Spirit or Star - Which would you choose?

[CarynRenee]

Hi All -

 

If you had to choose between the Spirit from New Orleans or the Star from Tampa for the Western Caribbean itinerary, which would you choose and why?

 

We will likely be sailing within a couple weeks of Thanksgiving, and we will be traveling with our 10-month old son and three of his grandparents, so we will want three balcony cabins (or possibly a suite).

 

The itineraries are nearly identical except for the order of the ports, so I'm particularly interested in the general feel and condition of the ships, crew, ease of embarkation, food, entertainment, casino, or other factors that might help us decide.

 

For purposes of this discussion, cost and travel arrangements to the port can be ignored. I've done some research on the Spirit which all seems to be pretty positive, but I haven't yet gathered as much information on the Star.

 

We have to make a decision within a week so I'm hoping to get some feedback from the experts here!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[fergusonvt]

I'm not an expert but we chose the Star over the Spirit simply because airfare to NOLA was much more expense then flying to Orlando and driving to Tampa for us. I wanted to cruise out of NOLA really bad and may have to make that my next cruise. That being said there are good and bad reviews for both ships but I didn't listen to the bad reviews when I booked the Sun last January and I wasn't disappointed in the ship or crew at all. I think either ship would be a good choice.

[cruiser1955a]

Star has mini-suites, Spirit doesn't. Mini- suites are not too much more $ than a standard balcony, but you get a bigger room, bathroom, balcony, and a curtain to separate sleeping areas. They also have a bath tub, which could be helpful for your child.

 

Spirit is smaller, with Asian decor. And the Spirit has the tiered terrace area (Raffles Terrace) at the stern, which is very relaxing, and overlooks the kids pool area (unless they remove this area during upcoming dry dock).

 

Otherwise, the ships have more similarities than differences.

[VideoTech]

Hi All -

 

If you had to choose between the Spirit from New Orleans or the Star from Tampa for the Western Caribbean itinerary, which would you choose and why?

 

We will likely be sailing within a couple weeks of Thanksgiving, and we will be traveling with our 10-month old son and three of his grandparents, so we will want three balcony cabins (or possibly a suite).

 

The itineraries are nearly identical except for the order of the ports, so I'm particularly interested in the general feel and condition of the ships, crew, ease of embarkation, food, entertainment, casino, or other factors that might help us decide.

 

For purposes of this discussion, cost and travel arrangements to the port can be ignored. I've done some research on the Spirit which all seems to be pretty positive, but I haven't yet gathered as much information on the Star.

 

We have to make a decision within a week so I'm hoping to get some feedback from the experts here!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

We're just the opposite of Fergusonvt; As Texans, New Orleans is the closer port. We have cruised on the Spirit but not the Star, so here's what I'd say:

 

I think you'll find all of the NCL ships are kept up in the same excellent manner. Some are older than others, of course, but I've never been on an NCL ship that seemed run down or that I felt shouldn't be in service.

 

The same things apply to food, entertainment, and casinos - Overall, they are probably about the same on both ships. Food is usually good in the "free" restaurants, better in the specialty restaurants. NCL runs their own shows now, I believe, and they program most of the ships the same way, with the same caliber of entertainers. Casinos are what they are, fun if you're ready to loose some money, knowing that they won't payback as much as shore based casinos. All the ship casinos have about the same range of games.

 

You will find good and bad reviews on all NCL ships. Take them for what they are, with a grain of salt. Throw out the worst and the best and you'll probably have a good idea of the true nature of things. A vacation is what you make of it, and that's obviously true when you read good and bad reviews from people on the same ship, same sailing.

 

Specifics: New Orleans is a pretty well run port facility, and it's quite close to the French Quarter and other tourist attractions. You can find plenty of good hotels in most price ranges near the port facility. Just be aware that New Orleans is a major tourist & convention destination all year round, and book your hotel early.

 

Some hotels have stay & park plans, if driving to the port is part of your plans. There is also an excellent large garage right at the cruise dock, with reasonable rates.

 

The New Orleans airport is about a 20 minute taxi ride from the cruise dock, if that's important to you.

 

Embarkation seems to be well run and generally fairly smooth. Since we always cruise in Suites, I can't give you specifics about non-suite embarkation, but the lines didn't seem overly long and everything appeared to move along very well. Ditto for disembarkation.

 

The Spirit is, IMO, a very nice ship. Lots of upper deck sun-deck space, more than on many of the new ships. A great kid's club and kid's pool area at the stern of the ship. Shows (as reported to us by Son-in-Law & his wife) were generally good, ditto the bars! My DW did fairly well in the casino for most of the cruise. Cagney's excellent as always. Staff and service very good, in true NCL style.

 

About the only thing I'd rate down a bit was the location and setup of the Blue Lagoon restaurant; it's actually on both sides of the only bow to stern hallway on that deck, and it makes getting through that area quite difficult at times. I can't imagine that it would be fun to eat there, being jostled by all the people walking the ship, and I can't see how the food servers don't spill a lot of the food!

 

I'd suspect it's a tough choice between the two ships, since the itineraries are the same. Flip a coin? Which port is easier to get to for you? Which ship leaves/returns at a better time? Sorry I can't be of more help....

[CarynRenee]

Thank you for the quick response! Have you already sailed the Star or is that an upcoming trip for you?

 

For all - I thought of a few more questions:

1) Has anybody sailed that itinerary in the Nov/Dec timeframe? Was the weather still nice at all of the ports? Any problems with choppy seas?

 

2) I'm pretty sure that the Spirit won't have any activities for my 10-month old son, and I suspect the same is true of the Star, but if anybody knows of more infant-friendly activities on the Star, I'd be interested to hear about that, too.

 

Thanks!

[billy Lee]

I'm booked on the Star out of AK next month and the Spirit from NOLA in Dec. As far as I could tell, the ships seemed very similar but I guess I'm not as discerning as some guests because I couldn't really even tell you what the differences were between the cruise lines I've been on much less the ships. I think when I looked at the Caribbean cruises, they both went to the exact same places and were almost the same price-I just wanted to see New Orleans.

[ltlarry123]

If the trip is in November, the Spirit will be drydocked for complete refurbishment in late September! She should be quite spiffy all freshened up!

 

I will be on the first cruise after the drydock, and plan on writing a review, so that may help.

[CarynRenee]

Oops - my first reply was to fergusonvt, but I see a couple others posted in the meantime. Thank you all for the detailed points and advice.

 

We are not entirely new to cruising or NCL (sailed on the Jade in the Med in 2009), though not nearly as experienced as many of you on these boards.

 

I'm happy to hear that there are more similarities than differences. Even though that might make the decision more difficult, hopefully it means we can't go wrong! :)

 

We are debating the value in upgrading to a suite, but my biggest concern will be that it's not likely we would upgrade all three cabins, so therefore, some of the nice perks like breakfast and lunch in Cagney's wouldn't apply to the whole party. I do think it would be nice to have a larger-than-normal room with the baby, though, especially if the grandparents are going to spend some time with the baby while we go to the shows, dinner, casino, or whatever for a little while in the evenings. (Just thinking "out loud" now...)

 

Thanks all - keep the opinions coming :)

[CarynRenee]

If the trip is in November, the Spirit will be drydocked for complete refurbishment in late September! She should be quite spiffy all freshened up!

 

I will be on the first cruise after the drydock, and plan on writing a review, so that may help.

 

Thanks for the information. Yes, I read some information about the drydock, so that's definitely a plus for the Spirit...but we have to book by next week, so no time to wait for the reviews before making a decision :) I will definitely watch for it, though, as I enjoy reading the ship reviews and trip reports.

[VideoTech]

Thank you for the quick response! Have you already sailed the Star or is that an upcoming trip for you?

 

For all - I thought of a few more questions:

1) Has anybody sailed that itinerary in the Nov/Dec timeframe? Was the weather still nice at all of the ports? Any problems with choppy seas?

 

2) I'm pretty sure that the Spirit won't have any activities for my 10-month old son, and I suspect the same is true of the Star, but if anybody knows of more infant-friendly activities on the Star, I'd be interested to hear about that, too.

 

Thanks!

 

We have sailed the Caribbean late in the year, and have not had problems with the weather. Air temps at sea are a little cooler, but the ports and water are actually more pleasant in the fall & winter than in the summer; that's why it's the "high season" for Caribbean cruising.

 

Bear in mind that all of November is technically still in the official Hurricane Season. That means you could encounter some storms, and rougher seas, or if there is a late season hurricane, you might find your cruise re-routed. I wouldn't worry too much about either one though; you can't do anything about a hurricane re-route, and all the NCL ships have excellent stabilizers to handle the sea conditions.

[Hikini]

I have been on both the Star and the Spirit and I love them both. There are a few slight differences and a couple major ones. The Spirit doesn't have fridges in the rooms, except possibly in the suites. I've heard you can get one upon request, like for keeping meds refrigerated, but I don't have experience with that.

 

The Spirit has a large forward viewing lounge, the Star doesn't. The Spirit has the big theater for the main production shows at the rear of the ship and the Star's is at the front. There can be a vibration (sometimes quite annoying) in the Spirit's theater. We found the sound quality to be a little lacking in there, if we were sitting in the balcony. If we were down closer to the stage it was fine and no vibration. The Star has none of that issue.

 

The Spirit has the display boards (I don't know their real name) for the restaurants. Outside of each restaurant you can see how full it is by the color code they put on there, so you can know if you want to eat there or try something else. The Star doesn't have that. (Not a big deal.)

 

The Spirit has a multi-tiered (terraced) deck area at the back, looking out over the kids pool area. It's a unique feature and I don't believe any other NCL ship has this feature. I really enjoyed that area.

 

Both of them have very pretty grand atriums. I will give the edge to the Star in this category, and of course that's just my opinion.

 

The Star has a nicer, bigger Blue Lagoon restaurant.

 

The Spirit has an Asian decor and is very nice. The Star has more of a classic, elegant design - both have some very loud color schemes!

 

The Star is our favorite ship of the 4 NCL ships we've been on, but the Spirit is second. We will be on the Star in just under 3 weeks now, but I would happily sail the Spirit again.

 

Have fun!

[cruiser1955a]

 

We are debating the value in upgrading to a suite, but my biggest concern will be that it's not likely we would upgrade all three cabins, so therefore, some of the nice perks like breakfast and lunch in Cagney's wouldn't apply to the whole party. I do think it would be nice to have a larger-than-normal room with the baby, though, especially if the grandparents are going to spend some time with the baby while we go to the shows, dinner, casino, or whatever for a little while in the evenings. (Just thinking "out loud" now...)

 

Thanks all - keep the opinions coming :)

 

The mini-suites are not in the "suite" category. They do not get the suite perks. It's just a bit bigger than a standard balcony. They're all on deck 11, which would put you on a different deck than the grandparents, but it wouldn't give you the perks that would separate you from the balcony passengers.

 

If you're thinking "Suites", check out the new family suites on deck 12 (forward) which they put in last year (on the Star). Some with balcony, some with a wall of windows. People rave about them. But those come with the perks you were concerned about.

[CarynRenee]

The mini-suites are not in the "suite" category. They do not get the suite perks. It's just a bit bigger than a standard balcony. They're all on deck 11, which would put you on a different deck than the grandparents, but it wouldn't give you the perks that would separate you from the balcony passengers.

 

If you're thinking "Suites", check out the new family suites on deck 12 (forward) which they put in last year (on the Star). Some with balcony, some with a wall of windows. People rave about them. But those come with the perks you were concerned about.

 

Thanks for the detailed information. I do know that the mini-suites don't get the same perks as the other suites, but hadn't looked enough at the deck plans yet to see that they are on a different deck. The gentleman from CAS that we talked to suggested the possibility of the family suites on Deck 12. We are considering that as a possibility to share with my mother-in-law so that we'd then only need two cabins (and maybe could end up with two suites).

[cruiser1955a]

Oh yeah........the mini suites also have a full length sofa, which the balcony cabin doesn't. It's a tight squeeze with 2 adults sitting on those balcony cabin love-seats. If the grandparents are babysitting, it might be nice to have the larger sofa.

[CarynRenee]

Hikini - thanks for the detailed comparison. That will help!

[justrache]

I just got off the Spirit yesterday and the water was like glass for almost all of the trip. It was gorgeous!! I am not sure if water conditions change much month to month but that was a non-issue for me last week! It was such a great ship! We enjoyed every minute of it! Good food, enough to do, always could find a deck chair. Even though there was over 500 kids on our sailing, it NEVER felt over run with kids.... EVER.

[ltlarry123]

Thanks for the information. Yes, I read some information about the drydock, so that's definitely a plus for the Spirit...but we have to book by next week, so no time to wait for the reviews before making a decision :) I will definitely watch for it, though, as I enjoy reading the ship reviews and trip reports.

 

I will be sure to do that then, regardless of what you decide. I have had a good number of folks say that they want a review of the Spirit after it has been drydocked. I will take and post as many pics as I can!

[CarynRenee]

Thanks all - I'm enjoying reading all the different points of view and soaking up the information.

 

Another question...

Do any of the four ports on this Western Caribbean itinerary require a tender, or is the ship able to dock in all locations?

[justrache]

We were tendered in Belize and docked in Costa Maya, Roatan and Cozumel. The tender was about a 10-15 ride.

[CarynRenee]

We were tendered in Belize and docked in Costa Maya, Roatan and Cozumel. The tender was about a 10-15 ride.

 

Thank you for the information and prompt response. I was mostly curious because tendering might be just a little bit more of a pain with the baby, but with five adults to one baby, we should be able to figure it out :D

[jetskier]

Also keep in mind the Spirit can only hold 3 to a cabin in all categories except insides. Part of the asian market demographics. The Star can hold up to 4 or 6 in most of her cabins.

 

I have booked a Family Suite on the Star for Thankgiving 2012. 409sq feet cabin with floor to ceiling windows.

 

Dave

[rajones007]

I had to make the same decision for our upcoming cruise in November.

 

As stupid as this might sound, I went with the Star for the simple fact that we'll have to fly into Tampa as opposed to New Orleans.

 

I hate all airports. Except Tampa. It doesn't feel like an airport to me. Perhaps it's because I've flown there a few times in the last 5 years and it's just the comfort factor kicking in...I don't know. It's just seems to be a calm, relaxing, well-managed airport.

 

The last time I flew there (spring break of this year) I was off the plane, retrieved my luggage, picked up a rental car, and was on that super long bridge heading to St. Petes Beach...all in less than 30 minutes.

 

I've flown to New Orleans one time, and it was years ago so I can't comment on what it's like nowadays. But I know my Dad, who was quite the world traveller in his retirement, hated it.

[rvsullivan]

Both ships are great! Spirit will be fresh starting in Oct. (drydock). In my mind Spirit wins hands down because of New Orleans! We are going again this Dec and also booked Dec 2012. This will be our 4 and 5th cruise to these ports in December and the weather has always been great. 80-90 every day and water temps in the 70's. First and last day leaving and arriving in NO can be iffy. Have had NO be in the 70's and 40's. Go to bed on the first night and wake up to tropical weather on the first morning. Either way, you should enjoy. Others have pointed out some of the differences in the two ships.

I love to sit outside Raffles in the morning with coffee and breakfast and watch the sunrise and the wake of the ship.

[msstatemom]

Where can I see info discussing future drydock of Spirit?

[hladygirl]

never sailed the star but have sailed the spirit twice. we love the spirit. we are on the dawn this year and will miss the observation lounge and outside raffle bar in back of the ship. the dawn does not offer these. i don't think the star does either.