Spirit Dining Questions

[HleeCruiser]

Will be on the Spirit in three weeks and was wondering about dining in the MDR'S. Of the two which is the dressier, Windows or Garden? Heard the service can be slow. In order to see the entertainment each evening how much time should we plan for the dinner meal?

 

Somewhat concerned after reading how spotty the service and the quality of the food can be on the Spirit. We do not expect gourmet meals but have become accustomed to well prepared dishes as we have been on over 30 cruises on most of the cruise lines. Would be very happy if the food and service is equal to Princess and RCCL. Whatever it is, we will make the best of it. To be fair, I have also read in some of the reviews that the food and service are very good.

 

Very excited about the islands of Spain, Portugal and of course Casablanca and Malaga.

 

Would love to hear from those who have been on the Spirit recently.

 

Thanks,

[Single Cruiser]

Windows is the "no shorts" dressier restaurant.

 

I mainly ate in Raffles and the speciality restaurants. Cagneys was best meal but even there service took 2hrs from seating to dessert. Teppenyaki was about 1.5hr service. The main show is on twice so it depends what time you eat. The MDR open around 5:30 so it's possible to eat before the 7:30 show but equally if you go to the later show you can eat 6/7PM . Or go to the show (most around 45-60 mins) then have dinner 8:30 .

 

She's a lovely ship despite her elderly age and the crew were great.

[Demonyte]

On all and every NCL ship the aft MDR is the dressier one. :)

[Froggitt]

Will be on the Spirit in three weeks and was wondering about dining in the MDR'S. Of the two which is the dressier, Windows or Garden? Heard the service can be slow.

Service is slow. You queue to get into the restaurant and get your card swiped. Then once in the restaurant, despite 80% of the tables being empty, you queue again to be seated. Then once seated, you wait for a menu. Then you wait for bread. Then wait for water. Then wait for food.

 

And at each stage you call over the waiter, and ask for menu/bread/water/food/delete as appropriate.

 

And then you ask for the head waiter, and he comes over, mutters something, and nothing ever happens to make it better.

[Big Chippy]

Will be on the Spirit in three weeks and was wondering about dining in the MDR'S. Of the two which is the dressier, Windows or Garden? Heard the service can be slow. In order to see the entertainment each evening how much time should we plan for the dinner meal?

 

Somewhat concerned after reading how spotty the service and the quality of the food can be on the Spirit. We do not expect gourmet meals but have become accustomed to well prepared dishes as we have been on over 30 cruises on most of the cruise lines. Would be very happy if the food and service is equal to Princess and RCCL. Whatever it is, we will make the best of it. To be fair, I have also read in some of the reviews that the food and service are very good.

 

Very excited about the islands of Spain, Portugal and of course Casablanca and Malaga.

 

Would love to hear from those who have been on the Spirit recently.

 

Thanks,

 

Well, like you I have read many reviews both good and bad re the Spirit. However speaking from personal experience the food in the main Dining Rooms and Raffles buffet is in my opinion of good quality and the service from staff excellent. One point with regard to service, we are not complainers, my wife is a very friendly outgoing person perhaps that helps!

 

We cruised on the Spirit last year and we are returning again in a couple of weeks, not something we would do had the food been poor. Like you we do not expect gourmet meals but we do eat very well at home and expect good quality food.

 

One further point, we have cruised on both Princess and RCCL in the last year or so and found the food (and everything else) on the Spirit to be of a comparable standard.

 

The Spirit is a quite unique ship and I am sure you will have a wonderful time.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Big Chippy

[Froggitt]

One further point, we have cruised on both Princess and RCCL in the last year or so and found the food (and everything else) on the Spirit to be of a comparable standard.

I know our opinions differ, but a comparison to another cruiseline is a good idea. We sailed Allure of the Seas last summer, and we couldn't fault at all the service or the food. It was excellent.

 

Even though we were My Time Dining with RCI, we were seated on the same table with the same waiters every night, whatever time we rocked up......although Im sure if we weren't there by a certain time, our table would have been given away. It was clear the waiters were driven by the rating we were to give them at the end of the cruise. This doesn't happen on NCL, due to the totally random nature of the waiters, and I am convinced that is why NCL service on the Spirit sucks......no-one regularly rates individuals, so they have no incentive to over-perform.

[KeithJenner]

This doesn't happen on NCL, due to the totally random nature of the waiters, and I am convinced that is why NCL service on the Spirit sucks......no-one regularly rates individuals, so they have no incentive to over-perform.

 

I have to disagree.

 

NCL run the Vacation Hero program, which encourages customers to report members of staff that are particularly good. In my experience you very often get exceptional service from many members of staff on NCL ships.

 

I haven't sailed on the Spirit yet, but it appears to have particular issues with regard to the MDR's. Reading reviews of all ships there appear to be more reports of slow service and lukewarm food on the Spirit than anywhere else. It has been suggested that there are issues about the location of the kitchens on the Spirit and I wonder how much that affects it.

 

Whatever the reason, it does appear that the Spirit comes out worse than other ships on the quality of the dining, but also has many reports of exceptional staff in other areas. I doubt whether that is because of the incentive system.

[Froggitt]

I have to disagree.

 

NCL run the Vacation Hero program, which encourages customers to report members of staff that are particularly good. In my experience you very often get exceptional service from many members of staff on NCL ships.

 

The problem with the VH program is that it relies on you remembering the name of the waiter on Monday, the assistant on Tuesday, another waiter on Wednesday, etc etc. So yes you can report good service, but its difficult.

 

RCI make it easy. They know who your assigned waiter is, and just give you a form that says "how good was your waiter" etc, rather than "give us the name of any waiter that was good". And think about it, how many waiters does NCL have on one boat with the same name?

[KeithJenner]

The problem with the VH program is that it relies on you remembering the name of the waiter on Monday, the assistant on Tuesday, another waiter on Wednesday, etc etc. So yes you can report good service, but its difficult.

 

RCI make it easy. They know who your assigned waiter is, and just give you a form that says "how good was your waiter" etc, rather than "give us the name of any waiter that was good". And think about it, how many waiters does NCL have on one boat with the same name?

 

Yes, but I don't see why this would cause a particular problem on the Spirit. There seems to be more to the dining issues on the Spirit than on any other NCL ship.

 

I'm not saying that VH is as good as any other lines program, but it undoubtedly has a positive impact on customer service. The fact that there are many complaints about slow service and lukewarm food on the Spirit seems to be due to something more than the staff incentive package.

[Froggitt]

The MDRs are poorly managed on the Spirit IMHO. I don't think whoever is in charge ever sees the service from the customer's viewpoint. e.g. there a queue to get in because there is already a queue of people already in, even though there are plenty of empty tables.

 

One day I waited half an hour at breakfast for some fried eggs and some toast, both of which were stone cold when they arrived......despite there being less than 50 customers in the dining room. And they brought water instead of the juice I asked for. And they didn't bring milk for my tea.......it just goes on......poorly trained staff who don't appear to care what service they are providing, and those staff are poorly managed.

 

Maybe the Spirit is at the bottom of the pile when it comes to getting staff e.g. good ones are pulled off onto the new ships, replaced by trainees or demotees.

[SteveH2508]

I can only speak from our one experience on the Spirit last New Year. We used the Windows dining room a couple of times (once for lunch - no problem; once for dinner - a bit slow but nothing major). We then went to the other smaller MDR for most of our dinners. We found the atmosphere more intimate and the service and food were absolutely fine - no issues with speed, temperature or flavour.We usually ate about 6.30pm - no waiting around.

 

We probably used the MDR more on that cruise than any other. The menus had more things that grabbed us than previously.

[lara_lox]

I was on the cruise with Froggitt and I have to agree that whilst I loved the Spirit in general, the MDR food and service (mainly the food quality and temperature) left a lot to be desired. Though saying that, the dishes varied hugely, so some were very nice whereas others were poor, it was very hit and miss.

 

Windows is the slightly more formal of the two, and a far nicer room in my opinion. Dinner did take quite a while, maybe 1.5-2 hours as others have said. We found going to the early show then for dinner afterwards (as long as you leave very promptly to avoid the queues) worked well for us for this reason.

 

The food in the specialty dining venues was consistently excellent, and I wish I had eaten in more of them. I know some people say they shouldn't have to pay extra when they have already paid for their cruise, but I felt that for a few dollars it was definitely worth it.

 

I did a very detailed review, in which I talk about food a lot, so the link is here if you want to check it out:

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1955033

[Single Cruiser]

I will say the steak I had at Cagneys was as good if not better than the equivalent on Epic. And the comfort food at the Blue Lagoon day/night was great.

 

Save space for the Raffles Chocolate Night as well. Towards the end of the cruise they shut the buffet at 8:30 and reopen later with everything chocolate!!

[Froggitt]

And the comfort food at the Blue Lagoon day/night was great.

Agreed. Most nights went there maybe 2am/3am for hot wings and fries.

 

And I agree with Lara that the pay restaurants that we went to (Bistro and Chinese) were excellent.

 

However it says a lot that the only rated food on Spirit was either not included in the fare, or was fast food.

[Da-Painter]

We were on the Spirit last year for the 12 day Med cruise, and found the 2 MDR's fine. Occasionally there was a minor wait, but we are on vacation and thats okay, we do not need to be anywhere, til the next morning.

We found the food and service very good. If you need to eat immediately, go to the buffett.

We did not experience any extra long meals, our food always was delivered hot and good, no complaints.

We ate in a few of the speciality restaurants as well.

 

Overall, we were so happy with everything we book a 10 day Canary cruise in the future, on the Spirit.

 

Everyone has their own opinions on all of this, just my opinion from my experience. :)

[TracieABD]

I was on the Spirit in late January. The food in the MDR was not up to par in temperature. The service was slow and uneven.

 

If I knew then what I know now, I would have purchased the Ultimate Dining Package. It took over 1 hour and 15 minutes to get soup and a salad in the MDR.

Edited March 16, 2014 by TracieABD

[CarolinaMamma]

I will be on the Spirit in a couple of weeks and read a lot of reviews (TracieABD and Lara Lox, I specifically remember reading yours, so thanks!)

 

We recently sailed on 2 MSC cruises. One was on a brand new ship (2nd week in service) and food was pretty good. On the other, food and service were mediocre, and there were a couple of things that were so bad we just couldn't eat them, so we know food quality can vary between ships from the same line.

 

DH and I are kind of foodies, and while we know that cruise ship food is mass produced and have moderate expectations, we were just not up for sub-par food and service this time. We purchased the UDP, which, considering the very good rate we got on our cruise fare, is not that big a splurge.

 

There are different opinions, of course, but having read a lot of reviews, I think there may be some problems with this particular MDR and am playing it safe by getting the UDP. Thanks to all the CC posters whose feedback will, we hope, help us have a more enjoyable cruise!

[SteveH2508]

CarolinaMamma - please report back on your findings. As you can see, there are differing opinions on Spirit's MDR - it would be a service to CC readers to provide other opinions.

[Big Chippy]

The following is an excerpt taken from the most recent review of the Spirit on the Cruise Critic website. Isn't it interesting how views differ, I am hoping this will be our experience when we cruise on her at the end of the month. :)

 

"Food – the Raffles Court buffet breakfast was consistently good with a wide ranging choice and sensible, healthy options. Freshly squeezed fruit juices were charged extra though. Lunch in the buffet also had plenty of choice. Plenty of hand-sanitisers in all eating areas and these were enthusiastically used by passengers - always a good sign. Dinner – both the Garden Room and Windows restaurants offered excellent food (superb steaks) with friendly, efficient service and nothing too much trouble. The term “complimentary” was frequently applied to these two restaurants – they’re not complimentary, you’ve already paid for them! There are dining venues that incur an additional cover charge ranging from $15 to $30 per person. On the last night of the cruise we were invited as guests of some people we’d met during the cruise to eat at Cagney’s Steakhouse ($30 extra pp). The meal was very disappointing and the steaks nothing like the quality in the “complimentary” restaurants. The evening ended in disaster when the waiter served coffee. He brought the jug of boiling hot liquid to the table and the contents somehow ended up in our host’s lap resulting in severe scalding to arms and legs. Not the best of endings ……"

[HleeCruiser]

Thanks for all the comments. Difficult to draw any conclusions since the responses reflect ratings from disappointing to excellent. None the less we are looking forward to our cruise on April 9, 2014. We have plans to dine in Le Bistro and the Italian restaurant. Balance of meals will be in MDR's and the buffet. On our last NCL cruise the meal at Cagney's on the Sun was very good and Le Bistro was excellent. As a matter of fact we dined in Le Bistro two times!!

 

We like Asian food and will probably dine in Shogun one evening.

 

Thanks again for your comments.

 

hlee

[romeo204]

I chose NCL Spirit for the amazing itinerary, not the food.

 

BARCELONA...TOULON...FLORENCE/PISA...ROME...NAPLES/POMPEII...MYKONOS...ISTANBUL...KUSADASI...ATHENS...and VENICE!

 

Feed me a freakin' cold cheeseburger and a flat pop for all I care! This is going to be AWESOME!!!

 

#pickypicky

[SBNDers]

i chose ncl spirit for the amazing itinerary, not the food.

 

Barcelona...toulon...florence/pisa...rome...naples/pompeii...mykonos...istanbul...kusadasi...athens...and venice!

 

Feed me a freakin' cold cheeseburger and a flat pop for all i care! This is going to be awesome!!!

 

#pickypicky

 

well said !!!!!!!

[Cruisercl]

I chose NCL Spirit for the amazing itinerary, not the food.

 

BARCELONA...TOULON...FLORENCE/PISA...ROME...NAPLES/POMPEII...MYKONOS...ISTANBUL...KUSADASI...ATHENS...and VENICE!

 

Feed me a freakin' cold cheeseburger and a flat pop for all I care! This is going to be AWESOME!!!

 

#pickypicky

 

I totally agree!!! I won't be sailing on the Spirit until next April (2015) but booked the cruise for the fabulous itinerary.

 

I have cruised NCL for just a few cruises but IMO did not have the negative experiences in the MDRs described on some of the posts here; that does not mean they did not happen.

 

This topic is always subjective and every cruise is different.

OP, hope you are enjoying your cruise. :)

[mypleasure]

 

The Spirit is a quite unique ship and I am sure you will have a wonderful time.

 

Stuart are you home yet. Gonna write anything about your trip? I am leaving on Tuesday!

[Delbankin]

I chose NCL Spirit for the amazing itinerary, not the food.

 

BARCELONA...TOULON...FLORENCE/PISA...ROME...NAPLES/POMPEII...MYKONOS...ISTANBUL...KUSADASI...ATHENS...and VENICE!

 

Feed me a freakin' cold cheeseburger and a flat pop for all I care! This is going to be AWESOME!!!

 

#pickypicky

 

Having cruised on Spirit in January I'd say be careful what you wish for. If you like cold cheeseburgers and flat pop you should be OK on Spirit. For me, I'm looking for a little bit more from my vacation and money than the destinations!