Just got off the Spirit

[Destinite]

The good:

Excellent service from butler, concierge and steward. We had an SF suite. Cagney's breakfast was great. Wife's birthday was nice as they decorated the room with streamers, balloons, confetti and a beautiful rose. Best dinners were in Le Bistro and Cagneys - lobster bisque was exceptional- for that matter all of the soups we had were very good. Disembark was a breeze, we were on the interstate by 8:15 and we got home in time for kickoff of the first NFL games today.

 

The bad:

Embark from a private vehicle was a nightmare. Two cruise ships leaving the same day and only one way in to the terminal. We could see the ship from our car yet sat in a massive traffic jam for two hours! Porters and traffic cops all gave us different parking directions. I saw a few weeks ago another cruiser had the same problem and we hoped the situation had been rectified- not yet.

The pics of our suite on the NCL.com website were misleading in the balcony size, it is very small. Last week there was a rendering of two lounge chairs, two dining chairs and a round table big enough to accomodate a meal. I see now it has been removed, probably due to my complaints that I was disappointed in the balcony size. In actuality there are two small chairs and a small cocktail table- that's it.

No Second City entertainment, even though it is still advertised on the NCL.com site for the Spirit. We enjoy improv and had planned on attending all of those shows.

No Enchanted Dinner. We had looked forward to the wine paired dinner with the chef. No explanation, just told they no longer do it.

Day one was lobster and snapper nite, very small tails and they were grossly overcooked.

 

Overall, after my initial complaints the staff bent over backwards to make our trip enjoyable and they succeeded. We are already looking at the Star for next Dec out of NOLA.

[Destinite]

Some more good:

The Fri nite finale show was very good, combining the magician, dancers, acrobrats and music into one dynamic show!

 

We also liked the suite with jacuzzi tub and stand up shower with full length window. Bed was also very comfortable.

[gelo7]

Thanks for sharing.

[elruth]

We sailed in the aft Libra suite on the Spirit Dec 4- 11th and the breakfast/lunch restaurant was Le Bistro, not Cagneys. Wonder why they changed it to Cagney's for your cruise? The show " The Elements " was GREAT. ( second to the last night of the cruise. ) Definitely on a par with any Las Vegas show we have seem and we have been to Vegas several times.

[dancindr]

Thanks for your review! We are sailing Spirit 1/1 and getting excited.

Sad to hear that Second City is no longer there, we were excited about that. What other shows did you go to, any recommendations?

[thescot123]

Thanks for the review. The spirit is one of my most favorite ships. This parking situation in N.O is making me possibly reconsider cruising from there again. Went on the spirit in Oct mainly to avoid this mess. The Spirit used to park in front of the covered parking which was very easy and had plenty of space. I have heard that Carnival has since taken over this parking forcing NCL passengers to use an open lot near a whale. Hoping that they fix these issue otherwise I will cruise elsewhere.

[Destinite]

The problem from parking stems from a couple of areas:

1. To unload your luggage they only have about 5 angled parking spots. They have you pull in and unload to a porter. Then they have to stop the traffic and allow you to back out so you can proceed to parking. This really keeps the line coming in moving very slowly. Also, the one road in to the terminal has two other roads that feed in from the sides which the cops will continue to allow to enter making 3 roads all feeding to the only way in to the terminal- compound this with two ships with approx 4000 people boarding and you have an epic congestion problem. Seems the NOLA port authority is mostly responsible for the poor planning, even the cops were laughing as you pulled up and they asked which ship you were on and expected you to be thoroughly frustrated with the scene.

2. The porters and cops then were unsure of where to send us. Our eventual parking area was supposed to be the Whale lot- which is uncovered but directly adjacent to the Spirit. The first time around the cop told us to make a left and go to the light and make a right- the light was past the cruise parking entrance. We did see another entrance into the Whale lot and tried to enter but the worker there told us $34 a night for parking!

3. She sent us on and next thing we know we are on Canal St heading away from the terminal. Our only option was to turn around and get back in line - again. This time when they told us to pull in to unload we explained we'd already done so and made sure we did not repeat the previous error. We had the cop at the next corner show us EXACTLY where to enter into the Whale lot.

4. When we finally got into the VIP lounge we expressed our frustration to the concierge who brought the head departure mgr in to hear our complaint. He said the problem was the porters/cops had not been trained properly on pointing out the Whale lot entrance which was very easy to miss with no signage.

[rvsullivan]

Glad to hear you made it ok!!! Nice meeting you guys. We drove straight through for the first time and made it about 9pm. Tired!!! Rain for the last two hours. Your review was spot on. Can't believe we made it out of NO so fast. Wonder if the two hour delay actually happened to all the others?

For Elruth, they told me that La Bistro was an experiment and folks wanted back in Cagney's, so they changed it back. It was an amazing experience.

 

We are already booked for Star next year same week and now see the Jewel is booking out of NO for 2013 with alternating trips with many sea days and fewer port days, may look at that for a change of pace. Prices are up there right now, but look for some price drops.

[Destinite]

Hey rvsullivan,

 

Nice meeting you guys too. I'm starting to enjoy my time on the boat better than getting off for the shore visits/excursions (except for our golf cart adventure on Costa Maya which was a blast).

 

As I told you on the Belize day at lunch, "all I can think of is Apocolypse Now- never get off the boat!"

[InTheCruisingYearsOfLife]

Destinite, and others familiar with this Spirit cruise at this time of year, I would appreciate you weighing in on how steady or choppy the cruise is. DW and I will be taking this cruise on Feb 5th, and I need to figure out how serious an anti-queeze prescription I should browbeat out of my doctor. He has presently set me up with a prescription for Scopolamine patches. Thanks in advance!

 

As for the embarkation ordeal, I am hopeful that it will be a lot easier for DW and I, it being the case that we will not have a car, but rather will trundle our two suitcases over on foot, from the Marriott around the corner. We are doing a pre-cruise week in NOLA, sans automobile.

 

Thank you for your review!

 

InTheCruisingYearsOfLife

[Destinite]

Walking in you should have no problems. My wife was seasick on the first seaday that night, it was rocking pretty good. The rest of the trip was pretty smooth. I have been seasick before while deep sea fishing but I never felt queasy on this trip and actually enjoy the rocking while in bed (brought me back to the crib days).

[InTheCruisingYearsOfLife]

Walking in you should have no problems. My wife was seasick on the first seaday that night, it was rocking pretty good. The rest of the trip was pretty smooth. I have been seasick before while deep sea fishing but I never felt queasy on this trip and actually enjoy the rocking while in bed (brought me back to the crib days).

 

Thank you Destinite. I'll probably use the patches just to be safe, it also being the case that we booked a catamaran charter in Roatan, and we'll also be bobbing along in a bus to distant Mayan Ruins the first and last port days.

 

Like you, we booked a penthouse, though ours is at the stern.

 

Glad you had a nice cruise overall, embarkation hassle notwithstanding.

[newmexicoNita]

The good:

Excellent service from butler, concierge and steward. We had an SF suite. Cagney's breakfast was great. Wife's birthday was nice as they decorated the room with streamers, balloons, confetti and a beautiful rose. Best dinners were in Le Bistro and Cagneys - lobster bisque was exceptional- for that matter all of the soups we had were very good. Disembark was a breeze, we were on the interstate by 8:15 and we got home in time for kickoff of the first NFL games today.

 

The bad:

Embark from a private vehicle was a nightmare. Two cruise ships leaving the same day and only one way in to the terminal. We could see the ship from our car yet sat in a massive traffic jam for two hours! Porters and traffic cops all gave us different parking directions. I saw a few weeks ago another cruiser had the same problem and we hoped the situation had been rectified- not yet.

The pics of our suite on the NCL.com website were misleading in the balcony size, it is very small. Last week there was a rendering of two lounge chairs, two dining chairs and a round table big enough to accomodate a meal. I see now it has been removed, probably due to my complaints that I was disappointed in the balcony size. In actuality there are two small chairs and a small cocktail table- that's it.

No Second City entertainment, even though it is still advertised on the NCL.com site for the Spirit. We enjoy improv and had planned on attending all of those shows.

No Enchanted Dinner. We had looked forward to the wine paired dinner with the chef. No explanation, just told they no longer do it.

Day one was lobster and snapper nite, very small tails and they were grossly overcooked.

 

Overall, after my initial complaints the staff bent over backwards to make our trip enjoyable and they succeeded. We are already looking at the Star for next Dec out of NOLA.

 

thanks for your input into the Spirit. I bet you were disappointed about the wine paired dinner. As for the Lobster tail night, they are always overcooked I think, but it beats what we had in a specialty restaurant on another ship a few months ago: $25 later we had under cooked Lobster, I mean almost still frozen...Maybe we all need to realize Lobster and cruising do not go together too well.

 

Nita smiles

[laketimeaz]

We were on the Nov 27th sailing and had really rough seas but did not get seasick, even though I have had problems in the past.

We found the situation at the terminal to be about the same as the other posts and waited in our cab for over 1/2 hour on the way there. It is just a good thing that in NOLA the taxis have set fares. After the cruise we walked our bags back to Harrah's which was quite a haul. Which Marriott are you staying at -- that could be quite a walk!

[FLAHAM]

Lobster on board is a perpetual disappointment and should be discontinued. Lots of better choices.

[PreciousCruiser]

Sounds like I'll be ordering the Lobster and another entree along with that, to be on the safe side (which I probably would have done anyway...lol...!). I've read several posts about rough seas on this itinerary/ship. Hopefully when we cruise, it will be calm seas. I will definitely be taking my seasick meds and I'm glad I'll be midship.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about The Spirit.... :)

[InTheCruisingYearsOfLife]

... Which Marriott are you staying at -- that could be quite a walk!

 

We are at the Springhill Suites at the corner of Saint Peter Street and Saint Joseph Street. I make it out to be a 200 ft. walk east on St. Joseph, a 300 ft walk north on Convention Center Blvd, 400 feet east on Julia St, and an indeterminate distance (probably only 500 feet) south on Port of New Orleans Place and/or Belt to the Julia Street pier. All told, maybe one third of a mile.

 

Am I missing something? Thanks for your input. The bigger deal will be the one mile walk from The Quarter House (where we are staying for one week) to the Springhill Suites (where we will stay for the last night before the cruise). But I typically walk eight miles a day, so I can trivially portage the luggage in two trips. DW usually walks several miles a day, too, but lately she's been experiencing pain in her hip, so I figure I'll do all the luggage monkeying. I was a bellhop in my college days, so it always brings back memories anyway.

 

InThe

[cruisincarly]

Thanks for your review! We are sailing Spirit 1/1 and getting excited.

Sad to hear that Second City is no longer there, we were excited about that. What other shows did you go to, any recommendations?

 

Oh no! No Second City :( We were really looking forward to that....

[Sabiney]

Oh no! No Second City :( We were really looking forward to that....

 

What did they replace the Second City time slots with? Are they off the Spirit for good, or just a few cruises? Thanks

 

Pat

[PreciousCruiser]

What did they replace the Second City time slots with? Are they off the Spirit for good, or just a few cruises? Thanks

 

Pat

I'd like to know the answer to that too. Also, is there any other news about The Spirit that anyone would like to share.... :)

[happy cruzer]

How is the spa area?

 

Is there a sauna or steamroom included at no charge?

 

How was the exercise equipment?

 

Any adult only pools or hot tubs onboard?

 

Thanks for the report on the Spirit.

[rvsullivan]

Second City's contract was up and they are gone for good.

[ontdi]

I'm looking forward to more postings as well.

Too bad they couldn't add "Howl at the Moon". It was on the Epic & we thoroughly enjoyed those shows.

Surely something will replace Second City.

 

Jan1/12 can't come soon enough.

[rvsullivan]

Someone did replace them. I think it is the magic show? The only major difference I noticed from last year was, Second City is gone and magic show is now being performed.

[happy cruzer]

Any answers about to my previous post??

 

Thanks