Thanks Lois for starting this thread.
We were also on this sailing. The last time we were on Spirit was before the extension refit and we have been on Muse, Dawn etc since, so were very interested to see how she’s doing.
Have to agree with Lois, everything from check-in to check-out was superb; the food was fabulous, no problem getting any wine or cocktails we wanted, the crew were exemplary, and the tours were pretty good.
Just to expand on the tender issue in Dikili; the weather changed unexpectedly, causing a swell against the concrete jetty they were using. This caused excessive movement of the tenders in relation to the jetty which made it too dangerous to get on or off. Meanwhile, several bus loads of tours returned, resulting in probably a few hundred people waiting. The communications from the crew to the guests at this stage was poor, but in their defence, there was just one security officer and a couple of sailors ashore, who did their best. And I’m not sure how much help they were getting from the local reps, if any.
Eventually, one of the officers in charge of one of the tenders motored around the corner into a little fishing marina which was more sheltered, but almost full of boats. It took him and his crew nearly an hour to manhandle a number of the local boats to make a space for the tenders, as, in his words, “none of the locals was interested in helping….”
Then we walked around the corner to board the tenders there. One tender had damaged a prop in the rough sea (possibly against the concrete jetty) so they were one boat short, and it took longer than it might have to get everyone back. So, actually, job well done by the crew at the coalface, and after all, there’s always late lunch available if you’re starving……
Overall we had a great time, and would not hesitate on sailing Spirit again.