Norweigian Spirit Cruise Review 2/24-3/4

[Cruisingin07]

We were on the Spirit for the week of February 24th through March 4th. We had a great time overall and it was our first cruise.

 

CABIN:

Our cabin was not located in the best spot. We were on deck four RIGHT next to where they tendered in port so it could be very nosy some mornings. Luckily though, we have early excursions so we had to be up early anyway. We had a room with a porthole and it was very nicely sized. Room service came twice a day which was nice and did a great job cleaning. I did really want a towel doggy I keep hearing about but I only got some sort of a ghost :( oh well!

 

FOOD:

Was actually pretty good in Windows and The Garden Room. We tried to avoid Raffles because it was very chaotic and I almost got my food knocked over more than once. We only ate at the specialty restuarants once, which was Shogun Asian Fusion. It was very tasty! Our waiter was also very nice. I would reccomend though, to avoid the Shushi or at least only eat it in the first couple of days. We were told by a lady that 30 people got sick who ate Sushi one of the last days.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

It was definitely lacking which I had heard but what they did have was pretty good. The Second City were really good as was the Quest (an adult game). The bands like Next Stage were really good.

 

PORTS:

St. Thomas:

We took the excursion to Magen's Bay which was nice but you really could take a taxi there on your own. It seemed pretty easy to get to. The beach was pretty but I don't think it was really top ten material. Plus we were only there for two hours which isn't very long.

 

Tortola:

We did the Virgin Gorda Baths excursion. Let me tell you, this was SO WORTH it. The snorkeling was BEAUTIFUL and the beach there was also gorgeous. You definitely need to be able to walk over rough terrain though because it is very rocky and unsteady.

 

Samana:

We did the Cayo Laventado excursion and never even went into Samana because we had heard horrible things about it. The Cayo Laventado beach is BEAUTIFUL and you can stay there all day if you want to until 5. The food there is a little sketchy looking but I didn't get sick so hey! :)

 

Definitely make sure to WASH YOUR HANDS.. we had two friends that got violently ill from the "cruise virus" or whatever it is, and when you do get sick they qaurentine you in your room for 24 hours. I would reccomend avoiding raffles as much as you can because I am sure they is where they got it.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! I also have great pics.

 

Kelly

[lavigne101]

Thanks for the review. Tis the season for a little illness on the ship...it is everywhere. Glad to hear the beach in Dominican was good but will stay away from the food. Maybe a little something from the ship in our beach bag will tide us over. :D

[somewhere in the sun]

I was onboard as well. Thought I would add my own mini review here in lieu of a new thread.

 

Accomodations

We had room 9600, oceanview balcony room located portside midship on deck nine which we found to be a fantastic location within walking distance of pretty much everything. We find the elevators to be pretty slow at times and prefer to walk :) . Being on the port side was great on this cruise, we were able to see some amazing sunsets on the final few days. Our room service was decent, although the bathroom was dirty when we first got to our room and called the steward. They gave us a little bit of an attitude and didnt clean it for us, instead they just removed the left over hair tie that was left in the shower, leaving all the nice hairs though. We just said oh well and threw a towel down in the shower. Actually later on in the cruise they gave it a good bleaching and tried to make sure that everything was better in that regard so we give them credit for doing that. I highly recommend getting a balcony room on a caribbean cruise, in my opinion it is worth it. Having done it previously with an oceanview room, the past few cruises in balconies have been fantastic being able to enjoy some sun in privacy. We only got two towel animals the whole cruise, one was a bunny i believe and the other was a snake (yuck).

 

Food

We were on the spirit in June 2007. I must say that we are quite disappointed with the changes that have been made since then. Le Bistro, which we have enjoyed on our past 5 NCL cruises, didnt interest us anymore since Filet and the chocolate fondue is no longer on the menu. Futher, the $20 cover didnt seem to fit the new menu choices. We did Shogun which didnt seem like it changed too much since last trip and were quite happy with the food there. I wish we didnt wait until the last night because for $10 we would have gone back. Teppanyaki was a big disappointment. We have done this before on Spirit, Dawn, and Jewel and this was by far the worst experience, we will not do it again. The chef screwed up just about everyones order, didnt give people the right food and had to recook, etc. He was giving out part of my steak and shrimp order to others and vice versa for their choices which I thought was unusual and we never had this happen before. Along with the changes to the soup and salad we decided that we wont be going back which is unfortunate because we always had a good time there in the past. I believe the cover was $20 but it wasnt even worth that. On the positive, we loved La Trattoria which was the same as we remembered it but with no chicken parmesan. Highly recommended as a no cover alternate. I was impressed with Windows and Garden room and found ourselves eating there most nights. IMO, it seems like the food quality and selection has gotten better in the main restaurants and worse in some of the specialty restaurants. We had no problem with Raffles for breakfast or lunch but never made it there for dinner.

Entertainment

As previously mentioned the NCL productions are weak, very unimpressive. The Second City was good, the magician was boring same tired tricks and Cameo Pascale had some interesting acrobats mixed in with a bad rendition of a Dirty Dancing scene. We spent lots of time in the casino and unfortunately must say that we were unimpressed with the level of ability at the craps table. This was the same thing we experienced last time on the spirit (but not at all on the dawn or jewel), so if you're a craps player all I can say is watch you bets carefully at all times.

Oddly, the cruise started out with Julie as cruise director and changed to Ray-Ray about half way through. Not sure what happened, anyone know?

 

Excursions

I wont describe the ports in detail since theres alot of information available already, but feel free to ask any specific questions. Instead I will just run through what we did in each port:

St.Thomas- Taxi to charlotte amalie $4 pp to do some shopping. Taxi to magens bay for i believe $9. Plenty of taxis and you can come and go as you please no need to book beach excursions through NCL.

Tortola- Did the tortola highlights, good overview of the island and stops at cane garden bay. We went to the the Baths at Virgin Gorda last time so we skipped it this time. Recommend this tour only if you have been to VG before, otherwise dont waste your time at Cane Garden Bay on tortola. Wanted to go to Jost Van Dyke, but they cancelled the excusion :( .

Samana- Catamaran Sail & Snorkel. HIGHLY recommended, had a great time and the 3.5 hours listed turned into 5.5 hours since the tour guide wanted to show us a lot. Goes to a snorkel site, Cayo Levantado (which is gorgeous) and another secluded beach for lunch. Excellent value for the money. Didnt venture into samana either since its a taxi ride to town and back and we were tired after the long excursion, but from what I hear we didnt miss much.

 

We had a fantastic time and always do on our vacations but NCL left me feeling a little unsatisfied based on all my past experiences with them. One nice perk, we're silver latitudes and they sent some little suprises to the room , chocolate covered strawberries one day. For the first time I felt like we may try another cruise line next time....

[Butch2099]

I heard a long time ago about how people get that virus and I'm surprised the cruiselines haven't done something about it. It comes from people putting their used waterbottles up to the drink fountains spout. It could easily be solved by having either a server or a table of ready made drinks and keep the fountains away from the public.

[KerCar]

Welcome home and thanks to both of you for your reviews! Quick question to either of you:

How many nights were designated as "dress up, not dress up"/optional formal nights and what % of people would you estimate dressed up? Thanks in advance:)

[AdamsND04]

What did everyone do at St. Thomas at Night since we don't leave until 1am???

[Cosmopolitan]

I heard a long time ago about how people get that virus and I'm surprised the cruiselines haven't done something about it. It comes from people putting their used waterbottles up to the drink fountains spout. It could easily be solved by having either a server or a table of ready made drinks and keep the fountains away from the public.

 

Duh...or the public having the COMMON SENSE to NOT put their water bottles up to the drink fountains:eek:

 

On the Dawn and Jewel...there were notices posted regarding this.

How can adults NOT know this...common sense;) :confused:

[mic328]

I heard a long time ago about how people get that virus and I'm surprised the cruiselines haven't done something about it. It comes from people putting their used waterbottles up to the drink fountains spout. It could easily be solved by having either a server or a table of ready made drinks and keep the fountains away from the public.

 

When I was on the Spirit 2/7/2007, they had hand sanitizer all over the ship, some guests refused to use it saying they just took a shower, or some lame excuse, finally it got to a point where the guests weren't even allowed to get their own coffee, the staff poured it for you, at Raffles the staff also put the food on your plate, all because some people refused to use the hand sanitizer:confused: , and then complained.

[nant4me]

Hi, I just got back from this cruise and noticed on the last two days that they were serving us at the buffet, hot food and drinks. Being in healthcare I figured there was a bug going around but nothing was said. I know they can't start a panic but I wish a little information was given. Now we are home and my 17 year old has a fever and it would help to know EXACTLY what was being "passed around" on the ship. Do I take him to Dr or assume it is a "cruise virus"(just asking theoretically! I know that I will wait a day and take him if he isn't better!) I just feel that ALL cruise lines( as I am not just picking on NCL) should keep their passengers informed of potential illness on board. It was funny to see the poor hostesses, etc jumping over each other to get to you before you could fill your own glass of water etc. I didn't know if they were just be extra gracious or actually didn't want us touching anything. I figured it our pretty quickly though my DH never even noticed a change! Still had a great time, how can you not ? No cooking, cleaning, laundry for a week!

[BethP781]

Anyone bring back the Freestyle Dailies? My hubby and I are leaving on the Spirit in 5 days. Or menus? I know the menus have been posted repeatedly, but it's nice to see the EXACT menu for this particular cruise. Is anyone else as anal retentive as me?

 

I'm starting to rethink my "go off on our own" excursion in Samana. I wanted to save a few dollars and try to find a local to take us to the waterfalls, but maybe we'll do a ship excursion.

 

Thanks!

[somewhere in the sun]

Welcome home and thanks to both of you for your reviews! Quick question to either of you:

How many nights were designated as "dress up, not dress up"/optional formal nights and what % of people would you estimate dressed up? Thanks in advance:)

 

On the 8 night there were two "formal" nights, the first sea day and i believe the second to last. It seemed like a very low percentage of people who were dressed up in say more than just shirt and tie, maybe 25% at most from what I observed. In general this cruise was much more casual than I have seen, jeans and t-shirts in the main dining room.

[somewhere in the sun]

Anyone bring back the Freestyle Dailies? My hubby and I are leaving on the Spirit in 5 days. Or menus? I know the menus have been posted repeatedly, but it's nice to see the EXACT menu for this particular cruise. Is anyone else as anal retentive as me?

 

I'm starting to rethink my "go off on our own" excursion in Samana. I wanted to save a few dollars and try to find a local to take us to the waterfalls, but maybe we'll do a ship excursion.

 

Thanks!

 

 

I have all the Dailies. I will scan them this week if I get a chance. They changed the format since our cruise last June and I definitely like the old way better. The new format is broken down by activity category instead of simply having everything listed by start time. As a result, things are easily missed IMO unless its on the front page. The staff show didnt even make the front page! We didnt know it was going on so of course we missed it.. Oh well

[JERSYGRL111]

Hi Beth..I have copies of the spa prices i will post...we are going on Spirit this Saturday (my first cruise!!) Oh yeah, Pirates of the Carribbean was filmed in Samana too...kinda neat thing to go and check out too

[canadarose]

hi thanks for the great reviews. We are sailing on the Spirit 03/24. Can't wait!. Just wondering what people did in St. Thomas with late departure? Was it difficult to get reservations to speciality restaurants, and did thy offer 2-for -1 early dining? So glad you had a good cruise, and your reviews make the anticipation even greater for us.

[somewhere in the sun]

hi thanks for the great reviews. We are sailing on the Spirit 03/24. Can't wait!. Just wondering what people did in St. Thomas with late departure? Was it difficult to get reservations to speciality restaurants, and did thy offer 2-for -1 early dining? So glad you had a good cruise, and your reviews make the anticipation even greater for us.

 

 

We ate at a main restaurant that night. As far as I know there were no early dining specials, at least not advertised anywhere if they existed. This is the first time that I did not see them offering this. Most of the stores in charlotte amalie close at 5:00, at havensight which is where the ship is docked they will stay open a little later to around 7:00. I guess some people took taxis to bars in town or whatever but we just hung out on the ship. The casino is open while in port.

[crazymomhas2]

Oddly, the cruise started out with Julie as cruise director and changed to Ray-Ray about half way through. Not sure what happened, anyone know?

 

when we were on the spirit julie was our cruise director and i absolutely loved her! she was great! we enjoyed the entertainment and the show that her and the crew put on the last night was very entertaining. i hope nothing happened that she didn't finish the trip...

[kkopp1000]

We were on the same sailing. According to Jay (the redhead who was bumped up to "Assistant Cruise Director" for the week) Julie had a conference. I thought it was weird that they never said anything. All of the sudden, "...it's Ray-Ray, your cruise director...") They looked like they were having a great time. I especially loved the "fountains" skit at the crew show. What a riot!

[Moocat]

Hi, I just got back from this cruise and noticed on the last two days that they were serving us at the buffet, hot food and drinks. Being in healthcare I figured there was a bug going around but nothing was said. I know they can't start a panic but I wish a little information was given. Now we are home and my 17 year old has a fever and it would help to know EXACTLY what was being "passed around" on the ship. Do I take him to Dr or assume it is a "cruise virus"(just asking theoretically! I know that I will wait a day and take him if he isn't better!) I just feel that ALL cruise lines( as I am not just picking on NCL) should keep their passengers informed of potential illness on board. It was funny to see the poor hostesses, etc jumping over each other to get to you before you could fill your own glass of water etc. I didn't know if they were just be extra gracious or actually didn't want us touching anything. I figured it our pretty quickly though my DH never even noticed a change! Still had a great time, how can you not ? No cooking, cleaning, laundry for a week!

 

I had the bug that went around last week on the boat and it was more of a violent 24 virus... puking..diarhea..stomach pains. :eek: I had not drank from a refilled water bottle, but I did have sushi Thursday and eat a bite of a burger on Cayo Lev. DR. , so not sure which did it.

I had eaten Sushi Tuesday as well, and was fine that night. Not sure what caused it, but it sure sucked ! My son is also sick now , but with a cold... most likely from the change of weather.. Not to effect my opinion of cruising.. still love it!

[crazymomhas2]

we loved that show too!!! it was our first cruise and we just thought she was very good at her job and always pleasant. my daughter thought she was the best with the greatest job in the world. one thing i won't forget was when we arrived back in new york and my two daughters went over to say goodbye to her she put a big smile on her face and said "there's my girls i hope you had fun this week!" and agreed to take a picture. it was like she knew my family forever.

[JerseyMom]

Actually, they did announce the change. I know that they announced it during one of the shows and I think during at least one of the announcements on the PA system.

 

Julie left us in Tortola for a conference in Miami. She was set to rejoin the ship on Sunday.

 

Beth - if there is any stop you want to do a cruiseline sponsored excursion on, it is Samana. We did the Discover Samana and it was very interesting. The town of Samana itself was not much to write home about but they took us to Las Terrenas which had beautiful beaches. We had a tour guide named Kelly who was quite a character. He was both entertaining and informative.

[SunTravels]

Hello,

Thanks for the great reviews.

I have a few questions:

1. I keep hearing about hairdryers...can you bring your own and if so what converter do you need to use it?

2. What is the best time to get to the NYC port? (I've only sailed Carnival and we always get there at 10:15 am and are onboard by 11:30) but not sure if NCL is the same.

 

Thanks!

Jessica

[Cruisingin07]

We had a burger in Cayo Lavantado and niether of us got sick.. I almost bet it was the sushi..

 

St. Thomas- It didn't seem like there was a lot to do at night.. there IS a club/ restaurant called the Green house that is only about a 20 minute or so walk into town from the pier that had two for one drink specials before 7 and seemed to have some nightlife. Other than that I was a little nervous walking around after dark and there didn't seem like much else to do.

 

We go to the port at around 11:00 I believe... had to wait for a bit but it wasn't too bad.. I think we were on the ship around 12:30 maybe?

 

You CAN bring your hairdryer but it has to be under a certain amount of watts, 800 maybe? I am not 100% sure on that. The ones on board aren't too bad but ours stunk like smoke :( I have pretty thick hair and I was able to dry it most of the way it just takes a while...

[Cruisingin07]

I would not reccomend the express disembarkment.. it was VERY stressful as you have a ton of people with their bags and you all have to wait in a small area of the ship... PLUS two dummies started a fight and one was swearing and they were pushing each other around when there was A LOT of little children around. The crew said that happens almost every time at the express disembarkment... just a warning!!! :-) (And you really don't get off the boat a lot quicker!!!)

[Russ Lomas]

I have not even started my cruise yet, but I am already thinking about disembarkation. I know we port at 8am and disembarkation starts at 10 am. We have a 12:40 flight to catch at JFK (it was bumped forward by the airline recently). NCL says not to make flights before noon on disembarkation day. We are Canadians flying JFK to Buffalo (in case that affects our situation).

 

For people recently off the 8 day Spirit voyage, what time were you able to disembark (earliest)?

Did any of you have an early flight to catch?

How tight was time?

 

Please help put our minds at rest.

[lavigne101]

We have flights out of La Guardia at 12:30 as well....very worried about missing our flight to Buffalo. Hope someone has an answer for us. See you next week!