newcruise12

DB and I (pre-Seniors) booked this as a discounted, last-minute cruise. We've enjoyed seeing the major sights on the neighbor islands before and decided to try a relaxing, low-key cruise without booking any shore excursions this time.

Just to save you time: if you're looking for information about the specialty dining, pool, bars, or kids' stuff, there's none of that in this review. But I will talk about the cabin, buffet, free shuttles in port, showroom, getting around the ship, the Hawaiian Ambassador, television programs, and beautiful, hot Hawaii in general.

EMBARKATION AND DAY ONE -

Our embarkation at 1:30pm was quick and easy. We figured that an afternoon arrival would help us avoid long lines. And yay, the line was short. We dropped off our luggage, filled out the health forms, and got lei'd with a pretty orchid lei for me and a shell lei for DB. They even give ladies an orchid to put in your hair (left side if you're "taken"; right side, available), but unfortunately those hair flowers get lost pretty quickly. The Aloha Spirit from the employees we encountered made us feel welcome. There was no line at Latitudes check-in, so that was a breeze! We're ready for that initial washy-washy now!! Sing along with me, NCL'ers: "Letttttttttttt's go!!!"

We grabbed a late buffet lunch at around 2:00 in the Aloha Cafe on Deck 11. There didn't seem to be a lot of food left, but that's the tradeoff for not having to wait in long checkin lines, I think. It was a little tough to find a table, but we managed. Everyone was waiting for their cabins to be ready.

After eating and sending a few emails, I was anxious to explore. Since the cabins on our deck were not ready yet, we just walked out to the Aft behind the Aloha Cafe to check out the view. There is much construction going on in Honolulu. That's good for the city. I do wonder how those construction workers can withstand the hot temperatures in the blazing sun, though! It was still oppressively hot and humid that afternoon, but hey, we're going on a cruise! There was even a full rainbow there to see us off ("It's a sign!").

Our balcony cabin, on the port side of Deck 8 near the Aft elevators/stairs, was finally ready a little after 3:00pm. After we found the port side, we were surprised to see that the hallway from Forward to Aft is not one straight line of sight. You know how you can usually look up or down the hall, and the hallway seems to go on forever?? Here, there was a slight outward "jog" in the hallway near the elevators. Sorry, it's a little hard for me to explain on paper; hopefully you get the idea.

Tip: The color of the carpeting in the elevator area can help you easily determine where you are. The carpet at both the Forward and Aft elevators is red, with stars. The carpet at Midship is brown. There are other indications too. The display on the screen in the elevator indicates whether you're Forward, Mid, or Aft too, I recall.

Our cabin was rather narrow. Funny, it got even narrower by the end of the cruise... it must have been due to those last few desserts! The shower stall was a little small; I'd imagine some folks find it to be too narrow. At first, dear BF thought I was exaggerating when I laughed that I could use the toilet, and then didn't even need to stand up to wash my hands! It was all within reach! Comfy! But true.

DB was really glad to see our luggage arrive. I can't remember how long it took, but it wasn't too long. So in a flash, he changed into shorts and T shirt. Ahh, now we have a happy, comfortable guy ready for the Lifeboat Drill.

After that was out of the way, later we had an early dinner at the Aloha Cafe to give ourselves ample time to finish eating before sailaway. We went out on the upper deck for sailaway to enjoy the views of Honolulu and Waikiki. Ahhh, it doesn't get better than that!

We enjoyed the Welcome Aboard Show at 8:00pm. The showroom has only one level. The seating at the shows we saw during the week (first performance of the evening, normally 7:00pm) was emptier than we normally see, so we didn't have to show up too early. But the way the theater seats are configured, your view might be obstructed if someone is in the seat in front of you.

Hollywood Theater tips: For those who have a tendency towards feeling too cold, take a jacket along (you'll thank me). We wondered why they would make it so freakishly cold there when the outside weather was so incredibly hot/humid, since that seemed like a good formula for making people ill; but someone told me that common areas are kept cold because warmth encourages bacteria to grow. Well, they're doing a darn fine job in making sure it won't grow in the theater, I'll tell ya! Also, try entering through the door on the left -- er, port -- side. YMMV, but we found that more people were using the starboard door, so that side filled up more.

I hope the person with the medical emergency is ok! We are also on the POA. The Capt just announced that we're leaving and -- much to my surprise -- we will still be sailing to the Na Pali coast, arriving around 7pm. Yay! :D

Have a great birthday and a fantastic cruise! Looking forward to seeing more pictures and hearing about the cruise... We will be on the Getaway next fall. The color of that water behind you is gorgeous! Enjoy!

OMG! When Tenacious C asked, "who's with me?" about getting back to the boat, my hand shot up in the air, LOL. That was scary! Thanks for the tip about Benadryl, I get a bad allergic reaction to mosquito bites and will carry it with me for that... But I can't believe how irresponsible the tour guides were in letting y'all get into the water with those jellyfish around! And shame on NCL for not refunding everyone! Sooooo glad to hear that Judy and Bill were able to enjoy themselves and actually make it back to the ship on time!

I am absolutely loving your review! You both have an entertaining writing style. Congrats on all the occasions you are celebrating! Debit and Credit sound like fine young men (and I love, love, love their nicknames). Looking forward to sharing the wonder of Judy and Bill's experience, too.

Thank you for letting me know! That's a relief! :D

We just booked a cruise from Miami for 10/10/15 and plan to arrive a couple of days early. I just discovered that this carnival takes place during the same weekend we will be there - "share the fun with 50,000 other participants"! :eek: How crowded/crazy will it be in the days leading up to the main festivities on 10/11/15? How much of Miami is involved?

It sounds like it would be interesting to see, but my first reaction is that we should change our departure date. (Well, that's actually my second reaction - the first was: awwww, I should have researched events BEFORE making the res; I know better than that for trips to San Francisco and Vegas.) We are in our late 50's and have never been to Miami before. Yeah, thinking we should probably rebook, huh?

Sorry if this question has been asked/answered before, but I couldn't find anything in my search. (All that comes up is about Carnival cruise line.) Thanks so much for your help!

Hi, I just got off the Spirit on Oct 21 (same itinerary) and on our cruise, we docked at all these ports. We were lucky to have nice warm weather, but disappointed that there was some fog or haziness as we pulled into Venice. Enjoy your trip!

These were the officers on Spirit's October 9, 2014 sailing:

Captain - Lars Bengtsson

Staff Captain - Ingvar Bjork

Hotel Director - Armando De Silva

Cruise Director - Gio Artavia (Asst CD - Roberto)

Chief Engineer - Predrag Pjovcevic

Food/Beverage Director - Yannis Kazalis

Beverage Manager - Rumi Khatao

Restaurant Manager - Furtoso Gonsalves

Exec. Housekeeper - Clyde Harbin

Guest Services Manager - Humberto Abarca

Cruise Consultant Manager - Fernando Colado

Concierge - Karin G.

I enjoy Capt. Lars' sense of humor. His wife was with him on the cruise, and in his daily announcements, he often kept us informed of how much money she had spent in port that day.

If you want to see what the TV stations are reporting about Iselle and Julio, you can check one of those websites.... Hawaii News Now (KGMB and KHNL), KITV, or KHON2.... I know that Hawaii News Now has live streaming when their news programs are on the air. It looks like they are currently forecasting that these will be tropical storms rather than hurricanes when they hit Hawaii.

That suggestion of taking along some seasickness pills sounds like a goooood idea. And the umbrella.

How stressful - I hope things work out! Keeping my fingers crossed.....

Really enjoying your review! You have a great sense of humor and writing style. I would've wanted to be a pseudo-travel agent too, but I would have been too scared to try it...

We were thinking about sailing on the Getaway someday...

Looking forward to the rest of your review! Thanks for sharing.

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Upcoming cruise:

Norwegian Spirit (W. Mediterranean) - 2014!

Past cruises:

Norwegian Star (Mexican Riviera) - 2014

Golden Princess (Alaska) - 2013

Norwegian Pearl (Alaska) - 2010