Anyone off the most recent Spirit cruise?

[bangzoom6877]

Hi, I'm going on the Spirit on Saturday on the 8-night itinerary and wondering if anyone out there just returned from the same itinerary? Can anyone provide a review for me? Curious about the food, service, cleanliness, activities, etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

-Bonnie

[richfb]

We just got back yesterday from the Spirit cruise. There were 9 of us, including 4 adults and 5 teenagers (ages 14-19). I can give you a brief review now, and will post more later or tomorrow.

 

We had a great time on the cruise. Our only previous cruise was 3 years ago on the NCL Sea. The Spirit is a much larger and much nicer ship than the Sea. We mostly ate dinner in the main dining rooms, Windows and Garden. Breakfast was either the buffet at Raffles or in Windows. Lunch was Raffles or the daily BBQ by the pool. We ate dinner once in la Trattoria and our kids ate in Shogun (they said that was their best meal). We enjoyed the food. Raffles had a good selection of food and the buffet was much better than our last cruise. The dinners in the main restaurants were fine. Keep in mind that everyone's opinion of food seems to be different, and we are not what you'd call food connisseurs. Anyway, we were happy with the food.

 

The service was excellent and attentive, except for maybe one meal when the service seemed a little slow. We made reservations for some nights, and others we just walked up to the restaurant. We never had to wait more than a few minutes, but we generally avoided the 6-7 pm dinner hour.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment, and Ricky the Cruise Director was very good.

 

The only negative was our excursion to Virgin Gorda in Tortola. It's a long story, but I'll summarize by saying that if you take the Virgin Gorda highlights tour, you will only have 1 hour at the beach out of a 4 hour excursion. If you want to snorkel in Virgin Gorda and do not have your own equipment, do not take this excursion. There is a Virgin Gorda Swim and Snorkel where NCL supplies the equipment in advance. We were supposed to be on this tour but got bumped.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions, if not I'll try and post some more comments later on.

 

You will enjoy this cruise!

[cruiser12]

I have been looking for a review for this cruise. Sounds like you had a great time. Thank you

[naxos]

We had a great cruise- I am very puzzled by the negative reviews regarding the staff and service. This is our 7th cruise and we have cruised on HAL Princess, Royal Carib and the old RegaL Empress. We ate all our dinners in Windows- we made 7:30 dinner reservations for the entire cruise as soon as we boarded the ship in NY. we never had to wait in line. The dinners were good- not fabulous but good enough- the wait staff were terrific except for one lunch when our server seemed to just be going through the motions- we booked an inside cabin- last minute and our steward did a fine job- we requested robes and they appeared and extra pillows as well We tried to request feather pillows but were told there were none. We had towel animals on 3 nights and bedtime chocolate mints every night. The room was cold enough and there was no sewer odor on the ship that we detected.

The ship was full- but we were able to find quiet space away from the pool(which is what we prefer). There is al ot of deck space on this ship and since we had 4 sea days that was important to us.

 

We rented a car in St Thomas and Tortola and took the bus/ferry in Bermuda- beaches were our interest. If you have not been to Bermuda as we had not- there are some gorgeous beaches.

 

The ship is pretty and clean and there was very little pushing of art or bingo or shopping on board- we appreciated that. There were lots of large family groups and kids but they seemed well behaved.

 

It was a great trip!

[bangzoom6877]

Thanks for the reviews! I have also read some negative stuff, but if you look enough you could find negative comments on just about any cruise on this website. I try and focus on the positives that people post here. A few more questions if you can answer them:

 

-Are there highchairs in the buffet area? We will have our 18-month-old son with us

-What are the 8 dinner themes in the main dining rooms? Someone recently posted that on the Majesty 7-night cruise, it was Bon Voyage, Captain's Gala, Caribbean, Italian, International, Chef's Dinner, Captain's Farewell. What is the 8th dinner?

-Which dinner was served in the main dining room the night you were docked in St. Thomas?

-Which night was the deck party? Was it the night you were in St. Thomas?

-How were the seas? How is it sailing from the Caribbean up to Bermuda? Never went this route before. (only went from NY to Bermuda and back, and various Caribbean sailings without Bermuda)

-Are the tables nice and clean in the buffet area? Is there ample seating for the buffet during peak breakfast and lunch hours?

-How late can you sit down to breakfast in the dining room?

-Do you think we will be able to get a nightly dinner reservation for our large group of 20 people in the main dining room for 7PM? Or do we have to make it for 6 or earlier?

 

Thanks so much for the reviews, and in advance for answering any questions you can from above!

 

-Bonnie

[naxos]

the only question I can answer for sure is hte time the dining room stops serving breakfast- 9:30. Around that time- the buffet is very crowded. There were 2 days of somewhat rough seas-with lots of wind on deck.

I dont know about high chairs- and i cannot remember the order of the dinner themes or even what they were, I only know that we were able to make reservations for 3 at 7:30- and there were many large tables set in the dining room.

[bangzoom6877]

Naxos, thank you so much for answering those questions! Hopefully we will be able to get our 7:00 reservation! Do you think we would still make it to the 9:30 show if we go to dinner at 7? They will probably split us up into 2 or 3 tables I imagine. On the Dawn they were able to set up a table for 20 in one dining room, but in another one, they split us into 2 tables. Either way works for us! If there are 2 different waiters then the 2 or 3 tables would probably be quicker I imagine. Anyway, do you think we'd make it to the show? We love the shows and would hate to miss them. Thanks so much again! Oh, and what type of cabin were you in? We're in an inside on deck 5.

[naxos]

Bonnie

 

We were inside on deck 5 as well. We never had a problem getting to the 9:30 show with our 7:30 dinner reservations. Of course we were only 3 people but the complaints about slow service in teh dining room that I read about before we sailed were totally ill-founded as far as our experience went. we went to allof the shows and always got a seat. I saw tables as large as maybe 16- set up as a long rectangle.

 

One thing I found annoying was the waiters asking us to order dessert when we ordered our meal- we politely said we would order when we finished our dinner to see if we were still hungry- No problem. By the way the bread on the ship is very good- they have a great baker.

[jenniferCP]

I was also on this cruise and a had a great time. Some the complaints from others are very hard to understand but then again people like too complain about everything like:

 

the beds are hard - ask for a egg carton

waiting in line for the main restaurant - make reservations as soon as you get on the ship (this is a must)

 

The kids center was the biggest and best i've seen at sea.

 

The food in main restaurants was good but not amazing.

 

Food in Cagneys and Le Bistro was very good(especially if you love lobster)

 

I found the buffet to be very good for a buffet. But it is still a buffet. They had different dishes everynight and I especially loved the stir fry station that was open almost everyday as well as the pasta station.

 

Shogun I didn't like as I found the food bland(this didn't ruin my cruise as I try new restaurants all the time and some happen to be not so good)

 

The staff on the ship was very nice. The casino was nice and big and the nightclub was impressive.

 

Entertainment was good with the Blackstreet Boyz and a comedian as well as a singer.

 

The beauty of this board is taking all the complaints from the people who like to complain about everything and make sure they don't happen to me.

 

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to enjoying yourself on a cruise.

[xranger39@aol.com]

I am happy to hear very good reviews for a change! I am sailing on a 10 night in October and I guess there must have been some bad sailings lately. I have a question for the recent cruisers......I am hearing about long waits for the main restaurants. Is this during the typical 6-7:30 dinner hour? My husband and I have liked late seating on other cruises. Will we have a wait at around 8 or 8:30?

Also, I am having a hard time with this, but I am afraid to book a reservation at the specialty restaurants without knowing the best days to do so. Does anyone have a recommendation what to do? This is a 10 night sailing so it might be different.

Besides all of the dining tips, does anyone else have a list of "must-do's" on the Spirit?

 

Thanks so much!!!

[naxos]

If you make a reservation at the main dining rooms- Windows or Garden you will not have to wait for sure!

[apanj]

This is for richfb, how did you find out you got bumped off the excursion to Virgin Gorda. We got in touch with NCL about a month a half ago and we are still on I guess for the snorkel excursion. Did you find out when you boarded or did they tell you beforehand. Thanks

[mypyr]

Thanks for all the information! Can anyone please tell me which night on the 8 day St. Thomas, Tortola, Bermuda is the Lobster night in the main dining room? We would like to make our reservations on the first night in all the specialty restaurants, but don't want to miss Lobster night in the main restaurant.

 

How were the seas? Rough? Were any of you in the front cabins? We are in the bow of the ship on our upcoming trip and I am concerned about the movement.

 

How bad was it to get pool chairs on sea days? I hear it's awful!

 

Was there a piano bar playing Frank Sinatra type music?

 

Were there 7:30 shows every day? I want to take my daughter each night if I can!

 

Which speciality restaurants did you go to? Which would you recommend?

 

Did you play the slots? How were they?

 

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Cindy

[jenniferCP]

I think lobster night was the second or third nightl. You can get surf and turf in either Cagney's or Le Bistro everynight!! Both are worth the cover charge.

 

Seas were really rough. especially at the front and the the back wasn't much better.

 

Chairs at the pool were hard to come by as with any ship that is cruising near capacity.

 

Shows were at 7:30 and 9:30 everyday except for when they had some singer which was just at 9:30.

 

Thanks for all the information! Can anyone please tell me which night on the 8 day St. Thomas, Tortola, Bermuda is the Lobster night in the main dining room? We would like to make our reservations on the first night in all the specialty restaurants, but don't want to miss Lobster night in the main restaurant.

 

How were the seas? Rough? Were any of you in the front cabins? We are in the bow of the ship on our upcoming trip and I am concerned about the movement.

 

How bad was it to get pool chairs on sea days? I hear it's awful!

 

Was there a piano bar playing Frank Sinatra type music?

 

Were there 7:30 shows every day? I want to take my daughter each night if I can!

 

Which speciality restaurants did you go to? Which would you recommend?

 

Did you play the slots? How were they?

 

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Cindy

[richfb]

Apanj, you asked about the Virgin Gorda excursion, so here's the story. Perhaps bumped was not the right word. We had made reservations online about 4 weeks before the cruise. At that time, the Virgin Gorda Swim and Snorkel had 2 departure times, 7:30 AM and 12:30 PM. Looking at the itinerary, it seemed like the 12:30 would not get back before the ship left Tortola, so I called the NCL main office to inquire about this. They told me that if I could book the excursion online, that everything would be OK, and that either the excursion time or the ship's departure time was probably wrong. Based on this, we booked the 12:30 departure for 9 people. When we got on the ship, there was a note in our cabin saying the excursion was canceled for "logistical" reasons, and since there was no longer room on the 7:30 trip, they placed us on the Virgin Gorda Highlights tour, which they said we could cancel if we wanted to.

 

I then proceeded to the excursion desk, where they told me that the "logistical" problem was that the ship would leave before the tour returned. I told them that this was the opposite of what I was told 4 weeks earlier. They also said the tours were very similar and we would be able to snorkel, but we would have to rent the equipment at the beach. The person at the counter said that the Highlights tour was "better" than the Snorkel and Swim.

 

When we got to the beach, after 2 bus rides, a ferry ride and a 15 minute walk, we only had 1 hour of time. The line to rent equipment was long, the people working at the rental shack were more interested in selling food than renting snorkel equipment, and they were out of many sizes.

 

We ended up not snorkeling, and did not even have time to walk through the caves and baths. When we returned, we complained to the excursion desk, and were told that there was nothing they could do, we got what we paid for. The excursion director said she'd forward our complaints to their home office, and that we should follow up with our own letter to the NCL office.

 

We spoke to some other passengers who were also dissapointed with this excursion. I am most upset about the fact that 1) they gave me the wrong information 4 weeks in advance, 2) the staff on the ship misrepresented the trip and 3) they didn't notify us of the problem until we were on the ship.

 

I am in the process of composing my letter to the home office. While this incident certainly didn't ruin our cruise, it never should have happened in the first place.

 

Well, you asked.

[apanj]

richfb, wow thank you very much for that information, I am sorry that the excursion did not turn out the way you wanted to be and I would also write in to NCL about the problem, glad that it did not ruin the trip for you. Have a great summer. Tony

[mypyr]

Rich,

 

I too am booked on the 12:30 Virgin Gorda Swim and Snorkel excursion. Do you mean to tell me that it DOESN"T exist?? Why would they offer it then? I just assumed that they would hold the ship until the excursion returned. I am on hold now trying to find out and perhaps change the excursion. THANKS SO much for the information!! If you can think of any other information like this that would help, I'd be thrilled.

Thanks again!

Cindy

[richfb]

I don't know why they offered it in the first place, but based on my experience, I would switch to the 7:30 excursion if you want to be sure of going. Maybe there was something unique about last week's cruise, but I didn't get that impression from the staff onboard. I'm interested in what they tell you about the Virgin Gorda Swim and Snorkel.

 

The only other excursion we booked was the parasailing in St Thomas, and that went fine. It is within walking distance from the ship, so after it's done, you still have plenty of time to do other things. We took a taxi to the downtown shopping area and walked around. We then took a taxi to Magen's bay, arriving at about 6 pm. The beach was open and empty, but the facilities are not open after 5. We had a relaxing hour or so, and then the taxi picked us up and took us back to the ship. People who went to Magen's Bay during the day said it was extremely crowded, wall to wall people on the beach.

 

In Bermuda, we got off the ship and walked to the Snorkel Park. They have a small beach, which was not crowded and where you can rent snorkel equipment for $20, as well as other water equipment like peddle boats. They didn't have enough snorkel equipment for all 9 of us, but we shared. I'm sure that if we waited a while longer, we could have got more equipment. There is also a bar/refreshment area with bathrooms. After this, we walked over to Windjammer Watersports and rented jet skis. If you want to do the jet skiing, I would suggest calling ahead and making a reservation.

 

Have a great cruise.