Lengthy 3/6 Spirit Review (Not Positive)

[Abear2]

I'm sorry that ya'll had these problems on the Spirit. I am also sorry for the family that had the emergency. I just want to clarify, that I have been on the Spirit three times and my fourth cruise coming up in May, will also be on the Spirit. If this was your first time on the Spirit, I really wish you would give them another try at another time. I love this ship ! I have been on 18 cruises and this by far has the best crew ! I also wish they would not have offered those college kids liquor packages. I think if they would not have been so drunk, they might remember the fun time they had on their cruise. If it were as bad as ya'll are saying, I doubt they remember anything about it. To me that is a waste of money ! I just came on here to say that the Spirit is really a great ship and I feel they deserve another chance. I am sorry that ya'll cruise was ruined though. :(

[Rozee]

I disagree. A company as large as NCL that is responsible for thousands of passengers should always have a contingency plan. From the posts I've read, it happened in December and it happened last year in Boston, so it does happen more often than you believe.

Yep, the whole thing was handled horribly. From cancelling peoples cards to shutting down services WAY before we were able to disembark. That and their inability to estimate when we would dock.

 

The 9 hour delay seemed way too long to have been caused by that evac alone. And why didn't they speed up the ship afterwards to try to make up some time? Strange.

 

How about letting those off first that have a chance of making their flight? We could have made ours. But instead we ended up forfeiting it, and taking a flight the next day.

[luvcruzing]

Ok so I missed it..big deal the reason I chose not to comment on anything else was because of snarky comments that people on this forum seem hell bent on making...

 

I missed it my reading comprehension is just fine...

 

Then I will amend my answer to read, perhaps if this is the only time you can vacation, that perhaps you should try a land vacation, as this is not the optimum time to be on a cruise ship.

 

Talk about snarky.

[DrFood]

I was on the same ill fated cruise. Will write more later.

 

 

But.....a few facts given by ships crew.

 

1. The alcohol debacle was created by the NCL CEO. Ships captain (Evans if I recall) and F&B Director told the group on Saturday morning in a ship wide open meeting this. Then i reconfigure with the captain in a private conversation. The ships crew had no veto power or ability to change the policy. The CEO did this because he remembered his college days and Spring Breaks and the fun they had. And yes the fact we did not dock at Costa Maya was the reason they ran out of provisions on Monday.

2. The ship was loaded with a "normal" level of provisions, not taking into account college kids appetites.

3. I asked our Steward about the mildew and mold in the bathroom. He said they did not have the proper cleaning supplies. It is not the first cruise he has had to deal with this. In fact he was told to clean the bathroom floors with bath towels.

4. I asked the customs folks about the mess. They were never told when the ship was arriving until it was close to the dock. They were not happy because based on the timing most would not leave until 1 or 2 AM and they had been at work since 6 AM setting up for our standard arrival time.

5. The ships crew was told on Sunday morning all computer systems would go down at 1 PM (1300) and no purchases would be allowed after that time. This is the real reason for the free booze, not graciousness by the captain.

 

Theres more, but this is enough for now.

 

NCL may you go the way of Montgomery Ward and Woolworth and Woolco.

[K&M2009]

Yeah, um, the reason I even said what I did was because you made a snarky comment in the first place. I'll see you on the Epic in April, we'll have a duel! ;)

[thescot123]

Sorry to hear that you had a bad time. Have been on the Spirit two times with my third time next Oct. I must say that this is a wonderful ship with a very hard working crew. Have never had any issues with this ship or crew. I work at a major university in a staff role and would never consider cruising during Spring Break. Did go on the NCL Sky last July and noticed some unruly teenagers. For me, I prefer to travel when the kids are in school as I prefer piece and quiet.

[BigMattT]

I'm enjoying reading the replies. Thank you all for your insight.

 

A few responses:

 

perhaps if this is the only time you can vacation, that perhaps you should try a land vacation, as this is not the optimum time to be on a cruise ship.

 

We have enjoyed our cruises during Spring Break before immensely. We've enjoyed other *NCL* cruises during Spring Break before. Never have we seen a cruise-line serve so much alcohol to *clearly* *very* intoxicated passengers. I really am surprised that noone had alcohol poisoning or fell overboard.

 

Again, this isn't coming from someone who doesn't like to drink. I just can't believe I saw liquor being served to people who were already 1) stumbling around specialty restaurants 2) yelling loudly across public areas, 3) vomiting on dance floors. "Let me have someone help you back to your cabin." is the correct thing to say in those situations, not, "another round?!"

 

Perhaps cruise-lines can *also* do a better job of advising prospective guests of the "spring break drinking party" atmosphere to expect on-board during particular sailings. However, whether a *legal* requirement or not, NCL would seem to have an ethical obligation to be a responsible alcohol vendor.

[DrFood]

My favorite 2 events of the whole cruise.......faectiously of course

 

On Sunday the 13th around 1630, a college kid was standing in the lobby area of deck 7 talking to an NCL person on the phone complaining about being refused "hard liquor" when gambling. He was saying the casino manager had told the bartenders to only serve the college kids beer while in the casino. He was venting about how unfair it was that older people could order real drinks and he was going to get AMEX to chargeback all charges to his dad's platinum card. He was sober at the time, but also passionately felt he had been wronged.

 

Watching 4 NCL security officers descend on the Majarita or whatever it was called dance floor when the "bears" began to start dancing as couples. And then when th drunk college kids came and took over the floor security cozier up to the girls and let them paw all of the guys while their friends were dropping glasses, spilling drinks, and throwing up all over the disco. The bears were an obvious threat to security that the horny young girls were not.

 

 

So many happy memories.:eek:

[BigMattT]

You made no effort to bring these matters to the attention of your steward or anyone else, giving them no opportunity to correct the issues. Yet you come on here and complain about it!?!?

 

Yes, I'm satisfied with my disclosure I included with my original post, "We should have brought this to our cabin steward's attention."

 

You as a service industry worker for as long as you've stated should be the first to recognize the fact that workloads often create situations where issues are missed or overlooked. Wouldn't you as a service industry worker like to have the opportunity to correct a situation rather than have someone bad-mouth you?

 

 

Others we knew on our sailing did bring it to their cabin steward's attention. One has already shared his comments here about what the response was.

 

The steward had the opportunity to correct the mildew/mold problem every time he cleaned the bathroom during our stay as well as before we arrived. The mildew/mold stains did not appear there overnight.

 

It comes down to this... should the expectation when cruising NCL be 1 or 2:

 

1) Arrive at your cabin, notice mold/mildew stains in the shower and complain about it to your room steward. The problem gets fixed, you have a clean shower.

 

or

 

2) Arrive at your cabin, where the shower is clean.

 

I'm fairly confident NCL would prefer guests to assume #2. The particulars of what happened with my particular moldy/mildewy shower are fairly irrelevant as far as a review is concerned.

[vols_159]

We've cruised spring break 3 of the past 4 years because that is when our own (under 18) children have off. We've always encountered hoards of children but NEVER have run into college spring breakers - I guess we were lucky. We cruised out of FL and San Juan in the past years - maybe NOLA is worse because its such an accessible drive-to port..... Going on the Spirit next week (March 20 departure) and hoping for the best.....

 

 

wow you are talking about 3 cruises out of what 100 200? sometimes crap just happens.. Sometimes life is a b#tch you get pi$$ed off or Pi$$ed on.. Botton line Life is what you make of it.. You still have yours.. The man that caused the 9 hr delay does not :(

[Rozee]

The one thing that was very nice about our cruise was our room. I wouldn't call the shower imaculate, but didn't notice any mildew.

 

Other things that happend -

 

A friend cut his foot very badly in a hot tub on glass (had to get stitches). Who breaks a glass in a hot tub and doesn't tell anyone? Why is glass allowed around pool areas?

 

2. The ship was loaded with a "normal" level of provisions, not taking into account college kids appetites.

This might explain the overall poor quality of the food. I had two good meals on the ship. One I paid for in Cagney's. The other was the first night in Windows restaurant.

 

The Prime Rib I had in the Garden restaurant was 'Diner' quality. If diner's served Prime Rib. The Turkey diner in Window's restaurant was processed pressed turkey loaf (also something you would expect in a Diner or Truck Stop). And if you want a drink, even a Coke, the waiter has to go to one of the bars. If it's breakfast, and you want a Bloody Mary or even a Diet Coke, they have to go to deck 12. There are no server drink stations in the Windows restaurant.

 

I never caught anything for lunch other than finger sandwiches or a hot dog, but that's mostly because I was eating later I guess.

 

Breakfast selections in Windows was very limited.

 

Is this normal? I thought cruise food was supposed to be good to real good. This food was mediocure at best.

 

 

(This was our first cruise. Probably our last on NCL).

[halos]

deleted....changed my mind

[Rozee]

Something doesn’t add up.

 

From what I can find out at sailwx.com, the airlift was performed at 25d north and 86d west. It was complete at around 8am Saturday 3-12-2011.

 

NOLA is located at roughly 30d north and 90d west.

 

The distance between the two is 368 Nautical Miles.

 

We docked on Sunday 3-13-2011. 5 PM really 4 PM not counting the time change. 32 hours real time after the Emergency Evac.

 

32 hours.

 

That’s an average of 11.5 knots. Pretty slow for a ship that I had seen do 24 knots.

 

I understand that we move slow in the Mississippi. But even there, we were traveling at 13-14 knots. I wonder if something else happened when we were at sea Saturday night? That’s pretty darn slow when trying (I assume) to make up time.

 

I don’t recall any bad weather that night. It was beautiful during the day Sunday.

 

This sort of supports the rumors that the cabbies where told that the Spirit had engine troubles.

[cmitch9999]

I was lucky enuff to sail on the Spirit the week before the spring break cruise. We had a really great time and I loved our cruise. I sympatize tho with all who had a vastly different experience. It's hard to spend months planning and dreaming, saving your $$ and have expectations for a trip that is seriously affected by the poor handling of events. True customer service comes not from dealing with things when they go right but how it is handled when problems arise. Having cruised over 35 times on many lines I have had more than my share of dissapointments along the way and it was either softened by or left an ugly lingering feeling that would shadow my experience depending on the attitude and attention the cruise line made to the situation.

 

In this case it is clear the itinerary changes, the spring breakers with alcohol abuse, the medical emergency and delayed debarkation all could have been handled better by the cruise officers. Communication and having a bit of simple apology for the changes would have helped tremendously. I seriously hope that the NCL CEO is listening to all the feedback on how that unlimited drink card is not only dangerous but damaging to their future cruise business. I am sure they have lost much more in prospective passenger bookings that will not be made now than they did on the group's access card income.

 

I know that NCL monitors these boards so hopefully they will find a way to respond to these issues and let the cruise critic members get a better understanding of the complaints addressed here and have them accept the responsiblity for not giving the passengers the information that would have helped them deal with the difficulties of their trip.

 

I wrote a glowing review of my trip because that was the experience that I had so I KNOW NCL can do better.

 

may your next cruise /vacation be all that you hope it will be!!

[Babysonata]

I disagree. A company as large as NCL that is responsible for thousands of passengers should always have a contingency plan. From the posts I've read, it happened in December and it happened last year in Boston, so it does happen more often than you believe.

 

 

Ive cruised out of New Orleans 5 times now. Can you believe that 3 of the 5 times we've been late back to port? The first time was for fog on the Mississippi; we were in for around 1pm. The second time had to do with the oil spill; we were in about 3pm. Both of these occasions, I was cruising on Carnival. We had very normal/easy dembarkations. This particular time we docked at 5pm. Does 2 hours make that much of a difference? If Carnival can keep things smooth, why couldn't NCL????

[DMH15]

Circumstances landed us onthe Carnival Paradise last week. Had fun. But instead of returning to the Long Beach pier we docked in San Pedro. People were CRAZY. We were in the very last group to disembark. We found a quiet place to wait it out.

 

Just like it is talked about flying in the day BEFORE a cruise, it amazes me people book these flights right after disembarkation time. The same goes for after a cruise as before... Stuff happens. Give yourself time in case that happens.

 

The difference between an ordeal and an adventure... Is attitude.

 

BTW, cruise staff told us their worst weeks are spring break and Superbowl. No way I get on a cruise for either.

[Rozee]

... This particular time we docked at 5pm. Does 2 hours make that much of a difference? If Carnival can keep things smooth, why couldn't NCL????

Don't know. But I am very curious. That's what I do. I'm a Systems Analyst. After the MED EVAC, by my calculations, the Spirit average speed was 11.5 knots for a distance of 368 nautical miles. A crawl for that ship.

[marinaro44]

 

I have been on board the Spirit twice, loved her both times, booked again for Jan 2012.

 

I have sailed Carnival, Royal Carib and NCL. I am much happier on NCL and the food onboard the Spirit was very good in the dining room.

Agree. We've spent 36 nights on Spirit--15 this past fall--and loved every one. Food has been just fine. Ship is lovely. Crew was great. I have no patience with people who won't point out to the crew a perceived problem but then choose to whine about it on the internet.

[Rozee]

Just like it is talked about flying in the day BEFORE a cruise, it amazes me people book these flights right after disembarkation time. The same goes for after a cruise as before... Stuff happens. Give yourself time in case that happens.

You're missing the point. Our flight was booked for 10.5 hours after scheduled disembarkation. We did not make it. IF we had been given a resonable estimation of when we where going to REALLY dock, we could have changed it. Instead, we where lead to believe that we would be able to make our flight.

 

Sure 'stuff' happens. We will be asking NCL why the ship only averaged 11.5 knots for the last 368 nautical miles of the journey (the distance after the med evac). There is probably a very good reason. There is some 'stuff' that they are not telling us. I want to know what it is.

 

- wouldn't you?

[luddite]

You're missing the point. Our flight was booked for 10.5 hours after scheduled disembarkation. We did not make it. IF we had been given a resonable estimation of when we where going to REALLY dock, we could have changed it. Instead, we where lead to believe that we would be able to make our flight.

 

Sure 'stuff' happens. We will be asking NCL why the ship only averaged 11.5 knots for the last 368 nautical miles of the journey (the distance after the med evac). There is probably a very good reason. There is some 'stuff' that they are not telling us. I want to know what it is.

 

- wouldn't you?

 

Where does the 368 miles come from?

Will knowing 'stuff' change anything?

[webzila]

My guess is that there is probably a speed limit for ships in certain parts of the Gulf especially closer to land. I am too lazy to Google this though :)

 

You're missing the point. Our flight was booked for 10.5 hours after scheduled disembarkation. We did not make it. IF we had been given a resonable estimation of when we where going to REALLY dock, we could have changed it. Instead, we where lead to believe that we would be able to make our flight.

 

Sure 'stuff' happens. We will be asking NCL why the ship only averaged 11.5 knots for the last 368 nautical miles of the journey (the distance after the med evac). There is probably a very good reason. There is some 'stuff' that they are not telling us. I want to know what it is.

 

- wouldn't you?

[Rozee]

Where does the 368 miles come from?

The 368 Nautical Miles comes from understanding Lat Long and maps/charts. I'm a GIS professional, if I am wrong about the estimated distances, I will gladly accept it. I think I'm pretty darn close though.

Will knowing 'stuff' change anything?

Seriously? Knowing stuff may help us get reimbursed for our flight changes. Knowing stuff allows me to make informed choices.

[BigMattT]

Again, your responses are eye-opening and I appreciate people's passion on both sides.

 

I appreciate the folks who have shared their positive experiences on the Spirit on previous voyages (and soon I'm sure there will be positive experiences from after our voyage). Our last sailing on NCL was not like this.

 

However, the fact remains *this* sailing was clearly not up to the level of NCL's usual product we thought we were buying. Such vast inconsistency between everyone else's past experiences and this ridiculous undeniably awful service and disorganization *is* the problem.

 

Most companies prove themselves in the moment things go wrong. The window of opportunity for NCL is slowly closing to do just that.

 

Will knowing 'stuff' change anything?

 

 

Why yes, it might. Not only did we leave ample time after the cruise to make our flight, but we bought travel insurance. Travel Insurers will not cover our expenses because of someone else's medical evac. They *will* cover delays for mechanical reasons.

 

 

I also object to another poster's calling this 'whining'. All things considered, my review was balanced. The only portion of this debacle we did not bring to the staff's attention was the mold/mildew in showers; I've already explained why.

 

When I went to the customer service desk to ask about what resources NCL was making available to assist us to get home, I was literally told, "log onto NCL.COM upon my return home for information". Really...

[Rozee]

My guess is that there is probably a speed limit for ships in certain parts of the Gulf especially closer to land. I am too lazy to Google this though

There certainly are in the Red zone at the Mississippi River Delta. Say the last 50 miles or so (no need to be precise at this point) We were going 14 knots or so through there. 3 knots higher than the average for the overall distance of 368 miles.

 

I used this tool to calculate our speed/time/distance http://www.csgnetwork.com/csgtsd.html

 

I would like to know why the Spirit did not try to make up the time lost due to the MED EVAC. Could have saved a lot of people a lot of troubles.

 

Was there a mechanical problem? Did we have really bad sea conditions Saturday night?

[Rozee]

Why yes, it might. Not only did we leave ample time after the cruise to make our flight, but we bought travel insurance. Travel Insurers will not cover our expenses because of someone else's medical evac. They *will* cover delays for mechanical reasons.

We are in the same boat. Interesting that the cab drivers that where waiting for the 8am disembarkation where told that the ship was late due to engine problems.

 

I also object to another poster's calling this 'whining'. All things considered, my review was balanced. The only portion of this debacle we did not bring to the staff's attention was the mold/mildew in showers; I've already explained why.

Agreed.

 

When I went to the customer service desk to ask about what resources NCL was making available to assist us to get home, I was literally told, "log onto NCL.COM upon my return home for information". Really...

Similar thing happened to me. I was trying to figure out if I should change my flight. And if I could get reimbursed if we did. I was told to log onto NCL.com. Uhhuh. Good luck with that.

 

It was nuts since there was NO good information about when we would dock. The original estimate of early to mid afternoon would have been perfect for our 6:30pm flight. Then the rumors came out about getting in later. The rumors where correct.