NCL Spirit Repo Nov 3 Big Apple to Big Easy

[Retired not Expired]

The Spirit Has It.

 

Particulars: Two day pre-cruise in New York City. 15 day repo cruise on the NCL Spirit from New York to New Orleans with stops in St Thomas, St Lucia, Barbados, Aruba, Curacao, Guatemala, Belize, and Cozumel. The Sailing Spirits Big Apple to Big Easy Cruise.

 

We’ve enjoyed every cruise we’ve been on, but this one has to rate at the top. Not necessarily because everything was perfect as no cruise is perfect, but to spend quality time with someone special in your life on a clean, well run ship with, for the most part, good service, good food, and good places to visit, made it special.

 

We flew out of Kansas City on November 1st. We used NCL air and flew on American with a connect in Chicago. It was just a short layover in Chicago but the connecting gate was only two away from our arriving flight so we just had time to stretch our legs before boarding began. This was our first time to use NCL air and we were pleased. Good flight times got us to La Guardia in just over three hours even with a connection, arriving at 3:00 PM, right on time. Our only draw back was our NCL transfer to the hotel with a Kamikaze van driver. We saw Archie Bunker land as we went through many side streets and a few sidewalks in Queens. We also saw Central Park, at 60 mph. We did arrive safely at our hotel for our two night stay which was the Holiday Inn on West 57th Street. A nice hotel, not great, but nice, with a friendly staff. It was a good location with many places to eat nearby and Broadway not far away. The only drawback was the hotel was filled with the New York Marathon runners for the Sunday Marathon. These people were rude, not the New Yorkers. For instance, my wife and I were standing waiting for the elevator and were, by far, the oldest ones there when several of them pushed us aside so they could get in the elevator ahead of us. We also saw where they would use the elevator to go up or down just one floor tying up the elevators. Now these are marathon runners and can’t walk up or down just one flight of stairs. My wife and I both have trouble with stairs but will, for the most part, still use them for less than a couple of floors.

 

I hired a guide through New York Party Tours for eight hours Friday for a walking tour of New York. It was $50 an hour so $400 for the eight hours which included a daily subway pass. This was money well spent and, to me, the way to see New York. Our guide was Robert and not only did he know New York well, he also knew the history of it. By the way, the $50 an hour is for up to four people so two couples would only be $100 per person for eight hours. The cost only goes up slightly as you add more people so the price per person would go down with more added. Not only did Robert take us to all the places we wanted to see but added a lot he thought we would like to see and he was right on. We probably saw more of New York in our eight hours than most would see in two full days on the bus tours. Both my wife and I have health problems which limits us and this pushed us passed our limits but we wouldn’t have missed this for the world. It was a wonderful experience. We also had a great lunch, our choice, in Chinatown, and ended the tour by getting a piece of Junior’s Cheesecake to take back to the hotel to enjoy while recouping after seeing the lights of Time‘s Square. I should add I had the tour start at 11:00 am so we could see the lights before it ended..

 

A small snafu on Saturday for the NCL Transfer to the ship as we had been given a letter to have our luggage picked up by Noon, check out by 12:30 pm, meet the NCL Rep outside at 12:45 pm, for a 1:00 pm departure to the ship. Unfortunately, NCL booked the bus to arrive at Noon, with a 12:30 PM departure. Luckily, the hotel staff was on it and called us all when the bus arrived. We all made it except for the NCL Rep. We encountered no traffic at the port and the bus drove right up to the elevator that would take us up to the second floor. You do not have to claim your luggage here as the longshoremen take them right from the bus. I did reach over and hand one of them a tip which caused a stunned look on his face and then a smile and thank you so apparently, many who take these transfers do not tip.

 

Lines were long at check in but, except for one grouchy lady running the scanner at security, most of the workers had smiles and were very efficient. In a short time, we were heading up the ramp to the ship. Being Latitude did not help here as over half of the passengers on this ship were Latitude. It took two Latitude Parties to handle us all. We had a good blend of passengers with a number of Europeans, over 700 Canadians, and a few Asians in the mix. It was also evident throughout the cruise that most of the passengers were well seasoned cruisers. We heard very few complaints, and I mean VERY FEW, throughout the cruise. But, as there were so many seasoned cruisers, the little tricks used to beat the crowds did not work as most knew them. On the other hand, it made things run much more smoothly as you didn’t have the lost souls clogging up the movement of the ship.

 

Even though Windows is opened on Embarkation Day, it is evident they do not want you to use it as we were intercepted three times by crew members trying to herd us towards the buffet. Each time I would ask, “Isn’t Windows open?” and each time they would lower their eyes and let us pass but not one smiled. But when we entered Windows, it was all smiles and welcoming. We had a wonderful lunch with both of us having ribs. Not as tender as the fall off the bones type we make in Missouri but still quite good.

 

By the time we finished our lunch, our cabin was ready so we proceeded there to check it out and drop off the carry on bags. Cabin 9096, mid ship on the Starboard side. It was adequate size for two with a small but very private balcony. The lay of the cabin works best and almost necessitates the beds be together but that works well for us. The bed already had the egg crate top on it and we slept well. I’ve had better and I’ve had worse but we had no problems with it. The cover was a feather tick type in a pillow type sheet so very sanitary and bed linen was changed every three days. Towels were changed if you threw them in the floor but not replaced if you hung them up. There was a coffee maker in the cabin which is great as I rise around 4:00 most mornings and enjoyed having the coffee on the balcony without room service disturbing my wife who sleeps later. There are no refrigerators in cabins below suites on this ship but the one we had requested for my wife’s meds was already installed. It worked well and kept the sodas I had brought on board cold as well as the containers of tap water my wife kept in it for her. Tap water on a ship is great so no need to go to the expense or trouble to bring on bottled water. She just brings a couple of lightweight, easy to carry containers that she fills with tap water as she needs them. We loved the bathroom. It had a sliding shower door so no attacking shower curtain and the shower was of adequate size with a retractable clothes line. The commode was also in its own little area with a sliding door to separate it. I had read several complaining about the vacuum hose type hair dryer in the bathroom but neither my wife nor I had any problems with it. It dried our hair quickly and though the hose got warm, it never got hot to hold. There’s not a lot of storage in these cabins but our luggage arrived within a couple of hours and we were able to unpack before dinner and found a place for everything so we were able to completely unpack for the 15 day cruise. The safe in the closet works by entering your own code on a pad. Our luggage is the max size allowed by the airlines and fit under the bed easily. It should also be noted that the only 110 volt receptacle in the cabin is only rated for 500 watts and is labeled “Not For Hairdryer”. Therefore, if you must bring your own hairdryer, either bring one that can be plugged into the 220 volt or bring a 220 to 110 converter with you. The information book in the cabin says that if you need a converter, ask for one at the service desk, so they may be able to furnish you one.

 

We had an informal Meet and Greet for our Roll Call at 3:00 pm on embarkation day followed by the muster drill at 3:45. It was quick and painless allowing us time to put away our life vest and be topside for the 4:00 pm sail away to see the skyline of New York, the Statue of Liberty, and the Narrows Bridge. Since we sailed out into the back side of Noel, everyone walking looked to be drunk for the next 20 hours but the seas never got over 12 to 13 feet during that time so not too bad. By Sunday afternoon, the seas had dropped to below 6 to 8 feet and never got over that again with most days running under four feet. It was a nice smooth 14 days after that first one. We never needed anything to keep our balcony door open at night as we did every night giving us a great night’s sleep with the sea air and hearing the waves hit the side of the ship. Our formal Meet and Greet was on Sunday with 53 of the 103 who were on our Roll Call showing up, most wearing the T-shirts we had ordered. I believe Dave could have ordered a couple hundred more shirts and sold them easily as many people were asking about them and where they could buy them. I’m just sorry we didn’t get together with the roll call group on the other times they met for various things but both my wife and I have some health problems and one or the other was needing rest time every other time they met. It sounds like some of them were having way too much fun.

 

The Ship. I like this ship. I like the layout. I like the décor. From the Asian décor inside the ship to the Roman décor at the pool area and in Windows, to the openness of the aft section with so many levels of public areas, it was nice. I do question why they would open up that aft section like that eliminating all those revenue generating aft cabins but I liked it. It gives this ship a completely different feel to it over most cruise ships. There is nothing about this ship that is gaudy or jumps out at you. It’s just a nice subdued décor. I also liked the fact that the casino was all the way forward with just one bar past it. Most ships cut off the ship with the casino making you walk through it many times. With this one, a non-smoker would never have to set foot in it unless they wanted to. The whole ship was clean and well maintained.

 

Food and Dining. It never ceases to amaze me that people write reviews complaining about food and service on main line cruise lines like they expect Five Star Dining. News Flash. Main line cruise lines are not Five Star nor are we paying Five Star prices. We aren’t even paying Four Star and, in many cases, not even Three Star. We found the food and service on this ship to be good, some exceptional, and a few things that needed work for our taste. Your taste may vary. You can have a good dining experience if you accept the fact you are not a King or a Queen with each and every dish prepared especially for you. Main line cruise lines mass produce food and use presentation to enhance what you perceive. My own opinion is most of them do an outstanding job considering the amount of people they must feed. We ate most of our meals morning, noon, and night in Windows. We tried the Garden one night but really didn’t care for it. With a low ceiling and tables too close together, it was too noisy for us. We preferred the more openness and atmosphere of Windows. For the most part we found service to be very good with a couple of times exceptional and once a little below par. Even this once below par did nothing to take away from the fine time we had on this cruise as our main purpose for this cruise was to relax and we had nothing pressing to go to. It just gave us more time to visit in a nice atmosphere. I had one breakfast at the buffet and found it to be a typical buffet. On day three of the cruise, they changed the buffet from self serve to service by the crew including drinks. We’re not sure why as we heard of no Noro on the ship nor heard anyone complain about getting sick. It stayed that way the rest of the cruise. They did have people to make sure you used the hand sanitizers when you entered any dining room plus sprayed your hands each time you got back on the ship so they were very pro-active on this. Any time we did not want a big meal, we ate at the Blue Lagoon, good food but spotty service even when they were not busy, or went up to the Bier Garden for a burger or brat. We chose not to eat at any of the specialty restaurants this cruise. Nice thing about NCL, you have so many ways to choose. We did have dinner one night with the assistant hotel director. I did ask her several questions but will not post those or her answers as she was nice enough to give me her honest answers so I will keep them off the record even though she did not ask me to do so. To anyone from NCL who may read this, she did not say anything negative towards NCL nor give away any secrets. It was just her own honest opinions and nothing official so I honor her for that.

 

Service. We found the service on this ship to be very good with many instances of excellence and only a time or two of indifference. Most would go out of their way to provide whatever you wanted quickly and without question. We were also lucky to have two great cabin attendants who quickly picked up on my early to bed, early to rise routine and adjusted their time to service our cabin, keeping it in great shape. We looked them up just prior to disembarking to give them an over and above type tip that they both earned and deserved.

 

Ports. We had been to all of these ports before, some more than once, so, for the most part, we just wandered around and did some shopping at most of the ports. We did book three shore excursions through NCL and took two of them. I’ll go into why we didn’t take the third later. The best one we did was English Tea in Barbados. The plantation house was very nice to visit with some exceptional original furnishings. The tea was also very nice with some finger sandwiches, cakes, and delicious scones with jam. The tour we did not care for was the San Felipe Fortress in Guatemala. We are limited to Level 1 type tours due to our health and the ones in Guatemala require a very long bus ride with only a short time at the attraction prior to the long ride back. Last December, we did the tour to the Mayan ruins. It was much better than this one but still required a long bus ride. What we do love about Guatemala is the send off they give you. If you visit this port, be out on deck 30 minutes before you sail and plan on staying until you sail. Music, dancing, and more. Our favorite ports were Aruba and Curacao. Both of these you can walk around feeling safe without a vender constantly in your face. Both also have some very good shopping. Our next favorite is Cozumel although it does get tiresome that every few steps a vender is either trying to get you in their store or someone wants you to take a tour. That is my one beef with most of the Caribbean. Too many pushy venders.. I highly recommend Poncho’s Backyard if you want to try some local food in Coz. Both times we have eaten there, we have found great food, good service, and a wonderful atmosphere.

 

The shore excursion we had booked that we did not take was the Eco tour in Belize. I firmly believe the problem we had was a miscommunication between members of the crew and the fact there were four ships in port, all arriving at the same time, which caused the high speed tenders to be spread too thin amongst the ships. We also had a death on the ship that morning and one of the first tenders was used to take the body and next of kin ashore to be flown home. Our tour began at 10:30 am and we were to meet at the tender pier and were told to catch a tender one hour prior to the tour. The day before, they announced to pick up tender tickets. My wife went to pick up our tickets and told them we had a 10:30 tour and needed to go by 9:30. She was told she did not need the tickets since we had an NCL excursion. The morning we arrived, they started announcing that anyone with a shore excursion after 10:00 am would need a tender ticket. My wife again went down and told them of our tour. They would not give her a priority tender ticket but, instead, gave her regular tickets that by then, were a high number. Many people with a later shore excursion went on down with some being let on and others had to argue to get a tender. I refused to go down to have to argue to get on a tender. NCL’s promise is buy a shore excursion with them and it will be hassle free. Arguing to get on a tender is not hassle free. We waited until our numbers were called which did not get us ashore until 10:45. By the time we found a shore excursion rep, it was almost 11:00. They were nice and did offer to get us to the tour but we did not want to rush through the tour so we asked for them to cancel. They did so and a notice of that cancellation was in our cabin before we sailed that evening. No charge for that excursion showed up on our bill. I do recommend you do not set up an independent tour at this port before 11:00 am unless you are in a suite or high enough in Latitudes to get a priority tender. Even then, I would not set one up prior to 10:00 am as the first tenders are for NCL shore excursions only and the first regular tenders were not called until after 9:00 am.. These are high speed tenders but it is such a long tender, the ride is about 8 minutes each way plus it takes a long time to load and unload the tenders. This may improve when Costa Maya opens back up as there may be less ships in this port. Last December, we only had a couple of ships there so more tenders available per ship and it went much quicker.

 

Disembarking. NCL has a nice way to end a cruise. Windows opened at 7:00 on this morning so we went down to a nice, peaceful sit down breakfast. After which we returned to our cabin and sat on our balcony watching those disembarking. Our balcony sat right over the gangway. First off was the Express. Sorry, that’s not a way to end a cruise for me. Why have a wonderful relaxing cruise and end it by rushing off carrying all that luggage? Next off was VIPs and those with post cruise shore excursions. Then came those with NCL flights before 2:00 pm. Those of us with NCL flights after 2:00 pm were next with the call coming around 9:15. Love NCL for letting us relax in our cabin until we are called rather than herded out with a couple thousand others like most cruise lines do. By the time we got down to the terminal, those prior had cleared out, so it just took a few minutes to grab a porter, our luggage, and clear customs and immigrations. One stop does both in New Orleans.. Then on the bus to the airport.

 

We do curb side check in as most times they will not weigh your bags so you do not have to worry as much about the weight and the lines are not as bad as inside. $2 a bag plus tip is worth it to me. Some will pick up your bags to see if they are real heavy and then weigh them if they are so don’t go overboard on weight if you do this. I’ve never had mine weighed doing curb side.

 

Our flight was not until 3:10 pm and the weather was very nice in New Orleans so we spent some time walking around outside the airport before going through security. For lunch in the airport, my wife had chicken and dumplings and I had red beans and rice with smoked sausage. Both of us had cornbread. Nice after all the rich food on the ship. Our flights back to Kansas city went well. Our layover in Dallas was short again. We got off the first plane, took the airlink to our next gate and got there just as they started loading. We arrived in Kansas City before 7:00 pm and called for the hotel shuttle where we had left our car. We again spent the night there, driving home the next morning.

 

As is our custom, the first morning home from a cruise, I put on a big pot of pinto beans. We have fried potatoes and cornbread with them. It’s just our way of coming back down to earth after a cruise plus we just plain enjoy a down home meal after all the other.

 

Overall, a wonderful cruise. We’d do it again in a heart beat. Seven day cruises are just too short for us. We enjoy the longer cruises as we don’t rush to get it all in as much as we do on the shorter ones. Normally, I’m not much for sea days but the six we had on this cruise was just what we needed to refresh for the next ports. A lot can be said for sitting on a balcony while watching flying fish escaping the wake of the ship.

 

I would also like to thank Darin, the CD, for setting up two meetings for veterans on this cruise since November 11 was Veteran’s Day. I made the first but didn’t read about the second until after it happened. We were ashore at Curacao during the second. Anyway, thank you for honoring the veterans.

[kcwingwalker]

Thanks so much for providing everyone with such a comprehensive review of your repo on the Spirit. I enjoyed reading your message and am so glad you and your wife had a great trip........Happy Thanksgiving!

 

kcwingwalker

sailing on the Spirit December 2, 2007

[dottyparka]

What a great review! So detailed and so thorough. I like that you stated your expectations, and then you stated if they were exceeded, met, or not met. I'm so looking forward to our cruise on the Spirit in January!

[Planer's Edge]

Great review.

 

We did the same thing in New York as you. My sister hired us a tour guide for an anniversary present. Our guide showed us around for about 4 hours and added a lot of information to things we would have just looked at without her. I highly recommend hiring a guide while in NY it will only enhance your sightseeing experience.

 

PE

[AuntieBarb]

Excellent review! We haven't even started ours yet, as we've been too busy with pictures.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you, Sailing Spirit!

[zachnlucy]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[Chipster2]

Thanks for posting that wonderful review. I can hardly wait until next year when we take that repo cruise on the Spirit from the Big Apple to the Big Easy!!

[CC Help Michell]

Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed, balanced review. So many of the things you like about NCL are things we also like (like disembarkation day at your leisure), and I enjoyed, and agree with, your comments about food on mainstream cruise lines. Glad you had a good time! :)

[cruisingamom]

Thanks for your review- I really enjoyed it!

Thanks for mentioning the timing on the tenders in Belize. We are on the Christmas saling on the Sprirt and haven't finalized our plans for Belize yet- NCL excursion or on our own, so will keep that in mind...

Happy Thanksgiving!

[HoopTroop]

Thank you! I enjoyed the review.

 

Luckily we are staying with a friend when we leave from NY on the Dawn next fall, I just have to bring her some Wisconsin cheese and she will take me on a tour!

 

Thanks again!

 

HoopTroop

[Retired not Expired]

Thank you for all of your feedback. It's nice to know that the time spent writing a review does help others in their planning.

 

May those of you sailing this ship receive the same pleasures we did.

[halos]

Seven days is definitely too short now. You are so right!!

[Retired not Expired]

One of those things that make you go Hmmmmm. On the night we had dinner with the assistant hotel director, there were three couples invited but only two of us could make it. Our host asked us how long we had been married and I said 44 years. The other couple, who was from the middle part of England, laughed and said they also have been married for 44 years. Our hosts asked if either of us were celebrating our anniversary. I said no and gave the month and day we were married. The other couple's eyes got big and said that was also the month and day they had gotten married.

 

How odd, a couple from the central part of England and a couple of Hillbillies from Missouri are invited to dinner by a lady from South Africa in the Caribbean on a cruise ship, and both couples married on the same month, day and year.

[AuntieBarb]

How odd, a couple from the central part of England and a couple of Hillbillies from Missouri are invited to dinner by a lady from South Africa in the Caribbean on a cruise ship, and both couples married on the same month, day and year.

 

That's some coincidence indeed. Perhaps you all were intended to meet. Will you be keeping in touch?