Review of the Spirit 9-14-2008 Canada/New England Sailing

[AuntieBarb]

Barb,

 

The Feds called. I may have to go to area 51 to help them identify!:eek:

 

UNCLE PAULIE!!!!!

 

Don't be picking on me! It's not my fault those dang seagulls glow like phosphorus ball!!!! :p

[Maryfrei]

Really enjoyed your review and beautiful pictures, thank you!:)

[AuntieBarb]

Thank you, Mary! Nice to see you!

[STRESSEDOUTNURSE]

Dear Barb,

Thanks so much for a very detailed and positive review. I almost felt like I was on the cruise along with you! Your pictures were great. My husband and I will be on the Spirit for the last cruise before drydock. This will be our first NCL cruise and I must admit I was a little nervous after reading some of the reviews, but after reading your review I now just feel excited!

Thanks again!

[AuntieBarb]

Dear Barb,

Thanks so much for a very detailed and positive review. I almost felt like I was on the cruise along with you! Your pictures were great. My husband and I will be on the Spirit for the last cruise before drydock. This will be our first NCL cruise and I must admit I was a little nervous after reading some of the reviews, but after reading your review I now just feel excited!

Thanks again!

 

I'm happy to hear it helped brew some excitement for you!

 

I see that you've cruised other lines, where we have not (to date anyway). So I'm sure you'll find some differences, which hopefully will be non-issues for you. I can't stress enough to make it YOUR cruise and to have a fun time no matter what cruise line you prefer in the end. Too many multi-line passengers go into it expecting the same in every aspect and end up dwelling on it so much that they walk away unsatisfied. Personally, I think we work too hard for our money to go on vacation to let that happen. NCL will make you feel at home, feed you well and entertain.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[uppitycats]

I'm math impaired :( I am real confused about the time issue. It won't matter so much for me, as I'm not likely to be getting off the ship much...but my husband has all sorts of tours planned -- NOT any that are "NCL sanctioned", though!

 

So -- you're telling us that US Eastern Time is "ship time"? That "local time" is what -- an hour ahead...or an hour behind?? If he's told someone in Halifax, for example, that he'll be there at 10:00 (eastern time)...what time would it be in "local time"?

 

I'm so confused!!!

[tweetylori]

Dear Barb,

Thanks so much for a very detailed and positive review. I almost felt like I was on the cruise along with you! Your pictures were great. My husband and I will be on the Spirit for the last cruise before drydock. This will be our first NCL cruise and I must admit I was a little nervous after reading some of the reviews, but after reading your review I now just feel excited!

Thanks again!

 

Auntie Barb...I do believe you've received the ultimate compliment...you should be proud!

[AuntieBarb]

I'm math impaired I am real confused about the time issue. It won't matter so much for me, as I'm not likely to be getting off the ship much...but my husband has all sorts of tours planned -- NOT any that are "NCL sanctioned", though!

 

So -- you're telling us that US Eastern Time is "ship time"? That "local time" is what -- an hour ahead...or an hour behind?? If he's told someone in Halifax, for example, that he'll be there at 10:00 (eastern time)...what time would it be in "local time"?

 

I'm so confused!!!

 

The Spirit remained on EST, whereas Halifax and Saint John are 1 hour ahead. So if your husband said he'll be arriving at 10AM, they probably interpreted that by their local time, which would be 9AM ship time. Follow me?

 

The confusion for us was that all of our excursions booked showed local times for Canada. Much to my surprise, the excursion tickets issued showed meeting times over an hour earlier. That prompted my visit to the Excursion Desk, who told me the time on the tickets equals ship time, which never changed throughout the cruise.

 

So we conducted our ship life on EST and everyone on the tours referred to local time. It got very confusing, especially when the tour guides said be back at 11:30, rather than be back in 1-1/2 hours. Plus the guide on the double decker bus was telling everyone to be back to the ship by 3:30. If folks weren't paying attention, they would miss the ship!

 

This was one complaint I noted on the survey I filled out today. I've never seen NCL do this when in different time zones.

[mandrews2u]

What tour does anyone recommend for Peggy's Cove?

[AuntieBarb]

What tour does anyone recommend for Peggy's Cove?

 

Peggy's Cove is beautiful, BUT there's not a lot to do there. It's a very small village, with a few notable things to see for which a brisk walking tour will cover. It's about an hour bus ride to and from, so you might keep that in mind when choosing the tour that suits your plans for the day.

 

Here's the one we went on: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexDetails.html?groupId=HAL_05

 

Plus there are others that include Peggy's Cove, but you'll need to check which ones are offered for your cruise:

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexDetails.html?groupId=HAL_03

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexDetails.html?groupId=HAL_12

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexDetails.html?groupId=HAL_15

 

Plus, you can visit the Ports of Call folder here at Cruise Critic, for other suggestions on a private basis.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=39

[Seago2]

GREAT pictures! Excellent review, very informative, beautiful shots. Your DH looks like a cop. I am married to one and usually I can spot 'em.

 

Thanks-

[arielmurphy]

You're welcome and thank you!

 

We transfer our digital pictures to our PC by simply inserting our memory card into a slot on our printer. Many have a simple USB cable transfer or camera dock for doing so as well. Then we upload to online storage (typically using PhotoBucket.com). So my post is merely displaying pictures from PhotoBucket. They are not attachments.

 

BHC is only offering one tour a day now that it's late in the season; 10:00 AM. They ask that you arrive 1/2 hour early, but I've got to say that nothing happened to justify that. Folks merely got in line for boarding. You'll just need to make sure you get through Immigrations early and ready to debark the ship at the earliest opportunity. A cab drive to Long Wharf was only $12 total for 4 of us and it was a relatively short drive. The ship also has a shuttle to Quincy Market for $17, which is immediately across the street from the docks.

 

Peggy's Cove was definitely tricky to navigate; especially over the boulders. There is a brick path from the parking lot to the base of the lighthouse, making it somewhat wheelchair accessible, but there are stairs to climb as well. If you like lighthouses in particular, NCL has a "Lobster & Lighthouses" excursion, as well as a "Peggy's Cove & Lobster" one. We just tried to do too much and fell short on other places of interest right in Halifax.

 

Thanks I tried Photobuket let's see if it worked.

 

Yeah:D

[arielmurphy]

Guess I need to make it smaller.

[AuntieBarb]

Thanks I tried Photobuket let's see if it worked.

 

Yeah:D

 

Good job! ;)

[AuntieBarb]

GREAT pictures! Excellent review, very informative, beautiful shots. Your DH looks like a cop. I am married to one and usually I can spot 'em.

 

Thanks-

 

Thanks, Carla. Nice to hear from you!

 

Nope, sorry....Hubby is not a cop. He's a Service Manager. :D One might say he gave me "Full Service" when we met too! LOL!

[Southsideirish]

Name of place you ate in the North End ? Also how did you get to and from LGA-I am going on Sunday-

Cost to /from LGA ??

[uppitycats]

I should say, by the way, that this is a great review! Really gives me a feel for what to expect in a couple of weeks, when we head in that general direction on the Jewel! Thanks for posting the review and the pictures! :)

 

(Still struggling with that time thing. Read all this to my hubby; he says he'll just wear two watches, one on "ship time", one on "local". Now THAT would confuse me for sure!! :confused: )

[AuntieBarb]

I should say, by the way, that this is a great review! Really gives me a feel for what to expect in a couple of weeks, when we head in that general direction on the Jewel! Thanks for posting the review and the pictures! :)

 

(Still struggling with that time thing. Read all this to my hubby; he says he'll just wear two watches, one on "ship time", one on "local". Now THAT would confuse me for sure!! :confused: )

 

Hopefully this will ease your mind. It's quite possible that the Jewel will change ship time to match local time. Although the Spirit did not, I believe the Dawn did. I'll ask in one of their threads.

[tweetylori]

Name of place you ate in the North End ? Also how did you get to and from LGA-I am going on Sunday-

Cost to /from LGA ??

 

 

I can tell you where we ate in the North End...it was called LaFamiliga Giorgio's (give or take the spelling).

 

LGA to the terminal cost us about $40 before tip. Back to LGA from the terminal was less than that. About $30. (before tip)

[AuntieBarb]

Name of place you ate in the North End ? Also how did you get to and from LGA-I am going on Sunday-

Cost to /from LGA ??

 

I'm not sure who you are addressing in this thread. We ate at Joe's in Boston, which is in Christopher Columbus Park, immediately adjacent to Long Wharf and across the street from Quincy Market.

 

We didn't fly into NYC, since it is only 1-1/2 hours away from our home.

[AuntieBarb]

I should say, by the way, that this is a great review! Really gives me a feel for what to expect in a couple of weeks, when we head in that general direction on the Jewel! Thanks for posting the review and the pictures! :)

 

(Still struggling with that time thing. Read all this to my hubby; he says he'll just wear two watches, one on "ship time", one on "local". Now THAT would confuse me for sure!! :confused: )

 

The Dawn did change their ship time, so perhaps the Jewel will too.

 

Here's a notation James made at Twitter (He is currently on the Dawn)

 

Just woke up but going to Cagneys for breakfast. We lost 1hr due to time change so extra sleepy. Cruise critic M&G at 10:30 05:26 AM September 22, 2008 from txt

[Padme]

Thank you for the wonderful review! It brought back very good memories of our Spirit cruise last year, which was our first ever. We liked it so much we have 2 more cruises planned!

[AuntieBarb]

Thank you for the wonderful review! It brought back very good memories of our Spirit cruise last year, which was our first ever. We liked it so much we have 2 more cruises planned!

 

Thank you for saying so!

 

I know the feeling all too well. We've been hooked on cruising from the very beginning ourselves! :)

[shoreless]

Thanks for the review and the great pictures. It brought back memories of our Dawn Canada/NE cruise last year. We enjoyed it so much we booked the Spirit 14 day for next year. I've never been on the Spirit, so it was nice to read a good review with pictures.:) I love that they're doing the one way itinerary next year (they combined two for the 14 day, happily with some different stops in each direction); wish they'd do the same with Alaska.

[AuntieBarb]

Thanks for the review and the great pictures. It brought back memories of our Dawn Canada/NE cruise last year. We enjoyed it so much we booked the Spirit 14 day for next year.

 

Thanks for commenting!

 

Tell me more about this Spirit cruise next year. Are you referring to the repositioning cruise or something else?