We easily boarded the Carnival Spirit about 1 p.m. in another rainstorm. Fortunately, Brian, Nancy, Lawrence, and Donna all helped us with our luggage and the ship was less than a half block from our hotel.
The Spirit, inaugural cruise in 2001, is a beautiful ship, 960 feet long and a 106 ft. beam. As soon as we boarded we walked around the ship. From a fact sheet, there are 1062 “staterooms,” 15 elevators, 12 bars and lounges, 4 swimming pools, 72 ft. spiral waterslide, 5 whirlpools, a casino, spa and gym area, beauty salon /barber shop, video arcades, an Internet café, a medical center, a jewelry shop, liquor shop, shops with clothes, cosmetics, perfumes, etc., a library, a 3-level show lounge, a 2-level main restaurant, and the buffet area has many different kinds of food offerings: a pizzeria, sushi bar, a grill counter, salad bar, a deli counter, dessert bar, plus the “Taste of Nations” lunch/breakfast area.
Our balcony cabin is the largest yet. There is so much room, we even have space left over (think so much luggage it takes 6 people to handle it). The queen size bed is very comfortable. Lighting is more than excellent and the bathroom is very adequately sized (shelves on both sides of the mirror). (Even if Lawrence says that in cruise ships the showers are so small you have to soap up the walls and spin around in them). Large lighted mirrors, a safe, a TV (not flat screen yet), a couch, a coffee table, 2 end tables with doors, vanity with drawers.
After the obligatory safety drill, the ship set sail from San Diego at 4 p.m. Both TK and I took Bonine before the ship left port because we could tell the weather was going to be challenging. As soon as we came upon the Pacific, the seas were rough. I hate to write about this for those dear readers who have not cruised before, but sometimes nature happens.
I began to unpack, but TK was lying in bed, down for the count. He did not get sick sick, but he needed to be in bed. Later I was able to ask Captain Guiseppe Donato how he would describe the seas this night. He said, “There were long swells with 15 ft. waves.” He explained that 4-5 cold fronts went through the area rapidly with low air pressure and this caused the unusual disturbance. He also said that the weather was worse as the ship approached San Diego the night before, the same night we were flying in.
I went to dinner with Donna and Lawrence-flat iron steak, but returned to the cabin and read for quite awhile, trying to adjust to the time zone. TK slept.
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