Spirit ship issues - Western Med 6/28 sailing

Hi guys!

Just got off the Norwegian Spirit last Sunday. I will say it was probably the best itinerary I've done, although a lot of that comes with experience. With 13 years experience cruising I know what traps to avoid, and the last time I cruised in Europe was 11 years ago. So possibly having more experience made the Mediterranean seem better than the Baltic. Crew was also very good overall, save for a few mentioned later in this posting.

Anyhow as to the ship itself, thing is showing its age. Had balcony staterooms on 10 port forward with interconnecting door. Cabin certainly seemed cursed, but apparently I'm not alone with these "curses". Furniture was definitely dated and a bit worn, as was the decor, especially the 90's fish tiles in the bathroom. Door handle to balcony broke and was replaced by carpenter after leaving a note for our steward.

Some things just seemed more like neglect than age. One of my large group talked with a fellow passenger who had booked three straight cruises on the Spirit. That passenger said that in the more than a month they had been on the ship, the middle glass elevator was broken the entire time. It was annoying that the midship elevators, which get the most passenger flow, had a unit down with a "maintenance" sign up despite zero maintenance being performed whatsoever. This is completely unacceptable by all standards.

Other issues dealt with things that clearly weren't part of the ship when it was inaugurated in 1998. One of those is wi-fi. A total joke. Cabin was supposed to get 250 minutes complementary, but aside from about 10 minutes after redeeming name and room number for activation, it did not work at all during the entire cruise.

Room service was another issue. The first port of call was Livorno in the Tuscany region, and I had a very early tour. Ordered room service the night before, and absolutely nothing came the morning of or the time it was scheduled. Had to scramble, run to the buffet, and eat fast as a horse (or just skimp on food) in order to get to the tour on time. Mind you, the day before I had arrived from the East Coast of the US so I was still jetlagged. This was grave human error.

But the real kicker came the night before and the morning of Barcelona. During the day we learned that there was a pipe replacement that night. But whatever really happened, it was gross. So I get up in the middle of the night and look in the bathroom. It looked like someone had forgotten to flush the toilet so I flushed it again. However, the water was still yellow. I turn on the sink and yellow water was coming out.

From there gets even crazier. Soon after, my cabin gets hit with a giant stench of sulphur. So we have to open up the balcony doors to air the place out. But it gets worse. This is Barcelona on a Monday morning. Their port is enormous and extremely loud. So the air starts flowing in and I get hit with one of the biggest diesel exhaust stenches ever. And only to mention the banging of the containers and obnoxious loud beeping, so loud it woke up others who had their cabin doors closed that morning. It was insane. Had I been a person with asthma, I may have had to get rushed into an emergency room. I had a hard time breathing myself and the stenches made me a bit dizzy. This stench is dangerous for people with certain illnesses, only to mention contaminated water.

Anyhow gripes aside it was a good cruise, with a great itinerary, and many excellent service staff from a very diverse array of nations. Air conditioning was probably the best of all seven cruises I've been on. But the cruise line really needs to step up their game with maintenance and upkeep. Several of the things I experienced were simply unacceptable. And this all happened after its so called 2017 renovation. Just because the ship is older, doesn't mean that it should be neglected or that passengers' experience should suffer.

This really is too bad. My first two cruises were on the Spirit and it is still my favorite ship. Would love to sail her again but they won’t send her back to Boston in US. Hope they fix her up because she is a very unique ship.

Sorry to hear it has not gotten better. The Spirit was my second cruise in 2006. If it had been my first I probably would never have cruised again. Horrible tiny rock hard beds, skinny low chairs made for the Asian market. Plumbing issues no one wanted to deal with. Surly, nasty MDR staff, long waits for seating and for food. Still waiting for the drinks we ordered with dinner!

Whenever a thread like this comes up, you can be sure a whole hoard of people will jump on saying how Spirit is their favourite ship etc. but with reports like this I am struggling to see how it can be. However, I respect their opinion, but I would be disappointed if I believed all of that commentary and actually booked Spirit, then experienced the issues you did, having parted with my money based on those 'glowing' reviews.

People should be pushing NCL to improve, not lauding them for offering something that is outdated and needs maintained and refurbished (or pushed out of the fleet).

Glad you enjoyed the rest of your trip. :D

Whenever a thread like this comes up, you can be sure a whole hoard of people will jump on saying how Spirit is their favourite ship etc. but with reports like this I am struggling to see how it can be.

I think that it’s quite easy to see why people can love the Spirit whilst these sort of issues are reported.

Without doubt, the Spirit does suffer occasionally from issues with the plumbing and smells from the toilet area. There are enough reports to say that this is the case. However, for the majority of people there isn’t an issue.

I have sailed in 4 different rooms on the ship, and have on one occasion had a toilet which had a slight “musty” smell. Other than that I have had no problems at all. Neither has anyone else I have met on the ship, or friends I know who have been on the ship reported any such issues. That would make for dozens of rooms and probably around a year of sailing time without any problems at all.

I love the ship (it’s not necessarily my favourite, but certainly one of them). I think it’s a great ship for so many reasons, and in order for me to change that opinion I would need to encounter a negative myself, not read about it from a stranger on the internet (I’m not disputing their report in any way though).

One thing from the original report. The issue with the lift would sound to me like one where they are awaiting parts. That usually explains why something is closed for maintenance, but no work is actually happening. Of course that is just speculation.

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I think that it’s quite easy to see why people can love the Spirit whilst these sort of issues are reported.

 

Without doubt, the Spirit does suffer occasionally from issues with the plumbing and smells from the toilet area. There are enough reports to say that this is the case. However, for the majority of people there isn’t an issue.

 

I have sailed in 4 different rooms on the ship, and have on one occasion had a toilet which had a slight “musty” smell. Other than that I have had no problems at all. Neither has anyone else I have met on the ship, or friends I know who have been on the ship reported any such issues. That would make for dozens of rooms and probably around a year of sailing time without any problems at all.

 

I love the ship (it’s not necessarily my favourite, but certainly one of them). I think it’s a great ship for so many reasons, and in order for me to change that opinion I would need to encounter a negative myself, not read about it from a stranger on the internet (I’m not disputing their report in any way though).

 

One thing from the original report. The issue with the lift would sound to me like one where they are awaiting parts. That usually explains why something is closed for maintenance, but no work is actually happening. Of course that is just speculation.

 

 

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Fair enough - I'm a big fan of Jade and have been on her several times, but I'm sure people can and do find fault with her.

I think my point was that people should be a bit more balanced when it comes to assessing the ship - as I say, if I spent money on the back of reading 'glowing' comments about Spirit (without acknowledging the downsides), I'd be disappointed.

Your comment is an example of balanced, as you acknowledge that people can suffer issues on this ship - despite never having experienced them yourself.

P.S - I board Breakaway tomorrow and looked up your updated specialty dining guide last night - to decide what to use the Platinum vouchers for and what to use the 3DP for - many thanks for updating this guide, great resource! :)

To me, Spirit IS a beautiful ship. Very unique ship, as she was delivered as SuperStar Leo and much of the Star Cruises decor is kept in place. Spirit also has one of the best and most beautiful atriums in the entire NCL fleet, and that's on the oldest NCL ship too!

Spirit has one of the most interesting histories too. Joined the Norwegian fleet to fill in for Sky, which was filling in for the delayed Pride of America on the Hawaii routes. So Spirit, the former Leo, had to assume those NCL routes left vacant by Sky. And while Sky is Sky again and not part of NCL America, Spirit has remained with NCL since 2004, as among the most unique ships in the fleet, save for sister SuperStar Virgo which is still active with Star Cruises.

To be honest I feel bad for the ship. Yes she's older but a lot has to do with neglect by NCL itself. The non-working wi-fi, the broken elevator midship, the room service fiasco, replacing a pipe without any warning, all could have been prevented. It's more about keeping your entire fleet in "ship shape" than anything else.

I'm not sure what the deal is either on the Spirit. Despite being the oldest in the fleet it is my favorite. After the last drydock there wasn't a ton done so there was speculation it was going away yet it remains scheduled in Europe with some really good routes and IMO high prices so it must be making them money and they'll milk it for a few more years until the maintenance gets too expensive and it gets less appealing to the market. Probably not too easy to sell either so keep it as long as possible.

That's too bad to hear. The Spirit was the fist ship I sailed on, and I then I sailed on her again a few years later. To this day, she is my favorite ship. It's too bad that maintenance is lacking.

I've been on both the Jewel and the Spirit. In terms of design, architecture, and passenger flow of the ship, the Spirit is probably the better one. The six-deck atrium is a stunning centerpiece which is hard to find in the Norwegian fleet. Passenger flow is good overall and the size is perfect. However the maintenance issues in addition to some dated decor made the Spirit my least favorite to sail on. The Jewel was in great shape when I sailed on it in 2011, as it was only about six years old at the time. It's pretty sad since the Spirit would have been really nice to sail on it back in the mid-00's right after being delivered to NCL from Star Cruises. Had we had a ship in excellent "ship shape" on our itinerary, Norwegian would have done possibly my favorite cruise.

Spirit, even when I read the reviews beforehand that the ship was dated and had some issues, was my absolute favorite.

I'm seriously contemplating booking her again soon because I'm worried there's a good chance she won't be around much longer for NCL.