Norwegian Spirit Review - 12/18/11 - 12/25/11

[margaretevanescence]

It's here! Port day! Time to get off the ship and enjoy shopping and the beach!

 

Here are my Freestyle Dailies for the day.

 

I got up up early even though we weren't getting to port til around 10am. I think I was up around 6am. I was walking around making a video tour. I will post that video shortly so you can see some other areas of the ship.

 

When we got off the ship we walked around a little in the port. My aunt is a shopper and wanted to look inside a lot of the stores. They will beg you to come in and buy something, just a warning. I am not a shopper so I kept saying no. I spent most of the time recording while my aunt shopped.

 

We then walked around to the area where the taxi's were. We planned to go to Tequila Beach. I did some research and found that place out. It is cool if you want you can pay $35 which will get you a locker, beach chair, and unlimited amount of booze! Yes I said it unlimited amount of booze!

 

What's the catch! Just getting there. But luckily that wasn't so bad at all. The taxi which really was a bus cost only $3 per person to the beach and only $2 per person on the way back to port. So you will only spend $5 total per person going to and from the beach! Pretty sweet deal!

 

We got there and there weren't that many people there. That was kinda weird but no complaints. We got first dibs on beach chairs. We didn't pay for the $35 unlimited access because well I brought some alcohol and didn't want to pay for anymore.

 

The beach chairs cost us $5 per chair. That wasn't too bad either. The kayaks they had were free. I went on that for awhile.

 

For those of you into water sports they had some wave-runners they said it cost $60 for 30 minutes. I talked them down to $35. So if you want to ride a wave-runner don't pay full price, tell them $30 they will then tell you within minutes $35 for 30 minutes. Trust me that's a steal.

 

I live 10 minutes away from the beach. It is Destin, Florida. They have really pretty beaches. It is the Gulf of Mexico, anyways they charge $95 for 30 minutes and they will not let you talk them down in price either.

 

So take the $35 deal. TRUST ME. :)

 

I also had some of the food. It was good. I had fish fingers they were really good and inexpensive. I think it was $10 and I shared with my aunt. We didn't want to spend too much on food since we practically have 24 hour access to food that is already paid for.

 

My aunt wanted to get a message and she was going to get one on the cruise ship for $99 but at Tequila Beach they did a one hour message for only $30! Also a great deal, you get a relaxing message on the beach underneath the palm tress for $30 for an entire hour, I mean come on you guys, really

 

We took a taxi back to the port and hung out at the pool. I went swimming but couldn't stay because it was freezing cold. I thought the pool was beautiful and loved the swim up bar but it was too cold for me to stay in it. I am sure I would have gotten used to it if I stayed a little longer.

 

We left and walked around the corner to Senior Frogs! It was crazy and fun there! It was kind of a young crowd and reminded me of Spring Break in Panama City Beach, Florida.

 

I was called up to drink out of a large bowl filled with alcohol. It was fun until a heard of people started pushing to get a drink. I only had a sip and then I just stood there while everyone else finished. I am not really into sharing germs.

 

They also had an awesome DJ and we danced for awhile on the dance floor.

 

If you love to party, Senior Frogs is for you. I got a lot of attention from the wait staff and danced with a couple of them. I love to dance :)

 

I took some video of the area and will post the video later. I also found out they had dolphins right there at the port. They were in a separate area but people were allowed to go in there and swim with the dolphins. I don't know how much it cost. I just filmed them petting the dolphins.

 

Honestly there was no need to pay a fortune for excursions at this port. With the right amount of research you can have the same amount of fun for a third of the price.

 

We got back onto the ship around 4:15pm

 

We ate a Windows for dinner. Below are pictures of the menu at Windows.

 

After we ate dinner we saw the acrobat show at 7:15. It was wonderful. I stood in line early to get front row seating.

 

After that I went on the internet for 4 minutes and cost me $3 plus $3.95 set up fee. If you have to use the internet, get in, get out. Also, keep in mind the internet is slow.

 

After that I went to the Galaxy for the Battle of the Sexes. It was fun except for the fact the men won.

[margaretevanescence]

This video clip is a little tour of the ship. All you have to do is click on the image below and the video will play in another window.

 

[Kellit1964]

After we ate dinner we saw the acrobat show at 7:15. It was wonderful. I stood in line early to get front row seating.

 

 

How early would you suggest we arrive before show times in order to get decent seats?

 

Thanks!

[Stickman81]

Very nice review with pictures and video to boot.

 

I have a few pictures of the Spirit during your cruise as we were on the Star and in Belize and Cozumel at the same time.

 

I will post when I can as I am still working on my review and pictures plus the end of holiday visits. :eek:

[margaretevanescence]

After we ate dinner we saw the acrobat show at 7:15. It was wonderful. I stood in line early to get front row seating.

 

 

How early would you suggest we arrive before show times in order to get decent seats?

 

Thanks!

 

To get the very front seats I stood in line about 45 minutes early. But to get good seats you might not have to show up til about 20 to 30 minutes early, especially for the first showing. The second showing usually isn't as full or doesn't fill up as fast.

[margaretevanescence]

Here is the video of Costa Maya. I recorded a little of the port and Tequila Beach. I think some of it got cut off. If it did just let me know and I will re-edit the film and re-post later. To view just click the pick below and the video will open up in a different window.

 

[margaretevanescence]

Very nice review with pictures and video to boot.

 

I have a few pictures of the Spirit during your cruise as we were on the Star and in Belize and Cozumel at the same time.

 

I will post when I can as I am still working on my review and pictures plus the end of holiday visits. :eek:

 

Sounds great I look forward to it!

[Stickman81]

Sounds great I look forward to it!

 

I thought I would knock it out now.

I have the HUGE versions if you need / like.

 

 

NCL Spirit in Belize.

12.21.2011.

 

 

 

[Stickman81]

The Spirit passing the Star going to dock in Cozumel.

12.23.2011.

 

 

 

 

[onlysister]

Thank you for the pics of the Spirit. Can't wait for April Fool's Day. Taking the grandaughters for their first cruise, but they don't know it. Will surprise them when we get to New Orleans and get ready to board.

[margaretevanescence]

Thanks for the pictures! They look great!

[margaretevanescence]

It was the fourth day and it was time to see Belize!

 

I got up at 5:30am and recorded a little and watched the sunrise. If you don't mind getting up early I would recommend doing the same. Watching the sunrise going into port is a beautiful site.

 

I got in line for tender tickets at 6:50am and was the second person in line. I was able to get the first tender to shore. I needed to get off as early as possible because I had an excursion that wasn't with the cruise ship and needed to get off as early as possible.

 

They said to get tender tickets at 8:00am at champagne charlies but the guy came around 7:30am. Go early to get the earliest tender.

 

 

The line for the tender tickets wasn't that bad either in case you were wondering.

 

 

I met up with cavetubing.bz and had to wait a little for others outside the van. Luckily it wasn't that hot outside so I didn't mind standing outside looking at the water while waiting for others to join. In the summer it might be an entire different story.

 

This is where we waited.

 

Just to let you know if you are interested in going Cave Tubing in Belize don't get it with the cruise ship it will cost you $99 per person and you will not be able to see an extra cave.

 

Cavetubing.bz only cost me $45 and I didn't have to pay until after we went to the caves. We were able to see an extra cave and we were able to get free food and free rum punch.

 

The drive was about an hour. Leonel was very imformative and made the ride feel a lot shorter. He was very funny and I enjoyed listening to him talk about his country.

 

On the trip to the cave he asked to each one of us when we had to be back on our cruise ship. We were all on different ships. My ship left the latest so I didn't have much to worry about.

 

Remember if you book outside the cruise line you risk getting left but cavetubing.bz will take good care of you and will make sure it won't happen. They want to keep their business going.

[margaretevanescence]

We arrived at the caves around 10:30am. There were loads of other buses and vans. We received our tubes, helmets, and life jackets.

 

The guy to the right is Leonel our tour guide. He was an excellent guide!

 

 

The walk was kinda rough. I didn't mind but if you can't walk for 30 to 40 minutes on rocky terrain you may have difficulty.

 

Some of the guys were breathing a little heavy. But we knew once we get there we would be chillin' on the river going through caves.

 

Leonel stopped a lot to make sure everyone could catch up.

 

The caves were beautiful. We went through two caves which you wouldn't be able to do if you did the excursion through the cruise line.

 

I'm sorry the pictures didn't turn out very clear. I used a waterproof camera and had no control of the quality of the pictures. Next time I will get a waterproof bag for my cell phone and take pictures from that. At least I would know ahead of time if it turned out okay.

 

 

I didn't see any animals in the water, or any bats, or anything that could jump out to get me. If you are worried about wildlife I think you will be okay. If you get scared easily don't do the trip. Honestly, there is nothing to worry about because the company took good care of us and constantly counted us to make sure everyone was there and everyone was able to keep up.

 

But keep in mind it is the jungle and there are animals out there. Leonel said at night one time he saw a jaguar. I think we mostly don't see any because hundreds of people during the day walk the jungle in that area so animals would pretty much stay out of the way.

 

We were in a group of 12 and then we were divided again into 2 groups so 6 people were in a group in the river but 12 people walking to the caves. It was a nice small group and everyone helped each other along.

 

Leonel also had us smell plants. One smelt a little like cinnamon, which we found out was old spice. We also chewed something he picked from a plant. I don't remember what it tasted like.

 

We also saw a tarantula crawling about on the ground. He picked it up but it was really afraid and kept falling out of his hands to try to get away. He just had to walk close to it to take pictures. I took a picture of it but it didn't come out. Oh well. The women (except me) stood back. If you don't like critters just stay back, Leonel never forced anyone to look at it.

 

They are not harmful to people if you were wondering. But like anything else with a mouth it can bite.

[margaretevanescence]

Just a note if you are going to with cavetubing.bz or whoever make sure as soon as you get off the ship and find your peoples you go the correct groups. There are tons of tours going to the caves! You might get a little confused.

 

After seeing the caves which were amazing by the way, totally worth every penny we left to get something to eat. It was a restaurant cavetubing.bz owned.

 

The food was good not amazing but great to reduce starvation. Trust after burning an insane amount of calories you will want to eat something.

 

I had chicken, rice & beans, coleslaw, and rum punch.

 

 

Remember this was all included in the price, just saying.

 

After we ate we had to pay up. They asked what was the advertised price. Make sure to tell them or they will charge a few bucks more then what was advertised on the internet. That was the only thing I didn't like but who likes giving money away. LOL. I could tell Leonel felt awkward asking us for money. Each group tipped him well, he deserved it, he did such a great job!

 

We sadly had to leave and they dropped us off back at the port. The port was okay not as interesting as Costa Maya but I noticed somethings were cheaper.

 

Make sure to get a tender boat back on time or else they will leave! I got on a hour and a half before we were supposed to.

 

I ate at Blue Lagoon for the appetizer (chicken wings) and then the Garden for the entree.

 

My aunt had this whatever it was. She didn't really like the fish, she said it was a little dry.

 

I had the salmon, which was excellent.

 

We sat by the window and saw a ship. Oh and we noticed that some people were apparently late getting back because a tender boat was loading people on the ship a little after 6pm and we were supposed to leave at 6pm. We could see this from outside our window in the restaurant. I didn't take a picture of that but I did of the other ship, The Norwegian Star.

 

 

Also, while we were eating we got a disturbing message from the captain. Apparently there was a decease that some people brought onboard from New Orleans. It was GI. They had to put the ship on red alert for the remaining of the cruise. Now I know what you are thinking and that sounds terrible. The funny thing was the ship ended up being the cleanest ship and everyone was so health conscious. In a weird way it was better.

 

We couldn't go into a restaurant without (washie washie) which was a phrase they said to have us wash with the sanitizer they squirted into our hands. At the buffet we couldn't get a plate until they saw us put hand sanitizer on. There was hand sanitizer on every elevator, every restaurant, every corner, the casino, the arcade, and places you wouldn't even think of. We even had to put some on before we got onto the ship. I say that was the cleanest area in the Caribbean. Yes, it was bad some people got sick, but the good news we were insanely clean!

 

While I was on my tour in Belize in the caves my aunt did the wildlife tour which was the Belize zoo. She said it was fun and they went on a boat that went kinda fast that made her a little nervous but she said the whole trip was amazing.

 

We were done eating we went back to the room. More people put messages on the index cards. I then started to get Christmas gifts from people. Mostly candy but I thought it was so sweet, getting gifts from people I never met but gave it to me because of my door. Decorate your door, you will be glad you did. Not just for the gifts but it puts a smile on peoples faces when they walk by. I also hear people talking about the door from time to time.

[Stickman81]

Thanks for the picture of the Star.

We were on her that day.

 

When we were in Cozumel we spoke to a family at a local area restaurant that was on the Spirit. They commented about the (Noro) Virus.

 

I hope it ended well for you.

[margaretevanescence]

Here is the Freestyle Daily for Wednesday and some other random pictures.

 

Just letting you know how much a bottle of water costs on the ship if you were wondering.

 

My busy door.

 

Beautiful sunset

 

My towel buddy, Squiddy

[margaretevanescence]

Sorry for my post being out of order...:(

 

Realized that all of the video didn't play. There was still a couple minutes left on the Costa Maya video.

 

This video shows the rest of the other clip, more of the port in Costa Maya, including dolphins!

 

Just click on the picture below and the video will pop up in a different window.

 

[margaretevanescence]

Here is the video of Belize. It shows me getting off the ship and walking to meet with cavetubing.bz. The video also includes us riding to the caves and you get a feel of our tour guide and some interesting facts of the area. Just click the picture below and it will pop up in a different window.

 

[SpoiledTraveler]

Apparently there was a decease that some people brought onboard from New Orleans. It was GI.

 

LoL!! I thought you were saying that someone brought a deceased GI on board! I thought, how strange to be taking a cruise with a dead solider. LoL.. so glad that you clarified that it was people who had gotten ill! :)

[RRPro]

I'm just catching up with your review. I can already tell that you had a good trip! Looking forward to reading all your posts. You are easing the pain of us having to cancel this cruise.

Chris & Trisha

[margaretevanescence]

LoL!! I thought you were saying that someone brought a deceased GI on board! I thought, how strange to be taking a cruise with a dead solider. LoL.. so glad that you clarified that it was people who had gotten ill! :)

 

LOL! That is soooo funny! I really need to proof read my writing. I meant there was a "disease"

[www3traveler]

LOL! That is soooo funny! I really need to proof read my writing. I meant there was a "disease"

Thank you for your videos. I was particularly interested in the ship tour with your pictures of the Bridge. It was nice to see Captain Lars's head. He is real real gentleman. I have sailed with him a number of times on The Pearl. It will be nice to see him again on the 15th.

What tour did your mother do in Belize-the one that went to the zoo? It sounds like something I would like, depending on what activity level it is.

[margaretevanescence]

Thank you for your videos. I was particularly interested in the ship tour with your pictures of the Bridge. It was nice to see Captain Lars's head. He is real real gentleman. I have sailed with him a number of times on The Pearl. It will be nice to see him again on the 15th.

What tour did your mother do in Belize-the one that went to the zoo? It sounds like something I would like, depending on what activity level it is.

 

My aunt did the Wildlife tour. The level was 1. She doesn't like to do much walking and she said the level was okay with her. There was one time she had to sit on the bench. I think you will be okay though, she has problems with her knee and she said the level wasn't that bad.

 

She had a lot of fun and saw a lot of animals. She said the boat ride on the river was fun but also a little scary. The guy driving, she said, was going a little too fast. She saw a lot of crocodiles in the river too. If you love animals I think you will love this tour.

[crew mom]

Just wanted to say that I'm enjoying your review. Looks like you had a fun time.

 

I keep looking for DS in your video's on board ship but haven't seen him yet! Oh well!

[www3traveler]

Just wanted to say that I'm enjoying your review. Looks like you had a fun time.

 

I keep looking for DS in your video's on board ship but haven't seen him yet! Oh well!

Who is your son and what does he do? I will make a special point of looking for him. Mandy