Review of NCL Spirit Canary Islands & Morocco Nov 22-Dec 1, 2013

Hello.

I was on the November 22-December 1, 2013 sailing of the Norwegian Spirit out of Barcelona, and for the first time, I'm going to prepare a detailed review here on the Cruise Critic boards.

Personal Background

I'm in my mid-40s, single, never married, and I have no children. I was born and grew up in the US, but about 17 years ago moved to the Middle East, where I've lived since then. The rest of my immediate family lives where I grew up, in South Florida. For all vacations a week or longer since I moved to the Middle East until this cruise, I spent time with my family, usually flying to South Florida, although this past summer I flew to Boston to cruise with most of them (see Cruise Critic review here).

Cruise History

I've taken a total of about six cruises on Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Norwegian, and Carnival, including now three in the past year and a half. I've been with family members on all but this last one. In 2012, I took a transatlantic cruise on the Norwegian Epic, and I stayed by myself in a balcony room on deck 8 or 9. This past summer, I was on a New England/Canada cruise on the Carnival Glory, and again I was by myself in the room, but I really spoiled myself by booking one of the ship's recently added 6K Scenic Grand Ocean View staterooms on deck 9.

Trip Background

As mentioned, I took about a week off this past summer to fly to Boston and cruise with family, and I also took a few days off in August. When I saw on my October pay slip that I had about a week's worth of vacation accrued, I decided to see what kind of relatively warm European cruises were available on short notice, as I would not want to wait a couple of months and sail in the middle of the winter, and I also did not want to wait until the spring, when my parents are scheduled to visit.

I found really attractive prices for the NCL European cruises, and the 9-night Canary Island & Morocco itinerary on the Norwegian Spirit appeared to be more to my liking, weather-wise, and also with a higher sea days-to-port days ratio, which I also like. Port days usually mean spending more money. I sail solo, so I'm usually paying a single supplement, and I'd just as well keep any added expenses to a minimum. Also, I can't say that I'm particularly interested in any of the port cities I've been to. I've never taken a shore excursion or organized tour in port, and I almost never make any plans ahead of time for port days. I simply "wing it", and have yet to be disappointed nor felt any regret that I missed something.

So, my manager approved my relatively short-notice request for about a week off, and I booked the November 22-December 1 sailing, Friday-Sunday, which fit nicely around two weekends. Airfare was somewhat expensive, but the cruise fare was so low that I didn't care. In the future, I will likely try to make reservations a little further out - maybe a month and a half ahead of time instead of two weeks - to try to balance the cruise fare with the airfare.

For this cruise, I decided to get on the ship for as little money as possible, taking advantage of the low, last-minute prices as much as I could, and I booked the least-expensive category available, IX Guaranteed Inside. Well, in the first instance of a recurring pattern of good luck for this trip, about 24 hours after I booked, I was assigned room 10099, a IA Mid-Ship Inside stateroom on deck 10, near the mid-ship elevators. I imagine I would have been perfectly happy with one of the IX cabins on deck 4, but the location of the room I was assigned was about as good as you can get. Also, it was far enough away from the elevators that noise from them or from anyone getting on or off them was not an issue.

Pre-Cruise, Embarkation, and Day 1 - Friday, November 22

I booked an Iberia flight operated by Vueling, leaving early Friday morning and arriving in Barcelona later Friday morning, with the ship scheduled to depart Barcelona at 19:00. I had to be at the airport at around 04:00, and I tried to get at least a few hours sleep Thursday night, but only was able to sleep for about an hour. I guess I was kind of anxious or excited about what I guess was my first long solo vacation.

I thought I might take a taxi to a nearby train station, but that didn't work out, so I simply drove to the airport, leaving my car in long-term parking. That cost me more than I really needed to spend to get to/from the airport. Oh well.

I had checked in online, but since there was no separate line for simply dropping off bags, I had to wait just as long as everyone else, which actually wasn't that long. I asked for and was assigned a window seat.

I breezed through passport control and security, and had about an hour and a half to kill in the duty-free shops. I grabbed some breakfast, knowing that Vueling charges for food on the plane.

We took off on time, I think I slept for about an hour and a half on the plane, and we landed on time.

It was a clear, crisp day, about 12 C/55 F, which was significantly cooler than what it had been where I live. But, I was prepared and dressed properly.

Getting through the Barcelona airport was also a breeze, and I was soon ready to make my way to the cruise port. I had researched transfer, taxi, and public transportation options, and decided to:

1. Take the free shuttle bus from terminal 1 to terminal 2
   
2. Walk over a parking lot to the Aeroport train station (actually, I walked through the parking lot to the train station, but had to walk all the way back to the terminal building and then back over the lot because there's no way to get from the parking lot into the train station)
   
3. Take the R2 train to the Barcelona Sants station (3.80 euros)
   
4. Take the L3 metro in the direction of Trinitat Nova to the Drassenes station (2 euros)
   
5. Walk past the Christopher Columbus statue at the bottom of La Ramblas
   
6. Take the port shuttle bus (2.50 euros - don't try to save a few euros by buying a return ticket, because it must be used the same day)
   

It's also possible to take one of the airport shuttle buses from either terminal into downtown Barcelona, final stop Plaza Catalunya, but it's a little more expensive at 5.90 euros. To save a metro ride, it's a brisk 20-minute walk from Plaza Catalunya to the bottom of La Ramblas.

Here's a selfie in front of the Christopher Columbus statue:

While I was making my way to the ship, I could feel the effects of my lack of sleep and the drop in temperature, and I could kind of feel that I was catching a cold, which is exactly what eventually happened.

I got to the cruise terminal a little after 13:00 local time. Checking in to the ship and boarding was mostly painless - except for what seemed like an eternity waiting on the elevated walkway right before boarding the ship. I'm afraid of heights, specifically suspended walkways such as this one, and this little episode made me quite nervous, although I just stood there quietly and suffered through what probably was no more than about a 20-minute wait until they fixed whatever had broken.

My nerves wouldn't completely calm down for a couple of hours or so, by which time I had already started wandering around and being impressed by this "little" ship. My two recent cruises were on significantly larger ships, but it really is the last thing I think of when booking a cruise. In fact, I got the feeling that the Spirit later handled rough seas more smoothly than the other two ships. In any case, size and motion did not affect me at all.

While wandering around the ship, I bought and drank a bottle of Apple Orchard Cider ($5.75 I think plus 15% automatic gratuity), a brand of cider I had never tasted before. I don't drink a lot of alcohol (anymore), but I have a distinct weakness for alcoholic cider, and this ship had both Strongbow and Apple Orchard in bottles. The Strongbow is a little drier, the Apple Orchard fruitier. I prefer Apple Orchard, and would later in the cruise have a few more.

I stopped by the bridge viewing room, and saw all of those plaques commemorating the ship's first arrival at ports. For example, Miami (for my family):

As the ship was originally built as the SuperStar Leo for Asian-based Star Cruises, a sister company to NCL, there are remnants to be found around the ship if you are looking for them. For example:

Muster/the safety drill was at 16:30, followed by a raffle drawing at the fitness center, where I first met one of the couples - Peggy and Ron - with whom I would end up spending a significant amount of time on this cruise.

I then went to the Windows main dining room aft on deck 6 for dinner. For the first time in my life, I ate lobster on its own, as opposed to being in a chowder or salad, as part of the Surf and Turf. Before I ordered it, I asked the waiter, and he said it was "like a big shrimp". It was, and it was good, as was the warm bread pudding for dessert.

I headed back to my room, unpacked, and took a badly needed shower. Unfortunately, that meant I pretty much missed one of my favorite parts of cruising: the sailaway. I simply couldn't continue walking around anymore, though. Here's what Barcelona looked like at 1930, as we pulled away:

That was it for me, and I went to sleep.

As a good friend mine says, More Soon.

Awesome, this is going to be great reading. Take your time as I'm not leaving till Jan 2015 LOL. Thansk for taking the time :):)

Awesome, this is going to be great reading. Take your time as I'm not leaving till Jan 2015 LOL. Thansk for taking the time :):)

Thank you for your kind words.

One minor clarification: I did buy food on the flight to Barcelona, a pizza of all things. I can't remember how much it cost, and I don't think it was that great, but it was filling. I didn't eat again until after I boarded the ship...

Spirits a great ship and we had one of our best ever cruises on her.

Enjoying the review so far, keep it coming :)

The Spirit is a unique and beautiful ship with a loyal following. Hope you enjoyed your cruise:)

Is that Monserrat way up on the hill? I love Barcelona I also travel solo and have done this cruise 6times solo love cruising europe. Looking forward to more

Love it! Keep those comments coming!

Great review so far. Keep it coming

I am enthralled with your review! We go on the same cruise in just 6 weeks. I am so anxious to hear all of the details, as this will be my first cruise with NCL. Thank you for writing a fine review!:)

I'm lurking on your review too! I agree the bread pudding was amazing and it isn't my favorite type of dessert. I had one almost every day! I also indulged in the chocolate croissants as well.

For those who haven't found my review a little tip: We did the Aeroport bus and it worked out great. 20.30 round trip for two. The walk from Cataluyna was not too difficult if you have small amounts of luggage. This is a better option for those who can't do stairs which I found were numerous in the metros and not all stops had elevators.

Looking forward to reading more of your review, we are at 120 days or so. Got my airfare today, funny it was within $50 bucks of what we paid for the cruise. But that is ok as it was cheaper today then when we have been looking at.

Thanks again for the tips and info you supplied on our roll call. Lydia of Ohio

Looking forward to your review. My first NCL cruise was on the Spirit and I loved it!

Enjoyed the first part of your review. Well done.

Keith

We did the Spirit to the Canary Islands earlier this year - It was ok....

Is that Monserrat way up on the hill? I love Barcelona I also travel solo and have done this cruise 6times solo love cruising europe. Looking forward to more

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

Nope, that's not Montserrat; those are hills to the north-northwest around Barcelona.

Montserrat is much further away, and further to the west, and I don't think you can see it from downtown Barcelona; it's about an hour's train ride away.

Also, I'm not including in this review all of the photos I've taken. If you want to see more photos, click here (you need to be signed in to facebook).

Looking forward to reading more of your review, we are at 120 days or so. Got my airfare today, funny it was within $50 bucks of what we paid for the cruise. But that is ok as it was cheaper today then when we have been looking at.

Thanks again for the tips and info you supplied on our roll call. Lydia of Ohio

We're in the same boat, so to speak: My airfare came out to about $90 less than what I paid for the cruise, taxes and fees, and prepaid gratuities.

Hello again, and again, thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.

Well, even though I only traveled one time zone away, I didn't sleep at all the night before my flight, and I in effect gave myself jetlag. I'm not usually a late-night person, and as I mentioned, I went to sleep the first night at around 20:00.

I woke up at 03:30 on day 2, a day at sea, and couldn't fall back to sleep. So, I decided to wander around the ship some more, at some point stopping by the Blue Lagoon, a 24-hour eatery on deck 7, for chocolate chip cookies. Good, but crisp, not chewy the way I prefer.

Then, after Raffles Court opened, at 06:00 I believe, I ate a bowl of fruit, part of my vacation routine.

After a couple of decades of avoiding waking up early, over the last few years I've developed a fondness for sunrises. The sky was almost clear the first morning on the ship, and the sun appeared a little before 0700:

I also went back to the fitness center and worked out for the first, last, and only time during this cruise. Well, "working out" for me means spending about a half-hour on one of those sit-down, stationary cycling machines. I also sat in the smallish sauna for a few minutes. The steam room was not working yet, so I skipped that.

I then went down to the Windows dining room for breakfast, and sat with Paula and David, a couple from the UK, and Marcel, a solo traveler from Switzerland.

Later that morning, I went to Henry's Pub for the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet, organized by Mark from our Roll Call. There, I met, in addition to Mark himself, his wife, and other roll callers:

• Derrick, Tami, and Natalie - Another couple originally from the US but now living in Germany, along with their daughter, with whom I would end up spending a significant time during the cruise.
  
• Kyle and Kathy - A third couple originally from the US with whom I would end up spending a significant time during the cruise. We discovered right away that they have been "long-term travelers" for the last year-and-a-half. For more information about them, click here.
  
• Lindsey, her husband, and their 20-month-old twins - Who is also writing a review, albeit from a different perspective than I am, and is lurking out there somewhere:)
  
• Helaine - A cheerful, sweet woman from New York with a single daughter close to my age (not on the cruise), who organized a couple of independent shore excursions and with whom I share a cultural bond. In fact, Helaine and her daughter would actually see each other in Grenada completely by chance. Alas, I did not take Helaine up on her offer to join her tour and missed the opportunity to meet her daughter.
  
• Petra - A friendly, fun, outgoing, single woman from Bulgaria via London, with whom I would also spend time during the cruise.
  

A fairly large group of ship officers attended and introduced themselves, which was quite nice.

When the group broke up, I was sitting and talking with Kyle and Kathy, and asked them if they were in a hurry, which they weren't. So, we sat and chatted for a while. I was enchanted, to put it bluntly. While the country where I live is my home, the idea of traveling on a more or less permanent basis has strong appeal to me. For example, the residential ship The World recently called at a port about a half-hour from where I live, and I tried to get a tour.

The obvious question most people have about long-term traveling concerns how one pays for such a lifestyle. Well, simply put, one doesn't need to be independently wealthy to be a long-term traveler. For example, one can work along the way, either long-distance via the Internet, or locally, teaching English for instance.

Also, traveling does not have to cost more money than living in a particular place, and in fact, in many places, it can cost significantly less. Then again, I doubt Kyle and Kathy spend a lot of their time staying in five-star hotels. Like when one has a permanent home, it's a matter of needs and expectations.

Anyway, the whole idea fascinated me, and to make speaking with them even more enjoyable, Kyle and Kathy are easy-going, open, friendly, and fun to be with.

We eventually left Henry's Pub, I to Raffle's Terrace for a German buffet, followed by the Latitudes Cocktail Party in the Galaxy of the Stars:

There, I sat down in the front row of chairs next to Cristina, a fun, friendly woman from Barcelona, who was also traveling solo. Unfortunately, I was already starting to feel the effects of a cold, and my throat was quite sore, so I found it difficult to speak. But, I did enjoy my chat with her.

After the cocktail party, at which I had something alcoholic to drink (free) but can't remember what, I decided to go to the steam room next to Galaxy and try to alleviate my cold symptoms. Like the dry sauna, it is small, and with people coming in and leaving, it wasn't terribly hot. It did help a little, though.

While sitting at the steam room, I met someone who originally booked an inside stateroom and kept getting upgraded, eventually paying about half of what NCL offered to finally upgrade him from a balcony to the penthouse suite!

That evening was Norwegian's Night Out, so I went to my room, changed, and went to the Garden main dining room, mid-ship on deck 6, for dinner. I was sat at a table of six I think, and it took a long time for them to fill the table, take our orders, and bring our food. By the time I finished the main course, my cold symptoms were really bothering me and I excused myself before ordering dessert. I was so uncomfortable, I don't remember what I ate nor whether I thought it was particularly good, but I also don't remember being disappointed either.

I went to Blue Lagoon and grabbed some cookies, and then up one deck to the gift shop for some Hall's cough drops.

It had been a long day, and I was not feeling well, so I was asleep by about 21:00, thus recording a second straight night of not sampling any of the ship's evening entertainment options.

Again, for more pictures, click here.

Loving your review. We got off the Spirit the day you got on!

As mentioned in a previous post, I was assigned room 10099, a IA Mid-Ship Inside stateroom.

According to the NCL website, IA rooms are about 149 square feet/14 square meters, which, if accurate for room 10099, was comfortable for me, if not spacious. I can imagine it being uncomfortably small for two or more people, for more than a couple of nights, but I'm also not used to sharing my living or vacation space with anyone else.

10099 is on the starboard side, close to the mid-ship elevators, and as mentioned, I could not hear noise from the elevators nor from people entering or leaving them. I did hear some noise from my next-door neighbors, but not often and not too loud for it to bother me.

This room, unlike many inside rooms, is parallel lengthwise to the hallway, and the door from the hallway opens into the middle of the room, not the end. Doesn't make any difference to me.

Here is the basic layout of the room, although in 10099, again, the door from the hallway opens into the middle of the room, at the foot of the beds, from the bottom in this diagram, and therefore that chair is not in the room:

Also, in 10099, the closet doors slide.

The location was extremely convenient for me. Only two decks up are the mid-ship entrances to Raffle's Court and the pool/hot tub area. Another deck up, golf practice nets and basketball/soccer court are close by. Also, deck 13 aft - a heliport - is completely open with deck chairs and became a favorite place to relax and watch the ship sail away from ports.

Raffle's Terrace is an open area aft on decks 10-12, so that's also a short walk away.

It was also a short walk to the front elevators/stairs on deck 10, and from there it was easy to get to the public areas at the front of the ship such as Galaxy of the Stars, Champagne Charlie's, Henry's Pub, and the casino.

Many public areas of the ship are located on decks 7 and 8, so it was only two or three decks down from room 10099.

Four decks below room 10099, on deck 6, is the Garden main dining room, but I more often ate at the Windows main dining room, deck 6 aft, which meant walking to the rear stairs/elevators. Note: Access to Windows is only via the rear stairs/elevators. The galley prevents walking on deck 6 from mid-ship to Windows. Similarly, access to staterooms at the front of deck 6 is only via the front stairs/elevators.

Im going on this on Tuesday! hope we get to the end before I leave:)

Thanks for the review, look forward to the rest.

A good start...looking forward to the rest.

Great review so far... Hope, you´ll be done with it before I leave for the Spirit next Monday ;)

I'm enjoying reading your review. I'm not doing this itinerary, but will be doing a cruise in January on the Jade/med. I did consider this itinerary though. I'm also interested in it from a solo travellers point of view as January I always have 5-6 weeks off work which doesn't fit into my traveling companions work plans, so if I want to travel in January I have to do it solo. I also like the thought of being a full time traveller.

I envy those cruisers whose flights are a similar price to the cruise. For me my airfares are always 3 to 4 times more. 12 weeks out seems to be the best window for booking flights as the cost of the airfare can rise significantly or you have less choice of dates and times. (I'm always traveling during peak school vacation time over here in Aus). I have already saved $1000 by booking my flights 9 weeks ago. So now I just book the cheapest category for the cruise and then if the cost of the cruise goes down I ring and negotiate a better cabin. My inside cabin for the second part of my B2B is now a balcony. The first part of the B2B-28th Dec is nearly sold out so it was just as well I bought in when I did.

Looking forward to reading more of your review! :)

We're in the same boat, so to speak: My airfare came out to about $90 less than what I paid for the cruise, taxes and fees, and prepaid gratuities.

Same here. I paid more in airfare then for the four of us on the cruise!