I'm new here First cruise Spirit 3/13/05

[crazolwoman]

:confused: I found this site after coming home from our first cruise The Spirit on 3-13 we we are sooo dissapointed and sometimes angry. We did think we were going on a floating hotel. So first I have a queston before I start complaining. DID ANYONE GET PRIOR NOTICE OF THE ITINARY CHANGE? They say they mailed it out on Feb. 18. But we hadn't heard anything about it until we arrived, nor did we meet anyone there who had. We would have changed cruises to go out of New Orleans or Houston to get the cruise we wanted.

[shoreguy]

Everyone here new it before they departed. That's the value of this place to share info before you cruise so you don't have to come after to complain. :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=138542&highlight=Spirit+3%2F13%2F05

[karfest]

Did you book directly through NCL or with TA? Our itinerary on the Star changed slightly (just port times) and we were notified by our TA. On our Princess cruise last year a port was dropped about a week before the cruise. Our TA notified us but those who booked with Princess didn't find out until they were onboard.

 

I know it's frustrating, but it seems to happen alot on cruises. Never book a cruise with a "must see" destination. Now that you have found us here on Cruise Critic, you will gain a wealth of information to use on your next cruise:)

[remixernyc]

:confused: I found this site after coming home from our first cruise The Spirit on 3-13 we we are sooo dissapointed and sometimes angry. We did think we were going on a floating hotel. So first I have a queston before I start complaining.

what else besides your itenerary change???? I'm going on the Spirit & was curious... :)

[crazolwoman]

we booked directly by phone with NCL OK Day 1: we get on the ship the woman at the door says"deck 6" so we take the first elevator to 6, there aren't any cabins their, so we go back up finally we find the right elevator to our cabin. there we find the letter dated 3/18 about the itinary change some of our bags are there,we go out wondering and for dinner,but we are lost and hungry there wasn't a map of the ship in the room and rather than go from elevator to elevator to look at the maps we went to the front desk, a-haa they have the map cards there.Late that night our last 2 bags arrive, when we open them we find the things inside were wet it appeared that they tried to dry them out during the time they had them because it was the inner things that were wet. But one bag that we turned over to them had 3 bottles of tequila in it and was labeled "fragile tequila" ,we had come from 8 days in Cancun This was our 25th anniversary trip, but they did deliver it to our cabin, thank god I needed it by the end of the cruise. i'll do day 2 later.

[crazolwoman]

Sorry but I hurried to much on day 1 Our closet doors were jammed we called them about it and a houskeeper came by she couldn't fix them so she said someone would come in the morning, and we still have not met a steward, all the people who convinced us to take a cruise said stewards are great and take care of the guests. the bed is as hard as a rock.

[karfest]

Let me get this straight- you brought tequila onboard with you at the beginning of the cruise? And you labeled the luggage as such?? You really do need the help of the Cruise Critics.

 

Are there cabins on 6? Or did you just take the wrong elevator-that happens at least once to everyone, it's part of the fun of exploring the ship!

 

I just hope you don't get burned too badly by some of your complaints- be careful! The flames might get HOT;)

[crazolwoman]

Yes our first cruise and yes it was a small red bag and we turned it over to the bus driver and told him& it had the 3+6 tag on it, I didn't want them broken. PLEASE what did you mean by getting burned? E-Mail if you prefer.:confused: :confused: :confused:

[karfest]

I just mean that negative reviews tend to get pretty harsh judgement (called flaming) from some of our members. You certainly have the right to express your opinion, but it sounds as if you might have made some classic first-timer mistakes. It's too late now to give you advice on what you should have done to prepare. I don't want you to get upset or disgusted at some of the opinions that will be expressed--we really are here to help so your next cruise will be a better experience.:)

 

Bringing liquor with you is a no-no and a very HOT topic on these boards.:eek:

 

Don't be afraid to give your viewpoint--we welcome the good and the bad!

[crazolwoman]

:) :) We only brought liquior because we had been in Mexico for the first part of our vacation and we did turn it over to them expecting not to see it until the cruise was over they are the ones that took it to the cabin. It was a ? of whether they knew what they were doing. what could a person sneak on? Yes we have alot to learn and tried catching the flies with honey.BUT GO FOR IT HOW ELSE WILL WE LEARN :)

[lovemylife]

We were on the Spirit 3/27 and had a wonderful time, we thought the ship was just beautiful, and none of the beds in either of our cabins were hard. I think we got lucky because hard beds on the Spirit have been a constant complaint around here.

We never saw our room steward either, but everything was tidy every day, and our beds turned down every night.

The itinerary change did appear on the NCL website before your cruise. Since we were watching to see whether or not ours would stay the same, I was on their site quite a bit. I don't remember when it was posted, exactly, maybe you'd already left for Cancun by then?

Were there any good parts of your trip? I wish you'd found this site before your cruise. Hopefully you'll cruise again, and come here for great tips and advice.:)

[remixernyc]

just my opinion, but it sounds to me that u let a few minor details ruin your cruise.....

[shoreguy]

The itinerary change did appear on the NCL website before your cruise. Since we were watching to see whether or not ours would stay the same, I was on their site quite a bit. I don't remember when it was posted, exactly, maybe you'd already left for Cancun by then?

 

I did a quick search of this site. That's why I posted the link in my response. It is a cut and paste from the NCL website posted here on 2/18 almost a month before the cruise.

 

I agree with most of the posters the best time to come here is before you cruise to minimize the chance of being disappointed. This is a great place to plan the next cruise.

 

Think about it had you found this group prior you would have know a month in advance of the itinerary change that your TA should have told you about. :rolleyes:

 

You would have known the beds are hard but you could get a foam pad from your cabin steward. You could have avoided two of the "major" poblems that made your cruise less then expected.

 

This is a great place to share the good and the bad. The value is in how others overcame or resolved the issues so our cruises are better.

[crazolwoman]

I do wish I'd found this site before our cruise, but even after I had to go thru alot of pages to find you. Anyway, DAY 2: I'm up at 5am (early riser) my husband is still sleeping, I go out and sit outside Henrys and peacefully enjoy the morning. I go back to the cabin & have my morning tea while I wait for the man to wake-up,i'm hungry, he wakes up but wont get out of bed, he's taking the itenary change like it was one of the worst things to ever. I take a walk and come back trying to get him up, we need to enjoy everything else Roatan was only one day and its almost time for the drill, I pry my lifejacket out of the closet (no-ones come yet to fix the closet doors) and I go out for the drill he appeared at the last moment. Then he goes back to bed (he was quite a joy that morning) I went to check out the shops,50 Q-tips cost me 2.50. He finally gives in, we enjoyed the day checked out the ship, so much bigger than we thought it would be. It's a beautiful ship and so many choices and we loved the food. I ate alot & gained 7lbs. on our vacation. I had left a note in the cabin requesting that they leave tea bags, that was the only day they did but they gladly give them to you at the restarants. It would be nice if they had chairs out on more deck areas since we stayed away from the springbreakers most of the time. I wont say where we went for drinks because i'm sure the bartender is not always the way he was that day but he had absolutly NO patience for springbreakers and that attitude went out to everyone there. GOOD DAY NO TA WE BOOKED DIRECTLY WITH NCL

[crazolwoman]

BACK TO MY ORIGINAL ? DID ANY OF YOU THAT WERE ON THE CRUISE GET THE LETTER FROM NCL? AGAIN WE BOOKED DIRECTLY WITH NCL BY PHONE.:confused: :confused: I really dont think we should have had to search anywhere for an itenary change they had e-mailed other info to us, why not that? CUSTOMER SERVICE WHAT IS THAT?:confused: :confused: :confused: