My First NCL Review: Spirit Relo Nov 3-18

This is going to be a little long, so I'll post in sections.

Norwegian Spirit Relo Cruise November 3 though 18th, 2007

Background:

Myself (45) and husband (46). This was our 6th cruise but first on NCL.

Previous cruises have been 4-Carnival and 1-Celebrity.

Roll Call from CC:

There were over 100 of us. Most sane, some not-so-much. We hung out with the Not-so-Much people. ;)

I want to make it clear that every review I have written on these boards has been positive for the most part. I have been labeled as a Pollyanna type. I have to say again that nothing is perfect, but other than a few minor things, this cruise was as near perfect for us as you can get. If you hate NCL and can’t stand reading anything good about it, OR if you doubt someone who is always happy with their cruises, then read no further.

Details:

We left from NY City for this 15 days cruise that was stocked with 8 port stops; St Thomas, St Lucia, Barbados, Aruba, Curacao, Santo Tomas Guatemala, Belize, and Cozumel. This was obviously an amazing itinerary and each port is as fabulous as you could imagine.

Embarkation:

This was the second time we sailed from the Port of NY and this time was a lot easier than the first. We arrived to port by rental car. DH was able to drop me and the luggage at the terminal and drive 3 blocks to drop the car. I waited only a few minutes for him to return. Our exact arrival time is a bit fuzzy (I wasn’t as diligent with jotting down times this time around, so I apologize) but I think we were at the pier by about 1:30 and on the ship in less than 45 minutes total. We walked around the ship a bit, checked in with some of our group at Maharini’s Lounge and then had the Muster Drill which went by pretty quickly. I will say that in all the lines we’ve sailed, NCL took the Muster the most seriously and each life jacket number was indeed jotted down and people were counted and we didn’t move until everyone was accounted for. What made this enjoyable was one of the Crew ( a First officer) who’s name was Ricardo. He just happened to walk by while we were standing outside choking on our life vests…can you say delicious???? He was a very nice distraction for my sister and I from the tedious drill.

Leaving NY:

We went to the Galaxy of the Stars to meet with the Roll Call Group for sail away. We watched lady Liberty go by and were grateful that the Tropical Storm that had been in the area had passed…we didn’t realize that the storm had left some choppy seas in it’s wake until a bit later.

Off We Go!

Ok, so the party has officially started and party we did. We decided to join a small group that had formed to go to Cagney’s for our first dinner. The boat was rocking a bit by then and we stumbled to the dining room. I wasn’t feeling too well and tried to talk myself out of it with all that positive thinking. This worked well through the appetizer and the soup but by the time the entrée had arrived, I lost the battle and had to leave the table to go to my cabin. Once I laid down, I felt immediately better, so I just stayed there the rest of the night. It was to be a 15 day cruise…I didn’t feel to bad about losing a few hours. Plus, it was a long day for us. I didn’t sleep at all the night before we left (does anyone sleep the night before they leave?? I think not) and we were up at 4am and on the road by 6 so I was tired anyway. The swells were only ranging from 8 to 13 feet, which isn’t bad, so this makes me a big sissy.

The Cabin:

We had cabin # 9186 which was aft. This was a balcony cabin and I can’t imagine doing a cruise this long without a balcony. The balcony itself was the smallest I’ve ever had and we didn’t spend nearly as much time on it as we did on our Panama canal Cruise (where we had an actual AFT Balcony) but it was still worth the extra $$ to have it.

The cabin was big enough to suit our needs. Closet had ample space for our clothing and all luggage fit nicely under the bed. I loved the layout and décor in the bathroom although I can see why it would be difficult for large people. My DH is about 5’11 and he was Ok with the small toilet area, but someone who is over 6’ would definitely struggle. That first night when I was a little queasy from the choppy seas, I made note that being sick was NOT an option in that small area. Fortunately, I never needed to test the space in that manner.

The beds on this ship are definitely as hard as reported by others. If you book this ship, be sure to ask for an egg-crate-foam-thingie, it helps. Pillows were a bit sucky too…we’ve been spoiled rotten with the Carnival bedding, which is heaven. But again, this wasn’t so horrible that I wouldn’t sail this ship again…this is just an observation.

Our cabin steward was Milton and his assistant, Jane. They were extremely friendly, always very visible in case you would need anything (which, to be honest, we never did) and just very attentive. They definitely rank among the best we’ve had.

Ship Décor/layout:

The Spirit was definitely (for my taste) the most beautiful ship we’ve sailed so far. Unlike what tends to be a little crazier on the CCL ships (and I’m not against crazy décor, I do like that as well) or the more drab/boring décor on the Celebrity Infinity, this ship was decorated with amazing class and style. It was simply lovely. The ship is medium sized by today’s standards, which suits me perfectly because it was easy to learn the layout quickly. The ship was definitely easy to maneuver around.

Food:

I know food is subjective…and I know I have read reviews from some people who post about how bad the food on NCL is, but I have to tell you that I enjoyed the food tremendously. I am a very good cook and come from a line of very good cooks. I am picky…I know what good food is and this ship has good food. During this 15 days cruise I can honestly tell you that there was one and only one meal that I didn’t think was very good, and that was salmon I got one evening that was a bit strong tasting. Though, I did take into consideration that this fish was frozen and salmon is pretty strong to start with even when fresh, so I don’t hold this against the cruise line or the chef. Every steak I had (and I had plenty of them during this 15 days) as well as every egg at breakfast, and everything in between was cooked perfectly. The buffet food was good as well…can’t think of anything to complain about in the food area at all. Hell, even the coffee was decent and getting decent coffee on a cruise ship is difficult. One thing I did note was that milk was always served with coffee unless you specifically requested half and half…no big deal. After a few meals I remembered to start asking for it. The desserts on this ship were by far the best I’ve ever had on any cruise and the soups was totally excellent and the best I’ve ever had while sailing as well. I don’t expect a 5 star dining experience while on a cruise ship. It would be ridiculous to expct that when I’m basically paying for an entire day on a ship at what the cost of one 5 star meal would be. But, during this cruise, I’d say the food was more than worth what we paid per day for the cruise.

Freestyle Experience:

Hmmmmmm. This is a tough on for me. I do think that the service in the dining rooms was not as efficient or professional as what you have when dining traditionally (at least, from my experience). BUT, it wasn’t so bad that I would write off Freestyle forever. To be honest, even though the service was a bit sloppy, I have to say that this crew was the most pleasant, fun, happy and energetic that I have ever had the pleasure to be around. This is the first time I’ve cruised and felt that the staff actually enjoyed their jobs. When I sailed Celebrity, the staff all looked as if they were beat regularly. With Carnival, I’ve had pleasant experiences with the crew but always felt like they were trying SO hard and you knew they were working…THIS time, it was the weirdest thing…the crew worked hard…dang hard, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. I can’t really describe this properly, but the atmosphere on the ship was different because of it. I liked it a lot.

One thing that I really enjoyed about Freestyle was that if we ran into someone from our group on the way to the dinning room, we could say, “Hey, join us for dinner!” This happened quite a bit during the cruise for breakfasts as well as dinners and it made the Freestyle experience totally awesome.

I will say that because this ship was SO dang packed with activities and we didn’t want to miss ANY of them) that Freestyle isn’t as ‘free’ as you would think. You still need to plan around the activities (if you’re into doing everything like we are). As far as lines and waiting, pffft! We were on this cruise for 15 days and never waited longer than 10 minutes to be seated and we only made a reservation 3x the entire cruise (and we ate at all different times during the duration of the cruise so time is insignificant). I did see large parties of 10 or more people waiting longer (some not patiently). I never stood around long enough to see how their issues were resolved because complainers give me a headache.

I did hear some complaints while on the ship…starting conversations with some folks in elevators or while waiting to get off the ship in ports. (where I was ‘trapped’ and couldn’t escape their misery) At one point, while waiting to get off at one of the ports and we were standing in the stairway, the guy in front of us was complaining so much (and making the people around him miserable) that my DH finally said, “It’s your vacation, what’s your hurry??? Relax already!” The guy got pissed but he shut up, thank God.

Activities on Board:

Hands down, without a doubt, this was the most fun-filled cruise I have ever taken. It seems that Carnival isn’t the only ‘fun ship’. There was something to do every minute of every day of this 15 days cruise! NCL treated our Cruise Critic group like royalty. The Cruise Director, Darin as well as his assistant and all the social hosts were the best and I can’t imagine any crew being better. To be honest, if all NCL ships are like the Spirit in this area, I’d become a line-monogamous cruiser. Almost every night, there was a party outside in the Bier Garten…usually a themed party. Most of the crew and social hosts would show up and chat with the passengers. The activities poolside each afternoon were a lot of fun and a lot of the passengers got involved which made it even better. The schedule for each day, posted in the dailies, was FULL of options. I must say that we didn’t rest too much on this trip. The crew was not only friendly, but are an extremely talented bunch. One night there was a crew talent show and they literally knocked my socks off…Luz, if you’re reading this, your voice is amazing…

There was also one male crew member who sang. I didn’t get his name and I’m sorry that I didn’t. He actually brought tears to me eyes he was so good. The crew actually had more talent than some of the entertainment NCL brought on board. This isn’t to say that the paid entertainment was bad. The one comedian who was on in the front end of the cruise...Joe Yanneti, and his wife were absolutely HYSTERICAL. They were fabulous. There also was a ventriloquists was by far the best I’ve ever seen. His name was Ken Groves. There were other shows that were good and many others that we didn’t get a chance to see because we were busy with something else…There were SO many choices that there is no way you could be bored on this ship. The best moment during the Crew Talent Show was when one of the Social Hosts, Jayne, did a Belly Dance routine. Man, I was inspired!! There was nothing more I wanted that to learn to shake my rump like that girl could. After she was done I whispered to my DH “I’m taking belly dance lessons first chance I get.”

Of course he just nods and humors me.

Later that night I ran into Michelle, the wife of our group leader, Dave. I told Michelle that I thought NCL should offer Belly Dance lessons. Michelle thought we should ask Jayne. Not 5 minutes later, Jayne walks up to the Bier Garten where we were yet partying again, and Michelle calls her over. Jayne sat down with us and within 2 minutes, she agreed to fit a belly dance class into the weeks schedule.

Now, I’m sure this girl already had plenty on her plate, but 3 days later, there it was in the Freestyle Daily…BELLY DANCE CLASS 4:30 PM IN MAHARINI’S NIGHTCLUB. It was a huge hit. At least 40 women showed up and we had a BLAST.

I have to say that this is how it was for the entire cruise. If you wanted anything, the NCL staff totally out did themselves providing you with what you wanted. When I think back to all the times I listened to other people’s views on NCL and decided I’d never give them a try, I could smack myself upside the head.

I want to say hello to one of my favorite social hosts on the ship, Shermina from St Lucia, who was a total sweetheart and had more energy than at least a dozen people put together. There was never one minute on this ship where I spotted a crew member who looked tired, or sad or even mildly frustrated.

It was amazing.

The Cruise Director Darin, was adorable and played a wicked guitar.

Even the ship Captain, Frank Juliussen seemed less ‘stoic’ than the average captain. Every minute on board that ship for those 15 days was excellent.

Ports of Call

All tours were done on our own or through agencies outside the cruise line.

St Thomas: Not much needs to be said. St Thomas is beautiful and a wonderful place to explore. This time, we opted to hop in a cab for a tour (about 90 minutes) and were dropped at Megan’s Bay afterward. The beach was beautiful and we had a wonderful afternoon.

St Lucia: WOW. This is definitely paradise, no ifs ands or buts. We booked the best tour I have ever had through COSOL. He met us at the dock and took us on a fabulous tour of his home. St Lucia is mountainous and the roads very winding, but paved nicely. We drove through most of the island, stopping at intervals to see local people, taste local foods/fruits and have some of COSOL’s famous rum punch which was delicious or beer/soda. It seemed like we ate and drank quite a bit and it was all good; mangos and passion fruit straight from the tree...coconut and banana and pineapple, Johnny cakes and fish cakes with banana ketchup. YUM!! We ended our tour at Jalousie Plantation Beach, which lies between the Pitons. I can’t imagine there being anyplace more beautiful on this earth. We ended with shots of some homemade rum that was spicy and oh so good. Cosol was just adorable and quite the tour guide. I can’t wait to go back to St Lucia and do it all again one day (soon).

Barbados: For this island, we booked The Silver Moon Catamaran Tour. It was a great snorkel excursion, stopping at two places. The first stop, we snorkeled amongst huge, gorgeous turtles, tarpon fish, puffer fish and other large fish. It was amazing. The second stop we snorkeled with the more colorful, tropical looking fish and then we stopped at a beach area just for swimming in the beautiful water. Lunch was provided with this tour too. It seemed like we did nothing but eat for this 15 days!! I would recommend this tour as well. The tour guides/crew were great. We had a really nice day, with only 17 people aboard is was quite nice.

Aruba: Again, with no excursion booked, we opted to hop in a cab, ask for a tour that ended at a beach. We got about a 90 minute tour of the island and I decided that I liked winging it like this. If your port stop is someplace that is basically safe, I do recommend doing this. It’s definitely a lot of fun. We did get dropped at a beach at the end of the tour (we just asked the driver which beach he’d recommend, and he dropped us between 2 large hotels. I’d love to be able to tell you the name of the beach, but we went to Carlos and Charlie’s on the way back to the ship and…well, you know how that goes. My memory is a bit fuzzy….After the Beach, Carlos and Charlie’s; not as wild as the one in Cozumel, but fun all the same. All in all a fabulous day.

Curacao: What a surprise this was for us. We were originally scheduled for Costa Maya but because of the severe damage caused by the hurricane, we were switched to Williamstead, Curacao. I have to say that this is a place that you could visit on a land vacation for a week and enjoy the heck out of it. It’s colorful and beautiful. Again, we hopped in a cab for a guided tour and after that was over, walked around ourselves. This was the one day of our cruise that we had rain and it was only sporadic; there would be a downpour for about 10 minutes, then the sky would be gorgeous…then it would turn dark quickly again for another short downpour. We docked in Curacao on a Sunday and this was a bit unfortunate because many things were closed, but we thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the town of Williamstead, looking at all the beautiful architecture and enjoying the scenery.

Santo Tomas DeCastilla, Guatemala: This was one of the most gratifying stops for us during this cruise. We booked a tour through Go With Gus. It was the Livingston Humanitarian Tour. We were able to bring school supplies from home with us and the group of us went with Gus to this little school, accessible only by boat to drop off school supplies to the Mayan Children. Even though the kids were out of school for holiday, they came by row boats (about 60 of them) and lined up while we handed out all kinds of fun stuff. I was brought to tears and not for the reason you’d think. There was no reason to feel sorry for these kids. They were happy, obviously well fed and taken care of and extremely gracious and grateful. To see a kid get so excited over a crayon or a pencil is something that we Americans never get to see. These children were lovely. I wanted to take them all home…not because they look like they needed something more than what they have, but because I have never seen 60 kids all together at one time where not one of them was a brat. I fell in love with all of them. The pictures I have from this tour are amazing…the kids were so beautiful. It was a day I’ll never forget. I will go back, there is no doubt. If you have the chance to cruise to this place, I urge you to look into doing this tour with Gus. You won’t regret it.

Belize: Can you say Jungle?? WAY COOL!! Belize is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!! We booked with cavetubing.com (Hi Yhony!!) and had a BLAST!!

For this excursion, you need to be in decent physical condition. There is at least a mile trek through the jungle (my DH insisted it was closer to 2 miles, I think it was closer to one mile) and getting in and out of the river can be a little tough because the current can be strong. The caves are absolutely amazing and beautiful. It was a LOT of fun. We had a great group of people with us on the tour too. It was just a great day. Oh, and Yhony provides a little Cashew Wine to get you through the long bus ride.

Cozumel: Not much needs to be said about Coz. If you’ve been there, you already know what a great place this is because of the fabulous people that live there. This will always be my favorite port. This was our third time in Cozumel. On our first visit there, we rode horseback through Mayan Ruins. On our second visit there, we did the Fury Catamaran (have mercy was that a lot of fun!!). This time, because of all the recommendations on Cruise Critic, we decided to try out Paradise Beach. Let’s just say that again, Cozumel didn’t disappoint. Paradise Tom was actually waiting for us because one of our group had emailed him that we were coming. We had a fabulous day. The beach was blessedly empty that day because the day was a little gray, so Tom was able to spend quite a bit of time with us and we had a great time. We also went parasailing. This was the first time for the 4 of us who went, myself my DH, my sister and BIL. We had a blast!! We’ll be going back to Paradise Beach when we cruise in March. The place is immaculate, the beach is beautiful and the Margaritas are strong.

So, thankfully, that sums it up. I apologize for the length of this review but this was a long cruise. As far as NCL goes, I’ll be sailing the line again. All cruises past and future will be compared to this sailing. It’s gonna be a tough one to beat. :D

I really enjoyed the review. Very detailed and balanced!

My second cruise was on Carnival, I enjoyed it, but the Free Style aspect on NCL has kept me there ever since!

I will be on the Spirit in about 9 weeks, so I was greatful to read your review!

Thank you and I am glad you enjoyed the cruise!

HoopTroop

It was nice meeting you all on the cruise. I'm so happy that you enjoyed it so much. It's always nice to see your own cruise through someone elses eyes and also through the eyes of someone new to the cruise line. Thanks.

It was nice meeting you all on the cruise. I'm so happy that you enjoyed it so much. It's always nice to see your own cruise through someone elses eyes and also through the eyes of someone new to the cruise line. Thanks.

I really enjoyed the review. Very detailed and balanced!

 

My second cruise was on Carnival, I enjoyed it, but the Free Style aspect on NCL has kept me there ever since!

 

I will be on the Spirit in about 9 weeks, so I was greatful to read your review!

 

Thank you and I am glad you enjoyed the cruise!

 

HoopTroop

Thanks. :)

Hoop, I'm sure you are going to have a great time!! If you happend to talk to Jayne, please tell her that Angel says, 'THANK YOU!!' ;)

Oh...someone was nice enough to refresh my foggy memory. The beach we went to in Aruba between the 'big hotels' (that was the only way I remembered the cab driver describing the beach) was PALM BEACH.

It was a fabulous beach and I'd go back there again as well...as would my DH who enjoyed all the young girls in thongs (and I ain't talkin flip flops here) :p

You may be Pollyanna, but you sure made my Saturday morning, sitting in my PJ's, drinking my coffee, quite enjoyable.

Thanks for the upbeat, detailed review. Sure wish I was there now.

You may be Pollyanna, but you sure made my Saturday morning, sitting in my PJ's, drinking my coffee, quite enjoyable.

 

Thanks for the upbeat, detailed review. Sure wish I was there now.

I wish I was back there too. :(

I have to say that we had so much fun with our roll call group. I miss them all. A lot of what makes a cruise good is your fellow passengers and in that respect this cruise couldn't have been better. :)

Gotta love the plagiarism. Ahem.

Norwegian Spirit relocation cruise - November 3rd though 18th, 2007

Background:

Myself (37), and wife (30 something and a bit). This was my first cruise, and first time ever to the Caribbean neighbourhood. It was my wife’s second cruise – the other was way back when, in a long-forgotten previous life.

Not having any other cruise experiences to draw on may or may not be relevant. I have travelled pretty extensively in Europe and Asia, and know what I like and dislike.

Roll Call from CC:

There were over 100 of us. Most were sane, some not so much. We hung out with the Not-so-Much people :D . Loosely translated – that means we spent time with the people who were getting busy living instead of getting busy dying. If this comment offends you, or you’re not partial to ocularly ingesting disgusting garbage. then I guess you know which category you fall into - fun has no age limits, remember that (and I have my wife’s 93 year-old grandmother as a star witness to attest accordingly).

I want to make it clear that this is my first ever review and I have most definitely never been labelled as a Pollyanna type (whatever that means). I have to say that nothing is perfect, but other than a few minor things, this cruise was as near ‘pretty good’ for us as you can get. If you hate NCL and can’t stand reading anything good about it, or don’t fancy perusing a very objective and occasionally cynical cruise review, then read no further.

Details:

We left from NY City for this 15 days cruise that was stocked with 8 port stops: St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Barbados, Aruba, Curaçao, Santo Tomas de Castilla (Guatemala), Belize, and Cozumel. This was obviously a pretty good and interestingly varied itinerary and each port was as ok as you could imagine.

Embarkation:

Travelling on the day by limo from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a breeze. After a journey of approximately 1hr 45 minutes we got dropped off at the Port of NY, where our luggage was duly whisked away by a friendly New Yorkan who wasn’t backwards in coming forwards in suggesting that “you can tip me now if you like”. The nerve of some people.

We were in the terminal building and queuing around 11am. The lines weren’t too bad, and our hosts had the good grace to provide a comfortable seating area, together with tea/coffee and sundry Danish-type nibbles whilst we waited.

As a non-US citizen, be aware that before check-in they will take a copy of your passport/visa/ARC as appropriate, so be prepared

On the ship before 1pm, and dumped our stuff in the cabin. Moseyed around a bit until Muster Drill. All seemed pretty much routine and straightforward, with evident attention to detail shown by the NCL safety team. The part of this episode that made me sick to the pit of my stomach was the insistence of the ship’s ‘pretty boy’ crew members in strolling up and down the decks, checking out and flirting with all the attractive females. Did someone say Ricardo De Leon – 1st Officer? Disgusting garbage.

Leaving NY:

We went to the Galaxy of the Stars to meet with the Roll Call Group for sail away. We watched some great, big green statue go by and were grateful that the tropical storm that had been in the area had passed…we didn’t realize that the storm had left some choppy seas in it’s wake until a bit later.

Off We Go!

Ok, so the party has officially started and party we did. We decided to join a small group that had formed to go to Cagney’s Steak House for our first dinner. The boat was rocking a bit by then and we stumbled to the dining room. Honestly. Some people just have no natural balance. It was like a particularly bad week on ‘Dancing With The Stars’. My sister in law wasn’t feeling too well and tried to talk herself out of it with all that positive thinking mumbo jumbo. This worked well through the appetizer and the soup but by the time the entrée had arrived, she lost the battle and had to leave the table to go to her cabin. Her husband ate her steak.

The rest of the first night was uneventful apart from the truly uncomfortable experience of trying to get some sleep while rocking and rolling all over the place, all the time unsecured items in the room crashing and banging around you. The ocean swells were only ranging from 8 to 13 feet, which isn’t bad, so this makes me a big sissy.

The Cabin:

We had cabin # 9188 which was aft starboard. It was located in very proximity to my SIL’s cabin which, I was discombobulated to discover, had a larger couch and a smaller bed. Woe is me.

This was a balcony cabin and I can’t imagine doing a cruise this long without a balcony. The balcony itself was small, but did the job. A couple of reasonably sized sun chairs and a wee plastic table. Was still worth the extra $$ to have it.

The cabin was big enough to suit our needs. Closet had ample space for our clothing – bring extra hangers with you if, like me, you like your clobber hung up.

We kept a couple of cases out for practical reasons, and the rest fit snuggly into the closet.

The size, layout and décor of the room and bathroom was adequate - although I can see why it would be difficult for our more industrial-sized fellow passengers in the bathroom. I’m not small (6’ and wayyyyyyyy over 200lbs) and sometimes found it less than peachy to squeeze everything into the small toilet area.

That first night when we had the choppy seas, I made note that being sick was NOT an option in that small area. Fortunately, I never needed to test the space in that manner. Well, not if you don’t include the night after Aruba/Cocktail Party/Karaoke. Ahem.

The beds on this ship are definitely as hard as reported by others. Personally, I found the bed and pillows satisfactorily comfortable, but if you find the bed/pillows aren’t to your liking then you can

ask for an egg-crate-foam-thingy if you prefer a softer landing at night, and ask for different pillows. As my wife also discovered about a week into the cruise, an extra pillow or two can usually be found in the closet, if required.

Our cabin steward was Milton and his assistant, Jane. They were extremely friendly, and invariably did a fine job.

Ship Décor/layout:

The Spirit was nicely laid out and decorated. The best description I can use is that it resembled a nice hotel. Wasn’t too dull or garish in style, and wasn’t too big in size – making things easier for the navigationally-challenged among us

Food:

I know food is subjective…and I know I have read reviews from some people who post about how bad the food on NCL is, but I have to tell you that the food was more than acceptable.

I am an ok cook and come from a line of very ok cooks. I know what good food is and this ship has good food.

During this 15 days cruise I can honestly tell you that there was one and only one meal that I didn’t think was very good, and that was salmon. It was overcooked, which I guess isn’t that difficult to do, so an acceptable one-off mistake.

Every steak I had (and I had plenty of them during this 15 days) as well as every egg at breakfast, and everything in between was usually cooked as well can be expected.

The buffet food was good as well…can’t think of anything to complain about in the food area at all. Just remember to ask for half and half if that’s what you want, rather than the milk they usually provide. The desserts on this ship were ok, too.

I don’t expect a 5 star dining experience while on a cruise ship. It would be ridiculous to expect that when I’m basically paying for an entire day on a ship at what the cost of one 5 star meal would be. But, during this cruise, I’d say the food was more than worth what we paid per day for the cruise. It was available when you wanted it, wherever you wanted it.

And don’t, whatever you do, eat the ‘Shepherd’s Pie’ from the Blue Lagoon if you intend going on a bender. It truly doesn’t sit well.

Freestyle Experience:

Hmmmmmm. This is a tough on for me. I do think that the service in the dining rooms was not as efficient or professional as what you have when dining traditionally (at least, from my what I’ve heard) BUT, it wasn’t so bad that I would write off Freestyle forever. To be honest, even though the service was a bit sloppy (I really didn’t appreciate waiting so long for sustenance the morning after the night before (Aruba/Cocktail Party/Karaoke)), I have to say that this crew was for the most part pleasant, fun, happy and energetic.

One thing that I really enjoyed about Freestyle was that if we ran into someone from our CC group on the way to the dining room, we could say, “Hey, join us for dinner!” This happened quite a bit during the cruise for breakfasts as well as dinners and it made the Freestyle experience more enjoyable.

I will say that because this ship was SO dang packed with activities and we didn’t want to miss ANY of them) that Freestyle isn’t as ‘free’ as you would think. You still need to plan around the activities (if you’re into doing everything like we are). As far as lines and waiting, pffft! We were on this cruise for 15 days and never waited longer than 10 minutes to be seated and we only made a reservation 3x the entire cruise (and we ate at all different times during the duration of the cruise so time is insignificant). I did see large parties of 10 or more people waiting longer (some not patiently, but then again they were probably German and looking to invade somewhere). I never stood around long enough to see how their issues were resolved because complainers give me a headache.

I did hear some complaints while on the ship, and I trust that those complaints were directed to the appropriate crew members.

I think the moral here is, either embrace the Freestyle experience wholeheartedly or hate it. Much like Marmite.

Activities on Board:

Good company aside (which always helps when coping with the duller moments on a ship) this cruise was pretty much chock-full with things to do and see, whatever you’re looking for. And if I got bored at all, there was always food to numb the pain.

NCL treated our Cruise Critic group like royalty – especially those that brazenly wore their Cruise Critic ‘Sailing Spirits’ t shirts that our group had made up before the cruise. The Cruise Director, Darin (for a personality critique, think Jim Carrey in ‘The Mask’) as well as his assistant and all the social hosts were invariably in great form.

Almost every night, there was a party outside in the Bier Garten…usually a themed party. Most of the crew and social hosts would show up and chat with the passengers. The activities poolside each afternoon were a lot of fun and a lot of the passengers got involved which made it even better. The schedule for each day, posted in the dailies, was FULL of options. I must say that we didn’t rest too much on this trip. The crew was not only friendly, but are an extremely talented bunch. One night there was a crew talent show and they literally knocked my SIL’s socks off.

According to my SIL the crew actually had more talent than some of the entertainment NCL brought on board. This isn’t to say that the paid entertainment was bad. The one comedian who was on in the front end of the cruise, Joe Yannety, and his wife Stacey, were pretty funny. There was also a very good ventriloquist named Ken Groves. There were other shows that were good and many others that we didn’t get a chance to see, or couldn’t be arsed with.

There were SO many choices that there is no way you could be bored on this ship unless you’re me, but the least said about that, the better.

I have to say that this is how it was for the entire cruise. If you wanted anything, the NCL staff invariably made it happen, providing you with what you wanted. When I think back to all the times I listened to other people’s views on NCL and decided I’d never give them a try, I could smack my wife upside the head.

I want to say hello to one of my SIL’s favorite social hosts on the ship, Shermina from St Lucia, who was a total sweetheart and had more energy than at least a dozen people put together. There was never one minute on this ship where I spotted a crew member who looked tired, or sad or even mildly frustrated, other than at 1am in Maharini’s, after a drink too many.

Ports of Call

Except for Barbados, all tours were done on our own or through agencies outside the cruise line.

St Thomas: Not much needs to be said. St Thomas is beautiful and a wonderful place to explore. This time, we opted to hop in a cab for a tour (about 90 minutes) and were dropped at Megan’s Bay afterward. The beach was beautiful and we had a wonderful afternoon.

St Lucia: WOW. This is definitely paradise, no ifs ands or buts. We booked the best tour I have ever had through COSOL. He met us at the dock and took us on a fabulous tour of his home. St Lucia is mountainous and the roads very winding, but paved nicely. We drove through most of the island, stopping at intervals to see local people, taste local foods/fruits and have some of COSOL’s famous rum punch which was delicious or beer/soda. It seemed like we ate and drank quite a bit and it was all good; mangos and passion fruit straight from the tree...coconut and banana and pineapple, Johnny cakes and fish cakes with banana ketchup. YUM!! We ended our tour at Jalousie Plantation Beach, which lies between the Pitons. I can’t imagine there being anyplace more beautiful on this earth. We ended with shots of some homemade rum that was spicy and oh so good. Cosol was just adorable and quite the tour guide. I can’t wait to go back to St Lucia and do it all again one day (soon).

Barbados: For this island, we booked the ‘Coast To Coast’ tour through NCL. It was a living nightmare. The tour itself was nice enough, and the bus was nice enough (notwithstanding that the windows couldn’t be opened for the photo opportunities), and the tour guide was nice enough, but it was quite simply the most sterile, bland and mind-numbingly boring 2 hours of my life. There was zero fun on offer, or to be had, and the people on board very readily fell into the ‘getting busy dying’ category. Luckily, back at the port terminal we found a bar that served us a few local brews and a wicked good rum punch concoction. We were once again at peace with the world. I mellowed so much I even allowed myself to get coerced by one of the locals into buying them some duty-free booze from the terminal stores.

Aruba: Again, with no excursion booked, we opted to hop in a cab, ask for a tour that ended at a beach. We got about a 90 minute tour of the island and I decided that I liked winging it like this. If your port stop is someplace that is basically safe, I do recommend doing this. It’s definitely a lot of fun. After the tour we got dropped off at/near Palm Beach.

After a while we decided we needed a little more adventure so we went to Carlos and Charlie’s on the way back to the ship and…well, you know how that goes. My memory is in no way a bit fuzzy. They plied us with alcohol, and lots of it. And they were even nice enough to give me their favourite Mexican party hat.

It is at this point in the day/night that my memory goes fuzzy…

Curacao: What a surprise this was for us. We were originally scheduled for Costa Maya but because of the severe damage caused by the hurricane, we were switched to Williamstead, Curacao. According to my SIL this is a place that you could visit on a land vacation for a week and enjoy the heck out of it. It’s colorful and beautiful – although since this was the morning after the night before, everything in my head was a very dull grey.

My wife and I wandered about for a bit before stumbling our way onto a guided bus tour that began right next to the floating footbridge. This was actually quite good fun, and the Colombian tour guide was very cute and cheerful, although I didn’t appreciate the way she insisted on calling everyone a douche.

This was the one day of our cruise that we had rain and it was only sporadic; there would be a downpour for about 10 minutes, then the sky would be gorgeous…then it would turn dark quickly again for another short downpour. We docked in Curacao on a Sunday and this was a bit unfortunate because many things were closed, but we thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the town of Williamstead, looking at all the beautiful architecture and enjoying the scenery.

Nice enough, but personally, I think I would have preferred seeing some Mayan stuff in Costa Maya.

Santo Tomas DeCastilla, Guatemala: As spectacular as St. Lucia was, this place gets first prize, hands down.

Very much unspoiled by commercial development, and devoid of hordes of tourists and traffic, this port of call was beyond spectacular, mainly due to our wise choice of tour, which showed us part of the ‘real’ Guatemala.

We booked a tour through Go With Gus. It was the Rio Dulce/Livingston Humanitarian Tour. We were able to bring school supplies from home with us and the group of us went with Gus to this little school on the Rio Dulce (accessible only by boat) to drop off school supplies to the Mayan Children. Even though the kids were out of school for holiday, they came by row boats (about 60 of them) and lined up while we handed out all kinds of fun stuff. There was no reason to feel sorry for these kids. They were happy, obviously well fed and taken care of and extremely gracious and grateful. To see a kid get so excited over a crayon or a pencil is something that we Americans never get to see. The children were great - I have never seen 60 kids all together at one time where not one of them was a brat.

It was a humbling experience, and a few quiet tears were shed with the simplicity of it all.

As part of this tour we also had a stroll around Livingston, enjoyed a pleasant meal with a few beers, and got to boogie down to the local ‘Punta’ dance.

The pictures I have from this tour are amazing…the kids were so beautiful. It was a day I’ll never forget. I will go back, there is no doubt. If you have the chance to cruise to this place, I urge you to look into doing this tour with Gus. You won’t regret it.

The low point of the day was when our friend Poor Joe was forced by the evils of nature into doing the double Dutch with the mooring line before he was allowed to board the boat back to port.

Belize: Can you say Jungle? I can. Jungle. J-U-N-G-L-E. And not much else, from what we saw. We booked a tour with cavetubing.com, which wasn’t exactly what I’d expected.

If you want a nice, relaxing day, floating blissfully down a river, then forget it.

For this excursion, you need to be in decent physical condition. There is at least a 30 minute trek through the jungle, all the while carrying an inflatable ring. Getting in and out of the river was by no means easy, either, because the current can be strong, and the other groups of people are all around you. On our day, there were crowds of other people, and it was all a bit chaotic. If you get to do this tour when there aren’t many others around, then do it. Otherwise, be warned.

The sampling of the local cashew wine on the bus back was a nice treat.

Cozumel: Not much needs to be said about Coz. If you’ve been there, you already know what a great place this is because of the fabulous people that live there. This will always be my SIL’s favorite port. This was my first time in Cozumel This time, because of all the recommendations on Cruise Critic, we decided to try out Paradise Beach. Let’s just say that again, Cozumel didn’t disappoint. Paradise Tom was actually waiting for us because one of our group had emailed him that we were coming. We had a fabulous day. The beach was blessedly empty that day because the day was a little gray, so Tom was able to spend quite a bit of time with us and we had a great time. We also went parasailing. This was the first time for the 4 of us who went – myself, my Mrs. J, my SIL and BIL. We had a blast!! Once again we imbibed far too much of the hard stuff.

Je Ne Sais Quoi

Just a few other points I’d like to mention…

Laundry on board the ship:

Every now and then, the ship will run laundry promotions ($20 for a full bag). Great value.

Be warned, however, that if you think some clothes are missing, know that they have merely been ‘hidden’ in your closet. Are you listening, Mrs. J?

Oh, and they sometimes have the habit of writing your room number upside-down on the returned laundry bag, just to confuse us. Still listening?

Chair hogging

Why people feel the need to hog the sun chairs with their towels and then proceed to go off and do something else, thus depriving many passengers of a chair, is beyond my comprehension. It’s f***ing rude. And it wasn’t the Germans, this time, which surprised me no end. NCL need to try and crack down on this.

Queue jumping at shore days

Why people feel the need to jump the ‘getting off the boat’ queue on shore days is beyond my comprehension (an obvious exception to this is for those people that can’t handle stairs, standing for long periods etc.). It’s f***ing rude. And, quelle surprise, it wasn’t the Germans this time either. You know who you are, people (prominent members of this CC thread are guilty of this crime on at least one occasion), and you should be ashamed.

Newspaper delivery

What a joke that was. God only knows how many times I had to complete the order form and how many times I had to visit Reception to complain about non-delivery. A joke, I tells ya.

Cute Filipino girl in Windows restaurant

Give me a call some time.

Cute French girl by the pool

Put some clothes on, for goodness sake.

Soap Dispenser in room

Was leaking from Day 1, and nobody ever bothered to fix it. A tad annoying.

Beer selection

Limited. By my standards, any way. The cocktails were nice, though. I can highly recommend the Miami Vice and Blue Hawaii.

Beer Tasting

All good fun. Just don’t expect to be given a lot of beer.

Quiz cheats

How a team managed to score a total of 95 when the maximum available was 94 is beyond my comprehension. I feel cheated, and demand that NCL send me some of their worthless crap they give as prizes.

Shuffleboard health warning

It is a dangerous game, and there should be warning signs posted about the health hazards. Are you listening Mrs. J?

Birthday decorations/cake in our cabin

Dear NCL – it’s a bit pointless if you’re going to deliver my wife’s birthday surprise on the first day of the cruise, rather than on her birthday. Still, I didn’t pay for it, so who cares?

Expensive spa

Over $100 for nails and toes. Maybe it’s just ‘cos I’m a bloke. I just don’t get it.

Nice library

I passed many a quiet time in here, in the nice, comfy chairs.

Making men dress up as girls

Encourage immoral and socially deviant behaviour in guests is not good. If I was at all interested in Transvestitism, I’d visit Romania. Disgusting garbage.

So, thankfully, that sums it up. I apologize for the length of this review but this was a long cruise. As far as NCL goes, I may be sailing the line again. All cruises future will be compared to this sailing. It’s gonna be a tough one to beat.

LOL! I'm here to attest to the fact that BOTH reviews are wonderful and each slant is on the money! Cruising is what you make it and both of these parties made it one heck of a good time! ;)

Charlie FTLOG!! I'm LMAO...do you think people may be a tad upset to read that much not once but twice???!!!

You forgot to mention how dangerous it is getting into the boat to do parasail. :p

you, guys, had waaaay tooo much fun...i hope you left some of your good energy on the ship.

you, guys, had waaaay tooo much fun...i hope you left some of your good energy on the ship.

LOL...The crew helped with that good energy, I'm sure it's still there!! :D

You know it's coming.....

Just one word on the reviews.....

WOW!!!!!

UNCLE PAULIE!!!!!

Thank you for the reviews - both the informative and the comical. ;)

You know it's coming.....

 

Just one word

WOW!!!!!

 

UNCLE PAULIE!!!!!

:o that's just what he said when I was in his pants. :p

I'm sorry I wasn't on the cruise with you guys!

I'm sorry I wasn't on the cruise with you guys!

Wonderful review!

Thank you for sharing it.

We're thinking of doing the Spirit for a second

time in August next year. I think you just

confirmed it for us. ;)

Thanks again.

Happy Cruising!

Love the reviews! I hope that we have people on our upcoming Spirit cruise who are as fun as you all sound!

A small collection from all the people in your roll call should get enough of us on the ship to ensure the ***BEST DARN VACATION***you have ever had in your life. :D

UNCLE PAULIE!!!!!

A small collection from all the people in your roll call should get enough of us on the ship to ensure the ***BEST DARN VACATION***you have ever had in your life. :D

 

UNCLE PAULIE!!!!!

And make you friends for life as well!! :D

Paulie..I really think you and Barb should join us in March on the Legend.

Man I hope they make it a routine to add belly dancing lessons on to the cruise :) Sounds like soo much fun.

Angel,

1st. Is Bill feeling any better?

2nd. Splain to me this legend deal. You can email Barb.

UNCLE PAULIE!!!!!

Man I hope they make it a routine to add belly dancing lessons on to the cruise :) Sounds like soo much fun.

Just ask Jayne!!! Tell her that Michelle and Angel sent you!! LOL...she'll wanna kill us!! :p It was SO much fun!!