Reflections on cruise

[bigwhistle]

We were on the Spirit 6/3 and had a wonderful time. Rather than repeat what has been said over and over about the cruise from others that were there, I am thinking about other things on the trip. (Sorry for this happening so long after the cruise, but we spent time in NYC following the cruise.)

 

In St. Thomas, since the cruise left port at 1am and most of the businesses were closed by 6pm, consider eating in town to get a feel for the local tastes. We asked several cab drivers what restaurant they recommended, and the answer was unanimous. Every response was "Cuzzins". This is found in the downtown shopping area ($4 cab ride from the ship) and had very good food. Many people seem to complain about NCLs food, so try the local stuff.

 

I was frustrated that I had tried to book the helmet dive in Bermuda on my own, but was told by the owner that NCL had chartered his boat for the day. NCLs price was $81/person, where the excursion price normally for this was $55-65, depending on when you booked it. NCL paid the excursion $50/person. He told me that this was the only way he could stay in business. Since the trip was rained out, it didn't matter in the long run.

 

The Spirit is a smaller ship, so there was a logistical problem for several events. Many venues were overcrowded for classes, shows, etc. This could mean either that the cruise was offering excellent things that many people wanted to do, or that the rooms were too small. A possible remedy would be offering the class/show multiple times, or to reconsider which site to use for what activity.

 

People have complained about the slow food service on the Spirit. We were told by someone who inquired about this that it was because the Spirit was not originally designed for freestyle cruising and that part of the kitchen facilities were on level 6 and part on level 12. The elevator to move food from one deck to the other is only large enough to tranport 60 meals/entrees/deserts/etc at a time. NCL is trying to make lemonade out of lemons. People should relax and enjoy their meal times, even if it means they have to interact with their meal partners for longer than they would at home.

 

Reservations at the "free" restaurants are a good idea. However, on the night of the chocolate buffet, which is at 2pm, the restaurant will be very empty. People filled up on the buffet and were in no condition to eat dinner just a short time later. We were told that we could get reservations at either 5:30 or 9pm. Because of this we opted to just walk up at 6pm, and were one of only 9 tables being served at this time.

 

Chiar hogs are everywhere around the pool deck. There are not enough lounge chairs on level 7. This does not make for problems, but could be a minor inconvenience.

 

NCL entertainment at night rated about a B. The shows were good, but not WOW factor overall. The NCL dancers were very good and the female vocalists were outstanding. The male vocalists were both leaving the ship after our cruise and hopefully their replacements will be a little stronger. The troupe did a good job considering they had to perform 3-4 different shows over an 8 night period.

 

With 2000+ passengers on any cruise, I guess there will be those who had negative experiences. OF course, there are people who would complain about having to pay taxes on $5,000,000 if somebody gave it to them for no reason. In my opinion, this was an excellent cruise and I am glad I was able to take my family on this trip.

[Zeno]

Nice to hear you had a good cruise. Thanks for the review!