Spirit-Entertainment, Food, Activities, Newbies

[1st]

Can people tell me about the Spirit? We are going on the Spirit in June. We booked before finding CC. Many different opinions on this site! Any information would be happily welcomed. This is the first time cruising and very nervous and excited about it. Thanks for any help.;)

[radzer0]

What you looking to find out? Ive been on it twice.

[bakerintn]

My suggestion is to start by reading several CC member reviews. They can be found here:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=299

 

Then come back with specific questions that have not been answered...many of your questions may be about NCL in general, and some specific to the Spirit.

 

This ship was not originally built by NCL, but by Star Cruises which operated in the Orient. It only underwent a 2-week refit before it was put in to service by NCL, so it retains much of the oriental decor and oriental features like not always having U.S. sized features. It's electrical circuitry is more limited than the newer NCL ships.

 

A nice photo tour is located here: http://www.beyondships.com/NCLSpirit-Tour.html

[bakerintn]

Each NCL ship publishes a daily newsletter, the NCL Daily. The operating hours for the restaurants are also listed there as is the formal-or-not nights, when they occur.

 

Here is a link to some recent ones from the Spirit.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1391955&highlight=spirit+daily

[CruisinMaterial]

Can people tell me about the Spirit? We are going on the Spirit in June. We booked before finding CC. Many different opinions on this site! Any information would be happily welcomed. This is the first time cruising and very nervous and excited about it. Thanks for any help.;)

 

Would love to help you out. The Oriental Lady is a one-of-a-kind ship in the NCL fleet but the title of your thread is quite encompassing! The suggestions a previous poster had are great or specifics as to what you're looking for can help us guide you to the information specifically you are looking for.

 

You'll enjoy the Spirit because she's not too big and not too small and has a lot more food options available for her smaller size then other ships on other cruise lines of comparable size.

 

Strong suggestions re: entertainment. DO NOT MISS ELEMENTS! It's a production show and quite a darn good one! :)

[terriberri268]

My suggestion is to start by reading several CC member reviews. They can be found here:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=299

 

Then come back with specific questions that have not been answered...many of your questions may be about NCL in general, and some specific to the Spirit.

 

This ship was not originally built by NCL, but by Star Cruises which operated in the Orient. It only underwent a 2-week refit before it was put in to service by NCL, so it retains much of the oriental decor and oriental features like not always having U.S. sized features. It's electrical circuitry is more limited than the newer NCL ships.

 

A nice photo tour is located here: http://www.beyondships.com/NCLSpirit-Tour.html

Thank you for posting this link. We are going on the Spirit in Jan.

These are the best pictures I have seen. Galaxy looks like a great place to kick back and relax. Is the Blue Lagoon partly outside?

I love to hang out and watch the wake so the Raffles Terrace looks fantastic.

Thanks again

Terri

[1st]

Thank you for the website and info. Appreciate all of your help.

[upsman89]

I have been on the Spirit 2 times and enjoyed her both times. It is the oldest ship in the NCL fleet , but very clean and well kept.You well have a great time. The one thing I liked about this ship was the 24 hr. food cafe The Blue Lagoon is right outside the promenade Deck, so for me when I needed a holdover snack it was nice to grab a plate of wings or potato skins and not having to go way up to the upper decks and trek back Most will tell you when you are on a ship any ship you will have a great time

[newmexicoNita]

Can people tell me about the Spirit? We are going on the Spirit in June. We booked before finding CC. Many different opinions on this site! Any information would be happily welcomed. This is the first time cruising and very nervous and excited about it. Thanks for any help.;)

 

Opinions are exactly that: Opinions. One thing you might want to do is go to the CC review section and see what people are saying.

 

We have been on the Spirit twice, most recently a few months ago.

 

Pros:

 

We found the food overall very, very good. A few in our group had some complaints but most of us were very happy. We come from all walks of life and all ideas on good food. We tried several specialty dining rooms, the buffet for breakrfast and lunch, the MDR, and Blue Lagoon as well as, us personally Cagney's for breakfast and lunch some days.

 

The entertainment which we didn't see everynight was outstanding. At least what we saw.

 

More than 25 cruises and the service on the Spirit was about as good as we have ever encountered.

 

The ship is very clean

 

The beds are super comfortable.

 

Cons:

 

because of her age she does have a lot of rust which was apparent in several areas, especially the balconies.

 

The cabins are smaller than on some other ships. If you haven't cruised, this will not bother you as you don't know what to expect. Right??

 

The pool area and the pool is small and gets really crowded during sea days. I suggest you find a lounge near the kids pool if you just want to relax and enjoy a little sunshine.

 

Nita

[radzer0]

 

Cons:

 

because of her age she does have a lot of rust which was apparent in several areas, especially the balconies.

 

The cabins are smaller than on some other ships. If you haven't cruised, this will not bother you as you don't know what to expect. Right??

 

The pool area and the pool is small and gets really crowded during sea days. I suggest you find a lounge near the kids pool if you just want to relax and enjoy a little sunshine.

 

Nita

 

 

The fantasy rooms actualy look smaller than the spirits. Dont know exact sizes though. As for the rust, when did you go? Public areas they were doing alot of rust work on my last cruise in Jan 2010. I heard a rumor on another site that during the drydock this year they will be removing rust and painting all of the balconys along with refinishing the railing outside the balconys. Its a large area that nobody else has to goto so they have time and space to do it.

[bakerintn]

Rust happens on steel ships in salt water.

 

Some rust in a few places is not an indicator of poor maintenance.

 

It is a constant maintenance issue and workers work one area at a time....and because of that, most areas will not appear rusty, but there will always be some areas that do appear that way, at least for a few days until they get to that area.

 

Balconies are occupied almost 24/7 and there is very little time to work on them when passengers are on board.

[vickic233]

We just returned from the Spirit. We have been on the Carribean Princess and Carnival Conquest so this is the smallest ship we have sailed on. We LOVED it! It is the only ship that we actually allowed our 11 yr old to go back to our cabin if he forgot something, with no fear of him getting lost. The shows were, in my opinion, better than Carnivals and almost as good as Princess (that may have to do with the fact that Princess had a "Beatles" concert which is my favorite!). The food was good. We ate the buffet, both main dining rooms, Blue Lagoon and Cagneys (excellent!). Only ordered room service 1x and it was fine. Bingo was a little high on price but fun. From the first afternoon on the ship my favorite spot was aft by the kids pool. You can actually sit at the tables outside of Raffles and eat (never had to wait for a table!). We had a great time!!! Only thing that I noticed that my husband and son liked more about Carnival was their 24 hour pizza place and 24 hr ice cream. NCL had a lady who would serve ice cream during dining hours only. I have read somewhere that we could have gotten pizza and ice cream from room service but we didnot spend that much time in room to worry about it and there was so many other choices! At breakfast we loved that NCL didnot have the "bacon police"...you were able to serve yourself as many as you wanted and did notice that nobody seemed to waste it which was good!

Any questions, just ask!!

[cruiser1955a]

Blue Lagoon is inside. The walkway from the atrium/lobby to the casino runs right thru it (many people walking thru during day & night, especially when shows let out). It has windows looking out to the prominade. You can order and take your food out to a few tables just outside on the prominade, or sit on stools & benches at small tables in BL.

 

The outside terrace behind Raffles is fabulous for eating (food from Raffles), or just relaxing. It's 2 stories too. Usually less crowded if you walk down one level. It stretches back to the stern on both sides above the kids pool. Great place to siit and watch the wake. There's windowed walls on the sides, so it's a great place on a windy day too. Can you tell that I liked this terrace ?.

 

Galaxy has panoramic views off the bow. There's a pool table in there. There's also a small spiral staircase in there that leads down to a small museum & window that looks into captain's bridge/control room. It's a very unique feature.

 

For a quiet drink at night, walk thru the casino into the lounge. They have a few "Sultans beds" in there, and quiet area's with tables & chairs. Not too many people in there because they're all busy in the casino.

 

If you want your own private den, there's a "smoking room" off the Galaxy, for cigar smokers. I never saw anyone using it. It has great views and comfy chairs.

 

The shows were great, the food was great, the service was great.

[newmexicoNita]

The fantasy rooms actualy look smaller than the spirits. Dont know exact sizes though. As for the rust, when did you go? Public areas they were doing alot of rust work on my last cruise in Jan 2010. I heard a rumor on another site that during the drydock this year they will be removing rust and painting all of the balconys along with refinishing the railing outside the balconys. Its a large area that nobody else has to goto so they have time and space to do it.

 

the only place we saw rust was on our balcony and other balconies. They had done some rust cover up attempts. but not a very good job. I was just trying to be honest and objective when I mentioned the rust. It didn't bother us all that much, but it was visable. I am sure they will repair the balconies. Other than that, as I mentioned the ship was in good condition and we had a blast.

 

Nita

[mitsugirly]

 

 

A nice photo tour is located here: http://www.beyondships.com/NCLSpirit-Tour.html

 

Thanks for this wonderful link! :)

 

 

Galaxy has panoramic views off the bow. There's a pool table in there. There's also a small spiral staircase in there that leads down to a small museum & window that looks into captain's bridge/control room. It's a very unique feature.

 

 

Great information. Thanks! I can't wait to check this out. :D