Thread: Carnival 'Spirit' to Alaska, cabin question

Hello! I am new here & pretty new to cruising. My husband and I travel often but have always been pretty land-based.

We've decided that we'd like to do the 7-day Alaskan cruise with Carnival in June 2010.

I want to book a Veranda room but am trying to get the best cabin possible for our budget. Under the cabin descriptions I see that if you book an 8A or 8B cabin it says "Many staterooms in this category have a partially obstructed ocean view."

Do any experts out there know of a good cabin number on those decks where it WON'T be obstructed at all & in a good location? Or, should I just spring the extra couple hundred bucks for an 8C-8H cabin?

Thanks!

Here's what I have found on the Carnival website:


Stateroom categories: Standard Balcony 8A, 8B, 8D, 8F, 8H;

Extended Balcony 8C, 8E, 8G, 8I.

Balcony (obstructed view) 7A;

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The 7As definitely are obstructed views. The 8B from looking at the deck plan are all on Deck 4. The ones that could be considered obstructed are the ones right next to the life boats: such as 4209, 4204 etc. But if you also notice those cabins stick further out from the area that the lifeboats are in.

We have booked an 8B for our Alaska cruise in Sep 2010. There shouldn't be a problem with the 8Bs in my opinion.

We've been on the Spirit 3 times before. Twice in a mini suite (6197) and once on the Empress deck (6194). We like the mid-ship area of 6194 and didn't find it to be noisy at all being close to the elevators. In fact, it was extremely quiet.

If you don't have your cruise plans set in concrete, you might want to consider joining our group on Sep 7, 2010 on the Carnival Spirit. It is the only trip that season for the Spirit that will include Glacier Bay. It will start in Seattle and end in Vancouver.

http://www.cruiselinefans.com/spirit-9-7-2010/

Hope this helps. Welcome to CLF. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask or PM me.

Mary

Any obstruction would be minimal at worst. You would have no obstruction out or down from any 8A or 8B balcony. In the 2 cabins Mary mentioned you would only have slight obstruction down and to the side. Nothing I would even consider to be a problem.

Reggie

Welcome to CLF a very Friendly Community. You will enjoy your time here and I'll look forward to hearing what you finally decide to book on the Spirit. I've been exploring the Spirit via the Internet for two days and booked with other CLF friends for the 09/07/10 cruise today.

Thought you might like to see some photos of the Spirit too:

Here's a good video of the Spirit:
YouTube - A Carnival Cruise To Mexico

AND

some great photos the person took on the Spirit while in Mexico
Carnival Cruise Lines - Carnival Spirit Cruise Review by Jim Zim

Originally Posted by MilliesMom

Thought you might like to see some photos of the Spirit too:

Here's a good video of the Spirit:
YouTube - A Carnival Cruise To Mexico

AND

some great photos the person took on the Spirit while in Mexico
Carnival Cruise Lines - Carnival Spirit Cruise Review by Jim Zim

This is the gentlemen with the Cannon Rebel I tried to post on another thread Mary. Love the video and the great music. Jim does great work and he loves cockers!!

As stated before, you won't have an obstruction with a 8 A or B Veranda stateroom. The 7A with the French doors definitely has a lifeboat obstruction.

My understanding is that the 4F are the old 5A cabins ... also referred to as the French Door cabins. Here's are some photos and threads that might be of help:

Legend Cat5a - a set on Flickr

view in background picture by ncracken - Photobucket

For those who study statistics the Carnival Spirit has six penthouse suites (415 sq. ft. with private balcony); 52 suites (315-360 sq. ft. with private balcony); 624 ocean view cabins (225-245 sq. ft. with private balcony); 68 obstructed ocean view with French doors (185 sq. ft.); 99 ocean view without balcony (185 sq. ft.); and 213 inside cabins (185 sq. ft.).

From Wennfred: There are some cabins that sit in between 2 Lifeboats so you do have alittle view, BUT when you open the door, you will get a wiff of Boat Davit Grease, and it smells pretty bad. From some of the newer reviews, some ships are now permanently locking these doors

Thank you for all the info everyone

After doing A LOT of research over the weekend I found out that there is one of those 'secret cabins,' as bloggers refer to them, in the 7A (obstructed) class. The balcony is 3 times the size of normal verandas & the 'obstruction' really isn't hardly anything at all.

I called Carnival to see if this cabin was available & IT WAS!!! So I booked it. She said that should I decide to upgrade to an 8B or 8C later it would be no big deal.

I saw pictures online of this actual 7B 'secret' cabin & it looks AWESOME! The veranda is looooooong!

We're VERY excited

Thank you MilliesMom for telling me about that Sept cruise, unfortunately Sept is NEVER an option for me because I am a school teacher & we start back in Sept.

Glad you found a great cabin!

Would you like to share the secret cabin number for future reference?