Just Home From The Spirit - 12-2 to 12-9 Cruise

[Rowan555]

What do you mean about no menu choices? We are sailing on the Spirit on Dec. 23. I have seen old menus for other NCL ships but nothing on the Spirit. Does anyone have a menu or can you describe what the menu is like?

Pat

 

 

I'm not sure who said something about no menu choices, and I'm not sure what they meant. I will say that the main dining rooms' menus left a lot to be desired. We didn't do the surcharge restaurants because even though many people posted here that kids could eat off the kids' menu free in the specialty restaurants, the Spirit wouldn't allow us to do it. They wanted us to pay half price for the kids, so we didn't bother. I found the main dining room meals to be perhaps half as good as what we've had on Carnival. The lido deck buffet lunches and dinners were almost exactly the same every day, which was quite disappointing. Room service was pathetic - premade sandwiches and salads, and cold, undercooked pizzas. I must have gained weight from all the long island iced teas, because these 3 pounds are sure not from the FOOD lol!

[GORDONCHICK]

Sounds like the Spirit may fit the bill for us, though we won't be on her until January of 2009. We are up early, but not out really late, and we bring our own fun with us. We rarely participate in the organized activities and we will be bringing our card buddies, so we should be set, though I'm hoping the food will be decent. We haven't sailed NCL yet, so this part has me a little worried.

[Rowan555]

Sounds like the Spirit may fit the bill for us, though we won't be on her until January of 2009. We are up early, but not out really late, and we bring our own fun with us. We rarely participate in the organized activities and we will be bringing our card buddies, so we should be set, though I'm hoping the food will be decent. We haven't sailed NCL yet, so this part has me a little worried.

 

 

If you're not into late night fun, and if you have people to do things with, you should be fine. The food leaves a lot to be desired, but you won't go hungry.

[Arlington22207]

I'll be posting a long form review, but my wife and I are probably in the minority in rating the cruise a 7.5 or even an 8 out of 10. We had a blast!

 

Put us in the "bring our own fun" category, anyway. We were definitly on the younger side of the crowd (I'm 34) but that didn't impact us too much...there were representatives from every age group on the ship, that was for sure. But we have plenty of bars/clubs to go to in our home city on a regular basis, we were on this cruise for the experience of seeing new places. Honduras, Belize, Guatemala...that's what did it for us.

 

My own opinion is if you take a look a the itinerary, and you say to yourself "Great, this trip goes to Cozumel!" then you may want to think about doing a different cruise. Not because Cozumel isn't great -- we had a wonderful time there and the weather was perfect. But because Cozumel is not representative of the other stops. Cozumel is a resort destination -- the others are not. Well, Belize has a fairly well developed port, but the others are still in their infancy.

 

We chose this itinerary specifically for the chance to see these new places while they are still wild. If you are not comfortable in situations like this, you may not like the cruise too much. Not that there is anything wrong with that...different strokes for different folks, right?

 

In any case, I thought the food was fine but we were just two so we had a little more freedom to "freestyle" ourselves...we'd check the menu every day and if the choices were lackluster we went to a specialty restaurant. We may avoided a few lacluster meals that way.

 

And before anyone flames me, it's not because we don't know what we're talking about when it comes to food. Due to my wife's occupation we frequently travel around the country and eat at very high-end restaurants on her company's dime. We just returned from a week in San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa three weeks ago. Was the food on the spirit comparable to a "5-star restaurant" (as several people told me it should be, on this cruise)? Absolutely not...but it was edible and there were a range of options. The portions were pretty small, but there were several courses so I never went hungry at all. Given the price we paid, it would be ludicrious to expect 5-star cuisine (again, my opinion).

[Rowan555]

I think you make a very important point - WHY you are taking the cruise is the determining factor in whether this will be a good experience for you. Our reasons were twofold. First, we wanted to try the different ports - and in that regard, the cruise was a success. We had wonderful, memorable times in Belize, Roatan, and Guatemala. Our second reason was to have some "grownup time" away from the kids at night - I homeschool my children and I'm with them pretty much 24/7. We don't get many opportunities to go out at night (once a month if we're lucky) so a cruise is a great chance to go out dancing and drinking every night while the kids enjoy the kids' program. So in this regard, the cruise did not meet our expectations. We just sort of wandered the ship at night, and dh played some blackjack, and we waited for the disco to get crowded, or for something else to happen.

 

 

 

I'll be posting a long form review, but my wife and I are probably in the minority in rating the cruise a 7.5 or even an 8 out of 10. We had a blast!

 

Put us in the "bring our own fun" category, anyway. We were definitly on the younger side of the crowd (I'm 34) but that didn't impact us too much...there were representatives from every age group on the ship, that was for sure. But we have plenty of bars/clubs to go to in our home city on a regular basis, we were on this cruise for the experience of seeing new places. Honduras, Belize, Guatemala...that's what did it for us.

 

My own opinion is if you take a look a the itinerary, and you say to yourself "Great, this trip goes to Cozumel!" then you may want to think about doing a different cruise. Not because Cozumel isn't great -- we had a wonderful time there and the weather was perfect. But because Cozumel is not representative of the other stops. Cozumel is a resort destination -- the others are not. Well, Belize has a fairly well developed port, but the others are still in their infancy.

 

We chose this itinerary specifically for the chance to see these new places while they are still wild. If you are not comfortable in situations like this, you may not like the cruise too much. Not that there is anything wrong with that...different strokes for different folks, right?

 

In any case, I thought the food was fine but we were just two so we had a little more freedom to "freestyle" ourselves...we'd check the menu every day and if the choices were lackluster we went to a specialty restaurant. We may avoided a few lacluster meals that way.

 

And before anyone flames me, it's not because we don't know what we're talking about when it comes to food. Due to my wife's occupation we frequently travel around the country and eat at very high-end restaurants on her company's dime. We just returned from a week in San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa three weeks ago. Was the food on the spirit comparable to a "5-star restaurant" (as several people told me it should be, on this cruise)? Absolutely not...but it was edible and there were a range of options. The portions were pretty small, but there were several courses so I never went hungry at all. Given the price we paid, it would be ludicrious to expect 5-star cuisine (again, my opinion).

[MrPete]

i think you have the answer; some need to have organized activities to have fun, others make their own.

 

I call that "being home". When I'm cruising, I like experiencing the unexpected. The FUN that's thrown at you. It's fun getting caught up in that.

 

One of the reasons I never returned to NCL. It wasn't there.

[CRUZIN TOM]

Mr. Pete, how can you possibility judge NCL today. It was 19 years ago that you sailed on NCL. A lot has changed on their ships. I was on a Great Escapes ship that many years ago. And if I comapred that today to anything else, I wouldn't cruise them again either............:) But I love NCL and their Freestyle of dining. (Which I know isn't for everybody):)

[MrPete]

Mr. Pete, how can you possibility judge NCL today.

 

I can't, and I don't.

 

I let others.

[Toyz711]

and if you read my review of the same cruise (spirit 12/2-9) i have no problem finding my fun. had a great time, loved the ship/crew and food.

did find that the passengers at bingo, at some of the things like "weakness link"...just sat there, didn't get involved. this was not the most exciting group of passengers...

people look for different things, i found everything i was looking for and plan to repeat this cruise next year.

[swampfox28]

If you're not into late night fun, and if you have people to do things with, you should be fine. The food leaves a lot to be desired, but you won't go hungry.

 

 

We thought the food was GREAT!

 

Beef wellington, New York strip, lobster, creme brulee (mmmm!), cheese tortilini, pecan crusted snapper, tomato bisque (yum!), the chocolate buffet (!!!), ceasar salad, mozzarella & tomato appetizers, etc.!!!

 

The buffet was not as great (good crepe station, ceasar salad station, salad station, bread station, and ice cream stations, though!)

 

Hearing that other cruise lines offer juice and lemonade in addition to milk, water and iced tea- well, that would have been nice, but we were happy with water and milk (I brought some Dr. P for my daily caffiene fix!)

 

I thought the food for the most part was a 5 out of 5!

 

-Sarah

[Rowan555]

We thought the food was GREAT!

 

 

I thought the food for the most part was a 5 out of 5!

 

-Sarah

 

 

If I had to rate the food, it would be:

 

Buffet - 2/5

Dining Room - 2.5/5

All Desserts - 1/5

Room Service - 0/5

 

I'm sorry, I just found the food either horribly bland or too salty - there was no middle ground, and nothing tasted "seasoned" - just salty. The biscuits at breakfast could be used to stone someone to death, and the other offerings weren't much better. There were a few standouts - the vegetable manicotti in Trattoria, the lobster in the main dining room, and the Veal Scallopini among them. Most of the other things I ate were just not any good at all (to me, at least).

 

I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks - the food alone would be enough to keep me from choosing NCL - and the lack of fun makes it a certainty I'll stay away in the future.

[musicgirl63]

Belize is a good place to do this, and Cozumel is always great for snorkeling. I would recommend booking on your own in Cozumel, and possibly even Belize - there are many tour operators at the terminal. You can hit a beach and take a little boat out for a snorkel tour, it's usually about $20 or so to do this. At Chankanaab National Park you can snorkel right off the beach as well, but obviously it's not as good as going out on a boat. Go to the Cozumel board for ideas on the best snorkeling. Some people went to Bannister Island in Belize and did snorkel tours there - they seemed to really enjoy it.

 

You mentioned going on your own in Cozumel and I highly recommend that as well. The cruise lines prices are considerably higher than do the exact same thing on your own. We had no problems getting around.

 

If you are interested in snorkeling in Cozumel on your own, I highly recommend Eagle Ray divers. A little mom's and pop's kind of place and I had read tons of great reviews from others before we went. The boat (and I mean boat) is very small and some are pretty old, but who cares when you get to snorkel in the beautiful water. You do NOT go where the giant catamarans go with sometimes 200+ being dropped off in the same place. We watched as the catamarans from the ship excursions all headed to the same place. Friends of ours on it were not happy. Beginners will love this as well. No real swimming involved since once you are in the water, you float in the current where the boat has arrived to pick you up.

[Mikl-n-CJ]

We're doing this trip in January. The relaxing and doing nothing sounds fine to me, but I was hoping for NOT boring. What about your time in port? Any excursions you'd recommend?

 

Our family of six had a great time, but only because we had good attitudes and when something wasn't up-to-par, we found a way around it. I'll post more later in a more in-depth analysis of this cruise. However, your question about excursions...we didn't use a shipboard excursion - best decision we made!

 

Below is what we did for each port. We had an EXCELLENT time and couldn't have planned it better (except let our credit card company know in advance that we were traveling so we wouldn't get declined).

 

Roaton, Honduras: Went with the tour of the Island with Victor Bodden. I would recommend starting this tour with a visit to Half Moon Bay. We ended our tour there and it was too dark to enjoy the beauty. They had $3 drinks! Whoo-hoo!

 

Santo Tomas, Guatemala: Our favorite excursion by far. We traveled by water taxi with the Go with Gus group. We did the Humanitarian tour (Livingston & Rio Dulce tour package). We took 75 pounds of school supplies, toys, and candy to a school and had so much left over, the remainder went to another school. The kids were a delight.

 

Belize City, Belize: We did the Altun Ha and Cave tubing tour with Maj or Tom. We actually went with "Minor Tom" his son. This was the most fun trip! My wife and sister-in-law got a visit from the "butt-biting fish." Absolutely hilarious! Also, My oldest son and I ate the termites we came across in the rain forest. Very good! Minty taste!

 

Cozumel, Mexico: 100% touristy place. We choose to take a taxi van ($28 bucks) to Paridise Beach. We got there early so had a spot on the beach. Then we took taxi back for $26 bucks USD. Then shopped!!!

 

Hope that helps.

[nealstuber]

We want to do a beach snorkel thing. Do you suggest an on board one or waiting til we get somewhere? Which port do you suggest also?

COZUMEL is the best port for beach and snorkeling. There are lots of options and you do not need to book through the ship. We understnad that there are very pretty beaches in Rotan, but Coral Cay is not one of them...stay away from this excursion. Due to the short port time, and the very primative port in Rotan, you might look for a different snorkel expedition through the ship. Heard great things about beaches in Belieze, but they are a "little ways" (20 min?) from the city.. When you add the tender loading and transit time and the late start time for folks not on NCL excursions, it nets out to be a pretty short beach day. Pretty sure there are no really good beaches in Guatemala, so if the jungle thing cathes your eye, do it there.

 

We found more to do on the Spirit than what most of folks have posted here. It was our best NCL cruise (of three). We did have more "fun" on the Funships of Carnival and we were really wowed by RCCL overall.

 

If the price was right, we'd do it again for the convince that NOLA offers us, the 7 day, four port itinerary, and the family freindly layout.

I would not fly or go far out of my way for this cruise ... there are too many better options out there for the same price or better. For even money on a 7 day, we will probably drive 6 or 7 hrs extra to catch the Mariner or Glory out of POC, Legend out of Tampa, or Voyager or Conquest out of Galveston.

[newmexicoNita]

Just to be clear, we DID have fun. We totally enjoyed our week. I just found the ship to be lacking in the "fun factor" that I've experienced on Carnival. We made it a good time, but in my opinion there is just more to DO on Carnival, both during the day and at night. We don't participate in many of the organized activities or go to the shows, so that didn't even matter - but when it's 11 PM and the disco is DEAD, and all anyone is doing is sleeping or playing slot machines, that makes for a bit of a boring night. It was like that pretty every night, which was somewhat disappointing.

ok, actually what you are saying is: there is stuff to do, but not what you like. yes, Carnival is more active, especially for those who enjoy the party life style. That is what they are noted for. Every line has a nitch, Carnivals is for those who really enjoy the night life. NCL and RCI do have lots of activities, but they are not the type you are looking for it appears. If you were not happy with the social life on NCL be sure to stay away from Princess and HAL; they have almost none.

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

I'm not sure who said something about no menu choices, and I'm not sure what they meant. I will say that the main dining rooms' menus left a lot to be desired. We didn't do the surcharge restaurants because even though many people posted here that kids could eat off the kids' menu free in the specialty restaurants, the Spirit wouldn't allow us to do it. They wanted us to pay half price for the kids, so we didn't bother. I found the main dining room meals to be perhaps half as good as what we've had on Carnival. The lido deck buffet lunches and dinners were almost exactly the same every day, which was quite disappointing. Room service was pathetic - premade sandwiches and salads, and cold, undercooked pizzas. I must have gained weight from all the long island iced teas, because these 3 pounds are sure not from the FOOD lol!

I am shocked the lunches were the same each day. Breakfast, yes, what can you do with breakfast when they offer almost everything in the world at the buffet. We have sailed 20 plus times, all lines and have found breakfast to be about the same each time we have sailed, but 10 cruises on NCL, never have we found the lunches to be the same daily. yes, the grill is always hamburgers and hot dogs, like grills usually are and the salad bar is the same, as on most lines, but they entrees seem to be varied. Again, I guess the Spirit may be different from the rest of the NCL line.

 

Nita

[Toyz711]

the couple of times i went down to check the lunch menu..all that they had was the "lunch being served" notice where the menu usually is. same for breakfast...which i understand because breakfast uses the same menu every day. never could check out the lunch in the dining rooms.

[Arlington22207]

We ate the lunches two times in the dining room and it was different...

[Rowan555]

We ate the lunches two times in the dining room and it was different...

 

I was referring to the buffet - there were a few different items, but most of what was at the buffet was the same day to day.

[caribsun]

I generally go to sleep between 11pm-12PM. So what goes on from 12-3am other then the Disco and casino on the Spirit or any other cruise line.

[Toyz711]

the 3 different sandwiches were available every day, but then they had a made-to-order area for your own sandwiches. there was a big line there, every afternoon. they had chicken every day, but it was cooked different. same with the pasta, i loved the buttered pasta...but it was only out twice. the items were similar..chicken every day, pasta every day, veggies every day...but they were different.

[hargis]

Which ports does the spirit dock? and which tender?

[Toyz711]

only tender (for sure) is belize, all ships tender there. water going up to the port is too shallow for the big ships. the others just depend on how many ships are in port. for roatand and santo tomas, i think, the spirit is the one ships there. but cozumel, we had 4 docks and 1 tendered. (spirit was docked)

[ShrinkinTexas]

Hey Rowan. On the Belize board you said that you were doing that ATV only. No combo. So, how was it? How long did it last? We you on a different shuttle bus than the ones that were cave-tubbing? Did you have to wait while they did they caves? Was it a follow the leader kind of thing? I want to hear all about it!

Thanks.

[Rowan555]

Hey Rowan. On the Belize board you said that you were doing that ATV only. No combo. So, how was it? How long did it last? We you on a different shuttle bus than the ones that were cave-tubbing? Did you have to wait while they did they caves? Was it a follow the leader kind of thing? I want to hear all about it!

Thanks.

 

I tried to post there, but I see it never showed up.

 

We did the ATV only tour - we were the only people that day doing that. There were two tour times - 9:15 and 10:00 - we did the 10:00. We took the bus ride (over an hour) to the ATV site, and I think everyone except for one couple did the ATV tour. It was very fun, exhausting, and a bit scary at times. We really enjoyed it, and we're glad we did it. After the tour was over, the rest of the people boarded the bus and headed to the cave tubing site. The previous cave tubing group had just finished, and their bus arrived at the ATV site for snacks before returning to the terminal. We had to wait maybe ten minutes, and then we returned to the cruise terminal with them. It worked out perfectly, and we didn't have to sit around and wait very long, which was something I was worried about - particularly with kids.

 

We enjoyed this a lot, but the bus ride was a bit LONG for our tastes. I just discovered that Mr. Sanchos beach in Cozumel offers 30 minute ATV beach and jungle tours for $30 per person, so we're going to try that out next time we're in Cozumel with the kids. The Belize tour was a very SLOW moving tour due to the bumpy and extremely wet ground - we want to try one where we can move a bit faster next time!