Spirit: Planning

Booking

I really didn’t have any plans to cruise out of Mobile, to cruise on the Spirit, or to go back to the Bahamas. But during Carnival’s Spring Sale of 2022, I was looking for good prices on cruises with ports I haven’t been to and/or ships I haven’t been on. This one caught my eye since I hadn’t been to Bimini or Princess Cays. I hadn’t been on a Spirit class ship before either. Mobile is a bit farther than what I normally drive to for a cruise, but I do consider it to be a drivable port for me.

My 2022 Alaska cruise was originally on Carnival Freedom but was moved to Splendor. There was a time period when I knew I was being moved but I didn’t know if I was being moved to Spirit or Splendor. Because of that I had already done my research on cabins for this ship. My plan had been to book one of the cabins with french windows on deck 4 because they are priced lower than a normal oceanview and I liked the location with the promenade and lanai just one deck down.

In this case I wasn’t able to get a french window room, but I was able to get an interior on that deck. I have no neighbors, I’m close to the stairs, and promenade and the lanai are one deck down. I was able to find a couple of reviews of the room including a youtube review of the same room on a sister ship. I think It’s going to work nice for me.

Hotel

Since it’s a long drive for me I was planning on stopping about two hours from the port in either Hattisburg or New Orleans depending on the route I took. My research showed I can get to Mobile quicker than I thought. I ended up booking the Hilton Garden Inn in West Mobile. I got it on Hotwire for $102 where it would’ve cost $227 booking through Hilton. I’ll be getting in around 11pm the night before the cruise and I’ll be 10 miles from the cruise port on embarkation morning.

Parking

There aren’t many options for Parking in Mobile. There are some Park N Cruise hotels. Since I wasn’t originally planning on staying in Mobile, I didn’t even look into those.

There are no offsite parking lots. Booking the official port parking is a little odd. It’s done through Premium Parking. You book the cruise port lot which is P2603 for the cruise dates. It cost $168 for my 8-day cruise.

Another strange thing is it shows up on your credit card as New Orleans Parking. I’m guessing a company out of New Orleans owns the parking lot. The lot opens at 10am. All I should have to do is pull in and park. They have my license plate in the system.

Onboard Purchases

I loaded this cruise up back in the spring of 2022. I believe that was when they had the 10% spa code that worked for everything. That’s when I added Cheers and Wifi to this cruise. Just before the specialty dinner increase of 2022, I purchased two nights in the steakhouse. Those cost me $38 each–$34.20 when you figure in that I used a 10% off Carnival gift card. Carnival has had two price increases since then so today those would be $49 each.

Ports

Bimini

Bimini has a free beach at the end of the pier. I have read mixed reviews about this beach. Supposedly there’s a sewage treatment plant next door. I have seen some say the smell is horrible and others say they couldn’t smell it and the beach/water was great.

Across the street from the pier is a port area with live music and a bar. That will likely be my first stop. There’s a free tram at the roundabout that takes you down to the Hilton resort. Packages at the Hilton resort start at $40 per person and go up over $100 per person.

I watched a video that showed the second stop on the tram tour being a free public beach. That video was a year old so I’m not sure if it’s talking about the same beach next to the Hilton that I heard was recently changed from public to private. Either way I do plan on taking the tram ride to at least see that half of the island for free. If I decide to ride back to the port at that point I will either check out the free beach at the port or take a taxi to Radio Beach which is supposed to be about $5 per person.

Freeport

Freeport is at the top of my list of least favorite ports. I haven’t been there in over five years but options were extremely limited back then. I think the new port area Carnival is building will change the perception of Freeport. I was hoping it would be ready for this cruise, but it won’t be taking calls until July of next year.

Last time I visited the Bahamian Brewery on my own. This time I found an excursion that caught my eye.  I used $80 onboard credit to book the Glass Bottom Boat and Shark Experience. I try to be very careful where I spend my money when it comes to wildlife. I try to make sure it’s a situation where the animals are there on their own accord or if they are in captivity it’s for the purpose of conservation. This is an opportunity to see sharks in the wild in an area known as “shark junction” where they are hand fed by divers. 

Nassau

Nassau is a port that seems to be unpopular with many but not with me. I have been to all of the forts, toured downtown, climbed the Queen’s Staircase, and been to Atlantis. What I’ve settled in on now is walking to get a couple of my favorite pina coladas at John Watling’s Distillery, then walking down to Junkanoo Beach for a dip, then back to the ship. That’s the plan this time as well. 

Princess Cays

Princess Cays is s a private island. It’s a tender port. I watched a couple videos on it and have a pretty good idea of the layout. It’s going to be another beach day or partial beach day for me.