Short Spirit review 5/19 - 5/27

[annie m]

First let me state that we had an excellent time. We were a party of 8 - DH, DD, Brother, SIL,Niece and two Nephews. The weather for the most part was great with only one rainy day, Tuesday, between Bermuda and Tortola. One bumpy, windy day on Friday.

 

 

Husband, DD, and myself stayed in AB suite 10002 and the rest of the family had balcony rooms on deck 10. Our cabin stewards were terrific, keeping the rooms clean and supplied with towels and ice, etc.

 

 

We ate in all the specialty the restaurants with the assistance of our concierge Lisa Meyers, who by the way was terrific to us. The food was very good in all three, Cagneys being our favorite. We ate in Windows, the main dining room once and the food was ok, and had the buffet once for dinner which was also just ok. We only used our butler once for basic room service.

 

 

We only did one excursion which was in Tortola. 5 of us did the Beach Break, the rest did the Dolphin swim. Everyone had fun. Did a little shopping in Bermuda but stayed on the ship in St. Thomas as I left enough money there in Feb. The rest of the crew got off and wandered around but didn't stay long on shore as St. Thomas was extremely hot. (no problem for us, that's why we head south for our cruises)

 

 

The entertainment was good. We had seen the production shows before but went again and we especially liked Shark bait – very good.

 

 

Spent quite a bit of time in the casino. DD just turned 18 so it was her first gambling experience and lucky for her it paid off well. She not only walked off a winner playing the slots she actually won the Slot Tournament!! Everyone else was making the usual donations until the last sea day when DH won 1600.00 on Wheel of Fortune. I was convinced that these things never paid but....they proved me wrong.

 

 

DH and I had been on the Spirit in Feb. so we did notice a few changes since then. First as stated in other posts the ½ price dining has been changed from 5:30 to 6:00, it is now 8:30 to 9:30. Thats too late for us so we did not take advantage of it. There were no poolside BBQ's. There was one slated for Friday but it was too windy to have it as well as the ice carving. On many of our other sailings there were sail-a-way parties from each port – not this time. There was a Taco station set up on Saturday where the BBQ usually is – this was new. The towel animal thing also has been scaled back, we had them 3 times- no big deal – we don't have young children. The Spirit also did not have the future cruise special that the Dawn had offered – pay 250.00 to hold a cabin and receive 100.00 off the sailing you are on.

 

 

We really enjoyed our cruise and would love to cruise again in the near future but the prices are a little too high for us right now. Hopefully they will come down and we will be sailing again soon.:)

[Sea Hound]

Husband, DD, and myself stayed in AB suite 10002 and the rest of the family had balcony rooms on deck 10. Our cabin stewards were terrific, keeping the rooms clean and supplied with towels and ice, etc.

 

The Spirit also did not have the future cruise special that the Dawn had offered – pay 250.00 to hold a cabin and receive 100.00 off the sailing you are on.

 

Annie -- Thanks for the review! We will be in that same cabin in a few days! What did you find good/bad about the cabin itself? Were you able to use the front balcony much?

 

Who was your butler? We plan to have a few of our meals in the cabin and will use the butler's services from time to time (with appropriate tipping, of course!).;)

 

Was there an explanation why the future cruise special was not offered? We had planned to use that to book our next cruise:eek: .

 

Sea Hound

[heelfan94]

It seems I read in another review that 1/2 price specialty restaurant reservations were moved to later times. I wonder if all ships are going to this now.

 

Thanks for the review. :)

[annie m]

We had stayed in this cabin in Nov. of '05 so we knew what to expect. There is a 1/2 bath in this cabin and that came in handy with a party of 8 that were in and out all the time. The front balcony is really not usable while sailing because it is too windy. It is great while in port for the views.

 

The location of this cabin is at the very front of the ship so if you are prone to motion sickness it could cause a problem. We aren't, so it was great for us - Although my SIL only visited while we were docked!! The only con to this suite was that the bathroom tiles (very small mini's with a design) are coming unglued and you are always getting them stuck to your feet:eek: Hopefully they will fix them before you sail!!

 

In all honesty I can't for the life of me remember our butlers name. We didn't use him because we felt it unfair to him with a party that big. Although we did tip him - wasn't his fault. In the past when it was just DH and myself we did use the butler.

[KerCar]

Welcome back!!!! Thanks for your review!!!! I'll be on the Spirit in 5 days!!!!

 

What was the trip down the Atlantic like??? Very bumpy or smooth sailing???

 

Thanks:)

[annie m]

Thanks!! It was very smooth. I expected it to be rough because we had just had a coastal storm but it was fine. It was just a little rough off the coast of the Bahamas on Friday morning and afternoon with high winds but by night it had calmed down. Saturday while off the Carolinas - where you would expect it to be rough it was the most calm sailing I can remember.

[murrayhaven]

Thanks for your review. DD(18) and I will be on the same cruise in July. Hopefully my DD will have some of the same first time casino luck as your DD and she can help with the expenses!

 

Barb

[Sea Hound]

The Spirit also did not have the future cruise special that the Dawn had offered – pay 250.00 to hold a cabin and receive 100.00 off the sailing you are on.

 

Ann (or anyone else who may know) -- was there any explanation why the future cruise special was not offered:confused: ?

 

Sea Hound:D

[annie m]

Ann (or anyone else who may know) -- was there any explanation why the future cruise special was not offered:confused: ?

 

Sea Hound:D

 

From what I understand this was a special that was offered on the Dawn and the Star. On this Spirit sailing you would get a future OBC and the deposit was 250.00 PP for a 7 day sailing. No different than what NCL web site had

[jentroubles]

KerCar,

 

I agree with you on the bummer over no Freestyle Rewards. We booked that last August on the Dawn and are finally using it. We had two cancellations, and were very impressed that it transferred without a problem both times!