Spirit 2-9-06: Greenie's No-Chunk Review

[greenie]

INTRO

Last year, when I posted my review of my Dawn cruise, I broke down my review (and the experience) into “Chunks.” That doesn’t seem to fit this time—I think because the Dawn was my first cruise as a Cruise Critic member as well as my first cruise with NCL, I experienced it (and reflected on it later) as an experience unto itself. No comparisons, just Chunks-of-my-Dawn-cruise impressions.

On this latest cruise, on the Norwegian Spirit, I experienced it on 2 levels—as an experience unto itself, but also in comparison with my Dawn cruise. I didn’t mean to, it wasn’t on purpose that I often found myself comparing the 2. But I did somewhat, I mean it’s hard not to when you’ve had such an excellent cruise as I had on the Dawn. For those of you who hate rambling reviews and want to cut to the chase and not bother with a blathering reviewer's blathers, the bottom line is this:

The Dawn is awesome. But you know what? The Sprit is awesome too!

My Dawn cruise was absolutely MAHvelous, and you know what? You guessed it--my Spirit cruise was absolutely MAHvelous as well.

NCL, I hafta say, as far as I am concerned, you are the cruise line of my dreams. I love you. I don’t care HOW imperfect you are, or HOW many other passengers you woo and conquer, I am yours. (Now if you’d just enforce that “Saving Lounge Chairs Is Not Allowed” rule, you would be my hero as well as my cruise line love.)

As long as I’m on this segue subject, I would like to start a Cruise Critic Petition to NCL that they post (and enforce) a sign in the pool area that says “It Is Against the Rules, Decidedly Gross & Tacky, and Just Generally In Poor Form To Clip Your Toenails While Sitting On a Lounge Chair In the Pool Area or Anywhere Else That Is NOT the Privacy of Your Cabin.” Yes folks, I did indeed have the pleasure of sitting next to a woman who did that. :(

I’m just grateful that both the pool and I were upwind of her.

So anyway, how best to formulate my review? Chunks won’t work. A “well this ship was better this way and this ship was better this way” isn’t necessarily the right row to hoe because the differences between 2 ships/cruises don’t necessarily fall into a Better or Worse Category thingie. Sometimes they’re just different.

So here’s what I am going to do—I am going to share some of my experiences on and impressions of the Spirit in and of itself AND I will comment on any comparisons I may have found myself making. Some of each. Sound fair? Do you even care if it’s fair? Or do you just want me to ALRIGHT ALREADY GET ON WITH THE STUPID REVIEW?

I hear ya. You got it. Here goes:

BACKGROUND

This was my 5th cruise, my BF Joe’s 3rd. Our 2nd with NCL. We’d booked this cruise while onboard the Dawn last year. On the Dawn, we were in Cabin 9506, one of the AA suites. Staying in an Owner’s Suite was probably (hey, I could win the lottery) a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This time we’d booked an AC Suite( #10022) and will continue to work our way back down to a more “normal” balcony cabin—we’re thinking of an AD (Dawn) or AE (Crown) for our next cruise. I think of it as a slow withdrawal from the AA!

EMBARKATION

An absolute breeze. This may sound weird, but it was almost TOO quick! I’d been looking forward to that last little anticipation time sitting in the terminal, having a cup of coffee, nibbling on the first of many high-calorie naughty foods (I’d been on a diet for 3 weeks prior), quivering in excitement to board. That was not to happen, though.

We arrived at the terminal a little before 11:00 am (last year we’d gotten there at 11:30). Unlike last cruise, there was hardly anyone outside—the disembarking passengers had obviously pretty much disembarked already. Also unlike last year, this time we knew what to do, where to go, what to expect. So that made a difference.

There being no mob scene, we got hold of a porter right away, walked into an empty elevator and went right upstairs. Inside the terminal, there were very few people. We walked over to the stairs and went up to the Latitudes/Suite Passengers waiting area. This time there was no slightly suspicious, sort-of-unfriendly woman planted at the top of the stairs who was not particularly pleasant until she saw our cabin number on our tickets. This time, a very warm & welcoming woman walked up to us smiling, didn’t even glance at our proffered ticket, asked if we were Latitudes members and, when I said “Yes, and we have a suite as well,” she ushered us to the Suite area, saying we would be the first to board. Cool! Feelin’ special here! :)

She never even took our names and cabin number until we’d been sitting around 10 minutes—and even then, never asked for our tickets as proof. Just when I was thinking “well, soon they’ll have some coffee and danishes set out up here and in the rest of the terminal, oh boy, let the fun begin (still thinking about eating bad stuff :D ), she came over to us and said it was time to board.

The whole embarkation process was smooth. There were no hitches and everyone seemed to know what they were doing. This was not the case last year (for us, at least)—last year we kept being sent back and forth between the person who took our credit cards and the one who handed us our cabin cards, because the first person hadn’t given us the paperwork that the second one needed, but insisted that she had. (I guess she figured we were hiding it from everyone who needed it just to gum up the works.)

We were on board by 11:15. I keep hearing about people in suites who get ushered to their cabin by their concierge. Neither time we've had a suite has there been any concierge waiting there for us. No big deal, though, just a comment. We walked onboard and saw smiling, welcoming NCL staff members planted by the elevators on each deck. We made our way down the Deck 10 hallway, counting room numbers until we knew ours was next. As we approached, we saw that the door was open. Oh boy! Can’t wait to see what the Cruise Critic review of The Best Suites At Sea called “a beautiful little gem.”

More to come.

;)

[Rumncoke]

Wow, I can tell this is gonna be good. Please hurry!:D

[johnql]

Hey, greenie, I think we've all been anxiously awaiting your review. Thanks for part one. Can't wait for more.

[Glamourgal]

Don't keep us in suspense!!! We eagerly await more!! How many ships were in port on the day you embarked. Only a 15 minute wait, that is awesome!!

[johnql]

Don't keep us in suspense!!! We eagerly await more!! How many ships were in port on the day you embarked. Only a 15 minute wait, that is awesome!!

I'll answer this one since greenie and I were on the same sailing. The Spirit was the only ship in port on embarkation day. The ship had returned to NYC early that day, which explains why everything ran so smoothly. The previous sailing's passengers all had a chance to clear out before many of the next sailing's passengers arrived at the pier.

[NYHartChapp]

Hi Greenie,

 

From a fellow member of Club 9506, glad to see your review. Look forward to the rest.

[logcabin]

Hey Greenie, you have me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the next section of your review.. I can't wait! We're sailing the Spirit in July in a suite and can not wait. Especially after having sailed on the Dawn twice in suites as well. So, hurry up and post the next section!!!!! The suspence is killing me! :)

[Seago2]

GREEEEENIEE!!!!!

You're killing me!!!!!!

[dongordon]

Greenie.....

 

The suspense is killing us........we want to hear about the comparisons with the Dawn.

 

How does the Garden Restaurant compare to Impressions on the Dawn?

 

Don

[pt in ct]

:( :( :( :(

[SGNY]

Greenie, were you at Henry's Pub for our first CC's gathering? Did we meet? I was not alone-everyone kept saying "Where's Greenie, Does anyone know who Greenie is?"

 

And like everyone else, I'm looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Glamourgal]

Thanks, Johnql for replying to my post. You guys are amazing!! We really appreciate all of the time you take giving us answers and advice for our upcoming cruises!! Thanks Again!!

[SV-650-Girl]

I'm sailing on a different ship but still...... I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of your review!

[Welove2cruise2]

What a tease!!:D Where's the rest??:confused:

[greenie]

Thanks everybody, for once again being my loyal readers (or are you just gluttons for punishment, har :D)

 

dongordon, I can't believe of all the questions you could have asked that I could have ANSWERED, you asked me that one! :o We somehow never made it to Impressions on the Dawn and I have regretted it since. This year, seeing as it was a 10-day cruise we were determined to get to every eating venue! We had made reservations for the Garden Room one night (not that you really need them), but when we were in the area earlier in the day, we'd had a look at the menu and decided there wasn't anything being offered that night that either of us cared about. So we went somewhere else. It wasn't until the end of the cruise that I realized we still hadn't been there!

 

Johnql, maybe you can take that question ...?

 

SGNY, no, we didn't make it to the get-together. We kind of lost track of time that first night, taking care of planning out the week ahead. I wore my CC teeshirt several times and did end up hooking up with Chris & Dan from the roll-call. At first thru coincidence, then later in the cruise thru making dinner plans with each other. (Hi Chris & Dan! You guys are the best!)

 

OK, here's another part of the review ......

 

****************************************************

Part 2

ODE TO SUITE 10022

 

In Cruise Critic’s review of The Best Suites At Sea, the AC suites on the Spirit are referred to as beautiful little gems.

 

I walked in the door and was just filled with pleasure. Oh YEAH. What a joy to know I was going to be living in such wonderful surroundings for the next 10 days! People, 10022 (and, I am sure, all the AC suites on the Spirit) is indeed a beautiful gem.

 

Gleaming dark wood comes to mind, as do the richly designed fabrics used in the drapes, duvet cover, and curtain separating the bedroom from the rest of the suite.

 

I’m remembering glass, and a flood of natural light … in the living room area from the full wall of sliding glass doors, and the glasses and stemware sparkling in rows on the wall behind the bar area …in the bathroom from the entire outside wall of the shower, the shower door, the etched-glass toilet cubicle, and the windows on two sides of the corner whirlpool bathtub (one with a view of the sea, the other keeping a watchful eye on our balcony) stretching from the edge of the tub to waaay up high near the ceiling.

 

I’m reflecting on mirrors (har. get it? reflecting?) … behind the bar, over the double sink in the bathroom, in front of the vanity, covering the entire front of the closet’s two sliding doors, and over the bed--that one being, in my humble opinion, a lovely ornate work of art.

 

When I first saw the bedroom section, I wasn’t sure I loved it. It just seemed so… well, close. Closed in. The room was hardly bigger than the bed, there was barely room to walk on either side of it. It was kind of dark with the walls being dark wood. And the beautiful partition curtains (each of which was tied back with a golden rope with tassels) made it look like it would feel slightly claustrophobic. Not that I AM claustrophobic … although I did find that MRI I had once to be creepy. And unpleasantly anxiety-producing. :(

 

 

As it turned out, though, I adored our little sleeping nest. It was very cozy and very snug in there. In fact, one of the reasons I was loathe to end the cruise was because I wanted to continue spending my nights sleeping in there! I even took a couple of short afternoon naps there—just sit in the sun for awhile, have a big ole pina colada, go back to the room, head for the nest, close those curtains, and * pow * it’s dark, dark, dark. Zzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzz.

 

 

Joe and I decided that we actually liked this suite even more than the Owner’s suite on the Dawn! We loved the OS, of course, how could you not? I know it’s way bigger than our AC was, and it has 2 balconies to the AC’s one, but we didn’t need all that space in the OS. It was lovely, but not as warm as the AC was. The only thing I liked better about the OS was the couch—it was full length. You could stretch out on it. The couch in the AC was more of a loveseat, so no full potato-ing out was allowed. In the living room, at least. There’s always that wonderful bedroom nest though … ;)

 

 

I thought the AC suite was just right—luxurious and spacious, but still cozy and warm. We just loved it and I hope to stay in one again someday.

 

Next Up:

The taking of our balcony furniture and the carpenter comes to visit our closet :eek:

[johnql]

dongordon, I can't believe of all the questions you could have asked that I could have ANSWERED, you asked me that one! :o We somehow never made it to Impressions on the Dawn and I have regretted it since. This year, seeing as it was a 10-day cruise we were determined to get to every eating venue! We had made reservations for the Garden Room one night (not that you really need them), but when we were in the area earlier in the day, we'd had a look at the menu and decided there wasn't anything being offered that night that either of us cared about. So we went somewhere else. It wasn't until the end of the cruise that I realized we still hadn't been there!

 

Johnql, maybe you can take that question ...?

I've seen dongordon's question regarding Impressions vs. Garden Room in other threads and I've never responded because I can't remember too many details about Impressions. I just checked my Dawn review that I wrote two years ago and it didn't help much - all I wrote back then was that I enjoyed Impressions probably the most out of the three main dining rooms on the Dawn (Venetian, Aqua and Impressions). I also enjoyed the Spirit's Garden Room, which is probably a bit bigger than Impressions. To me, the Garden Room was very similar to Windows, except smaller and without the wall of windows that gives Windows its name. If I'm recalling correctly, Impressions had a somewhat modern decor; the Garden Room is more about wood paneling, more old-fashioned. Sorry about the lack of details, but that's about all I can offer.

[dongordon]

I've seen dongordon's question regarding Impressions vs. Garden Room in other threads and I've never responded because I can't remember too many details about Impressions. I just checked my Dawn review that I wrote two years ago and it didn't help much - all I wrote back then was that I enjoyed Impressions probably the most out of the three main dining rooms on the Dawn (Venetian, Aqua and Impressions). I also enjoyed the Spirit's Garden Room, which is probably a bit bigger than Impressions. To me, the Garden Room was very similar to Windows, except smaller and without the wall of windows that gives Windows its name. If I'm recalling correctly, Impressions had a somewhat modern decor; the Garden Room is more about wood paneling, more old-fashioned. Sorry about the lack of details, but that's about all I can offer.

 

Thanks John and Greenie for the information.

I'm doing the Father's Day one day cruise on the Spirit and will spec out the ship before the "real" cruise in July. Logcabin and I are both on the July cruise and we were big fans of Dawn's Impressions.

 

I appreciate your help.

 

Don

[Maryfrei]

Many thanks for this wonderful review, keep it comin' :).

[Bluedevil]

I think we should send this poster on more cruises.

I love the writing style.

Keep going please!!

[greenie]

Part 3

THE ADVENTURES OF A BALCONY

 

The balcony was pretty small, but it was OK for our purposes--and any balcony is a good balcony. It was the length of the living area but very narrow—it contained one wooden chair with comfy blue cushions, built-in bench seating for 1 across one end, and 2 small fold-able wooden snack tables. The furniture had seen better days—the shellac was wearing off in large areas and salty sea air had really done a number on the wood, making it very dry. One of the small tables was folded up and leaning against the wall because it was too far gone to use. I noticed the state of the furniture and remarked on it to Joe then we both forgot about it—we didn’t really care because it was still good hardy wooden furniture with good cushions. Who cares how pretty it is, as long as it’s there we’re happy! And what the heck, we didn’t really need 2 little tables—we could share 1. (They aren’t big enough to eat a meal on anyway.)

 

Once the weather turned warm, we were out on our balcony many times. As we approached the ports of call, it afforded us some gorgeous views of Caribbean islands both close by and in the distance. Sometimes in late afternoon, I would sit out there and read for a while, enjoying the breeze in my hair and the sound that the water made as the beautiful Spirit sliced through the ocean.

 

By far, our most enjoyable use of the balcony was for our “intimate sail-away parties a deux”. There were 5 of ‘em. And we both attended every one of ‘em.

 

Joe was in charge of snacks for our sail-aways. About 30 minutes before we were scheduled to leave, Joe would order us up some cheese & crackers (TIP: ask for extra crackers—they give you around 10 crackers’ worth of cheese, but only 5 crackers!) or some veggies & dip. It was important that we had something to munch on--after all, this was a cruise, you’re supposed to keep those jaws workin’. There should be no rest for your jaws except when you sleep at night, and even then it’s better to gnash your teeth and keep those jaws in shape and warmed up for breakfast.

 

While Joe took care of the snacks (like THAT was so much work), I had the far more important job—I was in charge of our sail-away drinks. Every evening I sweated & toiled over a hot blender to put a drink in that man’s glass! We’d brought a blender with us and had requested (and gotten) a couple cartons of the ship’s pina colada mix to use with the rum we'd ordered in our bar set-up (which was, by the way, both billed properly and in our cabin waiting for us when we arrived). Using ice and fresh fruit (mostly bananas and strawberries, YUM) from our fruit bowl, I whipped us up a nightly (and sometimes afternoonly, as well :D ) pitcher of frozen pina coladas.

 

We would sit out there on our balcony, sipping those wonderful drinks, nibbling those tasty treats, and relaxing. Sometimes we’d talk about this and that, sometimes we’d just sit there quietly, enveloped in the sea air, embraced by the sound of the water slapping against the side of the ship. It seemed like we were usually late leaving the ports--sometimes as much as 30 minutes late, in fact. Not sure why, but we didn’t care. Heck, that just gave us an opportunity to enjoy a longer sail-away party.

 

One afternoon, about 4 days into the cruise, Joe and I returned to our cabin only to find our steward Rommel (we loved Rommel, HI ROMMEL!) dragging the balcony furniture out of our suite. Yo! Hey! Whatchoo doin--why you messin’ wid our crib?! Wassup wid that?

 

Well, OK, what we really said was “Hey Rommel, how come you’re taking our balcony furniture away?”

 

He said that it needed to be refurbished. I couldn’t argue with that, so just said “Well, I hope we’re getting it back!” Being satisfied with some sort of vague positive response to that, we went on about our business. I mean, of COURSE we’re going to get it back--who pays for a balcony and gets their balcony furniture removed for most of the cruise! Don’t be silly!

 

Couple hours later we realized it was almost sail-away time! Yeah, BABY, let’s get back to that suite, get those sail-away snacks ordered up and those sail-away frozen fruit pina coladas blended! Well, you’re probably not surprised, but we were—there was no furniture on our balcony! All that was left was the 1-person bench … no chair, no tables … Wah! We tried calling Rommel. But he and his assistant Shiella didn’t come back on duty until 6:00 so there was no answer to the beeper. We called our butler, but as was often the case we either could not get through to him because something was wrong with his connection or we left a message for him and never heard back.

 

We can take a lot before we get whiney, so we just stood during that night’s sail-away. Since there was plenty of good rum in our drinks, we didn’t let it get to us. It was a beautiful night, the lights were beginning to sparkle on the island shore (I think it was Antigua by then), we had each other. We had our snacks (sitting on the floor at our feet). And we had our pina coladas. Life was good.

 

By the next afternoon, when we still had no balcony furniture, I finally got a little upset and became proactive. I saw Rommel in the hallway and approached him, telling him that I was unhappy having no replacement furniture for the balcony. He’s a sweet young lad and very helpful. He said he’d get us some. When we returned to the suite a couple hours later, there was a chair out there. It was one of the ones from the pool area—the straight back kind, lightweight metal frame and nylon back & seat. Whatever. We still had no table but at least we could both sit down, and that was what we felt was important. Yeah, I know I could have gone to our concierge, complained, blah blah, but we just didn’t care enough about it to expend the energy. Choose your battles, I say—and that wasn’t one of them.

 

I mention it here because I just thought the whole thing a bit odd. Don’t you? Granted, the furniture did indeed need refurbishing. So OK, you have to take it away to do so. But my suggestion would be: don’t remove stuff from your guests’ balcony a third of the way into their cruise. They’ve gotten used to having it and won't want to lose it. Take it away to be fixed BEFORE your new guests board in the first place and replace what you take right away. And don’t forget a table!

 

Despite this little glitch, we really enjoyed having a balcony! Even when it was cold going south and getting back up north, it was awesome to be out there.

 

Next up: Our Butler & Concierge Experience

[johnql]

This is great, greenie. Having a ball reading your posts, but don't you think this has become another series of chunks?

[greenie]

This is great, greenie. Having a ball reading your posts, but don't you think this has become another series of chunks?

 

 

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, johnql! i was hoping nobody'd notice that!

:)

[babywewe]

keep them coming! Your a great writer!

The whole balcony chair thing is weird and i agree with you!

[Angiebear]

Hi Greenie

Thanks for sharing your observations. You are a fabulous writer, I actually felt as if I was there with you (thinking about having one of those pina coladas now and it's only 3 in the afternoon ;) ). If I wasn't already cruising on the Spirit in a few months, your prose would have done the trick. Keep up the good work!!!

Thanks for sharing:) :) :)

Angie

[Leona1]

Hi Greenie,

 

Love your review chunks-yes they are chunks.

We were in Cabin 10022 on the Spirit in November. It was by far my favorite suite of all. I have been in Owner Suites on other cruise lines and although not as big as some it was perfect.

We invited many of our cruise critic friends to come in and have a drink or so and they all agreed.

Looking forward to more of your review.

Leona