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NCL Spirit - what are your thoughts?

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electricron

electricron

Posted
Posted

You will not be able to tell the difference. The Spirit is in excellent shape.

It has all the amenties of NCL's newer ships, with two main exceptions.

First, it has no mini-suites that accompany four passengers for oceanview and balcony cabins.

Second, there are no small refrigerators in the standard cabins; only the suites have refrigerators.

 

Otherwise, it is much the same as the Dawn, just slightly smaller.

Some will say it's public spaces decor is better than the Dawn.

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above sea level cruiser

above sea level cruiser

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You will not be able to tell the difference. The Spirit is in excellent shape.

It has all the amenties of NCL's newer ships, with two main exceptions.

First, it has no mini-suites that accompany four passengers for oceanview and balcony cabins.

Second, there are no small refrigerators in the standard cabins; only the suites have refrigerators.

 

Otherwise, it is much the same as the Dawn, just slightly smaller.

Some will say it's public spaces decor is better than the Dawn.

 

So.... if we book a balcony cabin (we are looking at a hull? balcony), there would be no fridge?

 

Also, this "hull" balcony thing, what is it and how is it different from a regular balcony?

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Ginamarie

Ginamarie

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So.... if we book a balcony cabin (we are looking at a hull? balcony), there would be no fridge?

 

Also, this "hull" balcony thing, what is it and how is it different from a regular balcony?

 

 

I'm not sure about how the hull balconies differ, but I can answer the other question. The spirit does not offer in-cabin fridges unless you're in a suite, so you would not have a fridge in a balcony cabin.

 

The Spirit is in very good shape, even though she's a few years old.

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electricron

electricron

Posted
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The Spirit has zero framed "hulled" balcony cabins along the port and starboard sides of the ship.

 

The only cabins that might have framed balconies will be the suites under the bridge, as they have forward facing balconies.

 

Here's some photos of the Spirit showing the wooden and plexiglass railings of the balconies of the side cabins and aft suites.

 

Spirit10.jpg

Spirit11.jpg

 

The only balcony cabins to watch out for are 9202 and 9702, the last cabins on either the starboard and port sides of the ship on Deck 9. If you look closely at them, the ship framing on either aft corner cuts off 30% of your views.

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blueinspades

blueinspades

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We cruised Spirit for Thanksgiving. For us, we would not repeat the experience. We might try the Dawn as our son and his wife enjoyed it. We sailed Princess, Celebrity, NCL and previewed the new HAL Noordam. All of these lines were wonderful experiences we enjoyed multiple times.

 

I would not recommend the Spirit for many reasons: the beds are too hard, food experience is below all other ships we sailed, chairs in public areas are very small, lack of refrigerator in room, cabins cleaned once in AM and once at PM. It is a beautiful ship just not a classy cruising experience. It is not a 5 star ship and that really does make a difference.

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johnql

johnql

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I was on the 2/9/06 Spirit sailing and was very happy with the cruise - beautiful ship, well maintained, good to excellent service, and good to excellent food. However, I don't feel the production shows were as good as those on the Dawn and Star. The additional entertainers (comedian, magician, hypnotist, Second City) were all enjoyable. Yes, there are a few shortcomings when compared to the Dawn or Star (e.g., no Salsa's, no fridges), but they didn't prevent me from enjoying the cruise. Can't make any comparisons to the Jewel since I haven't had the pleasure of sailing her yet.

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electricron

electricron

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Teak Decks aren't classy? The Spirit is one of just a few ships sailing from North America with Teak Decks. Your definition of what is classy is completely different from mine.

 

May the :eek: D R A G O N :eek: take away all your luck!

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Hikini

Hikini

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While I completely feel that we are all entitled to our own opinions, I have to say that I disagree with blueinspades opinion of the Spirit. As others have mentioned above, if cleaning once in the AM and once in the PM isn't enough, then pray tell, what are you doing to mess up your room so much?

 

Also, they said the "chairs in the public areas are very small". ??? Unless you are a HUGE person, I think the chairs are plenty big enough to accomodate most back sides. This seems like a real petty complaint.

 

As far as the beds being hard - that seems to be just about as subjective as the food. Some people like hard beds, some don't. I would much prefer a hard bed over one that is too soft. But, you can always request an "egg carton" mattress to be put on your bed, and that will soften things up.

 

I'm not saying that blueinspades isn't entitled to their opinion, but really, the things they had to complain about, in which they said would keep them from sailing on the Spirit again, are so minor.

 

We loved the Spirit and would sail on her again in a heartbeat!

 

Hikini:D

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Seago2

Seago2

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I loved the Spirit and I AM sailing her again in a heartbeat.

 

You can actually stroll the decks on the Spirit.

 

She is a gorgeous ship and I would recommend her to anyone.

 

I wrote a review of my sailing last year. At this point it might be somewhat outdated, although physically she hasn't changed much. I don't feel I can confidently speak about the food as every time I read a review that says the food in the main dining rooms is average, lacking in presentation and flavor, and served excruciatingly slowly I wonder if I took some sort of ghost ship to the Bermuda Triangle or something. Never have I questioned my opinions and writing skills more than I have in the month since I booked this upcoming cruise and started paying attention to the Spirit threads again.

 

FWIW:

 

The mattresses are hard? Not that I noticed. Was I too buzzed or something?

 

The food is bad? I thought it was excellent. Am I nuts?

 

The staff is slow? Not. I know I can't be wrong there. They were all incredible- my wish was their command. Of course, a lot of these complaints are re: the suite services. I never even knew there were butlers on cruise ships so maybe that's why I never had a problem.

 

No choices on the main menu? I remember great choices! Is it just because I'm from Buffalo and anything more than hot, medium, mild or barbecue is the big leagues? No, that can't be it. I waitressed in big time restaurants in NYC back in the day...

 

Is it that I just don't get out much? NO.

 

Could it be that some people who are critical have been on 1899 cruises- 1250 of them on the apparently waaay better Dawn with the awesome Salsa's, most of whom book suites with butlers (Electricron, quick! What is the percentage of suite pax to regular pax on a Spirit cruise? Thx!) and therefore comment- usually negatively- on services X percentage of us never utilize- write reviews that give a negative impression while in fact every RELEVANT item was... POSITIVE?

 

I love hearing from people who just sailed, I really do. But look how many people write responses like "I was gonna book the Spirit until I read your review! Thanks for saving me!"

 

Sometimes I think, IMHO, IMHO, accent on the "H", that the people described above should take a Windjammer cruise or something to cleanse their palates. They seem almost jaded, like "While it was a beautiful ship, it was nothing special, been there done that on the shows, food seemed to be better a few years ago, Cayman was "eh", all in all, NCL had better try harder to come up with the ol' WOW factor it used to have if it wants to keep us...."

 

Okay, I'll shut up now.

 

Here's my review:http://www.cruisereviews.com/NorwegianCruiseLine/NorwegianSpirit14.htm

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electricron

electricron

Posted
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The Spirit has the following number of suites:

 

Two AA Owner's suites

Five AB Deluxe Penthouses

Eight AC Penthouses

Three AD Penthouses

That's 18 suites vs a total of 983 cabins, or 1.83%

 

Meanwhile the Dawn has the following number of suites.

2 A1 Garden Villa suites

4 AA Owner suites

10 AB Penthouse suites

8 AC Penthouse suites

4 AD Penthouse suites

8 AE Penthouse suites

105 AF Mini suites

4 AG Mini suites

That's 145 suites vs a total of 1112 cabins, or 9.44%

But the mini suites don't get butler service. The 36 suites do, or 3.24%

 

By far, over 96% of the passengers on the Dawn and over 98% of the passengers on the Spirit never see a butler......

 

I think it is fair to say most don't care one iota how great the butler serves the snobs.......

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cantwaitt

cantwaitt

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I was on the Spirit last week and the only thing I'll say about the service is that on most nights after the main course, the waiter seemed to disappear/vaporize for about 20-25 minutes.

 

So, several times we didn't have time for our dessert/coffee/tea before heading to the show, even though we told the waiter we wanted to catch the show.

 

I chalk this up to the tipping policy. The waiters no longer care how well they serve their customers. No incentive. Sad.

 

Also, after waiting for 30 minutes to get into Windows--several times the electronic scoreboard in the hallways said there was no wait--we traipsed through the dining room to our table, past about 20--literally--empty tables. What's up with this?

 

However, once seated, I thought the food was very good. One night my daughter didn't like anything on the menu and they happily made her a steak and came by twice to ask how it was.

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NormanW

NormanW

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Thanks for those stern shots. :)

 

Never saw her from that perspective before just from front and side and quite close I might add. :)

 

Looks good to me. Damn good.

 

Someone doesn't think teak decks are classy? Blasphemy! I cannot believe someone said that! :mad:

 

Cheers,

 

Norman

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