I have just been lucky enough to have taken my Cruise Masters course on board Carnival Spirit with an 8-day cruise to the Pacific Islands. Poor old I had to work for 5 of my 8 days but I still got to see and use the facilities of the ship and so here are my thoughts.
This is my first visit and cruise aboard Carnival Spirit cruising from Sydney; built in 2001 and refurbished in 2012 she is a medium to large ship carrying around 2700 passengers.
The ship is designed with an Art Deco feel and various locations around the ship have been designed to give an international flavour to the ports she as visited. This is reflected in the fact that the theatre is designed with an Egyptian theme, one of the bars has a Chinese theme and the main restaurant on board is designed in a French Napoleonic look about it. Uniquely also the fitness centre is designed like a Roman Amphitheatre.
Apart from the main dining room, the ship has several other eateries including the Lido Buffet located on Deck 9 which caters to all tastes and has many different types of food from Mexican to Chinese, this restaurant also serves Pizza’s throughout the day and night.
The Nouveaux Restaurant on the Level 10 is their fine dining restaurant with mainly a great selection of steak and some other meats such as chicken or fish, be aware there is a $35.00 per person cover charge for this restaurant. Fat Jimmy’s is their barbeque restaurant on deck 10.
The ship also has its own Wedding Chapel for renewal of vows, Real Weddings have been conducted on board ship and performed by the Captain whilst cruising elsewhere other than Australia but they are working on this.Cabins are mainly outside or balcony so that 80% of the ship’s cabins have an ocean view.
Who would like this ship, well if you are the type of person who likes a fun ship and have cruised on P & O Australia or Royal Caribbean then you would probably like this ship as well. The ship’s dress code is pretty laid back; you will always have a couple of what Carnival Likes to call Elegant Casual nights which means jacket and tie for men and cocktail or evening dress for ladies.
The ship is designed for passengers to have a good time whether socially or with the various activities on board every day, great ship for families and the younger cruising set. Especially as this has two water slides onboard!