Review of Mediterranean Cruise - 14 Days on NCL Spirit May 4-18, 2017 (with photos)

[SeahawkSiren]

Another place we spent a lot of time at on the ship!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

Next, it was time for a drink before going to our cabin!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We were in a mid-ship starboard side balcony cabin on Deck 10, Cabin 10076. I purposely booked this cabin many months in advance as it is one of the few cabins without a connecting door.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We had a $75.00 onboard credit for the cancelled cruise. We also got an additional onboard credit as a reimbursement of the now offered 10% discount on NCL shore excursions for Gold level members (I had prepaid our excursions before this new program went into effect, and received the 10% discount reimbursed on the ship as onboard credit).

 

A side note before I get started on the actual cruise review. All of our paid excursions during the cruise were booked directly with NCL so if you are looking for independent excursion information during the cruise this review will not contain any. After the cruise was over we did book 2 tours in Rome with Walks of Italy which I will comment on when I get to the Rome portion of this review.

So sit back, relax, and “take a Mediterranean cruise with us!”

[SeahawkSiren]

Bon voyage! At 7:00 p.m. it was time to sail away from Barcelona. Nearly a year after I booked this trip, after months of planning and researching, it was finally time to set sail.

 

 

The Costa Favolosa was heading out just before us.

 

 

And Celebrity Reflection was still there as we were leaving.

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Friday, May 5 – Valencia, Spain. We did not get off the ship in Valencia. We like to have at least one day on our cruises to stay on the ship with no crowds and of all the excursions and other things we had planned for every other port we stayed onboard the ship on this day.

 

 

 

 

The Thomson Celebration decided to hang out with us in Valencia.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

I took more photos around the ship on this day.

 

 

 

Empty Bier Garten!

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Library

 

 

 

Blue Lagoon Cafe

 

 

Teppanyaki

 

 

Shogun

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We had dinner at Le Bistro on this night. Very good food.

 

 

I love their french onion soup!

 

 

 

 

Goodnight from Valencia.

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Saturday, May 6 – Cartagena, Spain. A beautiful sunrise in Cartagena.

 

Thomson Celebration is stalking us!

 

 

Our excursion here was visiting Priest’s Garden and Elche’s Palm Forest. Both beautiful places. This excursion was about 6 hours long. Elche is about a 90 minute bus ride from Cartagena. It was a very nice drive with beautiful scenery along the way.

 

One of the highlight's at Priest's Garden was an 8 trunk Imperial Palm, which is a botanical rarity.

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

During our visit at the garden we were served a snack of dates, fig bread and date liqueur. Yum!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

During this excursion we also went to the Basilica of Saint Mary in Elche.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Linda the Book Lover]

I lam loving your pictures. Even though we are sailing the Epic from Barcelona I wanted to see your itinerary and as you said, "sail with you".

[SeahawkSiren]

Back in Cartagena we enjoyed drinks along the waterfront with a good view of the ship!

 

 

 

Cartagena is a pretty harbor

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We had the most incredible sunset that evening after leaving Cartagena! The best sunset of the entire cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Sunday, May 7 – Malaga (Granada), Spain.

 

The port of Malaga

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Our excursion here was the Amazing Caves of Nerja (no, we did not go to the Alhambra in Granada). This excursion was about 4.5 hours long. I think the bus ride was around 45 minutes to an hour from Malaga to Nerja if I remember correctly.

This was such a fun day! Our journey started at the caves and we were the first group to enter the caves right when they opened at 10:00 a.m. The Caves of Nerja are about 5 million years old but were not re-discovered in modern times until 1959. The caves extend more than 3 miles and contain the largest stalagmite columns in the world at 161 feet high and 59 feet in diameter. Amazing to see and such a unique excursion!

Many of my cave photos did not turn out very well as you were not allowed to use a flash in the caves, but here are some photos that turned out somewhat good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After the caves we went to the Balcony of Europe, also in Nerja. Stunning views! We got to spend about 45 minutes here with free time. After viewing from the Balcony we walked around Nerja. What a great place. Lots of quaint little streets filled with shops and restaurants. We really fell in love with Nerja.

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

Church of El Salvador

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Back in Malaga we enjoyed drinks along the promenade with nice views before getting back on the ship.

 

 

 

Goodbye Malaga and Nerja, thanks for a memorable day!

 

 

Pullmanter Horizon also leaving Malaga

 

 

For dinner that night it was in the Blue Lagoon Cafe

 

 

[fabnfortysomething]

We have sailed on spirit twice and live the ship

Yours is a slightly different itinerary so nice to see some different ports

You did the right thing getting a non connecting cabin as especially with it being an older ship the air gap around the connecting door transmits noise as if next door are in the same room!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[SeahawkSiren]

Monday, May 8 – At Sea. Monday was our first at sea day. Our Cruise Critic Roll Call Meet and Greet was at Shogun Restaurant from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. We had quite a large turnout. I know over 70 people were on the list to attend but do not know the final number of how many actually showed up but it seemed like a good turnout. It was so nice to finally put faces with names of the people I had been corresponding with for months on the roll call. And one of the couples we met live within 60 miles of us. Very small world. NCL put out pastries and beverages for us and some of the ship’s senior officers came to speak to the group.

 

More random photos I took around the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

On this at sea night we had dinner at Cagney's. Another outstanding meal.

 

 

 

On our last cruise for our Cagney's meal we had the famous truffle fries, so this time I ordered the side of mac and cheese. To die for! It will be hard to go back to eating boxed mac and cheese at home. ;)

 

 

Gotta love a side of mushrooms. Yum!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

A nice sunset and a beautiful moon on this night.

 

 

 

Goodnight from this much needed at sea day.