Carnival Spirit (May 2013) - Post 1

On 19th May 2013 I boarded Carnival Spirit in Sydney for a 9 night cruise to New Caledonia, Vanuatu and back. In general, the ship exceeded my expectations notably the food, dining room service, live music, my cabin and the adults only Serenity area at the stern of the ship with its own pool and bar. Aspects that I found less pleasing to irritating were the decor which was very garish in places,  the layout that had most bars in the main traffic flow areas (making the ship seem too noisy and busy), the bar/lounge service which was patchy (ranging from excellent to poor) and the small proportion of the hundreds of infants/young children on the ship who were inadequately supervised by their parents  (what is it with some modern parents that they seem indifferent to their children running wild in the public areas?)  
Overall, an enjoyable cruise but I still much prefer Princess.

Loading stores at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal. Taken from my cabin balcony.

My very comfortable cabin.

The ship at anchor at Isle of Pines.

 

One of the two pools in the midships lido area.

Views from the top of one of the water slides.

The Serenity area at the stern.

The top of the alarming water slide.

At anchor at Mystery Island, Vanuatu. What appear to be brown stains on the water are actually organisms from the reef.

Late afternoon departure from Lifou.