Just off the NCL Spirit

[chajec]

Hello -

 

Just got home from a great cruise on the NCL spirit. There is too much to talk about here, so rather than bore you with a long review, fire away with any questions you may have and I'll give you a reply.

 

I'll monitor the thread and reply as quickly as possible for those of you who are cruising soon.

[phplady]

What percentage of the diners dress-up for formal night? It just doesn't seem to make sense to dress-up when there are people seated around you who are dressed casual. I am used to the traditional dining on Princess and Cunard.

 

Do people dress-up more for the speciality restaurants?

 

Does the dining room really enforce the no jeans or shorts?

 

And tell me about the lobster. How many times do they serve lobster in the dining room on the 7 day cruise?

 

Or

 

Is lobster mainly available in the speciality restuarants?

[radzer0]

Did you bring your daily papers home with you? If you did can you scan? :) It will answer alot of peoples questions.

[appletx]

Will the power outlets handle my U.S. gadget chargers? Is there any place (tv, radio) to plug in an MP3 player? I'm sure I will have lots more questions for you as I have never cruised on NCL before. Thanks for offering to give info.

[garycarla]

There is at least one "normal" U.S. type outlet. Will handle all your chargers just fine.

 

Daily's? Somebody posted a link to all of them a few weeks ago. Will try to do a search to find it and post if for you.

[chajec]

What percentage of the diners dress-up for formal night? It just doesn't seem to make sense to dress-up when there are people seated around you who are dressed casual. I am used to the traditional dining on Princess and Cunard.

 

Do people dress-up more for the speciality restaurants?

 

Does the dining room really enforce the no jeans or shorts?

 

And tell me about the lobster. How many times do they serve lobster in the dining room on the 7 day cruise?

 

Or

 

Is lobster mainly available in the speciality restuarants?

 

 

I've been on several other cruise lines. In comparison to those, I did not see as many people dressed up on NCL. I didn't see many TIES at all.

 

For specialty restaurants, that is your choice. We only dined in Cagneys.

 

We saw one person being told about not wearing jeans in Windows on the first night. I did not see many wearing jeans in Windows at all. The other restaurants all allow you to wear jeans and some people did. I would wear nice jeans and not raggedy ones.

 

We had lobster tail/grouper in the Garden Restaurant one night, and on another night there was a combo fish entree that included some pieces of lobster. Lobster wasn't bad.

 

 

Hope that helps.

[chajec]

Will the power outlets handle my U.S. gadget chargers? Is there any place (tv, radio) to plug in an MP3 player? I'm sure I will have lots more questions for you as I have never cruised on NCL before. Thanks for offering to give info.

 

There was one normal 110 power outlet. We blew it out once by using a high powered hair dryer. Had to call down to the front desk and they fixed it LATER that evening, but not in time for it to be used again. I charged ipod with no issue and had a night light plugged in at night. Bottom line is the outlet is sensitive to high power so be careful.

[chajec]

Did you bring your daily papers home with you? If you did can you scan? :) It will answer alot of peoples questions.

 

I don't have a good scanner. There are a lot of pages but am willing to answer questions if you have em.

 

Thanks.

[TheYankeeCruisers]

We're booked on the Spirit this fall for the 16 day Boston to New Orleans cruise and have recently read a review suggesting the Spirit may be a rough ride even in calm seas? Our last cruise had a couple rough days, but with a 30-40 foot sea running at the time it was no wonder. Is the Spirit a wallowing tub, or a good sailer? I should add were booked for an interior cabin, deck 11, starboard aft.

 

 

HAL Veendam 8/98

RCCL Explorer of the Seas 11/08

[Don Haynes]

There was one normal 110 power outlet. We blew it out once by using a high powered hair dryer. Had to call down to the front desk and they fixed it LATER that evening, but not in time for it to be used again. I charged ipod with no issue and had a night light plugged in at night. Bottom line is the outlet is sensitive to high power so be careful.

 

The Spirit electrical power is plenty for everything except hair dryers. I highly recommend either using the not so powerful hair dryer provided, or to buy and bring a dual voltage hair dryer, using the 220 outlet and circuit. Be sure to switch the hair dryer to 220 too. An American to European adapter will also be required, you know the two flat prongs to two round prongs.

 

I am not aware of any MP3 players aboard the ship. I suggest you bring one.

[chrisbd1]

There was one normal 110 power outlet. We blew it out once by using a high powered hair dryer. Had to call down to the front desk and they fixed it LATER that evening, but not in time for it to be used again. I charged ipod with no issue and had a night light plugged in at night. Bottom line is the outlet is sensitive to high power so be careful.

 

There was a sign that said no hair dryers under our outlet. I guess this has happened before. There was a hairdryer in the bathroom but, as you saw, I didn't need it ;)

 

We're booked on the Spirit this fall for the 16 day Boston to New Orleans cruise and have recently read a review suggesting the Spirit may be a rough ride even in calm seas? Our last cruise had a couple rough days, but with a 30-40 foot sea running at the time it was no wonder. Is the Spirit a wallowing tub, or a good sailer? I should add were booked for an interior cabin, deck 11, starboard aft.

 

 

HAL Veendam 8/98

RCCL Explorer of the Seas 11/08

 

It did seen a little rocky at some places, especially Costa Maya :eek:. It wasn't that bad for the whole trip. We were in 11660, near the door to Raffles (excellent location by the way).

 

Will the power outlets handle my U.S. gadget chargers? Is there any place (tv, radio) to plug in an MP3 player? I'm sure I will have lots more questions for you as I have never cruised on NCL before. Thanks for offering to give info.

 

I took my power strip and had a battery charger, cell phone charger, mini refrigerator and laptop plugged in. No problems.

[chajec]

Did you bring your daily papers home with you? If you did can you scan? :) It will answer alot of peoples questions.

 

I don't have a good scanner. There are a lot of pages but am willing to answer questions if you have em.

 

Thanks.

[HK Fan]

Hi. We just got off the Spirit a couple of weeks ago. I'm still bummed we're home. Here's my take on some of the questions. I hope this helps, too.

 

DH wore jeans every evening of the cruise and we had dinner at Windows 6 of the 7 nights and 1 night in the Garden Room. The host/hostess never even batted an eyelash about it. At Windows, there were people wearing suits, dresses (not formal or cocktail but just nice dresses) and heels, khakis, and capris and sandals. And it didn't matter if it was a dressy day or not, although I did notice that many more people dressed up on the one day that the Freestyle Daily said to dress up if we wanted to. I often wore nice black slacks and a nice shirt and did not feel either underdressed or overdressed except on embarkation day when everybody was dressed really really casual. My kids (8 and 3) wore shorts and capris every evening.

 

We had lobster two nights of the cruise. I think it was Tuesday and Friday. It was big chunks of lobster meat with other types of fish and either shrimp or mussels over either pasta or rice. The waiter would pour melted butter over it. The lobster was pretty good and we asked for more lobster on one evening so that the kids could have some and they brought out an extra plate with the lobster right away. We were pleased with the lobster meals.

 

We had lunch at the Sushi restaurant one day and it was an amazing lunch and well worth the price ($30 for two people).

 

Have fun on the Spirit. I wish I were coming along. :)

[Ms belp]

Chris and I had a wonderful time. We missed Guatemala on Chris' birthday but she had a great time anyway. We love the Spirit. The crew was wonderful and so was the decor. Only thing lacking was souvenirs because they are getting ready to relocate. But I bought two bags, two scarves, and got a free white evening bag to carrry to the White Hot Party. Everything was $10 each one night.

[TheYankeeCruisers]

I forgot to ask. Our cabin as shown features 2 twins. Nowhere yet have I seen mention of or been asked if we have the option to have our cabin alternatively configured with as 1 queen. Do they not offer this option for all cabins on NCL? :confused:

 

HAL Veendam 8/98 :)

RCCL Explorer of the Seas 11/08 :D

[Don Haynes]

With every NCL ship I have sailed on, the twin beds can be joined to make a single queen. I would ask the cabin steward, or leave a note for them to make the switch if necessary.

[live2dive45]

To the Yankeecruisers....

We were on Spirit last Sept for New England/Canada cruise and it was great. She sails beautifully in calm waters...Don't know where you heard that she was a "wallowing tub" but that certainly wasn't the case. Now we ran into Tropical storm Kyle and ran into 20-25 ft swells that night and the ship did rock and roll....but find me a ship that won't in those seas. Enjoy yr cruise on the Spirit. She is a beautiful ship and has an awesome crew.

[EastTexans2]

What is the "white hot party"?

[beach gramma]

Hi. We just got off the Spirit a couple of weeks ago. I'm still bummed we're home. Here's my take on some of the questions. I hope this helps, too.

 

DH wore jeans every evening of the cruise and we had dinner at Windows 6 of the 7 nights and 1 night in the Garden Room. The host/hostess never even batted an eyelash about it. At Windows, there were people wearing suits, dresses (not formal or cocktail but just nice dresses) and heels, khakis, and capris and sandals. And it didn't matter if it was a dressy day or not, although I did notice that many more people dressed up on the one day that the Freestyle Daily said to dress up if we wanted to. I often wore nice black slacks and a nice shirt and did not feel either underdressed or overdressed except on embarkation day when everybody was dressed really really casual. My kids (8 and 3) wore shorts and capris every evening.

 

We had lobster two nights of the cruise. I think it was Tuesday and Friday. It was big chunks of lobster meat with other types of fish and either shrimp or mussels over either pasta or rice. The waiter would pour melted butter over it. The lobster was pretty good and we asked for more lobster on one evening so that the kids could have some and they brought out an extra plate with the lobster right away. We were pleased with the lobster meals.

 

We had lunch at the Sushi restaurant one day and it was an amazing lunch and well worth the price ($30 for two people).

 

Have fun on the Spirit. I wish I were coming along. :)

HKFAN-- Did the 4 of you have one cabin ---was it an interior? How crowded was it? Do you think 3 adults and a 50 # kid manage in the cabin. Are ocean view the same size? Thanks for the reply.

[CruisinMaterial]

What is the "white hot party"?

 

This is a party where you wear White attire and go to the disco for a night of entertainment. The music will probably be a faster beat than you are accustomed to and it's to encourage the nightlife onboard or for people to come out late. It varies by sailing and sometimes you'll have performances by the dance troupe or you'll have NCL crew with angel wings and the Cruise Director in there. Drink specials and such but it is a late night event in the disco. Hope that helps! :D

[maggiecatenjay]

Never been to the White Hot party but this thread had lots of folks talking about it... what happens, what to wear, etc.

Looks like fun!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=954388&highlight=white+lipstick

[Habs24]

When you say that there is one North American power outlet in the room, does that mean one set of prongs, or one "typical" North American style outlet with two sets for two power cords?

 

Thanks

[Toyz711]

here's the photo of the outlet, in a balcony cabin on the spirit...there was only 1 regular U.S.A. type outlet, over at the desk area.

[Don Haynes]

I highly recommend bringing a power strip or extension cord. One outlet isn't enough when there are batteries to charge for a number of different devices.

[chajec]

Never been to the White Hot party but this thread had lots of folks talking about it... what happens, what to wear, etc.

Looks like fun!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=954388&highlight=white+lipstick

 

 

White Hot party was a lot of fun. Lot of very danceable music. Be sure to wear something white since it's all dark and they have black lights all over the place so everything white shows up. The women in our group bought White feather boas in NOLA really cheap and wore those and they stood out, so that is a thought.

 

Have fun.