NCL Spirit - Mediterranean Cruise Review - August 2017

Ok, so I'm a little late on posting a review... Better late than never...

Honestly, I had a great time on this cruise (11 Day Mediterranean Cruise - round trip Rome (Civitavecchia)) and loved the Spirit. She's an older ship, but she was perfect for the itinerary, did not find her overcrowded and had really no complaints whatsoever about anything onboard. Food was good, the entertainment I saw was fantastic and the staff was amazing.

I hope you enjoy my review, it's on my blog - I've currently posted Days 1 and 2.

I've also posted my NCL Spirit Dailies as well :)

Day 1 - https://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/01/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-1/

Day 2 - https://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/02/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-2/

Good to know. We will be on the Spirit in13 days.

Good to know. We will be on the Spirit in13 days.

Enjoy and safe travels! :)

Thanks for your comments!

Just posted my "day at sea" blog post, has a few more photos of the Spirit and around the ship:

http://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/04/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-4/

Thanks for your comments!

Thank for reading! :)

Nice review and great pictures. I have a question about passports. You mentioned that they took your passport at check in, is this standard practice on Norwegian? I've cruised other lines and I've never had them take my passport. We are sailing on the NCL Spirit in May out of Rome as well so I'm very curious about this.

Very nice review! Such a great itinerary. No better way to start fresh ;) I do have a question though. How come they took your passport? I would have imagined you would have needed this for getting off/on the ship for excursions?

Thanks for reading! :)

This was the best explanation that I could find in my paperwork:

"Passports are collected by the ship's staff upon embarkation in order to facilitate the ship's customs clearance in each port and to maximize guest's time ashore. Passports will be in the care of the ship's Chief Purser and will be returned prior to disembarkation. When a port requires that visitors have their passport in their possession to go ashore, they are redistributed to guests and then collected once they are board. We provide Passport receipts which guests hand back for passport collection. However, if guest does not want to surrender their passport at embarkation, they have to advise the staff and be made aware of the following:

1) They would be required to be back on board at least 2 hours before departure (which may then negate their tour and time in port) just in case immigration want to inspect passports. Some ports may want to do departure clearance at 1pm when we sail at 9 pm, in this case then the guest will be kept on board until we were clear outbound.

2) Arrival - same procedure, if we pull in at 6 am - we would expect the guest to be waiting in the lobby at 5:45am just in case immigration want to inspect. Generally, passports are collected in order to avoid having the guests queue up at every port for clearance (similar to what they have to do at an airport). The ship's Purser and staff takes care of the clearance and the guests can maximize their time at each port conveniently."

For my itinerary I did not need my passport off the ship as they pre-cleared us at every port. Also, we were in EU waters the entire cruise, that being said, I had a photocopy of my photo page of my passport and a photo of that page and also my page where my EU entry stamp was. I guess if you got into trouble, any official can follow you back to the ship and get your actual passport...

Hope this helps :)

Question about debarking in Rome... our itinerary says we arrive at like 6 am... I am used to Miami, and yeah, I think we get in that early, but we usually have breakfast and try to be in the last batch or so off the ship... around 10 am... trying to plan ahead, and if we purchase our train tickets in advance, can we still plan on breakfast and a leisurely morning? I know the process of getting off the ship can take some time, and can adjust for that... or should I not plan on pre-purchasing our train tickets? FYI... we cruise in July.

Question about debarking in Rome... our itinerary says we arrive at like 6 am... I am used to Miami, and yeah, I think we get in that early, but we usually have breakfast and try to be in the last batch or so off the ship... around 10 am... trying to plan ahead, and if we purchase our train tickets in advance, can we still plan on breakfast and a leisurely morning? I know the process of getting off the ship can take some time, and can adjust for that... or should I not plan on pre-purchasing our train tickets? FYI... we cruise in July.

Yes, definitely possible! I left the ship around 9:30am in Civitavecchia and caught the train back to Rome. You can also do a commuter train which instead of €16 per direction is about €5 per direction, makes a couple more stops than the express, but is only 15 mins slower overall. The Civitavecchia station is very small too, so even if you just purchased your ticket when you get back to the station for the return back to Rome, not a big deal :)

Yes, definitely possible! I left the ship around 9:30am in Civitavecchia and caught the train back to Rome. You can also do a commuter train which instead of €16 per direction is about €5 per direction, makes a couple more stops than the express, but is only 15 mins slower overall. The Civitavecchia station is very small too, so even if you just purchased your ticket when you get back to the station for the return back to Rome, not a big deal :)

Thanks!

Added a few more posts to my blog... Here's the one I added tonight about Athens:

http://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/08/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-6/

Day 7 in Santorini - http://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/09/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-7/

Great review! We had a lovely memory of the Spirit as well, thank you for posting pictures.

Nice review and great pictures. I have a question about passports. You mentioned that they took your passport at check in, is this standard practice on Norwegian? I've cruised other lines and I've never had them take my passport. We are sailing on the NCL Spirit in May out of Rome as well so I'm very curious about this.

It is not standard procedure for NCL. However, it happens on some itineraries due to entry requirements at some ports. The Eastern Med is probably the most usual place for it to happen, as a few countries there seem to require it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very nice review! Such a great itinerary. No better way to start fresh ;) I do have a question though. How come they took your passport? I would have imagined you would have needed this for getting off/on the ship for excursions?

All you need to get on and off the ship is your keycard. They do state to take a photo ID with you as well, and I usually carry my driving licence just in case. However, the total number of times I have actually required such ID in all my cruises in the Med is zero.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Question about debarking in Rome... our itinerary says we arrive at like 6 am... I am used to Miami, and yeah, I think we get in that early, but we usually have breakfast and try to be in the last batch or so off the ship... around 10 am... trying to plan ahead, and if we purchase our train tickets in advance, can we still plan on breakfast and a leisurely morning? I know the process of getting off the ship can take some time, and can adjust for that... or should I not plan on pre-purchasing our train tickets? FYI... we cruise in July.

There is a massive difference between arriving in a European port after a cruise like this and arriving in Miami. You just walk straight off the ship, collect your bags and walk off. No immigration checks or anything, which can sometimes cause a backlog in US ports.

By far the most time consuming part for you will be physically travelling to the train station. Make sure you know how you are doing that, and give yourself time if you are going to be using the port shuttle, for example.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is a massive difference between arriving in a European port after a cruise like this and arriving in Miami. You just walk straight off the ship, collect your bags and walk off. No immigration checks or anything, which can sometimes cause a backlog in US ports.

 

By far the most time consuming part for you will be physically travelling to the train station. Make sure you know how you are doing that, and give yourself time if you are going to be using the port shuttle, for example.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Keith! Do you use the port shuttle or recommend a different way of getting to the train? I am not a fan of queuing... but I wonder if the lines won’t be bad for a port shuttle if we take our time leaving the ship? Or does everyone do that?

Thanks Keith! Do you use the port shuttle or recommend a different way of getting to the train? I am not a fan of queuing... but I wonder if the lines won’t be bad for a port shuttle if we take our time leaving the ship? Or does everyone do that?

Whilst I have visited Rome quite a few times as a port of call, I have never actually disembarked there, so you can probably get better advice from others.

However, whilst I always use the port shuttle and walk, I doubt I would do it that way with luggage, as it is quite a walk to the station from the drop off point. I would probably get a taxi.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Whilst I have visited Rome quite a few times as a port of call, I have never actually disembarked there, so you can probably get better advice from others.

 

However, whilst I always use the port shuttle and walk, I doubt I would do it that way with luggage, as it is quite a walk to the station from the drop off point. I would probably get a taxi.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you! You are a wealth of info as always!

Whilst I have visited Rome quite a few times as a port of call, I have never actually disembarked there, so you can probably get better advice from others.

 

However, whilst I always use the port shuttle and walk, I doubt I would do it that way with luggage, as it is quite a walk to the station from the drop off point. I would probably get a taxi.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, disembarkation in Rome is really easy.

As you mentioned in another post you've already cleared customs, so it's just a matter of walking off the ship, picking up your luggage in the "terminal" then boarding the free shuttle to the port entrance/exit. From there I used the car service that was 5 euros to the train station including luggage per person :)

There is also the bus shuttle service that is 2 euros to the train station, however there can be a bit of a wait for that depending on the number of people waiting for it...

Wanderlust.....absolutely love your blog and pics.

Thanks!

Your photos are beautiful and the blog is a joy to read!

Wanderlust.....absolutely love your blog and pics.

 

Thanks!

Your photos are beautiful and the blog is a joy to read!

Thanks for reading, glad to hear you enjoy it :)