NCL Spirit from a frequent Celebrity cruiser

my wife and I took a port-intensive 11 night Adriatic July cruise along with son, DiL and grandson. We’ve done 35 or so cruises primarily on celebrity. We picked this cruise because of the stops, but were somewhat apprehensive due to the spirit’s age and the many negatives we read here..... age, wear, rust, leaks, smell, cabin problems, food, staff, service, et al.

We were more than happy with our experience. The ship was fine; little (or none) of any of he expected “problems”; attentive staff/bartenders, tasty variety of food in both the buffet and dining rooms, comfortable bedding, good water pressure with plenty of hot water, numerous well stocked bars with good pours.....

Negatives?....rooms were small....that’s about it; everything else We found to be the equal of celebrity. Would not hesitate to recommend the ship and this itinerary; we enjoyed it all.

The criticism that always surprises me the most about the Spirit is poor service.

The Spirit has an exceptional hotel director, who has been on the ship for many years and he always appears very popular with both staff and customers. A number of the staff I have spoken to have spoken very highly of him. I believe that he is one of the reasons why, in my opinion, service on the Spirit is usually fairly exceptional.

I wonder whether service levels may fall when he isn’t onboard.

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My experience was that the poor service was under other departments, although obviously he has influence. I certainly had a fantastic response from him when I brought the issues to his attention - and the vast majority of the staff were very good. But it made the three under-performing staff stand out like sore thumbs.

Good to hear that OP had a great cruise, and thanks for reviewing.

My opinion based on NCL Spirit (March 2018) and Celebrity Millennium (Jan 2018)

Ship overall NCL old with eastern flavor but nice -- Celeb Ship little Newer more modern -- Both equal IMHO

Cabins NCL smaller bathroom OK good shower toilet has sliding door very small, storage space very good also includes coffee maker with plenty of supplies super bed and great linens.

Cabins Celeb A little bigger and larger balcony, bathroom good, storage very good, no coffee maker, bed etc same.

Cabin Celeb just has edge.

Food NCL Food was very good with a good selection from Menu 4 places to eat evening meal 2 main restaurant + Asia + Buffet Main Dining room seats 480 but is very spacious with tables well spaced apart. 3 specialty restaurants from A La Carte Menu not fixed price. Teppanyaki fixed 29.95$ also 24 hour Cafe serving Wings Burgers Fish & Chips etc very good. Buffet Poor.

Food Celeb Not as good as NCL limited choices of places to eat, no 24 hour cafe, Buffet very good.

CC 2018 Best UK Cruise Ship For Dining NCL Spirit.

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/membe...ing&sort=large

Food must go with NCL

Bars and Drinks Package- Bars on NCL are not great just OK however drinks package selection very good.

Celeb Bars are better Martini Bar will not be beaten Drinks selection on package not as good.

Must go with Celeb for Martini bar alone.

Entertainment - Shows on NCL first class very very good, other activities not appealing to me, night time in Sky Lounge buzzing great, very much partying ship at night.

Celeb better theater however shows not up to NCL standard, activities better, night time good not as much partying though silent disco is a hoot.

This is hard one so going to say Equal

Dress Code NCL is freestyle so most things go some and some. Being snobbish dress code better on Celeb.

In conclusion yes would do another NCL trip not sure I would like the large ships, however not jumping ship Celebrity still my preferred cruise line.

I have tried to be fair and honest and this is just my opinion so not lets start world war 3.

John