Our Spirit Experience 2/26/06

[jw105]

Spirit 2/26/06

We just returned from the Spirit and here's our info.

My husband and I traveled by ourselves with a 21 month old and a 3 year old.

 

Getting to the Port of NY - we drove from PA and parked at a friends house in Sommerset, NJ. I booked a town car from there. http://www.outoftown.us/ The driver was excellent (he owns his own company) and it was only $57 for the ride (over an hour). The towncar was able to drop us off right at the front door.

 

 

Embarkation - very easy. If you have a stroller they direct you to the handicapped line so it really doesn't take more than ten minutes, which a bonus with two young children.

 

Our Room Story - We originally booked an inside stateroom because that's all that the Spirit has as far as quads (except for a couple outside staterooms). After many many many many many many phone calls by myself and my TA (with many many many different responses from ncl) we were able to upsell (two days before departure) to a balcony 11658 because we only needed three beds and a crib. This is pretty much unheard of but we did it. We had to jam the crib between the foot of the bed and the wall, there wasn't one inch of leway. We couldn't see the carpet at all - absolutely no where to step. It was crazy but it was worth the balcony.

 

The first day at sea - seas were a little rough through the night and the first day was very cloudy and cold but hey that's what you get sailing from NY in Feb. The seas are the worst around North Carolina. We took Bonine and didn't have any problems.

 

Port Canaveral - (we went to Disney World) The gangways are located midship and in the bow (front). We waited on the deck but towards the back so we had to get on the second bus to Disney when we could have been on the first bus if we would have been waiting towards the front of the ship. No big deal but it would have given us an extra half hour at Disney.

 

Miami - Since my DH and I have been to South Beach before we decided to stay on the ship. The weather was gorgeous and we spent the day with the kids in the kids pool. It was great!

 

Nassau - We had been to Nassau before and knew that shopping wasn't for us. We took a taxi for $12 there $10 back to Paradise Island. We walked around Atlantis and the boys LOVED the free aquarium. There is a beautiful public beach right beside Atlantis. The only people there were from our ship so it was great. (if there is more than one ship in port that day it might get a little crowded but nothing like GSC) They have jet-skis, banana boats, parasailing all right from the beach. You can also rent umbrellas and chairs. The family beside me said that the rates for the jet-skis were much better than Cocoa Beach ($85/half hour) also everything is negotiable in the bahamas so she got a good rate for her sons to go jet-skiing (she got them down to $50)

 

GSC - We were on the first tender over. We spent the day on hammock it was great. It is very crowded on the beach. The water is beautiful. The kids club met and fed the fish - that was fun.

 

THE KIDS CLUB - I can't say enough good things about ncl's kids club. Our son absolutely loved "school". I just wish that our little one was two. If they aren't two they don't let them in. They got to have "Cookies with the Captain" and most evenings had a theme (monsters, prince & princesses, pirates, etc.) There were over 300 kids on our cruise. The staff said that the week before had over 800 kids. I can't imagine 800 kids!

 

Food - Since we had two little kids we didn't do any of the specialty restaurants. I thought that the buffet was better than RCCL but the diningrooms (Windows & Garden Room) were average. There were tradeoffs with the freestyle dining. The service wasn't consistant. The servers rolled their eyes if you asked for lemon for water or anything out of the ordinary. One night we had to wait over a half hour for a highchair. One night my medium rare beef came out well done like shoe-leather. We waited over an hour for lunch and when it came it was so cold we had to send it back - and we never complain - they said that our waiter had a medical problem and the orders weren't transfered but nothing was done to take care of things. My poached eggs the last morning were so cold (as if they were refrigerated). I also had to send them back because no one can eat eggs that are colder than room temp. One night we weren't served our cappucinos only dessert. So I can't say that it was the same quality service as "non-freestyle." In our case the tradeoffs were worth it because we could go to dinner whenever we wanted to and with two kids that made it as stress free as possible. Some nights we ordered room service for the boys, took the oldest one to the kids crew when it opened at 7pm, and then went to the diningroom with the little one. This seemed to work out the best.

 

Debarkation - there was a problem with the Port of NY so we had to stay on the ship for a lot longer than normal (about an hour). We actually waited on deck 5 outside of Windows. We were the only ones there, we sat on the floor and the boys ran around. My DH went upsairs and saw that everywhere else was just mobs of angry people. The captain came over the loudspeaker encouraging passengers to write to the Port - he was ticked.... Our towncar picked us up at the door and we were back to reality!

 

Would we do it again? - In a minute!! Actually maybe September!

[WaldosPepper]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

Sounds like your family had a very nice time, and made the very best of each day. :)

[cantwaitt]

The lousy dining room service would NEVER happen if the waiters expected you to tip them. I NEVER had just average service on traditional cruises where I do the tipping. Only OUTSTANDING service on those sailings.

 

I think this is the biggest difference--besides no ties and jackets--between freestyle and traditional.

 

BTW: When your kids are finally in school, you'll find out what 800 kids on a boat are like. Actually, I was on that sailing and the kids were pretty good. Since it was February, there were virtually no college kids.

[SueSun]

Thanks for sharing JW105!!!.

 

"because we only needed three beds and a crib. This is pretty much unheard of but we did it. We had to jam the crib between the foot of the bed and the wall, there wasn't one inch of leway. We couldn't see the carpet at all - absolutely no where to step. It was crazy but it was worth the balcony.

 

This part had me LOL!!!! :) :) Just remember the rules....if you get home and miss being on the ship, just move your bed into your closet!!!!

 

Glad you had a great cruise in spite of restaurant struggles.

[greenie]

The lousy dining room service would NEVER happen if the waiters expected you to tip them. I NEVER had just average service on traditional cruises where I do the tipping. Only OUTSTANDING service on those sailings.

 

I think this is the biggest difference--besides no ties and jackets--between freestyle and traditional.

 

 

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this .. I honestly believe it is a problem with the Spirit--with service in the Spirit's Main Dining Rooms (or maybe just Windows, we didn't get to the Garden Room). We too found a certain distance and lack of pleasure serving customers (and the same annoyed look when we had to send cold food back once, which we did very politely) in general. Not with every server of course, but I honestly remember only one server who was wonderful at her job and obviously loved her job. She was not looking for any tip, either. You can tell when that's happening.

 

However, we never had anything but excellent, warm, friendly, happy service in every eating venue on the Dawn, main dining rooms absolutely included. The Dawn is freestyle too, so I don't think that's the problem at all.

 

In fact, on my last traditional cruise, our 2 servers were 50/50. One was wonderful and professional, the other was not helpful or particularly interested in our table's happiness.

[intrepid_guy]

It was the opinion of many friends on board that the service in Windows lacked in comparison to the Garden Room... I have to say I agree for the most part. We had one really snotty drink steward in Windows that even I (and I am eeexxxxttttrrrrreeeemmmmeeellllyyyy easy going) took offense to.

 

 

~Intrepid

[sclauss]

We had Dean and Joseph taking care of us just about every night in the Garden Room and it was just wonderful! He got to know what we liked and had things ready for us as soon as we walked in the door. Wonderful service!!!

[cuccicruisers]

"because we only needed three beds and a crib. This is pretty much unheard of but we did it. We had to jam the crib between the foot of the bed and the wall, there wasn't one inch of leway. We couldn't see the carpet at all - absolutely no where to step. It was crazy but it was worth the balcony.

 

Tried this for our 4/2 sailing and have gotten nowhere....did you call NCL direct or did the TA handle it ?

 

Glad you had a nice time.

[jw105]

I called NCL many times and so did my TA. She spoke to a manager of some sort and got the approval but they were going to charge us over $1000 (I don't think that my TA was calling the upsell desk.) Well that wasn't happening, so I continued to call the upsell desk on my own. Eventually I got a person who was willing to give me an upsell for $300 but when she tried to put it into the computer it wouldn't allow her to enter it. She said that she would call me back... she never did. I tried calling her back a couple times and they always just took my name and said that they would have her call me. It was the week of the cruise and I thought I'd let my TA try so she called and got it worked out for $400. It was worth it but at the same time an inside would have been fine. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

[michigal]

Thanks for posting your review! The info is helpful to us as we prepare for our April 2 sailing.:)