Hints for the Spirit

[CanadaTraveller]

The Spirit was my first cruise ship, and remains my favourite. The itinerary is very port intensive but amazing. You can read my review in the signature. Barcelona was amazing, and I would recommend the hop on, hop off bus to get your bearings. After that, the subway is a great way to get around. Spent a week and learned it is a culture that loves cafés, shopping and life. Favourite city in Europe. Venice is beautiful, but expensive. If you can spend some time in Rome, do. There is so much to see and do. After a week, we only scratched the surface.

 

After 12 days on the Spirit, it felt like everyone learned who you are. The staff are incredibly friendly. As mentioned earlier, the back of the ship, overlooking the kids pool is the best place to relax on a lounger. When we were on the ship in June, there were very few children, and I think I only saw two children using the pool.

 

On our cruise, the fellow passengers were very international, so getting tables in the dining room required no wait. People gravitated to their cultural times.

 

I would recommend going to Windows, just before leaving port. Ask for a table at the back windows. There is no better place to be on sail out.

 

If you can swing it, try to do the Chef's table. It is such a good time.

 

I agree that blue lagoon is in an unfortunate location, but if you are a people watcher, you will be entertained. And there is an arcade in that area if the kids enjoy that sort of thing.

 

The full promenade around the ship is a great way to work off the dinners.

 

We did all excursions through the ship, and enjoyed all. But our Pompeii tour was enjoyed, not for the tour, but the complete ineptitude of the guide. It still brings laughs when we chat about it.

[buckeye82]

Oooh, 9:30? No thanks. I guess we'll be working around the earlier show. How was the entertainment quality? Our RC Med cruise in 2012 had HORRIBLE entertainment & the CD was pretty lame, as well. He put absolutely zero effort into his job.

 

 

I thought the entertainment was just ok with the exception of the Motown Show. Really enjoyed that one. Your kids might like the juggling and the magic.

[AquamarineBreeze]

What about finding a really good cup of coffee on the Spirit? Just a great cup of black coffee...

 

So far that's been a weak point on all of my cruises and I love a great cup of coffee and the sea.

[coscab]

I just booked the Spirit- Dec. 2015 - does anyone know why some BA cabins on deck 10 show the symbol that they sleep 3 and some do not show that symbol (only sleep 2) seems like there would be a small sofa in all the BA cabins on 10, they all look the same size but some list capacity 3 and some 2.

[dejanewkath]

There is no decent coffee (if you are a coffee 'snob' like me) on the ship, unless you pay for a latte. I bring my own French press & coffee & Starbucks VIA packs. Even the coffee from the 'cafe' isn't all the great IMO.

From the land of Seattle, I'll BMOC (Bring My Own Coffee)

[TracieABD]

I was on the Spirit in January for 9 nights and loved it so much I am returning in Novemeber for 12 nights.

 

One tip that I would offer is to purchase the Ultimate Dining Package. Almost every aspect of our cruise was perfect, except for the dining in Windows and the Garden. The only two words I have to describe the food there is slow and cold, which is rather unfortunate. On the other hand, the food in the specialty restaurants was delicious (and hot!).

 

Another tip would be to take a walk on the Prominade Deck. As they build more and more cruise ships, a true Prominade Deck is becoming a rare feature. I would walk the deck for hours each day. It was lovely.

 

I guess my final tip is- Don't hesitate to ask. I found that the crew on this ship really wanted to please their passengers. It was a very friendly atmosphere!

 

I am hoping that you love your cruise as much as I did mine. I did write a "live from" blog and I plan to write one in November.

 

:)

[Princess & 4 Princes]

I was on the Spirit in January for 9 nights and loved it so much I am returning in Novemeber for 12 nights.

 

One tip that I would offer is to purchase the Ultimate Dining Package. Almost every aspect of our cruise was perfect, except for the dining in Windows and the Garden. The only two words I have to describe the food there is slow and cold, which is rather unfortunate. On the other hand, the food in the specialty restaurants was delicious (and hot!).

 

Another tip would be to take a walk on the Prominade Deck. As they build more and more cruise ships, a true Prominade Deck is becoming a rare feature. I would walk the deck for hours each day. It was lovely.

 

I guess my final tip is- Don't hesitate to ask. I found that the crew on this ship really wanted to please their passengers. It was a very friendly atmosphere!

 

I am hoping that you love your cruise as much as I did mine. I did write a "live from" blog and I plan to write one in November.

 

:)

Thanks, Tracie-Lynn! I read your review & LOVED it! Good job! :) With 5 in our family, and no one who wants to have to make reservations or have long dinners (i.e.: 3 kids), I am afraid we will try the regular dining room once or twice and then resign ourselves to the buffet. Oh well. Our cruise is so port intensive, I really don't want to spend my entire evening waiting around for a long dinner in the regular dining room. Of course the ideal scenario would be smokin' fast service & hot delicious food, but I don't think that's going to happen!

[KeithJenner]

Thanks, Tracie-Lynn! I read your review & LOVED it! Good job! :) With 5 in our family, and no one who wants to have to make reservations or have long dinners (i.e.: 3 kids), I am afraid we will try the regular dining room once or twice and then resign ourselves to the buffet. Oh well. Our cruise is so port intensive, I really don't want to spend my entire evening waiting around for a long dinner in the regular dining room. Of course the ideal scenario would be smokin' fast service & hot delicious food, but I don't think that's going to happen!

 

 

We were on the Spirit recently. There is certainly no reason to pay for food unless you really what to. We ate in the midship dining room once and the service was absolutely fine and the food was warm.

 

The buffet is small compared to some ships, but had lots of choice and the food was great. There are also quite a few other options like Blue Lagoon and the outdoor buffets. We ate at a few speciality restaurants as well, but that was because we wanted to do so, not because we had to.

 

If you did decide to eat in a specialty restaurant (we drop out son off at the kids club when we do), there is no need to make reservations much in advance. Plenty of availability everywhere except Teppenyaki.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Princess & 4 Princes]

We were on the Spirit recently. There is certainly no reason to pay for food unless you really what to. We ate in the midship dining room once and the service was absolutely fine and the food was warm.

 

The buffet is small compared to some ships, but had lots of choice and the food was great. There are also quite a few other options like Blue Lagoon and the outdoor buffets. We ate at a few speciality restaurants as well, but that was because we wanted to do so, not because we had to.

 

If you did decide to eat in a specialty restaurant (we drop out son off at the kids club when we do), there is no need to make reservations much in advance. Plenty of availability everywhere except Teppenyaki.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Oh, that's good to know! I would have assumed we'd need reservations long in advance. Can you tell me anything about photo packages, etc.?

[KeithJenner]

Oh, that's good to know! I would have assumed we'd need reservations long in advance. Can you tell me anything about photo packages, etc.?

 

Sorry, no, I've never looked at buying any photos.

 

Regarding reservations for dining, have a look at this thread I posted last week. It shows how easy it is to get into the restaurants.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2034024

[TracieABD]

Thanks, Tracie-Lynn! I read your review & LOVED it! Good job! :) With 5 in our family, and no one who wants to have to make reservations or have long dinners (i.e.: 3 kids), I am afraid we will try the regular dining room once or twice and then resign ourselves to the buffet. Oh well. Our cruise is so port intensive, I really don't want to spend my entire evening waiting around for a long dinner in the regular dining room. Of course the ideal scenario would be smokin' fast service & hot delicious food, but I don't think that's going to happen!

 

Thank you! I hope you enjoy the Spirit as much as we did!

[Froggitt]

Almost every aspect of our cruise was perfect, except for the dining in Windows and the Garden. The only two words I have to describe the food there is slow and cold, which is rather unfortunate.

^^^^^ this

[darienill]

On Spirit they had a "Deal or no deal" show. You could buy a chance to be the contestant or just sit and watch. DW got picked up on stage and rode the contest all the way to the end and got $ .01 . That's right, one cent.

The French restaurant was packed every night, Cagneys no so much. Cagneys was $30, Bistro was $20. Italian was good, no crowds, $15.

popcorn in the pub. Wine package saves you I think 20%. you can buy the wine at any time on the cruise.

If your a casino player you might get a free dink but you have to ask when the hostess comes over to see how your doing. Sign up for the free Casino Card.

Check out my review. Sail Spirit twice.

 

Check out this site to see how many ships are in port the same day you are. cruise tt

 

http://cruisett.com/ports.php

Edited May 9, 2014 by darienill

[Froggitt]

If your a casino player you might get a free dink but you have to ask when the hostess comes over to see how your doing.

She was wearing an invisibility cloak in December

[Princess & 4 Princes]

She was wearing an invisibility cloak in December

 

:p ha ha ha!!! :p

[gardiner41]

Thank you to everyone who has been posting their tips and tricks. They have been very helpful, entertaining, and interesting.


We will be doing the Chef's table, that will be our "big" food splurge for the trip. In addition we will probably eat at a couple of the specialties. LE Bistro for sure

I loved the tip about having lunch at "Windows" for an excellent view during sail away!

Sounds like there will not be a lot of kids on our sailing, which for us is great, since we are past that stage of our life :)

I hope our sailing is very international as well. I LOVE meeting people from other cultures...it's why we travel :) Interesting point about everyone eating during their cultural norm. Great observation!

We are not sailing on the Spirit until spring 2015 so lots of time to glean from these types of threads.

Thank you to all who are contributing so useful information and thank you to the OP for starting this thread.

[GreyingJay]

Hmm, I didn't realize this thread existed, and was being updated while I was sailing on Spirit herself on the May 6 Venice to Barcelona cruise.

Here are some of my notes that I shared in that roll call thread (and that of the June 11 Barcelona to Venice sailing). Some of these are repeats of tips already posted.

Hi again, Princess & 4 Princes :)

Gotchas:
- There are THREE sea days on the Venice-to-Barcelona itinerary. Read carefully.. "Day 1" you are only in Venice from midnight until 1am. Ouch!

Tips:
- Deck 7 has a completely wrap-around promenade where you can do laps around the whole ship if you want. Most people don't know about it, so it's very quiet. You can have a virtually private viewing of the sea. There is a viewing area at the stern. From there you can take stairways directly to deck 10 (kid's pool deck) and from there access the buffet on deck 12.
- Deck 13 aft is designated as a quiet zone. Magically, it really is pretty quiet up there.
- The Biergarten on Deck 13 is also fairly quiet and serves up a burger/hot dog bar.
- Want to see the bridge? There is a tiny spiral stairway located in the Deck 12 forward "Galaxy of the Stars" lounge. It leads to a bridge viewing room.
- While you're there, Galaxy of the Stars offers the only unobstructed forward viewing area on the ship.
- NCL offers a $55 "behind the scenes" tour on the last sea day where they take you to visit the theatre backstage, the galley, cold storage rooms, laundry, and the bridge. A 2-hour tour that gives you a lot of insight into how a cruise ship runs. Very cool.
- The library is well stocked. You can go in there to sit any time but there are only limited hours when you can access the books on their shelves.
- There ARE fridges in the state rooms, despite many places on Google -- including NCL's own website -- telling you there are not. They must have been recently added.
- The desk has an American style plug, a UK style plug, and/or a European/Japanese style plug.

Dining:
- Blue Lagoon (deck 7, starboard side of guest services desk) looks like a pub/pay restaurant but it's free and they serve fish and chips, wings, and other comfort foods 24/7.
- They serve a BBQ in the Tivoli pool area at lunch. It's easy to overlook this but I think the food here is better than the general buffet selections.
- Similarly, there is always a breakfast selection outside on Raffles Terrace, and sometimes they serve special themed lunches from here too.
- Speaking of the buffet, there is always some good stir-fry, curries, and Indian dishes available for lunch and dinner.
- Late night (10pm to 11pm) they serve a small selection of salads, desserts, and cute little sandwiches in the Raffles buffet.
- There are line-ups to get into the main dining rooms at peak times. They give you a little pager while you wait, and sometimes, coupons for free drinks so you can wait at a bar.
- Teppenyaki is amazing!! So entertaining. But there is only one table that seats up to 10 people, so book when you get a chance (and expect to eat in shared company).
- No lobster on the menu :( Except for specialty restaurants. I had my fix at teppenyaki.
- MDRs are Windows and Garden. Garden is smaller and more intimate, Windows offers a view off the rear of the ship. Supposedly has the stricter dress code too. I found service in both to be a little slow but waiters are friendly. Wait times to get a table can get long durign peak times, so try to dine earlier or later than most.
- The daily specials are the same in both MDRs, but they offer a slightly different selection of "classic" entrees. For example, Windows offers a lamb shank, Garden does not.
- Breakfast selection is more or less the same each day. Decent selection though including many made-to-order egg stations, biscuits and gravy, crepes, sausages, bacon, even pickled herring and smoked salmon.
- Surprisingly, I really liked the muesli and ate a big bowl every morning.

Food quality:
I don't think I'd call NCL's food "excellent" but it was still pretty good. Sometimes it just depends on when and where you get stuff. For example my first taste of a breakfast hash brown was very disappointing -- a salty, chewy, puck. Other days it was fine. Maybe mine had been sitting in the tray too long on the first day. Waffles can be soggy or crispy depending on how recently they were made.
Don't bother with the pre-made omelettes, get one freshly made to order.
The freshly squeezed juice for $2.50/$3.50 a glass is so-so. The fruits they juice are not super fresh.
I think all cruise ship food is too salty but that is a matter of taste preference. The juices in the dispensers are also a little sweet, I tend to cut them down with a bit of water.
Brew your own iced tea -- brew a strong cup of hot tea, then pour it into a glass of ice cubes.

Photos:
Individual photos range in price from $12-20. Buy 10 photos for $129 or 20 for $199. For $29 get a USB stick with a digital copy of all the print photos you purchased. Get a photo album with 16 stock photos from the ports (Colosseum, etc.) for $20.
Bring lots of memory cards! If you run out, the photo center will be happy to sell you a 4 GB SD card... for $30. Yikes! Instead, go to the souvenir shop where they sell an 8 GB card for much less.

Souvenir Shop:
No end-of-cruise sales or specials. Phooey.
They offer port T-shirts for $16.99, buy 2 get 1 free, but they don't sell them until the last 2 days of the cruise. It was an absolute madhouse when they first brought them out. Passengers were grabbing and throwing shirts everywhere.
They'll be happy to sell you sundries like a bar of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. but the prices are ridiculous... make sure you pack your own!

[insidecabin]

[quote name='gardiner41']I hope our sailing is very international as well. I LOVE meeting people from other cultures...it's why we travel :) Interesting point about everyone eating during their cultural norm. Great observation![/quote]

Last year we had the broadest range of pax nationalities of any cruise we have been on, I think on some trips the pax beat the crew.

We loved the ship and now prefer it to the jewel class if sailing in low end cabins, they have some massive ones dotted around so they are worth looking out for.

In Istanbul there is a tram just outside the port that will take you right upto the blue mosque area, cheap and easy to use, you can walk down through the grand Bizaar and the spice market back to the bridge and then catch the tram back to ship from their, saved a load of walking time and was cheap

Don't overlook the Basilica cistern.

[rocklinmom]

Hi Greying Jay, we will be on your same cruise this June 23. Do you happen to remember which night was the Chocolate Buffet?

[GreyingJay]

[quote name='rocklinmom']Hi Greying Jay, we will be on your same cruise this June 23. Do you happen to remember which night was the Chocolate Buffet?[/quote]

The second-to-last evening, from 10pm to 11pm. They'll announce it a day or two in advance in the Freestyle Daily.

There is a variety of chocolate desserts but not as many as it first appears -- the different sections of the buffet are just repeating the same items. But go around the whole buffet to check out all the sculptures!

[treasure4two]

[quote name='GreyingJay']Hmm, I didn't realize this thread existed, and was being updated while I was sailing on Spirit herself on the May 6 Venice to Barcelona cruise.



Thank you for all the info-answered all my questions! Appreciate all the time you took to be so detailed!:D

[mugtech]

Thought I would bring this one forward, as there are more questions about the Spirit.