Review-NCL Spirit 03/05 Sailing

[Hatsoff389]

Hi everyone. Dont post much here but do browse the boards often. I know there are many looking for reviews on the Spirit so here's my take on the week.

 

Embarking wasnt great. We got our key cards and all that done by about 11:00 am which wasnt bad at all but then they had us in a waiting room for 1 1/2 hour. It was a long wait but my fiancee and I found someone to talk to too so that killed the time. The ship was very nice and clean. We pretty much spent the first day walking around the ship and checking it all out. We went to the sailaway party in the galaxy of the stars and had a good time there. We then went to dinner and spent the rest of the night in Henry's pup which was a cool bar with a guitar player named James Scott Allman who we thought did a great job all week.

 

Monday was still cold going down to florida so we just spent the day on the ship hanging out. Checked out the internet cafe and my fiancee went to the gym. She thought the gym was the best compared to the other cruises we have been on. We went to dinner at Windows and the Garden room all week. We did not go to any of the specialty restaurants. Thought the food was well prepared and tasty in the dining rooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The buffet on the other hand just wasnt that good all week. The food was lousy and there was absolutely no selection at all. The buffet pretty much offered all the basics and that was about it. The desserts were very good, Chocalate Soufle was excellent.

 

Tuesday was Port Canaveral and we did the Sea World excursion. We really enjoyed that alot. We saw the sea otter show and the dolphin show. The dolphin show was tremendous. Also checked out every exhibit they had to offer and she enjoyed the two rides they offer in the park. I dont do the ride thing but she enjoyed them.

 

Wednesday was Miami and we decided to stay on the ship and spend the day on the pool deck. We've been to Miami a few times on the Dawn and there were a ton of spring breakers on the ship so we figured it would be best to stay on the ship and let all the spring breakers do there thing in Miami. Turned out to be a great choice on our part cause we had pretty much the whole deck to ourselves cause all the spring breakers got off. The weather was great that day, actually it was great for the whole trip.

 

Thursday was Great Stirrup Cay and this is another stop we have been to on the Dawn. We love this little island. The beach is great and its a great place to snorkel. Our only problem with this stop is that it gets so crowded. Its too bad the island is so small. It would be tremendous if it was just a little bigger.

 

Friday was Nassau and you dont get any time to do much. You have to be back on the ship by 12:30. We're actually getting married with a honeymoon at the Sandals Royal Bahamian resort in November so we thought we'd give it a shot and go over to the resort and take a look at it. Turned out to be a great idea because they let us right into the resort. The people at Sandals were excellent. They gave us a map and we were able to tour the whole resort. It is absolutely gorgeous, right on the beach with beautiful views. We were very excited to get to see it before we go in November. Went back on the ship and enjoyed a fun day on the pool deck. The sexy legs competition was hysterical. It helped with all the spring breakers on board.

 

Saturday was the last sea day before arriving in New York. We went to the art auction, didnt purchase anything but there was a ton of art. The prices werent bad either, just nothing there that peaked our interest. We did lots of drinking saturday and tried to enjoy the last day as much as possible.

 

Overall we had a good time. It wasnt our favorite cruise. I've read on here quite a few times that it is very similar to the dawn. I dont agree with that at all. The Spirit is no where near what the dawn is. We thought the service was very good. The food in the main dining rooms was very good. The buffet needs alot of work. More of a selection would be nice. It would be better if the indoor pool was a little bit bigger. It is just too very small pools in a very small room. The room service menu and food wasnt good at all. The pizza and sandwiches were terrible. We also had a problem with room service. We called and asked the first night for room service and the gentlemen from room service said we are too busy. My fiancee said, no problem, I'll put in the order and wait for however long it takes. The gentlemen still refused to take the order. Another thing that drives my nuts are kids in the jacuzzis and pools with diapers on. It tasteless to me for parents to be putting there kids in pools in diapers. Crew members see these kids in the pools and dont do anything about it. There was also no entertainment by the pool. There was hardly ever a pool band playing and most days there was no music by the pool until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. How hard is it too put some music on. Maybe I should bring headphones next time. On past cruises there was always music playing from 9am throughout the day.

 

Biggest problem of the week which I have to mention here. My fiancee and I love the Freestyle dining but it still needs a ton of work. This was our fourth NCL cruise. We went to The Garden room for dinner on Saturday night. My fiancee decided she was going to try and wear a t-shirt to dinner cause she ran out of clean clothes. She did know that t-shirts were not allowed but we did see people dressed that way all week long. We get to the desk to be seated and the hostess turns her away and says, "mam, you have to change your shirt, t-shirts arent allowed. My fiancee says no problem, goes back to our room and changes her shirt. she meets me back in the dining room at the table. While eating dinner we were both watching people come in the dining room wearing t-shirts, tank tops, hats, hooded sweatshirts, sweatpants, all kinds of stuff and the same hostess let all of these people in the dining room. We just didnt think this was right. Thought about mentioning it to the Maitre De but then decided not too.

 

It was still a good cruise and we enjoyed it. We probably would not do the Spirit again though.

[Don Haynes]

I just returned from a Carnival Conquest cruise, and they were letting people into the main dining rooms on formal nights resort casual, and on the other nights with t-shirts and torn blue jeans. What's the sense of having any rules if they aren't enforced? What impacted me the most is the amount of kids running around barefooted in the lido buffet..... not to mention babies in diapers in the swimming pools.....

[trex-de]

Hatsoff,

 

Thanks for the review. My family is sailing her in June. We have been on the Dawn as well. I have a couple of questions.

 

Did you have to wait to dine in the restaurants?

 

Anything new at GSC?

Thanks.

[Hatsoff389]

We didnt have to wait in line at all for the restaurants. It could be that we went to dinner between 5:30 and 6:30 every night. When we walked out of the dining rooms after dinner there did appear to be lines so I guess the best time to go for dinner is between 5:30 and 6:30. Great Stirrup Cay is pretty much the same. Beautiful Beach, Band playing, barbecue, snorkling, beach massage, parasailing. I love GSC. If anyone has any questions about my trip feel free to ask. I can see I left a ton of stuff out of my review already.

[mikeqube]

I just got back from the Spirit also. It was my first cruise and I had a great time. I think for my next cruise I will look at the calender a bit better and not book it during spring break. I could have done without that many of them on the ship, they got a bit obnoxious at times. There was a group of them staying somewhere near my room who liked to smoke pot on the balcony, a lot. They also made the casino a bit hard to navigate late nights by moving the chairs and sitting in groups in the middle of the walkways. During the sail away out of NYC, I saw a bunch of them throwing their glasses overboard into the water which irratated me a bit.

Other than that, the cruise was great! I ate in every specialty restaurant, my favorite was the tepenyaki. The only issue I had with the food was the service was a bit slow. We averaged about an hour and 45 minutes per meal. The need trays in the buffet. It looks like they had them at one time, but know they're gone. I had a massage in the spa, I got the Seven Seas. It was great, wel worth the money. For the excursions, I went to Disney. I had a but of an issue at the excursions desk because I wanted to buy my ticket at the park and not the overpriced one at the desk. I just wanted the transfer to disney and the clerk refused to sell it to me without the package. I ended up talking to two different managers and got what i wanted. In Miami we went to the Seaquarium. It was nice but the main aquarium tank was closed. Great Stirrup Cay was awesome. We went snorkeling and saw some cool fish. In Nassau, we went to Atlantis, which was also awesome. i wish we had more time in Nassau. We felt kind of rushed there.

It was a great cruise and I will go on the Spirit again. I think our next cruise is going to be the 7 night Bermuda on the Majesty out of Boston.

[WaldosPepper]

Thanks for posting your review!

 

I'm really upset to hear that the college kids were not only smoking pot on the balconies, but that they threw glasses overboard! I would have been FURIOUS if I'd seen such a thing! :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

Very glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise, and excited to hear that you've booked the Majesty too! We love the Majesty, and we really love Bermuda!!!!!

 

Thanks again, and happy sailing!

[mikeqube]

Thanks for posting your review!

 

I'm really upset to hear that the college kids were not only smoking pot on the balconies, but that they threw glasses overboard! I would have been FURIOUS if I'd seen such a thing! :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

Very glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise, and excited to hear that you've booked the Majesty too! We love the Majesty, and we really love Bermuda!!!!!

 

Thanks again, and happy sailing!

 

For the most part the majority of the college kids were well behaved, but it isnt the well behaved ones that stick out in my mind. One that really sticks out is a guy I saw last night in front of the elevators right outside the casino. he was drunk out of his mind, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, looking like he was going to fall over. Also, while I was at the bar the night before nassau, I overheard a conversation that eight of them were being kicked off the ship in Nassau.

[Hatsoff389]

Yes, there were a ton of spring breakers on the cruise. There were an awful lot that were very obnoxious. I wonder how they all got on the way they did. Most of them were in groups of like 10-15. Doesnt someone have to be 25 or older in every stateroom??? My fiancee and I are young, and we like the bars and all that but some of these kids are just 2 or 3 years younger and they acted like fools. The disrespecting of the crew is what pissed me off the most.

[maurick]

Thanks for posting your great review.

 

When was the choc. buffet?

[WaldosPepper]

Good Grief! An underwear-clad drunken fool in an elevator lobby! Yup - it was spring break alright!

 

Ei Yi Yi! I'm glad I didn't see that ( actually, that idiot should be glad I didn't see that!) because there's no doubt in my mind I would have picked up a phone and called for someone to escort him back to his cabin (or more preferably to the brig!) :rolleyes: As for 8 of them being put off the ship in Nassau, I say they surely had it coming.

 

Unfortunately it's always the few who make a bad name for themselves, and they're the ones everyone remembers. We had heard that there were some "breakers" on your sailing, and were bracing ourselves for the reports of chicanery.

 

I'm glad the number of troublemakers was small, but it's still so sad that they have to affect so many other people's vacation. :(

[Hatsoff389]

Pepper you would probably know this. Doesnt there have to be at least one person in each cabin that is 25 or older???

[WaldosPepper]

...The disrespecting of the crew is what pissed me off the most.

 

OMG - say it ain't so!!!!!!! :mad:

 

Please, tell me SOMEBODY opened their mouth and complained loudly to the ship's security staff, and did whatever they could to miminize the impact on the staff.

 

My blood pressure goes way up every time I read about these spring-break morons feeling they have a right to be disrespectful to the ship, the staff, and their fellow passengers.

 

My kingdom for an emoticon of a head on fire, because that's about how I feel when I read these kinds of reports.

[Hatsoff389]

I didnt see them telling any crew members off or using foul language. It was just stupid stuff, like for example, drinking in the jacuzzis after crew members told them over and over again not to do it. I also saw some hit on some of the romanian crew members and it put the women in awkward situations.

[WaldosPepper]

Pepper you would probably know this. Doesnt there have to be at least one person in each cabin that is 25 or older???

 

Unfortunately, I just clicked here:

http://www.ncl.com/more/terms.htm#minors

 

and read this:

 

Minors

A passenger under 21 years of age must be accompanied in the same or connecting stateroom by a passenger 21 years or older who expressly agrees to be responsible for the under 21 passenger throughout the cruise. This includes, but is not limited to, preventing the purchase or consumption of alcohol and preventing the violation of any ship rules. If the accompanying adult is not the minor's parent or legal guardian, a notarized parental/guardian consent letter that authorizes the minor's travel and further authorizes medical treatment in case of an emergency must be delivered to an NCL representative at the pier.

 

 

In light of last year's problems on the Spirit during spring break when she was based in Miami, I'm actually very surprised that they haven't found a way to keep these issues to a minimum somehow.

[WaldosPepper]

I didnt see them telling any crew members off or using foul language. It was just stupid stuff, like for example, drinking in the jacuzzis after crew members told them over and over again not to do it. I also saw some hit on some of the romanian crew members and it put the women in awkward situations.

 

Well, thank heavens you clarified that. Nonetheless, sounds like a good number of thoughtless and disrespecful cads if you ask me. :(

[ROGER CT]

Hello:

Thanks for the review .Ive booked the same cruise for my family and freinds for 4/30/06.

If i can bug ya with a question or 2 ?? :confused:

 

We have also cruised on the DAWN two times before .

 

Does the SPIRIT also have a sashi bar ,and if so .. do they run the all you can eat deal for $10.00 like the dawn ?

 

Do they have any good drink deals ?

 

I made out well on the DAWN with the football helmets and half price drink deals ( The 1st and 2nd night they ran 2 for 1 beers , so i got the helmet deal a few times and fillied up my room feg.)

 

thanks !

 

sail on

 

:cool:

[moffl]

Hello everyone:

 

I would like to confirm everything that Hatsoff389 said. My wife and i sailed on the Spirit on Jan 29,06 sailing and to say it was a wonderful experience is the furthest thing from the truth.

 

The buffet only had one side open most of the time the food was basically the same every day. Must have had a good sale on chicken because it was there every day.

 

No towels by the pool at 9:00am for three days running. When brought to the crews attention they said they will be here.

 

My wife told the front desk about a broken faucet in the womans washroom by the pool on the seconda of the cruise and it still was not fixed on the 11 day as we where getting off.

 

The room attendants were not friendly at all. had to wait until 9:30 - 10:00pm for our room to made up for the evening.

 

Elvators 2 of them continually went by certain floors not stopping at them. One elevator would on go to deck 11 and 13 and not 12.

 

There are more but i know i will never sail NCL again

[old faithful]

when is Spring Break??

 

are there different weeks for different colleges?? My school vacation is April 9 - thats when I sail on the Spirit .... I don't think I want spring breakers there ....

 

not that we can do anything - but ....

 

old faithful

[Hatsoff389]

Hello:

Thanks for the review .Ive booked the same cruise for my family and freinds for 4/30/06.

If i can bug ya with a question or 2 ?? :confused:

 

We have also cruised on the DAWN two times before .

 

Does the SPIRIT also have a sashi bar ,and if so .. do they run the all you can eat deal for $10.00 like the dawn ?

 

Do they have any good drink deals ?

 

I made out well on the DAWN with the football helmets and half price drink deals ( The 1st and 2nd night they ran 2 for 1 beers , so i got the helmet deal a few times and fillied up my room feg.)

 

thanks !

 

sail on

 

:cool:

 

There is sushi but i dont think it is all you can eat for 10.00 like the dawn. We really didnt think NCL offered as many deals on the Spirit as they do on the Dawn. I didnt see many two for ones at all during the week. I think they did a 2-1 in the casino a few nights out of the week for an hour but that was about it. They also didnt offer the helmets of beer which is 6 beers for the price of 5. And there arent any refrigerators in insides, oceanviews and balconies. They are only in suites i believe. I hope I didnt scare you away from your trip, I had a good time, The ship just isnt the dawn though....

[mikeqube]

Hello everyone:

 

I would like to confirm everything that Hatsoff389 said. My wife and i sailed on the Spirit on Jan 29,06 sailing and to say it was a wonderful experience is the furthest thing from the truth.

 

The buffet only had one side open most of the time the food was basically the same every day. Must have had a good sale on chicken because it was there every day.

 

No towels by the pool at 9:00am for three days running. When brought to the crews attention they said they will be here.

 

My wife told the front desk about a broken faucet in the womans washroom by the pool on the seconda of the cruise and it still was not fixed on the 11 day as we where getting off.

 

The room attendants were not friendly at all. had to wait until 9:30 - 10:00pm for our room to made up for the evening.

 

Elvators 2 of them continually went by certain floors not stopping at them. One elevator would on go to deck 11 and 13 and not 12.

 

There are more but i know i will never sail NCL again

 

I noticed the same thing about the elevators. There was many times that I would be waiting on 7 while there was elevators on lower floors and they would go right by, stopping at 8. Most of the time I used the stairs because the elevators were so unreliable.

 

The buffet had both sides open this past week. Pretty much the same food everyday. The food in the buffet seemed to go downhill over the course of the week. On the first day when we were in NYC, it was pretty good. They had these really good chicken fingers that were actually chicken and not processed McNugget like stuff. After the first day, those were never seen again, they had regular nuggets the remaining days. Also on that first day they had honey-mustard dressing at the salad bar that I used for my chicken fingers. The other days I asked for it because it wasnt there and they looked at me like I was nuts. And I will say it once again, THEY NEED TRAYS! I would get my food and then after getting drinks and condiments my food would be cold by the time I got back to the table.

 

Even though there were some small issues, I will sail them again. I found most of the staff to be really nice. The waitresses in the casino knew me by name on the first night and were really friendly. I had no problems with the room attendants, they were both really nice. I'll just make sure to never book during spring break again.

[Hatsoff389]

They do need trays in the buffet, there is no doubt about it. I was so down on the selection of the buffet for lunch. There just wasnt much besides the basics. It was all chicken too, thats all they had was a chicken carving station. There was not one meat carving station the whole week!!!!!!!

[dongordon]

The lack of trays for the buffet should be easily corrected. I can't understand why NCL has not corrected this simple problem.

I also cannot understand why they don't have trays. I have never been on a cruise where the buffet does not have trays!

 

Would the next CC group on the Spirit ask this question to the officers attending the "CC Meet and Greet?"

 

Don

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for the reviews.

 

I'm wondering whether the "no trays" issue is that big oversized "platters" have replaced them like on the Jewel. Since the Spirit went in drydock, perhaps they also converted from the school cafeteria look of trays to these "platters." We had no problem with them because we didn't try to balance a drink on them with the food (though many others did).

 

If you get a seat, put your drinks down first and then go through the line, it might work better. Otherwise your food will cool down while you go back for drinks.

 

Apparently they say it's a much more sanitary process than the trays as well.

 

Or did they just have the regular sized plates and somehow "ran out" of trays?

[mardigras81]

Minors

A passenger under 21 years of age must be accompanied in the same or connecting stateroom by a passenger 21 years or older who expressly agrees to be responsible for the under 21 passenger throughout the cruise. This includes, but is not limited to, preventing the purchase or consumption of alcohol and preventing the violation of any ship rules. If the accompanying adult is not the minor's parent or legal guardian, a notarized parental/guardian consent letter that authorizes the minor's travel and further authorizes medical treatment in case of an emergency must be delivered to an NCL representative at the pier.

 

 

In light of last year's problems on the Spirit during spring break when she was based in Miami, I'm actually very surprised that they haven't found a way to keep these issues to a minimum somehow.

 

 

Wow, I'm surprised. Carnival has the party reputation yet their standards are 1 person in the stateroom must be at least 25 years old not 21.

[Luther]

I just returned from the Spirit Cruise of 3/5 and would have to agree with the comments on the college kids. There were groups of them that seemed to roam the boat after hours and were out of control. The attitude with which they treated staff was way out of line, and I don't think that any one stepped up to intercede. I felt badly for some of the seniors on the trip who clearly were uncomfortable with what was going on.

 

To make matters worse one of the social events was an event themed "Frat Party" complete with $1.00 jello shots. While I don't begrudge the kids having a good time or NCL making money on the sale of liquor, it seemed over board on the part of NCL to encourage/push consumption of alcohol particularly when a large number of these groups did not have adult supervision (perhaps one in the group was over 21). Again, while some have mentioned that it was a small group of students, it did set the tone and paint all the kids with the same brush which is too bad. Perception becomes reality.

 

I was not as impressed with the Spirit as I have been with other cruises that I have been on. The food was passable, but not exceptional. The shows were sufficient but not outstanding, and the staff seemed to be in a training mode. I think that it was a completely acceptable vacation, but I would look elsewhere before booking on the Spirit again.