the cabs and airports shuttles were gone.

 

With the noise outside the terminal and me being hard of hearing, calling a cab was an exercise in comedy but we finally caught a cab to the airport.  The ride to the airport took about 45 minutes and we were charged $65 which I thought was high.

 

In the airport at the American Airlines counter there was one employee checking passenger luggage.  There were two kiosks for checking in but those machines didn’t issue luggage tags, we had to check our luggage at the counter.

 

There were only 5 people in front of us to check in but it took forever because a group of 6 family members who were currently being checked in all had overweight luggage and kept shifting clothes around and reweighing over and over to avoid paying extra.  That went on forever and it took over 45 minutes in line before we finally had our luggage checked.  Man, as far as I’m concerned Mobile Alabama ain’t ready for prime-time cruising.  That’s just my opinion.

 

Our flight back to St. Louis via Charlotte was easy but we did experience heavy turbulence on most of the flight from Charlotte.  And that my Cruise Critic friends is the end of this cruise report.

 

We will be on the Spirit again in March 2025 when we take her from Miami, FL to Seattle, WA for her Alaska cruise season.

 

Great review!!  Love the "banana daquiri" cartoon!!  Glad you made it home safe and looking forward to your next review👍

[mimmy52]

Thanks for sharing your trip. I’ve enjoyed reading about it. The cartoon is hilarious.