Thanksgiving on NCL

[Cruiseaholic07]

We are going to Be on NCL Spirit on thanksgiving. Does anyone have experience on this ship or NCL in general on Turkey Day?  What should we expect if anything? I know we will be in Naples Italy that day. Thanks!

[cementhands]

39 minutes ago, jcu1210 said:

We are going to Be on NCL Spirit on thanksgiving. Does anyone have experience on this ship or NCL in general on Turkey Day?  What should we expect if anything? I know we will be in Naples Italy that day. Thanks!

We enjoyed a wonderful family reunion cruise on the Epic a few years ago. Lots of fun. Turkey on the big day. Bbq by pool. For some reason a German band by pool for an October feast type day. 19 of us. Not much else was specific to thanksgiving. Love the pizza in Naples Di Matteo excellent. Galleria Umberto is tons of food. Caffe Mexico for expresso. Great cannolis. Easy to walk around. Good shoes for the cobblestones.

[Cruiseaholic07]

3 hours ago, cementhands said:

We enjoyed a wonderful family reunion cruise on the Epic a few years ago. Lots of fun. Turkey on the big day. Bbq by pool. For some reason a German band by pool for an October feast type day. 19 of us. Not much else was specific to thanksgiving. Love the pizza in Naples Di Matteo excellent. Galleria Umberto is tons of food. Caffe Mexico for expresso. Great cannolis. Easy to walk around. Good shoes for the cobblestones.

This sounds great.  We are doing a private tour with Ciro. Can’t wait for pizza, cafe,  and gellato

[cementhands]

On 10/12/2019 at 5:01 PM, jcu1210 said:

This sounds great.  We are doing a private tour with Ciro. Can’t wait for pizza, cafe,  and gellato

Forgot about the gelato. Conan O’Brien went to some espresso cafe in Naples and we enjoyed it also. Very easy to walk around the area. Can’t wait to return.

[newty25]

We did Thanksgiving on the Getaway last year in Costa Maya. The day and the tour were nice. Had a great time actually with the family.

Dinner service sucked and the whole experience pissed me off enough to where I didn't tip any of the waitstaff or maitre'd at the end of the cruise (I had been tipping every meal until that point). This was in the Haven though, so YMMV.

 

They did have turkey though!

[Level six]

We were on the Spirit last year for Thanksgiving.  They decorate the ship with pumpkins, etc(at least in the Lido they did).  Traditional turkey dinner in the Lido.  I heard in the dining room it wasn't a choice, but in the Lido it was very yummy.  

[traveljunkie88]

I've only ever done a Thanksgiving cruise on RCI, so I'm not much help there. However I just got off the Spirit last Friday (Oct. 11) and had a great time, despite our sailing making the news for all the itinerary changes and disgruntled passengers rioting 😳 If you haven't already, it may help to check out your sailing's roll call to potentially connect with other passengers and find transfers, tours, etc. to look into and/or split with other groups. The Spirit was by far the smallest ship we've ever sailed on, but we really enjoyed how easy it was to navigate and the service/staff onboard. If you have any other questions regarding the ship itself, I'm happy to try and answer as best I can. Hope this helps & happy cruising!

[cliffd64]

4 hours ago, newty25 said:

We did Thanksgiving on the Getaway last year in Costa Maya. The day and the tour were nice. Had a great time actually with the family.

Dinner service sucked and the whole experience pissed me off enough to where I didn't tip any of the waitstaff or maitre'd at the end of the cruise (I had been tipping every meal until that point). This was in the Haven though, so YMMV.

 

They did have turkey though!

One meal was that bad it ruined the whole week?  😲

[newty25]

6 minutes ago, cliffd64 said:

One meal was that bad it ruined the whole week?  😲

Nope. Didn't ruin the whole week. We had a great time. Met the captain who gave us a private tour of the bridge, met some new friends who we shared a villa with on Harvest Caye, had a great tours on Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.

 

But, it pissed me off enough that I didn't want to go back into the Haven restaurant again.

[Cruiseaholic07]

 

 

When go in 35 days can’t wait. This is by far the most port intensive cruise I’ve ever been on. How was the food on the spirit?

Edited October 17, 2019 by jcu1210

[CarrieAP]

12 hours ago, newty25 said:

Nope. Didn't ruin the whole week. We had a great time. Met the captain who gave us a private tour of the bridge, met some new friends who we shared a villa with on Harvest Caye, had a great tours on Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.

 

But, it pissed me off enough that I didn't want to go back into the Haven restaurant again.

 

Curious to hear specifics that precipitated such a strong reaction. We'll be in the Haven this Thanksgiving, on the Epic, so have a bit of a vested interest. 

[bearette]

I actually did the Spirit a few years ago.  They decorated the atrium area with turkeys, pilgrims etc. I believe we were at sea that day so they had cruise activities going on and during an announcement the cruise director wished the Americans on board ( we were in the minority on the Canary island sailing) a Happy Thanksgiving.  In the dinning room, they offered a special turkey dinner, but I was ready to riot ( haha) because they didn't have any pumpkin pie, but they did have apple pie.

 

 

[Coastalbreezes]

On the Sun two years ago in addition to the regular dinner menu we were offered a choice of traditional turkey dinner or ham steak with various sides.

[newty25]

7 hours ago, CarrieAP said:

 

Curious to hear specifics that precipitated such a strong reaction. We'll be in the Haven this Thanksgiving, on the Epic, so have a bit of a vested interest. 

 

I don't think they plan it like it's any other day at the Haven restaurant, they just have a special menu. But, EVERYONE is dining that night and it seems the Haven passengers didn't go anywhere but the Haven restaurant. Which I get. They had several LARGE parties of non-Haven passengers set up in the dining room, which is already small. So, that definitely added to the chaos.

 

I put our names in with the maitre'd and that's where the problems began. We went to the lounge to relax and have a drink and they skipped us. I realized it immediately, because they gave our table to another passenger who I happened to be talking to and watched walk in well after us. I the maitre'd know at the time when they gave our table away and she said she'd get us in quickly, so I let it go because we were enjoying ourselves. That was my mistake. We waited about an hour+ to get in and probably another half hour to 45 minutes after I let the first table go.

 

When we finally got in, they had to bring another table in from outside and set it up. Parties weren't leaving. The table was placed in an awkward spot and it wobbled but we tried to make the best of it. Then there was no waiter assigned to the new table and we had no service. Then when we finally ordered, nothing came out. When it finally came out, everything was cold and wrong and had to be re-ordered. No drink service so glasses went empty and stayed that way. Then I pressed my luck and asked for an espresso after everything was cleared. That never came out. So, I went to the bar right outside the door and asked the bartender who I was friendly with. He got it for me in seconds.

 

Needless to say, it took well over three hours and we didn't have a good time or enjoy any part of the meal.

 

I stopped tipping in the dining room after that. Even at the end of the week. I bit my tongue on the bridge tour with the Captain about it as well. I wanted that to be a nice moment and not a forum for me to complain.

 

YMMV, but if I had to do it again, I'd arrive at 630, rather than 730 or I'd eat in the Manhattan Room.

 

[amygutman]

Can’t speak about the Epic, but we are on the Gem for our 3rd Thanksgiving in a row ~ that’s how much we love the holiday on this ship. It’s terribly kitschy decorations, and staff from primarily non-American countries who really do their best to replicate a “traditional” thanksgiving experience. 
 

We always have lunch on an island, usually through resorts for a day or word-of-mouth...something very Caribbean to remind us that we are far from home and WARM (upstate NY < Barbados any day). Then we choose To dine back in the ship in what I refer to as a ‘Jewish Christmas’ meal (we are a Jewish-catholic couple who always work christmas) - yes...we head for the Asian restaurant😊. Last year we were joking with Chef Matthew at breakfast about “Kung pau turkey’ for supper...and lo and behold...even before My hubby could order, this horrific bastardization of thanksgiving dinner showed up at our table! It was wonderfully terrible, and we just had a blast laughing as a family, which, I think is the best way to spend any holiday. 
 

Then football on the big big screen or a bar (we even bring the kiddo .... it’s a holiday after all) to watch the Lions lose to someone else, then back to the room where we start with Home Alone, followed by Die Hard - the best way to celebrate thanksgiving is with awesome Christmas movies. 
 

no matter if there are decorations, turkey or anything traditional...you are eating well, happily with family or new/old friends, maybe even a cruise critic roll call group, not doing dishes, and not having to clean up on a wonderful vacation. It’s pretty awesome, and it makes you count your blessings.

amy