Wonderful vacation on the Spirit 7/21-7/29

[MaryM]

This was the second cruise for my family- my self, husband and two teenage kids 18 & 17. The first was on the Dawn two years ago which we loved.

 

I have two issues I want to address right away. First- reservations for the Specialty Resturants. I could not get a reservation even though I stood in line a couple of mornings around 8ish and phoned two other mornings. After 4 days of trying, I wasn't going to waste any more of my time trying. What I was really ticked about was that the Italian Restaurant, which is a non-paying resturant and should have been one of our options for dinner also took reservations and the only time I was offered on two occasions was 9:45 p.m. Second - the Spirit didn't seem to have many activites planned for the afternoon for people who didn't want to lay by the pool all day. Like I said, this is only my second cruise and I don't recall having these issues on the Dawn. That said.....

 

Boarding was a breeze, it took one hour from our limo to sitting in Raffles having lunch. We brought 3 bottles of wine and paid the $15 per bottle corkage fee and also had a bar set up of Bailey's which was in our room when we got there.

 

We had to cabins, 6553 with a window and an inside cabin across the hall. I had read on these boards that the mattresses were quite hard on the Spirit... this is true. However, I was up early every day, went to bed late every night and had a few cocktails in between so the firmness of the mattress didn't seem to bother me. My hubby however, complained of a sore back a few morning, but a half hour in the hot tub and a couple of tylenol and he didn't speak about it the rest of the day. Our rooms were always clean, although I never met our room stewards.

 

We ate Breakfast and lunch at Raffels. Breakfast was always good, there are the usual choices. I always found something tasty for lunch, the stir fry was very good. Dinner not so good. We ate at Raffles one night for dinner after an excusion, the family was tired and didn't want to do the dress up thing. I went with salad and pasta and they were both good. The rest of the family tried different things, and ended up with pasta and salad. I think they also hit the Blue Lagoon that evening. They were never disappointed there. We ate dinner at Windows and the Garden. The meals there were very good and the service was good as well.

 

Excursions - I did alot of reading on these boards before hand and planned all our excursions on my own.

Bermuda - bought an all day transportation pass ($12) pp at the pier when we docked in Kings Wharf. Took the bus to Hamilton, did some shopping, went to Fort Hamilton, then took the bus to Horseshoe Bay which was just beautiful.

Tortola - I had read on the "Ports of Call" boards about Speedy's. A ferry and taxi service that would take you to Virgin Gorda and on to "The Baths" The cost was $30 pp. We brought our own snokel gear, and again this island was beautiful. The snokeling was great. You will need to bring water shoes as the rocks are very slippery and some are sharp. FYI - Speedy's has a website. I emailed them with questions... ferry schedule, lengh of ferry ride etc. They responded promtly and were very

helpful.

St. Thomas - again, did a little reading and came up with Godfrey's Tours. $25 pp, Godfrey picked us up at the ship, took us to down town St. Thomas for 2 hours of shopping, 2 hour tour around the island and 2 hours at Sapphire beach for more snokeling. He also has a website, and was very happy to email me back and forth answering my questions.

 

We went to all the shows. Shark Bait was hilarious. The Hypnotist was very entertaining, and Jeff (of the Bold and The Beautiful) was a very good impersonator. Second City was a hit or miss, everything else was good.

 

The ship was very clean, I found all personel to be happy and courteous as were the passengers. We enjoyed the activities we went to, casino, shows and pubs. This was a very enjoyable cruise, we had a great week of weather and quality time spent with my kids, which is rare at this age.

 

Will sail NCL again.:)

[nyflush]

Thanks for the reveiw glad to hear you had a great time:)

We are thinking about taking the spirit after our next Dawn cruise to Bermuda. Did you find the Spirit to be much smaller than the Dawn?

[lostie]

Thanks for the review! I leave in 6 days for both itineraries (bermuda & bahamas). I guess you have no advice on how to get reservations to specialty restaurants. My husband is sort of picky and I know he would like Trattorria. I also want to try Cagney's. Since we are going on a back to back, maybe I will try for the 2nd embarkation day since we will already be on the ship. I hope I have better luck for reservations. :D

[klct39lg]

I am glad you had fun with your teens!

 

We are looking at the Spirit for March and will be traveling with 2 teen sons, so I know how precious the good times are.

 

Thank you for your review.:)

 

P.S. I won't tell DH about the hard beds because we are currently shopping for a new mattress as ours is extremely hard. (Wish I could find a message board for this.:p )

[CHIPMUNKSMOM]

marym,thnks for the write up. What did your teens do ? I am going with my 15 yo son .

Thanks:)

[lostie]

I am glad you had fun with your teens!

 

We are looking at the Spirit for March and will be traveling with 2 teen sons, so I know how precious the good times are.

 

Thank you for your review.:)

 

P.S. I won't tell DH about the hard beds because we are currently shopping for a new mattress as ours is extremely hard. (Wish I could find a message board for this.:p )

 

Get a PILLOWTOP mattress. It feels soft like a pillow but it is firm underneath the pillow top and that is better for your back.:D Love mine!

[dennbr9]

Thanks for the review. You can order the egg crates for your mattress which will help. Wish they would upgrade their bedding as other lines have done.

[CHIPMUNKSMOM]

MARYM What did your teens do for the week.? any teen club activtiies or arcade info to share:o

[bahamasbabe65]

Thanks for the review! I leave in 6 days for both itineraries (bermuda & bahamas). I guess you have no advice on how to get reservations to specialty restaurants. My husband is sort of picky and I know he would like Trattorria. I also want to try Cagney's. Since we are going on a back to back, maybe I will try for the 2nd embarkation day since we will already be on the ship. I hope I have better luck for reservations. :D

 

Hi,

 

I found calling the morning of and the night before was a breeze. I've read many horror stories on these boards about waiting in the lines, so I wouldn't even think of doing that. You can even reserve with the Matitre D again if you feel you'd like to go back. Good luck, and enjoy! :D

[bahamasbabe65]

MARYM What did your teens do for the week.? any teen club activtiies or arcade info to share:o

 

 

Hi,

 

I sailed on 7/1 with my DD - 15 (along with a few of her friends who traveled with us on the same trip). One of my friends took her DS - 16. Although they didn't really join in the teen club activities, they kept busy on their own (they both had friends that also traveled on the ship). He was busy most of the time in the pool and the arcade. The arcade is pretty big, however it can get expensive after a few days. My daughter went through $10 roll of quarters in no time and felt it wasn't worth any extra money after that. I know they have wii tournaments, etc. but we weren't aware of it when we were onboard. Someone posted that there's a separate list of activities for the teens that is neither circulated nor printed inthe Freestyle Daily. I would have liked to know that when we were onboard, so I would inquire about getting access to that with NCL when you get a chance.

 

My other advice to you is this: My DD (thank God) came back to the cabin one night because she said her friend (who we were traveling with) wanted her to hang with these other teens from the midwest who were drinking liquor they managed to steal from an unattended bar, and she wasn't into that type of crowd so she left. I'm not sure how true that story is, but I was just thankful my DD had the brains to walk away and avoid the pier pressure. Teens seem to get very bored at night on this cruise, so keep a watchful eye or be sure to plan activities for later in the evening. Daytime is easier to keep them entertained I think. Have a wonderful time! :D

[CHIPMUNKSMOM]

bahamasbabe65... Thanks for the info on the kids activities. We have cruised often but never on the SPIRIT. I will let him know what you said.

Thanks again.:)

[klct39lg]

My other advice to you is this: My DD (thank God) came back to the cabin one night because she said her friend (who we were traveling with) wanted her to hang with these other teens from the midwest who were drinking liquor they managed to steal from an unattended bar, and she wasn't into that type of crowd so she left. I'm not sure how true that story is, but I was just thankful my DD had the brains to walk away and avoid the pier pressure. Teens seem to get very bored at night on this cruise, so keep a watchful eye or be sure to plan activities for later in the evening. Daytime is easier to keep them entertained I think. Have a wonderful time! :D

 

I saw the same thing on our Princess cruise last December. My two sons didn't hang out with other teens on the ship, which at first disappointed me. Later, I saw some teens hanging around in the hallways and stairwells that were talking about how many drinks they'd had that evening. I saw some others smoking in hallways and stairwells at different times.

[Aloha Gal]

Sorry this is off topic. On my recent cruise on the Pearl, we were in the cigar room and were joined by a group of teens (I know two were 17) who were obviously intoxicated and smoking cigarettes. Saw these teens and others frequently running around the ship completely unsupervised. Perhaps parents have a pseudo feeling of safety as they are confined to a ship, but I can see how things could go bad. Not singling out teens, but my observations did trigger some concern.

[bahamasbabe65]

Sorry this is off topic. On my recent cruise on the Pearl, we were in the cigar room and were joined by a group of teens (I know two were 17) who were obviously intoxicated and smoking cigarettes. Saw these teens and others frequently running around the ship completely unsupervised. Perhaps parents have a pseudo feeling of safety as they are confined to a ship, but I can see how things could go bad. Not singling out teens, but my observations did trigger some concern.

 

I think you were right to be concerned. I think you are also right about parents having that false sense of safety on a ship. In my observation, many parents feel that teens don't need supervision on a cruise, and they go about their business enjoying themselves while their kids wander around the ship meeting other kids causing havoc. It's a recipe for disaster unfortunately. :(

[bahamasbabe65]

I saw the same thing on our Princess cruise last December. My two sons didn't hang out with other teens on the ship, which at first disappointed me. Later, I saw some teens hanging around in the hallways and stairwells that were talking about how many drinks they'd had that evening. I saw some others smoking in hallways and stairwells at different times.

 

It's too bad these cruise lines don't implement a better teen program. None of the kids we were traveling with wanted to be bothered with the teen program because honestly - there was nothing special about it. So, they had limited options and places to go. I know how easily they get bored (being used to video games, tv, movies, etc... at their fingertips) so I think it's a shame that they are wandering around the ship bored and possibly getting into trouble since there is no supervision by the parents. I personally don't go on vacation and abandon my parental obligations. Based on our observations, however, not everyone thinks that way! :(

 

PS: Kudos to your kids for knowing better and walking away! It's a true testament to you as a parent :)