NCL Spirit post Dry Dock

[FSNA5861]

Since the Spirit just came out of a short Dry Dock, does anybody know what improvements have been made to the ship.

 

Would also like to know the name of the ship officers, cruise director, etc.

[TrumpyNor]

Since the Spirit just came out of a short Dry Dock, does anybody know what improvements have been made to the ship.

 

Would also like to know the name of the ship officers, cruise director, etc.

 

Link to separate thread regarding names of ship officers etc:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2436678

[FSNA5861]

Link to separate thread regarding names of ship officers etc:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2436678

 

Thanks, saw that thread but no info on the Spirit. This is why I asked the question on the post dry dock thread as it would be recent information.

[mypleasure]

Armando Da Silva is currently on board as Hotel Director.

 

Cannot help with any others. Sorry.

[trvlgirlmq]

I would be interested in finding out if they have refreshed the rooms at all. We just booked our first NCL cruise on Spirit and the pictures I have seen online are not nice. The rooms are so dated and the carpets and bedding is not great (looking at the family inside rooms). I have also read horrible things about the hair dryers. I must have a decent dryer in order to tame my frizz.

[FSNA5861]

Armando Da Silva is currently on board as Hotel Director.

 

Cannot help with any others. Sorry.

 

Thanks for the info. Armando Da Silva is a great hotlel director who is always omnipresent and cares for your satisfaction.

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Anyone have any updates as to what was done in dry dock? I'm guessing not a lot, but I'm curious as to whether rooms/ beds were updated as it seemed to be a common complaint I read in reviews.

 

That said I can't wait til our med cruise on the 18th May. It's our first ever cruise :D:)

[lujaha]

Anyone have any updates as to what was done in dry dock? I'm guessing not a lot, but I'm curious as to whether rooms/ beds were updated as it seemed to be a common complaint I read in reviews.

 

That said I can't wait til our med cruise on the 18th May. It's our first ever cruise :D:)

 

I too have been wondering about the dry dock. I last went on the Spirit 2 years ago, and while the public rooms were fine, the cabins were in need of a facelift even back then. I am going next Monday on said ship and if no-one has posted before I will report back on my return on 23rd Feb.

[TrumpyNor]

I too have been wondering about the dry dock. I last went on the Spirit 2 years ago, and while the public rooms were fine, the cabins were in need of a facelift even back then. I am going next Monday on said ship and if no-one has posted before I will report back on my return on 23rd Feb.

 

Thank you!!!

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

I too have been wondering about the dry dock. I last went on the Spirit 2 years ago, and while the public rooms were fine, the cabins were in need of a facelift even back then. I am going next Monday on said ship and if no-one has posted before I will report back on my return on 23rd Feb.

 

Oh wonderful! Thank you. Have a lovely holiday and I look forward to reading about it and any changes made. :) Will you do a full review?

[Clownboy&jobo]

I too have been wondering about the dry dock. I last went on the Spirit 2 years ago, and while the public rooms were fine, the cabins were in need of a facelift even back then. I am going next Monday on said ship and if no-one has posted before I will report back on my return on 23rd Feb.

 

could you e-mail me pendlebury121@aol.com any updates as we follow you onto SPIRIT 23rd onwards so I may miss your update :)

 

Regards Mark

[lujaha]

could you e-mail me pendlebury121@aol.com any updates as we follow you onto SPIRIT 23rd onwards so I may miss your update :)

 

Regards Mark

 

Hi Mark, if I can email from my mobile I will update you. I will make a note of your email address and pop it in my handbag right now!

 

Regards Jan

[Clownboy&jobo]

Hi Mark, if I can email from my mobile I will update you. I will make a note of your email address and pop it in my handbag right now!

 

Regards Jan

 

many thanks Jan..... if you cannot please don't go out of your way............. enjoy your cruise

 

Mark

[michaeljc70]

The cruise director was Jill. She was British and I cannot remember her last name. I didn't have a problem with the service. It was good overall as was the food. The ship is another story.... I much preferred the cruise director staff though on the Sun in December. Seemed to have a lot more interesting and fun activities and just be more interactive overall. Jill did a good job but her underlings seemed to be lacking. Don't get me wrong, they tried and were enthusiastic. It just fell short.

 

Here is my post from another thread. I was on the ship this week:

 

 

"I was on the last sailing of the Spirit. Let me say that I knew going into it this was not a new ship. However, I thought NCL and comparable companies had minimum standards. If anything was refurbished, I couldn't tell. The ship is old. My cabin had more defects than my last 10 cabins combined. The common areas are not great in my opinion, but better than my stateroom. It is a hodgepodge. The Asian theme exists in most of the ship, but the pool, spa and main dining room have a Roman theme. Makes no sense to me. Cagney's steakhouse has an Asian decor. The flow is bad on the ship.

 

There was more wear on the ship than I've seen before in 10+ cruises. More rust. More torn carpet.

 

 

In my cabin (outside), they put a panel on the wall to cover something. Like if you had a huge hole in your wall at home and you just screwed a piece of drywall on rather than fixing it properly. There was another panel with marker on the wall like they were going to do something and decided not to. The carpet was frayed. There was a 4 inch open seam on the chair. The bed had nightstand on only one side and around 12 inches to get into bed on the one side. The clothesline didn't retract. A ceiling light was missing a cover. I could go on and on. Almost all of these things were cosmetic.

 

 

I am comparing the Spirit to the cruises I've taken on NCL, RC and Celebrity. I've taken 5 NCL cruises."

[Clownboy&jobo]

The cruise director was Jill. She was British and I cannot remember her last name. I didn't have a problem with the service. It was good overall as was the food. The ship is another story.... I much preferred the cruise director staff though on the Sun in December. Seemed to have a lot more interesting and fun activities and just be more interactive overall. Jill did a good job but her underlings seemed to be lacking. Don't get me wrong, they tried and were enthusiastic. It just fell short.

 

Here is my post from another thread. I was on the ship this week:

 

 

"I was on the last sailing of the Spirit. Let me say that I knew going into it this was not a new ship. However, I thought NCL and comparable companies had minimum standards. If anything was refurbished, I couldn't tell. The ship is old. My cabin had more defects than my last 10 cabins combined. The common areas are not great in my opinion, but better than my stateroom. It is a hodgepodge. The Asian theme exists in most of the ship, but the pool, spa and main dining room have a Roman theme. Makes no sense to me. Cagney's steakhouse has an Asian decor. The flow is bad on the ship.

 

There was more wear on the ship than I've seen before in 10+ cruises. More rust. More torn carpet.

 

 

In my cabin (outside), they put a panel on the wall to cover something. Like if you had a huge hole in your wall at home and you just screwed a piece of drywall on rather than fixing it properly. There was another panel with marker on the wall like they were going to do something and decided not to. The carpet was frayed. There was a 4 inch open seam on the chair. The bed had nightstand on only one side and around 12 inches to get into bed on the one side. The clothesline didn't retract. A ceiling light was missing a cover. I could go on and on. Almost all of these things were cosmetic.

 

 

I am comparing the Spirit to the cruises I've taken on NCL, RC and Celebrity. I've taken 5 NCL cruises."

 

hopefully some if not all of these items will have been fixed by the time we board next week, we shall wait and see. this is our first cruise so I don't have a bench-mark to set standards to.

 

 

Mark

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

The cruise director was Jill. She was British and I cannot remember her last name. I didn't have a problem with the service. It was good overall as was the food. The ship is another story.... I much preferred the cruise director staff though on the Sun in December. Seemed to have a lot more interesting and fun activities and just be more interactive overall. Jill did a good job but her underlings seemed to be lacking. Don't get me wrong, they tried and were enthusiastic. It just fell short.

 

Here is my post from another thread. I was on the ship this week:

 

 

"I was on the last sailing of the Spirit. Let me say that I knew going into it this was not a new ship. However, I thought NCL and comparable companies had minimum standards. If anything was refurbished, I couldn't tell. The ship is old. My cabin had more defects than my last 10 cabins combined. The common areas are not great in my opinion, but better than my stateroom. It is a hodgepodge. The Asian theme exists in most of the ship, but the pool, spa and main dining room have a Roman theme. Makes no sense to me. Cagney's steakhouse has an Asian decor. The flow is bad on the ship.

 

There was more wear on the ship than I've seen before in 10+ cruises. More rust. More torn carpet.

 

 

In my cabin (outside), they put a panel on the wall to cover something. Like if you had a huge hole in your wall at home and you just screwed a piece of drywall on rather than fixing it properly. There was another panel with marker on the wall like they were going to do something and decided not to. The carpet was frayed. There was a 4 inch open seam on the chair. The bed had nightstand on only one side and around 12 inches to get into bed on the one side. The clothesline didn't retract. A ceiling light was missing a cover. I could go on and on. Almost all of these things were cosmetic.

 

 

I am comparing the Spirit to the cruises I've taken on NCL, RC and Celebrity. I've taken 5 NCL cruises."

 

Ah, I was hoping the state rooms had been refurbed. At least to ensure faults were fixed and smartened up. I only say this because it's a complaint I've seen on many reviews. I hopes NCL would seek to rectify the areas complained about. Well the most complained about any way.I also don't have a bench mark to set anything to as this is my 1st ever cruise. I got a good price on the cruise, and am very much looking forward to it still. At least I know that the general condition of the rooms isn't indicative of NCL regular standards on other ships.

What state room were you in?

 

hopefully some if not all of these items will have been fixed by the time we board next week, we shall wait and see. this is our first cruise so I don't have a bench-mark to set standards to.

 

 

Mark

 

 

Me too. Hope you have a great time. Will you review?

[michaeljc70]

Ah, I was hoping the state rooms had been refurbed. At least to ensure faults were fixed and smartened up. I only say this because it's a complaint I've seen on many reviews. I hopes NCL would seek to rectify the areas complained about. Well the most complained about any way.I also don't have a bench mark to set anything to as this is my 1st ever cruise. I got a good price on the cruise, and am very much looking forward to it still. At least I know that the general condition of the rooms isn't indicative of NCL regular standards on other ships.

What state room were you in?

 

 

 

 

Me too. Hope you have a great time. Will you review?

 

I was in 4550. I booked it 3 days before it left, so I got the last outside cabin. However, I've never known a cruise line to redo just one floor of cabins unless it was suites or something.

 

I enjoyed the cruise. Good ports. Maybe my cabin was in worse shape than most. Adding 2 pictures so people don't think I am crazy or overly picky. One thing next to my bed and one of the chair. If you look at the right side of the cushion on the chair, the seam is completely ripped open.

[kcwingwalker]

I was in 4550. I booked it 3 days before it left, so I got the last outside cabin. However, I've never known a cruise line to redo just one floor of cabins unless it was suites or something.

 

I enjoyed the cruise. Good ports. Maybe my cabin was in worse shape than most. Adding 2 pictures so people don't think I am crazy or overly picky. One thing next to my bed and one of the chair. If you look at the right side of the cushion on the chair, the seam is completely ripped open.

 

 

 

Sorry your cabin was on the shabby side. I have sailed on the Spirit 3 times and loved the ship.

 

 

Did a 21 day cruise on the Dawn last fall and found it disappointing after the much hyped redo. Sure many of the public areas looked updated, but overall the effect was not one of a true upgrade. Actually it was sad and somewhat depressing when you've been expecting more. Our cabin was worn, service was inconsistent, food quality and quantity seemed to have gone down a few notches. It wasn't a bad cruise, but it just wasn't the experience I've had with other NCL ships.

 

 

So I'm doing some looking around and think my next cruise will be with another line.

[BirdTravels]

The dry dock time was significantly reduced from the planned full Edge refurbishment. She's a one off and the oldest ship in the fleet. Looks like NCL decided not to invest in her.

 

Anxious to see reports of what was done.

 

 

We sailed on the Spirit last spring and she had physical and mechanical issues.

[trvlgirlmq]

Thanks for the update and pictures. We are seriously rethinking our planned trip due to the lack of upkeep, especially in the cabins. We've got several months before we have to think about airfare so will check out RCCL when they post itineraries and land-only options too.

[michaeljc70]

The dry dock time was significantly reduced from the planned full Edge refurbishment. She's a one off and the oldest ship in the fleet. Looks like NCL decided not to invest in her.

 

Anxious to see reports of what was done.

 

 

We sailed on the Spirit last spring and she had physical and mechanical issues.

 

We noticed significantly more vibration on the Spirit than other ships. Especially at the back of the ship in the dining room. I'm sure the age of the ship is a factor.

[michaeljc70]

Thanks for the update and pictures. We are seriously rethinking our planned trip due to the lack of upkeep, especially in the cabins. We've got several months before we have to think about airfare so will check out RCCL when they post itineraries and land-only options too.

 

I'm planning on doing Celebrity next time. The last 2 trips on NCL were disappointing. I'm not going to go too much off-topic and I know they need to make money, but I feel they really nickel and dime you now and don't invest it back into the ships. Every cruise I've been on except the last 2 there was a free lobster night. NCL wants you to pay a "supplement". The mixed drinks are very weak. The wine expensive compared to good restaurants in the large city I live in and other cruise lines I've been on. They started prohibiting water and soft drinks to be brought on.

[Cassicruiser]

I've been following this thread with interest as we will be sailing on the Spirit in April. There are such wildly varying reports on her, some who love her despite the age and lack of modernisation in the cabins, and others who give her very bad reviews. We sailed on Celebrity Millennium twice over the past few years and she had the same bad reviews (old, no bells and whistles etc), so I didn't expect much at all, and was so pleasantly surprised when we boarded that she is a beautiful ship and beautifully maintained. I preferred her to the new bigger, wow factor Solstice.

 

This is our first NCL cruise, and to be honest, the tear on the couch and the bit of wear on the wall would not bother me very much, as long as the cabin is clean and the common areas are good. I had also hoped that the cabins would be refreshed, but honestly the itinerary is exactly what we want, and reports of food, staff and entertainment are mostly good so I'm not concerned. So I'm hoping that this is a "Millennium situation" and she is not the old rust bucket that some people have reported :D

 

Also, our first cruise 7 years ago was on one of RCI's oldest ships, Rhapsody of the seas, and the vibration on that ship was pretty bad, especially in the dining room at the back. I had read reports of that beforehand, so when I felt it I wasn't surprised, but it really didn't impact on my enjoyment of the cruise at all.

[trvlgirlmq]

The tear on the chair bothers me! For the several thousand dollars I will pay for our family vacation I expect a much nicer room than Motel 6 quality. That is what the furniture and carpeting look like to me.

 

We sailed on a brand new ship last summer in a balcony for less than the inside on Spirit. It was 10 nights Med/Greece so very comparable itinerary.

 

 

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[albean99]

We're doing an 11 day from Barcelona in April and it was a great price when I booked over a year ago. I compared itineraries/prices and nothing compared at that time. I probably wouldn't normally pick a small older ship but it will be fine for this port intensive cruise. I cruised on the Dawn last fall and thought it looked very fresh after the dry dock but this won't be the same type of dry dock.

 

 

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