NCL Spirit questions

[odot12]

First a little background.....Wife and I have been on 4 previous cruises to the Caribbean all on Carnival. We are mid 30's celebrating our 10th anniversary this year and decided to try a "FreeStyle" cruise on NCL, so we booked a cruise leaving out of New Orleans,LA on 02-10-2008 on the NCL Spirit in Novemeber '07 to beat the new fuel surcharge. We selected this cruise as it had a different (non-Florida) departure port and some ports of call we had not yet visited in the Caribbean.:o

 

I just today found this website and began reading some of the recent past customer reviews for this ship and became quite concerned as it seems past guests seemed to consistently rate this ship poor for general food quality and selections (other than the specialty dining) and that the activities and nightlife were geared towards the kids and older 60+ crowd.:confused: :mad:

From what I've read this is one of their older ships that was converted from another cruise line to be used by NCL and isn't truely one of the new "FreeStyle" ships! :(

 

Have I made a wrong ship selection here? (I realize it is too late to change as the cruise and airline tix are paid for.) Anyone on the forums care to share thier experiences with this ship (good and bad please!) as I am now quite worried with ~1 month to sailing. (And then I found the thread about the engine fire on this ship and the possiblity of losing a port of call, although I have yet to receive any official notice from NCL about this... only what I have read here tonight.) :(

 

I would appreciate everyones honesty in advance and look forward to reading your replies. Thanks!

[Don Haynes]

Star Cruises owns NCL. They operate cruise ships in Asia. Since they have Chinese,Japanese, Australians, Indians, and British and American customers, they have to have a few different restaurants, such as Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and European continental. Unlike many of the cruise lines operating from America, they couldn't and I wouldn't force traditional dining. Freestyle started with Star Cruises. The Spirit was their first new build, and it shows. She is in excellent shape.

 

The Spirit is a wonderful, unique ship with Asian decor. She is beautiful. You'll love her. As far as dining is concerned and the food aboard, well it might not be 5 Stars. But you will not go hungry. Her chefs use the same recipes as all of the other NCL ships. Her food is as good as any of the others.

 

Read the positive and negative reviews here. Things can go bad when traveling whether by plane, ship, or vehicle. You make your vacation good or bad, not the ship or her crew. Its up to you.

[Toyz711]

it was "successfully" convert to freestyle, it's older then other NCL ships, but not at all old. the spirit is beautiful, lovely asian decor along the main decks. 2 main dining rooms, a great area outside the buffet..over looking the aft section and the kids pool. she is, now, my favorite NCL ship (i have only been on 2) i have photos from around the ship in my photos on webshots (in my signature). everything i saw was spotless, the crew was out cleaning and polishing every chance they got.

my sailing was dec 2nd to 9th, so my experiences are quite recent. the only bad thing, she is having engines problems and may not get to santo tomas on most sailing. they are trying to repair a problem as she sails.

we are planning on repeating this trip next winter, it will be the only cruise we have taken twice.

my review of my cruise is linked below, also. every room i checked (as i saw open doors) was as clean as mine was.

[tidecruiser]

It is important to note that the Spirit was sailing out of New York through the summer season. She had some "cruises to nowhere". I noticed that several of the negative reviews from the summer months had to do with the "cruises to nowhere", which basically are more a casino/party cruise.

There have been some not so good reviews (food and nightlife being the main issues I have seen) since sailing out of New Orleans and some very good reviews as well. As I said in a previous post, the food will definitely be better than what I would eat if I was at home (frozen chicken nuggets, sandwiches, soup and grilled cheese and etc) so that isn't a concern to me!!

I sailed the NCL Sun a couple of years ago and it had similar reviews and it was still a great cruise. I promise, I never went hungry!!

I did note that on the Sun the nightlife wasn't as big a draw as on other lines, but it seems to be the passenger mix. Nightlife isn't that important to me anymore, so that hasn't been a concern for me.

Also, note that the Freestyle 2.0 is being implemented at this time, so you may see the upgrade in the food (Lobsters every night and etc.) by your cruise time. I am just hoping for the new mattresses and bedding before my cruise in March, but I bet they replace them at the repositioning time when she moves back to New York for the summer, but I will keep watching here to see if she gets those new mattresses :-)

It will definitely be better than being here at work!! Please post a review for those of after you, when you get back with the good, bad and ugly!!

[Surfgirl]

I have sailed the Dawn, Crown and Spirit and I LOVED the Spirit. The main dining room "Windows" is breath-taking. The food, I thought, was excellent-- better on the Spirit than on the other two ships.

 

The ship has a unique charm, because it had been built for an Asian clientele. The beds are very small, and not that comfortable, but the cabins are large enough with plenty of drawer space.

 

I thought the crew went out of their way for us. They all had a smile, and did an excellent job.

 

There was plenty of dancing at night at the disco.. and I SO enjoyed the "R" rated "Ship-N-Dales" show. (evil grin!)

 

I had a fabulous time on the Spirit. You may be surprised that I had such a great time despite the fact that it rained every single day. Yep... not just sprinkles, but drenching rain. Yet, I still had a great time. A lot of cruising has to do with your attitude. It can be what you make it.

 

If you're looking for "whoo-hoo" party party!!.. you probably would be better off on Carnival. The age group tends to be younger there.

 

Now having said all the above, I will tell you that I have recently discovered Windstar and much prefer it over big-ship cruising. But that's a whole different experience.. and it's all in what you're looking for.

[GaryWT]

We are not sailer her until August but I am not worried about her, make it your own cruise and do not base things on possible negative things, find what works for you and enjoy, remember they always have steak chicj=ken and fish available.

 

When reading reviews I feel you have to read between the lines and decide if what someone finds negative could be a negative for you. I read one review about the Spirit and it started with we saw some of the rugs were ripped and that ruined our cruise. If that ruins a cruise then I'm sorry but it will not bother me.

 

When we are cruising, this will be our first frrestyle, but what we usually do the first night in the dining room is ask the waiters to relax, we tell them that if they do not relax and have fun with us then we will not enjoy the cruise. This usually goes over well as they sometimes are so nervous thet they cannot perform.

 

On the other hand, I have seen people go the other way and be so demanding of their waiter that it was embarrising. On one RC cruise a family was so bad that the waitress when the the head waiter in the middle of the meal and demanded a different table, I don't care what they paid they should not have treated people that way but sorry I am off thge subject...

 

... I think you will be good, I have heard enough positive things about the ship that I cannot wait to get on her.

 

Good luck and happy cruising.

[Cosmopolitan]

I haven't cruised the Spirit but I have friends who did and friends of friends who did. They all enjoyed their cruise - the decor of the Spirit, the food and raved about the staff.

 

Age group...seems to depend on the time of year you are sailing. Though, our first cruise on the Dawn was mid-September when schools were back in session and we had a really great crowd on that ship.

 

Don't look "back"..look "forward" - you made your decision and booked it.

 

You will have a great time:)

 

You have a month to ask all of your questions...ask away, I'm sure many who have sailed the Spirit will contribute with great tips.

 

Also, you can check your roll-call and just read it or join in... http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=529274

 

Have a great cruise;)

[CorvetteLady]

First a little background.....Wife and I have been on 4 previous cruises to the Caribbean all on Carnival. We are mid 30's celebrating our 10th anniversary this year and decided to try a "FreeStyle" cruise on NCL, so we booked a cruise leaving out of New Orleans,LA on 02-10-2008 on the NCL Spirit in Novemeber '07 to beat the new fuel surcharge. We selected this cruise as it had a different (non-Florida) departure port and some ports of call we had not yet visited in the Caribbean.:o

 

I just today found this website and began reading some of the recent past customer reviews for this ship and became quite concerned as it seems past guests seemed to consistently rate this ship poor for general food quality and selections (other than the specialty dining) and that the activities and nightlife were geared towards the kids and older 60+ crowd.:confused: :mad:

From what I've read this is one of their older ships that was converted from another cruise line to be used by NCL and isn't truely one of the new "FreeStyle" ships! :(

 

Have I made a wrong ship selection here? (I realize it is too late to change as the cruise and airline tix are paid for.) Anyone on the forums care to share thier experiences with this ship (good and bad please!) as I am now quite worried with ~1 month to sailing. (And then I found the thread about the engine fire on this ship and the possiblity of losing a port of call, although I have yet to receive any official notice from NCL about this... only what I have read here tonight.) :(

 

I would appreciate everyones honesty in advance and look forward to reading your replies. Thanks!

 

I know how you feel, I felt that way back in August when I started reading about the Spirit. I could still cancel and I did think about it but I remembered feeling the same way before our first Carnival cruise and we had a wonderful time.

 

We decided to invite my husband's parents to come with us and that did change some of the things we did on the cruise. They did not want to eat in any of the specialty restaurants so we ate every night in Windows. Some of the choices were great, some yuck and most just average. We did not go hungry and if it had just been the two of us we would have tried some of the other restaurants, we only ate one lunch at the buffet and it was okay.

 

The ship is beautiful and with only 2 sea days we were not bored. The shows were good, bingo is expensive, the casino is smokey, just like on most cruises.

 

We had a nice time, we liked some things and didn't like others. We would probably not cruise on NCL again, for us the cons outweighed the pros, but it could be just the opposite for you. Most people here will tell you that a cruise is what you make it and that is true for the most part. The only way to really know if you like NCL is to give it a try. I am glad we did and I think you will be too.

[shark&minnow]

I think you will find complaints about most every cruise. I think people are more likely to voice a complaint than a compliment. And some people are more critical than others. Different cruise lines have their own strengths and weaknesses, but they are all fun!

[Seago2]

I have sailed Norwegian Spirit three times and each review is linked below in my signature. She is a gorgeous ship and believe me, you will have an excellent time.

 

2 things to watch out for: if you are sailing with more than 2000 people it is going to feel crowded. Spend your days up on the top deck, by the helicopter pad, and get to Windows for dinner by 5:30.

 

Do not order dessert. Do not eat dessert from the buffet. If you do you will be disappointed.

 

Everything else is great. My first Spirit cruise was maybe... a 9 and my last was... a 7, but it would have been an 8.5 if we hadn't had 2600 people on board, 800 of them kids.

[VoyageVirgin]

We sailed the Spirit and had a wonderful time - the bars were usually hopping at night - the Maharaja (sic) was a little hard to find at first but everyone I spoke with enjoyed it. The ship is beautiful with the Asian theme throughout. We only ate in the main restaurant twice - had dinner in the room twice (from the main restaurant) and the meals were wonderful. But then I'm of the mind if I don't have to cook it, it tastes great. We did eat one evening at the buffett and the fare was so so. But that could have been because it was so late when we finally showed up - I believe that was after the margarita clinic. ;) the other 5 nights were split between Le Bistro (very nice), Teppenyaki (even better) the Japanese and Cagney's - Never had a bad meal yet - but we're not fussy eaters. Treat the crew as you would want to be treated and you won't have a problem - well mostly. They will bend over backwards to help you out but do get a little stressed at times - being human has it's drawbacks.

Have fun, we certainly did. Would sail on her again in a moment .

 

M

[Toyz711]

i did find some excellents desserts on the spirit..1) the sherbets are excellent...expecially the orange sherbet.

2) the made-to-order dessert crepes...up at the buffet, next to the made-to-order pasta. i would change and try different fruit. but you get the crepe, have them drizzle it with a little chocolate, then head to the ice cream for a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. (while there, people in front of me would ask where i got it and RUN to get theirs)

3)in the main dining room, one night they serve a regular creme brulee, but the 2nd night it's listed..try it. it has a fudge bottom..it's really good.

i didn't try too much of the other stuff, had to save the calories for the crepe.

[VoyageVirgin]

Oh my, how could a dessert be bad?? I thought you were going to say - because you'll never be able to stop eating them. Ok, my creme brule was served cold - and I prefer it warm - but it was still delicious. If you go into the Japanese rest. try the banana fritters - and green tea ice cream. Wonderful. Pastries in the buffett were great as well - But then, that's just my opinion. :D

[odot12]

Thanks for all the replies. I have a feeling had I not found this site and went into it with no preconceived notions I probably wouldn't even be thinking twice about it.

 

On a side note I called NCL today and spoke with a very nice rep. She stated that the only change for my cruise would be arriving 2 hours late to Roatan. No missed ports of call!!! :D I looked at my original itinerary and compared to the EDOCS I printed today and voila.....instead of arriving @ 1pm we now get in @ 3pm instead. No big deal really as I sure I can find something interesting to do for those 5 hours! lol

 

Once again...Thanks to all who have replied. More than likely this won't be an issue @ all since I agree.....it's all about what you make of it. The company I work for took us, spouses included, on a 5 day cruise ~3 years ago for a "sales" meeting on Carnival. Wife and I, and many others, had a blast (plus the price was right! :p). However there were several negative comments, food was bad or nothing to do...etc..., from quite a few folks who went and as a result I don't see them doing any more "sales" meetings like this because of all the complaints! Now we're stuck going w/o spouses to different locations and actually sitting through 3-4 ~8 hour meeting days! UGH!

 

Thanks again for all the replies!

[cruisingamom]

We just got off the Spirit 12/23 sailing. It was my 13th cruise, DH's 15th curise and 6 year odd DD's 3rd cruise and it was FABULOUS! We have sailed Disney, Carnival, RCl, Regent and everything in between. I too read all the negative reivews. Maybe we went in with low expectations but we were very pleasantly surprised. Except for 2 avg. dinnerss the food was great! The service was excellent. Everyone we met had a smile and a very friendly greeting. They went out of their way to fuss over DD.

The ship is beautiful. Over 500 kids on board but we never saw any bad behavior (OK, there was that little girl in the dining room 1 night who screamed and pitched a fit and her parents did NOTHING, but that is the parent's fault, not NCL)

We would go on Spirit again, and I hope it would have the same crew!

[ctdahlquist]

The company I work for took us, spouses included, on a 5 day cruise ~3 years ago for a "sales" meeting on Carnival. Wife and I, and many others, had a blast (plus the price was right! :p). However there were several negative comments, food was bad or nothing to do...etc..., from quite a few folks who went and as a result I don't see them doing any more "sales" meetings like this because of all the complaints! Now we're stuck going w/o spouses to different locations and actually sitting through 3-4 ~8 hour meeting days! UGH!

 

 

This is in response to the complainers you mention, and to those who complain about the food on the Spirit without being specific.

 

In my opinion, one should NEVER choose a cruise based on a few blanket statements about food. A bad impression of food could mean many things:

 

Food was too gourmet (not enough burgers, tater tots, mac and cheese, etc)

Food was not gourmet enough (people expecting 5-star dining)

Desserts are not good (not sweet enough and not dripping in chocolate, as is customary in America)

Nothing to eat at the buffet (really means the selections were too fresh and healthy, not enough processed foods to meet my tastes)

Food had no taste (from people used to too much salt)

Food is too spicy (for people from parts of the country used to bland food)

 

Ask 1000 people about what they think makes for great food, and you'll get 1000 different answers.

 

Unless there is great detail, I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER rely on impressions of food on this board.

 

The food on the Spirit will be very similar to any other NCL ship and even other cruise lines. There will be things you like and don't, but if you expect the ship to deliver every item to everyone's exact tastes, then we are all setting ourselves up for disappointment. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!

[CastawayCruiser]

I am booked on a back to back Spirit cruise in April so I have been reading the reviews and also started to worry. But we just got back from a cruise on the Pearl and I have read many negative reviews about the ship since returning - if I tried for a week I couldn't come up with one complaint about the Pearl... The ship is beautiful and everthing was perfect. So I have learned to pull what useful information I can from all reviews but not rely on the opinion of others - our experiences will not be the same.

[jp2001]

We will be on the same cruise! :) Please join us on the Roll Call forum.

 

I've been on the Spirit in 2006, I am going in February and also have one more cruise booked on her for October (2 week repositioning cruise)... I guess I like the ship and the food were good enough for me!

 

In fact, I think the ship is GREAT and it has been built for freestyle cruising in mind. The food ranges from OK to excellent depending on what I had chosen (most meals being in the good to very good range). The rooms are small but their layout is good with enough storage for 1 week and a shower with sliding door instead of a curtain. On my previous cruise, the crew was so great (except my room steward but I think he was an exception, definitely not the norm), everyone went out of their way to make sure you have a great cruise.

 

Please post your review when you come back.

[Planer's Edge]

To the OP...please come back and tell us what YOUR impressions of the deserts are. Some people around here tend to make very "broad brush stroke" statements about some things without explanation.

 

PE

[luv2snorkel]

i know i'm not the op, but i'll give my impression of the desserts. a couple of caveats.... i'm a foodie...i like a lot of different foods and i like desserts. but, i'm not one who needs anything super-sweet... i was on the 12/23 spirit christmas cruise and had:

 

3 souffles- 1 vanilla, 1 strawberry, 1 coconut. vanilla was very good.... strawberry was absolutely fantastic, coconut was mediocre. all were warm, moderately sweet, served warm with vanilla bean custard. coconut had very little flavor.

 

1 pineapple sherbet. it was excellent. i'm a big fan of sherbet however and i know not everyone is.

 

1 piece coconut cream pie. it was good. had whipped cream and not merange as i'm used to... but good, not great.

 

1 piece caramel apple pie which was outstanding. maybe a little sweet for my taste but just terrific.

 

the seventh night i took a pass on dessert because nothing appealed to me.

 

also, one night i ordered an additional fruit dish that was on the appetizer menu because i had loved it so much -- two desserts that night. :D in my opinion, that spiced stone fruits appetizer was the BEST dessert i had all week.

 

one night we visited the buffet late and had a bit of blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream and a cup o' joe. it was way, way too sweet.... and had very few blueberries or blueberry flavor. i'd take a pass on that again.

 

and actually, i'd take a pass on most of the buffet desserts. they are generally pieces of semi-flavored fluff... square yellow fluff, round green fluff, triangular pink fluff.... same fluff, different color and shape. i totally missed the crepes toyz mentioned.

 

in glancing back at what i read, seems i picked mostly fruit items for dessert. guess i like fruity things..... so, if you don't ignore my review.

 

as for food reviews in general, i agree with one of the other posters... food is way to subjective for reviews to be much help. i've never heard of a cruiser starving, so i'm sure adequate sustenance can be found on most cruise ships.

 

am happy to answer specific questions if anyone has them.

 

luv2

[grumpycajun]

Hi there! I'm another one that will be sailing on the 02/10 cruise. I haven't been on the Spirit, but we were on the Sun in January 2007. We loved it. As a few posters have already suggested the food should be similar on all NCL ships. The food on the Sun was good to very good, with a few excellent(s) thrown in for good measure.

 

My attitude is this: We're going to have a blast! I'm treating my dad for his birthday and we always have fun together. I'm not worried about things like changes in the itinerary (heck, I like at sea days anyway), entertainment (we'll make our own if we have to), staff (treat people nice and the vast majority will be nice right back) or other peoples' opinions in general (always subjective). As long as the sun is warm and the beer is cold we're good to go!

 

33 more days!!!

[JoeChou]

I have been on two cruises. One was on the NCL Sun and the other was the Carnival Conquest. We had a great time one both.

 

I agree a cruise is what you make of it. We have had fun on both cruises and of course there were cons with both lines but we just chose not to let those things bother us instead of focusing on them.

 

My observations: NCL's entertainment was great...on the Sun we could not wait for the shows, but the party atmosphere was very dull, which was fine for us (I was 26 and GF was 22). The food was average, but we still had fun trying new things. The specialty restaurants were good, and we did not mind paying the extra feeds (we are big time foodies). The ship was small but this was our first cruise (West Carib) so all things were new and great.

 

On the Conquest we went with friends and this was a year and a half after our first cruise. The food on Carnival was really good, much much better than NCL's. But as must as the food was an improvement the entertainment was terrible. The ship was fantastic and huge, and the atmosphere was great for the young crowd. We also got a free upgrade to a spa level suite, which did not hurt.

 

I work about 80 hours a week right now so I am very much of the attitude of if I am not working and on any vacation I am happy. I love cruising, I love being on the water, eating, partying, drinking, and waking up at a new place with a new excursion. I am so excited to get on to a new ship and am always sad to leave.

 

I am looking at doing the NCL Spirit out of NY on June 8th 2008 or possibly the Carnival Conquest out of San Juan June 1st. We are planning with a big group of friends so it should be fun. Do not let the member reviews sway your excitement, some people have bad experiences and some just are never happy.

 

Good luck!

[dtiger]

I loved the Spirit. The thought the food at the 3 specality restaurants I went to was wonderful. Le Bistro, Teppenyaki, and Cagney's. They had a special a few times where it was 1/2 price at these restaurants if you booked certain hours, early and late.

 

I think you'll enjoy the Spirit.