Coral Sea

Mostly a much needed day of rest and recovery today. After breakfast, I spent most of the morning and early afternoon in bed sleeping or resting, which helped me bounce back a notch from my cold.

Good timing too on that front as rumors circle the ship about possible containment of coronaviris infections. Apparently crew are directing any ill/coughing passengers to the medical department.. All non-major ports/smaller islands in the Pacific have now been closed, recently visited Isle of Pines included. Word is many Pacific cruises are being cancelled. There's talk of Chinese passengers being denied access to Port Vila and others being confined to quarters. Others suspect we may be subject to quarantine upon arrival in Melbourne. We shall see.

Feeling spritely and somewhat renewed in the afternoon I spent 90mins or so in the adults retreat (Nat visited earlier) where I gathered much of the above gossip. Tonight was the first where Ryland struggled to get to sleep.. still fussing as we finished dinner at 9pm (very noisy spot tonight though!). We checked out the earlier theatre show.. which was more balloon making than juggling.. and didn't hold our interest. Finally, jnr just collapsed about 9.45pm in his cot... The sound of snoring and dummy movement is music to our ears!

Before I go on, I have to give a shout out of thanks to Bananas in Pyjamas, who have chipped in to help us with Junior now and then. I don't know what we'd have done without them!

With little else of significance to report on our last days at sea see, I'll probably sum up/review the ship, the rooms, the service, the entertainment and the ports/itinerary in the final few entries.

I'll start off with the ship as a whole -
I'd read that this ship, Carnival Spirit had been refurbished a couple years ago.. but you wouldn't really think that. It's our second Carnival cruise and one of the smallest we've boarded. Overall, I've been pretty underwhelmed/disappointed by the design, layout and variety of the ship and features, it's a bit of a tub. Lots of narrow spaces, tiny pools, weird designs (things like view restricted theatres) and the same generic bars/spots with different names. The jogging track/sports court and mini golf are all tiny and seldom used. The main foyer and glass lifts are elegant but the ship lacks that as a whole. Below the top decks (There's only 10), it's generally rather quiet (outside main dining areas) with only decks 2 and 3 to wander with bars and a couple shops. (Decks 4-9 are staterooms). Overall, probably 5.5/10 for the ship.

As far as the rooms go -
We're on "Upper Deck" 5, a balcony room, number 5225. I've actually been really happy/impressed with the room as a whole. It's decently spacious for a mid range cruise cabin, with a fair size private balcony with deck chairs. The balcony is very child proof and secure enough with Ryland out there supervised, sturdy 1.2m glass from ground to banister. Beds are comfy, a small tv and good size bathroom. Our travel cot fits snugly by the fold out couch. Loads of space for clothes storage and luggage fits neatly under the bed. The weakness would be the shower.. which comes out as a trickle with an alternating acid or ice temperature, making for a thrilling and unpredictable experience. The room temperature/aircon set to minimum setting is pretty decent. The walls are magnetic and there's plenty of space for Rylands toys and hooks for hanging things. The other slight con is only 1 power point and no power boards allowed. Position of the room is fantastic, on a corner with only 1 neighbor (lifeboat other side) close enough to elevators but far enough to have no thoroughfare and we've had basically no noise pollution at all.
Its not luxury, but for what it is, 8/10.Read more