Spirit 7/31-8/7

[ILOVEOSU]

Here is my review for our cruise on the Spirit 7/31 to 8/7.

 

http://http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=87212

 

Our group included myself and my husband, my two children, 15 and 17, my sister in law- 25 yrs, and my mother and father in law.

We drove from Columbus, Ohio to New Orleans (it sounds bad, but it was a pretty easy drive, as we had good weather both ways).

 

A little background, though; we had booked this cruise for myself and husband, kids and sister in law. My mother and father-in-law didn't originally plan to go, as my mother-in-law's mother was very sick in the hospital. She was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer in May, and spent most of June and July in the hospital after an attempt to remove some of the cancer. She passed away about two weeks before the cruise. We also had two other family members pass away the same week. We felt like my mother-in-law really needed a break, as she was exhausted from spending so much time in the hospital and caring for everyone else, so we booked the cruise as sort of a surprise for her the week before we were leaving. She's a teacher, so she was already off of work. NCL really made it a great family vacation. She wasn't sure what to expect, or if she'd like cruising, but she ended up loving the balcony room, the shows...the whole cruising experience, and even went to the future cruise presentation with us. I can't thank NCL enough for making it a great trip for all of us after such a difficult summer.

We had a terrific time and have great memories to share.

 

I also reviewed each of the ports. If you're interested, these are the things we did at each port:

New Orleans- a little shopping, Bourbon street the night before the cruise (just walked around to check things out) and Cafe Du Monde the morning of the cruise.

Costa Maya - Went to Tropicante; this was awesome! Great little beach, good food, and Steve was so nice. The kids got massages for $25 an hour, we did a little shopping...relaxing day for all. Steve also let us call home to check on our family and our dog that got sick the day we sailed out of New Orleans (the person taking care of him works in a vet office, but we were still worried, so being able to make the call for free was a nice perk). We had a few margaritas, a bucket of beer, chips and salsa, quesadillas and water for less than $40. The cab ride there was about $3 a person, each way...and not very long a ride.

 

Roatan: Took a cab to Bananarama at West Bay. Walked around port for a while to find the best deal on a taxi...most wanted $20 to $25 a person, but we talked someone down to $10 a person for the 7 of us, because we really just wanted to go to the beach to snorkel, nothing else. The price still included a tour guide (though she told us nothing really about Roatan and found another job while she was with us at the beach, so she didn't return with us). We walked from Bananarama down to Infinity Bay (just a couple minutes walk, literally) and snorkeled right there. It was AMAZING! My in-laws had never snorkeled before, so this was quite a treat for all. The water is so clear and the beach is beautiful. The only other snorkeling I've done that really compared was in Hawaii. Food at Banarama was pretty good, and reasonable.

 

Belize: We booked the Altun Ha Mayan ruins tour through NCL for $59 a person. Normally, we do things on our own, but since nothing is really close to the port in Belize, we didn't want to take a chance. The tour was great. Our guides were informative and funny. We had time to climb a couple of the ruins (my husband actually did 3), looked at the souvenirs, and tried some cashew wine (and bought three bottles!). We all really enjoyed the tour of the city as well. When we returned to the port area, we did a little shopping and had a few Belikin's - a must in Belize if you like beer.

 

Cozumel - this was probably my mother-in-law's favorite port; she loves to shop, and the shopping is plentiful in Cozumel. We shopped for a few hours, then most of our group went to Paradise Beach. The taxi for 6 of us was $30 each way. I've been to Paradise before, but I didn't remember the beach are being so small. We paid the $2 to use the loungers and facilities, had some drinks and chips and salsa. The pool area was really nice, but the beach is really rocky and the water toys make it too crowded to do any swimming around or floating in the water...it was pretty crowded in general when we were there. Still a nice day, though.

 

We had terrific weather the entire week. I think it rained a couple of times at night, maybe once briefly during our sea day. Perfect weather every day in port.

 

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

[Senoj84]

I've always wanted to go to Costa Maya and Belize but haven't been yet, thanks for including them in your review! Good review, so glad you and your family had a terrific time :)

[1SMURFF99A]

We're from Hilliard Oh and doing same cruise in Dec. We also are going to drive. How long did it take you? Our 2 adult daughters are going with us. We plan to drive down in one day and spend 2 nites in New Orleans. Can't get here soon enough.:)

[ILOVEOSU]

We're from Hilliard Oh and doing same cruise in Dec. We also are going to drive. How long did it take you? Our 2 adult daughters are going with us. We plan to drive down in one day and spend 2 nites in New Orleans. Can't get here soon enough.:)

 

We drove down in one day. We left around 7 am here, got to New Orleans around 9:30 (at that point I think it was only 8:30 New Orleans time). So, about 14 1/2 hours. We made several rest stops, and stopped for about 30 or 45 minutes for lunch, too, so it could probably be done in less time. It's really not a bad drive down...we didn't really hit any traffic or issues, except some night road work in New Orleans. I think driving on Saturday made the drive easier going through Cincinnati, Louisville, and Nashville especially.

Hope you have a great time on your trip and a safe drive down!

[mitsugirly]

Here is my review for our cruise on the Spirit 7/31 to 8/7.

 

http://http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=87212

 

Our group included myself and my husband, my two children, 15 and 17, my sister in law- 25 yrs, and my mother and father in law.

We drove from Columbus, Ohio to New Orleans (it sounds bad, but it was a pretty easy drive, as we had good weather both ways).

 

:)

 

Thank you so much for your wonderful review. I will be on the Spirit in another 26 more days and can't wait. I've heard nothing but good things about the ship. Everyone seems to love it and I'm glad that we will get a chance to sail with her before she leaves NOLA.

 

I can't imagine the drive. I'm impatient and want to get where I'm going so that we can spend the day there and do things. I've never been to NOLA before.

 

Also, I'm from Columbus (well Grove City). We could be neighbors. :D

[mitsugirly]

We're from Hilliard Oh and doing same cruise in Dec.

 

Hello neighbor as well.

 

To the both of you...we have an Ohio board here on cruise critic if you are interested in joining.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=30203366#post30203366

 

It's called Buckeye cruisers. :)

[DCP]

More buckeyes here! We're just north of Columbus, in Delaware! Great info OP, we're driving down in Oct. too. We're stopping mid way though. Thanks for sharing!

 

Going to go check out the *ohio cruisers* section now too!

[mitsugirly]

More buckeyes here! We're just north of Columbus, in Delaware! Great info OP, we're driving down in Oct. too. We're stopping mid way though. Thanks for sharing!

 

Going to go check out the *ohio cruisers* section now too!

 

Hiya! Love Delaware. We are up there a lot at the skate park. :)

[JewelB]

Hi everyone. We are from Grove City as well and depart on Spirit 8/26. I am so excited and even more so after reading this review. Thanks for posting it.

[riddle]

We drove down from Cincinnati suburbs last month. We left Cinti about 7:00 am and were in NOLA by 7:00 pm. We pushed it though, drive-thru's to eat and gas stops for potty. We wanted to get there. We had left on a Friday so that gave us a bit of Friday night, all day Saturday and a little bit of Sunday. We stayed at the Hilton Riverside so it was really close. NOLA is such a nice place to cruise out of for us Ohio residents, I just wish there were more options.

[ILOVEOSU]

Hello neighbor as well.

 

To the both of you...we have an Ohio board here on cruise critic if you are interested in joining.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=30203366#post30203366

 

It's called Buckeye cruisers. :)

 

As much as I researched before the cruise. I never noticed the Buckeye cruiers section. I'll have to check it out!

[ltlarry123]

Hey! We are from Powell, and we're headed to NOLA and the Spirit October 9th!!

 

Glad to see that you liked it! We just happened to book the first cruise after the Spirit drydocks, so we will have her all shined up!

[mitsugirly]

Wow, I can not believe how many Ohio people are on this thread. This is weird. :eek: Looks like we all like to cruise and are going on (or have been on) the Spirit. We need to start a central Ohio cruising thread or page for us all. I've met some wonderful people on my roll call and cruise with them and keep in touch daily on facebook. We are all planning a "reunion" cruise when the new NCL ships come out in 2013 and 2014. It would be neat to have a bunch of Ohio people get together on the same cruise. :)