Spirit from New Orleans 8/21-28 long review

[GamblingMommy]

Overall the ship and cruise was good, but some things seemed to be a lower standard than last summer on the Dawn and Jewel. On this trip there was myself (39), DH (39), and DD (6).

 

We stayed at Harrahs Saturday night and chose to walk to the pier on Sunday. DH made one trip with two bags, checked them with a porter and then returned for both of us and to roll the rest of our bags. It was not an easy walk as we took the "shortcut" through the crew area and loading docks, but if two overweight adults and one kid can do it you can too. However, I did not look very good for the Welcome Aboard photo after dripping in the heat and humidity! LOL! Embarkation process was easy and quick, we arrived at the pier around 11:30 and in our cleaned cabin by 12:00.

 

We have stayed in an inside cabin before so we knew what to expect. Our DD was adamant about sleeping in the wall bunk. Since this cabin does have a trundle bed also there is no storage under the one bed. We had the two beds pushed together for us and were able to fit our suitcases under that one side. We did find the area between the bed and wall (under the bunk) was a good storage area also.

 

Our room stewards were nice, but not always attentive to our needs. They took our pool towels and didn't replace them on 4 different days. This was especially annoying when we wanted to go to the kids pool area and there is no place to receive towels there. The evening turn-down was also difficult. We typically are out of the room most of the afternoon, come back around 6 for showers and go to dinner around 7-7:30. If they came to our room before we left and we asked them to come back in 20 minutes the turn-down seemed to be an inconvenience to them. Never before have I felt that on an NCL cruise.

 

I felt that they are really trying to steer you to the specialty restaurants. The dining room food was just OK. While we could find something to eat and never went hungry, the buffet food was only OK also with pretty much the same choices every day. The desserts were a big disappointment. There were very few choices, especially compared to previous cruises. The Chocolate buffet night was very good, they must have held back all week for the one night.

 

The ship itself seemed to be in good shape even though it has an overhaul coming up next month. I found it to be cleaned and well maintained in general.

 

Kids club did not disappoint DD. She had a great time and asked to go every day. She came back smiling and happy every time.

 

The kids pool area is nice and has good seating IF you don't need to be right next to the water for your kid. DD is an excellent swimmer so I'm fine as long as I can see her. There were problems for people with kids between 13-17 as there really is no pool for them. One day we even watched a big fight (fists were drawn, but no one was hit) over the ages of kids in the pool. Added a little excitement to our afternoon.

 

There were several shows on board. I don't remember which dance and which acrobat shows we saw. However, they were just OK. But we do go to shows in NYC and Vegas often so we are hard to impress with shows. The afternoon magic show was boring, except for when the tricks were so simple I was laughing. Even DD at age 6 could tell how some of the tricks were done.

 

Ports were good and always an adventure. We chose to do beach days on our own everywhere and have many good memories from each place. We especially loved Costa Maya and Cozumel.

 

In Costa Maya, we walked outside of the port area to the "bus" area. They do use the term bus freely here as it was an open air pulled wagon with seats (think hay ride but with real seats). This was $3 each and we didn't pay for DD. We rode to the middle of the strip of beach places (driver said his last stop). Beach entry and chairs are free, but you are expected to buy something from the chair owners. We were approached by MANY vendors on our walk, just build up your thick skin and say No and they all backed off politely. We had some beer on the beach at one place, then moved along and had lunch in another place and used their beach area for a while. Plenty of cabs were around and we took one back for $2 each.

 

We stepped off the ship and went through the tour operator area in Roatan. We ended up going to Pirates Bay for $10 each for transportation and entry on beach and we talked them out of paying for DD. The beach area is man made, but was groomed nicely. They had cleaned portions of the water of sea grass so it was nice for swimming. They are building this area and it was very nice and clean. There was a pirate ship to explore there too. We had a nice lunch of fresh fish, shrimp and DD had fresh corn chips with beans and cheese.

 

I would advise planning an excursion in Belize. It's not the best port to not really have a plan. We were going to go to Caye Caulker via water taxi, but missed the boat and didn't want to wait an hour and a half for the next one. So Cobra, the taxi driver, took us to Old Belize/ Pickle Beach. I do not recommend this area, it's a man made water hole. We had an adventure and have fun where ever we are, but I wouldn't repeat this trip.

 

In Cozumel, we decided to go to Playa Mia. We paid the taxi $16 each way and then the beach/resort entry fee of $12? each. We chose to buy lunch a la carte which was a great option for us. It was a very nice area and it was wonderful after lunch since the ship tours all left at 1:30 and we stayed until after 3 with only a few people left. They have 2 water trampolines and a big climbing structure with a slide. DD swam out there once with daddy, had a good time but declared it too difficult to do again. She also enjoyed the small pool for a change of pace.

 

If you have any questions, please ask and I'll try to answer!

[karoo]

Great to read your review. We're going on the Spirit in October. Were there a variety of shore excursions to choose from at each port from vendors waiting? I do like the beach, but more than 1 1/2 hours is too long for us. We get bored, particualarly if the water is still-we like to be active. We're hoping to pick up snorkelling, ziplining and cavetubing in Belize without pre booking. or alternatively jetskis or parasailing. We don't have kids to supervise-they're all grown up.

[GamblingMommy]

I didn't feel like there were a lot of excursions to choose from on land in Belize. You really should do some research before hand and probably book something either through NCL or on your own. There were horse/carriage rides around, but I didn't see a lot of places for other things right off the ship.

[tkportersat]

We did excursions seperate from the ship for Costa Maya and Belize. In Costa Maya we booked Maya Chan Beach. It was great because they limit the amount of folks that can reserve each day and they have a spot just for your family/friends. You pay one set price and that covers your transportation, food, drinks and use of kayaks and such.

 

For Belize we did a tour of the Beliken Brewery. After the tour you have 45 minutes to drink as much of their beer as you like. It is one set price and it covers transportation from the Wet Lizard and lunch when you return.

 

Great to read your review. We're going on the Spirit in October. Were there a variety of shore excursions to choose from at each port from vendors waiting? I do like the beach, but more than 1 1/2 hours is too long for us. We get bored, particualarly if the water is still-we like to be active. We're hoping to pick up snorkelling, ziplining and cavetubing in Belize without pre booking. or alternatively jetskis or parasailing. We don't have kids to supervise-they're all grown up.