Our Spirit Christmas Cruise 12/18-12/29

[ISEA]

This cruise was a last minute one for my family (DW, DD12, and DD8) and me mainly because we had just been on RCL Adventure of the Seas in November. My wife’s birthday is December 22 and she half jokingly said she wanted to go on a cruise for her birthday. Well she got what she asked for. It couldn’t be a surprise because she had to put in for the days off but the “Yippee factor” was the same. This cruise cost us less than half as much as our November cruise since we didn’t need airfare and we could only get an inside stateroom.

 

My youngest daughter was the only one not aware we were going on the cruise and the story we told her was we were going to drive into the city to see the Christmas tree and have lunch. She never asked why we have luggage in the trunk of the mini van.;) It was just a short drive to the pier from our house and when she saw the ship she asked why we were stopping here. We told her we were going on the ship for an 11 day cruise and she went wild. Anyway here is my review of our trip. I won’t go in any particular order but will try to touch on as many things as I can think of.

 

Embarkation was real smooth. We arrived at the pier at 10:30am and we quickly went inside the terminal and gave the porters our luggage. We were ushered into a waiting area where we checked in and sat down. When it was time to go on the ship approximately 11:30am they called everyone by rows and we went to get our cards. We signed them and on to the ship we went. We explored the ship a little and went to have lunch in Windows. We expected it to be crowded but since we were one of the first aboard it wasn’t. The lunch was good but the service was a little slow. I’ll discuss the dining in more detail later.

 

Our Stateroom as mentioned was an Inside room. We had room 11527 in the forward section of the ship. We expected thing to be a little cramped but not as much as we actually were. This room was an oversized closet. With 5 pieces of luggage and traveling with 3 girls (shoes, clothes, etc.) the clutter factor was way up there. NCL sells this as a room for 4. Why they have more inside rooms than balcony rooms (which are larger) for 4 people is beyond me. We originally had the set up as two single beds with a trundle bed that was between us and the bunk bed over one of the single beds. We had our stateroom host change it to a queen set up and the trundle against the wall. This wasn’t much better but at least we had a queen. In addition there was not much storage space for our clothes (11 days worth plus the girl factor, sorry girls). Let me say that we aren’t complaining because we know we booked last minute and we can only get the pick of the lot but I think NCL has to rethink the set-up and convert more balcony rooms to a 4 person set-up. Our bathroom wasn’t the kind that had the split toilet-shower set-up but I will say this shower was the best of any cruise ship we were on. It was very roomy and had great pressure.

 

Freestyle Dining was new to us since this was our first NCL cruise. We weren’t sure if we would like it. Well we loved it! We ate when we wanted and where we wanted (mostly Windows). We didn’t participate in the formal nights mainly because we did that on every other cruise. It’s nice but I think the ulterior motive for most formal nights is to get people to get their pictures taken for the photo sales. We have so many formal pictures that we didn’t need any more. By the way, the ship’s photographers were not as aggressive as in other cruises we took. This was evident in the photo shop which wasn’t as crowded and had a lot less pictures to choose from. Anyway I digress; we chose to eat in Windows every night because we found the tables to be better spaced out than Garden. There was more room between the tables which we found to make it more comfortable. Windows is also at least twice the size as Garden so that is why. Most nights when we went to dinner at 8:30 there was a little wait so they take your name and give you a beeper. They would say the wait will be 20-30 minutes but it was always no more than 15 and mostly 10 minutes. Whenever they sat us down we noticed there were a lot of empty tables. I think they make you wait a little so they can space the service out so as not to create a major rush at one time. We never ate in any of the specialty restaurants so I can’t give any reports on them. I think the reason the service may be a little slow is due to the Freestyle concept. In every other ship the waiters get everyone at the same time and then serve everyone at the same time. Here they get new people all the time and they have to pour the water, give you the bread, etc. while running back to the kitchen to get the other tables their food. Also we found if you share a waiter with a table that has a large party your service will be slower. That’s because they have to serve 5 courses to a table of 12 or more besides yours and maybe another table or two. However, all in all it works quite well and since we weren’t really going anywhere we went with the flow.

 

The Food on the shipfor the most part is pretty good. We aren’t toohard to please, not that we don’t know good food from bad but you have to put things in perspective. They are cooking for several thousand people who are eating more than one meal at a sitting (I’m guilty of that). The main restaurants’ and Raffles Buffet had a nice variety to choose from. We ate in Raffles for breakfast and lunch and found the variety and food to be good. I can’t really make any complaints here. If there is nothing that strikes your fancy at Raffles or the main restaurants there is a 24 hour snack bar, Blue Lagoon that had hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, fried rice, noodle soup, etc that you can get to eat. There was also a BBQ on deck certain days and they had Fish and Chips in Henry’s Pub (delicious) and food at the Biergarten (delicious as well) during lunch hours. If nothing else struck your fancy they also have 24 hour room service. The bottom line is the food is good.

 

The Weather on our cruise was pretty good, mostly sunny and warm. The sail away it got pretty cold as we sailed down the Hudson. The following day I wore a t-shirt and shorts as I went to eat breakfast in Raffles. There were no tables on the inside so we stepped outside to eat where there were tables. The temperature was already in the low 60’s and was comfortable for me to eat outside. My daughters and wife needed just a sweater but the weather got warmer as the day wore on and we sailed further south. On the way home the temperature was warm until the last full sea day in which you needed a sweatshirt if you wanted to stay out on deck for any length of time. It was in the low 60’s going into the high to mid 50’s as the day wore on.

 

The Seas were pretty much smooth the whole cruise with the exception of the first sea day on the way back. That day the seas were rough and the waves were 7.5-12 ft. I was fine and have never been seasick up until this day. Since I am diabetic I like to walk or jog to burn off my sugars. This day when I walked on the Promenade deck the ship was going up and down so much that it was very hard to keep my balance. I was still fine up until my wife said she had enough and went to get sea sick pills at the reception desk (they give them away for free). I decided to take one for insurance purposes. Well the seasick pills definitely made me seasick because I lost it a couple of minutes later. I was fine right after that. We ate in Raffles that night instead of Windows just in case any of us had to make a quick exit. By the way I remember reading that the stabilizers on the ship are effective up to 18 knots, well we were doing 22+ knots at the time. Another factor in the rolling of the ship is the wind so on windy days the ship rolled a little as well but nothing too major at least for me and my family.

 

We only purchased two ship Excursions and just paid taxi drivers in most ports for a tour of the Islands. One of the two that we purchased was in Grenada, the Discover Grenada East Coast tour. If you purchase this tour ask if Luther is giving the tour. He was our driver and he went out of his way to stop and point things out and to also do things such as pick star fruit for us to eat and also purchased a bunch of bananas from a woman selling them on the side of the road. He really added that special something to the typical tour. The second tour we purchased was the Rain Forest Aerial Tram in Dominica. This was a great tour. They take you to the rain forest where you board this 8 passenger tram plus a guide that takes you next to and above the treetops up the mountain. You have the option of staying on the tram on the top and going back down or getting off and walk a 10-15minute trail (downhill) and over a suspension bridge to a tram station to take back down. I recommend getting off and walking if you can as the guide with you explains in more detail the different vegetation in the area. This tour was supposed to stop at the Botanical Gardens as well and frankly we forgot about this until we re-read the excursion booklet. We went to the excursion desk to inquire and they told us that others on the tour mentioned it as well. They gave us a form to fill out to explain our case. The bottom line was they credited us 10%. We were satisfied since we don’t think the Botanical Gardens in Dominica were going to be all that spectacular. In most ports we hired a taxi driver to give us tours of the Islands. It was either $20 or $25 depending on the Island. The first thing I ask after price was if the van had air conditioning. I would make them put it on before we left just to make sure. Past experience tells me they usually won’t put the air on unless you ask. One of our own tours which the cost blew my mind was the trip to Meagan’s Bay Beach in St. Thomas. The Spirit docked in Crown Bay and because of that we were in a different zone then the other ships dock so it was $1 more to go anywhere. This wasn’t much but to go to the beach it cost us $9pp or $72rt, plus beach admission, chair rental and 2 bottles of water, it wound up costing me over $100 for a two and half hour beach trip! :eek: I came back on the ship with pocket change. The beach I found nice but to be honest I didn’t really find it to be anything that great (at least not $100 great). Plan on bringing a lot of money if you have a family and want to eat, I saw some of the prices and the hamburgers were $8. A taxi tour we hired in Barbados took us to Harris Caves which was very interesting. There was an admission charge here but well worth it. We found Barbados to be the most developed of all the Islands we saw and the wealthiest.

 

Entertainment was very good for the most part. The NCL players had very high energy shows and did a great job. The magician was good as well as the singers. The comedian Rex Harris was hilarious (although my wife doesn’t think so, you have to see his husband-wife routine to understand). The talent show they had was very good. The talent was phenomenal and better in my opinion than the singers they had for the shows. We never really went to the late night shows in the Galaxy of the Stars so I can’t comment on that only to say that they did play most of them on the ship TV and can say that this isn’t the kind of entertainment for my wife and me. The staff also put on a talent show which was very good and is a must see. There were bands performing in the atrium and in Galaxy of the Stars at different times in the evening usually which added to the ambience. They showed the same movies that played on the ship TV as well at 11:00pm some nights. I wish they showed more varieties of movies and showed them in the afternoon as well.

 

My last comments are on the ship itself, The Spirit. I think of all the ships on was on (The Disney Magic, Wonder and Adventure of the Seas) this was the nicest ship. It was laid out nicely and was beautifully decorated in its Asian theme. The staff was very friendly and they made you feel welcome. The arcade had some games on free play which saved me a ton of money (thank you NCL). My youngest daughter also liked the Pirate themed pool. The casino was very smoky but since I don’t really gamble it didn’t matter much to me. The promenade was nice to do a walk on during the day or evening. My only big complaint as I had mentioned was the size room they say can accommodate four people. That is the only real minus I have to say.

 

I know this is a long post so if you got this far and I didn’t touch on anything or need more detailed information just ask and I will be happy to reply with an answer if I can.

 

Thanks for letting me share my cruise with you all.

[Don Haynes]

Thanks for the wonderful review of the Spirit. Yes, the inside cabins are slightly smaller than the balcony cabins. I love the Asian decor too, this makes the Spirit unique. I also agree the ship's public rooms are well laid out.

[Indyjaybird]

Thanks for the review - very interesting! That was a great present for your wife and I loved it being a surprise for your youngest daughter. We have been on the Star and are booked for the Dawn in March, but after reading your review, I'll have to look into the Spirit, which we really hadn't looked at before.

[IrishKathy]

Did the Spirit have much in the way of Christmas decorations? How did it blend in with the Asian decor? Were Santa and his Elves present? We're going on the Star Christmas/New Years cruise this year and am wondering about these questions. Thanks.

 

Kathy

[EPFudbutter]

ISEA:

 

Thanks for the detailed review. We were on the same trip a few weeks before you, so your comments were a nice trip back for us (sigh).

 

We also enjoyed the aerial tram in Dominica very much. The "stop" in the botanical gardens was a drive through and there wasn't that much to see, so you made out with a 10% discount.

 

BTW: You are my hero of the day:

1. You survived a room with only one bathroom and three females

2. You can eat more than one meal at a sitting

3. You made this great b/d trip for the wife and a surprise for your younger daughter

4. You went on 2 cruises in 2 months (!)

5. You come from Westchester

 

Speaking of Westchester, it looks like you drove in to town (we took Metro North), was it worth the price of parking?

[nycruiser1975]

ISEA you stated that this was a last minute cruise. When did you book this cruise for your family?:D

[ISEA]

Did the Spirit have much in the way of Christmas decorations? How did it blend in with the Asian decor? Were Santa and his Elves present? We're going on the Star Christmas/New Years cruise this year and am wondering about these questions. Thanks.

 

Kathy

 

The Spirit did have some Christmas decor. It didn't have any Asian theme but I would think that would be hard to find and what was there blended in fine. There was a big tree and Gingerbread house in the atrium and in Windows. I don't remember if they had one in Garden. They had Christmas music playing throughout the ship, did a special Christmas show in the Stardust, sing along carols in the atrium one day and just general Christmas decorations here and there. There was also a visit from Santa on Christmas day in the morning. Mrs. Claus and some elves were there as well. He gave gifts away to the kids and my daughter got a nice game. Some of the staff also wore Santa hats.

[ISEA]

ISEA:

 

Thanks for the detailed review. We were on the same trip a few weeks before you, so your comments were a nice trip back for us (sigh).

 

We also enjoyed the aerial tram in Dominica very much. The "stop" in the botanical gardens was a drive through and there wasn't that much to see, so you made out with a 10% discount.

 

BTW: You are my hero of the day:

1. You survived a room with only one bathroom and three females

2. You can eat more than one meal at a sitting

3. You made this great b/d trip for the wife and a surprise for your younger daughter

4. You went on 2 cruises in 2 months (!)

5. You come from Westchester

 

Speaking of Westchester, it looks like you drove in to town (we took Metro North), was it worth the price of parking?

 

 

I did eat more than one meal at times in one sitting and am now paying for it in more ways than one. I may have to buy a size larger in pants since my waist grew in just 11 short days if I don't burn off this weight.

 

The original plan was to drive in and park our mini-van but the day before my neighbor offered to drop us off and pick us up. That saved us $180. The problem was explaining to my daughter who wasn't aware of the cruise why we were going to the city to see the tree with our neighbor. We wound up telling her I offered our neighbor a ride to the city so he can meet some friends. She bought that hook, line and sinker.:D

[ISEA]

ISEA:

 

Thanks for the detailed review. We were on the same trip a few weeks before you, so your comments were a nice trip back for us (sigh).

 

We also enjoyed the aerial tram in Dominica very much. The "stop" in the botanical gardens was a drive through and there wasn't that much to see, so you made out with a 10% discount.

 

BTW: You are my hero of the day:

1. You survived a room with only one bathroom and three females

2. You can eat more than one meal at a sitting

3. You made this great b/d trip for the wife and a surprise for your younger daughter

4. You went on 2 cruises in 2 months (!)

5. You come from Westchester

 

Speaking of Westchester, it looks like you drove in to town (we took Metro North), was it worth the price of parking?

 

 

I did eat more than one meal at times in one sitting and am now paying for it in more ways than one. I may have to buy a size larger in pants since my waist grew in just 11 short days if I don't burn off this weight.

 

The original plan was to drive in and park our mini-van but the day before my neighbor offered to drop us off and pick us up. That saved us $180. The problem was explaining to my daughter who wasn't aware of the cruise why we were going to the city to see the tree with our neighbor. We wound up telling her I offered our neighbor a ride to the city so he can meet some friends. She bought that hook, line and sinker.:D

[ISEA]

ISEA you stated that this was a last minute cruise. When did you book this cruise for your family?:D

 

I booked the cruise in mid-September which is last minute for us. We normally book our cruises a year to a year and half out. The RCL cruise we took in November was booked in June of 2004.

[Shine]

Isea: thank you for your positive review...we're booked on a February sailing and we're starting to get a little worried since so many reviews were negative. I was wondering if you knew if the Spirit always docks in Crown Bay while i n St. Thomas? Is there any shopping/restaurants at the dock? thanks.....

[4merlurker]

Great Review!!! We were thinking about the DAWN for November but now I have to look into the Spirit!!!

 

Glad you had such a wonderful time! So, the seas were ok going in and out of NY?? This is my only fear.:o (I am very prone to motion sickness but I took bonine every night on our last cruise out of Miami and I was fine! I'm hoping it'll do the trick again:D )

 

How did the kids think this cruise compared to your AOS cruise? Did they use the kids clubs?

 

~Connie

[Leona1]

Isea: thank you for your positive review...we're booked on a February sailing and we're starting to get a little worried since so many reviews were negative. I was wondering if you knew if the Spirit always docks in Crown Bay while i n St. Thomas? Is there any shopping/restaurants at the dock? thanks.....

 

Hi

We were on the Spirit on the 11/27 cruise and we docked at Havensite Mall which was very convenient. I guess it is the luck of the draw which slot you get.

Leona

[Maryfrei]

Loved reading your evenhanded review of the Spirit. I agree she is a beautiful ship, hope we can sail with her again someday!

[cuccicruisers]

We have an inside on deck 11 in April. I am a little nervous as we will have four people in there. I have the opposite problem....3 guys and me. I guess the toilet seat will always be up.

 

If you can do 11 days....I can do 7 ! I agree with your conclusion...NCL needs to rethink the quad situation especially since this ship is doing the Florida / Bahamas route which is geared towards familes.

[ISEA]

Isea: thank you for your positive review...we're booked on a February sailing and we're starting to get a little worried since so many reviews were negative. I was wondering if you knew if the Spirit always docks in Crown Bay while i n St. Thomas? Is there any shopping/restaurants at the dock? thanks.....

 

I've been to St Thomas two times prior and have docked and tendered in three different locations but I can only recall the name Crown Bay the last one we were at. They are building stores on the dock at Crown Bay which are scheduled to open sometime in 2006. However, you really want to go into town which is a short taxi ride to do your shopping.

[ISEA]

Great Review!!! We were thinking about the DAWN for November but now I have to look into the Spirit!!!

 

Glad you had such a wonderful time! So, the seas were ok going in and out of NY?? This is my only fear.:o (I am very prone to motion sickness but I took bonine every night on our last cruise out of Miami and I was fine! I'm hoping it'll do the trick again:D )

 

How did the kids think this cruise compared to your AOS cruise? Did they use the kids clubs?

 

~Connie

 

The seas were rough on the first full sea day on the way back to NY as I mentioned. I would think without medication you would have definitely been sick on that day. I got sick and I normally can handle the seas without any problem.

 

My kids definitely liked the Spirit better but they never went to the Kids clubs. I think that is because they have been to daycare as tots and now school so they don't like to be in any structured environment when they are on vacation.

[ISEA]

We have an inside on deck 11 in April. I am a little nervous as we will have four people in there. I have the opposite problem....3 guys and me. I guess the toilet seat will always be up.

 

If you can do 11 days....I can do 7 ! I agree with your conclusion...NCL needs to rethink the quad situation especially since this ship is doing the Florida / Bahamas route which is geared towards familes.

 

My wife and girls "trained" me regarding the toilet seat. Hey, it's 3 against one and I try to keep the nag factor to a minimum.:D

 

NCL definitely has to do something with the rooms if they are gearing the cruises to families. I hope anyone who had an inside room with 4 people and found it confining would state their comments on the comment card at the end of the cruise as I did. Hopefully NCL will get the message and make some changes.

[Capebreck]

We have an inside on deck 11 in April. I am a little nervous as we will have four people in there. I have the opposite problem....3 guys and me. I guess the toilet seat will always be up.

 

If you can do 11 days....I can do 7 ! I agree with your conclusion...NCL needs to rethink the quad situation especially since this ship is doing the Florida / Bahamas route which is geared towards familes.

 

Pal,

 

Pack one suitcase!!!! Very minimal storage. We were a family of four with two rooms and even then it was crowded!!!!!

 

Hope you have patience with your companions.

[electricron]

There's plenty of Quad cabins aboard the Spirit.

All but 10 of the original inside cabins could accomodiate 4 passengers.

since the Spirit pre-drydock had 354 inside cabins, there's at least 344 cabins that accomodiate 4 passengers. The Spirit originally had 10 oceanview cabins that could accomodiate 4 passengers.

The Spirit originally had 916 total cabins, including suites, which means more than 37% of the cabins aboard can accomodiate 4 passengers.

It's true, the most the balcony and suite cabins can accomodiate is 3 passengers.

But, the Spirit has 178 interconnecting cabin doors, connecting two balcony rooms, or suites to one another. Each door connects a cabin capable of accomodiating 4 passengers with another capable of accomodiating 2 passengers, or up to 5 passengers in two side-by-side cabins.

During the latest drydock, NCL added 15 more cabins, only 5 of them inside cabins, that the new deck plans indicate accomodiate just 2 passengers.

 

How does the Dawn measure up?

All but inside and oceanview cabins can accomodiate 4 passengers (+569 cabins).

All balcony cabins can only accomodiate 3 passengers (-356 cabins).

All but 6 mini-suites can accomodiate 4 passengers (+107 cabins, -6 cabins).

We'll leave the suites and villas alone, since the Spirit has so few in comparison with the Dawn.

 

The ratio of 4 passenger capable cabins vs total cabins on the Dawn is 569 to 1089. More than 52% vs 37% for the Spirit.

But, if you dropped the mini suites numbers off the Dawn, the ratio would be 462 to 1089, less than 42%.

 

If the Spirit had Deck 11 full of mini-suites capable of accomodiating 4 passengers, instead of regular balcony cabins, it would fare better in comparisons.

 

Never-the-less, my point is no balcony cabins on the Dawn can accomodiate 4 passengers either. When comparing ships, also compare the cabin classifications and their numbers.

 

37% of the cabins accomodiating 4 passengers for a 77,000 tons ship compared to 42-52% for a 92,000 ton ship with over 100 minisuites, isn't doing too bad in my humble opinion.

[electricron]

To add, there really isn't enough room on either ship's standard balcony cabins to add another bed. That's why both ships' standard balcony cabins are limited to 3 passengers.

What NCL could do to increase the number of cabins with 4 passenger accomodiations on the Spirit is to add a pullman type bed to more oceanview cabins. 10 is all that has them now on the Spirit, while all have them on the Dawn. If they did so, there could be another 160 cabins that could accomodiate 4 passengers, bringing the total to 514 cabins that could accomodiate 4 passengers, or up to 56% on the Spirit.

 

Who knows what NCL plans to do in the future? The Spirit would need a longer drydock than two weeks to accomplish this becuase remodeling 160 oceanview cabins is a lot of work. More than likely, they probably couldn't do so to every one.

 

I also forgot to mention how many interconnecting doors there were on the Dawn. There's 131 interconnecting doors. In comparison to the Spirit's 178, and a 20% larger ship, the Dawn has 26% less interconnecting cabins.

 

So, one could say the Dawn is better for 4 passenger parties, while the Spirit is better for 5 passenger parties. That's assuming 5 passenger parties are going to book two cabins, and 4 passenger parties booking just one cabin.

 

While the ships may resemble one another at first glance, there's no question that each is different from one another and that each has advantages over the other, depending upon the size of your party, and the size of your pocketbook. The Dawn does have many more suites to choose from. Never-the-less, a larger family wishing to cruise economy class may perfer to book the Spirit over the Dawn.

[cuccicruisers]

We personally like the mini-suites on the Dawn. My boys are too little to get an adjoining. But for the price I paid for this cruise I can handle it for a week....we are never in the cabin anyway.

[4merlurker]

There's plenty of Quad cabins aboard the Spirit.

All but 10 of the original inside cabins could accomodiate 4 passengers.

since the Spirit pre-drydock had 354 inside cabins, there's at least 344 cabins that accomodiate 4 passengers. The Spirit originally had 10 oceanview cabins that could accomodiate 4 passengers.

The Spirit originally had 916 total cabins, including suites, which means more than 37% of the cabins aboard can accomodiate 4 passengers.

It's true, the most the balcony and suite cabins can accomodiate is 3 passengers.

But, the Spirit has 178 interconnecting cabin doors, connecting two balcony rooms, or suites to one another. Each door connects a cabin capable of accomodiating 4 passengers with another capable of accomodiating 2 passengers, or up to 5 passengers in two side-by-side cabins.

During the latest drydock, NCL added 15 more cabins, only 5 of them inside cabins, that the new deck plans indicate accomodiate just 2 passengers.

 

How does the Dawn measure up?

All but inside and oceanview cabins can accomodiate 4 passengers (+569 cabins).

All balcony cabins can only accomodiate 3 passengers (-356 cabins).

All but 6 mini-suites can accomodiate 4 passengers (+107 cabins, -6 cabins).

We'll leave the suites and villas alone, since the Spirit has so few in comparison with the Dawn.

 

The ratio of 4 passenger capable cabins vs total cabins on the Dawn is 569 to 1089. More than 52% vs 37% for the Spirit.

But, if you dropped the mini suites numbers off the Dawn, the ratio would be 462 to 1089, less than 42%.

 

If the Spirit had Deck 11 full of mini-suites capable of accomodiating 4 passengers, instead of regular balcony cabins, it would fare better in comparisons.

 

Never-the-less, my point is no balcony cabins on the Dawn can accomodiate 4 passengers either. When comparing ships, also compare the cabin classifications and their numbers.

 

37% of the cabins accomodiating 4 passengers for a 77,000 tons ship compared to 42-52% for a 92,000 ton ship with over 100 minisuites, isn't doing too bad in my humble opinion.

 

I think my head just exploded! LOL

[electricron]

Hee! Hee! :D

[MikenAZ]

ISEA,

 

I think your assessment was pretty accurate. I thought the food was very good, but not exceptional. The ship itself was gorgeous. Our inside room was on the 11th deck, but aft and as a 1st time cruiser, we were surprised at how big the room was (albeit it was just for the two of us). Our excursions were great too, although you can't compare the two seeing that we were cruising to Alaska. The entertain was decent, but not great (nothing to complain about). Sailing was a smooth as can be, I hardly realized I was on a boat and the weather was gorgeous (seeing that it was supposed to rain most of the week). Boarding and deboarding was a breeze. Literally took us 10 minutes from cab to stateroom. I had heard horror stories that sounded like we would be herded like cattle, but the process was great. The staff was very nice and accomodating. One of the best vacations I've ever had for the money. Costa Rica was the best.