Carnival Spirit Cruise Review & Photos Pictures and opinions about our January 2009 cruise to Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, and Manzanillo aboard the fun ship "Carnival Spirit"

The Carnival Spirit at Anchor in Zihuatanejo Bay

This was our fourth cruise (third with Carnival) and definitely the best cruise we've ever been on!  We sailed out of San Diego, California, on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 and spent 8 days cruising the Mexican Riviera...  stopping at Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, and Manzanillo.

Please enjoy a few pictures that I took during our cruise.  Every picture on this page is my original photo...  none are stock images or supplied by Carnival.  Most of these photos were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XSi camera, but a few were taken with my waterproof Olympus Stylus 1050SW digital camera.

On a "fun day at sea", the Lido deck is definitely the place to be!

My wife, Kellyn, on the first day of the cruise

Towards the end of the cruise, you can see we had more color in our faces!

Night shot of one of three swimming pools on the Carnival Spirit
You can see the lights of Acapulco in the background

I'm an early riser, so I saw several spectacular sunrises during our cruise

Another sunrise

We had a full moon during our cruise, too

One of my favorite shore excursions was a "beach break" in Acapulco.
The ocean water temperature was 80 degrees.
Since I knew this vacation would involve a lot of activities in the water,
I bought an Olympus Stylus 1050SW, which is a waterproof digital camera.
It worked extremely well, and allowed me to get many photos I never would have got without it!

Our favorite of three shore excursions was snorkeling off the Picante catamaran.
It was the most delightful afternoon, ever!  Definitely my idea of paradise.
I took this shot on the catamaran as we headed back to the Carnival Spirit.

On the way back from snorkeling, the catamaran sailed right by the Carnival Spirit
and I was able to snap this photo

The shore excursion I was looking forward to the most was an afternoon at this resort in Manzanillo.
I was a little disappointed with it, though, as even the ocean water was warmer than the water in this pool!
Many of the younger folks who went to the resort really loved it, though,
as they served unlimited free drinks all day long.

The resort in Manzanillo did have a very long and fast waterslide.
However, the resort rules clearly stated that the waterslide should not be used by anyone over the age of 15, so I didn't try it myself.

Here's a look at about half of our cabin.  I had the balcony door propped open with a bungie cord.
Note the towel animals on the bed.  As we are dog breeders, the little doggie was our favorite!

A brief discussion about the bed...
During our 2008 cruise aboard the Carnival Elation, we were delighted with the Carnival Comfort Bed...  every cabin had one, even the least expensive cabins.  It was quite literally a more comfortable bed than we even had at home.  However, as soon as we tested the bed in our cabin on the Carnival Spirit, we realized that it was not a Carnival Comfort Bed.  It had the Carnival Comfort sheets, pillows, and duvet, but not the all-important Carnival Comfort mattress.

I talked to one of the staff about this, and found out that the mattresses on the Carnival Spirit are the original mattresses that were put in the rooms when she first sailed in 2001...  before Carnival started their Carnival Comfort Bed program.  However, there is good news for anyone planning a cruise on the Carnival Spirit:  she'll be undergoing some maintenance at drydock in March of 2009.  Once she returns to the seas in April of 2009 she will have (among other improvements) Carnival Comfort mattresses in all of her cabins!  Another great thing she'll have after her March 2009 drydock:  bow-to-stern Internet access.  In other words, you'll be able to access the Internet from anywhere on the ship, including from your cabin.  Internet access isn't free, of course, but as someone who does need to check a few things on the Internet each and every day...  I can definitely appreciate not having to leave my cabin for it.

Speaking of the cabins:
There is only ONE electrical outlet in each cabin.  If you are bringing several electrical devices with you, be sure to bring a 6-outlet power strip.  For example, this will allow you to charge the batteries on your digital camera, laptop computer, and cell phone overnight.

Other things to bring:

• A bungie cord to prop open the balcony door.

• At least one 6-pack of your favorite beverage, so you don't have to pay ship prices for it.

• A watch or a travel clock.  Activities start at certain times, so you will frequently want to know the current time.

• A highlighter pen, to mark activities on the daily schedule that you are interested in.

• A small flashlight, so you can stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night without disturbing your roommate by turning on all the lights in the room.

• Your MP3 player, so you can listen to your favorite music while you relax in the sun on deck.

• Some $1 and $5 bills.  Very handy for tipping the people who handle your luggage on embarkation day, and also for making small purchases in Mexico.  Using American money in Mexican ports is almost never a problem, but using a large bill to make a small purchase can be a problem.

One great thing about having a balcony cabin is that you can sit out there on the balcony and watch for wildlife in the water.
During our cruise, we saw whales, dolphins, and turtles!
I put my longest lens on to my Canon camera and snapped this photo from our balcony, of a turtle swimming by.
But the coolest thing we saw on the entire cruise was when a pod of dolphins swam over to the ship to frolic in the wake.
As luck would have it, I did have my Olympus Stylus 1050SW digital camera with me at the time
and it can record video...  so I managed to record a short video of the dolphins as they approached the ship.
Click here to see the dolphin video.  (It's a 4.6 megabyte download)
If your computer can't play the video, download and install the free version of QuickTime on your computer.

Before our cruise, I spent a lot of time surfing the Internet looking for photos of the Carnival Spirit.
All the photos I saw of her big show lounge (Pharaoh's Palace) were taken when it was empty.
So, I made a point to snap a few photos of the big showroom with people in the chairs!

People waiting for a show to start in Pharaoh's Palace.
During our 8-day cruise I enjoyed shows by two different comedians, plus a comic-magician and several Las Vegas style shows.

Kirk Benning, the Cruise Director.  He was very good at his job!
This was his final cruise on the Carnival Spirit.  He's moving over to the Carnival Elation next, and later to the Carnival Paradise.
I was impressed with the entire entertainment staff...  a great group of folks!
This was a big contrast to a cruise we took a year earlier on the Norwegian Star,
which truly had a collection of oddballs on their entertainment staff the week we cruised!

Here's another look at the Carnival Spirit, a very beautiful ship!

One strange thing we noticed about the Carnival Spirit:
I am not a prude...  in fact, far from it!  You'd have to try really hard to offend me!  However, I realize that not everyone is this way.  The world is filled with all sorts of people, and many of them are very sensitive about nudity and moral issues.  Therefore, I was a bit surprised to see some of the art work in the Carnival Spirit.  Here's a look at a piece of art hanging on the wall in our cabin:

I was not personally offended by this piece of art in our cabin, but I bet some people would be.
I think if you were travelling with children of a certain age, this might be a problem!

Another example of the same kind of thing, this one in a public area just outside the entrance to the dining room.
As I said, this did not offend me personally, but I'm sure it would cause problems for some people.

A still picture of this staircase does not do it justice.
It's called "the fountain staircase" because that yellow thing in the middle has water running down it,
which collects in a small pond at the bottom.  It's gorgeous.

Tucked just behind "the fountain staircase" is a little karaoke lounge called Club Cool.
After hearing some horrible karaoke on the Carnival Elation,
I was surprised to hear some really good karaoke singers on the Carnival Spirit!

My wife had foot surgery about two months prior to our cruise, and was limping around in an orthopedic boot.
A Carnival employee at the check-in facility in San Diego noticed this, and gave all three of us priority boarding passes
so that Kellyn would not have to stand around any more than necessary.  We really appreciated that!

People dancing to "Music Motion" in the Versailles lounge.

One delightful unexpected surprise on our cruise was to discover the Versailles lounge on deck 1 forward.  I hadn't read anything about this place in all my pre-cruise research.  The Versailles lounge is a small showroom tucked away underneath the ship's main show lounge, Pharaoh's Palace.  While Pharaoh's Palace is huge (with entrances on three different decks) and designed for those big events with hundreds of people in the audience, the Versailles lounge is small and intimate.  It is sloped to give you great sight-lines to the stage, it has some really interesting decorations along the walls, and it also just happens to have the best acoustics of any room I've ever been in.  It's absolutely perfect for a small band...  and that's exactly what you'll find there most evenings.  During our cruise, a 4-piece musical group from the Philippines was playing there.  They call themselves "Music Motion".  From the minute we first heard them, I was absolutely in awe of their sound!  They're what's known as a "cover band"...  they don't play original songs you've never heard of, they play classic pop songs from the 70's and 80's.  I don't think I have ever heard a better cover band.  They were fantastic, and definitely the best musical act I've seen during my four cruises, so far.

"Music Motion" playing in the Versailles lounge of the Carnival Spirit.
While they look and talk like they are from the Philippines, they definitely don't sing or sound that way while they play!

This is an interesting shot I took with my Digital Rebel,
using a long exposure to give the water an unusual look.

"Fashion Boulevard", with shops offering tax-free apparel, jewelry, liquor, etc.

I had seen pictures of "The Jungle" in my pre-cruise research, but I really didn't know what it was!
It's just basically a big long hallway leading to the arcade, but decorated in jungle style.
It's a good place to get away for a quiet conversation with no one else around.
I saw a Carnival officer use this place as a quiet spot to give a performance review to an employee.

The aft of the ship is a popular place as it tends to be less windy.
You are looking at the end of the waterslide, and one level below that is a small pool and jacuzzi.
Way off in the distance, you can barely see another Carnival ship on the horizon!

A photo I took from the deck of the ship, while we were docked in Acapulco.

The casual dining area ("La Playa Grill") on the Lido deck.  I enjoyed the food here!
When we sailed on the Norwegian Star, I remember thinking that their casual restaurant had a "cheap" look to it...
something along the lines of a bad mall food court.  I liked the ambience of the Carnival Spirit's casual dining area better.
It's casual, but not cheap or tacky looking.

Speaking of dining...  If you're familiar with the Carnival Spirit, you probably know that the main formal dining room is known as the Empire Restaurant.  What you may not know, however, is that it's not pronounced like the Empire State Building.  I saw an interview with Joe Farcus, the architect that designed the Carnival Spirit, and he explained that the dining room was named after a style of architecture called Empire...  which is pronounced Om-PEER.  It's a French word.  That interview with Joe Farcus is really interesting, and it includes a pretty good tour of the ship.  Follow the link and then select the video about the Carnival Spirit.

Katie Robinson, from the Carnival Spirit entertainment staff, with a cardboard cut-out of Zac Efron.
I laughed when I saw her clowning around with this thing, as I actually work with Zac's father and used to work with his mother. 
I snapped this photo and emailed it to Zac's dad, and he emailed back laughing that stuff like that never ceases to amaze him.
He obviously knows his son is a big star...  but when things like this happen, it just reminds him once again what a worldwide star his kid is.

Absolutely do not email me asking me to pass a message on to Zac or his father, because you will be wasting your time!

Another funny thing that happened on the cruise actually occurred after we had only been onboard for less than 30 minutes!  My wife was in La Playa Grill getting lunch and a woman walked up to her and said "are you Jim's wife?!?"  The first thought that went through my wife's head was that it must be someone that knew us through our online Cocker Spaniel community or our web site.  Nope, it turns out that it was someone I had met on the Carnival Connections web site...  an online community where you can talk to other people who will be on your same cruise.  She recognized Kellyn's picture since I had posted some pictures of our previous cruises.  It was a delight to meet Kim in person, as she has a wonderful warm personality and is just one of those people that you like from the minute you meet her.  The icing on the cake was that our 23-year-old son ended up spending a lot of time during the 8-day cruise with the three young ladies that were in Kim's group.  It made our son's cruise so much more enjoyable than it might have been if he had just spent the entire time with his parents!

Summarizing my 8 nights and 9 days on the Carnival Spirit...  I absolutely loved it!  This was my fourth cruise (third with Carnival) and it truly was the best cruise of the four.  The food and dining arrangements were definitely better than any of our previous cruises.  The Las Vegas shows and comedy acts were about on par with what we had seen before, but the 4-piece cover band, "Music Motion" was so darned good that I really can't imagine ever finding a better band on a cruise ship...  which leads me to say that overall this was the best entertainment we have seen on our four cruises, too.  It's a nice, modern ship in very good condition and definitely a real asset in Carnival's fleet.

People always have expectations on a vacation, and the bottom line is the question of whether ours were met on this vacation or not.  The answer is a definite yes.  Of course, some things were better than we expected, some things were exactly what we expected, and a few things were worse than expected.  Here's a quick look at my list:

Better than expected:

• The food.  I'm a picky eater, and food has been a problem for me on two of our previous cruises.  No problem at all this time.  Loved it!

• The staff.  We were treated well at all times, by every employee.  It seemed like a happy group of people that liked their jobs.  We were impressed with their attitudes!  All three of us noticed this.  Our cabin steward and dining room server were especially nice to us.  Our cabin steward knew our names and used them each and every time he greeted us...  and I mean even if it was a surprise meeting in the hallway.  It's one thing to look up someone's name before you know you are about to enter their room...  quite another to be able to come up with it off the top of your head when running in to them unexpectedly.  And not only did he genuinely know our names, he actually pronounced my wife's name correctly each and every time...  which rarely happens to us!

• The "Picante Sail & Snorkel" shore excursion in Zihuatanejo.  We loved it, and it was exactly like the fantasy I had in my head prior to the cruise.  Warm weather, warm ocean water, a smooth catamaran ride surrounded by beautiful young people in swimsuits...  and the highlight was a wonderful snorkeling experience with plenty of ocean life to see.  All this and unlimited free drinks, too.  My vision of heaven looks a lot like this!

• The "Acapulco Beach Break" shore excursion.  I absolutely loved swimming in the warm water of Acapulco Bay and playing in the surf.  They also served a great buffet lunch...  and the drinks were unlimited, free, and brought right to your chair in the sand.  However, the constant parade of local people stopping by to try to sell you jewelry, sunglasses, tattoos, and souvenirs was REALLY annoying!  But it was a public beach, so I don't think there's any legal way to stop that.

• The overall experience in the Empire dining room.  It was three of us travelling together, and we had a private table for three in the dining room.  Perfect!  Also, the food was good and our server was fantastic.  And unlike a few meals we had in the specialty restaurants on the Norwegian Star, there was actually enough separation between tables that we could have a private conversation.

• Actual Mexican food!  On our three previous cruises to the Mexican Riviera, it became a running joke about how little Mexican food was served.  There was a lot more Mexican food on this one.  Thank you, Carnival!  What I really think they need to do when they cruise to Mexico, however, is to eliminate the Asian station in the casual dining room and convert it to Mexican...  so that there are Mexican entrees available at every meal, every day.

• Embarkation/debarkation.  A Carnival employee noticed that my wife was limping and wearing an orthopedic boot.  All three of us were given priority boarding passes, which allowed us to breeze on and off of the ship.  Thank you again, Carnival!

• Lunch in Zihuatanejo.  We were roaming around the little village at lunch time and walked past a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  An employee was out front, trying to entice people in to the restaurant.  He asked me if I was hungry, and I gave an honest answer of "yes".  Next thing I knew, I had a menu in my hand...  and not too long after that I had a fantastic plate of steak fajitas in front of me.  Lunch for two, including a diet Coke and a very large Margarita, came to $19...  and it was worth a lot more than that!

• The background music that plays in public areas such as the lobby and the dining rooms.  During my 2008 cruise on the Norwegian Star, I was constantly amazed at the strange mix of unknown international music that was playing in the background.  On the Carnival Spirit, a very large percentage of the songs were soft pop hits from the 70s and 80s...  very recognizable to the 40/50/60 year-old American folks on board.  Sure, as a former radio station program director, I would tighten up the ol' playlist a bit further (ask yourself if you think the average 50 year-old American would want to listen to that song while eating breakfast) but overall I think Carnival has a lot better idea of the kind of music their average customer likes than Norwegian Cruise Line does!

• The karaoke experience.  A year ago, on our cruise on the Carnival Elation, it was a joke what a horrible setup they had in their karaoke lounge!  (You could not look out at the audience to see the lyrics, you had to turn your back on the audience to see the lyrics!) No such problem on the Carnival Spirit.  And the big surprise was that this cruise actually had some talented singers on it!

Pretty much as expected:

• The opportunity to be casual at all times, if we wanted to.  On our 1996 Carnival cruise, there was no alternative to the formal dinner on "formal night".  This time around, there were two formal nights.  We dressed up for the first one, but when the second one rolled around we wore jeans and ate in the casual restaurant instead.  We're just not formal, so we really appreciated not having to be!

• Our cabin.  Loved the balcony!  Nice bathroom, too.  Consistent with what we had seen on the Elation a year previously, the bathroom had a really nice layout, and a fantastic shower.  Also, there was plenty of storage in our cabin.  We completely unpacked four suitcases in to the various drawers and closets in our cabin, and then tucked the suitcases away...  under the bed.

• The "fun" factor onboard the ship.  We had a lot of fun!  Laughed ourselves silly at the comedy show and several of the game shows!  Based on our previous cruises, this was what we expected, and the entertainment staff did indeed deliver it again this time.

• Soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt.  Carnival is famous for this!  It's free, and available 24/7.  Just serve yourself any time you have an ice cream craving.  And if you get a hankering for a "real" scoop of ice cream rather than soft serve, it's available in the Empire restaurant after your meal.  The best move Carnival could ever make to increase customer satisfaction would be to place soft drink dispensers in the casual dining room so that Coke, 7UP, Dr. Pepper, etc. would be as free and accessible as the soft-serve ice cream is!

• A smooth ride aboard a nice modern ship.  On our 1996 cruise aboard a smaller older ship, I did get a little seasick at times.  This time around, on a much larger and newer ship, I never got seasick.

• Internet access.  When you think about the technology involved, it's absolutely amazing that you can get Internet access while cruising on the Pacific ocean.  It cost me about forty cents a minute, and it was worth every penny.  However, I do have to say that the Internet service on the Norwegian Star seemed to be faster.  Accessing the Internet on the Carnival Spirit is like going back to the old days of using a dial-up modem.

• The past-guest party.  Several days in to the cruise, we got an invitation to a special party thrown exclusively for people who had sailed with Carnival before.  It was a nice party, and they had drink servers bringing free drinks around to all the guests...  and not just one free drink at the beginning of the party, but they kept bringing more and more.  I could have had three or four free drinks at that party if I had wanted to!

• Cell phone access.  Yes, your cell phone will work on the ship, even when you're at sea.  We did a lot of text messaging to our son, to coordinate our schedules onboard the ship.  It didn't turn out to be outrageously expensive.
   

Worse than expected:

• The mattress:  way too hard!  We had our cabin steward put an "egg crate topper" on it after the first night, and that helped a bit.  The good news is that every cabin in the ship is getting outfitted with the Carnival Comfort mattress when the ship goes in to dry dock in March of 2008.  This is the mattress we marveled at a year ago, during our cruise on the Carnival Elation.  Great mattress!

• Drink prices.  I'm not a big drinker, so I rarely order a drink on a cruise ship.  On our first day, I wanted to loosen my wife up a bit by buying her a little umbrella drink as we sat around the pool.  I was shocked when I discovered it set me back well over $12.  That was the last drink I bought on the cruise!

• The layout of La Playa Grill, the casual dining venue.  There are eight food stations, scattered over a wide area.  (Six inside, plus two outside by the pool.)  It probably sounded like a great idea when they designed it, but the reality of the situation is that you end up having to walk around to eight widely scattered locations before you know what all your choices are.  A more ideal arrangement would be to put all the various serving stations closer together, while still allowing enough room for dozens of people to serve themselves at the same time.  Of course, they're not going to completely re-design and re-build the Carnival Spirit anytime soon...  so my suggested "workaround" solution would be to post a complete list of what's being served at each entrance to the restaurant, along with information about which food station you can find the item at.  For example, the sign would say roast beef is at station #1, chow mien chicken is at station #2, hamburgers are at station #3, chicken noodle soup is at stations #1 and #3, and rice is at stations #1, #2, and #3.

• A persistent unpleasant odor in the bathroom.  I think the ventilation system is sending fresh air in, but not exhausting any dirty air out.  Have you ever been in to a public bathroom where they have those things mounted on the wall that spray a deodorizer in to the air at certain regular intervals?  They need to install something like that in each bathroom on the ship, in my opinion!  I will be bringing a small spray can of deodorizer with me on my next cruise.

• Pizza!  What good is a 24-hour pizzeria if the product tastes no better than a $5 frozen pizza from the grocery store?  Someone from Carnival's restaurant department needs to do some market research in to various styles of pizza that Americans like.  I can practically guarantee that if they assembled a panel of ten typical Carnival customers and presented them with samples of pizza from various pizza restaurants in my hometown, that not one of the ten people would say the the Carnival pizza was better than even the worst of the other pizzas!

Please don't get me wrong...  I loved our cruise and would do it again in a heartbeat!  But there is always room for improvement!

If you're looking to take a cruise out of a Southern California port, one thing you might consider is the fact that the newest ship in Carnival's fleet will be based in Los Angeles starting in April of 2009.  The Carnival Splendor will have most of the great features of the Carnival Spirit, but also several new improvements...  such as wireless Internet access in every cabin, and a gigantic LCD television above the pool.  My guess is that our next cruise will be on the Carnival Splendor!

In addition to all the still pictures I shot on our cruise onboard the Carnival Spirit, I also shot some video.  I've edited the video down to a five-minute highlight package, which gives you a pretty good look at life aboard a cruise ship.  Click here to watch my Carnival Spirit video! 

(If you have a high-speed Internet connection...  once the video starts, be sure to click on "watch in high quality".)