NCL Spirit - 5/31 to 6/8 the good and bad - long

[jnmrlk]

Okay I know some of you NCL admirers are gonna be mad about some of my comments but here it is anyway!!

Embarkment was no problemo – our ticket number was 8 so we were on fast – we snacked at the buffet and headed for the pool. It was a little cloudy out but warm – some brave souls even went in the pool (my boys included!!).

The first day at sea – it was rainy and cool out – we explored the ship, this was my kids’ first cruise so they were very into exploring. The day cleared up and we were able to be outside, I love being outside watching the water going by.

On the second day I finally persuaded the kids to go to the teen center and youth center, they were very tentative about that idea, but once they were in there they were hooked! Had to beg them to spend time with me!!

We watched 3 shows – the Broadway show, on the radio and the crew’s show – IMO the crew’s show outdid the Broadway show, which if you are not a huge fan of Broadway show’s may not mean to much and I found the lack of actual dancing disappointing, the singing was good. “On the radio” was much better entertainment but lacking from previous NCL shows. I know I will be blasted for saying so but I found it comparable to a high school musical, there were several missed steps, hand holds and dancers ending up in the wrong spots – you would see them scootch over to the spot they were supposed to be in. It almost seemed a little awkward; the dancers did not appear to be that comfortable on the stage. I thought NCL Dawn’s shows were far better, we sailed the Dawn in 2005 and found their shows to be far superior. To me the highlight of the shows was the Crew’s show (DON’T MISS IT – how inspiring – the beginning guitar solo was out of this world and the audience was on it’s feet, loved the dancers – especially the 4 guys from India and the ACME magic act with the banana was sooo funny!! I always love it when they bring the crew out and I just loved that show which kinda made up for my disappointment for the other 2, hate to be critical but it was jmho.

We ate at either Windows or the buffet, Windows service is hit or miss depending on who waits on you, we waited over 30 mins before we even got drinks the first night and the food took forever, we finally gave up with Windows and finished the week off in the buffet everyday.

The buffet food was ehh and I found that the buffet food really petered out by the end of the week, you can’t complain to much as it was edible but it was not as good as they had previously served on the Dawn. The crepes are wonderful, my son and I ate one every night! Dinners there were not great though, thank goodness for pasta – my kids lived on that but everything else was ehh – can’t complain too much as I didn’t have to cook or do dishes !! They had vanilla sauce (also called custard) which I love but the warmer for it sometimes worked – most of the time didn’t – so the custard was often cold.

Daytime is lacking if you are not willing to spend extra money, which I would not mind doing if it was worth it but Bingo is not my thing and neither is martini testing. They had yoga and pilates (both $10 each) but they did it in the Galaxy of the Stars where every-one could just walk in (and did) and see all these butts stuck up in the air, I didn’t want to be entertainment for the rest of the passengers, the lack of a privacy turned me off doing yoga or pilates on board.

The Galaxy of the Stars was one of my favorite places to be, in the afternoons it was either quiet or there was music being played and you could just pick a window and mellow out, read or even nap – pure heaven! Another thing I loved about the Spirit was deck 13 in the back – I would drag my lounge chair over to the end and lay back and watch the wake while I baked in the sun – the blue from the sea mixed with the white and aqua colors from the ship was just wonderful. The pool was always packed and people were lined up like sardines but deck 13 was peaceful and never full.

The magic show we missed, but we caught the history of magic which was pretty cool and then went to the daytime card and coin trick show, my son was hooked and we signed him up for the “How to” clinic that Rich (I think that was the magician’s name!!) did in Champagne Charlies - $23 for the card/coin kit and the clinic – my 12 yr old loved it and has been wowing every-one since we got home! Well worth the $23.

We had some issues with our rooms though – we had 2 cabins, we get in our first one and the safe is broken, won’t reset and the locking mech. is stuck open, okay no big deal I think we’ll just use the safe in the other room. No go on that. There is a type written note in the safe that says the safe is broken and if you locked your stuff in it they will not be able to open it for you and get your stuff out (ahhhhhhhhhhh!!).

I place a call to the desk in regards to the safe, a security guy comes, spends 15 mins trying to reset out safe (the one stuck open). Finally tells me the safe is no good and he will have to get me another safe. I wasn’t too happy about this as I now have to carry over $1000 in cash around with me and $1500 in travelers checks with me. We head out into the ship and I come back to the room later and my key card won’t open my cabin door, the room steward also cannot get the room to open with his key card, he tells me that this room has an ongoing problem with this lock and he will call for security. I wait and wait and wait. Finally hubby comes – he also cannot get the room open – I place another call to the desk and also remind them about the safe issue. We wait and wait – place another call and at last a security guard comes – he has to open the door with a key as his key card will not work either, he checks the safe – says he has to get more tools (I question them about saying they were replacing the safe) he tells me he needs more tools. The security guard wants me to leave the door wedged open until the carpenter can come and fix the door, I ask how long that will be until he gets there – he doesn’t know. I take anything of value and lock it in the other room – good thing we had 2 cabins!! Off we go back to the ship, come back a little later – door is now closed, key card still won’t work – takes 4 hours to get them to come back and open the door and replace the batteries to make the card lock work, I am not sure that it is a permanent fix though, from what the steward says it happens all the time with the lock, think they need to replace the lock????

They also finally fix the safe, okay things are looking up. Hubby takes a shower and the bulb blows – I place another call – girl tells me that they will get there when they can – I explain that we are in the middle of showers can they bring me the bulb and I’ll change it myself, she just replies that they will get there when they can. We finish showering in the dark. By now hubby is totally aggravated – we go to the bier garten and he orders a bottle of bud, the outside of the bottle is cold but the beer is warm, my bottle of water ($5.18) expired in Oct 2007 – okay I know water doesn’t “expire” but for $5 can it at least have a 2008 date on it!!!

For us these and several other minor things, were the issues that make us reconsider out family reunion next year on NCL – we love to cruise and we will again – whether it will be NCL I don’t know but I will explain smaller things that irked me – our shower had mold on the bottom rail, you needed 2 hands and really had to “tug” the shower door open – and even with a new bulb I found the bathrooms dark (didn’t find them too small though!). Our TV remote only worked if you stood in front of the TV and it was duct taped together. The TV’s are also small (13”) but then you are not supposed to watch TV on vacation!!! There was also a smell that seemed to come out of the floor drain – hard to explain the smell but it wasn’t a pleasant smell – no backflow preventers in the drains????? I didn’t have a problem with the hairdryers – I found if you hold it very close to your hair and kinda brushed and rolled as you dryed it wouldn’t friz your hair out – as soon as you walk out on deck and the wind hits you it doesn’t matter anyway!!!!

From the ruffles buffet terrace up to deck 13 on both sides one handrail on each was broken, they were wrapped in caution tape and the windows in the buffet and some in the Galaxy of the Stars had broken seals and some were filling up with dirty green water. There was also duct tape on some of the windows (the Spirit seems to like duct tape!!). The elevator in the front on deck 12 – button was always “on” so you couldn’t call the elevator up to that floor you had to wait until someone on the elev. came up to 12 to use those elevators. Not a big deal if you are able to use the stairs to walk down, not so much fun for those in wheelchairs etc.

The pool area during the day was overpacked and I have to say that I much preferred the set up on the Dawn, you could not see the people in the pool so if you want to watch kids in that pool you have to be right next to the actual pool you cannot sit on the chairs, loungers and see into the pool. Also they want a $35 deposit per towel if you get them at the pool, I thought that was excessive, I understand that people may be stealing the towels but there is no way they cost $35 to replace, I was constantly checking that I didn’t loose my slip to take the towels back.

The kids arcade area had 6 broken machines and most were older games, fine for younger kids but my older boys were disappointed – they did have the wii on board though so that helped them get over the arcade issue pretty quickly – just a note – bring lots of quarters – games are at least 2 quarters per game, some were 4 quarters. Dance, dance rev. was there but broken until the last day.

The ships vibration from the broken engine/stabilizer (what ever it is that is broken) did grate on my nerves after a while. My favorite place to eat was on ruffles terrace but the railings shook constantly, I am surprised they didn’t shake bolts loose, sometimes the glass partitions in the Galaxy of the Stars would shake too. Not a huge deal but it did aggravate me.

They had issues getting people on and off the ship at ports – For one we were lined up in the hallway for ever on deck 4 – people were getting annoyed. Then at Samana they had every-one report to the Stardust Theatre and it was awful – they couldn’t seem to get the times and tours straight, people were late for excursions and few people left at the allotted time, people were getting very loud and fighting with the staff. Very disorganized. Samana was great though, we did the day at the beach and that to us was the best stop of all – one of my boys got a picture with a monkey on his shoulder, 2 did the banana boat ride (15 minutes for only $10 each) and they loved it – the beach is clean and beautiful – we had to leave earlier than I wanted to because the sun was strong and one of my boys (despite almost a bottle of sun block) was just getting too red.

San Juan was okay – the boys were not as into the forts as I had hoped. Tortola – we went the baths by ourselves, we got to spend almost an hour there before the excursion from the ship came – we rode the same ferry over and back as the tour but spend more actual time at the baths than the tour did as I think it toured the island as well????? 2 other ladies did the same thing as we did and we thought it was a better choice than doing the excursion – depends on whether you want the bus tour – but going alone is ½ the price. Can’t really comment on which was better but we did like the time we had at the Baths with less people there.

The sad thing is that the Spirit may have been a wonderful ship in her hey day but she really needs an overhaul, I have been in the customer service and hospitality field for over 20 years, also understand the need for repairing “on the fly” and urgency issues which may have made me a little more touchy than some over some of the issues we had. Those that have no problems say little – they do not skip around the ship singing “This is wonderful”. I did however hear several people ranting and raving – one couple flat out demanded to have their room changed as they had some many problems – saying irate was putting it mildly. It is the old saying – if you have a positive experience you will tell one or two people – have a negative – then people almost want to take out an add in the paper – human nature they tell every-one. As I had said previously we will cruise again – just not sure we would go with NCL, I don’t need a “top of the line” cruise and I prefer the casual theme that NCL has but at times it almost felt “economy line” and I know you NCL diehards are hating me now but it is JMHO.

On a final (and a positive note) I found 90% of the staff to be wonderful – they would all smile and say “hello” when you passed them and that, for me, saved the cruise. All told between cabins, gifts (for others and myself!!) and booze we dropped over $8,000 – hard earned money – next year we are doing Italy for 12 days (on carnival – first time on that line). We also want to do a family cruise next year – 6 – 8 cabins of people – hubby wants me to look into RCI but I just not sure at this point who it will be.

[qwerty12345]

I hear you on a lot of your points. I found the shows to be just awful but loved the staff show. The Indian guys were so good, I recorded them. I worked in entertainment my entire life so I know the difference between good and bad. My husband does not and found the shows just terrible. The dancers lipsynched and that just drove me nuts. The shows on the Dawn and RCCL are so much bette IMO.

 

I also loved Galaxy of the Stars, especially the outside wrap around part with the statues. My son loved the little museum down the stairs too.

 

The pool is oddly situated and we said that last year as well. So we also hung out on Deck 13 in the back, parked my baby in the shade and enjoyed some sun time.

 

BTW the date on the Bud bottle is the born on date, not the expiration date. That means it was bottled in Oct 2007, not use by Oct 2007. But I agree, the outsides were cold and the insides warm. We got a bucket of beer and they cooled off pretty quickly after sitting in the ice.

[muwarr90]

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Spirit as much as we did.

 

I did want to clarify one thing. The missing railing wasn't a sign of a lack of maintenace, it was a sign of ongoing maintenance. They were taking the railings off a couple at a time and taking them up to deck thirteen to revarnish them. I noticed as we were disembarking that they were refinishing some of the balcony cabin rails in place.

 

The Sprit is scheduled for a dry dock in the fall.

[jnmrlk]

Our cruise on the Dawn was so wonderful I had high expectations for the Spirit (maybe too high??). I knew the ship was smaller but that wasn't a big deal to me - however the room lock/safe issue to me were more than a small inconvenience.

The water was "expired" not the beer!!!!!

The railings - on one side was off all week - on the other it came on and off 3 x's.

I think the biggest problem was that the ship needed a major overhaul and I felt the Spirit did not represent the quality that NCL delivered on the Dawn. You reputation is a big deal, especially in the fickle world of travel and hospitality - as I previously mentioned - one bad experience and a customer will tell every-one - that is human nature - I see and hear it every day at work, the thing that peed me off was that no-one followed up on the lock or the safe issues, one little "How is every-thing today, so sorry about yesterday" would have gone a million miles.

Did I hate the cruise??? NO way - how can you "hate" a cruise!!!! But our loyalty to NCL has been damaged (hubby is a gold member - I'm a lowly bronze!!!)

[cruised76]

Holy Crap, why don't you get some cheese with all that whining that you just posted. I can understand about the locks and the safe, but Jesus. The way you made it sound you were being held on Guantánamo Bay. We were on the same trip as you were and had a terrific time. This was our 2nd trip on the Spirit in 2 years and thought this trip was as good as the last. I hope that RCL or Carnival can live up to your expectations. I have a strong feeling that we will be reading your reveiw after either of those cruises with a long list of dislikes also. Maybe you should try a different type of vacation.

[Toyz711]

some of the cruise ships still have safe to lock your valuables up. but in case they don't, i have a flip (in my luggage), i put my cash and credit cards in that area...put that piece of luggage in the bigger luggage and slide them under the bed.

never had a problem with leaving my laptop, camera, wallets out in the open. with cash, i do agree to put it away...but a safe that doesn't work is so minor...there is always another solution.

between now and november, there is going to be a lot of work going on (on the spirit) they are getting ready for their dry dock..since they only have a week or 2 to get the dry dock/engine repair done, they will be working 24/7 to get other things done.

yes, they do need to replace some of the glass panels...especially in the buffet area. they look dirty, but it can't just be cleaned...must be replaced. the salt air is very destructive.

if carrying that much cash is that much of a worry to the OP..find another way to do it. ATMs are all over the place (we have a debit card that pays us back any ATM fees) and you can get cash from your onboard account at the casino (with no fees).

[electricron]

The Spirit will get an overhaul-drydock later this fall.

Seems like it's in need of one from your review.

 

It was good to hear they finally got your safe and door working properly. Things do break, and require repairs all the time.

I know many expect repairs to be accomplished asap, but sometimes it does take time to run down the parts and tools to do the job properly.

 

As for the cracked windows, that also take time to do properly, and probably better to do during an overhaul-drydock period. Meanwhile, the crew patches things up as best they can. There were other windows available there.

 

I have a feeling those old arcade games may be replaced soon. Per the Freestyle 2.0, more Wii and X-Box games will soon be installed.

 

The last time the Spirit was in an overhaul-drydock was fall 2005, almost three years ago.

[beverland]

Holy Crap, why don't you get some cheese with all that whining that you just posted. I can understand about the locks and the safe, but Jesus. The way you made it sound you were being held on Guantánamo Bay. We were on the same trip as you were and had a terrific time. This was our 2nd trip on the Spirit in 2 years and thought this trip was as good as the last. I hope that RCL or Carnival can live up to your expectations. I have a strong feeling that we will be reading your reveiw after either of those cruises with a long list of dislikes also. Maybe you should try a different type of vacation.

 

That was really rude!!

 

For someone with only 5 posts, you certainly are opinionated about this person's review. Remember, it is her review, not yours, correct? :p

[cruised76]

That was really rude!!

 

For someone with only 5 posts, you certainly are opinionated about this person's review. Remember, it is her review, not yours, correct? :p

 

 

Wow, Im sorry if I offended you, I didn't know there were rules about posting your opinion. She posted hers and that is mine in regards to her negative reveiw. I think it is a shame that people have to complain about every little thing that goes wrong. You are on vacation, be greatfull you are on a ship away from all your other stresses or concerns. Don't make your vacation a stress in itself. All of the complaining and ignorant people not satisfied with their cruise was the worse part about this vacation.

[jnmrlk]

so sorry cruised76 - did not mean to be so "ignorant".

 

However I felt I was fair with what I said - was my vacation ruined - no it was not - which I said - but it was not as good as our previous NCL cruise on the Dawn. The spirit needs an overhaul - I stand by what I said - if cruised76 had a great time I am very happy for you - however if you don't like my review then you could have stopped reading it at any point.

[Gooey Eyes]

Wow, Im sorry if I offended you, I didn't know there were rules about posting your opinion. She posted hers and that is mine in regards to her negative reveiw. I think it is a shame that people have to complain about every little thing that goes wrong. You are on vacation, be greatfull you are on a ship away from all your other stresses or concerns. Don't make your vacation a stress in itself. All of the complaining and ignorant people not satisfied with their cruise was the worse part about this vacation.

 

I agree - how can you complain about food if you wont buy up to the premium restaurants. It must have been a bear to field their calls.

[AuntieBarb]

Sorry to hear your cruise wasn't up to your expectations, but thanks for taking the time to write a review. At least I saw a few pros in there.

 

I swear, the Spirit passengers over the last 7 months must have been really rough on her, since last November we found the old girl to be in fine condition!

 

But I imagine she'll be looking pretty again after dry dock.