Back from 6 Day Bahama Spirit Cruise

[NJPrisonCop]

Well, I am going to be honest here. I am not a hard to please person, but NCL has lowered their standards since I was on them last. I was on the Sun for my honeymoon, and had a blast on that ship. This was my 6th NCL cruise (29 Total), so I am not speaking from lack of experience.

 

Embarkation was smooth and not too bad. A little slow for being in the Latitudes expedited line, but all in all a smooth process.

 

The ship itself was not too bad. The Blue Lagoon cafe was good to get a snack to eat, but the tables were left dirty for what I thought to be way too long. The Windows restaurant was by far the nicest on the ship for formal dinners. We also ate breakfast a few mornings there, which was a nice change from the raffles buffet.

 

I found it hard (this is a shocker on a cruise ship) to get a bar waiter for a drink. Many times we had to walk ourselves to the bar to get a drink. Kind of annoying when you want a few beers by the pool. Honestly, I thought this ship was somewhat UNDER staffed. It was like there wasn't enough people to cover the entire ship full of passengers.

 

The main thing that drove me nuts was the kids.... kids everywhere acting like off the wall lunatics. I watched a few underagers drinking and way too out of control. Berating bartenders, being loud, rude, crude, and just downright disrespectful. And the parents said and did NOTHING about it. I was walking towards the pool, and these little maniacs ran into a woman and knocked her into the wall right in front of me. So the jail guard in me kicked in and I yelled at them rather loudly. But it scared the lights out of them. One lady thanked me for saying something. I know it is to be expected in June, but I am going to be booking my next cruise in April or May from Miami to dodge the kids.

 

NCL took it upon themselves to charge people stuff for things they did not sign for. And when you went to argue it at the discrepency desk, they give you the run around. The skinny blonde at the desk tried giving me the run around for a charge that was not correct, but I was not going to buy her blowing smoke up my ***. She almost fainted when I stood near the door for the shore excursion managers waiting for him. She had to run over and cover her tracks when he showed up.

 

PORTS:

Port Canaveral: Kind of bland. We ended up renting a Hertz mid size car for $35 and drove ourselves around to Cocoa Beach, and Cocoa Village (cool little shopping spot, but rather pricy).

 

Nassau: Nothing spectacular. We went on the public beach near the Riu Hotel. Got poured on, but that was not a big deal. The straw market was a tourist trap with knock off purses and small knick knacks, and all the local women hounding you got somewhat annoying. Having to tell every single one NO THANK YOU got old quick.

 

Great Stirrup Cay: Got to go on the island Wednesday night beginning at 7pm. Went on the island around 815ish, and got eaten alive by sand flies. My sister has well over 15 bites on her, and i had at least 10. We got right back on the tender and went back to the ship. The next day we went on the island around 10am and spent a few hours on the beach. Snorkeled with our own gear and saw a few stingrays swimming under us (really close to swimmers and the beach). All in all this was our best day of the cruise.

 

 

On to the staff. The cruise director was BY FAR the worst I have ever seen. He hid in the shadows while his assistant did most of the cruise director's duties. And the assistant... if he yelled "You know what time it is......*10 second pause*..... ITS BINGO TIME" one more time I was going to plunge an ice pick through my temple. These two were annoying and useless. Darin Earl needs a new profession. Maybe stick to his guitar... he'd be better off.

 

Regarding Bingo.... the cruise line takes in THOUSANDS of dollars (if not tens of thousands), and hands out payouts of 100 bucks?? Whats up with that. Skimming from Bingo is a crappy thing to do. I know NCL is not the only one that does this, but I think its a sham. Don't they have enough ways to rape you of your money?? Lottery, $2.10 cans of soda, Photos, etc.... it's getting out of hand. I remember when bingo paid out 7-10 thousand dollars for the jackpot.

 

Bathrooms... I know this is a somewhat off the wall thing to speak of, but my wife is pregnant, and used the bathroom more than the average person. Most of the bathrooms she went into were dirty and ignored by the staff. A few of the urinals were missing from the men's rooms.

 

I asked for an iron and ironing board to my room one night for my wife's clothes. It never came. Then they call me 2 hours later and ask if I am finished with it. I told the operator I was done with it the moment I called asking for it, since I never got it.

 

My sister had an issue with what she believes to be bed bugs. Yes bed bugs. Her, my brother in law, niece and nephew all had bites on them. We did not have this issue, but it was still an issue with our party.

 

OK.. on to the good things. The main dining room food was well presented and tasted pretty good. The waiters and jr. waiters were friendly and seemed like they aimed to please. The wait staff on our honeymoon didn't seem to enthused to go out of their way for you, but that has since changed, which is nice to see.

 

The casino staff was very accomodating (asked for chairs with backs for my pregnant wife, and they came with one right away every time). The room was made in a timely and efficient manner. The ship was layed out pretty well and easy to navigate. Unfortunately, thats about it.

 

I hope this served as an informative review of this ship/itinerary. Please respond with any questions, or post your own on this same cruise/itinerary.

[lostie]

Great Stirrup Cay: Got to go on the island Wednesday night beginning at 7pm. Went on the island around 815ish, and got eaten alive by sand flies. My sister has well over 15 bites on her, and i had at least 10.

 

My sister had an issue with what she believes to be bed bugs. Yes bed bugs. Her, my brother in law, niece and nephew all had bites on them. We did not have this issue, but it was still an issue with our party.

navigate. Unfortunately, thats about it.

 

Thanks for the review, sorry you did not have the best time. I am going in August so I hope my time is better than yours.

 

You say your sister got 15 bites from sand flies at GSC, but then she claimed to have bed bugs...couldn't the bites have been the same? I only know this b/c of Lotteryfans review that he got bit at GSC too and said there were NO bedbugs, he checked after he got bit at GSC. His and your advice will certainly persuade me to use insect repellent when we go there.

 

I've heard the same complaints about Darin from many others. Unfortunately he annoys me already and I haven't even met him. People should complain to NLC about him.

[Lotteryfan]

Lostie,

 

I couldn't have said it better myself concerning the bed bugs and the cruise director situations...or did I? :) :)

[noenre]

Thanks so much for the tip on t he bugs at GSC. I wasn't planning on packing bug spray but you bet I will be now!

 

As far as Darin goes...that stinks!! Hopefully people are letting NCL know about their experiences crusing with him and he straightens out. Within the next 5 weeks would be nice too seeing as how I am leaving on the Spirit 5 weeks from today!

 

The itinerary for this cruise (I am taking the same 6 day that you did) was never impressive to me. Port Canaveral? I will probably go to the beach that day, no desire to spend one day at Disney. I've been to Nassau and been begged for money. Definitely have to go over to Paradise Island that day. I am expecting GSC to be the best part of the cruise. We enjoy the Private Island feel and the kids will have a blast there. I was actually disappointed that the ship skips Miami (would have been a 7 night cruise). We did the same itinerary on the Dawn a few years ago and also went to Miami and I actually had fun there!

 

At any rate it doesn't really matter because we are going to RELAX! I am not really looking for a fun packed vacation...and the price was right!

 

Next cruise I'd like to do one of the 8 nighters that hits some more exotic islands. ;)

[JuneauMe]

Hi, It was great meeting you on this cruise, I agree with much of what you said about this ship. My friend and I actually like the Garden room much better than windows, we fely the wait staff there was much friendlier and we got better service. The wait staff in windows seemed over worked, and stressed out. I couldn't agree with you more about getting a drink from the bar staff. Not just by the pool, but in the clubs too. For example, we went to Henry's Pub a few times and you know that place isn't big, but the waiter just hung out by the corner of the bar. One night after I had gotten up to get my own drinks yet again, he offer to carry my (2) beers back to the table, whoopie!!!

Many many people were eaten alive on GSC, and we saw many people with all kinds of reactions from, huge welts to lots of small bite marks, so if the folks in your party did visit the island, they may have gotten bitten there. I think that some people had bites from sand fleas (as opposed to sand flies) and many time the reaction to the bite happens a bit after the incident, sometime lasting for weeks. So I know we all want to know if you friends were on the island.

Also I found that the ship was not as clean as the other ships. I had taken a late night stroll (about midnight, which isn't really that late, LOL) around the deck, and there were dirty tables outside near Henry's Pub. The next morning I walked past that area at 10 am and the table were still dirty. The tables at the buffet were cleaned and preped pretty quickly, but at the blue lagoon (and around the pool too) you are so right, the tables stayed dirty fo a very long time.

I made a point of telling myself that each ship is different and so to will be each expieriance, so I wouldn't have any reason to be disappointed or go with any big expectations (the Dawn runs a pretty toght ship, so they would be hard to beat. Sailed on her 5 times, LOL). So, all in all I had a great cruise. I wanted to confirm njprisoncops observations because they are correct and it's a good FYI for future Spirit cruisers.

Well I got to go now, cause you know what time it is...."It's Bingo Time!!"

Sorry PRISONCOP, I just couldn't resist, LOL

Donna

[NJPrisonCop]

I do not think the sand fleas and the suspected bed bugs were the same simply because the welts from the sand fleas/flies went away before the next morning. I stopped itching from them around 1am that night. The suspected bed bugs were discovered during friday night's sleep. Either way, it was annoying. Bring your bug spray!!!!

 

Nice to meet you Donna. I think if I see you on a cruise ship again, it will not be with NCL. This cruise wasn't all that dreadful, but I just didn't like the little things. And I am not picky, but there were too many little things that to me added up to one big thing.

[mkad1109]

So sorry to hear about your disappointing experience. What were some of the horrible things about the CD? We have only cruised twice once on the Dawn with an amazing Scottish CD and last year on the Jewel with Matt Baker who was also amazing.

 

Not that they make the cruise, but just wondering.

[NJPrisonCop]

Darin Earl was the most annoying CD I have come across in all my 29 cruises. He looked like Waldo, and was so fake and choreographed it wasn't even funny. If approached by someone, he looked as though he was in a foreign country and didn't speak the language. His assistant did most of the traditional jobs the CD himself should do, but I guess he didn't get the job because of his accent. Who knows. THe one guy on the ship who I spoke to who SHOULD have been the cruise director is a guy named "Q". He was a cool guy and was very personable. I think Darin Earl needs to stay on land.

[lostie]

Darin Earl was the most annoying CD I have come across in all my 29 cruises. He looked like Waldo, and was so fake and choreographed it wasn't even funny. If approached by someone, he looked as though he was in a foreign country and didn't speak the language. His assistant did most of the traditional jobs the CD himself should do, but I guess he didn't get the job because of his accent. Who knows. THe one guy on the ship who I spoke to who SHOULD have been the cruise director is a guy named "Q". He was a cool guy and was very personable. I think Darin Earl needs to stay on land.

 

Hopefully Darin will be "off" the 2 weeks in August that I am cruising b/c a lot of people have agreed with this assessment of him on other posts.

 

Funny, I cruised Carnival a couple times and loved it but I thought NCL was supposed to be "better" so I booked with them this time. I hope I don't regret it.:eek:

[teacha50]

Lostie, I am having the same thoughts as you.....after reading all the posts...both pros and cons, however, how can any cruise be bad???? Anyways, I didn't have a choice in choosing this cruise as DH surprised me with it as a 30th anniversary surprise....

[loafie]

I just came off the same cruise and though I have nothing to compare it to, I had a really great time. I agree that Darin was like an extremely cheesy game show host, but I thought it was funny rather than annoying. We also met Q ( I believe it's spelled Que) during various events and he was by far the coolest and nicest person on the staff. Here is my mini review:

 

Food:

We ate dinner at Windows, the garden room and la trattoria and found them all to be excellent. We never had to wait for a table at either of the main dining rooms and the service was always really fast. I had read reviews about dinner taking hours, but we never had a problem with that. Raffles was excellent for breakfast but horrible all other times of the day. The food was like bad cafeteria food and we stayed away after breakfast time. BTW, I had read complaints that there are no trays to carry your food, but my bf discovered that if you ask for one, they are happy to give you one. He woke up before me each morning and would go fill up two plates of food and bring it back to the room on a tray. The beverage selection was very weak. We don't drink soda so that left us with few options. The ice tea was awful so that was not an option. The water was fine but I would have liked lemonade or fruit punch.

 

Room: Our room was made up quickly and efficiently each day and we never had a problem getting more towels or whatever we needed. Our steward Hasan was very nice and greeted us each time we saw him in the hallway. We didn't see any bugs and didnt come home with any bites.

 

Ports: We went to disney for the day in port canaveral. 5 hours in the magic kingdom is not nearly enough time and we only got to do 4 things in that time.

 

With advice from this board, we went to the wyndham in nassau and got day passes to use their pool and beach. The place is really nice and they have a great water slide. It was also really empty which was a nice change from the crowded pool on the ship.

 

The private Island was by far the best port of call. I wish they would have skipped nassau all together and let us have a full day there. We didn't go the night we got there so we didn't have to deal with the bugs but our friends went and they came back covered in bites. Bug spray is a must, though if you forget to bring some, they sell it on the island for a very generous 9 dollars. The morning that we spent on the island was wonderful. We got there around 8:30 and it was not too crowded at that point. We got chairs and snorkeling gear and spent the whole day in the crystal clear water. My bf took lots of underwater pics of the fish and the stingrays and he was in heaven. The food was decent, hot dogs, pizza, cookies, pound cake. We were all disappointed when we had to leave to go back to the ship at noon.

 

Entertainment and activities:

The first night we were there we participated in a trivia game (we won!), I sang karaoke in henry's pub (this became our favorite hang out) and we saw the comedy (if you want to call it that) of Ray Mogenis. He was horrible.

 

During the course of the week we saw the broadway show, the radio hits show and the crew talent show. We enjoyed all of the shows and thought the dancers and singers were excellent. The talent show was a lot of fun. We participated in several trivia contests thoughout the week and thought they were really fun. Our favorite was the one hosted by Que b/c no one could understand the questions with his accent so he tried to drop the accent which was hilarious.

 

I didn't find the children on board to be a problem at all, but the teenagers got on my nerves. They travelled in packs and would sprawl out on the staircases so you couldn't get by without asking them to move. They also sat in the shanghai bar during triva and wouldn't shut up until the host had to threaten to kick them out.

 

We took a lot of pictures and wound up buying 3 of them. They are so overpriced it's ridiculous and they only offer them in 8 x 10 which was annoying. I would have liked the option of getting wallets of something smaller.

 

In terms of the dress code, there is none. We saw people in shorts, jeans and flip flops in windows and la trattoria. I wore a sundress most nights and felt out of place at times.

 

That's all I can think of right now. Let me know if you have questions.

[Sea Hound]

In terms of the dress code, there is none. We saw people in shorts, jeans and flip flops in windows and la trattoria. I wore a sundress most nights and felt out of place at times.

 

I forgot to include this in my review but we found the same thing. The one night we went to Windows for dinner (not the formal night), there was virtually no dress code. People were in sweats, shorts, flip flops, ball caps, t-shirts, and even sleeveless "muscle shirts".

 

We didn't encounter the same thing in the specialty restaurants - everyone in those restaurants wore "resort casual" dress.

 

Sea Hound:D

[mkad1109]

I didn't find the children on board to be a problem at all, but the teenagers got on my nerves. They travelled in packs and would sprawl out on the staircases so you couldn't get by without asking them to move. They also sat in the shanghai bar during triva and wouldn't shut up until the host had to threaten to kick them out.

 

quote]

 

 

NJPRISONCOP --is this what you meant as well, (i.e. was it all children or primarily the teenagers? It's an interesting distinction for me since my oldest is turning 15 with my second turning 13....(NOT to imply I think they will cause trouble folks, they tend to be the more sedate type... )

[egurbi]

Assuming we are talking about the June 16th Spirit sailing, I too was on it. I have only been on one other cruise my entire life, so I am a novice, but I must say that my wife, three children (ages 4 ro 9), and I had a wonderful time. I will post a review later tonight, but there are clearly certain things that exceeded my very high expectations:

 

1. The cleanliness of the ship. I defer to the rest of you who have been on more cruises than I, but I never saw a dirty dish sit on a table for more than a minute the entire cruise.

 

2. The professionalism of the staff. There were clearly a few underperformers (there always are in any organization). But everyone else always greeted you with a smile and with an intention to help. This was particularly true of the kids crew staff.

 

3. I never waited for drinks. I guess I must have been luckier than others. If anything, I felt bad when I had to tell waiters no thanks they asked me so often.

 

4. The food at the specialty restaurants (Cagneys, Teppanyaki in particular) was very, very good.

 

5. I could never imagine doing anything other than freestyle cruising. Someone is going to need to explain to me the merits of the assigned seating/assigned time methods. Never had to wait for a table at any of the nonspecialty restaurants.

 

The one negative was the lack of time in ports. Since I knew this ahead of time, I have nobody to blame but myself for selecting this cruise.

[lostie]

With advice from this board, we went to the wyndham in nassau and got day passes to use their pool and beach. The place is really nice and they have a great water slide. It was also really empty which was a nice change from the crowded pool on the ship.

 

How much were the day passes? I have two DS (6 & 2) are they the same price? How far was the Wyndham and did you take a cab? This sounds like something that would interest us. Thanks for any questions you can answer!:)

[KerCar]

Darin Earl was the most annoying CD I have come across in all my 29 cruises. He looked like Waldo, and was so fake and choreographed it wasn't even funny. If approached by someone, he looked as though he was in a foreign country and didn't speak the language. His assistant did most of the traditional jobs the CD himself should do, but I guess he didn't get the job because of his accent. Who knows. THe one guy on the ship who I spoke to who SHOULD have been the cruise director is a guy named "Q". He was a cool guy and was very personable. I think Darin Earl needs to stay on land.

 

Wow, couldn't disagree more! I was on the 8 day sailing before this one and thought Darin Earl was a really nice, personable guy. He came to our Cruise Critic meet and greet to hang out and chat for awhile. I didn't go to all of the performances, but the ones I did attend Darin was always there to do the intro. Did he tell cheesy jokes? Of course! But they were the same cheesy jokes the CD's on our previous Carnival and Celebrity cruises used too! No biggie!

[loafie]

How much were the day passes? I have two DS (6 & 2) are they the same price? How far was the Wyndham and did you take a cab? This sounds like something that would interest us. Thanks for any questions you can answer!:)

 

The day passes were $15 each. I don't know how much they would be for children. It was just me and my bf. We had planned to take the #10 bus to the hotel but we never managed to find it so we took a cab. It was $15 and took about 10 minutes to get there. Finding a bus on the way back was easier and that was only $1 per person. The hotel is really nice with a small beach and a great pool and slide. There is a bar and an outdoor restaurant where you can burgers and fries and things like that.

[lostie]

Thanks a bunch, Loafie!

[kazcruise]

I know older kids are the same price. I wouldn't pay for the 2 year old unless they ask you too. You can pick up the #10 jitney by getting off the ship and walking to the straw market (off the ship and a short walking distance to the right...they will point you in the right direction.) The minibus picks up behind the straw market so you have to walk all the way through it to where it comes out in the back, or walk around. This excursion is a great deal and a great day...

[sam0828]

I must say that I completely agree with NJPrisonCop about the "kids" on this cruise. This is my third cruise (second with NCL) and all I can say is there were more kids on this ship than my last 2 cruises combined (one in October 2005 and the other over Thankgiving 2006). The children were completely out of control and the parents seemed to be nowhere in sight. I was in the Blue Lagoon having snacks one day with my 7 year old and husband and a group of 4 kids came in and practically sat down on top of us (I would guess their ages as 6, 8 and the other 2 possibly 12 or 13. Now I would NEVER let my 7 year old travel around a cruise ship with no adult supervision, but then that is my opinion. Once they sat down they were loud and obnoxious. I am not one to get annoyed easily by children, but these 4 seemed to be in great need of learning their manners. They were there for about 10 minutes and I noticed the wait staff seemed to be purposely ignoring them (can't say I blame them). I guess they noticed too since the oldest one yelled out " Can someone take our order, we don't have all day". Once they were waited on they started getting ansy I guess and decided to spit soda back and forth through a straw. The little girl who seemed to be 12 or 13 spit an entire straw full of soda on my foot (did not apologize or even acknowledge it). Then they boy got up to get napkins and stepped on my toe.

 

If this incident was not enough, we had a suite (10518) and 4 out of the 6 nights children ran up and down the hallway ringing our doorbell and running away. This happened several times. Where are these parents, I ask???

 

I heard screaming kids/teens daily in the hallways.

 

Coming back from picking up my daughter from the kids crew on Friday night (12:00am), I witnessed 2 young teens walking, not running, up the hallway (deck 10) and knocking on every door they passed. One man came bursting out of his room screaming at the top of his lungs for security. They had supposedly been doing this all night and he had gotten fed up.

 

Not to offend anyone, but I found quite a few of the "cruisers" on this particular sailing to be very low class.

 

Overall it was a decent cruise, the food was pretty good (I stayed away from the buffet). Teppanyaki was excellent. The wait staff was average. I have had much more pleasant wait staff on my last 2 cruises. Although, again, Teppanyaki was the exception. They were wonderful.

 

I agree about the tables being left dirty. We went to the Blue Lagoon a few times and too many tables were dirty. It wasn't until we sat down that they cleaned them.

 

The room stewards were wonderful and did an excelent job.

 

Our Butler and concierge were terrific. They made things much smoother and because of them this cruise was not a total flop. I think I will try Carnival next to see how they stack up.

[maxpower366]

We are sailing the Spirit this coming sunday 7/1. Can anyone tell me how the food in the Blue Lagoon is?...This style of having 23 hrs a day to catch a nibble is right up my hubbies ally. He was wondering how the food is?

[grandmaof2]

THe one guy on the ship who I spoke to who SHOULD have been the cruise director is a guy named "Q". He was a cool guy and was very personable. I think Darin Earl needs to stay on land.

 

"Q" is a terrific guy..He was assistant cd on HAL when we sailed almost 2 years ago and was GREAT fun. Bingo was a BLAST. I never laughed so much. He also hosted the Liars Club and we got sick laughing..I couldnt believe it when I saw him on the Spirit. He told me a really unfortunate story of how he landed with NCL, actually starting over.I believe he will be goin to the GEM in September.He will be a great asset to NCL

 

I had almost no complaints about our Spirit cruise but if I had to come up with one it would be Darin. When we had our CC meeting, he was very gracious and shared some good stories. However, I was unimpressed with his hosting of the shows and really dissapointed at the Liars Club (usually a great favorite of mine).. He just lacks something, and I found that with the others on the staff (other than "Q") I think a revamping of that staff would be in order.

[grandmaof2]

We are sailing the Spirit this coming sunday 7/1. Can anyone tell me how the food in the Blue Lagoon is?...This style of having 23 hrs a day to catch a nibble is right up my hubbies ally. He was wondering how the food is?

 

I thought the food was great..LOVED the potato skins and cheeseburgers as well as soup and salad. They have an incredible pound cake also..I thouhgt the wings were spicy but my family loved them. Its a really busy place but fun and worth the wait.

[loafie]

I thought the food was great..LOVED the potato skins and cheeseburgers as well as soup and salad. They have an incredible pound cake also..I thouhgt the wings were spicy but my family loved them. Its a really busy place but fun and worth the wait.

 

Funny you mentioned the pound cake, it was a favorite of mine also. Other than that, we had the fries and chicken fingers and I had a bowl of wonton soup. It was all decent, nothing spectacular but good enough for a quick lunch. I really wish they had a late night dessert place. I was always craving ice cream or cookies late at night and could never find any.

[NJPrisonCop]

OK the "potato skins" at the Blue Lagoon were potato wedges with a glop of sour cream and some cheese. They were not skins at all. No biggie there.. they had some pretty good food there. But the table being left dirty until you sat down was annoying. Trying to set a high standard, NCL should have had these problems worked out.

 

As for Que, whatever the reason he got shafted on another line, that stinks. He was the coolest of them all.

 

Darin Earl might have been cutesy and game show'ish, but it was annoying. Too scripted and not down to earth at all.

 

The kids I refer to were the older kids.... say 13-18. The little kids were no problem except for this one little chubby kid who did nothing but scream in my ear and think it was funny. His mother thought this was amusing and made excuses for the kid. I would have had him out on deck reprimanding him.

 

As for the "lower class" of people, I could not agree more. These older women were YELLING (loudly) across from one side of blue lagoon to the other. Someone made a mention of it, and I agreed with him. Also, the packs of kids came out of nowhere just to be rude and cruse. The mouths on these kids. ***13-18 year olds***. I also got annoyed at them running like wildebeasts down the hall on our floor. I wanted to badly to open the door and stick my foot out.

 

Honestly, I am really not hard to please, but I have noticed NCL's service going downhill as of late. This is my 6th NCL cruise, and 29th cruise altogether, and I really saw a lower standard set on this ship.