Sandridge Beach

It feels like we've been counting down this cruise forever, and here we are at sail date hardly able to believe we're off.

It's our first overseas family trip. A 12 day cruise on the Carnival Spirit, departing at returning to Melbourne, touring four islands in New Caledonia. The allure of a flight free trip was heightened by our newfound baggage... a 20 month old and all the things he comes with. We'd be replacing our usual backpacks with four suitcases/duffle bags, a pram and two carry on backpacks.. so.much.luggage.

We were dropped at the pier by my parents in a relatively hassle free affair.
This was my ninth cruise, but first from my home city so I had no real idea about our port.
This is our second experience with Carnival having traveled the Mediterranean on Carnival Sunshine back in 2013.

Early impressions were honestly a little underwhelming. Spirit is a bit smaller and less grand than Sunshine, and notably less spectacular than Royal Caribbean ships - our usual preferred cruise line. Decks 2 and 3 contain the majority of bars, restaurants, the main dining room and theater and variety of shops.

Decks 4-8 are generally state rooms and 9-10 the pools, buffet, gym and bars. There's a couple water-slides on the back of the ship as well. The pools are very small and kids under 4 aren't allowed in them so we'll see how we go with that.

Our Balcony Stateroom is 5225. I'm actually really happy with it. It's spacious enough, with a largish, relatively secure private balcony. The doors are heavy to avoid little escapees. The bathroom is actually bigger than expected.

It's been a big day for little fella with no naps.. We boarded around 2.30pm.
He was happy as a clam and overwhelmed with excitement on boarding.. running around greeting everyone and pointing enthusiastically at everything. By the time the 5pm safety briefing rolled around he was getting grouchy and tired.. By 6-7 he was feral.. that worked alright in the end as he was sleeping in his pram by 8 so we could eat out at the restaurants which we intend to do as preference over the buffet bistro.

The ship was delayed several hours (from 5pm to 8.30pm) for a broken lifeboat, so we started moving just as we were polishing off our steak and half a bottle of red.
We chanced our luck at the 9.30 welcome show at the theater, Ryland snoozing in a wheelchair space but had to abandon that idea after 10 minutes when he woke and the show had started slowly anyway. We've now got a few days at sea to get Ryland adjusted and adapt to this new-style adventure.Read more