NCL Spirit & recent reviews

[missinver]

Cagneys - some of the starters are different but the main courses seem to be the same with the same prices.

 

Le Bistro - a lot of the menu is different - I had "les quatres cornets" for starters which was little cones with different fillings. Also my main course was a seafood selection (lobster, shrimp, scallops) on puff pastry.

 

Our bill at Le Bistro was just under $70 and that was 3 courses each (we had UBP so no drink charge). Cagneys was nearer $60 but we didn't bother with pudding here.

 

Both were excellent but my favourite was Cagneys!!

[KeithJenner]

Thanks, that's the first report back from the roll out and, as we suspected may happen, it seems they have tweaked it a bit.

[Podie]

Oh, we completely understand that the ships and lines are not comparable.

 

However, the itinerary on the Spirit cruise is amazing. The Quest itinerary has a couple of ports that - while fantastic - don't interest us as much. We are much more interested in Rome, Athens and Ephesus rather than Monte Carlo. I'm sure Monte Carlo is fabulous and we should absolutely go there, but my husband is a minister and we would love to visit some of the Eastern Mediterranean ports instead. And, the Quest cruise leaves the Tuesday after Easter, and we cannot leave the U.S. until late afternoon Easter Sunday, so we'll be high tailing it to get to Europe! :)

 

Thanks so much for your offer to report back. We would appreciate it!

 

Thanks!

 

Personally, I would go with the itinerary you like best. I did a 10 day Equinox which included Rome, Athens, and Kusadasi (Ephesus) and it was spectacular. We used Samelyi's (Sammy's) Tours for Ephesus and they were fantastic. My only recommendation would be to avoid cruising Europe in August as most of the Italians are on vacation so all the tour spots are unbelievably crowded, and half the places in Italy are closed.

[dexddd]

Cagneys - some of the starters are different but the main courses seem to be the same with the same prices.

 

Le Bistro - a lot of the menu is different - I had "les quatres cornets" for starters which was little cones with different fillings. Also my main course was a seafood selection (lobster, shrimp, scallops) on puff pastry.

 

Our bill at Le Bistro was just under $70 and that was 3 courses each (we had UBP so no drink charge). Cagneys was nearer $60 but we didn't bother with pudding here.

 

Both were excellent but my favourite was Cagneys!!

 

Were there just two of you?

[firstbadger]

I am LITERALLY at the same decision point you are. My bff and I are going next Spring, and we have the Quest, Equinox, and the Spirit all booked. Next weekend I'll be in her area, and we agreed it's decision time!

 

 

 

This thread is very helpful, and I'm very happy to see the great reviews. My friend and I each have one other NCL cruise each, and we were both disappointed. So, I will be happy to report to her next weekend what I'm seeing here.

 

 

 

We are already leaning heavily toward the Spirit because of the itinerary. I was also able to book during their promo and got 5 nights specialty dining, plus a $200 credit for shore excursions. The fact that the itinerary we have booked includes the major Italian ports, PLUS it ends in Venice, is huge to us. We will be spending 1-2 nights post-cruise in Venice, then take the train to Rome to have another day there (it's also on the cruise itinerary).

 

 

 

The price for the Spirit is literally half of the Quest for 4 additional nights, so it's really a great cruise.

 

 

 

If you decide on the Spirit, I recommend you watch the promos to see if they offer the multiple perks promo again. Right now they are offering one perk for our sailing.

 

 

We just got off the Spirit and enjoyed our cruise. I would not hesitate to sail her again, but we've been on the equinox and it was our favorite ship of the 6 we've done. We did have aqua class for it which helped too

[missinver]

Dexddd - yes just the 2 of us.

[MarciaTenny]

Does anyone have a pic of the closet? Trying to gage how much space/what kind of space there is!

 

 

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[epermar]

We just returned from a seven day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Spirit. I, too, was concerned after reading many negative reviews, but our experience on the Spirit was very good. First, we stayed in cabin 9596, midship forward with a balcony, 201 SF. We were close to elevators and stairs and the cabin itself was very adequate in size, larger than others on the ship (smaller 170 SF). We enjoyed the smaller ship size. It felt more intimate, and we recognized faces quickly, passengers and crew. Our experience with the crew was most everyone was very friendly and eager to please. I believe you get out of it what you put into it personally in how you interact with them. We did not have five star expectations. Overall, the food was very good. We ate at the Raffles buffet daily for breakfast; it is the same every day with slight variations (in the breads/pastries), but something for all tastes. Dinnertime we ate at the two main dining rooms, The Garden (less formal, shorts for guys OK) and Windows (more formal, men in pants/jeans and closed toed shoes for dinner). The variety of menu items was very good; some entrees are constants and each night there are new/different entrees from which to choose in addition. Our "guys" had the warm chocolate volcano dessert (served with a choc chip ice cream gelato) every single night they loved it so much. We also had "snacks" at Blue Lagoon....wings, spinach artichoke dip, burgers....all good. We did not participate in a lot of the activities, rather we relaxed, played cards, visited with our friends and went to a few of the shows, most of which we thought were pretty good...Soul Rockin' Nights, the aerial act last night was mesmerizing and a little sensual, the comedian was good (her material at 9:30 show was suited for adult crowd). Our group of four (two couples) took advantage of the early spa special, $129 or $139 plus automatic 18% gratuity for 75 minute treatment which included full body massage, scalp massage, foot massage and facial. It was a first for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great way to start out our vacation. Go to the raffle at the Fitness Center/Spa the first day of the cruise; they gave out a few $75 and $100 credits and one $500 credit. There were maybe 40 people there, and although no one in our group won, your chances are very good, and that is when we got the flyer for the special. FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS!

Edited January 25, 2016 by epermar

[epermar]

Does anyone have a pic of the closet? Trying to gage how much space/what kind of space there is!

 

 

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I just posted on another thread about this but not sure yet how to share. Basically, it was a good sized two door closet, plenty of room for my and my husband's clothes. There were 12-15 hangers, most with a bar on which to hang pants and/or clips. I put pants and a shirt on one hanger. We also packed some plastic department store hangers to take with us, and ended up sharing them with our friends in the cabin next door. There are about five shelves in the corner inside the closet where you store a great deal of folded clothes (athletic wear, jeans, t-shirts. Then the small entertainment center has four small pullout drawers which were nice for small items like bras, panties, swimwear, socks. I would say the closet was 8'. No worries with clothes storage, just perhaps take a few extra hangers if you have a lot you want to hang.

[Ladybug487]

Everyone -

 

Thank you so much for your comments, advice, suggestions and reviews. If we were able to take the European cruise, we had decided to go with the NCL Spirit because we loved the itinerary. After more planning and number crunching, we have decided that this vacation is out of our range for next year. We will plan ahead for it and make it happen in the future because it truly will be the vacation of a lifetime. Due to kids in college and more, it may need to be the 30th anniversary trip. :)

 

Thanks again to all of you! Enjoy your cruises!

[Tyskie]

Everyone -

 

Thank you so much for your comments, advice, suggestions and reviews. If we were able to take the European cruise, we had decided to go with the NCL Spirit because we loved the itinerary. After more planning and number crunching, we have decided that this vacation is out of our range for next year. We will plan ahead for it and make it happen in the future because it truly will be the vacation of a lifetime. Due to kids in college and more, it may need to be the 30th anniversary trip. :)

 

Thanks again to all of you! Enjoy your cruises!

 

It is a pricey trip - we did the same ports last year on Princess (they are no longer doing this itinerary) - you don't want to scrimp on what you spend for this type of trip - do it when you're more comfortable :) (I couldn't imagine swinging it while the kids were in college). btw: the Turkey ports have been canceled for 2016 - so what you really wanted to see, won't be what you see!

Things always work out for a reason. :)

[MarciaTenny]

I just posted on another thread about this but not sure yet how to share. Basically, it was a good sized two door closet, plenty of room for my and my husband's clothes. There were 12-15 hangers, most with a bar on which to hang pants and/or clips. I put pants and a shirt on one hanger. We also packed some plastic department store hangers to take with us, and ended up sharing them with our friends in the cabin next door. There are about five shelves in the corner inside the closet where you store a great deal of folded clothes (athletic wear, jeans, t-shirts. Then the small entertainment center has four small pullout drawers which were nice for small items like bras, panties, swimwear, socks. I would say the closet was 8'. No worries with clothes storage, just perhaps take a few extra hangers if you have a lot you want to hang.

 

 

Thanks so much for your response!

 

 

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