Spirit Review: 8/5 - 8/13

[gsquaredstwins]

Let me preface by saying it is always so interesting how people on the same ship can have such different reviews. I have been on over 20 cruises (so I have lots to compare this ship to). This review is the opinion of myself and my husband - nothing more and nothing less.

 

Overall we had a nice vacation. I am in agreement, that you can't get caught up in every little thing - afterall you are on vacation - just have fun !!! Even if things aren't perfect, it is almost always better then being at home (cooking and cleaning for yourself- LOL).

 

We had an inside cabin on deck 5 - with a cabin steward that we almost NEVER saw. On several of the days our room wasn't cleaned until 2 pm or later. In the evening it didn't get turned down until after 9 pm. I don't know why ??? Was told there were no more room services menus for our cabin? LOved the size of the bathroom shower, but there was mold and rust in my tiles and that grossed me out. Got over that quickly though ....

 

We were a quad cabin, so when we openned the seat bed, we were upset that it had a 1 inch thick mattress that was so pathetic I don't even know how it passed for a bed. It also blocked the way to the bathroom and door which HAS to be a fire hazaard - and I don't know how that is even legal?? We basically took it upon ourself to rearrange the furniture and made it more doable by swapping this chair bed with the little book stand end table thingie (basically putting the chair bed under the pull down bed). That made it much better space and safety wise as we had a clear path to the bathroom and door. Let me also be clear that any child over age 8 or 9 and weighing more than 60-70 pounds would have NEVER been able to comfortable sleep on this chair bed. Why they don't just put a second pulldown bed in the cabins is beyond me ???

 

Pool area is nice - very large pool. I had one major problem with the pool area though - no place for lounge chairs in the shade. They used the only shady places for tables with chairs. We are a shade family- we HATE being in the sun and we found this really upsetting. We figured something out and made due, but it is something to keep in mind if you don't like sitting in the sun.

 

I am not a picky eater by any means (heck - I'll eat chef boy r dee out of a can) - and we rarely ate at the buffet for breakfast or lunch. We just found the food to be - well yucky. They did have a nice poolside BBQ everyday and we made due with that instead. The curly fries at the bier garden were excellent. Also the wings at the blue lagoon were quite yummy (just order by how many you want because an order is only 3 wings and these are mini wings).

 

One thing we found was during the evenings, we felt there was very little to do. They had one event going on at a time (hence no variety). For example, we usually enjoy picking up a game of trivia, a game of name that tune, or something between a show and after dinner, or watching karaoke or something. There basically was one event going on at a time (other than just listening to singers). Several nights we actually retired early because we were just bored and after we saw the show there was nothing left for us to do (we don't gamble). Also the tv rotated the same movies for 9 days- I felt they could have had more variety for the tv. Not that we spend a lot of time in the cabin, but once in a while we enjoy just laying down after a shower or something or before dinner and there was very little to watch. For our kids there was only 1 cartoon channel and it only had violent type cartoons on it for the most part (yu gi oh, etc).

 

Kids camp .... our kids enjoyed most of the camp, but I was upset about a few things with the staff. They were nice and sweet but not too bright (sorry no other way to say it). I have 2 kids and one kept winning prizes - literally things worth under 25 cents like candy. My son was upset that he didn't win anything. Why all the kids didn't get prizes is beyond me. On the last day, they actually told my daughter to share her prize with my son. Now this is obviously a very small issue- but come on- is the camp that broke? On other cruise lines they inundate you with camp goodies. They actually told the kids a ghost keeps tabs on the prize closet, and that there is a jail on the boat that often gets blood on the floor and they wash it away with hoses- all sorts of unnecessary stories. Then they also got penalized as a group. If one kid was being bad in the group the entire group lost ball pit time. OK when my kids are in school - I might be OK with that, but this is our family vacation and we paid thousands of dollars to be on that boat and if my kids are behaved then they should not be penalized for any reason. In our every day life- I totally am fine with one kid getting something and the other not getting something- thats life right! But not while we are on vacation trying to take a break from the reality of everyday life. This was the first time ever (my kids have cruised 10 times now) we had any issues with the kids camp staff. Most of the staff was temps for the summer - so maybe that explains it a bit ??? My kids still went to camp and liked it for the most part, but I have never heard of such things on previous sailings we have been on.

 

We made restaurant reservations when we got on the ship the first day. No problems with that. We avoided windows because we read here about long waits, etc. Garden was pretty good (time wise, etc). Le Bistro was the best meal we had on board the ship. The filet mignon was like butter. We went when it was 50% off which is the early seating at 5;30 or 6 pm on port days. They dont tell you this but kids are half price in le bistro all of the time. We were surprised by that one. We also did teppanyaki which was fun. We went to the italian restaurant twice and both nights we counted how many tables were occuppied and each time it was 5 or 6 tables that people were sitting at- yet they said the restaurant was full and were turning people away who were asking to eat there??????

 

kids can eat with the camp staff on the st thomas day - tuesday at 7 pm (keep this in mind when making your reservations in advance). I tried to find this out when making my reservations and no one knew about it ??? Then when I got the info from kids camp I had to go wait on line again to change our reservation for that evening.

 

MAKE sure you make reservations for dinners early on.... although it takes away form the "freestyle concept" - in my opinion, at least you know you will get in. We even made our reservations for the main restaurants and it helped us cut long lines and be seated within minutes on several occassions.

 

I think the ship is pretty. We liked having the show lounge on the back of the ship. It rocks less then the front of the ship and I am sensitive to sea sickness. Alfred and Seymour are very funny, Ed Alonso was good too - a little too slapstick for me- but fine to watch and get a few laughs from. The production shows were pretty good as well- and normally lately I find those to stink on ships.

 

Embarkation and Disembarkation were very smooth - no complaints there. You can't get in your cabin til 2 pm though- just keep that in mind. Loved the teen passport program where you can buy a booklet with 20 coupons for non alcohol drinks (like smoothies) for your kids for $34. These drinks are usually $4-6 a clip so we usually limit them for our kids, but with the coupon booklet it was only like $1.75 a piece so it was worth it. These are only sold to kids though.

 

Overall the staff was friendly and nice. We did feel the ship was a little dirty. When we boarded the ship there was black marker graffitti in the elevator - we were shocked. It was gone the next day thank goodness. Things like the brass didnt appear to be polished too often, and we spilled suntan lotion on the deck floor by the pool the 2nd day and it was still there the last day... so my guess is the floors dont get cleaned too often either.

 

The CD Julie was OK - not the greatest but not bad either. We felt like we hardly saw the entertainment crew - you know the ones running games and stuff. Not sure where they were ???

 

Again, we knew what we were getting when booking this NCL ship (having cruised NCL before several times), so we had a fine time. It wont go down as the best cruise we have taken , nor the worse. Not much was overly memorable for us this time around, but we relaxed and enjoyed the swimming, and the pool side music and those sorts of things.

 

If you go on with a positive attitude and you don't let the little things ruin your vacation - you will be fine- but it is my opinion that with NCL there will inevitably be little things. One thing we really did enjoy was the smaller ship. The ships are getting so big these days, it is nice once in a while to be on a slightly smaller ship.

 

St Thomas (been there more times then I care to admit due to cruising so much). Went to Coki beach this time, it was OK.

 

Tortola was pretty but we felt like it was a ghost town - if you didn't take an organized tour- not sure what you would have done there ?

 

Bermuda was nice. We took advantage of the new snorkel park which was a 5 minute walk from the ship. Was perfect for a litrle beach break that didn't cost you an arm and a leg in taxis. It had rentals there (chairs, ubrellas, food to buy) and 2 water slides out in the water. Free to get in too.... what more could you want?

 

I'll try to answer any questions others may have. I hope this is helpful to others who may be going on this ship.

 

Gina

[VampyBuff]

Hey Gina, thanks for your review...We're going on the Spirit in jst 2 1/2 weeks now...

How old are your children? Do you feel as though if you had traveled without them, then perhaps you would have had an overall more positive experience? Me and my BF are only 20/21 so do you feel that would make a difference?

I've been looking at the dailies from past Spirit cruises and it'd seemed like there was always SOMEthing to do (?).

How was the weather? I know you said you had a quad inside cabin, so I'm assuming that it'd be sufficiant enough for only two people.

Thanks for taking the time to right up such a speedy review and looking fwd to your response.

Kiera

[mypyr]

Hi Gina,

 

Thanks for posting your review, even though it scared me a bit. We are leaving this Saturday 8/19, and I am hoping for a relaxing trip. My 8 yr old daughter plans to attend the Kids Crew as well. She doesn't like ghost and bloody closet stories though(she has bad nightmares about them), so I am a bit concerned.

 

We are in a forward cabin where I know there will be more movement, but I am praying for calm seas! How bad were the seas?

 

It sounds to me like we need to eat in the Specialty restaurants nightly in order to get good food..do you(or does anyone out there) know what night the Captain has his Cocktail Party? We are in a suite so we will be invited, and I want to plan our restaurant times accordingly.

 

Did you have any problems getting pool chairs? We don't mind the sun, so that won't be an issue for us, but I would like to be able to have a place to si and read...

 

On the Tuesday 7pm Kids Crew dinner with the staff, were you free to have your own dinner or did you have to be there? What time was it over? (I'd like to plan our dinners around the shows since my DD LOVES shows!)

 

Speaking of shows, were they all children-friendly?

 

I would appreciate any other tidbits or advice ...

 

thanks,

 

Cindy

[gsquaredstwins]

Hi Kiera,

 

I'll try to answer your questions. The weather is just hit or miss, so it is hard to say what weather you will have. I felt like we had really good weather on this sailing- especiall;y considering before we left I thought we may be in the middle of a hurricane - LOL

 

As for cabin size, it was sifficient for us 4, so I am sure it will be fine for just 2. We found plenty of places to put our clothing, etc. No problem. I was just dissappointed in the bedding layout fir 4 people (from a safety stand point) - but like I said we rearranged the furniture and made due just fine.

 

I don't think the cruise would have been any different for us without the kids- we are use to taking them along (they are 7.5 years old and have been on 10 cruises). The kids had a good time overall, I just thought the camp staff was a bit odd on this ship for some reason (lacked professionalism and some basic child development knowledge). My kids still enjoyed kids camp- they always like being with other kids.

 

As for activities. During the day we didn't think it was as bad, and in the evening, if you like sitting at a bar having a drink listening to music or gambling, you will be fine to fill in your time between the show and dinner. My husband and I do not drink and we don't gamble, so we usually look forward to alternate activities like trivia games, or name that tune games, etc. We found the evening activities to be sparse - with only one thing going on at any given time. Again, not a make it or break it thing for the overall trip, just a little dissappointing. We found ourselves eating wings in the Blue lagoon if there was nothing else to do- LOL!!!

 

I am sure you will have a great cruise !

 

I hope this helps you some.

 

Gina

[gsquaredstwins]

Hi Cindy,

 

I do want to say that my kids were not the only kids who said the staff talked about these things. We confirmed this info with other parents in the age group (6-9 yrs). My kids were OK about it, I just couldnt understand why the staff thought talking about these things were ok ???

 

Weather is dependant on your particualr week to cruise- so who knows? The front of the ship tends to move more though (sorry). I know on rough nights I could not sit in the galaxy liunge on deck 12 forward. I felt like we had rough seas for one evening, and the last day at sea was a bit rough- you should have seen the water sloshing around in the pool - LOL.

 

The captains dinner with lobster is Sunday - the 2nd night. You can get good food in the regular restaurants. I just felt the quality of food and the service was much better in the specialty restaurants.

 

Many people had problems getting pool chairs - especially as it got later in the day. I didnt' really have a problem becuse I am an early riser and since my family sleeps in later, I sneek out of thw cabin with a book and sit up on deck and read (hence I am able to get us our chairs). We truly camp out on deck all day til 5 - 6 pm, so we also like having a lounge chair. We will read, sleep, eat and stay in those chairs almost all day- I love the live poolside music, the pool games, etc.

 

Kids crew dinner is for you to drop off at. You do not stay and eat with the kids. It is a great night to have an alone dinner with your other aduly half. They had it timed from roughly 7 - 8:15 pm You do have to reserve a space for the kids dinner the night before.

 

Speaking of shows, were they all children-friendly? - I wouldnt really say they were all children friendly. I mean they could probably watch it, but they wont get most of the jokes. There were definitely kids in the shows. I know my kids like shows as well, but they like camp much much more, so they go to camp at night.

 

If you think of any oher questions, feel free to ask.

 

Gina

[judyf]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review.

[mypyr]

Gina- Thanks SO much for your help! My DD will like singing, dancing and magic, but NOT comedians..do you remember which nights were which? If it is a comedian night, perhaps we will eat early(5:30-6ish) and then send her to the 7pm camp..Are they there until 10?

 

With our luck, Stefie won't like kids camp at all, so I won't get any time in the casino$$$$!

 

I still need to find out if there is a safe in the room and what day the VIP cocktail party is...do you know the answer to either??

 

What did you wear on the formal nights? I know it's optional but do women get really dressed up?

 

Thanks Gina!

[CasinoCruzGirl]

Let me preface by saying it is always so interesting how people on the same ship can have such different reviews. I have been on over 20 cruises (so I have lots to compare this ship to). This review is the opinion of myself and my husband - nothing more and nothing less.

 

Overall we had a nice vacation. I am in agreement, that you can't get caught up in every little thing - afterall you are on vacation - just have fun !!! Even if things aren't perfect, it is almost always better then being at home (cooking and cleaning for yourself- LOL).

 

We had an inside cabin on deck 5 - with a cabin steward that we almost NEVER saw. On several of the days our room wasn't cleaned until 2 pm or later. In the evening it didn't get turned down until after 9 pm. I don't know why ??? Was told there were no more room services menus for our cabin? LOved the size of the bathroom shower, but there was mold and rust in my tiles and that grossed me out. Got over that quickly though ....

 

We were a quad cabin, so when we openned the seat bed, we were upset that it had a 1 inch thick mattress that was so pathetic I don't even know how it passed for a bed. It also blocked the way to the bathroom and door which HAS to be a fire hazaard - and I don't know how that is even legal?? We basically took it upon ourself to rearrange the furniture and made it more doable by swapping this chair bed with the little book stand end table thingie (basically putting the chair bed under the pull down bed). That made it much better space and safety wise as we had a clear path to the bathroom and door. Let me also be clear that any child over age 8 or 9 and weighing more than 60-70 pounds would have NEVER been able to comfortable sleep on this chair bed. Why they don't just put a second pulldown bed in the cabins is beyond me ???

 

Pool area is nice - very large pool. I had one major problem with the pool area though - no place for lounge chairs in the shade. They used the only shady places for tables with chairs. We are a shade family- we HATE being in the sun and we found this really upsetting. We figured something out and made due, but it is something to keep in mind if you don't like sitting in the sun.

 

I am not a picky eater by any means (heck - I'll eat chef boy r dee out of a can) - and we rarely ate at the buffet for breakfast or lunch. We just found the food to be - well yucky. They did have a nice poolside BBQ everyday and we made due with that instead. The curly fries at the bier garden were excellent. Also the wings at the blue lagoon were quite yummy (just order by how many you want because an order is only 3 wings and these are mini wings).

 

One thing we found was during the evenings, we felt there was very little to do. They had one event going on at a time (hence no variety). For example, we usually enjoy picking up a game of trivia, a game of name that tune, or something between a show and after dinner, or watching karaoke or something. There basically was one event going on at a time (other than just listening to singers). Several nights we actually retired early because we were just bored and after we saw the show there was nothing left for us to do (we don't gamble). Also the tv rotated the same movies for 9 days- I felt they could have had more variety for the tv. Not that we spend a lot of time in the cabin, but once in a while we enjoy just laying down after a shower or something or before dinner and there was very little to watch. For our kids there was only 1 cartoon channel and it only had violent type cartoons on it for the most part (yu gi oh, etc).

 

Kids camp .... our kids enjoyed most of the camp, but I was upset about a few things with the staff. They were nice and sweet but not too bright (sorry no other way to say it). I have 2 kids and one kept winning prizes - literally things worth under 25 cents like candy. My son was upset that he didn't win anything. Why all the kids didn't get prizes is beyond me. On the last day, they actually told my daughter to share her prize with my son. Now this is obviously a very small issue- but come on- is the camp that broke? On other cruise lines they inundate you with camp goodies. They actually told the kids a ghost keeps tabs on the prize closet, and that there is a jail on the boat that often gets blood on the floor and they wash it away with hoses- all sorts of unnecessary stories. Then they also got penalized as a group. If one kid was being bad in the group the entire group lost ball pit time. OK when my kids are in school - I might be OK with that, but this is our family vacation and we paid thousands of dollars to be on that boat and if my kids are behaved then they should not be penalized for any reason. In our every day life- I totally am fine with one kid getting something and the other not getting something- thats life right! But not while we are on vacation trying to take a break from the reality of everyday life. This was the first time ever (my kids have cruised 10 times now) we had any issues with the kids camp staff. Most of the staff was temps for the summer - so maybe that explains it a bit ??? My kids still went to camp and liked it for the most part, but I have never heard of such things on previous sailings we have been on.

 

We made restaurant reservations when we got on the ship the first day. No problems with that. We avoided windows because we read here about long waits, etc. Garden was pretty good (time wise, etc). Le Bistro was the best meal we had on board the ship. The filet mignon was like butter. We went when it was 50% off which is the early seating at 5;30 or 6 pm on port days. They dont tell you this but kids are half price in le bistro all of the time. We were surprised by that one. We also did teppanyaki which was fun. We went to the italian restaurant twice and both nights we counted how many tables were occuppied and each time it was 5 or 6 tables that people were sitting at- yet they said the restaurant was full and were turning people away who were asking to eat there??????

 

kids can eat with the camp staff on the st thomas day - tuesday at 7 pm (keep this in mind when making your reservations in advance). I tried to find this out when making my reservations and no one knew about it ??? Then when I got the info from kids camp I had to go wait on line again to change our reservation for that evening.

 

MAKE sure you make reservations for dinners early on.... although it takes away form the "freestyle concept" - in my opinion, at least you know you will get in. We even made our reservations for the main restaurants and it helped us cut long lines and be seated within minutes on several occassions.

 

I think the ship is pretty. We liked having the show lounge on the back of the ship. It rocks less then the front of the ship and I am sensitive to sea sickness. Alfred and Seymour are very funny, Ed Alonso was good too - a little too slapstick for me- but fine to watch and get a few laughs from. The production shows were pretty good as well- and normally lately I find those to stink on ships.

 

Embarkation and Disembarkation were very smooth - no complaints there. You can't get in your cabin til 2 pm though- just keep that in mind. Loved the teen passport program where you can buy a booklet with 20 coupons for non alcohol drinks (like smoothies) for your kids for $34. These drinks are usually $4-6 a clip so we usually limit them for our kids, but with the coupon booklet it was only like $1.75 a piece so it was worth it. These are only sold to kids though.

 

Overall the staff was friendly and nice. We did feel the ship was a little dirty. When we boarded the ship there was black marker graffitti in the elevator - we were shocked. It was gone the next day thank goodness. Things like the brass didnt appear to be polished too often, and we spilled suntan lotion on the deck floor by the pool the 2nd day and it was still there the last day... so my guess is the floors dont get cleaned too often either.

 

The CD Julie was OK - not the greatest but not bad either. We felt like we hardly saw the entertainment crew - you know the ones running games and stuff. Not sure where they were ???

 

Again, we knew what we were getting when booking this NCL ship (having cruised NCL before several times), so we had a fine time. It wont go down as the best cruise we have taken , nor the worse. Not much was overly memorable for us this time around, but we relaxed and enjoyed the swimming, and the pool side music and those sorts of things.

 

If you go on with a positive attitude and you don't let the little things ruin your vacation - you will be fine- but it is my opinion that with NCL there will inevitably be little things. One thing we really did enjoy was the smaller ship. The ships are getting so big these days, it is nice once in a while to be on a slightly smaller ship.

 

St Thomas (been there more times then I care to admit due to cruising so much). Went to Coki beach this time, it was OK.

 

Tortola was pretty but we felt like it was a ghost town - if you didn't take an organized tour- not sure what you would have done there ?

 

Bermuda was nice. We took advantage of the new snorkel park which was a 5 minute walk from the ship. Was perfect for a litrle beach break that didn't cost you an arm and a leg in taxis. It had rentals there (chairs, ubrellas, food to buy) and 2 water slides out in the water. Free to get in too.... what more could you want?

 

I'll try to answer any questions others may have. I hope this is helpful to others who may be going on this ship.

 

Gina

WOW you said in your 2nd paragraph just have fun - but it seems like u didn't like anything

[gsquaredstwins]

Yes, we did like some things and we did have a good time - in the lengthy review I pointed out several things that we liked.

 

If this were not cruise critic- I wouldnt mention anything at all- but I always feel it is important for people to know what their cruise will be like, so I state the facts.

 

My husband and I dont get all twisted over our cabin not being made up (and other minor things) - we actually found it comical and laughed about it. Not having our cabin cleaned (when we return at 2 pm) doesn't ruin our cruise- but I still feel it is information people should have.

 

Any trip is what you make of it and the attitude you go on with. I wrote my review so that people could "see" what we experienced. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

You can also see the difference in service between an inside cabin on deck 5 and the nicer cabins on deck 10 and 11 that people are posting about ???? I mean - when I went to ask for a room service menu for our cabin from our room steward in the hallway (because there wasnt one in there already) she told me there wasn't enough of them to put one in every room ???? What is that ???? I of course found another way to get one and my husband and I laughed that something like that could even be said to us....

 

Having cruised NCL a few times, I am sad to say but this is the level of service we have come to expect from them. It doesn't ruin our vacation (if it did we wouldnt cruise with them), but we are aware of it.

 

For example: 4 days before we left on our cruise, I called the shore ex department because I knew we had booked a tour (that they conformed for me) that was scheduled to come back to the ship AFTER the ship departs from the port that day. The woman on the phone told me not to worry because they would probably move the tour back 1-2 hours and it would be fine. I said to the woman, but the ship leaves in 4 days, do they not know yet what they will do with this tour??? I explained that if this tour didnt work out, and we got closed out of other tours because we waited too long, that I would be upset. No no she promised me, your tour will just leave 1-2 hours earlier then scheduled most likely. So, my husband and I laughed that 4 days before the ship sails the staff at NCL did not have a concrete answer for us.

 

Needless to say we got on board and there was an apology letter in our cabin stating our tour was cancelled and they booked us on another tour that we didnt ask for.... so I had to go to the shore ex desk to cancel the tour (becaause it wasnt something we wanted to do).

 

Its little stuff like that ..... we've grown to expect from NCL.

 

Also freestyle cruising, I had no problem because I made my reservations on the first day. BUT many people did not, and they were upset they couldnt get reservations in the specialty restaurants. To me freestyle means I go where I want to go when I want to go- not I make reservations 1 week in advance (hence not really freestyle). Also, when I am sitting in the italian restaurant and only 5 tables are taken and about 20 tables are empty and the sign reads that the restaurant is full and they are turning people away at the door- I don't understand that (and it happened both nights we dined there) ???

 

THis is all my opinion - nothing more nothing less. Some people Love NCL and would disagree. Thats what makes the world go around......

 

Gina

[L0204]

Thanks for taking the time for the review Gina. As to the empty tables, I believe each specialty restaurant is required to keep a certain number of tables empty JUST IN CASE people in the suites want to dine there and need last minute reservations. At least that is what I have gleaned here on the boards.....hence empty tables but people being turned away. Seems like there could be a better system for this situation.:confused:

[Dancyalien]

Another possibility is that reservations had been made with people that didnt show up. Hence they were holding tables for people who decided not to come... Just a thought...

[NJBear]

Thanks for the review, I was on the SPIRIT 6/3 and was on Deck 5 also 5568--outside cabin. My experience and cabin were quite different than yours (super great stewards Reina and Putu)and I know we all have only our own to report. I'm glad you didn't let the things that weren't quite right to ruin your cruise. Thanks again