WanderlustJourney

Or two giant whales attacking each other... :')

I'm going to be sailing on the NCL Spirit again in August. I choose the Spirit over other cruises (I had looked at Holland America, RCL, Princess and Celebrity) as it had the best itinerary for the time I wanted to be away for (plus Santorini in the itinerary was a must for me). I'll be on the Aug 20th sailing and it is very port intensive, only one sea day. The Spirit might be an older ship, but she's classic. Not too big, not too small. There were some small interior refreshers done to her during dry dock, however it was mainly a technical dry dock. They do have kids activities on board, when I did my Alaska trip on her we did notice a few families and they always had kid friendly activities listed in the daily.

I always take the upsell to a Balcony. I really love having floor to ceiling windows and natural light in my cabin. Also having access to fresh air whenever needed is also great. I now rarely book anything to begin with other than a Balcony, but everyone has their own preferences :)

The last time I sailed to Alaska I took an upgrade to a suite and loved the large private deck space, always had my early morning coffee there before dealing with the breakfast crowds lol.

Whenever and where ever I travel I carry Lysol wipes. Planes nowadays are notoriously bad for not being clean as turnaround times are so quick at the gates. I know whenever I sit down I see smudges and fingerprints on the screens or coffee drops on the tray, you can bet I'm wiping down EVERYTHING. Even in hotel rooms and cruise cabins, doesn't hurt to wipe down objects like the remote or door handles.

I always book with a TA, rates and promos are same, usually better and I've got someone in my corner if something goes wrong. I let her know the issue and she deals with the NCL Business Development Manager (if they have a good relationship), which saves me time and effort. I mean, I don't want to spend hours on hold to try to get in touch with the NCL Customer Relations dept.

Finding a good TA is easy. Find out if they are an NCL Certified Specialist, and simply ask questions about what you are looking for. It shouldn't take long before you know if they know their stuff or not.

Plus TA's also can quote you and normally place cabins on a courtesy hold. Get a few quotes and see who comes up with the best deal for you and who you like best to deal with ;)

I agree, I loved the feel of the Spirit when I was on her quite awhile back. The grand foyer is something that is missing from some of the newer ships nowadays. The main staircase, glass elevators.

One of my best memories is sipping a martini at Champagne Charlie's listening to a wonderful entertainer who sounded almost identical to the great Frank Sinatra.

Galaxy of the Stars was also another favourite place, I didn't have a balcony room for that cruise, just an ocean view, so we spent a lot of time up there, enjoying the views to Alaska :)

I was just thinking that maybe they've done some small interior repairs, refreshers, etc. The Spirit in my opinion is the perfect size ship, not too big, not too small.

I really hope they don't get rid of her, I'm looking forward to sailing on her again in August, I can't wait!

Be interesting to hear what "refreshments" to the interior they've done :)

Just saw today that the Spirit is in dry dock in Marseilles, France for 5 days?

They say it's a technical dry dock, wonder if this is still in addition for the quick one scheduled for Spring?

Do they usually do interior freshen ups during this time as well?

NCL tells me I may have to wait up to two hours to board; is that typical? RCCL gets you on in about 15 minutes typically

When we boarded the Pearl in September, it was 20 minutes from arriving at the port (Seattle) to getting on the ship. I was the quickest I had ever boarded before!

It also helped that we arrived by 11:30am?

As Nola26 said, they are really on top of it.

Make sure you do put the request in to your TA or NCL directly or your dietary needs. You can also make requests for certain types of substitutes (I prefer coconut or almond milk), and it was available on the Pearl for me.

The waiters are very good as well. Someone in our group was gluten intolerant and didn't setup and dietary preferences before boarding, she mentioned it at dinner and the waiter was great with checking with the kitchen as to what could be offered last minute.

Typically cruises don't oversell, however they can.

As SeaShark mentioned, they do contact people and ask for "volunteers" to give up their space and reimburse accordingly (similar to when airlines overbook).

When they get to a certain "sell level", they waitlist the ship, not the same as oversold. Just the amount of cabins on hold or in deposit are at capacity (including TA courtesy holds, etc).

In my experience, if they say they will be in port by 8am, they will probably arrive an hour to 30 mins before that.

The only time we didn't arrive early into a port was due to bad weather.

However, to be safe I would book excursions at least 30 mins after the said docking time (in case of long lines getting off the ship, etc).

I was on the Pearl in September for a quick repositioning cruise and loved her!

I did hear she was supposed to go into dry dock this Spring.

Yes, there is a climbing wall on the back, not sure on weight limits.

I did enjoy my time in the Thermal Suite. I hope they move the heated beds to face the windows like they are in other ships I've been on, but it was a nice relaxing space. The sauna had amazing views, but was way too warm to stay long.

I've heard rumours of updating Summer Palace (the main restaurant), the seating and decor details seemed a bit tired, so did the pool area. One of the other restaurants (Indigo?) was already updated and looked amazing.

:)

When booking your cruise a TA will put you on an "Upgrade List". Sometimes you can contact upset yourself, but depends if the agency has allowed that...

If they haven't I would contact them and ask to be put on the Upgrade/Upsell list.

I would definitely talk to your TA or NCL if you booked directly. I would get something in writing from them like an updated cruise booking confirmation?

I looked into adding the UBP to my booking, it would have been over $1000 CDN for the 11 day cruise I'm on this summer on the Spirit (I went with the Canadian at Par deal, so no perks other than Latitude Offers).

Sounds like I'll be drinking in the ports :P

Changes do occur from time to time, however I agree that a TA with a good relationship with NCL can and does pay off, they do have contacts that they can bring customer issues to and sometimes get favourable results. It happened with an issue I had on the Pearl back in September.

You should receive your final cabin number a week or two before your sailing. If you are really worried about it you can talk to your travel agent or all NCL directly :)

They probably have assigned you a wheelchair access room. When I sailed on Holland America we purchased a guarantee balcony, we were assigned a wheel chair access room, however the it was was needed at the last minute by someone who required it so they upgraded us to a Signature Suite at no charge :) Sometimes guarantee categories can pay off lol.

Yes, right now there is an OBC offer with NCL as a Latitudes special offer, on select sailings I believe? We got $50 per person for our balcony cabin on our European sailing this August.