Review of the Spirit 3/19-28

[IluvZ]

We traveled on the NCL Spirit in Cabin 105002. Additional family members were also in cabin 10002, which is identical on the opposite side of the ship. We have previously been on the Spirit twice, both out of New Orleans as well as five other NCL ships. The traveling party consisted of myself and husband (mid-40’s), our DS (9), my in-laws (mid-60’s) and my SIL.

 

Before this cruise, you could categorize me as an NCL cheerleader. We have sailed other lines, include Carnival, Celebrity, and RCCL. However, we loved the Suite Life on NCL and have not considered any other lines in the last 8 years. However, we are booked on a Disney Cruise in November at request from another family member and we have been considering MSC for in the Yacht Club for next spring break.

 

I spend a lot of time prior to our cruise researching items on Cruise Critic and I thought I would share our thoughts on the voyage and answer questions people have as well.

 

Overall, the family rated the cruise an 8, as we did have an excellent time. However, as a group, with the exception of our DS, we felt we won’t be doing any additional cruises in the near future. (Excepting the already booked Disney). I will try my best to explain our thoughts/reasons behind this thought process.

[IluvZ]

We started our journey with a five day stop over in Switzerland with the In-laws. Three nights were spent at the Park Hyatt Zuich in their Park Suite and two nights in Lucerne in a junior Suite at the Renaissance Lucerne. We also overnighted in Barcelona for one day pre-cruise and had four nights post cruise.

 

The Park Hyatt room and overall hotel was amazing. It was in a great location, had amazing amenities and staff. The average rate per day at the Hyatt was very similar to what I paid for the Suite on the Spirit. Of course, the Spirit included food for that same per day rate. It didn’t not have a butler (LOL)!

 

The Park Hyatt room include similar amenities to the Spirit - fresh fruit daily, great coffee machine, free water, and twice daily turn-down service. In addition, the provided us an anniversary present - cake, wine, chocolates and flowers. It was a special touch. We order room service breakfast a few days and paid an average of 30 francs total for breakfast delivered. The food was delicious, the service was excellent and we felt this was a tremendous value. We had drinks three times in the hotel, and they were expensive even by Zurich standards. However, the staff was excellent and the Onyx Bar in particular had a wonderful atmosphere. Average mixed drinks were 14-18 francs and beers ran 6 francs. Overall, we loved the hotel and it became our bar for the rest of the trip. We can’t wait to return.

 

The Renaissance Lucerne was disappointing by comparison. According to their website, the junior suite was to have a separate sitting area. When we checked in, we were told only one room in the hotel had that sitting area, and it was already booked. We ended up with what I would consider is a superior suite with a sofa. However, the location was excellent and the staff was good, so we still enjoyed the stay.

 

Finally, on the way to the cruise we were to spend on night at the Renaissance Barcelona downtown. When we arrived, they were over-booked and transferred us to the Renaissance Fira, which is quite a ways outside of the downtown area. We heard from the Fira front desk that this happens quite often. Although the Fira is a very cool hotel, and we did love the room, I wouldn’t recommend the location for tourist. It isn’t in walking distance to any of the top attractions and it is in a very convention oriented part of town. The hotel picked up the cost of our rooms for the night, gave us complimentary breakfast as well as a taxi ride to the port. At this point in the trip, my SIL joined us.

[gbntmom]

Will be on the Spirit in June! Eagerly following your review!~

[portcbob]

Hi Guys.

 

Did you enjoy the ship.???????:):):)

 

Wife and I doing the Med in late May.

 

Cheers Bob & Chris.

[Navy60]

Okay, and? Am I missing something here or did OP forget something?

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

[IluvZ]

Hi Guys.

 

Did you enjoy the ship.???????:):):)

 

Wife and I doing the Med in late May.

 

Cheers Bob & Chris.

 

Hi Bob & Chris,

Overall we do love the Spirit. She is a great size and offers a lot. We had some issues with our cabin, though and wouldn't pick that particular one again.

 

Okay, and? Am I missing something here or did OP forget something?

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

 

I am posting as I get sections written so I can answer questions as I go along. I am just posting the next section now.

Edited April 6, 2014 by IluvZ

[IluvZ]

We left the Renaissance Fira at 10:30 and arrived at the terminal a little before 11:00 am. At that time there were no people checking in, it was probably the quietest check-in I ever saw. We were eligible for the VIP check in line, which was clearly marked at the end of the counters and there were also people there to direct us to that location. It took about 10 minutes to get checked in and we were then escorted to the suite waiting room. At that point, I decided to try and buy some wine to take aboard the ship at the wine store in the terminal. They had on offer a number of buy one/get one free bottles for wine so I purchased two spanish reds as well as one bottle of Sangria for €5. The two bottles we €16 for two. The clerk recommended that I put the bottles in my bag instead of carrying them open, which I did. There was a desk set up just before the ship entry, where you could pay for the corkage fee. We did not stop. In the end, the wine was corked in the first bottle and the second wasn’t very good. We ended up only drinking 1/2 of the two bottles. the Sangria was actually excellent and I had wished we had bought more of that.

 

At 11:20ish, our concierge came to introduce herself and go over the items on the ship. It was Yahrina. She told us about both unlimited dinning, and also mentioned that the unlimited drink package would be available as well. The group next to us was surprised to hear they could buy the unlimited drink package, as their travel agent had told them it wasn’t available for spring break. We took information on the Wine Package, which was also available to buy as we thought we would get a three or six bottle package.

 

Just after 11:30, Rolondo, the hotel director came into the lounge to introduce him self and to tell us the ship was ready to board. He introduced himself to everyone, which was a nice touch.

 

Yahrina escorted us with one other group on to the ship, including a stop at the photographer station. She left us at Cagneys, which was doubling as a concierge lounge as the staterooms were not ready. The other group wandered off at reception and so we were the only ones in Cagneys.

 

Although we were overly hungry because the Fira had an excellent breakfast, since the rooms weren’t ready we decided to have a light lunch. The food was good but the service was spotty. It was obvious that they had a number of new wait staff and it took a little bit to get each item right. One nice feature that day was they had games in the room so we played some Yahtcee with our DS, as he wasn’t hungry at all. It took us over an 1 1/2 to have lunch, which was fine as we were waiting for Yahrina or an announcement to tell us our rooms were ready. Neither happened by the time we were done so we just wandered up to our deck to check on the rooms. A note: We never heard an announcement that the cabins were ready so I don’t know if they didn’t make it or if they didn’t allow non-suite guests on the ship until the cabins were open.

 

It appeared that our rooms was ready when we arrived, although it wasn’t completely set up. I had brought our sons swim trucks in our carry-on so we decided to head out to the kids pool. The kids pool itself was heated and the area around it was often the warmest place on the boat. That made the back of deck 10-12 the busiest location as well. We were not able to find lounge chairs in the back that day, or any day. However, there was always a table or two higher up that was free. It was interesting to note that there weren’t that many people on the ship at this point, around 2:00 but they all seemed to be on the back deck. When we walked down the hall, most of the room doors were still open but ready for guests.

 

Our son swam for 1/2 an hour and then went for another ~ hour on the sports deck, where he met another DS his same age. After, we signed him up for the kids program and found out their were 80 total kids on board with 20 in his age group. Of those 20, we found about 1/2 spoke english. It was quite an international group of kids in his group - Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Canadian and US. They did combine his age group 6-9 with the 10-12 for a number of activities and they had all the kids from 3-12 participate in the pirate parade, which we had not seen before.

 

The muster drill was held at 4:00 and it was a very easy process for us. We checked-in and stood for about 5 minutes listening to their instructions in three languages. After we were immediately dismissed. Interestedly, our In-laws and SIL had a different experience. They were made to stand by height in their muster station and their co-ordinator actually split up families to arrange people by height. It made a number of people upset, include our family as my MIL was quite a ways away from my FIL. I didn’t understand how two drills could be so different.

 

We relaxed in our cabin until the kids club opened that night, feed out DS through room service. He was itching to go to the club and it didn’t open until 8:00. That was the latest it ever opened, and it felt like an eternity to a kids who was so excited to go meet up with new friends.

 

The timing of the kids club ended up effecting our dinner that night as well. We went to Champagne Charlies for pre-dinner drinks with one of the couples we had just met on the cruise, they had DS same as as our son. By the time we had DS check-in, we made it to Champagne Charlies around 8:20. We had two drinks while listening to music (both were quite good!). We had planned to have sushi that night and so we wandered off to get food sometime after 9:30. When we got to the sushi bar it was already closed! Ugh. It seem really early to close. So we ended up collecting our son and heading to Blue Lagoon for cheeseburgers as the buffet was closed as well.

[rocklinmom]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review! We will be on the Spirit in June, on the reverse order itinerary of yours. :)

[IluvZ]

The previous two times we were on the Spirit, we had the Pisces Suite, which is on deck 10 forward. This time, we upgraded to the Singapore Suite to get the second bathroom and two balconies. Most the of the information written about this suite was fairly old and some of it was actually inaccurate.

 

At some point since we had last been on the Spirit, the ship has converted a number of the old 220V plugs over to 110. This is a big improvement as there are an equal mix now of 110 and 220 outlets. In addition, they have removed the large transformer boxes that use to sit on the floor in front of the TVs.

 

The new sofa bed is quite comfortable. We were very impressed with the design and how comfortable it was for our DS. A number of nights we got a DVD to watch after the kids club closed and all three of us laid in our DS’s bed watching the movie. Given the size of this bed, I am surprised that NCL won’t book four people into the cabin as it could easily accommodate that many.

 

We were able to use our front balcony at any time we would like, although there is a sign noting to not use it in high winds or high seas. If the door isn’t dogged, there is a significant whistle when the other balcony door is open. It was particularly loud if it was windy.

 

The front balcony was usable only a few days while out to sea as we did have some high winds (30-40 mph with gusts to 60). However, we could always use the side balcony if the front was too windy. And we loved the front view, especially going into Casablanca and the Canary Islands.

 

Overall, the cabin is in good repair and the master bed room bed was very comfortable. However, given the upgraded charge for this suite over the Pisces Suite, unless we were traveling with 3 people, I think the Pisces is just as nice. We could be happy in either one.

 

Our In-laws and SIL had the Malaysian Suite, which is identical in design but has much darker wood. When we saw pictures on-line, we thought the light wood cabin would feel more airy, but the dark wood color made the cabin feel more luxurious. Either is a great choice.

[buckeye82]

The previous two times we were on the Spirit, we had the Pisces Suite, which is on deck 10 forward. This time, we upgraded to the Singapore Suite to get the second bathroom and two balconies. Most the of the information written about this suite was fairly old and some of it was actually inaccurate.

 

At some point since we had last been on the Spirit, the ship has converted a number of the old 220V plugs over to 110. This is a big improvement as there are an equal mix now of 110 and 220 outlets. In addition, they have removed the large transformer boxes that use to sit on the floor in front of the TVs.

 

The new sofa bed is quite comfortable. We were very impressed with the design and how comfortable it was for our DS. A number of nights we got a DVD to watch after the kids club closed and all three of us laid in our DS’s bed watching the movie. Given the size of this bed, I am surprised that NCL won’t book four people into the cabin as it could easily accommodate that many.

 

We were able to use our front balcony at any time we would like, although there is a sign noting to not use it in high winds or high seas. If the door isn’t dogged, there is a significant whistle when the other balcony door is open. It was particularly loud if it was windy.

 

The front balcony was usable only a few days while out to sea as we did have some high winds (30-40 mph with gusts to 60). However, we could always use the side balcony if the front was too windy. And we loved the front view, especially going into Casablanca and the Canary Islands.

 

Overall, the cabin is in good repair and the master bed room bed was very comfortable. However, given the upgraded charge for this suite over the Pisces Suite, unless we were traveling with 3 people, I think the Pisces is just as nice. We could be happy in either one.

 

Our In-laws and SIL had the Malaysian Suite, which is identical in design but has much darker wood. When we saw pictures on-line, we thought the light wood cabin would feel more airy, but the dark wood color made the cabin feel more luxurious. Either is a great choice.

 

We were in the Phillipines suite (10000) and really enjoyed having an extra 1/2 bath. But I think I would have prefered the lighter wood tones. I felt it was dark and cold. Don't get me wrong, nice cabin. I am just used to lighter brighter colors. Did you ever wake up in the night to the sliding bedroom door sliding back and forth? Or maybe you had it locked shut (which we finally did!). We found the motion in front to be a little too much. We are moving back more on the next cruise. Also, my husband was not crazy about the glass toilet door or the curtained entrance into the master bathroom. The opening of the balcony was always an adventure! lol

[AF-1]

Thank you for posting; your in depth description of everything is great.

[wnycruisefam66]

Great Start! We'll be on the Spirit in June, can't wait to read more!

 

Tina

[rfkeith10]

Robin---Thanks for the great review. We have never sailed on the Spirit but will probably book a trip very soon. We are looking at cabin 10502 or maybe 10002. We have sailed in the front of the Pearl so we know what a challenge it can be opening the door to the front balcony.

 

You mentioned in your review that you experienced a few issues with the cabin. Would you share what those issues were? Also which cabin would you recommend---10502 or 10002?

 

Thank you so much,

 

Ray