Impressions of NCL Spirit, 3/13-20

[633]

This was our first experience on NCL after one RCCL and two Carnival. General impression, loved the ship, enjoyed the whole format, overall I'd give it a 7. If NCL would hire someone from Disney or some other top-notch customer service organization to revamp their training and customer service processes, this could be the best cruise ever. As it is, there's a lot of really frustrating things mixed in with the wonderfulness.

 

We enjoyed nearly everything about the ship itself, except the location of the library. (Really, who thought that putting it next to the dance club, and having an entrance to the cigar lounge through the library was a good idea?)

 

We found the food very good. I guess that's a matter of taste, since I've seen several threads where people rated Carnival's food above NCL's. I'd consider NCL's buffet a clear step up from Carnival - more variety, better quality - but that must be a matter of taste. We enjoyed the main dining rooms, and found the food comparable to Carnival, though no "signature item" like the warm chocolate melting cake. And we really enjoyed the idea of the specialty restaurants, though the service was sub-par. The difficulty was that dinners in the main dining room were interminably long. We did have a big party most nights (10-14 ppl), but that's not that unusual. We rarely got in & out in less than 2 hours. By comparison, the night we booked at Cagney's, when we really wanted to enjoy our dinner and conversation, every time we turned around they were whisking away one plate and slamming down the next course. We even asked them to slow down the pace, with no real effect. And then there was a parade of chefs and cooks through the room...it definitely didn't come across with the fine steakhouse experience, though the food was good.

 

Other things we noticed: cabin steward had no personality (maybe spoke little English) and never seemed to smile. In the buffet or deck dining areas, the staff often walks in front of guests (haven't been trained in awareness like a top-notch customer service organization would do). Tender process at Belize was the slowest we've ever seen - we ended up electing to stay on the ship. The duty free process was totally screwed up. Unlike Carnival or RCCL, they don't deliver it to your cabin. We had to go get it on the last night of the cruise. There were 50 people in line and they were serving about one per minute, which sounds reasonable but is actually way too slow, except when there were problems...and there were a lot of problems. If pitchforks and torches had been available, the people in line would've stormed the castle. They continually booked Second City shows in Galaxy, which always overflowed and drove people, rather than Stardust where there would've been enough room. (Second City has been on the ships for months now...surely someone has noticed the overflow?)

 

There were just lots of little touches which, as an owner of 3 businesses, says to me that management just hasn't provided the staff with enough training or good enough processes...either that, or the hotel director on Spirit just sucks.

 

OTOH, the staff at the port really did a pretty good job dealing with the delays and the frustrations people had in being 8 hours late to start their cruise. That whole thing was a disaster - people were waiting in cars for hours because there was no room in the parking garage - but the staff dealt with it as well as could possibly be expected.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed the NCL experience...in fact, I think it's because we enjoyed it so much that we really wish they would maximize their potential (man, I sound like my 5th-grade teacher) and really handle their customer service processes better. We'll still cruise NCL again, though.

[klingoncruiser]

Thanks for posting. I was on the cruise as well and will post a review as I get a chance. We had a wonderful time despite the rough start.

[633]

Oh, and one other thing comes to mind. We saw a lot of comments in reviews about the small size of the NCL cabins. We booked a balcony, and it was definitely smaller than the suite we had on RCCL Vision or the balcony on Carnival Destiny, but it seemed better arranged than the larger Carnival cabin. For example, we could stow our luggage under the bed, which we couldn't do on Carnival, and the bathroom was really well laid out with separate compartments for the commode, sink and shower areas. So all-in-all, we rated the cabin very highly. And the balcony was spacious enough, and enjoyable.

[susanrfc]

The duty free process was totally screwed up. Unlike Carnival or RCCL, they don't deliver it to your cabin. We had to go get it on the last night of the cruise. There were 50 people in line and they were serving about one per minute, which sounds reasonable but is actually way too slow, except when there were problems...and there were a lot of problems. If pitchforks and torches had been available, the people in line would've stormed the castle.

 

This was our second year to sail the Spirit during spring break and this is the first time that we had to wait in line for duty free alcohol that was purchased on board. I am not sure why or when they started this practice. But I hope that they go back to delivering to the room.

[Neiner]

I was on the 2/27 sailing and I was shocked at the rave reviews that the Spirit has received. To tell you the truth we were bored a lot. On past cruises there was always the dilemma of having to choose between two or more activities. On the Spirit it was like, 'well, there's something going on at 7 but then we have to wait until 10:45 for the next thing. Very little to do doing the day.

 

On the pool deck they competing music the one time I lay in a lounge chair. One kind of music coming from the Bier Garten and another coming from the stage by the pool.

 

It has been mentioned that the Spirit has been voted as having the friendliest staff. I have to disagree. I came across quite a few sour and just plain unfriendly crew members. Especially the casino manager/hostess(?).

 

We thought the food was subpar. Every single day the buffet had the same main items. Hot dogs. Really? Why did they have hot dogs in the buffet

when you could get them in Bier Garten. The Mdr food was just ok. Not bad, not great either.

 

 

I agree with the OP about the shows in the Galaxy. Too small of a venue for some of the things they had booked there. How about Maharajas? Did you catch any of the productions they put on there? What a joke! There were so many columns and curtains blocking the view of the dance floor that you have to watch the action on tv screens spread throughout the club. What made it worse was the cameraman videotaped like a five year old. I thought maybe the camera was just hanging on a wire from the ceiling spinning around, catching everything and nothing. Stardust Theatre was ok but was there bar service offered in there? Never saw any servers.

 

Our cabin was a really good size but we had an unusual sideways inside. The water treatment isn't as good as other ships either. I have a lot of hair and I always look forward to cruising because the ships water is usually the perfect balance and my hair is always silky soft and managable. Spirits water was a bit more hard. I was also disappointed with the ships tv channels. The naviation channel was kind of lame, the bridge cam didnt work sometimes and you cant check your onboard account from your room. The channels that showed videos from around the ship had horrible audio quality, you couldn't understand what was being said at all. The channels that showed movies was a bit weird. When a movie ended another didn't start for an hour or more. Just a blank screen that said the next movie would start at such and such time. No channel guide. No music stations.

 

Met a great group of people on Cruise Critic and really enjoyed all of them. A few of them have posted reviews and were very happy with this cruise. One even said that after 35 cruises this was her favorite so I feel I am definately in the minority with my opinion but I still don't get it. It wasn't the company I was with either. When we were bored we made our own entertainment and had a blast. I am just grateful that my next cruise is booked with Carnival.

[leedm]

Thanks for the review, did you visit the Spa area of the ship?:rolleyes: Do you remember the cost and type of massages offered? What was the best late night hang out? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Thanks

leedm

[newmexicoNita]

The duty free process was totally screwed up. Unlike Carnival or RCCL, they don't deliver it to your cabin. We had to go get it on the last night of the cruise. There were 50 people in line and they were serving about one per minute, which sounds reasonable but is actually way too slow, except when there were problems...and there were a lot of problems. If pitchforks and torches had been available, the people in line would've stormed the castle.

 

This was our second year to sail the Spirit during spring break and this is the first time that we had to wait in line for duty free alcohol that was purchased on board. I am not sure why or when they started this practice. But I hope that they go back to delivering to the room.

 

I am surprised RCI does, last time we cruised Celebeity they did not nor did HAl or Princess. I really don't see the big deal about picking up the booze. Hubby picked ours up on the Spirit while we were still at dinner and was back to finish eating in about 15 mintues. I will also add, as far as I know NCL has had you pick it up the last 4 or 5 years. We were on the Star in 2007, we had to pick up our booze the night before. I think the last time they delivered it was on the Jewel, which was almost 6 years ago.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

I was on the 2/27 sailing and I was shocked at the rave reviews that the Spirit has received. To tell you the truth we were bored a lot. On past cruises there was always the dilemma of having to choose between two or more activities. On the Spirit it was like, 'well, there's something going on at 7 but then we have to wait until 10:45 for the next thing. Very little to do doing the day.

 

On the pool deck they competing music the one time I lay in a lounge chair. One kind of music coming from the Bier Garten and another coming from the stage by the pool.

 

It has been mentioned that the Spirit has been voted as having the friendliest staff. I have to disagree. I came across quite a few sour and just plain unfriendly crew members. Especially the casino manager/hostess(?).

 

We thought the food was subpar. Every single day the buffet had the same main items. Hot dogs. Really? Why did they have hot dogs in the buffet

when you could get them in Bier Garten. The Mdr food was just ok. Not bad, not great either.

 

 

I agree with the OP about the shows in the Galaxy. Too small of a venue for some of the things they had booked there. How about Maharajas? Did you catch any of the productions they put on there? What a joke! There were so many columns and curtains blocking the view of the dance floor that you have to watch the action on tv screens spread throughout the club. What made it worse was the cameraman videotaped like a five year old. I thought maybe the camera was just hanging on a wire from the ceiling spinning around, catching everything and nothing. Stardust Theatre was ok but was there bar service offered in there? Never saw any servers.

 

Our cabin was a really good size but we had an unusual sideways inside. The water treatment isn't as good as other ships either. I have a lot of hair and I always look forward to cruising because the ships water is usually the perfect balance and my hair is always silky soft and managable. Spirits water was a bit more hard. I was also disappointed with the ships tv channels. The naviation channel was kind of lame, the bridge cam didnt work sometimes and you cant check your onboard account from your room. The channels that showed videos from around the ship had horrible audio quality, you couldn't understand what was being said at all. The channels that showed movies was a bit weird. When a movie ended another didn't start for an hour or more. Just a blank screen that said the next movie would start at such and such time. No channel guide. No music stations.

 

Met a great group of people on Cruise Critic and really enjoyed all of them. A few of them have posted reviews and were very happy with this cruise. One even said that after 35 cruises this was her favorite so I feel I am definately in the minority with my opinion but I still don't get it. It wasn't the company I was with either. When we were bored we made our own entertainment and had a blast. I am just grateful that my next cruise is booked with Carnival.

 

It aappears you are so loyal to Carnival that you no other line would be right for you. The channel guide, though not in the book is on the TV or that was the case when we sailed th Spirit one week before you did.

 

Obviously there is a reason there are so many cruise lines, what works for one does not work for everyone. Carnival is for you which is fine. As for the crew on the Spirit, I am having a problem understanding how you could have found them to be sour. yes, maybe in the casino, we have cruised every major cruise line and have rarely found a pleasant casino crew. On our Spirit cruise we found plenty of activities considering the the cruise is very port intensive. Maybe you just didn't like the choices.

 

Nita

[terrymtex01]

This was our first experience on NCL after one RCCL and two Carnival. General impression, loved the ship, enjoyed the whole format, overall I'd give it a 7. If NCL would hire someone from Disney or some other top-notch customer service organization to revamp their training and customer service processes, this could be the best cruise ever. As it is, there's a lot of really frustrating things mixed in with the wonderfulness.

 

We enjoyed nearly everything about the ship itself, except the location of the library. (Really, who thought that putting it next to the dance club, and having an entrance to the cigar lounge through the library was a good idea?)

 

We found the food very good. I guess that's a matter of taste, since I've seen several threads where people rated Carnival's food above NCL's. I'd consider NCL's buffet a clear step up from Carnival - more variety, better quality - but that must be a matter of taste. We enjoyed the main dining rooms, and found the food comparable to Carnival, though no "signature item" like the warm chocolate melting cake. And we really enjoyed the idea of the specialty restaurants, though the service was sub-par. The difficulty was that dinners in the main dining room were interminably long. We did have a big party most nights (10-14 ppl), but that's not that unusual. We rarely got in & out in less than 2 hours. By comparison, the night we booked at Cagney's, when we really wanted to enjoy our dinner and conversation, every time we turned around they were whisking away one plate and slamming down the next course. We even asked them to slow down the pace, with no real effect. And then there was a parade of chefs and cooks through the room...it definitely didn't come across with the fine steakhouse experience, though the food was good.

 

Other things we noticed: cabin steward had no personality (maybe spoke little English) and never seemed to smile. In the buffet or deck dining areas, the staff often walks in front of guests (haven't been trained in awareness like a top-notch customer service organization would do). Tender process at Belize was the slowest we've ever seen - we ended up electing to stay on the ship. The duty free process was totally screwed up. Unlike Carnival or RCCL, they don't deliver it to your cabin. We had to go get it on the last night of the cruise. There were 50 people in line and they were serving about one per minute, which sounds reasonable but is actually way too slow, except when there were problems...and there were a lot of problems. If pitchforks and torches had been available, the people in line would've stormed the castle. They continually booked Second City shows in Galaxy, which always overflowed and drove people, rather than Stardust where there would've been enough room. (Second City has been on the ships for months now...surely someone has noticed the overflow?)

 

There were just lots of little touches which, as an owner of 3 businesses, says to me that management just hasn't provided the staff with enough training or good enough processes...either that, or the hotel director on Spirit just sucks.

 

OTOH, the staff at the port really did a pretty good job dealing with the delays and the frustrations people had in being 8 hours late to start their cruise. That whole thing was a disaster - people were waiting in cars for hours because there was no room in the parking garage - but the staff dealt with it as well as could possibly be expected.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed the NCL experience...in fact, I think it's because we enjoyed it so much that we really wish they would maximize their potential (man, I sound like my 5th-grade teacher) and really handle their customer service processes better. We'll still cruise NCL again, though.

 

OP.. Thanks for the review and sharing your vacation with us. I have to say yours is maybe the second review I have ever read where they did not think the crew was the best they have ever experienced. It is all just a matter of "taste" I guess.. 8-)

 

Thanks for posting. I was on the cruise as well and will post a review as I get a chance. We had a wonderful time despite the rough start.

 

Looking forward to reading your review. I'm sorry for the delay in boarding that you guys experienced.

 

I was on the 2/27 sailing and I was shocked at the rave reviews that the Spirit has received. To tell you the truth we were bored a lot. On past cruises there was always the dilemma of having to choose between two or more activities. On the Spirit it was like, 'well, there's something going on at 7 but then we have to wait until 10:45 for the next thing. Very little to do doing the day.

 

On the pool deck they competing music the one time I lay in a lounge chair. One kind of music coming from the Bier Garten and another coming from the stage by the pool.

 

It has been mentioned that the Spirit has been voted as having the friendliest staff. I have to disagree. I came across quite a few sour and just plain unfriendly crew members. Especially the casino manager/hostess(?).

 

We thought the food was subpar. Every single day the buffet had the same main items. Hot dogs. Really? Why did they have hot dogs in the buffet

when you could get them in Bier Garten. The Mdr food was just ok. Not bad, not great either.

 

 

I agree with the OP about the shows in the Galaxy. Too small of a venue for some of the things they had booked there. How about Maharajas? Did you catch any of the productions they put on there? What a joke! There were so many columns and curtains blocking the view of the dance floor that you have to watch the action on tv screens spread throughout the club. What made it worse was the cameraman videotaped like a five year old. I thought maybe the camera was just hanging on a wire from the ceiling spinning around, catching everything and nothing. Stardust Theatre was ok but was there bar service offered in there? Never saw any servers.

 

Our cabin was a really good size but we had an unusual sideways inside. The water treatment isn't as good as other ships either. I have a lot of hair and I always look forward to cruising because the ships water is usually the perfect balance and my hair is always silky soft and managable. Spirits water was a bit more hard. I was also disappointed with the ships tv channels. The naviation channel was kind of lame, the bridge cam didnt work sometimes and you cant check your onboard account from your room. The channels that showed videos from around the ship had horrible audio quality, you couldn't understand what was being said at all. The channels that showed movies was a bit weird. When a movie ended another didn't start for an hour or more. Just a blank screen that said the next movie would start at such and such time. No channel guide. No music stations.

 

Met a great group of people on Cruise Critic and really enjoyed all of them. A few of them have posted reviews and were very happy with this cruise. One even said that after 35 cruises this was her favorite so I feel I am definately in the minority with my opinion but I still don't get it. It wasn't the company I was with either. When we were bored we made our own entertainment and had a blast. I am just grateful that my next cruise is booked with Carnival.

 

I agree with Nita. Before I even saw Nita's posting I was going to reply to your posting and say you might want to stick with Carnival (CCL). CCL is known for having tons of activities where as NCL is known for being more laid back with it's amounts of activities. You will find a lot more going on onboard a Carnival ship than you ever will on NCL. 8-)

[webzila]

OTOH, the staff at the port really did a pretty good job dealing with the delays and the frustrations people had in being 8 hours late to start their cruise. That whole thing was a disaster - people were waiting in cars for hours because there was no room in the parking garage - but the staff dealt with it as well as could possibly be expected.

 

Did the ship make it to all of its stop since it was late leaving New Orleans?

[633]

Did the ship make it to all of its stop since it was late leaving New Orleans?

 

Yes. We arrived late in Costa Maya, but stayed later to make up for it.

[Neiner]

It aappears you are so loyal to Carnival that you no other line would be right for you. The channel guide, though not in the book is on the TV or that was the case when we sailed th Spirit one week before you did.

 

Obviously there is a reason there are so many cruise lines, what works for one does not work for everyone. Carnival is for you which is fine. As for the crew on the Spirit, I am having a problem understanding how you could have found them to be sour. yes, maybe in the casino, we have cruised every major cruise line and have rarely found a pleasant casino crew. On our Spirit cruise we found plenty of activities considering the the cruise is very port intensive. Maybe you just didn't like the choices.

 

Nita

 

What makes it appear that I am loyal to Carnival? I said that I'm glad my next cruise is on Carnival. My statement would have been the same if I was booked on any other cruiseline. I like to try different ships. (The cruise I have planned for after my next one is on Princess.) I don't care about the line. I decide by dates, ports, price, ship, etc. Obviously there is a reason there are so many cruiselines and when I have had the opportunity to use the the other lines and then state that I will only cruise carnival again then it would be fair to say that I am brand loyal. I didn't say that I would never sail NCL again. From what I read in the reviews I was expecting the my most amazing cruise to date, I was disappointed.

[newmexicoNita]

What makes it appear that I am loyal to Carnival? I said that I'm glad my next cruise is on Carnival. My statement would have been the same if I was booked on any other cruiseline. I like to try different ships. (The cruise I have planned for after my next one is on Princess.) I don't care about the line. I decide by dates, ports, price, ship, etc. Obviously there is a reason there are so many cruiselines and when I have had the opportunity to use the the other lines and then state that I will only cruise carnival again then it would be fair to say that I am brand loyal. I didn't say that I would never sail NCL again. From what I read in the reviews I was expecting the my most amazing cruise to date, I was disappointed.

 

Your profile, 4 Carnival cruises (well 3 and one coming up) I am glad to hear you intend on trying another line. As I have mentioned, everyone, normally finds a line that fits them best. This doesn't mean they don't try other lines or will only sail one line, but most of us do find something about one line that draws us back over and over. there is nothing wrong with this, but yes, we are human and we do comparisons. If you have a favorite line we will judge all lines by what we like about our favorite. We have sailed every mass marketed line, we base our cruise choice pretty much on price and itinerary but we still have our loyality and come back to NCL. I am not criticising you or anyone else, I am simply pointing out we all have preferences.

 

Nita

[gooch47]

The main complaint I had about the late embarcation on 3/13 was the lack of crowd control outside the building. There were two lines. The second line consisted of people who were dropped off at the door and apparently just formed a second line. And unfortunately some people who were in the longer line felt justified in just walking up to the door and either joining the shorter line of late-comers or just congregating around the door. Those of us who were more respectful of those around us didn't get into our cabins until after midnight.

 

Someone told us that NCL had no control over what happened outside the building. Not sure if that was true or not, but shouldn't the port security have taken over if NCL couldn't?

 

And again I want to reiterate that no one was faulting NCL about making the change in course to try to help the man needing medical assistance.

[tkportersat]

I guess we got there at the right time. We had spent the day walking NO and dropped our bags off around 1:30pm and my inlaws parked their car at the lot down the street. When we arrived there was a very long line of cars (about 5:30pm) but we were able to walk right in the doors and right up stairs with no wait. We had our 10 month old with us and at that point felt relieved that it wasn't crowded. Sorry we got in front of all those folks (some of our friends were in the car line) but certainly I don't think we were supposed to wait?? Before we got in the glass doors there was no one outside giving any type of instruction. We boarded at approx. 9:30pm.

 

The main complaint I had about the late embarcation on 3/13 was the lack of crowd control outside the building. There were two lines. The second line consisted of people who were dropped off at the door and apparently just formed a second line. And unfortunately some people who were in the longer line felt justified in just walking up to the door and either joining the shorter line of late-comers or just congregating around the door. Those of us who were more respectful of those around us didn't get into our cabins until after midnight.

 

Someone told us that NCL had no control over what happened outside the building. Not sure if that was true or not, but shouldn't the port security have taken over if NCL couldn't?

 

And again I want to reiterate that no one was faulting NCL about making the change in course to try to help the man needing medical assistance.

[gooch47]

Unfortunately those of us who listened to the NCL reps when we first got there and then to the on-line reports from NCL waited until after six to get in line. We were told boarding wouldn't start until 5:00 and of course that was ridiculous since the ship didn't arrive until 5:00. I think the large line formed around 6:00 p.m., not sure when the second line formed or if it was there all along.

[tkportersat]

Our phone calls all said 5pm too. We would have probably been in those lines as well but I was checking on CC all day and someone posted that we could take our luggage early and drop it off. I called NCL and they confirmed this; that definitely helped us. There were so many different times posted by people....ship in at 2, 3, 4, etc. It wasn't until we were on foot in front of the Convention Center that we realized the ship got in about 5 from a post on CC. I started thinking about it and with ship time moving forward and daylight savings 3pm really meant 5pm. Not sure all those involved accounted for that. I traveled daylight savings a few times out of Galveston and we have never had to change our clocks once on the ship. That was weird to me.

 

What surprised me the most about the whole week is how quickly we got off the ship at debarkation. We had brown tags and when they called us we made our way down and were off the ship and through Customs in like 10-15 minutes. I still can't believe it.

 

Unfortunately those of us who listened to the NCL reps when we first got there and then to the on-line reports from NCL waited until after six to get in line. We were told boarding wouldn't start until 5:00 and of course that was ridiculous since the ship didn't arrive until 5:00. I think the large line formed around 6:00 p.m., not sure when the second line formed or if it was there all along.