Spirit Review Feb 06, 2016

[Medtech2]

I know I like reviews with pictures so I will try to upload as I go:

 

Comfort Inn & Suites, Cocoa Beach

 

Arrived at 8:30 pm, too late to enjoy beach. Check in was quick. Plentiful parking convenient to room. Rooms on street side do get more outside noise. Pool open until 11pm and still had people swimming. 2 for 1 coupon for drinks at the Laguna Bar on site. Bar had TV's, karaoke, nice outside patio with wooden rockers and a very large screen TV to watch games. Inside smelled like a faint mixture of mold and pine sol.

 

Property has grills available, play area, table tennis, shuffle board, volleyball.

 

Room also smelled a bit old but was livable. Very small kitchenette with a 2 burner cook top, small fridge, microwave, sink, a pot, a pan, cutlery for 2, and a few dishes. Bathroom had walk in shower, no tub. Beds were firm, about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Nice Panasonic TV with many channels. There was an Italian food menu in the room notebook that would deliver food, as opposed to outright room service.

 

Breakfast was powdered eggs and brown and serve sausage, make your own waffles, boiled eggs, cereal, etc. Bananas were totally green and uneatable unless you were staying in the area and could wait out them ripening in a few days.

 

Located 1 block from beach and right down from Ron Jon surf shop.

 

If you don't book the park & cruise package you can get a coupon for 40% off parking at the port.

 

I would consider staying here again, depending on the price. I had messed up my original booking by not booking the park & cruise package specifically so that is why we ended up with a voucher. When I called to say we'd be late the woman told me it would cost more to change my booking than just to get the voucher. After the ease in which we parked and also exited I might just stick with booking a really cheap motel that participates in the voucher system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Medtech2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

 

I have no idea what this building was but it was cool

 

 

 

Hello Spirit!

 

 

We parked and were on so quick I have no pics of the waiting areas

 

 

[Keith1010]

Thank you for the review/report.

 

Keith

[Medtech2]

We left the hotel at 10:30am and were on the ship within 30 minutes. We pulled the car around to the porters, dropped the luggage, parked, went through security and were at check in with no waiting at all. Platinum were boarding when we arrived. A quick stop at the photographer in front of the green screen and on to the ship. The buffet was open but the MDR was not open until 12. It was disappointing in that there is no steak available for lunch anymore. That used to be a nice embarkation tradition.

 

We dropped our bags at the cabin and met our steward, Arlen. I should have asked for an egg crate at that time as the beds are hard. Since we had the UBP we went ahead and got the drink special. I may not use it much as the drink made me queasy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

 

 

 

 

 

[Automation]

Thanks for doing another of your great reviews! :)

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Medtech2]

Lunch in the MDR was good but not great. The fried chicken was on the bone and a bit garlicky. It was also messy for DH to eat. It came with curly fries and a very small dish of creamed corn. I had the scallops au gratin which were basically escargot without the escargot. In other words, very small scallops in a garlic butter in an escargot dish, with a small piece of bread. I then had watermelon with a bit of basil and feta cheese. I also had a small salad with chicken. The chicken was very "herbed" and my Italian dressing was chunky with onion. The food is definitely not tasteless but my chicken was a bit tough and the lunch menu selections were limited.

 

The lifeboat drill was on deck 7 and was pretty quick.

 

The weather turned cloudy, cool, and damp. We went to the Raffles bar for sail-away to meet Grantso from the roll call. While we enjoyed the conversation that area of the ship was very quiet. The sail-away party had been moved to the Galaxy of the Stars club and when we looked in it was dead, with everyone there just sitting at tables.

 

 

 

 

scallops au gratin

 

 

a chocolate cream with orange jello on the bottom and mango cheesecake....Norwegian's desserts are just not that good to me....

 

 

a cake in the buffet

 

[Medtech2]

We walked through the buffet and stopped to get a bite of the prime rib. It was also pretty darn tough. The ship had a lot of movement when we got underway. That did not help my queasy stomach. I unpacked and DH went off to get another drink while I laid down. So far this deck 11 balcony is rolling side to side quite a bit. The cabin is also very small compared to other ships. I am glad we upgraded from the OV as I would definitely be feeling claustrophobic if I did not have the balcony. The bathroom is tiny. Oddly there is an ashtray located above the toilet paper roll, from back when you could smoke in your cabin but really? In the toilet? Please! Because we had moved cabins in the past week we did not have any information about our Platinum status, which I really wanted as this was our 1st cruise as Platinum. I would hazard a guess that whomever ended up in our OV is enjoying our Platinum coupons and invitations as we had someone's Bronze info. We stopped by the Cruise Consultant's desk as soon as it opened at 4pm to tell him and he assured us we would get it. Why that particular desk was not open the whole first day is beyond me, to tell you the truth.

 

The one bedside table is so narrow the drawer cannot hold my 28 compartment pill box, which I would normally keep there. The top of the table is pretty much taken up by the phone. Almost half the desk is taken up with the coffee maker and that is where the one 110 volt plug is located. You definitely need a power strip in this cabin. I also should have brought magnetized bag clips as there is no convenient place to put invitations or dailies.

 

The closet is more than adequate for 2 people's clothes but drawer space is minimal. The TV cabinet has the 4 small drawers, the minibar, the ice bucket and that is it. The way it is angled there is wasted space that cannot be used for storage, and definitely no counter space. The TV is set so far back on the top shelf that it cannot receive the signal from the remote unless you stand up, very inconvenient. The "sofa" is really the size of an overly wide chair. I don't know the orientation of other cabins beds but in this one the head of the bed is facing aft, so in my queasy state I am definitely feeling the motion of traveling backwards.

 

At 7:30 we went to the Welcome Aboard Show. The Officers were presented and it was then that I saw that the very nice gentleman who kept noticing us in our tie-dye T shirts was the Hotel Director.

 

We saw little previews of coming shows but the best entertainment was the Spirit Show Band. They were awesome.

 

We went to look at our embarkation photo and again the picture was so that we were blocking the ship's name and the hull art. When I mentioned this to the sales person he said they could reposition us and we should check back tomorrow. We'll see how that turns out. Last cruise the same thing happened but they did not offer this as an option. In the photo area and the shops everything on this ship is very narrow. The cabin hallways are very narrow. I'm not sure how wide the beam is on this ship but that might explain why I am feeling so much side to side motion.

 

 

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

 

 

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a6dc36b3127cceeb379a7e504e00000030O00AZNmjVq5atmYPbz4Y/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00306595546220160217165215154.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

We decided to go for "second dinner" at Shogun, since it is now complimentary. We tried the pot stickers, orange beef and special fried rice. While not as good as the top line Chinese restaurant at home, the food here is definitely a cut above your typical Chinese restaurants.

 

After, I went back to the cabin to relax and DH went out to find adventure and partake some more of the UBP. Normally I would be all about the dance parties but I am just whipped from work.

 

The ship was definitely moving side to side. The closet doors and ceiling were groaning. I could not see a way to turn off the air so I could not sleep with the balcony door open, which is a shame because it drowns out DH's snoring.

 

 

Teppanyaki

 

 

 

 

In Shogun

 

 

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a6dc36b3127cceeb36f3ebb10b00000030O00AZNmjVq5atmYPbz4Y/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00306595546220160217170533540.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[Medtech2]

From Galaxy

 

 

 

 

From Stardust

 

 

[Medtech2]

So for some reason some of the pics are not loading properly. Here are 2 from Shogun and then that is it for me today, lol....this is a very convoluted way to post pics...

 

 

orange beef and house fried rice

 

[zencruisers]

Thank you for taking the time to post pics with your review. I am enjoying them.

[NJLVW]

Really enjoying your review. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this and also to post your pictures.

[hockeyluver]

Thank you for the reivew, I will be cruising with NCL for the first time next month and trying to soak up as much info as I can !!

[BlueJai]

I am so happy to see your review! The Spirit is one of the ships I wanted to go on after seeing some the reviews/pictures in the past. We are sailing on Saturday so am really excited to read about your trip.

 

I am hoping you had a great time :)

Jai

[Vacationlover2]

I am loving your review. We go on the spirit in 38 days. Do you have menu for blue lagoon? Any food served at Biergarten?

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Clarea]

Thanks for taking the time to post the review.

[Tyskie]

Great review thus far - we were on the cruise just before you. Love your pictures [emoji4]

[johnnewlon]

We are going on the Spirit to the Carribbean in a few weeks - this is our first time with kids... so this helps them with what it will be like on this boat.

[vicocala]

We are going on the Spirit to the Carribbean in a few weeks - this is our first time with kids... so this helps them with what it will be like on this boat.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :):eek:

 

Thanks OP, I will be following along. My first cruise on the Spirit is coming up in four weeks so I will be watching with interest.

[Medtech2]

I was awake by 6. The shower was definitely on the narrow side. There is no bar to put your foot on to shave your legs so I brought in the tiny balcony table to use. Water pressure and temp were great. The shampoo was pleasant but the shower gel did not smell good to me. I ended up using the shampoo as the soap also. I had asked the steward for hair conditioner and it smelled pretty good. The hair dryer lived up to its reputation. It started as soon as you pulled it from its housing and was anemic. I could see no way to adjust heat or air speed. The nozzle shot the air out at an odd angle but I was able to get the job done. I had draped the towel over the shower door frame in order to dry it and reuse it but when I pulled it down there was a huge streak of dirt. Sure enough I wiped the top of the shower frame to find it had not been wiped or dusted in quite some time. My husband had put his shirt there and it was also stained.

 

The sky was very cloudy and dreary. We had huge thick bathrobes in our closet and I wrapped up in one and lounged around until breakfast. The ship was still moving but not as bad as last night.

 

The Meet & Greet was at 10am in Henry's Pub. At first there were very few people but soon the room was full. The crew did not come in until 10 and were introduced one at a time by the HD Carlos Dinis. Each said hello and at the end everyone but Carlos and Captain Roger Gustavsen left. They stayed to talk with everyone. I certainly appreciated talking with them but I have been to Meet & Greets where the crew came early and they all mingled beforehand. It made it nice to get to know each one and then be able to chat with them throughout the week. Both of them eventually left but the CC group stayed a good while longer engaged in lively conversation. We did not do a slot pull as there was no Wheel of Fortune machine on this ship. FYI I asked the Captain if he allowed Bridge Tours and he said fleet-wide they are no longer allowed to have people come to the bridge, for security reasons.

 

 

 

Captain Roger Gustavsen

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

The weather was still quite dark and dreary and the seas quite choppy. By the time we had lunch it was time for the Latitudes party in Galaxy of the Stars. Everyone was seated and there was no mingling. Again we told the Cruise Consultant that we had not received our Platinum packet. I made a point to speak with Luis Ulloa, the Executive Housekeeper, as I have been to his native country, Costa Rica. I also spoke with Bijesh Chandran, the Executive Chef, because 2 of the workers in the buffet had told me there were no crepes in the buffet at night. He assured me they were there so that would be a quest. Apparently Captain Roger is quite the singer because he picked up a guitar and sang a song with the band. The crew were asking people to join them in a dance and everyone got a partner except Gio, the CD. At first I assumed that was part of the act but then it did not appear so. I don't know why the ladies were not jumping up to dance with him unless it was his age, maybe? So, I stepped forward. Now, 9 times out of 10 when I do something like that someone else will step forward also, and they will be picked. But not this time, so we danced. Well, actually we stepped back and forth and talked. He is also from Costa Rica and seemed nice enough. He does not have the energy or joking nature that I have gotten from other CD's. He seemed pretty darn young and low key for a CD.

 

After the party I napped while DH went to the library and also to the port shopping talk, specifically because the flyer said everyone in attendance would get both a charm AND tanzanite earrings. Now we all know these are worthless but heck, why not, if it means I don't have to trek to the store for a trinket for DD. Well, he came back with the charm but only a coupon for the earrings. That is NOT what the flyer said....grrrr. BTW, in Costa Maya we went to the tanzanite store to get the earrings and, of course, they were out...and they were out at the next port we went to, also...

 

The show today was at 4:45pm because of the upcoming Super Bowl. It was World Beat, and was a dance show featuring different regions of the world. It was quite good. The talent on this ship is really good so far, the musicians, the singers and the dancers. Compared to my Carnival Fantasy cruise, well, there is no comparison. That ship's productions were terrible.

 

For the Super Bowl we chose to go back to the Stardust for the big screen. They had tortilla chips with toppings, wings, and hotdogs, but no drinks. They did have a few, maybe 3 waiters for the whole theatre to order drinks from. I had switched to Dos Equis during the dance show as the mixed drinks the day before had made me queasy. I stuck with those and was okay. I went back to the room to watch the half time show as again I was just so, so tired. I went to bed while DH stayed. Our team lost. Oh well. Quite honestly even if the Panthers had played well I figured the calls would go for the Broncos as this gave Manning his 200th win and he was retiring.