Almost live from the NCL Spirit - Hawaii and Tahiti - 19 and 31 May 2022

[davidwar]

Will be taking the Spirit to Alaska in mid-August.  Does anyone care to comment on the general condition of the ship (crew, cabins, restaurants, common areas).  We took the Spirit back before she was renovated and am interested to hear some opinions.  Thanks!

[Rob_H]

Tonight we ate at Onda, for the first time on this ship. We used a Latitudes voucher.

 

We sat outside at the back of the ship, Onda has some outside tables, it's the only speciality restaurant on the Spirit that does.

 

Nobody else wanted to be outside so we had the space to ourselves, with a view of the Bora Bora lagoon during sunset. Luxurious and romantic!

 

The food and service was outstanding, rivaling Le Bistro for quality and presentation.

 

Certainly on the next cruise (starting in two days!) we'll be back to Onda.

 

The photo is of the tuna I had, medium rare.

 

 

[New2cruse2]

For anyone interested in getting information about covid antigen test in Papeete before the 5/31 cruise - We took our covid antigen test this morning at pharmacy Lafayette du marche next to Papeete market for $15 each. They gave us back the negative result printouts in 15 minutes. They need to see your passport and they take credit cards. The process was relatively simple and the pharmacy staff were friendly and easy to work with.

[New2cruse2]

19 minutes ago, Rob_H said:

Certainly on the next cruise (starting in two days!) we'll be back to Onda.

Thanks Rob for your review. We booked a couple of nights at Onda. I did notice that they have limited vegetarian choices, but I can always get my pizza 😀. 

[New2cruse2]

13 minutes ago, New2cruse2 said:

For anyone interested in getting information about covid antigen test in Papeete before the 5/31 cruise - We took our covid antigen test this morning at pharmacy Lafayette du marche next to Papeete market for $15 each. They gave us back the negative result printouts in 15 minutes. They need to see your passport and they take credit cards. The process was relatively simple and the pharmacy staff were friendly and easy to work with.

Here are their working hours- 

[Rob_H]

Bora Bora

 

 

[NCL4EVER]

The spirit in moorea 

[Rob_H]

In Moorea today we took a ship's tour, highlights of Moorea. A bus ride around the island including to a high viewpoint inland.

 

There's not a lot at the port in Moorea (or the whole island really). Beautiful place, nice mountain and sea scenery.

 

For those stressing about getting CFP (local francs) for the next cruise, don't worry, it's hard to spend them, all the tourist related businesses take US Dollars.

 

We're using up the CFP we got in March 2020 for our cruise to French Polynesia on the Jewel which never got there because of all the borders closing.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Rob_H

[NCL4EVER]

Did the snorkeling adventure today here in moorea swimming with sting rays and black tip sharks, it was amazing how friendly the sting rays were they would come right up to you and bump you letting you touch them, kinda cool

Edited May 31, 2022 by NCL4EVER

[NCL4EVER]

34 minutes ago, Rob_H said:

For those stressing about getting CFP (local francs) for the next cruise, don't worry, it's hard to spend them, all the tourist related businesses take US Dollars

Different strokes for different folks, with the exchange rate of 1 franc to .009 us. True most but not all places would accept us currency, we did notice though that the places that did accept us curency it was only at par so you lost $10 per $100.00 on deals. Plus getting french Polynesian francs should be as easy ordering them from your local bank, my bank took 3 days to get it for me.

Edited May 31, 2022 by NCL4EVER

[NCL4EVER]

On 5/24/2022 at 9:33 AM, NCL4EVER said:

2. is the ship as well as the passengers following any covid precautions (masking, not crowding the elevators, etc)?

Update on covid situation onboard the spirit, so I hear a weird noise outside my cabin door, so I open my door and to my surprise there is a guy completely dressed in a hasmat suit gloves  rubber boots and double fasemask and a face sheild, he was spraying the hall with some kind of chemical, then I see the same guy dressed up in the same hasmat suit delivering food two cabins down from mine. Later I found out they (two cabins down from me) tested covid positive and were quarantined to their original room, and today I over heard them from my balcony saying they were going to be moved from a balcony cabin to a windowed cabin, that would suck.....also noticed more people now wearing masks, my guess is some are finished their 5 day quarantine and are now mandated to wear a mask.mask wearing by guests is definitely lazy daisy. Just got tested today on board ship, they give you an antigen test and will send you a QR CODE via the email you gave during the test registration online, plus we are suposed to get a hard copy delivered to our cabin tonight. Protocol from my understanding is if you test positive they will give you a PCR test to confirm. it is supposed to be free of charge.

[New2cruse2]

32 minutes ago, NCL4EVER said:

mask wearing by guests is definitely lazy daisy.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide an important update. We are currently staying at the Sofitel in Moorea till tomorrow morning and will be back to Papeete to board the ship. No one here is wearing a mask including the resort staff. We didn’t want to jeopardize our cruise, so we were the only ones wearing a mask here. However, we couldn’t mask up while in the pool and at the beach.

[NCL4EVER]

2 hours ago, New2cruse2 said:

We didn’t want to jeopardize our cruise

Update...we tested negative, so we can now fly home as planned, our perseverance on wearing our mask as much as possible except like you, not at beach ( could just imagine the weird tan lines it would give you lol) and while on snorkeling excursions and eating, except for them we were part of the minority who would wear it all the time, so no 7 day quarantine in tahiti for us unlike some unfortunate people. I would have to say I was impressed with all the NCL crew faithfully wearing a mask all the time.

[NCL4EVER]

Was told today that some of the passengers that were scheduled to fly out tomorrow in papeete (end of this leg of cruise) had to leave a day early, that would suck. They said they were a part of a selected random draw. My guess is NCL booked their flights.

Edited May 31, 2022 by NCL4EVER

[New2cruse2]

32 minutes ago, NCL4EVER said:

Update...we tested negative

Yay! Great to stay safe as well as enjoy the cruise. Have a safe flight back. Thanks again for your helpful information and updates that would help us have a better cruise experience.

[Rob_H]

There are 1100 passengers on this cruise, although it feels a lot quieter tonight as that plane load of people had to leave tonight (Norwegian couldn't get enough flights for tomorrow).

 

Next cruise is expected to be about 1050 passengers.

 

Surprisingly, there are only about 20-25 passengers back to back to the next cruise, i thought it would be a lot more. That includes us as we tested negative ok this evening.

 

 

 

 

[New2cruse2]

7 hours ago, Rob_H said:

plane load of people had to leave tonight (Norwegian couldn't get enough flights for tomorrow).

So did they drop off those passengers yesterday in Moorea and transported them (and their luggage) to Papeete by ferry?

[Rob_H]

40 minutes ago, New2cruse2 said:

So did they drop off those passengers yesterday in Moorea and transported them (and their luggage) to Papeete by ferry?

 

No, we left Moorea at 5 and were in Papetee before 8, they're very close. Those guests left in Papeete after that, for their midnight flight.

[New2cruse2]

23 minutes ago, Rob_H said:

we left Moorea at 5 and were in Papetee before 8, they're very close. Those guests left in Papeete after that, for their midnight flight.

Oh ok, you cut short your Moorea stay - I guess that makes sense. From your comments about Moorea yesterday, you probably didn’t miss much from the abbreviated stay there.

[New2cruse2]

We are onboard 

our first observations- 

very little masking onboard 

can’t  get a decent cup of coffee anywhere unless you want to pay $5 a cup at Starbucks. I’m talking about plain black brewed coffee. The one we got to our room from the Local cafe was really horrible and we couldn’t drink it. 

room is small but adequate.

embarkation took an hour .

we got our luggage after 6 hours.

already in long line twice at guest services- once because WiFi that was included was not working and second time, after we locked our valuables including wallets in the in room safe deposit and we couldn’t unlock it. I keep hearing ’software issues’ from the crew a few times already. 
not much vegetarian choice at the lunch buffet today. Whatever was available wasn’t really tasty. I hope it’s because of being the first day with limited menu.

atrium looks smaller compared to the pictures.

we saw some crew members in Hazmat suites. 
we are heading out to windows MDR for dinner tonight. 

but crew are friendly . We are hoping things will improve from tomorrow.

[New2cruse2]

15 minutes ago, Desiree Hooter said:

It really sounds like you're just getting used to cruising. Your username indicates you are new.

Yes, we are realizing that ourselves and it may take some getting used to. But it’s not all bad, just different. 

[New2cruse2]

30 minutes ago, Desiree Hooter said:

 

We're so glad to hear that! In addition to the list of negatives, what have been the most exciting and fun things to do so far on the boat?

After a couple of visits from the security staff, the safe deposit is now working. So we could leave the room and roaming around and ship. The ship does look modern. Lots of shelf space in the room. Lots of seating along all the main corridors. Decor is nice. We stopped by MDR and they said they could customize one or two the dishes to be vegetarian (Shrimp Fettuccine without the shrimp). 
spice H2O looks nice. We want to definitely try it if it doesn’t get crowded. About masking- we are doing out of necessity as well as we both have to be back home on the 13th and can’t afford to fall sick and quarantine.

[NCL4EVER]

23 hours ago, New2cruse2 said:

Yay! Great to stay safe as well as enjoy the cruise. Have a safe flight back. Thanks again for your helpful information and updates that would help us have a better cruise experience.

No problem, hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did, stay safe and have fun

[NCL4EVER]

At papeete Airport and think it will be a miracle if I don't catch somthing sooooo many people hacking, sneezing and coughing, mask up and hope for the best

[Seas2mountains]

Thank you for this informative review and all the photos. 
 

Is it possible to add a photo of the back page of a daily schedule? 
 

I have been searching online for photos or videos of the renovations made to the thermal spa without success. Any chance of adding a photo or describing what is in there?  With the Spirit being renovated just before Covid, there is very limited info available and I appreciate all the details provided in this live review.