Live from Spirit - 12/27-1/6

[maria1963]

Really loving following you. We are on the same itinerary on Feb 13th, our first with NCL so really interested in your views!

[notes21]

DAY 6 – SANTA CRUZ, TENERIFE

 

We have been so lucky so far with weather this cruise. (Hope I didn’t jinx us!) Today was a high of 69 and sunny which was good as we were heading to see Mt. Teide. Another early wake-up and room service breakfast behind us, and we were off on our Mt Teide and Scenic Drive excursion. I had heard that if you could only see 1 thing in Tenerife that this was the thing to see. We had done a “Best of…” tour yesterday, and we try to mix it up some so that every day isn’t really long. This was a very nice tour, and the views were amazing. There was a stop on the way up for tea, coffee, or hot chocolate and biscuits, and then we stopped there again on the way down for a restroom break. There were views at that little restaurant, and then I think there were 3 other locations that we stopped at with the crater high point being about a 30 minute stop. The only downside to the tour was that the guide was very hard to understand. I probably only got about 1/3 of what she said. Thankfully, the views could be understood without too much explanation.

 

Once back at the port, we went to a souvenir shop right in the area and then back on the ship to eat lunch at Raffles and have some down time reading on the balcony. We ate dinner at Windows, and I got the beef & lamb meatballs with couscous. I normally like that, but it was just okay that night. The show was Aleksandra, a Russian electric cello player. She tried to mix some lighter pieces with more serious ones. For me, it felt a little too much like work, and I had a hard time turning off my critical teacher ears and just enjoying it.

[notes21]

Tom -

1. How was the weather...is a light jacket sufficient or is a heavy coat required in Barcelona and at the various ports of call? - Dad and I packed a combination of short sleeve/ long sleeve shirts and then have a sweater/thin pullover, sweatshirt, and a raincoat style jacket. In Barcelona, I wore a 3/4 sleeve shirt with the jacket, but most of the other days I've used just the lighter sweater or sweatshirt. Today, I wore the jacket but more for the rain possibility than temperature. Mom is always freezing, even in Tampa, so she bundles up a bit more. We've have highs in the mid-upper 60's so far everywhere. It was colder on Mt. Tiede though yesterday, but my sweatshirt did okay.

2. Did most passengers dress up or down in the evening...NCL seems to run the full spectrum, but Europeans tend to dress up a bit more.....clothing suggestions would be appreciated. While I like the idea of dressing for dinner more, the cost of luggage to do that was really prohibitive for us (delta charges $100 for 2nd bag each way). I do think the Europeans tend to dress up a bit more than I expected at least with freestyle. We all brought pair of pants or two that were nicer with a few nicer shirts & have never felt out of place.

3. Did NCL choose the air line and route through JFK? I was looking at American via Miami. Wondering if the departure time on the return dictates the airline....American being 11:05 and Delta at 12 noon. If you go through the normal air department, they chose everything, but Dad also preaches part time and had to do the Sunday morning service so we needed afternoon departures. That threw us into specialty air which was a $50 fee but gave us more freedom to choose the flight. I had spent some time on orbitz and other sites before calling NCL so that I knew the options/prices. Sounds like you are doing that as well.

Thanks for your insight and overall comments. You're welcome, and I hope that you will enjoy this cruise as much as we have so far!

Tom

Edited January 2, 2017 by notes21

[cosmosmommy]

I'm very much enjoying your cruise diary. I will be on the Spirit in April/May on the Venice-Barcelona cruise. I will be traveling with my mother (she's 78). This is her first trip to Europe. I wish my dad had taken the opportunity to go to Europe when he was healthy and could have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, he passed last year. I'm glad you have great traveling companions in your parents.

 

Jeanne

[notes21]

DAY 7 – FUNCHAL, MADEIRA

Well, apparently I did jinx us on the weather, lol. Madeira has a microclimate anyway where you should expect anything and/or different weather every 300 meters higher, but it was quite windy and overcast making us dock late in port. We had breakfast in our room again, but this time I asked for French toast (not on the little card) & got it. The list in the folder in the room of what is complimentary or paid for does not match what is on the little card that you stick on your door, but French toast was on the paid for list so we tried it. Just forgot to ask for syrup which we’ll have to remember to do the next time. Mom also added yogurt which is on the free list but not card & got it as well.

 

We had originally booked best of madeira but upon realizing it was 30 dollars more and probably the big difference was the wine lodge which we wouldn’t partake in, I had gone down the previous day to see if I could switch it to Madeira’s Breathtaking Beauty. The staff were very nice and said that wouldn’t be a problem since there was still room and they were run by the same company. So, even though the tickets say 48 hours notice for cancellation, if you want to do an exchange it is worth talking to them about it.

 

Madeira’s Breathtaking Beauty started with a coach ride to Monte where we took the toboggan ride down. This was great fun, and I videoed with my camera the whole way down which also let me snap some good pictures of views. I’ll be honest that I was a bit scared before starting, but it ended up being so much fun! The ride finished at an area that had some gift shops, and they sold pictures for 10 euros that they took of you on the ride. There were also restrooms here. I ended up buying a cork purse and magnet from here; so, I liked the shops. We didn’t see the cork purses anywhere else that day. The bus met us there, and we proceeded to try to go to a mountain top at 6,000 ft.. As soon as the bus started moving, it started raining, and the upper areas in the mountains were covered in fog/clouds. After a short time with it getting worse not better, our guide called the company to see if it was worth going on up or should the plans change. The company said that visibility was 0; so, we made a stop in a little village instead that had a pretty stream, a pancho/drinks place, and a little souvenir shop. It was disappointing to not see the views from the mountain top, but I get carsick and have been having to take Zofran nausea medicine before each of these bus rides to begin with; so, I didn’t mind not doing another few minutes of hairpin turns up those roads. I found out later that since the best of Madeira went to a mountain/valley stop of only 4,000 meters, they were actually able to make their stop and had visibility.

 

The next stop was another little village where there was a wicker exhibition as wicker working is supposedly done by locals in their homes, like their embroidery, and then brought in to the shop, etc. Well, anyone who has ever done any type of tour land or cruise should know that an exhibition is really just a place where they show you a few things & maybe how it is done but primarily they are hoping that you will buy things. I knew this from the description. The bottom floor of the building did have really intricate pieces, and upstairs in a corner was a woman making bowls (but you had to go out of the main shop area to find her). I got a little wicker bowl for less than 4 euro, and my mom got a larger one for around 10. So, this place was definitely not price gouging by any means. When we got back on the bus, there were 2 individuals (I think maybe an aunt & nephew) that were just really giving it to the guide about how this tour didn’t match the description, this was supposed to be a village stop and it was just mass marketed junk, etc. I felt really bad for the guide as she has nothing to do with the description in the ncl information, and she couldn’t control the weather. Yes, we ended up at more shops because of the weather issue, but there were still beautiful views all through the tour even from the bus. I think these two would have complained the same way if we’d gotten up there and had no visibility as well. The guide was just doing the tour she was told to do.

 

There was one more stop for views of funchal and the ship. We got back to the ship around 1, and we decided to go ahead and get on as we had done lots of shopping. We ate at Blue Lagoon again and the food was still good (chicken tenders, fish & chips, and chicken sandwich with starters of chicken wings and spinach/artichoke dip), but it came a lot slower than the time before and they weren’t filling bar drinks, even soda…you had to go next door and get them yourself. Not a huge deal, but you could tell that they had been much busier throughout the day than the previous time we went. I don’t care for the desserts at Blue Lagoon so we went up to Raffles to see what they had. The peach cobbler was really good. Then it was read and relax time for all of us. Mom & Dad went back to the room, and I went to the loungers on 11 aft under Raffles Bar. When they make up the little couch bed for the day, there is really no where for me to lay down in the room, and those loungers have been open most of the time. This worked great until it began to pour, and then I gathered everything quickly and ran inside & back to the room. We are midship and dad was on the balcony with no rain in sight which was a bit bizarre. So, I sat out there with him until it began to rain 30 minutes later there. I did end up taking a bit of a nap, but it was in a very weird position as all my bedding & pillows are always left on the left side of the pullout bed; so, my head went on them and I put my feet on the actual bed. I felt a bit like a pretzel, lol.

 

Dinner that night was at Windows again, and Dad and I had the steak Dianne with mom having country fried chicken. It was good, but didn’t hold a candle to the Cagney’s or the New Years steaks. For dessert, I had a strawberry napoleon which again was delicious. I don’t remember my parent’s desserts. The show was supposed to have been flyadage, the cirque style act, but an announcement had been made that the boat had too much movement for them to perform. So, Michelle (some Italian last name) sang instead. She was good but a fairly typical lounge singer type of act. I don’t know that I would go to see her again. Mom and I stayed for Deal or No Deal for a little while but the ship’s movement was just so much (& we’d been sitting at the aft for almost 4 hours now) that we went back to the room for me to take more nausea meds. I ended up taking a Zofran and an hour later having to put on a scopamine patch. The combo at least helped me fall asleep with all that rocking.

[Jammy Bun]

Thanks for your very informative report - we're taking our first cruise on Spirit in a couple of weeks time, and a lot of the stuff you've posted has been really useful!

[PaulInPGH]

Really appreciate you taking the time to provide a review. We're very strongly considering doing a 10-day Western Med cruise on the Spirit in October.

[notes21]

I'm glad people are finding the review helpful!

Kierste - I added the entourage papers for the week into the folder I shared. That link again is - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/691bi1u4b9srmta/AADNIvlbR7J3Gw_ThVwGueZPa?dl=0

[Kierste]

I'm glad people are finding the review helpful!

Kierste - I added the entourage papers for the week into the folder I shared. That link again is - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/691bi1u4b9srmta/AADNIvlbR7J3Gw_ThVwGueZPa?dl=0

 

You are the best! Thank you!

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Hopefully this link will work so that you can see the dailies there -- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/691bi1u4b9srmta/AADNIvlbR7J3Gw_ThVwGueZPa?dl=0[/quote

 

Thank you so much! Link works, and these are a great help for me. I hope you have a great time on the rest of your holiday, I'll keep following x

[notes21]

DAY 8 – SEA DAY

Today was another sleep in late day which we thoroughly enjoyed. I got a massage at 11, and we ate lunch at the biergarten after I got done. Otherwise, we pretty much just relaxed and read in the room and/or various locations around the ship. We had dinner tonight at LeBistro. We each got the quatre cornets (savory cones filled with salad, pear blue cheese & walnut, duck confit, and smoked chicken salad), and enjoyed them all. Dad & I got the onion soup, and Mom got the mushroom soup. For dinner, mom had shrimp, I had beef tenderloin, and dad had swordfish. Dessert was crème brulee for dad and I with profiteroles for Mom. I think we all were pretty pleased with our meals, and I would definitely go back to Le Bistro on a future cruise. We had hoped to make the magic show tonight, but dinner ran too long. We did go to galaxy of the stars to hear the broadway cabaret by the production show singers, and I thought they did a very nice job. There were still some balance issues, but that is really the audio guys not the singers themselves. We also had a very large, loud group of people behind us that talked the entire time but that venue I think is always going to lend itself to that. Lahambra is tomorrow with a 7 am meeting time; so, we were off to the room after that to get our stuff together & hopefully get to sleep somewhat early.

[Kierste]

What options are their to order at the bier garten? I can't seem to find a menu online for it... seems you all like to eat there!

[notes21]

Kierste - The biergarten is on deck 13 above the pool deck so you can hear the music, feel the breeze, & not be in the middle of too much craziness. It has burgers, hot dogs, sausages, chicken breast etc for build your own sandwiches with fries, potato salad & fruit. Raffles is fairly busy & noisy with the tendency to overeat bc of wanting to try everything. So when we haven't been really hungry the biergarten has been a nice choice.

[notes21]

DAY 9 MALAGA, SPAIN

For this day, we chose the Granada and Magnificent Alhambra tour which met at 7 AM. That was too early to be sure we’d get room service; so, we went to Raffles to their early breakfast which is just yogurt, cereal, and pastry items. I get very carsick and had been taking a nausea pill before every tour, but with this tour being so long I had thought to ask the shore excursion staff if they could reserve me a seat because of it. They were happy to do so, and the first seat had a paper on it saying reserved for our stateroom. That was much easier than trying to run and be the first one out like I’d done the other days. I wouldn’t request it for every tour but with 2+ hours of driving each way it was very helpful.

 

They did break up the drive by having a bathroom/ coffee stop about an hour and 15 minutes in which was helpful. Oh, a quick tip, if you make this tour just be aware that the temperature is very different in Granada vs Malaga. It was only about 42 F at the rest stop, and Malaga/the dailies had said 70 F for the day; so, some people were not dressed warm enough. The first stop once in Granada was to an overlook of the city. Then on to the main event – La Alhambra. The tour description is appropriate; it truly was magnificent. We had a very good guide for the tour, and it was a good pace (never too rushed or too long in any one spot). We saw the gardens & the courtyard of the Generalife first and then went over to the ruins and main palaces that you think of when you hear Alhambra. The tour was around 2 hours.

 

When we got to the bus area, we waited and then a new bus showed up, and we were told the other one had broken down. All of the stuff left on the bus had been moved over. We then went to the city center of Granada where we were dropped off around 1:10 and given until 2:20 to get lunch, look around or whatever. When it came time to meet the bus, the original bus showed back up;. This caused some problems as a few items did not get transferred this time around – a hat and a bag of souvenirs bought at the first rest stop. Our guide was just like “oh well” about it at first & a bit defensive about it, but the person who lost their souvenirs was rightfully pretty upset about it. Some calls ended up being made, and we ended up driving to the bus garage that the other bus was at to get the items. Those of us on the bus were very glad it was made right, but all of that took time and it was now obvious we were going to be pushing it timewise. Thankfully, the guide still had us do a quick rest stop in the same area as before as several people, myself included needed it. It was about 5:45 when the bus pulled into the port. I’d never been late back from any excursions, and now on this trip it happened twice. They were very long/full day excursions though, and thankfully, we were booked on NCL excursions so the ship waited.

 

We did Shogun for dinner which was fine. Not my favorite food on the ship but nothing wrong with it either. Though I didn’t care for the 5 spice chocolate cake. The show was Elements, and it was really good. It uses the magicians and acrobats with the production cast dancing. It had been a long day/ early morning; so, we went back to the room to rest and relax after the show.

[notes21]

DAY 10 – ALICANTE, SPAIN

 

Today was a later excursion; so, we went to Raffles for breakfast before heading to the theater for our 9:30 meeting time. One of the shore excursion staff remembered me, and asked if I wanted to go ahead and get our stickers so that I could get a front seat. This was so nice, and was really helpful to keep me feeling good on the bus. We did Panoramic Alicante which did a little city tour, took us up to the first level of the Fortress of Santa Barbara where we could walk around a little while, and then to the Promenade Espana which has the marble wave feature that Alicante is known for. On the promenade we were given little cakes and a drink made out of small potatoes and sugar water (can’t remember the name). Then we were given about an hour of free time that we used to walk the promenade and go in shops, etc. The beach was nearby as was the old town if you were with people that were faster walkers; my mom was just struggling with arthritis today which made slower better.

 

We ate in Blue Lagoon for lunch and then all found loungers on deck 11 aft to read for a while. Sadly, we had to back to the room to pack before dinner which was at Windows. Tonight’s entertainment was Flyadage which is a husband & wife aerial/acrobat team. They did some amazing things and got a standing ovation. It was just a little slow for me at times probably b/c I’m used to the cirque shows where there are multiple things going on on stage at once. So, the many lifts and things felt like I’d seen them before. The aerial work was phenomenal though.

 

After that we looked at some pictures and decided which ones to get. I know it’s a big racket, but it never fails that they get some pictures of you that are better than any you’ve taken on your own. My parents got some really good portraits. Then back to the room for some last minute packing before sticking our suitcases out tonight. I’m sad to leave vacation, but I am looking forward to my own bed that is higher than a foot off the floor, lol!

[notes21]

I've asked several people about the plan for the dry dock, but no one seems to know what is going to be done. The theater is not going to be changed. It is believed some carpets will be changed, but I was basically told that no one is really sure now that the dry dock is only 5 days instead of 3 weeks. (I'm sure someone knows, but it hasn't trickled down to even the cruise director yet)

 

I've enjoyed my time on the Spirit. She is a beautiful ship, but she is showing some age. The bathroom tile is definitely dated (small grey tiles with a border of yellow tiles and tiles with fish & seashells on them), and there needs to be more storage at least in the balcony rooms. Overall though, it was an enjoyable ship to be on for this port intensive type of cruise.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the great review. I learned a lot from your ports-in-review and look forward to visiting them some time.

[notes21]

The night or two before the end of the cruise, we received an envelope with a letter that would work as our transfer voucher and our tags for our bags. As we are a noon flight, we were in the light blue transfer group for flights 11:31-13:30, and we left the ship at 7 am. The baggage claim area was a moving belt like the airport rather than just the rows of bags everywhere. We located ours pretty quickly and headed to the bus for the transfer. We waited on the bus no more than 10 minutes, and we were off to the airport. Delta wasn't ready for check-in for our flight until 8:30; so, we had to stand & wait for a while. The whole debarkation process was very smooth and handled well. I would book the transfers and do this again through NCL without hesitation. In fact, I hope to be doing that in May 2018 for a Baltic capitals cruise, lol.

[notes21]

We ended up on the same flights all the way to Tampa with the restaurant manager from the Spirit who was coming to relieve the Jade's manager for vacation. We talked with him quite a bit. I asked him about the dry dock, and he mentioned that the carpets were being done, the casino was being gutted and redone, and Raffles would be switching from the older, putting the pan in steaming water style of keeping the food heated to hot plates which should help with keeping the food hotter in the buffet. Its not a lot of info, but it is more than I had before.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We had considered this cruise, so it was nice to hear a firsthand account.

 

 

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[SeeUsoon@Sea]

Thank You so much for this great review! I'm glad y'all had fun and sharing experiences with your family is even better. Memories of a lifetime. Our B2B trip is not till September but I've been voraciously soaking up any and all info about our ports and the Spirit.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maria1963]

A great review thank you so excited for our cruise next month

[trinitytrees]

We were also on this cruise, had lovely time we didn't do any excursions we have done this itinary before, last time was at Easter on the Epic, I preferred thus ship to the Epic.

 

We however thought shows far better on Epic. I wanted to leave first show after 10 mins, magicians dire, elements worth watching.

 

We did have fabulous weather, much better than at Easter.

[SeahawkSiren]

I had booked a 4 hour city tour through Barcelona Day Tours at 3:30 followed by a dinner and flamenco show at Tablao Cordobes 7:30/9 pm. Our guide/driver was Christian from Germany, and he did a wonderful job of giving us information and tailoring the tour to more time where we wanted, less where we didn’t ,etc. We got tickets to Park Guell to the monumental section, and that was fabulous! We saw the Unfinished church, several Gaudi buildings, some fabulous views of the city, and had a good overview of the city before getting dropped off at the dinner/flamenco show. The dinner was a buffet, and it was very good with many examples of traditional cooking. What we saw of the flamenco show was wonderful as well, but we were so tired at this point that we all kept dozing off. Thank goodness we were in a dark corner where we hopefully couldn’t be seen too well. We caught a taxi and fell into bed as soon as we were back at the hotel.

 

 

We ended up on the same flights all the way to Tampa with the restaurant manager from the Spirit who was coming to relieve the Jade's manager for vacation. We talked with him quite a bit. I asked him about the dry dock, and he mentioned that the carpets were being done, the casino was being gutted and redone, and Raffles would be switching from the older, putting the pan in steaming water style of keeping the food heated to hot plates which should help with keeping the food hotter in the buffet. Its not a lot of info, but it is more than I had before.

 

Thanks again for your review. We went ahead and booked our reservation at Tablao Cordobes for dinner and flamenco show. It got the best reviews of the flamenco shows I researched. And I'm hoping since we made the reservation 4 months in advance that we will get seating near the front (it states on their website you are seated in priority order of when you made your reservation). I really want to see their footwork up close!

 

And thanks for the update about the dry dock. We are looking forward to being on the Spirit. It will be our first time on this ship!

[davidmackv]

Thanks for the great review. We are going on this cruise in December and it will be our first experience with Norwegian and our first trip to Europe and Africa.