My Spirit Review, Jan. 2-7, 2004 PART ONE

[DavidNDC]

My informal cruise review: Five-day NCL Spirit, Jan. 2-7. (I'm posting this

in three parts, because it is LONG!)

 

Part One includes:

 

GETTING THERE

OUR CABIN

PUBLIC ROOMS

THE CASINO

 

Parts Two and Three will include:

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS

THE FOOD

THE CROWDS

SHOPPING

ENTERTAINMENT

PEOPLE

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

 

By way of background, this was my fifth cruise and my girlfriend Paula's first. I am 41 and she is 33. The previous cruises I have been on were NCL Dawn out of NYC, Celebrity Century out of Fort Lauderdale (twice) and an RCCL ship out of Miami whose name escapes me.

 

Very generally speaking, I liked this cruise and Paula did not. I am going to try to write this review to reflect both of our perspectives. It is somewhat difficult, however, for this reason: I firmly believe that 75 percent of our perspectives have to do with cruising itself and 25 percent have to do with this ship in particular. In other words: You could put me out to sea in a bathtub and if you gave me plenty of books and a bit of sunlight and if you threw some yummy food at me every now and again, I would be more than happy. Paula, arguably, is a bit more selective when it comes to her vacation. She felt that life on the ship was kind of boring, that the experience felt "scripted" and that the ship was too crowded.

 

So with these qualifications, and with my intent being to reflect both of our experiences, here I go.

 

GETTING THERE

 

I mention the travel part because of all of the trouble U.S. Airways has been having. We were worried. We booked our flight the day after Thanksgiving, before we knew that U.S. Airways would be in this much trouble this quickly. Plus, we wanted to save money by flying in and out the same day of our departure and arrival. I wouldn't recommend this, especially in the winter, but we really needed to save on the price of a hotel room.

 

As it turned out, we were okay. Our flight was delayed for an hour or more as we sat on the runway at D.C. National and listened to the pilot talk about how air traffic controllers at Fort Lauderdale wouldn't let us take off yet. We finally got off the ground, got to Fort Lauderdale, landed and sat on the runway again as the pilot said that there was some confusion and the gate we were supposed to connect with was somehow not expecting us.

 

When we finally were able to get off the plane, we noticed mounds and mounds of unclaimed luggage in the FLL airport -- remnants of seven days prior, when hundreds of U.S. Airways flights were canceled and tens of thousands of pieces of luggage were lost or misrouted. We saw the same thing when we landed in Washington after the cruise -- two weeks later and many people and their luggage had still not been reunited!

 

But on to the cruise. We caught the tri-county shuttle ($17 per person) to the Port of Miami. This was a great deal -- much better than the return trip when we had to cab it, because our return flight was too early to rely on NCL transportation! We arrived at the Pier at approximately 2:45 or 3 p.m. or so. I noticed in an earlier review that at 2 p.m. there was a line of 200 people waiting to check in and board the ship. This was not our experience. We were able to walk right up to a check-in counter, then we waited about five minutes in the line to get our room-key cards, and after that it took maybe ten minutes to go through security and then go through the final line to actually get on the ship. Total time for embarkation: Maybe 20 minutes or so -- very smooth, even a little bit easier than getting on an airplane these days! (Especially U.S. Airways, LOL!)

 

OUR CABIN

 

We were in cabin number 9656, a category BD. It came with a balcony, a splurge that we indulged in because the price was really great ($550 each, or $1,100 total). The cabin was slightly smaller than my previous two (a junior suite on the NCL Dawn and a mini-suite on the Celebrity Century) but in a way there was more space because I had shared those two small suites with two other people, and this time there was just Paula and I.

 

The cabin was beautiful. The layout made sense. The bathroom, with its three compartments (main area, toilet area and shower), truly separates NCL from the other cruise lines -- and this is a particular strength of the NCL Spirit. The balcony, while shallow (only 30 inches deep), was adequate. The best thing about the cabin was the way the sliding glass door to the balcony completely framed and dominated the entire cabin. This was architectural design at its most sensible and efficient, and it gave the cabin a bright, airy look.

 

One thing that really surprised me: During our first "at sea" day, which was on Monday, Jan. 3, after departing at 8 p.m. the night before, we were able to see Cuba from our balcony! This really surprised me. I could not recall ever seeing Cuba before on previous cruises. Yet we hugged the Cuban coast line, with it in distant site, for maybe three to four hours! I think I later heard that we were 20 nautical miles from Cuba, but I could be wrong about this. All I know is that although Cuba was very faint in the distance, it's coastline seemed to be very, very hilly if not mountainous. It was not, for example, flat, like Key West or Grand Cayman.

 

PUBLIC ROOMS

 

Somehow I missed some of the public rooms on the ship. I never made it to Henry's Pub nor did I spend any time in The Bund, which is the sports bar. Perhaps my favorite public room was Galaxy to the Stars. This spacious bar is located near the very top of the ship and offers perhaps the ship's very best view. It is particularly wonderful at night, because there is a green lighting pattern over the center bar area that reflects off of the darkened windows to create a big-city feel that looks like one is surrounded by skyscrapers when you stare out of those windows. We hung out in this room several nights, taking in the evening's entertainment.

 

The other room I will mention is Champagne Charlies. This is a centrally located, open-air space located close to both the atrium shopping area and several restaurants. Many people hang out hear while waiting to go to dinner. They had caviar/champagne/vodka set-ups. I love caviar, but am not really a fan of champagne or vodka and the whole thing was just too expensive.

 

One disappointment: This ship did not have a classic piano bar like the other ships I have been on. There was a piano in the atrium area, with someone playing classical music each evening, but that's different. I missed the ambiance of a type of piano bar with someone singing, for example, Billy Joel or Elton John songs or songs from the '60s. Am I aging myself?

 

THE CASINO

 

I went to the casino two evenings and -- no surprise here -- lost both times. The first time I played blackjack and the second time I played Texas Hold 'Em, a new addition to many, if not most, of the NCL ships. One warning: Be wary of playing Texas Hold 'Em unless you really, really know what you are doing. The play at this game is "loose," meaning people raise aggressively and seldom fold. This means two things: First, you can't bluff people out of a hand. And second, people who have no business remaining in a hand tend to "make" their hand on the last card -- meaning you can't logically make sense of when your hand justifies staying in and calling the bets. Bottom line: I'm not at all bad at cards, and I usually win when my friends host "friendly" poker games, but I was over my head here and should have sat out and watched! Betting, for those who are interested, is $3/$6 and there is a big blind and a small blind. I believe these are $6 and $3, respectfully. Just to point out the newness of Texas Hold 'Em: Some of my fellow players were instructing the dealers on how to deal the game and how bets were supposed to be placed -- the dealers had not been completely instructed on how to deal the game, and the level of skill some players possessed greatly surpassed my own.

 

Two final notes about the casino: Unlike any other casino I have been in, the dealers sit at the table with you instead of standing. Also, NCL advertises the NCL Spirit's casino as "the friendliest" on any cruise. What they must mean by this is that it is the largest of any casino in their fleet. I believe this is a reflection of the fact that the Spirit used to be the Leo and sailed the Asian market, where gambling is historically more popular than in American culture.

 

Stay TUNED for Parts Two and Three!

[DavidNDC]

Hey folks: I had to chop up this review into three parts because it was too long. If anyone wants the whole thing in one email, just shoot me a message at delliotdc@aol.com

 

best,

 

David