Quick review on NCL Spirit Med/Greek Isle

Just back from the 10 day Spirit Mediterranean and Greek Island Cruise that left Rome May 17th, 2018. We are mid 30’s celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary with no kids.

We flew to Rome 3 days early and stayed in an AirBnB and did a bunch of tours from Viator. We were able to board the boat by 11:30am after less than 20 minutes of lines and check-ins. As we had already seen Rome, we boarded and sat in the sun all day on the ship.

The ship is small but very cozy. Main areas have been updated. Easy to get around but still enough room to find a corner to read quietly. Very few kids. Reasonable (for cruising and compared to the Epic) prices on drinks. The food, especially the fruit was very fresh and some of the best we’ve had on cruises.

CONS-(just my opinion, take it for what you want) staterooms are small and need updating, hot water in the AM is hard to come by, breakfast rush at the buffet made me never want to eat, the coffee is REAL bad.

This itinerary is port intensive so the room isn’t too important. The only complaint there was that we were only in Crete 7am-12pm. They asked us to be out of our rooms by 8am and off the boat by 9am. Some people were off by 7am if that was what you wanted to do.

Overall, really a great trip and a great ship. I don’t need a ton of the extra stuff but it’s there if you want it and NCL works hard for you.

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CONS-(just my opinion, take it for what you want) staterooms are small and need updating, hot water in the AM is hard to come by, breakfast rush at the buffet made me never want to eat, the coffee is REAL bad.

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I fully agree to this statement

Hi coachHeidi99, we were on the cruise with you! I'm curious which type of room you had. You say it felt small. We were in an inside room on deck 11 Aft. It actually felt larger than our inside room on the Escape (possibly because we had zero drawers on the Escape and it seemed like there was not as much space between the bed and the walls on the Escape).

I tried to avoid the buffet (just too many people up there) and only ate lunch there once. For breakfast we opted for the main dining room which worked better for us. Thankfully we had hot water in our room, but I wonder if you were experiencing issues due to the maintenance that was happening? Twice we had a flier explaining that they would be working on the pipes.

Having most recently been on the Escape, this ship is much smaller, I was prepared for the shock, but we enjoyed being able to quickly navigate the ship.

I agree that the port time was extremely short in Crete. I don't think anyone was able to exit until about 7:20 (I recall feeling like it was taking a while for them to clear us). We weren't moving that quickly, so we didn't get off the ship until 9:30. We took the bus into the city and walked around about and hour and made it back with five minutes to spare with the All-Aboard at 11:30am! I just tell people that Crete didn't really count lol.

Hi!

We are sailing this same cruise for our 10 year anniversary too next month! Congrats on your anniversary by the way! :)

We planned excursions in every port except Rhodes and Crete. I think in Rhodes we are going to head to Elli Beach - apparently it's not far from the ship dock and supposed to be nice.

What did you do in Rhodes and Crete? Any suggestions for us? I agree, the time in Crete is minimal so I'm wondering if we should even bother getting off the ship or just make it a spa day! LOL

Any suggestions? Thanks!

My family and I returned from the Spirit sailing from July 8th on a 11-Day Mediterranean & Adriatic from Rome. We are long-term NCL fans and former TA. We were very disappointed with the Spirit!

Service was horrible, except for the cabin steward. Multiple service personnel described the ship as a prison and are miserable.

From our opinion, NCL has tried to control alcohol costs by reducing bartenders and wait staff since offer the alcohol packages in the booking price. During the World Cup there was only 1 bartender until the 2nd half in the sports bar. The bar was closed where we watched the match with about 40 other people.

The tile in my bathroom was cracked and coming loose. There is so much wasted space on this ship! We expected more with the refurb being completed last year.

To say something positive, the itinerary was great and embarkation/debarkation was flawless.

Hi!

We are sailing this same cruise for our 10 year anniversary too next month! Congrats on your anniversary by the way! :)

 

We planned excursions in every port except Rhodes and Crete. I think in Rhodes we are going to head to Elli Beach - apparently it's not far from the ship dock and supposed to be nice.

 

What did you do in Rhodes and Crete? Any suggestions for us? I agree, the time in Crete is minimal so I'm wondering if we should even bother getting off the ship or just make it a spa day! LOL

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hi KPRH921,

Rhodes in an amazing and beautiful island, in my opinion it would be a shame to spend all day on a beach. Think about doing a walking tour of Rhodes town, maybe hire a guide as there is so much history in the city. The ships dock just a few steps from Rhodes town, so if you get too hot and tired you can easily nip back to your ship.

Hi KPRH921,

 

Rhodes in an amazing and beautiful island, in my opinion it would be a shame to spend all day on a beach. Think about doing a walking tour of Rhodes town, maybe hire a guide as there is so much history in the city. The ships dock just a few steps from Rhodes town, so if you get too hot and tired you can easily nip back to your ship.

My issue with booking a tour is that they hardly give you any time in Rhodes. Maybe we will just walk the town on our own. Any particular places we should check out?

My issue with booking a tour is that they hardly give you any time in Rhodes. Maybe we will just walk the town on our own. Any particular places we should check out?

Rather than an organised tour just do your own thing if time is short. As has been mentioned the ship usually docks close to the old city and in minutes you can walk through the city gates and into the narrow streets of this historic centre. We just wandered for a couple of hours, plenty to see including churches, an old library, the impressive walls, lots of artisan shops and numerous bars and cafes where you can sit, watch and soak up the atmosphere. Well worth it, one of our favourite stops.

John

My issue with booking a tour is that they hardly give you any time in Rhodes. Maybe we will just walk the town on our own. Any particular places we should check out?

I didn’t suggest booking a tour of Rhodes, I said “think about doing a walking tour of Rhodes town”. There is so much to see in Rhodes town it is impossible to see it all in one day. Consider visiting the Street of the Knights, Knights Quarter, Palace of the Grand Master, Archaeological Museum, etc etc. Have a look online or buy a guide book this should help you decide what interests you most.

I just came back from the July 19th sailing. I agree with the statements about the ship’s condition. I loved going to so many different places. Rhodes was a favorite. We went to Grand Master Palace and then wandered the streets of the old town. Valletta’s historic center was another favorite. I so wish we’d had more time in Chania, Crete. We took the bus in (free Wi-Fi was a perk), walked the harbor and briefly checked out the marketplace. Santorini was the busiest and most stressful.

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