Review & Thoughts on Spirit 7/8 Cruise + Used Platinum Bonus Rewards

[LTC]

Just returned from the 8 day Spirit cruise. We used our Platinum Bonus Rewards on this cruise, so hopefully people that have bought into the program or are thinking about it will find out some info about how it works. I’ll give the review and our thoughts about the cruise first, then talk about the BRP so this might get a bit long.

We are early to mid 50’s and our DD are 15 and 17. This is our 8th NCL cruise since Nov. 2003. We’ve cruised on the Wind (x2), Sun (x3), Majesty, Jewel and now the Spirit. Our cruise before this was on the Jewel in March 2006, so we could do a little comparing with that cruise. The other ports we’ve sailed out of are Miami, Houston and Boston. We stayed on a 9th floor balcony cabin, while the girls were across the hall in an inside cabin.

This has been said in other reviews, but no one is allowed in the cabin until 2pm. Staff are on the stairways and will not allow you on cabin floors. The restaurants and other public places to sit fill up very quickly so take as little carry ons as possible.

The ship is beautiful, clean, well cared for and comfortable. Our staterooms were quite nice. We found the beds very comfortable and the balcony chairs were padded, so they were comfortable to sit in. Our cabin stewards did an excellent job keeping our cabins clean.

Ricky Matthews was the CD, but I believe he got off at the end of the cruise for some well-deserved R&R. He was excellent with a lot of energy. The entertainment was quite good. Alfred and Seymour, the Second City, NCL Production Company and Rebecca Lowe (don’t miss her show on the last night!) and a stand up comedian, Richie Minervini. The Stardust Theatre is very nice, the seats very comfortable and most of the seats have a good view of the stage. One of the things I enjoyed about the Spirit is that not only was the Stardust non-smoking, but the Galaxy of the Stars and Shanghai Bar were also.

There were many age groups on this cruise; babies, kids, teens, honeymooners, families and seniors, but activities were going all the time for the different age groups. Although the ship was full, there were lots of quiet places to go. The kids and teens all seemed well behaved and we never saw problems that we have run into on other ships.

One problem we did see was the chair hogs. Between 8:30-9am, the majority of chairs had towels on them. We would find chairs, put our belongings on them, have breakfast at Raffles and be back out 30-40 minutes later. But we constantly saw examples where people would hog chairs for long periods of time. One morning, 4 chairs beside us had towels on them. 1 ½ hours later, 4 people came looking for chairs and asked if these chairs were available. We told them nobody had sat there for 90 minutes and there were no personal belongings there, so they took the chairs. 40 minutes later, a woman came and was quite upset that her loungers were taken. On 2 different occasions, people beside us took twice the number of chairs, loungers and tables they needed. One man told us he did this because he didn’t want any families with kids sitting next to them.

The itinerary was wonderful. 2 days at sea, St. Thomas, Tortola, at sea, Bermuda, at sea. The weather, except for the last day at sea was wonderful. We have never been to NYC and seeing the skyline and passing the Statue of Liberty was a fantastic sight. On Sunday, the waves were a bit rough and some were seasick, but we didn’t mind it at all. We were in St. Thomas in March, so we went shopping. We docked at Crown Bay and they will be opening a little mall there (a little smaller than Havensight) in September or October. The shops downtown close at 5, so hopefully these shops will stay open longer when the cruise ships are in. It’s hard to take a tour and go shopping when the shops shut so early. We took the Best of Tortola tour and it was very good. The island is beautiful but very hilly and it was quite something to be going up and down the narrow roads. This tour was a drive around most of the island, plus 2 hours at the beach and included lunch. We decided to eat at 11:45 and there was a choice of BBQ chicken, ribs or fish plus beans and rice, grilled veggies and plantains and a fruit punch. However, by the time our order was taken, the food brought out and being eaten it was over an hour. So if you take this tour to get 2 hours at the beach, you may be disappointed.

In Bermuda, we took the West End and South Shore Tour, which was wonderful. You get 45 minutes in Hamilton, which isn’t mentioned in the tour outline.

The last day at sea, it rained, but that was the afternoon of the Chocoholic Buffet. From 1:30-2, you could take pictures and from 2-3 was the buffet. It was the best one we’ve been to. The “premier” of Foundations and the Crew Talent Show was at 3:30. Don’t miss it!

Sunday at 1:15 was the Latitudes Party. Monday at 7pm was the Captain’s Cocktail Party and Thursday at 5 there was another Latitudes Party for silver, gold and platinum. As far as I know, the other ships we’ve been on didn’t have this. There were no draws or the Captain. Some officers were there and drinks and canapés were served.

Now comes the biggie! The food! We thought it was very good, but there were definite problems with service and some waiter’s attitudes. We ate all breakfasts, except one when we had room service, at Raffles. We had no problem with breakfast; the majority of it was good. Sometimes they ran out of glasses, silverware, plates, etc. but they’re feeding hundreds of people, so no big deal. We were pleasantly surprised to find that whatever time we had breakfast, we could always find a place to sit. Everyday (I think) there was a BBQ. We ate there and also at Raffles for lunch. The food varied from good to very good. They had a sandwich station, Indian food station, pasta station, theme stations , hot and cold dishes. Desserts were disappointing, but we’ve found that at lunch on our last couple cruises. No trays, but wait staff would help you if you needed it. They were pleasant and cleaned tables promptly and always could find a table.

It was Windows and Garden Room that had problems. The food was very good. Chicken, salmon and steak were always available, We had lamb twice, prime rib, beef Wellington, lobster, It’s the service that needs to be addressed, ex. meals that run 2 hours or longer, while others half that time. If you want to see a show at a certain time, I would allow 2 hours for dinner just to be certain you get to see it. Our first night we ate at the Garden and just had 1 waiter (there’s usually 2). Tried to make conversion with him, he didn’t really want to talk- - that was O.K.—but we had to ask for water refills ,never asked how our meal was, just brought the food and put it in front of us. After we finished our entrée, a female waiter comes over , tells us she works with him and passes me a comment card , asks me to fill it out and takes our dessert order. What do I say about “friendliness of wait servers” and the other question about their service? He was only O.K. and she hadn’t served us yet. In hindsight, I should have told her I’d fill it out after the meal, but I didn’t and answered the questions with “good” and didn’t add any extra comments. As soon as I put the card down, she comes and tells me that she’ll take the card. I told her that I’ll put it in the comment box when we leave. She said that the cards were now given to the waiters and took it. My DH looked at me and commented that no one would see any bad comments. She must have read it because when she brings our dessert, she clunks them down in front of us , without a word and neither return. We wait almost 15 minutes for offers of tea/coffee or more water, then figure we’re not going to get it and leave.

The second night was a little better, but the service wasn’t there like on other cruises.Our 3rd night was in Windows and we got really lucky and got Robert and his assistant (forget his name). Excellent service, friendly conversation and very good food.

The next poor service was on Caribbean Night. We were just seated when the waiter came over and wanted us to buy margaritas (sp). We had a drink before we came to dinner and told him that we didn’t want anything more to drink. He insisted 4 or 5 more times that we should get a drink, if not a margarita, another tropical drink. Finally, he realized that we weren’t going to buy a drink and became visibility annoyed. Other than take our meal order, he never said another word. When we said something to him, he’d just grunt. One of our daughers ordered a fruit salad and jerk chicken. He brought her the limbo salad instead and we didn’t say anything. Then he brought her chicken from the “always available” section. We said there was a mistake , that it should be the jerk chicken. He implied that he got the order right. He brought the right order , but his attitude made us uncomfortable. We were just about ignored for the rest of the meal.

Finally the last two nights in the Garden Restaurant we lucked out and got Phillipe from Jamacia and Liviu from Romania. They were wonderful. Pleasant, friendly, excellent service. If you are lucky enough to get them ,you’ll be treated to a wonderful meal.

We ate one meal at Shogun. Wonderful service and a very nice meal. One night we ate in Raffles. They have salads, a number of hot dishes, stir fry station, Indian food, pasta station and a crepe station. Try at least one crepe—they’re wonderful!

To get back to the main restaurants, there didn’t seem to be a maitre’d. There was one in Raffles for every meal. We would have told our complaints to someone in the restaurant if we could have figured out whom to go to. When we filled out the comment card at the end of the cruise, we mentioned our experiences at the restaurants. We were on the Jewel this past March, and the maitre’d was very visible. He would go table to table , asking if there was any problems with food or service.

Would we cruise on the Spirit again? In a second! Would I recommend the cruise? Definitely! It’s an excellent cruise and once the service in the main restaurants is addressed, you couldn’t ask for a better cruise. I wish I was going on it again.

I’ll post our experience with the Bonus Reward Program tomorrow.

[mmnap]

Thanks for taking the time to tell all about your cruise...I had no problem with punctuation. This is not English class in High School! I am going on the Spirit on August 5th. I love to read everything I can about it.

[smeyer418]

Nice review... did you fly down here? Also I await your PBR comments...

 

PS I had no trouble with your spelling either....

[jeannep]

Really nice review. I don't understand the punctuation thing. I understood everything. I am glad a few bad waiters did not turn you off of the cruise. What time were the shows and what time did you eat? 2 hour meals is a little too much for us and we love pre-dinner Trivia. I was just wondering if we can do Trivia, dinner and make the show.

 

Can't wait for the rest of the review. We will be on the Spirit on 8/19.

 

Thanks,

Jeanne

[skilledcruiser]

I'll make it short and sweet.

 

Food

Raffles- ate there only 1 time( when we first got on to the ship) it was ok if your into the buffet thing

 

Windows- ate breakfast there once. The service was horrible. Very unfriendly. I waited 45 mins for a chocolate milk. It was so bad that 2 ladys next to me ordered a chocolate milk just to give it to me a 1/2 hour after I ordered it and they got it before ME! Ate dinner there once. It involved the Murder mystery dinner. OMG, what a disaster. The game was poorly explained in the stardust theather, the host couldn't speak english. We were sent off to Windows to play the game and were left alone. The hosts of the game were no where to be found. No direction what so ever. I was very disappointed. ON top of the issues with the game the service and the food was not good at all.

 

Garden Room- Didn't eat there

 

Tattoria- Ate dinner there 3 times. Good service, good food, very pleased overall.

 

Cagneys Steakhouse- Ate dinner there 2 times. Great service, great food, very pleased overall, Anuip the waiter was a pleasure.

 

Le Bistro- Ate dinner there on the last night with my family. Great service, great food, best resturant atmosphere on the ship

 

Teppaniki- The BEST food on the ship. Ate there twice. Once for dinner, once for a special lunch that our conciercge set up for us. Hands down the best meal on the ship, I would of ate there 3-4 times if I would have known how good it was.

 

SHogun- Didn't eat there

 

Blue Lagoon- Great french fries, good hamburgers, good place to eat for lunch and have a quick snack

 

Outside bqq- stay away, the hamburgers tasted like charred meat, the hot dogs were burnt, the buns were stale.

 

Frozen Drinks- very good overall

 

Breakfast- OK at best, we ordered breakfast to suite. Scrambled eggs were runny, bacon had no taste at all.

 

Butler- Randy Aquino- the man. He was so plesant to have for our butler. Whatever we needed he delivered. On time and always easy to get a hold of

 

Concierge- Mareike- Made our vacation great. The 1st night my family decided to eat together, 25 of us, she made it happen. We wanted a resveration of 10 in teppanki, she got us a special lunch for 10. Everything we asked her do do she did. What a great Concierge.

 

Room stewards- A pleasure, Mr. Roberto is a class act. Every time he saw me he said, with a smile, "Hello Mr. Lawrence, how are you." I wish the regular wait staff was as friendly as him.

 

Intenirary- Ok. Wished we had more time in St. Thomas, Everything closed at 4-5pm. Didn't do much in Tortola. Bermuda was the nicest island on the cruise. Horseshoe bay was beatuful! Went waverunning, waveran under the smallest drawbridge in the world and saw fish going crazy for bread at the sunken ship.

 

Pool- The chair grubbers were really out of control. My wife and I gave up on the front pool area and went to the back kiddie pool to get chairs.

 

If I didn't book the suite, I would have not been happy with cruise. I say that because the rest of my family had regular rooms and they were not to happy about the service they recieved. The lines just to make reservations was a compelete joke. I saw people stand on line at the reservation desk for over an 1/2 hour. I guess the saying " you get what you pay for" comes to mind. We stayed in the room AC10008 and it was amazing. I'll post pics of it tomorrow. Thats all for now,

 

Larry

[naxos]

Just off hte Spirit as well and I feel lucky about our dining room service. We ate in Windows for each dinner and in Garden for one lunch-- the only service problem was in the Garden for lunch- service was curt and unfriendly but our servers in Windows for eight nights were terrific! Even when we were not in the same station, our waiters from the previous night came to say hello- the hostesses were friendly and the man who oversaw the dining room came to greet us and ask how things were each night- I guess we were just lucky but the service was fine!

[dongordon]

Thanks for the information and the "heads up" on the service end of the cruise.

 

We appreciate hearing about the "good, bad and ugly" on the cruise (LOL)....kind of prepares us for possible shortfalls, while still enjoying the cruise.

[mypyr]

I'll make it short and sweet.

 

Food

Raffles- ate there only 1 time( when we first got on to the ship) it was ok if your into the buffet thing

 

Windows- ate breakfast there once. The service was horrible. Very unfriendly. I waited 45 mins for a chocolate milk. It was so bad that 2 ladys next to me ordered a chocolate milk just to give it to me a 1/2 hour after I ordered it and they got it before ME! Ate dinner there once. It involved the Murder mystery dinner. OMG, what a disaster. The game was poorly explained in the stardust theather, the host couldn't speak english. We were sent off to Windows to play the game and were left alone. The hosts of the game were no where to be found. No direction what so ever. I was very disappointed. ON top of the issues with the game the service and the food was not good at all.

 

Garden Room- Didn't eat there

 

Tattoria- Ate dinner there 3 times. Good service, good food, very pleased overall.

 

Cagneys Steakhouse- Ate dinner there 2 times. Great service, great food, very pleased overall, Anuip the waiter was a pleasure.

 

Le Bistro- Ate dinner there on the last night with my family. Great service, great food, best resturant atmosphere on the ship

 

Teppaniki- The BEST food on the ship. Ate there twice. Once for dinner, once for a special lunch that our conciercge set up for us. Hands down the best meal on the ship, I would of ate there 3-4 times if I would have known how good it was.

 

SHogun- Didn't eat there

 

Blue Lagoon- Great french fries, good hamburgers, good place to eat for lunch and have a quick snack

 

Outside bqq- stay away, the hamburgers tasted like charred meat, the hot dogs were burnt, the buns were stale.

 

Frozen Drinks- very good overall

 

Breakfast- OK at best, we ordered breakfast to suite. Scrambled eggs were runny, bacon had no taste at all.

 

Butler- Randy Aquino- the man. He was so plesant to have for our butler. Whatever we needed he delivered. On time and always easy to get a hold of

 

Concierge- Mareike- Made our vacation great. The 1st night my family decided to eat together, 25 of us, she made it happen. We wanted a resveration of 10 in teppanki, she got us a special lunch for 10. Everything we asked her do do she did. What a great Concierge.

 

Room stewards- A pleasure, Mr. Roberto is a class act. Every time he saw me he said, with a smile, "Hello Mr. Lawrence, how are you." I wish the regular wait staff was as friendly as him.

 

Intenirary- Ok. Wished we had more time in St. Thomas, Everything closed at 4-5pm. Didn't do much in Tortola. Bermuda was the nicest island on the cruise. Horseshoe bay was beatuful! Went waverunning, waveran under the smallest drawbridge in the world and saw fish going crazy for bread at the sunken ship.

 

Pool- The chair grubbers were really out of control. My wife and I gave up on the front pool area and went to the back kiddie pool to get chairs.

 

If I didn't book the suite, I would have not been happy with cruise. I say that because the rest of my family had regular rooms and they were not to happy about the service they recieved. The lines just to make reservations was a compelete joke. I saw people stand on line at the reservation desk for over an 1/2 hour. I guess the saying " you get what you pay for" comes to mind. We stayed in the room AC10008 and it was amazing. I'll post pics of it tomorrow. Thats all for now,

 

Larry

 

 

Hi Larry,

 

Thanks for the review. We are in a suite as well, so I am happy that we will have some of these services. What restaurant do you recommend for the first night? Was the second night the lobster night? We would like to try the specialty restaurants on the 1st night and Carribean night to start. If we wait until later in the cruise to make more reservations with the concierge, will we have a problem getting them? What else did your concierge do for you? Your butler?

 

Any tips?

Thanks

[LTC]

Smeyer 418- --Yes, we flew from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

 

Jeannep---Showtimes were: Sat. 8 & 10 PM.

Sun., Mon., Wed., Thurs., Fri., 7.30 & 9.30

Tues., 7.45 & 9.30

Sat. (last day at sea) 3.30 for Fountains & Crew Talent

Show

7.30 Star Seeker Talent Show

9.30 Rebecca Lowe (1 show only)

Trivia Times: Sat., 7 p.m.

Sun., Mon., Wed., Thurs., Fri., 6.15

Tues. 6.15 (Sports Trivia)

These times may change because the C.D. will be different. If trivia is over by 7.15, I would think you would make the 9.30 show. We usually ate between 5.45 and 8. A few times when we ate before 6, we couldn’t make the 7.30 show, because our meal wasn’t over. I believe the main restaurants shut around 9.30 or 10, so you will most likely be out before the late show.

 

Here’s our experience with the Platinum Bonus Reward Program. We were on the Jewel in March and the Dawn and Jewel were the only ships selling this Program, but once bought, they could be used on any NCL ship. You could buy into either the Gold or Platinum programs. I don’t remember how much the Gold cost, but the Platinum was $2995.00. A shipboard credit of $100.00 was credited to your account immediately, plus you had $3200.00 towards your next cruise. You had a $3300.00 value for $2995.00—a net gain of $305.00.

 

There were other bonuses as well: Exclusive Priority Check-In

Onboard Latitude Service

Latitude Member Reception

Luggage Transfer Service (select locations)

Priority Debarkation

Priority Restaurant Reservations

Priority Tender Tickets

Private VIP Reception with Senior Staff

VIP Concierge Service

Special in-cabin Amenities

 

We were told on a number of occasions that buying into the PBRP would give suite privileges except for a butler; however, no one could tell us what these privileges actually were. E.g. did we get bathrobes, champagne in the room, flowers, etc.? All they could tell us was that we would be given suite privileges minus the butler (we have never stayed in a suite before, just a mini-suite on the Sun). Since we were coming out ahead, money wise, we decided to buy in.

 

We have never sailed out of New York before and didn’t know what to expect. In Miami, it seems pretty straightforward. You have a separate line for suite guests and if the ship is not ready for boarding, you are taken to a special waiting area. In Houston, we had a mini and were escorted directly to the ship for check-in. We got to the pier at 10:30, lots of people were still leaving the ship, but out luggage was take right away and we were told where to go wait. Thanks to CC we knew that we had to go upstairs to wait but here is were it gets a little confusing. You could look downstairs and see a sign that said “non-US citizen check-in” (we are Canadian). DH when to check to see if that is were we should be waiting and to find out where priority embarkation was located. One Rep told him that we should be downstairs in the non-US citizen line. Another Rep overheard this said that we could wait upstairs but that when embarkation started, we would have to go downstairs and join the non-US line. No one seemed to know where priority embarkation actually was. Around 11:15 both the upper and lower areas we beginning to fill up and we still weren’t sure where to go. I went downstairs and finally ran into a Rep who seemed to know what was going on because she was telling other Reps what to do. I explained our situation and she told us to remain upstairs and in about ½ hour they would be calling all Latitudes to go downstairs to start the embarkation process. We would be going into a non-US line at that time. Around 11:45 embarkation started and for a time it was utter chaos as people still entering the terminal were attempting to go up the same staircase that we were all trying to go down. Once the line got moving we were processed very quickly. We expected to be in a special group that would be taken aboard the ship as in Miami or Houston. But what the heck…at least we were onboard! At this point our Platinum Latitudes didn’t get us any special treatment but maybe this is the way in is at this port.

 

We get our key-cards, take a look at them and it says “Silver”…starting to get a little worried at his point. We go to reception to see if they can see in their files if we are Silver or Platinum. She looks on the computer and informs us that we are Silver because this is our eighth cruise. Then she informs us that we have to become Gold before we can become Platinum. I inform her that we have bought the PBRP but she doesn’t know anything about it. She tells me that Lidia, the Latitudes Rep, should know but that I would have to wait until 4:00 PM to speak with her.

 

We see that the restaurant reservations line is starting to fill up. We knew that we wanted to go to Shogun on Italian night (Thursday) and that the Concierge could make out reservations, but at his point we figured that we better do it ourselves just in case something has gone wrong with out booking.

 

At 2:00 PM the announcement is made that we can go to our cabins. On the bed are notices, one from Latitudes saying “you are now a Silver Member of Latitudes”, Oh boy, just glad that we brought our copy of the PBR agreement. Just then, a knock on the door and a fruit basket and bottle of wine is delivered. Then a letter from the concierge (Mareike) arrives offering to assist us with “reservations in the specialty restaurants, shore excursions, or any special requests that you may have.” So it definitely looks like we have the PBR. One thing I should mention is that our DD’s were across the hall and received everything we did (we took their bottle of wine).

After the muster drill, we returned to our cabin and saw that a new letter had arrived. This one said “you are now a Platinum Member…”. The difference between Platinum and Silver according to the two letters is that VIP concierge service and an invitation at Le Bistro (more about that in a moment) are included with Platinum. New to us (maybe exclusive to the Spirit), is that besides the Latitude reception, there is another private reception for Silver, Gold and Platinum guests with senior officers.

 

Later went down to find out from Lidia if the reservations for Le Bistro were made and if our DD’s were invited. She told me that the letter had been sent to us by mistake and that there was no “free dinner” for us because we didn’t earn our Platinum status, we bought it. She then takes a pen and crosses off the section of the letter that offers us the dinner and says “now it’s not there, you will get it when you have completed your 14TH cruise with us”. I was a bit taken aback and somewhat insulted as we had bought our Platinum status because NCL was selling it. Anyway, I didn’t push the issue, we were here for a vacation and we weren’t going to let a missed dinner (one that we weren’t expecting anyway) put a damper on our cruise. But I now realized that we not going to be getting all the suite privileges that we had been told that we would get. We would just enjoy whatever we got and we got plenty. Treats every day, sometimes twice a day…canapés, chocolate-covered strawberries (twice), sandwiches, sweets, shrimp cocktails, cookies, chocolate truffles, sushi, cheese and crackers and a picture frame. No bathrobes, flowers, special dinners, etc. but we were quite happy with everything we received. We did get VIP debarkation, met in Henry’s Pub and left the ship directly after express wall-off (about 9:30 AM which we were told was a bit later than usual).

 

There were a few mix-ups with the program but nothing to get upset about. We would probably buy it again if the opportunity arose. It would be interesting to know how well the program has taken off.

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for the reviews & also the experience with the Bonus Rewards Program.

 

Actually we, too, listened to the talk on the Jewel in Feb. but didn't buy.

 

On the Dawn a couple of wks ago, however, a new program called Freestyle Rewards program was introduced and will replace the Bonus Rewards one you bought.

 

One of the reasons given was that guests "bought" gold or platinum but could not quite grasp the idea that they were "buying" that level for that cruise only.

 

so you were still silver level, even though for that cruise you were entitled to the perks of the plat. level aside from the butler. It sounds like that's what you received.

 

I don't believe flowers or robes are listed Platinum benefits (someone correct me if I'm wrong) so those would not be included in the balcony cabin. You'd have to stay in a suite for them. But the concierge service, cabin amenity for example would be as a benefit of the plat. level.

 

A bit confusing - apparently so, as they've changed the program around.

 

We also pointed out DR service issues to the proper channels including the Food & Bev. Dir. We did not so much experience slow service as rather aloof attitudes. Just coming from the Dawn, I really noticed how really cheerful and friendly the wait team is and how visible the maitre d' team was compared to the Spirit.

 

One of the reviewers mentioned trying to give feedbackl on your comment cards so that things can change for the better. A "good" on the comment card (as opposed to excellent or very good) is likely not to make a waiter happy so maybe "hide the card" was played. Guess it's best to put it in the comment box or give directly to a maitre 'd.

 

Good to hear all about your trip!:D

[jmcdon7230]

LTC....I see where you have cruised on the Sun three times. How would you compare the Sun to the Spirit?

[LTC]

jmcdon 7230.... LOVE the Sun. Nov./06 was the last time we were on it; it's my favorite NCL ship. I've found all their ships seem to have their own personalities and (to me) the Sun seems "cozy". Never had any problems with restaurant service-- it was always excellent. The food was better, especially in the buffet restaurant. Really enjoyed Las Ramblas with their tapas. We used more of the lounges and bars on the Sun--- they just seemed more useable.

 

The Spirit is a more beautiful ship. Really enjoyed the fact that two bars are smoke-free (Shanghai and Galaxy of the Stars). The Promenade deck was wonderful with padded loungers, which the Sun doesn't have. Galaxy of the Stars was a very comfortable spot and you could view the bridge from there, which was neat. Both ships are very nice, but I just prefer the Sun.

[Fo'c'sler]

Thanks LTC for the extensive review of the Spirit. DW and I had very comparable experiences on the same cruise. Thought it was just me but apparently you and others have also found some of the main diningroom waiters to be a bit off their game. I'm just quessing but it may be that there is a (minor) morale issue at work here because some of these folks do not seem to be enjoying their work very much. Note that I did say some of the waiters because, in truth, we did experience superior service on several occasions and will carry those good memories forward and forget all about the times when the service was less than perfect. Also thought that the food was not as good as I remember for my previous 6 or 7 NCL cruises though I still managed to pack on a few pounds that I didn't need.

[sweetpea-2]

very nice review, sounds like you had a grand time ...