Just Returned From 7/09/05 Spirit to Alaska

[hastingsbrass]

Hi All,

 

Most of the previous reviews have covered pretty much every aspect of this ship. I just wanted to jump in with a few of my own do's and don'ts for this ship.

 

First off, I cannot recommend the teppanyaki grill on this ship enough. For 12-15 dollars this meal was the highlight of the trip for me, and for my companions. Make your reservations as soon as possible and I promise you won't be disappointed.

 

The cruise director and his staff are amazing, if you get a chance to have a chat with any of them you will find them to be a fantastically welcoming group of people. And big props to Jeff from Toronto who did an amazing job at trivia and kareoke.

 

I personally loved the Asian decor on the ship and hope that most of it remains intact following the drydock in the fall, this ship has real personality I would hate to see that disappear.

 

In response to some of the criticisms that I have read: The storage space in out outside cabin was more than adequate for 2 of us for the week, and I promise, I am not a light packer. I found the bed to be just a comfortable as the one I had on RCI's Radiance of the Seas if not moreso.

 

Anyone who has devoured the information on these boards like I have will be prepared for any of the minor inconveniences that pop up on this ship. But overall it was an amazing trip and I can't wait to see the Star in November!!

 

Let me know if there is any other info I can provide! :cool:

[sci-tea]

What did you do in Prince Rupert? I have all my plans made except for this port. Looking for ideas. How was embarkation in Seattle? We leave in less than 2 weeks.

[hastingsbrass]

Embarkation was a breeze, this was only my second cruise, but comparing it to my first experience in my hometown of Vancouver this was a world apart. We dropped the luggage at the curb and my cruise buddy's mom and i stayed with the luggage while the guys parked the car. This was a different procedure, we went in to one building and checked our baggage, then proceded back outside and into a second building where we lined up to check in. We arrived at the pier around 1:00 and were onboard the ship by 2:15 (including time to park the car). The staff seemed to be very efficient at keeping things moving.

 

As for Prince Rupert, the 4 of us got off the ship to stretch our legs and went for lunch in a former haunt of my cruise buddy's dad (he used to work in Prince Rupert) so check out Smiles if you get a chance, yummy fish and chips. We were looking forward to wandering around town as we had no excursions booked but Prince Rupert more than lived up to it's rep as one of the rainiest cities in the world, so we called it a day and went back to the ship. From previous reviews I have read it sounds like Grizzly Bear watching is quite the trip, so if that is in your budget that may be one to look into. Prince Rupert is a typical small Canadian town, and since it doesn't have the amount of cruise ship traffic that other ports get it is a little underdeveloped in terms of offering a lot of touristy shops to wander through, although to me that is part of it's charm (call it a Canadian bias).

 

Hope you enjoy your trip as much as I enjoyed mine!!

[Hikini]

Thanks for the information in the Spirit. We will be cruising on her in September. Having been on 2 other NCL ships already, I know that minor inconveniences can happen, Mother Nature can happen and other things can happen. But we don't let little things ruin the whole trip for us. We have had excellent service with NCL in the past and totally love them.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the interior of the ship - since I live in Seattle I see it all the time on the outside!

 

Which were your favorite dining rooms, besides Teppanyaki? What types of movies were they showing in the theater?

 

Thanks for your info.

 

Hikini:D

[hastingsbrass]

As for other dining options, we ate at the Garden Room, La Trattoria, the Blue Lagoon, and Raffles Buffet. Keep an eye out for the lunch BBQ at Raffles Terrace, it is held weather permitting, and the salmon and ribs are fantastic.

 

When it comes to movies, we didn't watch any, but there were a variety of newer films being shown, such as Spanglish, The Incredibles, National Treasure, and Neverland. It looked like there was a good selection of something for everyone.

 

On another note, be sure to check out the Card Room and the Mah Jong Room, there is a great selection of board games, and we had a blast playing Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit.

[ursus]

We did the whale excursion in PR and saw at least 40 orcas, some VERY close-up and OUT OF THE WATER!

[sci-tea]

Thanks for the embarkation info. Is that Raffles BBQ held on days at sea or while in port? Do they have it more than once? How was the sailaway BBQ?

[Hikini]

Thanks for even more info. We will for sure spend time in the card room - we spent a lot of time in the one on the Star last year. We usually bring along a few games anyway...Skipbo, Dominos, Rook. Easy to carry.

 

Can't wait to depart on the Spirit in September.

 

Hikini:D

[alaskanbabes]

Do the movies in the room have a charge and if so how much is the fee? Not sure how many we would watch but the option is great to have. Thanks for the info.

[Langdak04]

just to answer a few of the above questions as i just got off the Spirit on July 16th.

 

We did not attend the sail away bbq but from what i have heard it is very good.

 

As for the Raffles BBQ's, they have 3 or 4 of them throughout the cruise, but they are weather dependant as they do it on the back of the ship and if its raining they cancel the bbq's. If my mind serves me right the bbq's ended at 330, and then end RIGHT AT 330, we just barely snuck in on one of the days, but i must say, the food is absolutely amazing. Burgers, Hot Dogs, Ribs (some of the best i have ever had), Grilled salmon as well (amazing), they have a few other things as well. I would highly recommend it to anybody out there, something you do not want to miss.

 

As for the movies in the cabins, we did not once pay to watch a movie in the cabin, they have a movie channel and they are free. They give you a guide in your stateroom on the first day inside the daily letter and welcome aboad info, it lists all the movies and all the times they play during the week.

 

Hopefully that answers the questions above.

 

Cheers!!

[sci-tea]

Thanks again. Sounds delicious. We are looking forward to it.

[sci-tea]

Thought of another question. Did your luggage fir under the bed or was there a place to store it? We are in an inside cabin and will have 2 of my sisters kids with us. It will be tight we know but are wondering about storage.

[hastingsbrass]

Luggage storage is not an issue at all, we had some serious concerns after reading reviews posted by other people, but had no trouble at all fitting 2 full size suitcases and a large garment bag under the bed.

[Twaincruisers]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Spirit. We cruised her in the Caribbean in Nov and she is one of our favorite ships...we too really liked the decor and enjoyed the specialty restaurants.

[jakkinu]

Hi,

 

 

Will be going on the Spirit on 08/27 and wanted to check if anyone has a copy of the menus that were served at Windows and also what kind of food was served at Raffles during breakfast. Another thing I wanted to ask was if the temperature inside the ship is cold or warm as the temp in Alaska will be arourd 16deg celcius so winter clothes will be needed, I wanted to know if we will use summer or winter clothes while on the ship.

 

Katya

[SailAways]

Hi:

Glad to read your review of the Spirit; sounds as though you had a great cruise. We will be on her in September - Inside Passage to Alaska.

 

Is the card room open all of the time, and do we need to make a reservation for a table? I know this may sound silly, but it seems that

some areas become over crowded quickly.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. :)

[pratzert]

Was the Bier Garten open and serving food. I just read another thrread that said the Bier Garten was closed, or at least NOT serving any food... only beverages?

 

 

Thanks

[Langdak04]

Hi:

Glad to read your review of the Spirit; sounds as though you had a great cruise. We will be on her in September - Inside Passage to Alaska.

 

Is the card room open all of the time, and do we need to make a reservation for a table? I know this may sound silly, but it seems that

some areas become over crowded quickly.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. :)

 

The card room seemed to be open 24/7.

 

Not once did i see the room full, always a table available to sit at, they have 2 side by side, the card room and the Mah Jong room so there is plenty of tables.

 

Only time i saw it fairly busy was when the teens were having a function of some sort in there.

[nobby]

Hello, everyone. I just joined this discussion.

 

I was on the Spirit 7/16/05-7/23/05. Yes, the Bier Garden was open and serving food, but we didn't happen to eat there.

 

Someone asked about the movies available onboard. There is a small theatre where you can watch the film of the day, but the show times usually seemed to overlap live performances in the Moulin Rouge, so my sister and I only saw one movie there. However, the ship also has two movie channels in your room and one of them ran the movies playing on the ship, but not at the same time as the theater played them.

 

Someone asked about excursions in Prince Rupert. We went on the three hour kayak trip at the mouth of the Skeena River. The surroundings were beautiful! I had hoped to see more wildlife, but I only saw 1 eagle, some crabs, and a seal. The tide was high when we went, and we were able to glide over rocks covered in red and brown seaweed. I enjoyed the trip. Be sure to use the bathroom before you go; they don't have facilities at the shore. They did supply water and cookies though. Also, the van driver gave us a little tour of town before dropping us off.

 

In Ketchikan, we went on the zipline course through the rainforest canopy. It was kind of scary for me, but I made it! It is new this year. I think it may have replaced a similar excursion. We saw eagles at the equipment area. For some reason, they had reindeer in a pen nearby. They may have been part of another tour.

 

We also took the Whitepass train in Skagway. It had a gorgeous view, but I kind of got bored on the way back down. There is a nice little sculpture garden in Skagway that I would recommend. Kids dressed in vintage clothing handed out newspapers as we left the ship. The papers had town maps in them. There were seals in the water by the dock.

 

In Juneau, we just did our own thing. We took a shuttle bus from the dock to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center for $10 round-trip. It takes about 20 minutes to get there and the views are marvelous! Some of the hiking trails are paved. We saw salmon in the creeks. We also saw several eagles and a beaver from the bus.

 

We were lucky enough to see a whale's tail the first day at sea while eating at Raffles. That was the only whale we saw. However, some folks we talked to went on the whale excursion from Prince Rupert and said that whales were jumping all around them.

 

We didn't like the comedian they had on board, but we liked all of the other entertainment.

 

I liked the food, except for the desserts; they lacked flavor. The Chocoholic Buffet was full of beautiful cakes and chocolates, but once again they lacked flavor. The only desserts I liked were the fruit ones - strawberry-rhubbard pie, peach cobbler, mango flambe, and blueberry crisp. All of the others tasted sugar-free.

 

Raffles had different food everyday. There were crab cakes, crab legs, crab bisque, salmon in BBQ sauce, okra massala curry, eggplant parmasian, lamb, turkey, roast beef, pizza, pasta, hamburgers, etc.

 

Someone asked about breakfast at Raffles. They had omelet and waffle stations in addition to the buffet lines. There was fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, muffins, pastries, cheese, french bread, rolls, etc. They even had fish.

 

Happy crusing!

[Don Haynes]

Last year at Prince Rupert I did a canoe excursion. It must have been the biggest canoe I have ever seen, around 20 of us rowed to the beating of the drums.... It was a wonderful way to see the harbor of Prince Rupert, from one end to the other.... We were back with plenty of time to go to the Cow village area. Ate some great Halibut in one of the restaurants there....

[SailAways]

Last year at Prince Rupert I did a canoe excursion. It must have been the biggest canoe I have ever seen, around 20 of us rowed to the beating of the drums.... It was a wonderful way to see the harbor of Prince Rupert, from one end to the other.... We were back with plenty of time to go to the Cow village area. Ate some great Halibut in one of the restaurants there....

 

Thanks for this tip Don:

Seems most folks haven't taken the time to truly enjoy P.R.

Did you schedule your canoe ride ahead of time, or purchase your tour after getting off the ship?

Sounds like a fun thing to do.

Yum - Halibut!!

Thanks again Don.

 

Also, thanks to you Langdak04 for the reply to my Card Room Question. I truly do appreciate that too.

[snorklinbarb]

hastingsbrass,

 

You mentioned how much you liked the CD and staff. What are the CD and ACD's names? Seems like NCL has so many talented, funny and truly entertaining CD's.

 

Was it you who said they'll be going on the Star? You'll love Kieron Buffery. Great voice, very involved w/the pax, always around, very funny.

[pratzert]

nobby,

 

Thanks for the info on the Bier Garten. I've been looking forward to getting some German fare at the Garten and was concerned to see someone else say they did not serve food anymore. Conflicting info, or maybe it was closed on that voyage for some other reason.

 

Do you know if they charged for movies in the room?

 

You mentioned Raffles and said it was good, what is your opinion on "Windows" or other places for eating?

 

Was the pool area crowded? Long lines for anything ?

 

What was your "Favorite" food on your cruise?

 

Thanks, Tim

[nobby]

nobby,

 

Thanks for the info on the Bier Garten. I've been looking forward to getting some German fare at the Garten and was concerned to see someone else say they did not serve food anymore. Conflicting info, or maybe it was closed on that voyage for some other reason.

 

Do you know if they charged for movies in the room?

 

You mentioned Raffles and said it was good, what is your opinion on "Windows" or other places for eating?

 

Was the pool area crowded? Long lines for anything ?

 

What was your "Favorite" food on your cruise?

 

Thanks, Tim

 

The movies are free both at the theater and in your room.

 

We ate at Windows a couple of times, but we usually just ate at Raffles. We never made it to the Garden Room, but it has the same menu as Windows. The menus for these two more traditional dining areas are posted in the landing outside during the day. The meals are more fancy than what you can get at Raffles. The service could be a bit slow, too, so it was easier to go to the buffet so we didn't miss out on the entertainment options we were interested in.

 

It was pretty chilly on deck, so there weren't that many people in the pool. There is a kiddy pool in the back of the ship decorated with a Captain Hook theme, and it seemed to be getting more use. There are four hot tubs near the adult pool and one by the kiddie pool. They were popular, but not impossible to get to. We enjoyed the view the first morning at sea from one of the hot tubs.

 

My favorite food was the okra masala curry, but I also liked the crab cakes.

[nobby]

hastingsbrass' date='

 

You mentioned how much you liked the CD and staff. What are the CD and ACD's names? Seems like NCL has so many talented, funny and truly entertaining CD's.

 

Was it you who said they'll be going on the Star? You'll love Kieron Buffery. Great voice, very involved w/the pax, always around, very funny.[/quote']

 

I can answer that. The CD was Kevin from Barbados and the ACD was Joleen from Canada.