Quick Review of the Spirit

[welikepalms]

I wanted to post something today since we just got home from our 6 night Spirit Cruise. I will do a full review in the next couple of days.

 

The Spirit is Beautiful inside and out. The staff was fantastic going above and beond to help and please the guest. The food was good to great. Buffet was good also. Weather could have been a little warmer but that is not NCL's fault. Ports where nice. Nassau was our favorite. ( I will comment futher in the full review but a quick note, think long and hard about going to Disney from Port Canaveral. Park was great but not enough time to really get your dollars worth.) Grand Bahama Island is nice, very friendly people. Cab drivers must have trained in NYC.

 

Over all we had a great vacation. Sure things go wrong or change but we did excatly what Freestyle is all about. We did what we wanted when we wanted. Had a very restful beautiful Cruise.

 

I will post more details soon.

 

PS for you Gem fans. We docked at both Nassau and Grand Bahama Island with the Gem. Wow what a beautiful Ship! Hope to sail on her one day.

 

Happy Cruising

[kdg51]

Any signs of freestyle 2.0 upgrades?

[Buffalofirsttimer4]

thanks for the quick note, can't wait for the full review-leave in less than a week and I'm so excited!!!!:)

[csaeroach]

We will be on the Spirit May 11th for our first NCL cruise, and really looking forward to it. Will keep checking back for your full review.

Thanks for posting your great comments about the Spirit.

 

Chris and Shelley

PE, Canada

[maryln]

I'm really looking forward to your full review. You worried me a little about Disney. We're taking our 4 year old DGD. If you took the bus transfer through the ship, I'd really like to know what time you got to the park & what time you left. Thanks!

[Smellytoes]

I wanted to post something today since we just got home from our 6 night Spirit Cruise. I will do a full review in the next couple of days.

 

The Spirit is Beautiful inside and out. The staff was fantastic going above and beond to help and please the guest. The food was good to great. Buffet was good also. Weather could have been a little warmer but that is not NCL's fault. Ports where nice. Nassau was our favorite. ( I will comment futher in the full review but a quick note, think long and hard about going to Disney from Port Canaveral. Park was great but not enough time to really get your dollars worth.) Grand Bahama Island is nice, very friendly people. Cab drivers must have trained in NYC.

 

Over all we had a great vacation. Sure things go wrong or change but we did excatly what Freestyle is all about. We did what we wanted when we wanted. Had a very restful beautiful Cruise.

 

I will post more details soon.

 

PS for you Gem fans. We docked at both Nassau and Grand Bahama Island with the Gem. Wow what a beautiful Ship! Hope to sail on her one day.

 

Happy Cruising

 

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about you.lol I was on the Gem docked with you in all the ports and I was thinking "that Spirit is a pretty ship. I can't wait for her to sail from Boston":D

[packercruising]

Looking forward to the review! If we go it will have a different itineray so I am especally interested in info about the ship.:)

[negc]

We will be part of a group sailing on the Spirit from Boston to Bermuda on May 8, 2009 and were wondering which of the restaurants require an additional tariff and how much that extra charge is per person. Thanks in advance.

The ship looks like it is beautiful and for some in our group this will be their very first cruise.:) Most have outside staterooms with verandahs on Decks 9 and 10. Any pluses or minuses to any of these rooms?

[welikepalms]

Any signs of freestyle 2.0 upgrades?

 

 

I did speak to the Cruise Director Matt. (His first week and a great guy for the job. He did a terrific job.) And he said it will all be done by the beginning of June this year. Don't let the "lack" of 2.0 discourage you. It is a beautiful ship. You will have a great time on her.

 

Happy Cruising.

[welikepalms]

I'm really looking forward to your full review. You worried me a little about Disney. We're taking our 4 year old DGD. If you took the bus transfer through the ship, I'd really like to know what time you got to the park & what time you left. Thanks!

 

First I think I sounded a little upset about the excursion to Disney. We had a great day. We have been there before so we knew what we wanted to do. Went to Hollywood Studio's (old MGM). The thing that made it hard was it was still spring break and the park was PACKED. So our limited time was used up quickly waiting in long lines. We couldn't use much of the fast passes because the times where already near or over the time we had to be back at the buses to leave.

 

As for times we left Port Canaveral at Noon, got to Disney's Ticket and Transportation Center a little before 1:00pm. We took the bus to Disney's Studio's and had about 6 hours in the park. We had to be back to the Bus no later then 8:00 PM but we chose to be back at 7:00. The tour guide was very specific on if you missed the last bus it is $144.00 to take a cab back to the ship. (I guess people have missed the bus before).

 

The trip over and back is nice and no worries. They pick you up right at the ship. The day was great (just like I said short on time for us). If you have never been to Disney the transportation is easy and fast around the park. Just ask any of the drivers and they can tell you exactly how to get to where you want to go and most importantly how to get back when you are done.

 

Last We and you will be too on Vacation. Enjoy!!

Hope this helps.

 

Happy cruising

[welikepalms]

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about you.lol I was on the Gem docked with you in all the ports and I was thinking "that Spirit is a pretty ship. I can't wait for her to sail from Boston":D

 

That is funny. I knew I felt "eyes" on the ship as we sailed away. lol

 

Thanks for the chuckle. We are still in post cruise depression lol

 

Happy cruising.

[welikepalms]

We will be part of a group sailing on the Spirit from Boston to Bermuda on May 8, 2009 and were wondering which of the restaurants require an additional tariff and how much that extra charge is per person. Thanks in advance.

The ship looks like it is beautiful and for some in our group this will be their very first cruise.:) Most have outside staterooms with verandahs on Decks 9 and 10. Any pluses or minuses to any of these rooms?

 

Here are the Eating Establishments that are "Free":

Raffles Court (Buffet) Good for a Buffet

Blue Lagoon (Quick 24 hour food) Son loved the food Myself and Wife thought OK.

Garden Room Main Resturant (Our favorite. Ask for Dean Walker as your Waiter)

Windows Main Resturant - We really enjoyed the food here and in the Garden.

Bier Garten (Quick Food) Son loved the burgers and dogs. also great view

Room Service. Didn't use it?? still don't know why lol

La Trattoria Itialian Free but you need reservations (Inside Raffles Buffet)

 

Pay extra's are: I can't quote the prices for each but if you search the boards it has been talked about alot. We did not eat in any. No reason why other then we where with our son and my parents and we just stuck together to eat.

Shogun Asian

Le Bistro

Teppanyaki

Cagney's steak house

I think thats it.

 

As for the Rooms with Verandahs. We where on Deck 10 with a balcony. We have cruised with an ocean view before and in my opinion the balcony cabin is the way to go. If the price is right for you it is wonderful. I just loved getting up the morning and drinking coffee feeling the breeze and smelling the ocean from our own little oasis. A great place to read (I actually finished a book during the cruise) watch docking and waiting to go ashore too.

On a side note. We met a great couple from CT and they had gotten an upgrade to a Penthouse. We toured it and it was wonderful. It is basically 2 Baclony rooms, with plenty of extras.

 

Hope this helps

Happy Cruising.

[ROGER CT]

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about you.lol I was on the Gem docked with you in all the ports and I was thinking "that Spirit is a pretty ship. I can't wait for her to sail from Boston":D

 

Have to say both ships r great .

I was on the gem as well.

 

We beat you back to New York ha ha :cool:

[ConnecticutCruisers]

We were on the Gem and pulled in to New York yesterday with the Spirit. Our bus home was delayed for almost two hours because people were still stuck in line trying to get off the Spirit at 2:30. Anyone on the Spirit know what caused the delay?

 

We stayed on the Gem until 11:30 when the announced that all remaining passengers had to disembark and we were through customs and waiting for the bus by noon.

[tinkerbell81]

My bf and I were also on this past week's sailing of the Spirit. I echo what welikepalms said...it was a wonderful ship and a great vacation. The food was good to great everywhere we ate (my bf and my favorite was Le Bistro...wonderful staff and the food was delicious!) and everyone was so friendly. The cruise staff was fairly new (it was the first week on the job for both the cruise director, Matt, and the assistant cruise director, Joe--aka "yo, yo, yo it's Bingo Joe" :p) but they did a great job.

 

My only qualm was the weather...it was a little chilly for the first few days and the seas were a bit choppy on the trip home, but NCL can't do anything about that. We still made the best of it and had a blast because we were on vacation! To us, even a slightly chilly afternoon at sea still beats being at work.

 

All of the rumors about bedbugs, bad food, surly staff, and norovirus outbreaks were not experienced by us or anyone else that we spoke to on board. The ship was impeccably clean and well maintained all week. Even with the itinerary change, we had a wonderful time. My bf and I both agree that we'd sail her again in a heartbeat, just probably with a midship cabin instead of a forward one to avoid seasickness on choppy days. ;)

[tinkerbell81]

We were on the Gem and pulled in to New York yesterday with the Spirit. Our bus home was delayed for almost two hours because people were still stuck in line trying to get off the Spirit at 2:30. Anyone on the Spirit know what caused the delay?

 

We stayed on the Gem until 11:30 when the announced that all remaining passengers had to disembark and we were through customs and waiting for the bus by noon.

 

Oh yeah, that was my only beef with the Spirit...the so-called "express disembarkation" (which I used on the Dawn a few years ago and found it to be wonderfully efficient) consisted of us waiting 2 hours in line with all of our luggage. I don't know what was taking so long (perhaps having both the Gem and the Spirit disembarking together caused a shortage of customs agents at the terminal? :confused:) but it was disorganized and very frustrating.

[mtspit1]

I was on the Spirit and we heard all kinds of rumors as to why it took so long to disembark from the fact that the Pope was in town to the fact that both the Gem and Spirit were disembarking and the customs employees were split between both piers. Don't know the exact reason but I did not get off the ship until 1:30 and I had signed up for Express disembarkment carrying my own luggage which should have gotten off the ship at 10:30. Many people were concerned because they had trains or flights to connect with as the morning grew late. I too had good time overall and would do it again.

[ConnecticutCruisers]

I was on the Spirit and we heard all kinds of rumors as to why it took so long to disembark from the fact that the Pope was in town to the fact that both the Gem and Spirit were disembarking and the customs employees were split between both piers. Don't know the exact reason but I did not get off the ship until 1:30 and I had signed up for Express disembarkment carrying my own luggage which should have gotten off the ship at 10:30. Many people were concerned because they had trains or flights to connect with as the morning grew late. I too had good time overall and would do it again.

 

We were some of the last people to get off the Gem and I'm sure the line through customs was done by about noon as there were only a few people left behind us when we went through.

[crshore]

All of the rumors about bedbugs, bad food, surly staff, and norovirus outbreaks were not experienced by us or anyone else that we spoke to on board. The ship was impeccably clean and well maintained all week. Even with the itinerary change, we had a wonderful time. My bf and I both agree that we'd sail her again in a heartbeat, just probably with a midship cabin instead of a forward one to avoid seasickness on choppy days. ;)

 

My husband, son and I had a great time! This is my second time on the Spirit, and it looked just as good as it had back in 2006. The staff was wonderful, the ship was clean, and the activities were fun (even yo...yo.yo...bingo Joe...lol!). My son participated in the teen program and had a fantastic time. I can never understand it when people complain about the Spirit to harshly. Sometimes, it seems like those people have sailed on a completely different ship!

 

Oh, BTW, we were midship, deck 10...and my son still got seasick one night, so midship doesn't guarantee a settled stomach ;)

 

Glad you had a great time. We ended up doing the $250.00 deposit toward our next cruise while we were on board (with a $100 credit toward this cruise) because we KNOW we're going to sail on NCL again, hopefully sooner than later.

[Loves2Stamp]

Hi to Palms and Tinkerbell! Nice meeting you at Henry's Pub! I would echo the comments made by both of these folks. I had read many reviews of the Spirit before leaving (both good and bad) so I felt my expectations were realistic. We found everything to be great - the service was good to excellent; the food was good to very good in most locations. The buffet and pool side buffets, etc. are what they are - buffet food! Not bad, just not fine dining but I don't expect it to be either!

 

The Spirit is a lovely ship - I loved all the Asian decor and influences. There are many nooks and crannies to enjoy the sun, people watching, a drink or just sit and relax. This was our first NCL cruise and I did enjoy the freestyle concept of dining - we had our teenage daughter with us and it was nice to choose when/where to eat. We could dress up or not depending on our mood. There were plenty of activities on board if you chose to do them but I certainly didn't feel like I had to! The times in the ports could have been a bit better but I didn't really go on this particular cruise for the ports - I wanted more time at sea and this itinerary gives you that. The seas were a bit rough especially coming back to NY and the weather could have been warmer but that's to be expected in the Atlantic for this time of year. I just took my Bonine and all was well. Although today at home, I still feel like I'm walking on a moving ship!!

 

We did wonder how the Gem beat us back to NYC??!!!:confused: My only complaint was the express debarkation as noted above....there wasn't much express about it! It was a 2-hour wait to get off the ship with no real explanation as to why. Although we did get into NYC later than expected so that may have had something to do with it. Since you could select your own debarkation time, we decided that next time, we would choose a later one and have them take our luggage off for us and just relax on the upper decks til they call us rather than stand for 2 hours in a line with all our luggage. Of course, that is assuming you don't have any connecting transportation to catch! We had parked at the pier and were trying to get an earlier start to driving home to Syracuse but in hindsight we should have chosen a later debarkation time. Next time we'll know.

 

This cruise was a great option for us and provided us with a good value and a relaxing fun vacation with our daughter!

 

Karen

[formerjar]

Husband and I were also on last week's cruise -- I hope to write a detailed review at some point soon, but I wanted to chime in and say that we THOROUGHLY enjoyed the Spirit, the staff, and the FOOD!

 

Anyone know if customs is a union gig? Because, honestly -- it's possible that they were scheduled for a 10-12 debarkation, followed by a lunch break. And that, when the ship was not cleared until 11:30...they still took that noon lunch break. I'm only speculating, but it's possible. It really did seem to be a shoreside issue -- not the fault of the ship.

 

Kudos to Becca, youth staff on stair duty forward during the express debarkation ordeal. I could have never been as gracious to some of the bumbling ignoramouses who heckeled and berated her for the delay ad naseum. With 800 children on board all week and another 850 embarking in a few hours...she's an amazing lady!

[newmexicoNita]

Oh yeah, that was my only beef with the Spirit...the so-called "express disembarkation" (which I used on the Dawn a few years ago and found it to be wonderfully efficient) consisted of us waiting 2 hours in line with all of our luggage. I don't know what was taking so long (perhaps having both the Gem and the Spirit disembarking together caused a shortage of customs agents at the terminal? :confused:) but it was disorganized and very frustrating.

Probably took longer with the two ships in plus so many people are opting for express debarkation it may soon loose its charm. I guess it like the latittude parties, they used to be wonderful but now they have gotten so large they have lost some of the awe. At least they have more than one and still are better than Princess or Celebrity's.

 

Nita

[Grammynelliebelle]

My husband, son and I had a great time! This is my second time on the Spirit, and it looked just as good as it had back in 2006. The staff was wonderful, the ship was clean, and the activities were fun (even yo...yo.yo...bingo Joe...lol!). My son participated in the teen program and had a fantastic time. I can never understand it when people complain about the Spirit to harshly. Sometimes, it seems like those people have sailed on a completely different ship!

 

Oh, BTW, we were midship, deck 10...and my son still got seasick one night, so midship doesn't guarantee a settled stomach ;)

 

Glad you had a great time. We ended up doing the $250.00 deposit toward our next cruise while we were on board (with a $100 credit toward this cruise) because we KNOW we're going to sail on NCL again, hopefully sooner than later.

I have a question regarding the $250 deposit. How long do you have to book a new cruise and then sail. TIA Grammy

[tinkerbell81]

I have a question regarding the $250 deposit. How long do you have to book a new cruise and then sail. TIA Grammy

 

The woman on board selling them said we wouldn't have to sail until October 2010, which (doing the math) makes it a yr and a half?

[crshore]

The woman on board selling them said we wouldn't have to sail until October 2010, which (doing the math) makes it a yr and a half?

 

You have to book one year from the date you make the deposit, but you can sail any date within 2.5 years if making the deposit. According to the ship staff, right now, this promo is only offered on board. I like the fact it will "force" me to take another cruise within the next couple of years!