Not So Good Spirit Review August 20 - 27

[fitznorton]

Just off the Spirit and am very happy to be home. We took this cruise as we live close to the cruise port in Boston and love Bermuda. We have cruised RCCL, Princess, Celebrity, and Cunard so we have lots of cruises for comparison. I guess I am writing this because i did not enjoy this cruise and i have to vent somewhere. Remember, just my opinion.

 

Day 1: Son drove us to Black Falcon Terminal around 1:00 PM where there were lines of people waiting with luggage. I was a little taken back until a porter with a luggage cart offered to take our luggage for us. My husband helped load the luggage, tipped the porter and we were inside the terminal in 2 minutes. I don't know why other passengers were waiting in line, oh well. Brought two 12 packs of soda and a case of water in bags and were never questioned or asked to open the bags. Carried them on to the ship and right to our cabin on deck 5. Briefly met our cabin steward...never got his name. Asked him to keep ice in our cooler bag to keep soda and water cold. Shakes his head "yes". Take a walk around the ship...very pretty and make a reservation for La Trattoria on deck 12 for dinner. Buy a bucket of beer (buy 5 and get 1 free) and find a table outside to watch our sail out of Boston. Go to La Trattoria for dinner.This restaurant is actually part of the Raffles Food Court that they partition off each evening. Portions were average sized and average tasting. After dinner take in the show at the Stardust Theater and afterwards head to Raffles for some ice cream. Unfortunately Raffles closes at 9 PM so a crew member told us to call room service. We go back to our room and call and were told no ice cream from room service, go to the Blue Lagoon on deck 7 that is open all night. Now we are giggling over trying to find ice cream on a ship this big so we go to the Blue Lagoon and guess what? No ice cream! Just shakes for $4.50 each...plus gratuity of course. My husband gets his shake and we walk around the Promenade Deck.

 

Day 2: Up early and up to Raffles for coffe. Go to the gym and it is packed. Have to wait for an eliptical or treadmill. Shower, change and up to the pool with my book. Enjoying the quiet but by 10:00 AM people searching for pool chairs. Many passengers put towels on chairs and leave and come back. At 11:00 AM the pool band begins and you can barely carry on a conversation it is so loud. Many passengers bring food to the pool area from Raffles. Woman sitting next to me has her husband and son sharing her chair while they all eat their lunch. We decide to give up our chairs...maybe that was their ploy all along.....hmmmm. We go to Raffles for lunch and i find a digital camera which I turned into Guest Services...hope the owner got it back. Back to our cabin and I call housekeeping to request more coat hangers and to borrow an iron. I was told I had to be in my cabin to request an iron....what? I am in my cabin ...they bring an iron and plastic hangers I am told I only am allowed the iron for 2 hours and to please call as soon as I am done. Iron a few things and call Guest Servives to pick up the iron and ironing board. No one came. Called after dinner and srill no one came. No one picked up the iron all week! Eat in Windows main dining room and have a table for 2. No one asked for a drink order which I thought was unusual. When we left around 7 PM the line to get in was out to the elevator. Attend the Broadway Review in Stardust Theater and head back to our cabin.

 

Day 3: Not a great night's sleep as kids were running up and down the hall banging on cabin doors. Where are the parents? Our cabin steward never left us towels last night so we take a few from the gym after working out. Not as crowded as yesterday. Leave a note for our cabin steward requesting ice for the cooler bag and off the ship around 11:00 AM and rent motor scooter at Oleander's. Drive around Royal Navy Dockyard and check out a few shops. Drive to Southampton Princess Hotel where we enjoyed a nice lunch and a few frozen margaritas. Drive along Shore road enjoying the scenery. Back to the ship and dine in the Garden Room restaurant which is not as crowded as Windows. Can't believe how casual everyone dresses for dinner. Shorts, T-shirts and flip flops. Walk around the ship....no show tonight.

 

Day 4: Wake up to light rain that quickly burns off. Drive into Hamilton and walk in and out of shops on Front St. Have lunch and off to Horseshoe Bay Beach. We are not there very long when it begins to pour. Take cover and wait out the storm. Beach is less crowded now and we stay all afternoon. Back to the ship for an early dinner in Garden Room and take in the Second City comedy show...it was fantastic. Best show of the cruise. Afterwards go to Raffles for ice cream (before 9 PM) and the cast of Second City is sitting across from us eating their ice cream too!

 

Day 5: Up early for coffee and than hit the gym. Big day planned. Decided we would do a "Beach Crawl". taking the motor scooter along the south shore seeing how many beaches we can take a swim. We sneak into the Southampton Princess Hotel beach for a quick swim. Next walk over to Horsehoe Bay Beach as it is next door. You can see the Southamption Princess tennis courts from Horseshoe Bay parking lot. Strong winds and big surf...awesome. From here we drove to Chaplin Bay and Stonehole Bay...amazing. Watched kids jumping from rock ledges. My new favorite beach, small but breathtakingly beautiful. Cannot rent any chairs or umbrellas so you don't get the crowd like horseshoe bay. Next stop Jobson Cove and Warwick Long Bay. Again very pretty and not crowded at all. Our last stop was Elbow Beach. The public beach is next to the Elbow Beach Hotel. Leave as we have to return our motor scooter by noon time as we had only rented for 2 days. We walk around kings Wharf and buy a 6 pack of beer and bring it on the ship. No one says anything. After lunch we head over to Snorkle Park for an afternoon of sunning and snorkling. What a joke. In my opinion don't bother going to this beach. $5.00 admission fee gets you into what seems like a man made tourist trap. The sand(?) is very hard. Almost like it was put down over cement. We got 2 chairs put on our snorkle gear and headed into the water. The water was cloudy and we saw very few fish. We chuckled about how we were on all the beautiful beaches that morning and had to end our last afternoon in Bermuda on this poor excuse for a beach. Do not waste your time! Lasted about an hour and back to the ship for a frozen drink by the pool. Watch our sail away and off to dinner.

 

Day 6: Up early as usual and I decide no gym today. Go to the pool early with my book, get all settled in, and i am asked by 2 crew members if i will please move so they can paint the railing. What??? Don't they do this at night? I move and watch as they paint, move pool chairs, paint all around the pool deck....strange. Swim in the pool and again leave around 11:30 AM because of the band and the smell of the bar-b-que. We find quiet chairs on deck 13 near the golf clinic...listened to the pro for so long that i think I may have to try golfing in the near future. Late afternoon we decide to check out the"sale" in the main atrium. NCL T-shirts regularly 10.99 for 6.99...sweatshirts, buy i get 1 half price...booze and cigarettes....inch of gold...you get the picture. Garden Room for dinner whre my salmon is very dry. Again no one asks for a drink order and service was extremely slow. Stardust Theater for 7:15 show with jane Powell She whistles a lot and makes dew whop and be bop sounds. She also admitted that she stays in her cabin all day....wow. Back to our cabin and no clean towels again. He takes the dirty towels but doesn't leave clean ones. I had requested ice for our cooler bag to keep our soda and water cold and no ice....again. In bed watching a movie when we get a knock on our cabin door (11:30 PM) do we still want ice? What????

 

Day 7: Last full day....yeah!!! Up early and in the gym. All but have it to ourselves...wonder why? Go to Guest Services for a copy of my bill (yes we did purchase alcoholic beverages and sodas while on board) and was surprised by the $12 per person per day gratuity charges. This is the most expensive I have ever been charged. I began to wonder if they charge $12 per day, why am I charged a gratuity for each drink I purchase and it was also added to the charge at La Trattoria restaurant? Isn't that like double dipping? Up to pool area and deck chairs are taken by 9:30 AM. Doesn't mean people are actually sitting in them, they have just staked a claim with a towel and whatever.

Driven out again around 11:30 by the band and back up to deck 13. So windy we leave and go to the Promenade Deck where we find 2 deck chairs in the sun....ahhhh peace at last. Final dinner in Garden Room Restaurant (I wear a casual dress and feel overdressed)and Stardust Theater where it was some kind of acrobatic...Cirque de Soleil (sp?) ...I really don't know...whatever. Left and purchased pictures from the photo gallery....what I don't have to tip? Back to the room and pack up...if i watch the same shows again on TV someone is going overboard! What...no clean towels again! Ice overflowing cooler bag...now I get ice? Iron still in room....

 

FINAL DAY>>>> Up early and on deck to watch our arrival in Boston. Shower (towels from gym again) and Raffles is packed. Everyone looks ready to go home. Down to deck 7 and the line for guest services has to be 30 -40 people deep. Call for self disembarkation around 8:00 AM. I think half the passengers carried their own bags off. Color coded luggage tags are a joke because they call all of the colors at the same time. Off the ship, get our luggage and daughter is waiting to pick us up. YAHOO!

 

Summary: Food not very good and limited selection. Cabin is tiny and cabin service weak. No coathangers in closet for pants or skirts. Requested and never received. One outlet in cabin...cannot use regular hair dryer or you blow the circuit (trust me, i know). Have to claim pool chairs by 9:30 AM or you are out of luck. If you request an iron and ironing board be prepared to trip over it all week!

[mpk218]

We too have sailed several of the lines and alot of what you mention sounds pretty standard on most lines. Having a bad cabin steward can be frustrating , But trying to find peace and quite at the pool to read is asking to much.

From your review I would recommend you try a higher end line. You seem to be used to a slightly upper crust . All in all it sounded like a nice trip..;)

[tigerlilycruiser12]

Sorry that you did not enjoy the Spirit. Yes there is always a chance that you get a cabin steward that did not do what he should have. That is too bad that had to happen. I have been on many cruise lines as well. there are good and not so good on every line. This does not sound like the spirit that I sailed on in the past and will be sailing in Sept. There was so much food selection and in many areas on the ship. I enjoy RCCL MDR food more but NCl has more best selection of food all over the ship other than the MDR. We all enjoy different things.

 

At least you seem to enjoy Bermuda.

[traveler525]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

[sjbdtz]

Just off the Spirit and am very happy to be home. We took this cruise as we live close to the cruise port in Boston and love Bermuda. We have cruised RCCL, Princess, Celebrity, and Cunard so we have lots of cruises for comparison. I guess I am writing this because i did not enjoy this cruise and i have to vent somewhere. Remember, just my opinion.

 

Day 1: Son drove us to Black Falcon Terminal around 1:00 PM where there were lines of people waiting with luggage. I was a little taken back until a porter with a luggage cart offered to take our luggage for us. My husband helped load the luggage, tipped the porter and we were inside the terminal in 2 minutes. I don't know why other passengers were waiting in line, oh well. Brought two 12 packs of soda and a case of water in bags and were never questioned or asked to open the bags. Carried them on to the ship and right to our cabin on deck 5. Briefly met our cabin steward...never got his name. Asked him to keep ice in our cooler bag to keep soda and water cold. Shakes his head "yes". Take a walk around the ship...very pretty and make a reservation for La Trattoria on deck 12 for dinner. Buy a bucket of beer (buy 5 and get 1 free) and find a table outside to watch our sail out of Boston. Go to La Trattoria for dinner.This restaurant is actually part of the Raffles Food Court that they partition off each evening. Portions were average sized and average tasting. After dinner take in the show at the Stardust Theater and afterwards head to Raffles for some ice cream. Unfortunately Raffles closes at 9 PM so a crew member told us to call room service. We go back to our room and call and were told no ice cream from room service, go to the Blue Lagoon on deck 7 that is open all night. Now we are giggling over trying to find ice cream on a ship this big so we go to the Blue Lagoon and guess what? No ice cream! Just shakes for $4.50 each...plus gratuity of course. My husband gets his shake and we walk around the Promenade Deck.

 

Day 2: Up early and up to Raffles for coffe. Go to the gym and it is packed. Have to wait for an eliptical or treadmill. Shower, change and up to the pool with my book. Enjoying the quiet but by 10:00 AM people searching for pool chairs. Many passengers put towels on chairs and leave and come back. At 11:00 AM the pool band begins and you can barely carry on a conversation it is so loud. Many passengers bring food to the pool area from Raffles. Woman sitting next to me has her husband and son sharing her chair while they all eat their lunch. We decide to give up our chairs...maybe that was their ploy all along.....hmmmm. We go to Raffles for lunch and i find a digital camera which I turned into Guest Services...hope the owner got it back. Back to our cabin and I call housekeeping to request more coat hangers and to borrow an iron. I was told I had to be in my cabin to request an iron....what? I am in my cabin ...they bring an iron and plastic hangers I am told I only am allowed the iron for 2 hours and to please call as soon as I am done. Iron a few things and call Guest Servives to pick up the iron and ironing board. No one came. Called after dinner and srill no one came. No one picked up the iron all week! Eat in Windows main dining room and have a table for 2. No one asked for a drink order which I thought was unusual. When we left around 7 PM the line to get in was out to the elevator. Attend the Broadway Review in Stardust Theater and head back to our cabin.

 

Day 3: Not a great night's sleep as kids were running up and down the hall banging on cabin doors. Where are the parents? Our cabin steward never left us towels last night so we take a few from the gym after working out. Not as crowded as yesterday. Leave a note for our cabin steward requesting ice for the cooler bag and off the ship around 11:00 AM and rent motor scooter at Oleander's. Drive around Royal Navy Dockyard and check out a few shops. Drive to Southampton Princess Hotel where we enjoyed a nice lunch and a few frozen margaritas. Drive along Shore road enjoying the scenery. Back to the ship and dine in the Garden Room restaurant which is not as crowded as Windows. Can't believe how casual everyone dresses for dinner. Shorts, T-shirts and flip flops. Walk around the ship....no show tonight.

 

Day 4: Wake up to light rain that quickly burns off. Drive into Hamilton and walk in and out of shops on Front St. Have lunch and off to Horseshoe Bay Beach. We are not there very long when it begins to pour. Take cover and wait out the storm. Beach is less crowded now and we stay all afternoon. Back to the ship for an early dinner in Garden Room and take in the Second City comedy show...it was fantastic. Best show of the cruise. Afterwards go to Raffles for ice cream (before 9 PM) and the cast of Second City is sitting across from us eating their ice cream too!

 

Day 5: Up early for coffee and than hit the gym. Big day planned. Decided we would do a "Beach Crawl". taking the motor scooter along the south shore seeing how many beaches we can take a swim. We sneak into the Southampton Princess Hotel beach for a quick swim. Next walk over to Horsehoe Bay Beach as it is next door. You can see the Southamption Princess tennis courts from Horseshoe Bay parking lot. Strong winds and big surf...awesome. From here we drove to Chaplin Bay and Stonehole Bay...amazing. Watched kids jumping from rock ledges. My new favorite beach, small but breathtakingly beautiful. Cannot rent any chairs or umbrellas so you don't get the crowd like horseshoe bay. Next stop Jobson Cove and Warwick Long Bay. Again very pretty and not crowded at all. Our last stop was Elbow Beach. The public beach is next to the Elbow Beach Hotel. Leave as we have to return our motor scooter by noon time as we had only rented for 2 days. We walk around kings Wharf and buy a 6 pack of beer and bring it on the ship. No one says anything. After lunch we head over to Snorkle Park for an afternoon of sunning and snorkling. What a joke. In my opinion don't bother going to this beach. $5.00 admission fee gets you into what seems like a man made tourist trap. The sand(?) is very hard. Almost like it was put down over cement. We got 2 chairs put on our snorkle gear and headed into the water. The water was cloudy and we saw very few fish. We chuckled about how we were on all the beautiful beaches that morning and had to end our last afternoon in Bermuda on this poor excuse for a beach. Do not waste your time! Lasted about an hour and back to the ship for a frozen drink by the pool. Watch our sail away and off to dinner.

 

Day 6: Up early as usual and I decide no gym today. Go to the pool early with my book, get all settled in, and i am asked by 2 crew members if i will please move so they can paint the railing. What??? Don't they do this at night? I move and watch as they paint, move pool chairs, paint all around the pool deck....strange. Swim in the pool and again leave around 11:30 AM because of the band and the smell of the bar-b-que. We find quiet chairs on deck 13 near the golf clinic...listened to the pro for so long that i think I may have to try golfing in the near future. Late afternoon we decide to check out the"sale" in the main atrium. NCL T-shirts regularly 10.99 for 6.99...sweatshirts, buy i get 1 half price...booze and cigarettes....inch of gold...you get the picture. Garden Room for dinner whre my salmon is very dry. Again no one asks for a drink order and service was extremely slow. Stardust Theater for 7:15 show with jane Powell She whistles a lot and makes dew whop and be bop sounds. She also admitted that she stays in her cabin all day....wow. Back to our cabin and no clean towels again. He takes the dirty towels but doesn't leave clean ones. I had requested ice for our cooler bag to keep our soda and water cold and no ice....again. In bed watching a movie when we get a knock on our cabin door (11:30 PM) do we still want ice? What????

 

Day 7: Last full day....yeah!!! Up early and in the gym. All but have it to ourselves...wonder why? [umm...not sure.... did you have a guess?]Go to Guest Services for a copy of my bill (yes we did purchase alcoholic beverages and sodas while on board) and was surprised by the $12 per person per day gratuity charges. This is the most expensive I have ever been charged. I began to wonder if they charge $12 per day, why am I charged a gratuity for each drink I purchase and it was also added to the charge at La Trattoria restaurant? Isn't that like double dipping? Up to pool area and deck chairs are taken by 9:30 AM. Doesn't mean people are actually sitting in them, they have just staked a claim with a towel and whatever.

Driven out again around 11:30 by the band and back up to deck 13. So windy we leave and go to the Promenade Deck where we find 2 deck chairs in the sun....ahhhh peace at last. Final dinner in Garden Room Restaurant (I wear a casual dress and feel overdressed)and Stardust Theater where it was some kind of acrobatic...Cirque de Soleil (sp?) ...I really don't know...whatever. Left and purchased pictures from the photo gallery....what I don't have to tip? Back to the room and pack up...if i watch the same shows again on TV someone is going overboard! What...no clean towels again! Ice overflowing cooler bag...now I get ice? Iron still in room.... You don't get ice, you go "what???" you DO get ice, you go "what???".... can't win....

 

FINAL DAY>>>> Up early and on deck to watch our arrival in Boston. Shower (towels from gym again) and Raffles is packed. Everyone looks ready to go home. Down to deck 7 and the line for guest services has to be 30 -40 people deep. Call for self disembarkation around 8:00 AM. I think half the passengers carried their own bags off. Color coded luggage tags are a joke because they call all of the colors at the same time. Off the ship, get our luggage and daughter is waiting to pick us up. YAHOO!

 

Summary: Food not very good and limited selection. Cabin is tiny and cabin service weak. No coathangers in closet for pants or skirts. Requested and never received. Weird. You said above, that you DID receive them..... One outlet in cabin...cannot use regular hair dryer or you blow the circuit (trust me, i know). Have to claim pool chairs by 9:30 AM or you are out of luck. If you request an iron and ironing board be prepared to trip over it all week!

 

 

Wow...sounds horrific... :rolleyes:

[reefgirl]

Wow...sounds horrific... :rolleyes:

 

You were a little sloppy with the highlighting. THERE WAS NO ICE CREAM!! :eek:

[sottovoce]

Wow...sounds horrific... :rolleyes:

My reaction, as well. Maybe if they knew where to look for ice cream it would have been a different story. Most of the complaints are trivial.

[greenpepperburger]

Your trip sounds mildly disappointing, but nothing that could deter from a good trip. Being charged $12 daily applies to the wait staff and the room stewards. You do not need to tip beyond that, only if you choose too. Bar staff are not part of the daily surcharge, hence why there is an auto-gratuity on alcoholic beverages. Cover charges at the specialty restaurants are because the ambience and the food is supposed to be a bit superior.

[Toyz711]

still trying to work out another cruise, on the spirit, this winter. we keep trying, but work/economy keeps getting in the way.:D

we had to work at it, but after dinner (MDR) we would head to the buffet for crepes and ice cream. the only time we looked at our watches was to see how much time we had before the buffet closed. but it was important to us. (loved those crepes)

we have heard that it's getting harder to get ice, on the spirit. a couple of times, we just got our own. you can order ice from room service.

NCL has comment cards that are very important to the crews. if i had a room steward that didn't leave clean towels, after talking to the housekeeping manager...a bad comment on the comment card would be in order. but i won't let one room steward, who may not be on the ship for very long doing that bad of a job, to ruin my vacation or rethink NCL.

crew members who don't do thier job, don't stay around very long.

[DMH15]

OP - did you ever try to speak with a supervisor and have the towel/ice/iron matter fixed?

 

Also, did you expect to only tip for drinks?

[Sauer-kraut]

The OP states that the $12 DSC is the highest ever paid, well they should know that on Cunard on which htey have previously sailed, has a graduated scale from $10-$13 per day depending on cabin class. Gee, NCL must be very democratic in averaging that out to just $12.

 

It doesn't really sound like it was that bad of a cruise, maybe the OP just had higher expectations, and that can happen. You should read the disappointment on the Cunard boards, people thinking they were going to be sailing on the royal yacht or something. :D

[luddite]

How in hades did you guys survive the week? Gosh! Glad I wasn't there with ya!

[STARFISH*4]

doesnt sound like they researched their cruise out either and they would find the $12 daily charge mentioned...

its to bad you didnt ENJOY the CRUISE...we found the SPIRIT to be a UNIQUE and LOVELY ship....and if there is a problem you NEED to speak up about it or it will never get the attention...to come home after the fact and complain doesnt help!

as far as the iron/board you just hand it to them when you see them or leave a note or something...i wouldnt have had it a week in my cabin; course i dont iron so wouldnt of had it at all:D

but still to many just trivial things to SPOIL a cruise!!

[hateswaterloves2cruise]

We are booked on the Spirit for March 2011 so I have been reading all the reviews to prepare for it. OP sounds like they expected a champage cruise for a beer price. I would have contacted the stewards supervisor or hotel director if I didn't have towels and would have put the ironing board/iron out in the hallway. Kids making noise in the hallways can be a problem anywhere-hotel, cruise, etc.

Sounds like OP was looking for things to pick on. Obviously his first time on NCL. I love the automatic service charge, makes it so easy to not have to find crew and have the right combo of $$$$ for tipping.

[Sally Forth]

OP - did you ever try to speak with a supervisor and have the towel/ice/iron matter fixed?

 

Also, did you expect to only tip for drinks?

 

One thing that works before going to a supervisor is to catch the steward while he/she is in the hallway and quietly tell him/her that you realize they are incredibly overworked, but that you aren't happy that the basics aren't being done, and there are some things you would like changed. Then smile and hand him/her a neatly printed list.

 

After that, if there is a problem, go to a supervisor.

 

Viv

[Sally Forth]

We are booked on the Spirit for March 2011 so I have been reading all the reviews to prepare for it. OP sounds like they expected a champage cruise for a beer price. I would have contacted the stewards supervisor or hotel director if I didn't have towels and would have put the ironing board/iron out in the hallway. Kids making noise in the hallways can be a problem anywhere-hotel, cruise, etc.

Sounds like OP was looking for things to pick on. Obviously his first time on NCL. I love the automatic service charge, makes it so easy to not have to find crew and have the right combo of $$$$ for tipping.

 

I can't believe how many people are surprised by the tips. Don't they read any of the literature that comes with their paperwork?

 

Also, don't be surprised by dress code violations on NCL. It's the norm now, so if you don't like guys in baseball hats and tank tops at your table, go on another line. No, it's not right and it's not fair to people who stick to the rules, but them's the breaks.

 

Viv

[mag]

WOW I am soooooo glad I was not on this cruise with you! How you suffered! You have my sympathy...

 

I was on the Spirit last year and had a totally different experience. We had fun.

 

I will say that if my steward did not bring my towels, after the second time, I would be talking to the hotel director immediately. If he did not bring my ice as nicely requested, there goes his extra tip and I would just get my own...no big deal - just grab your ice bucket or your cooler and go to the bar - any bar - and fill up!

 

I agree about the iron - I would have put it outside my door.

 

I will let you know in a couple of weeks how it goes with my Spirit cruise.

 

BTW, since we are close to home and never even want to leave the ship, we sleep late and then go the dining room (or even Raffles) for breakfast while everyone else is in line to get off the ship. It is a great way to end a cruise - take it slow and be one of the last off the ship. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO TRY THE CREPES!!

[cruiser willy]

A bad room steward can really impact your cruise from the get-go. We had one of our very best cruises on the Spirt over the 4th of July holiday this summer. We were only in a balcony cabin, but were treated like royalty by our two stewards. We brought a very large cooler on board with six 2 liter bottles of Coke products. We put the cooler out on our balcony, never saying anything to our steward. The cooler was filled to the top with ice when we came back to the cabin after dinner and throughout the cruise! Poor guys must have dumped their whole ice cooler into OURS! We usually only ask for hangers on day one and rarely any other requests all week. Sometimes we've had to ask for the hangers a few times. These guys this year were outstanding. I recall one of them named Pacifico. He was from the Phillippines. They have like 25 rooms to service! I've never had bad enough service to warrant writing a bad review of the line or the ship. One cruise, I think it was the Costa Mediterranea - I almost got arrested for my loud verbal dispute with the ship's customer relations staff. We were never (to this day) given the ship board credit as advertised when we booked our cruise. I started visiting the front desk midway through the cruise to check on the credit status, and was given the run around each and everytime I checked in with them. Our $100 PER PASSENGER (first two full fares per cabin) ship board credit was never applied to our bill. Even our travel agent (whom we adore) was unable to make good from Costa. My point is, even though I was exasperated daily by the treatment I received, I thoroughly enjoyed every other aspect of the vacation and did not write a bad review about the cruise.

Just to offer a contrasting review from the O.P.'s experience, I will say that the Spirit is a beautiful ship with the friendliest staff we've ever sailed with. I even wrote to "prem" the ship's hotel director to praise him for his incredible, friendly and service-oriented crew. The entertainment was awesome, the food we ate was delicious, the ship was immaculate, the embarkation and disembarkation process was flawless. Boston is BY FAR the best port we've ever sailed out of. Bermuda is one of our favorite ports of call. If you do enough research you should be well prepared for things like electrical outlet issues and tipping guidelines, etc. I read posts on here about the Spirit's electrical outlet deficiencies and was sure to pack converters and power strips.

My best advice is to develop an evolving packing list just for cruises with such items listed. I tend to add items to my list every year. As things like cell phones and Ipods/players have come into fashion, their associated chargers have joined the many other items like sunglasses, baseball hats, medications, bandaids, etc. on my ever growing list.

[Don Haynes]

Bath towels and bed sheets keep coming up on these reviews. A ship doesn't have the disposal means of a land based hotel in a city with a huge sewage treatment plant. On a ship disposal is limited, the cruise lines expect you to REUSE the towels during the week. They provide clean towels and bed sheets at the start of a cruise, a miracle considering the disposal issues involved. Cruise ships are usually full to capacity every day whereas land based hotels are less than half full for a few days during a week...

 

If you are expecting clean bath towels and bed sheets to be replaced with fresh ones every day you have an expectation that won't be met by any cruise line or ship... Its not just NCL...

 

Obviously the OP never read her cruise documents. The daily surcharge should not have been a surprise. Since it was, and its a hefty amount, its very common for those who are surprised to thumb down a cruise no matter how great their vacation was... Its another case of its not just NCL...

 

Another thing. While you may want ice cream or a drink at 2 am, many of the bars and restaurants have closed. While you may be up, think of the crew too. They want to have a good nights sleep as well as most of the passengers. Go to the Blue Lagoon or call room service. They are staffed for 24 hour around the clock service, not the ice cream bar...

 

The rest of her review was honest in my opinion... It wasn't the best cruise ever, but not a disaster either...

[mag]

A bad room steward can really impact your cruise from the get-go. We had one of our very best cruises on the Spirt over the 4th of July holiday this summer. We were only in a balcony cabin, but were treated like royalty by our two stewards. We brought a very large cooler on board with six 2 liter bottles of Coke products. We put the cooler out on our balcony, never saying anything to our steward. The cooler was filled to the top with ice when we came back to the cabin after dinner and throughout the cruise! Poor guys must have dumped their whole ice cooler into OURS! We usually only ask for hangers on day one and rarely any other requests all week. Sometimes we've had to ask for the hangers a few times. These guys this year were outstanding. I recall one of them named Pacifico. He was from the Phillippines. They have like 25 rooms to service! I've never had bad enough service to warrant writing a bad review of the line or the ship. One cruise, I think it was the Costa Mediterranea - I almost got arrested for my loud verbal dispute with the ship's customer relations staff. We were never (to this day) given the ship board credit as advertised when we booked our cruise. I started visiting the front desk midway through the cruise to check on the credit status, and was given the run around each and everytime I checked in with them. Our $100 PER PASSENGER (first two full fares per cabin) ship board credit was never applied to our bill. Even our travel agent (whom we adore) was unable to make good from Costa. My point is, even though I was exasperated daily by the treatment I received, I thoroughly enjoyed every other aspect of the vacation and did not write a bad review about the cruise.

Just to offer a contrasting review from the O.P.'s experience, I will say that the Spirit is a beautiful ship with the friendliest staff we've ever sailed with. I even wrote to "prem" the ship's hotel director to praise him for his incredible, friendly and service-oriented crew. The entertainment was awesome, the food we ate was delicious, the ship was immaculate, the embarkation and disembarkation process was flawless. Boston is BY FAR the best port we've ever sailed out of. Bermuda is one of our favorite ports of call. If you do enough research you should be well prepared for things like electrical outlet issues and tipping guidelines, etc. I read posts on here about the Spirit's electrical outlet deficiencies and was sure to pack converters and power strips.

My best advice is to develop an evolving packing list just for cruises with such items listed. I tend to add items to my list every year. As things like cell phones and Ipods/players have come into fashion, their associated chargers have joined the many other items like sunglasses, baseball hats, medications, bandaids, etc. on my ever growing list.

 

nice post willy - you said it well. I took my converter - thank you CC - and used my hairdryer on the Spirit.

[caribsun]

I was on the same cruise and spent most of my time at the back of the Buccaneer Pool. There is a row of chairs along the aft railing that was always available. In the front of this pool is stadium style seating and chairs were open here as well. No music in this area just the laughter coming from the kids.

Someone a few cabins down from us put there ironing board in the hallway and was gone by the evening meal.

We went to the two main dining rooms between 6:30PM and 7:00PM and never waited more than a few minutes.

[newmexicoNita]

Just off the Spirit and am very happy to be home. We took this cruise as we live close to the cruise port in Boston and love Bermuda. We have cruised RCCL, Princess, Celebrity, and Cunard so we have lots of cruises for comparison. I guess I am writing this because i did not enjoy this cruise and i have to vent somewhere. Remember, just my opinion.

 

Day 1: Son drove us to Black Falcon Terminal around 1:00 PM where there were lines of people waiting with luggage. I was a little taken back until a porter with a luggage cart offered to take our luggage for us. My husband helped load the luggage, tipped the porter and we were inside the terminal in 2 minutes. I don't know why other passengers were waiting in line, oh well. Brought two 12 packs of soda and a case of water in bags and were never questioned or asked to open the bags. Carried them on to the ship and right to our cabin on deck 5. Briefly met our cabin steward...never got his name. Asked him to keep ice in our cooler bag to keep soda and water cold. Shakes his head "yes". Take a walk around the ship...very pretty and make a reservation for La Trattoria on deck 12 for dinner. Buy a bucket of beer (buy 5 and get 1 free) and find a table outside to watch our sail out of Boston. Go to La Trattoria for dinner.This restaurant is actually part of the Raffles Food Court that they partition off each evening. Portions were average sized and average tasting. After dinner take in the show at the Stardust Theater and afterwards head to Raffles for some ice cream. Unfortunately Raffles closes at 9 PM so a crew member told us to call room service. We go back to our room and call and were told no ice cream from room service, go to the Blue Lagoon on deck 7 that is open all night. Now we are giggling over trying to find ice cream on a ship this big so we go to the Blue Lagoon and guess what? No ice cream! Just shakes for $4.50 each...plus gratuity of course. My husband gets his shake and we walk around the Promenade Deck.

 

Day 2: Up early and up to Raffles for coffe. Go to the gym and it is packed. Have to wait for an eliptical or treadmill. Shower, change and up to the pool with my book. Enjoying the quiet but by 10:00 AM people searching for pool chairs. Many passengers put towels on chairs and leave and come back. At 11:00 AM the pool band begins and you can barely carry on a conversation it is so loud. Many passengers bring food to the pool area from Raffles. Woman sitting next to me has her husband and son sharing her chair while they all eat their lunch. We decide to give up our chairs...maybe that was their ploy all along.....hmmmm. We go to Raffles for lunch and i find a digital camera which I turned into Guest Services...hope the owner got it back. Back to our cabin and I call housekeeping to request more coat hangers and to borrow an iron. I was told I had to be in my cabin to request an iron....what? I am in my cabin ...they bring an iron and plastic hangers I am told I only am allowed the iron for 2 hours and to please call as soon as I am done. Iron a few things and call Guest Servives to pick up the iron and ironing board. No one came. Called after dinner and srill no one came. No one picked up the iron all week! Eat in Windows main dining room and have a table for 2. No one asked for a drink order which I thought was unusual. When we left around 7 PM the line to get in was out to the elevator. Attend the Broadway Review in Stardust Theater and head back to our cabin.

 

Day 3: Not a great night's sleep as kids were running up and down the hall banging on cabin doors. Where are the parents? Our cabin steward never left us towels last night so we take a few from the gym after working out. Not as crowded as yesterday. Leave a note for our cabin steward requesting ice for the cooler bag and off the ship around 11:00 AM and rent motor scooter at Oleander's. Drive around Royal Navy Dockyard and check out a few shops. Drive to Southampton Princess Hotel where we enjoyed a nice lunch and a few frozen margaritas. Drive along Shore road enjoying the scenery. Back to the ship and dine in the Garden Room restaurant which is not as crowded as Windows. Can't believe how casual everyone dresses for dinner. Shorts, T-shirts and flip flops. Walk around the ship....no show tonight.

 

Day 4: Wake up to light rain that quickly burns off. Drive into Hamilton and walk in and out of shops on Front St. Have lunch and off to Horseshoe Bay Beach. We are not there very long when it begins to pour. Take cover and wait out the storm. Beach is less crowded now and we stay all afternoon. Back to the ship for an early dinner in Garden Room and take in the Second City comedy show...it was fantastic. Best show of the cruise. Afterwards go to Raffles for ice cream (before 9 PM) and the cast of Second City is sitting across from us eating their ice cream too!

 

Day 5: Up early for coffee and than hit the gym. Big day planned. Decided we would do a "Beach Crawl". taking the motor scooter along the south shore seeing how many beaches we can take a swim. We sneak into the Southampton Princess Hotel beach for a quick swim. Next walk over to Horsehoe Bay Beach as it is next door. You can see the Southamption Princess tennis courts from Horseshoe Bay parking lot. Strong winds and big surf...awesome. From here we drove to Chaplin Bay and Stonehole Bay...amazing. Watched kids jumping from rock ledges. My new favorite beach, small but breathtakingly beautiful. Cannot rent any chairs or umbrellas so you don't get the crowd like horseshoe bay. Next stop Jobson Cove and Warwick Long Bay. Again very pretty and not crowded at all. Our last stop was Elbow Beach. The public beach is next to the Elbow Beach Hotel. Leave as we have to return our motor scooter by noon time as we had only rented for 2 days. We walk around kings Wharf and buy a 6 pack of beer and bring it on the ship. No one says anything. After lunch we head over to Snorkle Park for an afternoon of sunning and snorkling. What a joke. In my opinion don't bother going to this beach. $5.00 admission fee gets you into what seems like a man made tourist trap. The sand(?) is very hard. Almost like it was put down over cement. We got 2 chairs put on our snorkle gear and headed into the water. The water was cloudy and we saw very few fish. We chuckled about how we were on all the beautiful beaches that morning and had to end our last afternoon in Bermuda on this poor excuse for a beach. Do not waste your time! Lasted about an hour and back to the ship for a frozen drink by the pool. Watch our sail away and off to dinner.

 

Day 6: Up early as usual and I decide no gym today. Go to the pool early with my book, get all settled in, and i am asked by 2 crew members if i will please move so they can paint the railing. What??? Don't they do this at night? I move and watch as they paint, move pool chairs, paint all around the pool deck....strange. Swim in the pool and again leave around 11:30 AM because of the band and the smell of the bar-b-que. We find quiet chairs on deck 13 near the golf clinic...listened to the pro for so long that i think I may have to try golfing in the near future. Late afternoon we decide to check out the"sale" in the main atrium. NCL T-shirts regularly 10.99 for 6.99...sweatshirts, buy i get 1 half price...booze and cigarettes....inch of gold...you get the picture. Garden Room for dinner whre my salmon is very dry. Again no one asks for a drink order and service was extremely slow. Stardust Theater for 7:15 show with jane Powell She whistles a lot and makes dew whop and be bop sounds. She also admitted that she stays in her cabin all day....wow. Back to our cabin and no clean towels again. He takes the dirty towels but doesn't leave clean ones. I had requested ice for our cooler bag to keep our soda and water cold and no ice....again. In bed watching a movie when we get a knock on our cabin door (11:30 PM) do we still want ice? What????

 

Day 7: Last full day....yeah!!! Up early and in the gym. All but have it to ourselves...wonder why? Go to Guest Services for a copy of my bill (yes we did purchase alcoholic beverages and sodas while on board) and was surprised by the $12 per person per day gratuity charges. This is the most expensive I have ever been charged. I began to wonder if they charge $12 per day, why am I charged a gratuity for each drink I purchase and it was also added to the charge at La Trattoria restaurant? Isn't that like double dipping? Up to pool area and deck chairs are taken by 9:30 AM. Doesn't mean people are actually sitting in them, they have just staked a claim with a towel and whatever.

Driven out again around 11:30 by the band and back up to deck 13. So windy we leave and go to the Promenade Deck where we find 2 deck chairs in the sun....ahhhh peace at last. Final dinner in Garden Room Restaurant (I wear a casual dress and feel overdressed)and Stardust Theater where it was some kind of acrobatic...Cirque de Soleil (sp?) ...I really don't know...whatever. Left and purchased pictures from the photo gallery....what I don't have to tip? Back to the room and pack up...if i watch the same shows again on TV someone is going overboard! What...no clean towels again! Ice overflowing cooler bag...now I get ice? Iron still in room....

 

FINAL DAY>>>> Up early and on deck to watch our arrival in Boston. Shower (towels from gym again) and Raffles is packed. Everyone looks ready to go home. Down to deck 7 and the line for guest services has to be 30 -40 people deep. Call for self disembarkation around 8:00 AM. I think half the passengers carried their own bags off. Color coded luggage tags are a joke because they call all of the colors at the same time. Off the ship, get our luggage and daughter is waiting to pick us up. YAHOO!

 

Summary: Food not very good and limited selection. Cabin is tiny and cabin service weak. No coathangers in closet for pants or skirts. Requested and never received. One outlet in cabin...cannot use regular hair dryer or you blow the circuit (trust me, i know). Have to claim pool chairs by 9:30 AM or you are out of luck. If you request an iron and ironing board be prepared to trip over it all week!

 

i think your review is objective in your eyes and yes, is just an opinion. I only have one thing to say, we too have cruised over 25 times, on all mass marketed lines, I think your concerns would pretty much relate to all lines or most anyway. Not enough hangers or the right kind, crowded pool and gym, line for self debarkation (I think self debarkation is slowing us all down) same thing being shown on the TV. Remember, cruise lines really would like us to spend time in the public area so they do not choose to make TV the number one form of entertainment. Yes, the cabins are small, but the ship is so pretty and we love the bathrooms. I am one who doesn't care about the size of the cabins that much, as we don't spend that much time in them.

 

The iron and ironing board, well I wouldn't be very happy either, but the answer: put in in the hall. It would have gotten picked up for sure.

 

Obviously NCL isn't the line for you. That is ok, each of us has our favorites and no line is perfect for everyone. Most of the reviews on the Spirit lately have been very diffeent from yours. It just goes to show none of us see things the same way. Oh, btw, we have found the serving in La Tratorria to be more than gernerous. My husband is a big eater and has yet to be able to finish his meal. Maybe last week they were running low on food or something.

 

Nita

[coka]

Hi Fitznorton, thank you for taking the time to write your views on your trip even though it did not sound like you had a fantastic week which is a bummer. Can you tell me more about your scooter experience? I know I am always afraid to rent one because I see accidents, I hear of accidents, and they always discourage it. What are your thoughts about renting them in general and driving around Bermuda? The only other thing is your not getting clean towels. Did you have the dirty ones hanging on the hooks or behind the bathroom door? I think there is a little note somewhere in the stateroom that tells you if they are not on the floor, then you wish you to use again the ones you have. Just trying to help figure it out and thanks in advance on tips about the scooter rentals!

 

coka

[boaterette]

Hi Fitznorton, thank you for taking the time to write your views on your trip even though it did not sound like you had a fantastic week which is a bummer. Can you tell me more about your scooter experience? I know I am always afraid to rent one because I see accidents, I hear of accidents, and they always discourage it. What are your thoughts about renting them in general and driving around Bermuda? The only other thing is your not getting clean towels. Did you have the dirty ones hanging on the hooks or behind the bathroom door? I think there is a little note somewhere in the stateroom that tells you if they are not on the floor, then you wish you to use again the ones you have. Just trying to help figure it out and thanks in advance on tips about the scooter rentals!

 

coka

 

Hi Coka,

 

In her review she stated that the cabin steward took the towels and did not replace them.

[Don Haynes]

Hi Coka,

 

In her review she stated that the cabin steward took the towels and did not replace them.

 

Probably because she left the towels on the floor after using them only once thinking they would be replaced with fresh towels....

 

Unfortunately, those carts the stewards use aren't trucks, they are carts which don't have the space to store replacement towels for every towel in those cabins for every cabin that steward is responsible for...

 

These towels can be reused. Hang them so they will dry and you can reuse them the next day after your next shower... Conserve some energy...

 

Many complain of chair hogs by the pool, but there are many towel energy hogs as well...

 

Carnival recently tried to place power strips on the banned list... Yes, there is a limit to energy aboard these cruise ships... Just as much as there is a limit to wastage sewage treatment as well.. You are on a ship, you are not on land with grids... There is no power grid for the ship to tap... There isn't another treatment plant down the river either...