Anyone off the Spirit today?

[misand]

We are going next Saturday would love any advice or tips? HOW was the shortened port time in roatan?

Misand:)

[electricron]

We are going next Saturday would love any advice or tips? HOW was the shortened port time in roatan?

Misand:)

 

Yes, someone reported the Spirit arrived at 4 pm vs the updated itinerary of 3 pm. I'll bet that messed up many passengers plans. Worse yet, they were using tender boats too, so many didn't get ashore until after dark.

[jkloni]

4pm AND tenders??

 

Will be a sea day for me it that's the case. I don't know why NCL even stops in Roatan.

 

Kathy

[arlettecruiser]

Misand,

 

I was on the Spirit this week. We did arrive in Roatan 1 hr later due to weather in the Gulf. No tendering there. Don't know about anyone else, but I didn't have any excursion planned. NCL had cancelled all excursions prior to us boarding due to the delayed arrival for 3 PM. (we arrived at 4).

 

Santo Tomas - again, no tendering. Took an NCL tour to San Felippe Fortress in the afternoon, visited the hangar at the dock before the tour.

 

Belize - again I didn't plan any excursion. Tender at this port.

 

Cozumel - We tendered here due to 6 or 7 ships docking on that day. We tendered to the international pier.

 

Overall - Great trip. Ship - easy to get around, decor is beautiful. Weather - 80 - 85 each day. Only rain I saw the whole week was in Santo Tomas on our way back to the ship. We were on the bus when it did rain.

[jkloni]

4pm AND tenders??

 

Will be a sea day for me it that's the case. I don't know why NCL even stops in Roatan.

 

Kathy

[awatt]

arlettecruiser- Do you recalll what time the shipp docked in Belize and what time teh first tenders (excursions and suites) started? Thanks!

[misand]

4pm really ruins all plans. Did they give any type of credit? By that time they might as well cancel the island!

 

Thanks,

Misand

[misand]

4pm really ruins all plans. Did they give any type of credit? By that time they might as well cancel the island!

 

Thanks,

Misand

[SunniLicious]

Yes, someone reported the Spirit arrived at 4 pm vs the updated itinerary of 3 pm. I'll bet that messed up many passengers plans. Worse yet, they were using tender boats too, so many didn't get ashore until after dark.

 

I also am fresh off the Spirit and - just to be clear - we did NOT tender in Roatan. Personally, Santo Tomas was my favorite port so I am very glad we did not skip it for a full day in Roatan. It's true we did finally disembark at 4 pm and sunset was less than an hour and a half later. We did get $50 pp OBC.

 

For now, I'll just report that any fears of miserable food, terrible service, and bedbugs were all unfounded. We enjoyed our week on the Spirit, and anyone booked on her should be excited anticipating their upcoming vacation. We did have an outbreak of Norovirus, which was announced Tuesday evening. The main difference was that the Raffles buffet was served instead of help-yourself, drink stations included, and by Saturday bread baskets and cream/sugar plates weren't left on the tables in Windows but were brought by the waiter and then taken. Also, Saturday afternoon's Chocoholic Buffet was cancelled.

 

I'll do a more thorough review later - it bears repeating, though, that if you're booked on the Spirit, relax, and have fun. :)

[arlettecruiser]

I'm pretty sure we docked at 8 am. Tenders started quickly, but only those with NCL excursions were off first. My balcony was over the tendering area. The first tender out held a couple hundred people, so it took quite a while to load up. I know that by 9:30 the tenders were clear for all passengers to board at any time.

 

We got on board one tender about 10. Again, it took some time to load everyone (this one only held about 75 people). We were on the dock in Belize by 10:30.

 

Pretty much same time in Cozumel. Tender trip here was only about 5 minutes one the tender was loaded.

[zees4u]

We are just off the spirit today as well. GREAT TRIP. Lots of good things to say. Only a few not so good things. Nothing bad. Will write an in depth review soon. Large outbreak of norovirus. No one in our party got ill. All in All a great vacation enjoyed by all, myself, husband and 3 adult boys.

[TheTexan]

I really don't make it a habit to bad mouth anyone, but there were some issues on the Spirit that I can't get really get over.

 

The trip to Roatan was pretty worthless. We should not have gone there. We were already 2 hours late due to the issues with one of the engines (the Spirit was originally supposed to dock there at 1 p.m.). Whether or not the blame lies on Roatan or NCL, we did not get off the Spirit until 4 that day. ALL excursions on Roatan were canceled. Despite the NCL crew announcing they would let all passengers know when they could get off the boat, no such announcement came when we were let off.

 

We were off the boat long enough to wade through some serious third world country poverty (and I have the pics to prove it) to the seemingly one decent shop on the island. It was about a mile from the dock. The electricity was off all over the part of the island we were on as far as I could tell for a good bit of the walk from the dock to Yaba Ding Ding (the only decent store). My wife and I were in the very first group off the ship, so most other cruisers might not have noticed the electricity being out. There were some pretty decent looking bars with piers that lots of people seemed to be having fun at, however these places were not very happening spots until the electricity came on.

 

Another reason I don't think NCL should have sent us to Roatan was because of the attitude of the crew. The Excursion desk on the Spirit was very leery of suggesting anything to my wife or I as alternatives to excursions. They knew what a ****hole that island was if you were stuck on the dock side of the island with very little time to do anything. We had about an hour and fifteen minutes of daylight on Roatan. All we got was a $50/person credit.

 

The positives - we sampled some Honduran coffee at Yaba Ding Ding and bought some coffee and other items from that store. There was a nice little pier behind Yaba Ding Ding serving some excellent Honduran beer called Salva Vida. I highly recommend sampling that one.

 

Santo Tomas de Castille/Puerto Barrios - About what you'd expect from Guatemala. A very poor, polluted urban area until you reached the countryside. The rural areas of Guatemala were beautiful.

 

Belieze City - We tendered about 8:30 and took a bus to the Jaguar Paw Resort about an hour's ride from the city to the cave tubing and tree zip line excursion.

 

Cozumel - Tendered around 8:15. The trip to Playa Del Carmen (where our excursion left from) was about 30 minutes. We did not have anytime at all to go to Cozumel at all unfortunately. There were 6 other ships in port so that's why the Spirit had to use tenders.

 

Personal bad experiences on board:

Gross, spotty carpets in halls and staterooms. The carpet in front of many floors looked like it was wet most of the time. There was a HUGE stain on the chair in our stateroom that made my wife and I was to puke. The sheets on our bed were spotty until we noticed and had them changed. Yuck.

 

The crew was constantly doing repairs WHILE in transit. I don't know about most other people, but the whole vacation mindset is kind of ruined when you see crew members staining and mounting handrails all day on the decks where you're trying to relax.

 

No effort was made to dry off the decks after hosing them down in the. There were puddles of water on the decks until the sun was hot enough to evaporate the exposed puddles. The puddles underneath shaded areas stayed there most of the day. The kicker here was there was NEVER ANY VISIBLE effort to warn passengers with wet floor signs. Safety was not emphasized on this boat. If you other cruisers saw some warnings, let me know.

 

My wife asked for some sushi at lunch one day. The server DROPPED some of the fish from the center of the sushi onto the exposed counter in front of the serving area and tried to give it to my wife. She had to ask for more that had not been dropped. Of course she did not eat the new sushi.

 

The buffets did not change. I didn't want to eat all day everyday during the cruise anyway, but there was NO variation in breakfast or lunch. The buffet were small too. It didn't bother me because I did not want to eat the crap on the buffet anyway, but there were HUGE lines of passengers backing up. If you compare another cruise line in the same price range (hint**Royal Caribbean**hint) there is WAY more of a selection ranging from healthily to junk food. The point here is that lots more variety, which is what everyone wants.

 

The free style cruising thing is such a joke when it comes to the service in the dining rooms. On other lines you get (mostly) great service because you have one team waiting on you for the duration of your trip. They try to get to know you and serve you very well because they want a nice tip at the end of the trip. The waiters on NCL seem nice enough but the service suffers. However, the captain and his crew came to the Windows dining room one night when my party was there and you can bet that ALL the dining staff were on alert!!!

 

We ate at Windows, the Garden Room, Shogun and Le Bistro. All four places absolutely sucked in terms of service. However, I highly recommend Shogun. It was probably the best food we had on the boat. Not the sushi/sashimi or hibachi, just the regular menu.

 

One night I was woken by a horrible grating metal sound followed by the sound of high pressure water. We were in a balcony room on floor 9 directly over the life boats. I assume the crew was cleaning them off at 3 a.m. They kept on going for about an hour. Be warned if you are in the middle of the ship on deck 9. There will be one night were you won't get much sleep, and I am a heavy sleeper!

 

I may come back to this thread tomorrow and rant some more, but for now I am done.

 

There were reports of horror stories my party heard through other guest. I can't verify these of course, but I heard there were at least two guest on IVs due to norovirus sickness on board. I heard there was a lady who was bitten by a supposedly tame monkey on a street in either Roatan or Santo Tomas. Yeah that's her fault for sticking here finger out I guess!!! I also heard there was a tender of 100 or so people that got left in Belieze for a short time. The ship had to stop so the tender could catch up and left the passengers get on. Like I said I can't verify anything in this paragraph, only the ones abouve this one.

 

You can Google "Norwegian Spirit bed bugs" and read some of the horror stories for yourself. I know there are horror stories on every cruise line, but the Spirit is in DIRE NEED of an overhaul. All the carpet and drapery should be replaced. It's all probably infected with norovirus. It's all spotty as I already mentioned. That goes for the furniture too. Get rid of all the spotty chairs already, NCL...! The boat needs a good cleaning. I don't care if the room attendants sanitize it every day and night, there is something on that boat that needs to be exorcised!!!

 

 

[JACruiser]

Something needs to be emphasized about the importance of going into a cruise with an open mind - I'm sure (this is addressed to the OP) you will have a wonderful cruise on the Spirit if you go into the cruise with an open mind. We got off just a few months ago and thought it was one of the best ships we've been on. It is just unlike any other ship in the Norwegian fleet with the Asian decor.

 

While norovirus is an awful occurance, the cruise line can only do so much to prevent it - in the end it is brought on by a passenger and only so much can be done (eg. hand sanitation, serving at the buffets by crew, etc.) to avoid it. Unfortunately, that isn't much consulation for those afflicted by the virus, but there isn't much that one can do to prevent it other than washing one's hands, etc.

 

In short, cruises aren't the vacation for everyone. Things that are completely normal such as crew re-finishing handrails are a constant reminder of how much upkeep it takes to run such a massive vessel. It would be completely impossible to do all of the things that need upkeep in port in the few hours (at most) between passengers. Just go into your cruise with an open mind and I am sure you will love the Spirit. Her crew is cheerful and warm, and are among NCL's finest. Enjoy the cruise! :D

[maggioml]

I too was off the spirit yesterday and will post a full review sometime later. But to answer the question to this thread, we arrived in Roatan at 4pm and were able to get off the ship shortly after. I was on West Bay Beach by 4:30. Sun sets at 5:30. My wife and I snorkeled off the beach until the sun went down and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Our cab driver then took us to a lookout point and then to the shopping area near the ship. We had a wonderful time and am glad we did it. For those who just would rather not have it, then just stay on the ship and treat it as another sea day. I enjoyed by time there with or without the $50 OBC per person.

The ship was doing over 19 knots on the way down there. It maintained 21.5 knots some other times. Max speed is usually 24 knots so we know there is something still slowing it down.

[MMB]

What deck is used for tendering? Is it forward or aft? Thanks

[zees4u]

to tender off the spirit you must go midship and to deck 4.

[lissa626]

I too was off the spirit yesterday and will post a full review sometime later. But to answer the question to this thread, we arrived in Roatan at 4pm and were able to get off the ship shortly after. I was on West Bay Beach by 4:30. Sun sets at 5:30. My wife and I snorkeled off the beach until the sun went down and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Our cab driver then took us to a lookout point and then to the shopping area near the ship. We had a wonderful time and am glad we did it. For those who just would rather not have it, then just stay on the ship and treat it as another sea day. I enjoyed by time there with or without the $50 OBC per person.

The ship was doing over 19 knots on the way down there. It maintained 21.5 knots some other times. Max speed is usually 24 knots so we know there is something still slowing it down.

 

Just curious how much did you guys pay for the cab to West Bay Beach? What time did you guys go back to the ship that evening?

 

Thanks!

[lissa626]

I too was off the spirit yesterday and will post a full review sometime later. But to answer the question to this thread, we arrived in Roatan at 4pm and were able to get off the ship shortly after. I was on West Bay Beach by 4:30. Sun sets at 5:30. My wife and I snorkeled off the beach until the sun went down and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Our cab driver then took us to a lookout point and then to the shopping area near the ship. We had a wonderful time and am glad we did it. For those who just would rather not have it, then just stay on the ship and treat it as another sea day. I enjoyed by time there with or without the $50 OBC per person.

The ship was doing over 19 knots on the way down there. It maintained 21.5 knots some other times. Max speed is usually 24 knots so we know there is something still slowing it down.

 

Just curious how much did you guys pay for the cab to West Bay Beach? What time did you guys go back to the ship that evening?

 

Thanks!

[maggioml]

I think it was $35 for the both of us till the ship left. There are probably better deals out there, I just didn't have the time to look for them. Since we docked there and the shopping area was right there, we got back as late as we could. I think almost 7 but I could be wrong.

[Laurablue]

One night I was woken by a horrible grating metal sound followed by the sound of high pressure water. We were in a balcony room on floor 9 directly over the life boats. I assume the crew was cleaning them off at 3 a.m. They kept on going for about an hour. Be warned if you are in the middle of the ship on deck 9. There will be one night were you won't get much sleep, and I am a heavy sleeper!

 

 

Just out of curiosity...what cabin were you in? I also have a cabin booked midship on deck 9. I just hope it's not a problem.....but what the heck... one night would not be so bad!

 

 

[Toyz711]

we had cabin 9636 and it was quiet all week. no noise in the wee hours, at all. we had the cabin door open a couple of nights, love the sounds of the ocean.

[pinkgusto]

Hi! I just got off the Spirit... it was my first cruise. I'll write an in-depth review... but wanted to answer your question about Roatan. We went ot the best place. www.finsandflippers.com I found this on CC, and emailed them for a reservation. Originally, my husband and I were going to go to the West Bay beaches, but with the late arrival, I wanted to look for something close to the port! This place is AWESOME! They will pick you up on a pier about 50 yards from the cruise port, and take you on a 5 min ferry ride to the island... super-close to the boat! It is a nice resort where we paid $20.00 pp, and you could swim in the pool, lay out on the beach....everything was BEAUTIFUL! The food and drinks were great as well... the Shrimp was the best I had the whole trip! We got there about 4:00, and stayed til 7:00.... so were there about 3 hours, but it was a great time!

[pinkgusto]

Hi! I just got off the Spirit... it was my first cruise. I'll write an in-depth review... but wanted to answer your question about Roatan. We went ot the best place. www.finsandflippers.com I found this on CC, and emailed them for a reservation. Originally, my husband and I were going to go to the West Bay beaches, but with the late arrival, I wanted to look for something close to the port! This place is AWESOME! They will pick you up on a pier about 50 yards from the cruise port, and take you on a 5 min ferry ride to the island... super-close to the boat! It is a nice resort where we paid $20.00 pp, and you could swim in the pool, lay out on the beach....everything was BEAUTIFUL! The food and drinks were great as well... the Shrimp was the best I had the whole trip! We got there about 4:00, and stayed til 7:00.... so were there about 3 hours, but it was a great time!

[sheila77]

Pinkgusto

Do you know if you can snorkel there? Was the food included or did you pay extra for that?

I have also considered finsandflippers but was not sure if it would be worth the $20 since we will get in so late.

 

Thanks for posting your experience.

[pinkgusto]

yes, you can snorkel at fins and flippers. Right off the beach. You can rent their snorkel gear for $8.00 or bring your own. The food and drinks were extra. They were reasonably priced... I believe they have the menu listed on the website. Have fun!