Travelling with two teen boys we were looking forward to a great Springbreak vacation and the Carnival Spirit delivered.

Embarkation was fine, though a little chaotic as there was two ships preparing to leave at the same time and it seemed as though the port was barely able to handle the people. We arrived at about 11:15 and were on the ship at 12:30 - so all in all it was decent.

The ship was clean and well kept. The new Green Thunder slide was great and open regularly. My kids were too old for the waterworks area, but it looked new and shiny and was popular with the toddlers. The Lido deck is one area where we feel the ship sort of shows its age in terms of design. We enjoy the seaside theatre on the newer ships and the larger pool area that comes with that (personal preference). Also, there are three pools to sit around tables on the Lido deck. One of the pools is the new Serenity area for adults only (which is very well done)...the other two pools are 50% smoking around the tables. In other words, if you don't smoke and you have kids there are not a lot of poolside tables to eat/play cards or just hang out around on a busy cruise, particularly around lunch time. In fact, I think the entire starboard side of deck 9 and 10 are smoking. Read more