Spirit Mini Review 4/30/06 Cat AD Penthouse

[apc0204]

Hi guys,

 

My family and I got back from a great trip on the Spirit on Sunday! We cruise alot and love being able to go out of NY without having to fly. We live in Boston and have a two year old girl. We were also traveling with my mother and father inlaw.

 

Suite:

I am going to talk about the highlights and specific information regarding the suite we were in Cabin 9210. My inlaws were in a balcony about five doors down from us. We had an excellent concierge Lisa Meyer and even better butler Randy Aquino. Randy brought us breakfast each morning and dinner 3 nights. He loved my little girl and she adored him, she labled him the muffin man after the first morning because he brought her special treats.

 

The suite has an absolutely beautiful bathroom which my daughter loved playing in the tub. We tipped our cabin stewards extra at the end of the trip because they kept the bathroom spotless and always replaced the luxury soaps and left an endless supply of towels. The only negative is that there is no door to the bathroom it is completely open to the bedroom area and can be seperated only by curtains. This was hard with our daughter who loved playing in the bathroom with all the soaps and pot pouri! The furniture in this room was definately showing some wear and tear but overall it was fine. Also I had read in other posts that the owners suite is not that much better. I went into the owners suite and it is alot roomier and if you have the option of an upsell it is well worth it!

 

We had a DVD player which was great for our little one she watched disney movies all week. We got cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, and other little treats every day which was nice. Overall the service in the suite was well worth it and we would gladly do it again. The few negatives are the balcony is very short and it is hard to get chairs together, and the noise when the ship vibrates.... it sounds like a jet is taking off in your room everything shakes and rattles. Someone mentioned ear plugs that was a great idea I wished I remembered them. Also the doors do not stay locked from the inside as someone else mentioned, Samantha would love to escape whenever she could. If you press down on the door handle the lock automatically unlocks!

 

Food:

I thought the food was very good! Raffles was much better than expected especially the made to order stir fry and pasta bars. Breakfast we always ate in the suite and everything was good omlettes were served hot and bacon was crisp!

 

We ate at Cagney's, Trattoria, and Tappenyaki and each were delicious. Trattoria is a hidden gem the food was great and there was no cover charge. We ate at Windows the remainder of the time and the food was good however service was a bit slow.

 

Ports:

I am not going to go into detail about the ports as you can find a wealth of information on this site. In port canaveral we arranged for a private transfer to Disney World (Magic Kingdom). We were picked up with a van (five of us) at 9:15 and we are at the transportaion and ticket center in disney by 10:30. The trip cost $290 roundtrip including tip, which is alot cheaper than if you book it through the shore excursion desk. We had a great day at the park however it was packed. My little one loved seeing the characters and Cinderella's castle. Over all it was a great day we left for the ship at 6pm and made it back by 7:15.

 

In Miami we took a cab to South Beach it was $20 each way had a nice day weather was perfect. We stayed on the ship the other two ports and used the kids pool and worked on our tans!

 

Ship and Staff:

We thought the ship was very pretty especially the fountains in the atrium. However there were some signs of age especially up on deck. I do prefer the Dawn just because she is newer, has better suite accomodations, and SALSAS!!!! The staff was excellent and the kids crew staff were amazing. My little one loved it especially Care Bear her favorite counselor! We would not hesitate to do this ship again we love Freestyle cruising because we have a child and we love being able to sail out of New York without having to fly! If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to email me or post your questions here!

 

Anthony

[hods93]

Hi, thanks for the great review! We are on the 6/11 Spirit and I really appreciate you review. We are also from the Boston area and love not having the hassle of flying with kids. I just have one silly question. We are cat AC penthouse. Is there one tv or two?

 

Thanks for your help.

[logcabin]

Great review, Anthony. We are sailing on the Spirit on July 22nd and are in the other AD suite. I am hoping for an up-sell to the Owners Suite. I have my fingers crossed. I'm glad your Butler was good also. We were concerned as we heard some negative things about a certian butler, but I'm not sure he is still there as no one mentioned him lately. We, too, enjoy breakfast each morning in our suite. Were you invited to tha Captains Party? Also, do you plan on posting any photos of the suite.

 

Thanks again.

[ROGER CT]

HI;

I was on the ship with you ..

Can i ask want you paid for that suite ??( hope you dont mind)

I did a inside cabin for the 1st time , alittle small but we made do .

The trip was sooooooo... cheap this time i cant cry at all .

Iam still writing my review but will pretty much match yours.

 

Alittle rocky the 1st night huh :)

 

thanks

 

sail on

 

ROGER

[drozdenko]

hi..

 

saw the post and thought i would jump in.. i was also on the 4/30 and in a suite.. 2600 for all 3 (2 adults and 1 2yo)

 

yes, the first night was a little rocky.. :)

[apc0204]

Hi guys,

 

I believe the AC does have 2 tv's as well one in the living room and one in the bedroom. We paid $2300 (after rebating all of our agency commission). We were invited to the Captain's party but we never made it as my 2 year old was very cranky from not having a nap that day!

 

Let me know if you guys have anymore questions!!!!

 

PS I forgot to mention the last few nights of the cruise they were offering 50% off dinner in Shogun between 5:30 and 6:30.

 

Anyone know an easy way to upload my pics? I tried but it said I need to resize them and they may be a bit small.

[hods93]

hi..

 

saw the post and thought i would jump in.. i was also on the 4/30 and in a suite.. 2600 for all 3 (2 adults and 1 2yo)

 

yes, the first night was a little rocky.. :)

 

 

drozdenko, just wondering were you in an AC suite? If you were in an AC wondering which one and did you feel a lot of movement in the front of the ship?

 

Sounds like you got a great deal on your suite.

[drozdenko]

yep..in a AC suite..10012.. a couple doors down from the owners suite.

 

the first night was a little rocky but it didn't bother me. the rest of the week was pretty smooth.

[HLP]

drozdenko,

 

My family and I will be in suite 10012 for a June cruise. My son is 5 years

old. Will he be able to sleep in the couch in the living room or will we need

to get a rollaway bed. I think he is too big to sleep with us in the main bed.

 

Thanks

HLp

 

Do you have any pictures of the suite?

[drozdenko]

hi..

 

our friends in 10008 also had a suite and had their 3 yo sleep on the couch. it pulls out to a small bed.

our 2yo slept in the bed with us too and their seemed to be enough room but a 5 yo my be tough.

 

the larger room makes it soo nice for kids.. when they nap (if they do) we just hung out on the balcony.

 

this site has some good pics..

http://cruisestateroom.com

 

were still working on getting organized..

 

i'll be glad to answer any more questions...

 

drozdenko@netscape.net