Just Off the Spirit May 7-May 19. Questions?

Hi all. We are just now home from our 12 day Spirit Grand Med cruise. It's going to take me a bit to get my review up (laundry, pictures, grocery store all have to be dealt with!) but if anybody has any specific questions I'm happy to answer.

First and foremost it was the BEST TRIP EVER!!! Great cruise, great excursions, good food, awesome crew, really good ship. Seriously, best family trip we've ever taken.

Great to hear you had a good time. I went on the Spirit in 2006 and loved the ship but am a little nervous now because some people are saying she is looking a bit tired, so what sort of shape in general is the ship in.

Questions:

• Which of the ports are tender ports
  
• How easy is it around 7 pm to 7.30 to get a table in the MDR without reservation.
  
• We dont have any UDP so intend to eat mainly in the MDR - is the food of a good quality standard without the need to visit the speciality restaurants.
  
• If you are in a balcony cabin do you automatically get a bathrobe
  

Sorry meant to add to the above - we are going on her in 5 weeks time, same route BCN to VCE

Great to hear you had a good time. I went on the Spirit in 2006 and loved the ship but am a little nervous now because some people are saying she is looking a bit tired, so what sort of shape in general is the ship in.

 

Questions:

 

• Which of the ports are tender ports-we didn't get to go to Mykonos and that is one of the sometimes tender ports (we were the sailing that rescued the Libyan refugees and ended up not having enough time to make it to Mykonos) but tendered into Kotor. However, a ship that was there before us moved out mid-afternoon and we took that berth so didn't have to tender back. We were docked everywhere else.
   
  
• How easy is it around 7 pm to 7.30 to get a table in the MDR without reservation.-We usually ate around 6:30-7:00 and never had a wait in the Garden Dining Room (which we loved).
   
  
• We dont have any UDP so intend to eat mainly in the MDR - is the food of a good quality standard without the need to visit the speciality restaurants.--We did have the 5 Day SDP and while we enjoyed our dinners there we really liked the food in the MDR. Most every night there was more than one thing we needed to decide between (and sometimes DS21 didn't make a choice-he had both!). Some things were lick your plate delicious, a few things were downright gross (I'm looking at you weird lemon dessert that tasted like air freshener!) and a few things were *meh* not calorie worthy. For the most part, the food was quite good though.
  
• If you are in a balcony cabin do you automatically get a bathrobe-We had a balcony and didn't have robes. I brought my velcro wrap though and was fine and DH never uses a robe.
  

I thought the ship looked like it was in great shape. Never saw anything that made me think "oh, that's awful!". The ship looks a little dated in some places-certainly the bathrooms need to be re-done. As DS19 called it-the "urine color floor tiles really need to go!". But overall I thought the ship was great.

I'm a huge fan of this itinerary and going from BCN to VCE. You have 5 really busy days up front then a nice sea day to catch your breath. Then a couple more busy days and another sea day. Plus we used the half sea day when we were getting into Venice to do most of our packing and that sail in is spectacular!

One thing to note is all the reviews on here said you got two laundry specials and they were on the sea days and I planned for that. Nope. Our 1 laundry special was on Naples day and we didn't get the laundry back until Saturday so we miscounted on socks and underwear!

Thanks for the reply.

Am I correct in saying that the plug sockets are one Uk one US and one European.

Who are the current Hotel Director and Captain?

Thanks for the reply.

Am I correct in saying that the plug sockets are one Uk one US and one European.

We had one US (that you could NOT use a hairdryer with) and one European (but according to one of our Roll Call gals she used her converter and this outlet for her US hairdryer). The outlet in the bathroom is very low voltage and we only used it for a night light.

Who are the current Hotel Director and Captain?

Can't remember the full names and didn't keep all the Dailies but Armando was the HD (but he was going on vacation after our cruise though-not sure how long). The captain was young and did a great job with the refugee thing.

Glad you had a great trip.

My Question is did Ncl have Colorado cool aide on board. ☺

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Glad you had a great trip.

 

My Question is did Ncl have Colorado cool aide on board. ☺

 

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We missed you! Hope you had a great trip.

No clue about this, sorry. I drank a LOT but that wasn't something I had.

Had a great cruise......I look forward to reading your review.

I missed getting photos of you guys coming in by 10 min.....got stuck on water bus.

You had great weather on arrival into Venice.

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Had a great cruise......I look forward to reading your review.

 

I missed getting photos of you guys coming in by 10 min.....got stuck on water bus.

 

You had great weather on arrival into Venice.

 

 

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We DID have great weather that day! Absolutely beautiful scenery. Glad our cruise was good too.

Going in september and I am happy to get a review !!!!

Going in september and I am happy to get a review !!!!

I'm working on it! I have 4 cameras/phones to get pictures from and a lot of days to recount!

Excited for your review! I'm doing this cruise in July. Curious about the laundry-- you said it was Naples day... This is Thursday for us... And you got it back Saturday? Our cruise would almost be over! Hmmm... Was counting on the laundry to stretch out the wardrobe....

Excited for your review! I'm doing this cruise in July. Curious about the laundry-- you said it was Naples day... This is Thursday for us... And you got it back Saturday? Our cruise would almost be over! Hmmm... Was counting on the laundry to stretch out the wardrobe....

Yes, it was Naples day which was Wednesday for us. The insert was in the Dailies when we got back from dinner Rome night (Tuesday). It said the laundry had to be in the bag in your room before noon and would be returned by Saturday evening. I took it to mean have it ready for the sea day since we got the notice so late in the day and were leaving so early in the morning. Somebody on our Naples tour clarified it for me and when we got back to the ship I called Guest Services about it. Katya gave us approval to still use the special as long as we got it to our steward before turn down service. So we delayed dinner and got those bags loaded up! We didn't get it back until LATE Saturday night either.

I took some small woolite packs and did handwashing of my delicates. Ask your steward for extra hangers. You get regular hangers instead of those wooden ones that hook into the metal frames in the closet. I brought some clothes pins and used those extra hangers to hang all my things in the bathroom and on the balcony to dry.

Hi all,

We're doing this exact cruise in August. It is our first cruise, ever, so being complete newbies, we're just learning. Can you explain what laundry day means? Any other tips for newbies?

We're sooo looking forward to it!!

Thanks!

Yes, it was Naples day which was Wednesday for us. The insert was in the Dailies when we got back from dinner Rome night (Tuesday). It said the laundry had to be in the bag in your room before noon and would be returned by Saturday evening. I took it to mean have it ready for the sea day since we got the notice so late in the day and were leaving so early in the morning. Somebody on our Naples tour clarified it for me and when we got back to the ship I called Guest Services about it. Katya gave us approval to still use the special as long as we got it to our steward before turn down service. So we delayed dinner and got those bags loaded up! We didn't get it back until LATE Saturday night either.

 

I took some small woolite packs and did handwashing of my delicates. Ask your steward for extra hangers. You get regular hangers instead of those wooden ones that hook into the metal frames in the closet. I brought some clothes pins and used those extra hangers to hang all my things in the bathroom and on the balcony to dry.

We have always taken advantage of the laundry specials. I was really hoping there were two 'laundry' days for this itinerary. I am just wondering if anyone knows if you can ask to have your laundry done at a 'regular' rate if we want some pieces washed again closer to the end of the cruise? We will still have 12 days before we fly home following our Naples day........that is a long time to wait to do laundry!

We are just off the same cruise. You can do laundry any day you wish, up to 2 days before the end at a per piece price.

You can certainly do your laundry again-it will just be very expensive!

@jhk515- some cruise lines have self service laundry rooms similar to a laundromat. Ncl does not but they have laundry service similar to what you find in hotels where you pay by the piece of clothing being washed. They also will usually offer a special where for one fixed price you can stuff as much as you can in the laundry bags the steward leaves in your cabin. It's a good deal as it's surprising how much you can fit in those bags!

Thanks for the info!

Curious how much the laundry special was? We are sailing next Tuesday and plan on doing laundry as well.

Did you use wifi at all on the boat?

Which was your favorite of the specialty dining restaurants?

Noticed on your roll call before someone commented about having a duty free store after security before you get on the ship that you can purchase wine at, and essentially avoid the cork fees because there was nothing being checked after that... Did you see this at all?

Also, might be silly, but did you get stamps in your passport for all of the countries you visited?

Sorry for so many questions, I didn't think I would have that many! I've been patiently waiting for someone who was on this cruise to report back! we head out on Thursday!

Curious how much the laundry special was? We are sailing next Tuesday and plan on doing laundry as well.

$19.95 per bag. Well worth it!

 

Did you use wifi at all on the boat?

No. It was such a port intensive cruise we just planned on using wifi on shore. Worked most days but it was funny. We'd get someplace with wifi and EVERYBODY would whip out their phones and be buried in them!

 

Which was your favorite of the specialty dining restaurants?

probably Le Bistro but more for the appetizers and dessert than the entrees. The scallops, mussels and French onion soup are to die for. The chocolate fondue for dessert-yum! I had fruits de Le mer and the lobster. The lobster had a weird sauce on it and the fruits were good but not enough. DS19 had the filet both times and loved it, DH had the lamb and gave half of his to DS21 then the lobster and he felt the same as I did about the sauce. DS21 had the lamb and loved it and I can't remember his other entree. The steaks were mostly good in cagneys but nothing outrageous and I don't like their appetizers as well. I love teppanyaki but I can do that on land.

 

Noticed on your roll call before someone commented about having a duty free store after security before you get on the ship that you can purchase wine at, and essentially avoid the cork fees because there was nothing being checked after that... Did you see this at all?

 

sorry, didn't look for it. We had the UBP and aren't huge wine drinkers.

 

Also, might be silly, but did you get stamps in your passport for all of the countries you visited?

you know, I never looked! I don't think so though because DS21 was checking his and didn't mention it.

 

Sorry for so many questions, I didn't think I would have that many! I've been patiently waiting for someone who was on this cruise to report back! we head out on Thursday!

You will have such a wonderful time. This was seriously the best trip we've ever taken. Definitely NOT a vacation though!

You will have such a wonderful time. This was seriously the best trip we've ever taken. Definitely NOT a vacation though!

Thanks so much for the info!!

Can you tell me what time they were allowing people to board on embarkation day. We like to try and get on board at around 11am if we can.