NCL Spirit Review 03/24-04/01

[MindTheGap1918]

I just got back Sunday from a week on the NCL Spirit. I'm going to try and be as detailed as possible so bear with me! If there is anything else you would like to know, let me know!

 

We arrived at the pier in NYC at approximately 10:00am. It costs $180 to park at the pier for any parking over 7 days and you pay before you park. They had a check in area inside the pier waiting area and we waited in line approx. a half hour. Check in went smoothly and we went to a seating area until we were allowed to board the ship at noon. I suggest getting to the pier early and checking in because we were one of the first groups to go through security and then we went right to the ship. For those individuals that came later, the early check in closed around 11am and those individuals who came later had to wait in the security line, then the check in line.

 

After boarding, no one is allowed to their stateroom until 2pm so we went right to Windows Dining Room for lunch. I don't think many people were aware the dining room was open for lunch, it seemed everyone was rushing to the Raffles Buffet or the Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour restaurant. We went to our stateroom at 2pm and were allowed in, we had our luggage by 3pm.

 

Staterooms- We had an inside stateroom on the 8th deck. I was expecting it to be smaller than it was. It had 2 single beds, which we were able to put together, a chair with ottoman, a desk and desk chair, and shelves along the wall with the TV. The closet ran part of the length of the wall and there was plenty of storage space in the closet. In the bathroom, there is a rather large shower and a vanity sink with shelves for extra storage.

I was not overly pleased with our stateroom service however. The cabin stewards serviced your stateroom twice a day and seemed to come at the most inconvenient times and almost felt they deemed it unnacceptable if you were in your rooms between certain times. Some days we didn't get towels and we would have to call, we didn't get bottled water in our room until toward the end of the week (which was fine when we realized it was $4.50 to drink it)

 

Dining- We ate in the main dining rooms every evening, we ate in the Garden Room twice and Windows the remainder of the trip. I agree with other posters about service being better in Windows, however we did enjoy the atmosphere with the Garden Room so you really can't go wrong with either. They serve the same menu in both dining rooms. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed the food. The portions are small, but you can order as much as you want. The Caesar Salad was probably the best salad I ever had!!! It is also presented nicely.

Raffles Buffet- We ate breakfast there only. Most of the food is lukewarm at best. The omelet station is your best bet at breakfast.

- We did not eat at the Blue Lagoon or any of the specialty restaurants.

- There are TV screens throughout the ship that show how long wait times are, but they are not really accurate. We tried to go to the Garden Room for dinner one night because the screen stated it was only half full and when we got there, it was a half hour wait. The wait was never any more than 5 minutes at Windows to get a table and you can get tables for 2 without any problem.

- On sea days we ate lunch at the Bier Garten or one of the outside barbeques.

 

Dress code- Literally a freestyle dress code. You can wear anything from Adidas pants to a three piece suit in the restaurants. We were kind of disappointed there wasn't more of a dress code. Some people dressed up on formal nights, but not many.

 

Casino/Public Areas/Activities- The casino was very cool. They have dollar roulette and blackjack tables. There are slots of all denominations. Even when it was crowded there were always plenty of machines open. All of the lounges were nice and there was always live music playing somewhere. The pool area was very crowded during the day. If you wanted to lay out, there are spots around the ship that aren't windy, but get there early, because people catch on fast! There was always a list of daily activities including alcohol tastings, bingo, trivia, etc.

 

Shore excursions: Being this was our first cruise in a while we chose excursions through NCL, but I think next time, depending on the island, we will go our own way.

In St. Thomas, we did the Ultimate Island Experience. Our tour guide really didn't show us too many spot on the island. We went to Mountain Top for a half hour, but it was foggy so we were unable to see anything. We were then dropped off downtown for shopping for 2 hours then went back to the ship.

In Tortola, we did the Bar Crawl. Tortola is one of the most beuatiful islands I have ever been to. We went to many scenic spots on the island. We only stopped at two bars though and had a buffet lunch at Cane Garden Bay. Next time I would probably just take a taxi to Cane Garden Bay and do my own little bar crawl there!

In Samana, we went to Cayo Levantado. If you are going to book this tour, only book the beach escape and not with the buffet included. The food was tasteless and overpriced. The buffet was very limited and not worth the price. The beach there is very pretty. Make sure you get a Coco Loco, best drink ever!!!

 

Debarkation- we chose the express debarkation where we carried our luggage off ourselves. we were told they would start calling express debarkation at 8:20am from deck 7. Well there was never an announcement and at around 8:45, while a bunch of people were waiting on deck 8 to be called for express, another passenger came from deck 7 and said people had been getting off the boat for a half hour so that was a little irritating.

 

Some tips:

- Bring extra hangers! There are only a few in the cabin closets!

- If you want to smuggle alcohol, put it in water bottles in your carry-on (clear alcohol, obviously).

- Bring extra cash, the ATM on board costs $5.50 per transaction!

- If you choose to go to the Chocolate Buffet, get in line at least 15 minutes early, the line wraps around the whole ship!

 

Overall, I did enjoy my experience on the Spirit and I would choose to travel on NCL again because of the freestyle concept. I hope I covered everything, if you have any more questions, let me know!

[DeeCT]

Thanks for the great review.. we will be sailing on her on 5/13.. and it was nice to see a good review of the ship!!

 

Dee

[Surfgirl]

Great review! I was on the same cruise and will hopefully be posting mine this weekend. I'm surprised you didn't mention the rain. Yes, it rained nearly every day.. but we still had a wonderful time.

[johnql]

Some tips:

- Bring extra hangers! There are only a few in the cabin closets!

- If you want to smuggle alcohol, put it in water bottles in your carry-on (clear alcohol, obviously).

- Bring extra cash, the ATM on board costs $5.50 per transaction!

- If you choose to go to the Chocolate Buffet, get in line at least 15 minutes early, the line wraps around the whole ship!

Thanks for the great review.

 

Just a couple notes: if you don't want to bother with bringing extra hangers, just ask your cabin steward for more. Also, you can avoid the ATM transaction by getting cash directly from the casino cashier - charged to your onboard account with no fee.

[MindTheGap1918]

UGH, the rain! I was trying to forget, ha! Could have done without the rain in Cayo Levantado, I think I would have enjoyed myself there a little more. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the cruise!

[Coll101]

Thanks for the great review!!! We (12 of us) will be on the Spirit this Saturday.

[bskmom]

Did it really rain almost every day. That is my biggest fear. Were they complete wash outs or just rain here and there? did you come home with a tan. You are a good sport. They are calling for rain while we are there. I hope I see some sun.

Crossing my fingers as I pack

Patti

PS Thanks for posting your review. I appreciate you taking the time.

[francina]

Great review.:D

[MindTheGap1918]

It didn't rain every day of the cruise, just the days on the islands, go figure, ha! In St. Thomas, it was more cloudy and foggy than rain. We had a couple downpours in Tortola and the rain was off and on in Samana. I still managed a tan though! If it rains at sea, there is still plenty to do! Enjoy your cruise!

[Snowrose]

Some days we didn't get towels and we would have to call,

 

Did you leave your towels on the floor? There's a sign in the bathroom that asks you to leave your towels on the floor when you want them changed. Most hotels do the same thing, now.

 

I agree with other posters about service being better in Windows,

 

Now that's interesting. When we were on Spirit in January the service was tons better in Garden than in Windows - plus the food was hotter. I wonder if they changed some of the middle managers around after reading this board...

 

Most of the food is lukewarm at best. The omelet station is your best bet at breakfast.

 

What time would you go for breakfast? DH and I would usually go around 8-8:30 and everything was alway piping hot - especially the steaming water under the food!

 

- There are TV screens throughout the ship that show how long wait times are, but they are not really accurate. We tried to go to the Garden Room for dinner one night because the screen stated it was only half full and when we got there, it was a half hour wait.

 

We too found the TV screens not accurate, though when we were there the screens were more likely to show a restaurant was busy when it was dead slow.

 

Glad you had a good time!! :)

 

Teri

[MindTheGap1918]

We did leave our towels on the floor somedays. It wasn't every day we were without towels. One day we didn't get any washclothes and another time we didn't get hand towels. Things like that.

 

The waiters were not as personable in the Garden Room as they were in Windows. There was no difference in the food and the atmosphere was great in both dining rooms.

 

We usually had breakfast anywhere between 7am-9am and unfortunately never had piping hot food in Raffles. The food didn't overall taste bad there, just could have been warmer.

[Surfgirl]

I got a kick out of the Dailies. Everyday the weather forecast said, "Sunny." HA! :D

[canadarose]

Great review! We were on the same cruise and I would have to agree on almost everything! We also had a poor stateroom attendant. He was invisible most of the time (not in a good way) We asked to have the beds put together, but he left them separate, and they were as hard as sleeping on the floor. We asked for an egg crate, but he said they were hard to come by. We would have to wait for him to clean other rooms and take towels, face cloths etc from cart outside rooms. Other than him, agree with you that service was good. Some waiters in dining room were outstanding! And like you, we had a good time despite the weather.

[vacationfool]

Cn you tell me what your shows and other entertainment were like? Music? games? Thank you

[Surfgirl]

Cn you tell me what your shows and other entertainment were like? Music? games? Thank you

 

I'll be covering that in great detail when I write my review (hopefully by this weekend). For the most part, the shows were really good. The first night-- they had a family of acrobats from Australia. The stars of the show were the kids-- their 10 year old boy and 8 year old girl. I was just awestruck.

 

They had a tribute to America show that was super. Really good singing and dancing.

 

I skipped the hypnotist. I don't like that sort of thing.

 

The comedian was OK. Not the best I've seen, but funny.

 

There was a 70's radio review which I thought was "so-so".

 

The last night, they had two separate shows.. one was the passenger talent show which is always good. And probably the highlight of the entire week.. was the crew talent show. OMG.. were they good! One of the crew did a comedy magic act.. another juggled liquor bottles ala Tom Cruise, some sang, and there was a hysterical "Greek Fountain" act at the end.

 

There was also a "passenger" on board (I suspect he was invited on board by NCL for a "try-out") who was better than any of the acts. He danced in the crew talent show. He is a professional dancer and contortionist who had been in Cirque-de-solei. One afternoon, he taught a class in belly dancing that was wonderful. If NCL is reading this-- Hire Arthur!

 

Oh.. and ladies... there was also the "Ship-n-dales" dancers one night in the nightclub. Got some good photos of the performance by hunky crew members. Now THAT was good entertainment! :rolleyes:

 

I didn't attend the games, but there was the standard "NewlyWed Game", Mr. NCL Spirit contest, Mr. Sexy Legs, Who wants to be a Billionaire, and Trivia.

 

There was also arts and crafts-- which I did when in port. They were silly things like "balloon flowers"-- but it was a very good way to meet people you didn't know because you were sitting at a table with them trying to figure out which bead goes where and which straw goes next to which bead.

 

As for music.. the NCL band was super... and they had some female lounge singers.

 

Can you tell I had a great time?

[MindTheGap1918]

We went to see the hypnotist and the comedy troupe while on the Spirit. Both were somewhat entertaining. We didn't go to the other shows.

 

As far as music on board, I really enjoyed Joy, the reggae band. They did a Bob Marley tribute the night of the Caribbean Deck party. It was awesome. The other bands/musicians on board were ok. I heard the ship'n'dales was fun, I'm sorry I missed that, but I don't think my boyfriend would have liked it, ha!

 

As Surfgirl said, there were always art and crafts and games going on during the day. They offered bingo several times during the week. There were also slot and blackjack tournaments in the casino.

[iluv2travl]

Wow!

Thanks for the review. We are going on that ship this Sat. Woo hoo!!! So......you said you were on deck 8 inside. So are we. Did you have a refrigerator in your room? I know you didn't mention it, but just thought I'd ask.

I hope it doesn't rain too much while we are there. :( I'm trying to escape yucky weather from my home town!:D

 

Thanks again for your awesome review.

 

Lori

[MindTheGap1918]

Deck 8 is a great location, you are pretty much in the center of the boat where most of the shops and lounges are.

 

No refrigerators in the room unfortunately. You can bring a cooler though and your cabin steward can bring you ice or you can always go to Champagne Charlies, bar on deck 8 down from the staterooms, to get ice as well.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise! :)

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for the interesting review. Sounds like you had a great time. We really enjoyed the Spirit the one time we were on last year.

 

Kinda surprised about the "Adidas pants" comment. On the Pearl, the sign reads (among other things) "no track suits" in the DR's after 5 pm . Is this not the case on the Spirit or was it not enforced?:confused:

 

Did you have a CC get together? Did any of the staff attend?

[MindTheGap1918]

I honestly don't remember seeing any signs regarding the dress code on the ship, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. Based on what I saw however, there was no enforcement of the dress code. I was just as suprised to see sweatpants in the dining room. I understand the whole "freestyle" concept, but I think the line should be drawn somewhere. Just my opinion.

 

I'm not sure if others had a CC get-together, but we did not attend one.

[Surfgirl]

I honestly don't remember seeing any signs regarding the dress code on the ship, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. Based on what I saw however, there was no enforcement of the dress code. I was just as suprised to see sweatpants in the dining room. I understand the whole "freestyle" concept, but I think the line should be drawn somewhere. Just my opinion.

 

I'm not sure if others had a CC get-together, but we did not attend one.

 

Yes.. we did have a CC get-together.. (Thanks to Aceparty for putting it together for us.) A lot of people don't know that there's a "roll-call" section of CC. That's where people plan the meet-and-greets. Sorry you missed it. Aceparty did a great job-- he got us a room in one of the pubs, had tea, cookies, etc. for us.. and even some of the officers stopped by to chat. It was really nice and fun to put faces to pixels. Sorry you didn't know about it.. it would have been nice to meet you. (And I would have dragged you to Ship-n-dales with me!)

[nhsunshine]

This was my best vacation ever. St. Thomas will always be special for me :) I am now engaged :D

 

 

[KTEJ]

Thanks for the review! Going on the Spirit in July and can't wait, your review makes me more exited!

[Glamourgal]

Thanks for the review of the Spirit, it brought back wonderful memories...I was on the Spirit with my family of 5, all adults, last June and we loved her.

 

Congrats to nhsunshine on your engagement. That certainly will be a memorable cruise for you!!