Just off spirit-14 day barcelona- venice

[b_cruise]

I will post a review later as I'm still travelling but would be happy to answer any questions.

 

Here are a few things though.

 

Ports were amazing!!

 

I thought ship was in great condition and kept clean. It is getting old and needs some refurbishing( such as bathroom tiles, carpet stains etc) but it was clean.

 

Yes there is a Room service charge except continental breakfast.

 

Yes you do pay the VAT while travelling out of spain even if you have the UBP or u hit a non eu port.

 

There are spin classes offered but at odd times like when u are in port therefore only 3 worked out for me.

 

The food is good but no variety...kind of disappointing.( and I'm not a foodie)

 

Service around the pool could be improved but I just went up to the bar everytime to get a drink. There is not enough staff. Drinks are better at the pool bar and Biergarten.the piña coladas were not the same anywhere else...not sure why?

 

Chairs were available on sea days but you may end up far from pool.

 

Internet is slow and expensive but the fellow who runs it us very fair with giving time back if you feel the connection took too long ( ie 9 min to get into my email one time)

 

Shows are good!

 

Laundry service only happened in first four days. Apparently there were problems with machines.

 

I did not have UDP BUT WINDOWS AND GARDEN were good. No variety though but good service. NCL really needs to vary their menu more especially on a 14 day.

 

Very hot in venice...wow..never experienced that before.

 

Embark and disembark were fine. No long waits.

 

Buffet was good.

 

Any questions?

[cardbucfan]

Can't wait to read your review, we do this itinerary next May and also don't have UDP or UBP. Did you do ships tours or on your own excursions? That's what I'm working on now so always interested to hear folks experiences.

[b_cruise]

I actually did have UBP but not UDP

 

I used italytoursharing.com. They are great! Use ur roll call. There is also good info on ports of calls for tours.😀😀

[flapbreaker]

Do you have any idea if they were using the new menu on the spirit? I thought they were implementing new menu's fleet wide. Just curious. Also, did you pack enough cloths to not need laundry service? I was going to pack assuming I could use laundry twice during the cruise. Not sure what I would do if they didn't offer it twice.

[b_cruise]

Do you have any idea if they were using the new menu on the spirit? I thought they were implementing new menu's fleet wide. Just curious. Also, did you pack enough cloths to not need laundry service? I was going to pack assuming I could use laundry twice during the cruise. Not sure what I would do if they didn't offer it twice.

 

I'm not sure if it was a new menu but it was the same every night, lol... They would change about one or two things up a night. I thought the food was good though just lacked variety. I can understand the marketing behind it though because perhaps that encourages people to purchase the pay restaurants.

 

This was my first NCL and if I were to compare the food and service to carnival, carnival would win by a mile. NCL would win for entertainment. Both lines are fairly the same though in my opinion.

 

 

I washed some clothes in shower. I'm still on holidays and had to buy a couple shirts lol...

[Lexi03]

We are going in 4 weeks!!! :)

I really hope they fix the laundry machines.

 

Kind of disappointing about the food, but I wasn't impressed with the food on our last NCL cruise either so I'm not surprised - we picked this one for the interary and the price!

 

Did you see if there was a chef's table on this cruise?

[b_cruise]

We are going in 4 weeks!!! :)

I really hope they fix the laundry machines.

 

Kind of disappointing about the food, but I wasn't impressed with the food on our last NCL cruise either so I'm not surprised - we picked this one for the interary and the price!

 

Did you see if there was a chef's table on this cruise?

 

Yes I believe there is chefs table.

 

Can not beat the itenerary....it was super!! I'm sure the laundry will be working too. You will love it!!

[Educators2]

What time were the shows?

Did you dock or tender in Mykonos?

We're there any street demonstrations in Istanbul that affected the cruise? It was in the news here this past week that thee were problems in Istanbul.

We are going in October and have done many of the ports before. What ports were easy to do on your own? I think a tour is needed out of Livorno and Civitavecchia.

 

Sure hope the laundry is working. We travel light!

 

Enjoy your travel.

Thanks for posting,

Susan

[b_cruise]

What time were the shows?

Did you dock or tender in Mykonos?

We're there any street demonstrations in Istanbul that affected the cruise? It was in the news here this past week that thee were problems in Istanbul.

We are going in October and have done many of the ports before. What ports were easy to do on your own? I think a tour is needed out of Livorno and Civitavecchia.

 

Sure hope the laundry is working. We travel light!

 

Enjoy your travel.

Thanks for posting,

Susan

 

1. We docked in mykonos...no tenders at all.

2. The demonstrations start in late afternoon in the square. The traffic gets heavy getting back to ship. Do not be concerned about demonstrations...totally unaffected..try to get a guide that takes the trams then u won't have to deal with traffic. I can get the name of our girl...it will just take a week or so cause I'm not home yet and have to contact the fellow cruiser who booked her.

3. NCL charges 12 each way out of the livorno port, so I recommend tours for sure. I recommend italytoursharing.com. I used them in naples, rome and livorno.

 

I have done rome on my own and athens...very easy.

 

If I was budgeting, I would do the following ports on own,

Rome

Athens

Mykonos

MONTENEGRO

Dubrovnik

Istanbul

 

I would book tours in

Naples...italytoursharing positano sorrento restaurant

Livorno...I love going to cinque Terre or florence or tuscany

Kusadasi...Ephesus

Toulin...get a taxi share or take train or get a wine tour

[Educators2]

Thanks. Great suggestions.

[portcbob]

Hi B cruise.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise on the Spirit. We did the Spirit a couple of years back, similar cruise but 12 nighter. We have to be honest, we thought there was something missing on the Spirit. It just wasn't quite as good a ship as the Jade and Star we have also been on. I totally agree with you about the food menus. The menu hardly changed at all from night to night. We also found the entertainment to be not up to normal great standard, particularly the ships bands in various venues. All in all we had a good time in the Med but probably wouldn't pick the Spirit again. Just our views.

 

Cheers Bob & Christine.

[flapbreaker]

Did you ever try the buffet and was the selection any better? I've only sailed RCL and have always enjoyed their MDR as well as most of their buffet options.

[flapbreaker]

Oh, one more question, how was the motion on the ship. Just curious since its smaller than most ships if there is a lot of rocking. Wasn't real sure if the Mediterranean seas a generally calmer than open ocean.

[b_cruise]

Yes we ate at the buffet a lot . Same thing... Not varied from night to night but food was good.

 

Oh I did forget to mention the poolside bbq on sea days were outstanding!!!

 

MOTION. My daughter felt it but only two nights but we were deck 5 front. I didn't feel at all but we got her Bonine from gift shop and she was fine

 

Feel free to keep asking any questions,, it's my pleasure.. Almost home now, one more short flight😀

[flapbreaker]

We will be staying 3 days in Barcelona and 3 days in venice. Any tips on seeing the sights or great places to eat? How far out did you book your flights?

Edited July 26, 2015 by flapbreaker

[b_cruise]

We will be staying 3 days in Barcelona and 3 days in venice. Any tips on seeing the sights or great places to eat? How far out did you book your flights?

 

I booked all three times I've been about ten months out and all three times watched closely for flight drops. In my experience, the prices remained pretty steady ( within 100-150) we flight up until about six weeks before. Then the prices increased substantially. The bonus though to booking 9-11 months before is seat selection ( maybe economy plus) because on a nine hour flight in my case, extra seat pitch can make a big difference. Or some planes have two seats which is nice if u don't want a stranger sleeping on u lol

 

Sorry I don't have great suggestions for eating. But I do encourage a bus boat from Venice to burano. We had a good meal there buried don't recall the name.

[b_cruise]

For sight seeing check out the ports of call board on cruise critic. Ripple post awesome directions and info.

 

In Barcelona get your tickets to the sights before you go. ( ie. Sagrada fam)

[flapbreaker]

Thanks for the info. I am eyeing Cyber Monday for flights next August. Not sure if there are really flight deals then but the timing might be right.

[b_cruise]

Yep rumour has it book on Mondays or I've even heard Tuesday's are best and be a bit flexible with flying in and out tues-Thursday. Also try different airports such as Paris and then train. I'm looking at flying into Dublin next year and then flying to bcn. About 200 cheaper.

Watch the cruise critic board under air travel. Good tips come up on there.

[Sonora5]

We will be staying 3 days in Barcelona and 3 days in venice. Any tips on seeing the sights or great places to eat? How far out did you book your flights?

 

Last time in Barcelona we ate at a fabulous restaurant, Arume. Best paella ever, fabulous octopus appetizer, yummy blackberry mojitos.

 

We like the HOHO bus in Barcelona, and we also did a segway tapas tour that was a lot of fun.