Service on NCL Spirit

[nasvhillecruise]

Just returned from Spirit cruise & haven't had time to do a full-fledged review. However, after reading posts about service not always being the best, I wanted to put in my two cents. Here's a breakdown of our service by category.

 

Windows & Garden Room: I can't say enough how GREAT the service was. We have a 5 y.o. son, who on some days was tired & cranky. Our waiters (Thomas one day and Alexander another day) were the BEST with him. Alex spent several minutes making napkin critters for him & drawing picture puzzles for him to solve. Michael loved it. & Thomas kept him happy throughout lunch that day, joking with him & making sure he was happy. As has been written, meals were not quick, but we enjoyed relaxing and enjoying each other's company between courses.

 

How these servers kept a smile on their faces on Friday with 15' swells is beyond me. Many were green and obviously seasick, but they kept on going, trying to smile and serve food. I couldn't have done it.

 

Tappanyaki Japanese Restaurant: The waitress was efficient although quiet, staying on the sidelines. The chef was great, putting on a wonderful show for us.

 

Casino wait staff: Noemi was my server each time I was in the casino, she was super friendly, remembering my name for the rest of the week after the 1st night. She was one of the best servers I remember having.

 

Casino dealers: I mostly play blackjack. For the most part, the dealers weren't as talkative as ones in Las Vegas, but I think a lot of it was due to the language barrier.

 

Steward: AWESOME. Realizing how much Michael loved the towel animals, he left one of each on our last night. What a treat that was, coming in to 6 different towel animals.

 

General: Wherever we went, everyone was super friendly. Even at reception (where there seem to be more complaints), everyone seemed efficient and eager to please.

 

Meet & Greet: On the 1st day, we had numerous officers at the M&G. Throughout the week, we'd run into them & they always seemed to remember us.

 

Photographers: They took tons of pics, quickly & efficiently. I was impressed on one night that we returned for pics, the photog remembered exactly what poses he'd had us in several nights before & made sure to change them up.

 

Although some staff was friendlier than others and some didn't stand out, no time during the week did we receive bad service, & overall, it was definitely above average.

 

Debbie

[Toyz711]

i agree with all the nice comments about the servers...ours were great. even in the buffet, we had nice crew members asking about us/our cruise/did we need anything. one guy, micheal, talked to us on embarking day...aft, outside of buffet. every time he saw us..it was a wave and a greeting...no matter where he was rushing to.

never saw the room stewards...they did their job so well we never needed to see them.

my only complaint was one guy selling the photos, he was a royal pain in my (you know what). especially, since i know they had a special where you could break up the group pieces.

DH made some friends with the craps dealers...but overall, they weren't that friendly. the servers were very nice, even though i didn't order anything.

i can, honestly, saw i get just as much a kick out of my 5 towel animals as your kid did.:eek:

as hard as the crew works, i can't praise them enough.

[babyapple]

Hi Debbie! Great meeting you on this ship. I would agree with everything you said. We were consistently impressed with the service we recieved in all areas of the ship. I thought our cruise director, Ray, was fabulous. We ate at Windows, Raffles, Garden, Blue Lagoon and La Trattoria, and in each instance the waiters were attentive and courteous.

 

Our room steward, Miguel, was very friendly and would engage us in conversations about our day. He always remembered at night what we had planned that day and would ask about it. We got towel animals too! The crew on the ship is very hard working. To spend so much time away from your family can only mean that they truly love their jobs and it shows.

[nasvhillecruise]

Hi Debbie! Great meeting you on this ship. I would agree with everything you said. We were consistently impressed with the service we recieved in all areas of the ship. I thought our cruise director, Ray, was fabulous. We ate at Windows, Raffles, Garden, Blue Lagoon and La Trattoria, and in each instance the waiters were attentive and courteous.

 

Our room steward, Miguel, was very friendly and would engage us in conversations about our day. He always remembered at night what we had planned that day and would ask about it. We got towel animals too! The crew on the ship is very hard working. To spend so much time away from your family can only mean that they truly love their jobs and it shows.

 

it was fun meeting you guys as well. your hubby was several times one of my blackjack buddies!!! i hope he did better than me :p .

[nasvhillecruise]

I CANNOT BELIEVE I forgot to mention them. This was HANDS DOWN the best service on the ship. Michael CRIED when I told him he would have to hang with us rather than at Charlie's. All of this group obviously loves children and goes out of the way to make sure the kiddos have a BLAST. One day, the captain joined them for cookies, which was a highlight for Michael.

 

So if any Kids Club staff reads this, YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Debbie

[cruisingamom]

We had the samee great service on the Christmas Cruise! Everyone was always so pleasant and had a friendly hello and a smile. They treated our 6 year old DD like a prinecess. She too cried when leaving kids club at night. She loved the counselors and activities. We will be sailing her again!

[noahsmom]

I am so looking forward to my cruise on the Spirit.Even more so now with your great commits. My 4 yr old is so excited too. I wish May would come sooner (isn't it terrible that Iam wishing the time away) but I love to cruise!!

[MrsLeo]

Thanks for posting your experiences on your recent Spirit Cruise. It makes me very happy to hear the glowing reports since we will be going on the Spirit again in just a few short weeks. The Kids Club comments really make me smile. We had such a nice time the first time we sailed the Spirit and were very impressed with the Kid's Club then, it's nice to know that has not changed.

I nearly cancelled this cruise a couple of times, it sounds like we'll be glad we didn't.

Thanks again!

[dtiger]

Thanks for the post. I also found the crew on the Spirit to be very friendly and helpful. I'm looking forward to the Spirit again in a few weeks.

[Deaf Dude]

We just came off the Spirit a wek ago and had the same experience with he staff. We can't say enough about how great they were. The crew members we met at the M&G sent us plates of goodies to our room a few times during the week. :p :p

 

The only person we had a little problem with was a lady in a kimono who interpted our brakfasts 3 days in a row in the buffet to tell us about the Japaneese restaurant. each time we told her we were not interested, she kept on trying to get us to make reservations. :confused:

[Chipster2]

Thanks for the review and everyones comments. We will be on the Spirit repo this fall and can hardly wait.

[NCL1stTimer]

I was on the same cruise and have to agree that the staff was friendly and the service was great, with the exception of the Blue Lagoon. We ate at the Blue Lagoon on four occassions and the service was lacking each time - slow to bring menus, no refills on drinks, etc. We sat at the smaller tables in the alcove rather than at the main tables, so I don't know if that was the problem or not. The main tables seemed to get better service from our observation.

[nasvhillecruise]

I was on the same cruise and have to agree that the staff was friendly and the service was great, with the exception of the Blue Lagoon. We ate at the Blue Lagoon on four occassions and the service was lacking each time - slow to bring menus, no refills on drinks, etc. We sat at the smaller tables in the alcove rather than at the main tables, so I don't know if that was the problem or not. The main tables seemed to get better service from our observation.

 

I agree that the service was slow at Blue Lagoon. One time we had to go find someone. But once you ordered, the food came quickly. It saved us the day of the swells, when I REALLY needed something on my stomach to help the queasiness.

 

We just came off the Spirit a wek ago and had the same experience with he staff. We can't say enough about how great they were. The crew members we met at the M&G sent us plates of goodies to our room a few times during the week. :p :p .

 

Yeah, we got AWESOME goodies every day from the staff. We looked forward to going to the room about 5 p.m. each day to see the daily goodies. :D

[lhallms]

Debbie,

Were you guys in Tepennakki on Thursday night? I noticed you were from nashville and had a five year old son. My wife and I are from Mississippi. We ate with couple and their son in Tepennakki on Thursday night. Thought it might be you :)

[nasvhillecruise]

That was us. Your wife is the gorgeous one with the curly hair & glasses from N.O., right? Your 1st anniversary cruise? It surely is a small world. There's a lot of CC people that were on the ship that I didn't realize were CC until I started reading posts from the cruise.

 

It was nice meeting you guys & I hope your 1st Anniversary celebration was AWESOME!!!!!!!

Debbie

[lhallms]

Yes that was us! We had a great anniversary! However, she was sooo sick on Friday night during all that rough weather. It was great meeting you guys! How did ya'll enjoy your first cruise?

[Buffalofirsttimer4]

thank you for the great post- after reading some of them I was a little concerned whether I had made the right decision or not :eek: .

I am as excited as my children are :D to be going on this cruise and its great to know that they will enjoy themselves as much as I am anticipating. Next month here we come!!!!

[nasvhillecruise]

Yes that was us! We had a great anniversary! However, she was sooo sick on Friday night during all that rough weather. It was great meeting you guys! How did ya'll enjoy your first cruise?

 

Glad yall enjoyed. We, luckily, didn't get sick on Friday, although we were both a little queasy. Sorry to hear you guys weren't so lucky. We LOVED the 1st cruise. I'm ready to book another one, although we've promised Michael we'll go to Disney next year. 2010 isn't THAT far away though . . .

[nasvhillecruise]

thank you for the great post- after reading some of them I was a little concerned whether I had made the right decision or not :eek: .

I am as excited as my children are :D to be going on this cruise and its great to know that they will enjoy themselves as much as I am anticipating. Next month here we come!!!!

 

Like you, I was REALLY worried after reading many of the reviews and posts. Some of the consistent complaints (carpet coming up in some places) were true, but it didn't affect the cruise in the least. The bedding is UGLY UGLY UGLY in my opinion, but again, it didn't affect the cruise. So don't be concerned, & ENJOY next month.

[electricron]

Like you, I was REALLY worried after reading many of the reviews and posts. Some of the consistent complaints (carpet coming up in some places) were true, but it didn't affect the cruise in the least. The bedding is UGLY UGLY UGLY in my opinion, but again, it didn't affect the cruise. So don't be concerned, & ENJOY next month.

 

Ugly bedding is relative.

I thought the bedding on the Sun and Majesty were fare uglier than aboard the Spirit.

Majesty had partial stripes

 

Sun had knots

 

Spirit had bold stripes

 

NCL's newest ships have nice bedding decor. Their older ships decor are ugly!

[MN-CZ]

We were on the 2/24 sailing. Got to meet some of these folks at the M&G. No goodies to our room ;)

 

Same great words towards the staff. Very friendly. More friendly than we experienced on the Jewel. Our room steward was incredibly friendly, helpful, and just downright pleasant.

 

Speaking of the Blue Lagoon, we ate there shortly after boarding. The folks there made a good impression from the start. One of the stewardesses was telling us about the different restaurants on the ship, and was just beeming with kindness.

 

I look forward to hearing about food upgrades on Freestyle 2.0. The food was not bad, but simply average. Likely not different than any other cruise line of the same price.

 

MN-CZ

[nasvhillecruise]

Ugly bedding is relative.

I thought the bedding on the Sun and Majesty were fare uglier than aboard the Spirit.

Majesty had partial stripes

 

Sun had knots

 

Spirit had bold stripes

 

NCL's newest ships have nice bedding decor. Their older ships decor are ugly!

 

Like I said, the bedding had NO BEARING on our cruise. Just mentioned it because it was the only thing I could think of that wasn't PERFECT about our cruise. The blue/yellow stripes above are better than the faded reddish/salmon & yellow stripes we had.

 

MAN, YOU KEPT YOUR ROOM CLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ours may have looked like this the 1st day & that was it. Nothing against the steward; we just had LOTS of stuff out. & of course, couldn't find anything when we needed it. ;)

[Deaf Dude]

We were on the 2/24 sailing. Got to meet some of these folks at the M&G. No goodies to our room ;)

 

We got goodies in our room ALL 7 nights! 3 of them were pat of the VIP ammenities we were to recieve. the others were because we spent alot of time chatting with the CD, and food service director and also as compensation for a problem that the concierge couldn't fix.

[nasvhillecruise]

We got goodies in our room ALL 7 nights! 3 of them were pat of the VIP ammenities we were to recieve. the others were because we spent alot of time chatting with the CD, and food service director and also as compensation for a problem that the concierge couldn't fix.

 

Somehow we were considered VIP's; I have NO IDEA why since this was our 1st cruise, but it WAS nice. We were invited to the Captain's Cocktail Party, which was great. We also got the goodies all 7 nights. MIchael & I would fight over the chocolate goodies, but he'd usually win.

 

Debbie