Spirit Review 3/13-20/11

[msunrullieone]

Things have settled down enough for me to have time to write my review. This was our 1st time with NCL; we've sailed with Royal 14 times and Carnival 7 times. We decided to try NCL due to the price being cheaper and to try something different. Also, some friends of ours we had met on a previous cruise were going to be on this cruise too. We're not loyal to any one line and are laid-back about most things.

 

We booked a balcony room 10090, category BA. I had read the warnings about the room being much smaller and it was cramped throughout the week. I think it would have been fine for 2 people, but adding our teenaged son to the mix was a bit much for us. We shared an adjoining room and we never heard them the entire cruise! That was a nice surprise. The location was extremely quiet, especially for a spring break cruise. We had good service from our stateroom attendent, but we never met him/her throughout the entire trip. No biggie though. Let me back up a little and describe how we got onboard.

 

Embarkation--to sum it up: I have never experienced such a disorganized clustermess of humanity in my entire life! We were driving in on Saturday when we received the call from NCL about the delay till 5pm Sunday. So, instead of pushing on to New Orleans that day, we canceled at the Drury and stayed at Coushatta Casino. We took our time driving Sunday, stopped at a mall, etc and arrived in NO about 4:30. We drove to the pier, crossed some railroad tracks, made a left and we stopped. We were now in a traffic jam with no way out. The ship which was supposed to have arrived at 3pm wasnt even there yet. We were part of the group that was waiting to get into the parking garage, but we couldn't get in until the previous passengers got out. The cars in the left lane were supposed to be pick-up/drop off only, but they didn't realize it until they made the turn and most just then tried to nose-in and put their vehicles in park. We did not see any attempt at traffic control until at least 2 hours later.

 

During one of our walks to try to find a bathroom, we talked with a NCL rep who said the ship was also delayed due to engine trouble and might not make Roatan. We already knew about the medical emergency and were completely understanding as to why the ship was delayed. This threw a whole new wrinkle in our plans, but we were still calm. And, yes, I guess waiting in a line for hours could be viewed as an adventure. Heck, I used the port-a-potty by the port building, so no one can accuse me of not being adventurous! :)

 

We finally got into the parking garage and collected our luggage. We then had to go outside again and wait to get into the building. I had already described this in a previous thread, but this is were I really felt that safety was compromised. We were crammed into a spot and told by a security guard not to step over the red line as cars were pulling up to pick up the previous passengers just literally a foot behind us. Then more people were added to our crowd and it was becoming increasingly difficult not to be in the line of traffic. We did not see any NCL personnel at this time and waited in this line for hours. When they finally did begin opening the doors, a lot of people began rushing inside. There were 2 employees checking passports of groups; I lost my husband and son in the crowd and was being pushed forward by a linebacker-type guy who was probably about 6'4, 250. At one point, my feet were lifted up from me by the crowd and I couldn't breathe. When I finally regained my balance, I hit my hip really hard on one of those crowd-control poles that usually have the tapes extended to designate walk-ways. (Don't know how else to describe that thingy!)

 

We finally got in, went through security and had to wait in another hours-long line to checkin. I bought my son some powdered donuts and water from the snack bar as we weren't being offered anything by NCL at that time. It was already about 9:30 pm and we hadn't eaten since lunch. We finally got on board about 11:20 that night. Ugh! More to come.....

[msunrullieone]

So after we got onboard and found our room, we decided to get something to eat. It was about midnight at this time and we went to Gardens Dining Room. This was just a weird experience at this point. It seemed exceptionally dark in there but they had the kitchen doors wide open with bright lights glaring at us. My husband got the Mahi mahi and said it was chewy and had too much sauce. My son got a steak that was overcooked on one side and undercooked on the other. I got beef and broccoli which tasted good. We were tired, grumpy and decided to call it a night.

 

Monday at sea: We explored the ship and liked the size of it. Not too big, not too small for us. This was still a Spring Break cruise but we didn't see anything too wild or out-of-hand. My son liked the basketball court and made some friends the first day. We had our muster drill at 10:30 am since we had obviously lost the previous day of our cruise.

 

Lunch--we went to Raffles buffet and found the food to be good pretty much all week.

 

Dinner: went to Cagney's. Loved it, loved the service. IMHO, well worth the service charge.

[msunrullieone]

Costa Maya: We've always loved Costa Maya from previous trips and couldn't wait for this stop. We stayed at Maya Chan resort and loved it! The only bummer was that we got there at 2pm and would rather have had spent the day there, instead of the evening. But hey, we're on a cruise and I wasn't at work, so this was not that big of a deal. It felt like we were on a private beach and the service was outstanding. I had many different drinks, but my favorite was the "Cookie Monster". Ask for one if you go there! Since we ate at Maya Chan we skipped dinner on the ship.

 

Casino!! My husband and I enjoy gambling so of course, we were in the casino a lot. My husband plays craps and got to know the dealers quite well. There was a big rip in the felt of the craps table; this damage was done from the previous cruise. Apparently someone got too rowdy and ripped the table. But they had it replaced within a couple of days. The crew seemed relieved to have had that previous group of people off the ship, it seemed.

 

I had a run of incredible luck that lasted the entire cruise on the video poker machines. The casino staff was very friendly; I enjoyed this casino a lot! We also got the free drink cards on Weds. That was a nice added touch. (I don't want to go into all the details here, but I did something honest that paid off for me in the long run! That's why we got the drink cards.)

[msunrullieone]

Belize--We didnt have anything arranged and just got off the ship to see what we could find. We took a trolley tour through the city and it was "ok." We have several friends who have timeshares in Belize and they rave about how wonderful it is. We probably should have done more research and picked a better excursion.

 

Back on the ship and time for dinner. We ate at Windows dining room and found the food and service to be comparable to that of the other cruiselines. I also ended up with a bottle of wine compliments of the casino. That was nice!

 

My son and I went to Henry's pub and hung out for awhile in there. It was fun and we enjoyed listening to the entertainment.

[msunrullieone]

(I hope somebody is reading this!) :)

 

Roatan: We decided to stay on the ship because we were told by our bloodbank that we would not be able to donate for a year due to malaria risk. With 2 family friends currently battling cancer, we frequently give blood in their names to help with expenses. Soooo, on the ship we stayed.

 

Roatan looked beautiful though---like some sort of picturesque scene from a movie. My DH thought maybe Jurassic Park!

 

SPA Day for me: I booked a Fire n Ice pedicure and a hot stones massage. The pedicure was wonderful, but pricey. The massage was nice but definitely not worth $150. I enjoyed it, but I've had better massages at home at the gym for 1/3 of the price. All in all, a relaxing afternoon for me.

 

We had room service for dinner tonight. We were told about a 30-40 minute wait which stretched out to an actual time of 90 minutes. Then our order wasn't exactly right, so we just made do and relaxed on the balcony.

[msunrullieone]

Cozumel--we've been here a zillion times but always enjoy it. We went shopping and my husband and son had a good time parasailing. We had an overpriced lunch somewhere--can't remember the name of the restaurant.

 

I got a really cool island scene handpainted by a sidewalk vendor. The kid is really talented and I enjoyed hanging out and watching him paint.

 

After a few souvenirs, we were back on the ship. My husband wasn't feeling well at this point, so he went to bed. I was supposed to meet my son at the "Elements" show, but he never showed up. Probably met a girl or something!

 

Elements--loved this show, by far, one of the best I've seen on a cruise ship. It's magic, acrobatics and dancing all wrapped up into one.

 

Off to the casino for me after the show.

[Gregor4500]

Yes, someone is reading, and enjoying.

[msunrullieone]

At sea: my husband was still feeling sick with a head cold. :( He stayed in the cabin so I wandered around. The shops were nice but I didn't buy anything. My son and I played Scrabble in the gameroom and watched some NCAA tournament games.

 

My DH felt better in the afternoon and we hung out in the Bier Garten with a bucket of beer and some new friends.

 

Back to the casino (notice a trend here?)-- the casino hostess came up and asked to see me at their desk. Thought I was in trouble!! Anyway, they offered me a complimentary dinner in one of the restuarants. So I chose Cagney's again. Have I mentioned how much we loved that place?!

 

After dinner, DH still not feeling great so he went to rest up for the long drive home in the morning. We decided to do self-disembarkation so we kept our luggage with us. I went back to the casino and son went to play more basketball.

 

Well, I kept on doing well in the casino so I stayed out much later than I intended. Good thing I don't have to drive in the morning, right?:eek:

[jimjamxx]

Me too.

[msunrullieone]

Wow! They started making disembarkation announcements at about 7:30. They get us on late and get us off the ship early! So, we headed down and were off and through Customs in about 20 minutes. It was a very efficient process--much better than Galveston ever has been.

 

On the road again, back to San Antonio. Ahhh, I'm going to sleep in the truck since I was up so late the night before. Well, the best-laid plans never seem to work for me. We get to about Baton Rouge and my DH asked me to take a look at his cold medicine box. "Does it say anything on there about drowsiness?"

 

"Why, yes dear, IT DOES!" So, I take over the wheel while the family sleeps...through Lake Charles, through Beaumont, through Houston! We're finally outside of Houston and I stop to rest for awhile. After our lunch, I end up driving the rest of the long, boring, monotonous I-10 while the family slumbers on. We get to our exit, and no lie, my DH wakes up and asks me if I want him to drive!!!

[msunrullieone]

All in all, I mostly enjoyed our cruise with NCL. I really feel they dropped the ball the first day of embarkation though. That experience really soured my husband and it would take a lot of convincing to get him back on NCL. He used to plan things in the military, so I think the giant mess just really turned him off. Plus we never received any acknowledgement about our troubles or that we lost the first day of our cruise. Yes, I understand why and of course, it was valid. It was their handling of the situation that really was lacking. We experienced a delay last year with Carnival due to weather, which was out of their hands also, and we got onboard credit and a discount for a future cruise. IMO, that's just good customer relations.

 

Would I cruise NCL again? Maybe, if the price were right and the itinerary met our needs. Would it be our first choice? Nope.

[SeaShark]

Thank you for sharing your review. It was well done.

 

 

Something to keep in mind. The cruise line does not have control over the embarkation process...that is handled by the Port. Those people who check you in are actually not NCL employees, they are Port employess who are acting as NCL check in agents for the day. Their uniforms are supplied by NCL, but they aren't NCL employees. NCL couldn't realistically have that many employees to only work 1 day per week when the ship is in port.

 

If you go to the port on Saturday, you will see many of those same employees performing the same duties for Carnival.

 

It can be tough to separate things, but you generally don't see actual NCL employees until you are on the ship.

[Natanni]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write your review! I appreciate your honesty! I do not know any specifics regarding the life lost on the previous sailing, but I can see where things could really get buggered up. You really seemed to have taken the issue in stride and not let it affect your vacation! I hope I would react the same in such circumstance. We had a ruptured aneurysm on a ship once, and we stopped abruptly and a helicopter came to retrieve the patient-so nothing impacted our vacation at all. We also missed Belize once because someone fell and broke their hip. I can't imagine all that is involved when someone dies. We are sailing on the Spirit in 2 weeks, and this will be our first NCL cruise. We are excited to try a new line. Our last cruise on Carnival we were stepping over people passed out on the stairs (yes, Spring Break) but man, we never saw a thing like that on our first cruise! We love RCCL but we couldn't find an itinerary in our price range this year. Thanks again for your review!

[klingoncruiser]

We were on this cruise as well. Despite the rough start, it was fun. Tell hubby to get over the start as it was a one time bad deal. Plenty of blame to go around, but it was what it was. We have done this cruise several times now and are booked yet again. Glad it worked out for all of us.

 

Sure wish NCL would put a ship back in Houston. The drive over from Texas would be a lot shorter.

[Natanni]

Thank you for sharing your review. It was well done.

 

 

Something to keep in mind. The cruise line does not have control over the embarkation process...that is handled by the Port. Those people who check you in are actually not NCL employees, they are Port employess who are acting as NCL check in agents for the day. Their uniforms are supplied by NCL, but they aren't NCL employees. NCL couldn't realistically have that many employees to only work 1 day per week when the ship is in port.

 

If you go to the port on Saturday, you will see many of those same employees performing the same duties for Carnival.

 

It can be tough to separate things, but you generally don't see actual NCL employees until you are on the ship.

 

When we first arrived at the Port of New Orleans for our Grandeur of the Seas sailing, we were greated by uniformed & ID tagged RCCL staff (the only other person I saw that wasn't was the luggage porter), throughout the checking in process? Granted, this was a few years ago now, and when we sailed on Carnival there was much more "Port Authority" staff vs Carnival staff. I think that I may not have seen a Carnival person until I was on the gangway actually. I wonder if that varies cruiseline to cruiseline?

[mistshar]

Thanks for the review. I don't know what I would do in a circumstance like that because I can only stand for short periods of time. It would be terrible.

[tkportersat]

Hello Malissa :) It was great to cruise with you and Tim again and hang out at Maya Chan. Wish I could have seen more of you but a 10 month old is a lot of work and not condusive to hanging out in the Casino as much - ha. We did have a good time all in all despite the initial delay. I have already started looking and like the trip out of Galveston May 2012 on Carnival to Key West and the Bahamas (never been to either and by then Wyatt will be 2). We liked NCL but I think I will always be a Carnival girl first and foremost, they have just always given us the best treatment when things go wrong. Maybe we will try NCL again if they come back to Houston/Galveston....not making the trip to NO again. Alex is a sweet kid, I hope he had a fun time.

 

Good review and I am glad the Casino was so nice to you. Look forward to seeing ya'll soon! Firehouse???? haha

 

Things have settled down enough for me to have time to write my review. This was our 1st time with NCL; we've sailed with Royal 14 times and Carnival 7 times. We decided to try NCL due to the price being cheaper and to try something different. Also, some friends of ours we had met on a previous cruise were going to be on this cruise too. We're not loyal to any one line and are laid-back about most things.

[tkportersat]

Actually it starts with NCL as they couldn't even get the passengers off the ship. From reading reviews about the cruise before ours it is because people didn't follow directions and all tried to go at the same time. They had a limited amount of people running cards to get folks off the ship. NO crowd control to try and help the process move more smoothly. The folks at the port can't do their job if NCL isn't doing theirs.

 

Thank you for sharing your review. It was well done.

 

 

Something to keep in mind. The cruise line does not have control over the embarkation process...that is handled by the Port. Those people who check you in are actually not NCL employees, they are Port employess who are acting as NCL check in agents for the day. Their uniforms are supplied by NCL, but they aren't NCL employees. NCL couldn't realistically have that many employees to only work 1 day per week when the ship is in port.

 

If you go to the port on Saturday, you will see many of those same employees performing the same duties for Carnival.

 

It can be tough to separate things, but you generally don't see actual NCL employees until you are on the ship.

[msunrullieone]

Hey there! We got the survey the very next day and filled it out as fairly and accurately as we could. I haven't received a response yet either. The scariest thing was just being in that crowd--no matter who's watch it was under!! I wouldn't be able to do a May cruise, unless the politicians make good on their promise to lay off a bunch of teachers. Then my schedule might be wide open! Ya never know. ;)

 

 

Hello Malissa :) It was great to cruise with you and Tim again and hang out at Maya Chan. Wish I could have seen more of you but a 10 month old is a lot of work and not condusive to hanging out in the Casino as much - ha. We did have a good time all in all despite the initial delay. I have already started looking and like the trip out of Galveston May 2012 on Carnival to Key West and the Bahamas (never been to either and by then Wyatt will be 2). We liked NCL but I think I will always be a Carnival girl first and foremost, they have just always given us the best treatment when things go wrong. Maybe we will try NCL again if they come back to Houston/Galveston....not making the trip to NO again. Alex is a sweet kid, I hope he had a fun time.

 

Good review and I am glad the Casino was so nice to you. Look forward to seeing ya'll soon! Firehouse???? haha

 

Things have settled down enough for me to have time to write my review. This was our 1st time with NCL; we've sailed with Royal 14 times and Carnival 7 times. We decided to try NCL due to the price being cheaper and to try something different. Also, some friends of ours we had met on a previous cruise were going to be on this cruise too. We're not loyal to any one line and are laid-back about most things.

[volleyballmom87]

Your honesty must have saved the casino a LOT of money. They seemed to treat you VERY well after the "incident" that I am dying to know about. ;)

[tkportersat]

Yeah, I completed mine as well. The only other problem we had with NCL was the Windows dining.....service was slowwwwww. Garden went much smoother. Not sure if the Freestyle concept is for me. I really missed getting to know my waiters and them getting to know me. I also think the Stewards are more in sync when they know you are dining as it makes it easier to know when you might be out so they can fix up your room.

 

Hey there! We got the survey the very next day and filled it out as fairly and accurately as we could. I haven't received a response yet either. The scariest thing was just being in that crowd--no matter who's watch it was under!! I wouldn't be able to do a May cruise, unless the politicians make good on their promise to lay off a bunch of teachers. Then my schedule might be wide open! Ya never know. ;)

 

 

Hello Malissa :) It was great to cruise with you and Tim again and hang out at Maya Chan. Wish I could have seen more of you but a 10 month old is a lot of work and not condusive to hanging out in the Casino as much - ha. We did have a good time all in all despite the initial delay. I have already started looking and like the trip out of Galveston May 2012 on Carnival to Key West and the Bahamas (never been to either and by then Wyatt will be 2). We liked NCL but I think I will always be a Carnival girl first and foremost, they have just always given us the best treatment when things go wrong. Maybe we will try NCL again if they come back to Houston/Galveston....not making the trip to NO again. Alex is a sweet kid, I hope he had a fun time.

 

Good review and I am glad the Casino was so nice to you. Look forward to seeing ya'll soon! Firehouse???? haha

[newmexicoNita]

We were on this cruise as well. Despite the rough start, it was fun. Tell hubby to get over the start as it was a one time bad deal. Plenty of blame to go around, but it was what it was. We have done this cruise several times now and are booked yet again. Glad it worked out for all of us.

 

Sure wish NCL would put a ship back in Houston. The drive over from Texas would be a lot shorter.

 

I think we all wish they would put a ship back in Houston. We sailed the Sea once and a ship named the Star (no not todays Star) a disaster ship but we had not problems with it and had a great cruise both times.

 

NIta

[tkportersat]

Yeah, I wish they would come back to Houston. Despite some of the issues we had I would be willing to give them another try. I don't have any interest though of driving all the way to NO again; so they would have to come in order for me to sail with them. I might be open to flying at some point, but right now I would rather just drive to Galveston.

 

I think we all wish they would put a ship back in Houston. We sailed the Sea once and a ship named the Star (no not todays Star) a disaster ship but we had not problems with it and had a great cruise both times.

 

NIta

[susanrfc]

Very good review. I was also on the same cruise and at Maya Chan and the first thing I ordered was the Oreo cookie adult milkshake. My oldest daughter was sea sick most of the cruise so I did not get out much. Glad that after the initial problems everything went well.

[tkportersat]

Sorry your daughter didn't feel well :(

 

My husband wants credit for naming it the "Cookie Monster" - ha.

 

Very good review. I was also on the same cruise and at Maya Chan and the first thing I ordered was the Oreo cookie adult milkshake. My oldest daughter was sea sick most of the cruise so I did not get out much. Glad that after the initial problems everything went well.