Spirit Review : )

[M-E-K]

hello everyone! we sailed on the spirit from boston to bermuda on july 24th, here are the things we liked and didn't like: first off, the food was outstanding. all four of us were in agreement that we did not expect the menu choices to be so diverse and food presented to be so fresh. this was actually a bit of a conundrum because all of this delicious food being so easily accessible to me caused me to overeat and i wound up making myself uncomfortably full all the time, not good. my own fault, i'll admit. we ate all meals either at windows, garden room or the buffet. i felt no need to go to the specialty restaurants when the food at the "free" restaurants was so satisfying. as a matter of fact, we did notice that there really were not many people at the specialty restaurants when we passed by them and glanced in. nice to know they are there, but completely unnecessary for our experience.

 

the upbeat attitute of the crew was also a pleasant surprise, especially in the morning. i just loved exchanging a chipper "good morning" with a smile from so many people around me to start the day. we're from the new york area so there is not so much of that where we live. it was lovely.

 

the cruise director's thick aussie accent and his introduction over the p.a. system proved to be a reliable source of laughter for my 12 and 13 year old boys. we are still saying it around the house, two weeks after being home from the cruise..........."this is paul scally, yaw caaa-rooooooose doy-rector" blah ha ha, it was adorable! great accent.

 

the boys were all over the activities on board, jumping from one to the next, this cruise line knows how to entertain kids of all ages. they spent lots of time at the ping pong tables and made some friends there. bringing your own paddles and balls is a great idea. the tables are in good shape but there was a serious shortage of paddles and balls and the ones they did have were in sorry shape. next time, we're bringing our own equipment : )

 

my twelve year old lost his room key within the first hour we boarded. we immediately went to the desk and made both of their keys "room key only" keys so that if they lost them again, no one can pick it up and start charging with it. we also put both on a lanyard and they wore them around their neck, that took care of that problem.

 

the over the door shoe organizer is a brilliant idea and we had that thing stuffed. i don't know where we would have put it all if we didn't have that. one of the weird things about having an inside cabin is how very dark it is at all hours of the day. it is such a strange feeling to wake up in the morning and not even be able to guess at what time it might be. bringing watches and an alarm clock just so you know what time it is, is a great idea. the internet access is horrific, we bought the 150 minutes or whatever it was and spent most of the time waiting for pages to upload. it is worse than dial-up speed, arghh! checking e-mail was frustrating.

 

the ship itself was in amazing shape. i am impressed with the way NCL is able to keep up with the amount of people they move through that ship all day, every day. the pool was riddled with the freaks that put towels on lounge chairs and never use them. who are these people and what part of their brain is short-circuiting? strange behavior.

 

bermuda was just beautiful. snorkeled, rented mopeds, went to all the good beaches, swam with dolphins. bermuda is a great place to cruise to.

 

we only went to the magic show on board, we didn't make it to any other shows, too busy doing other fun stuff. we are not big on shows. there were some things happening at the galaxy of the stars that the boys liked, it's more low-key there.

 

anyway, what a great vacation. we all had a ball and would do it again in a minute. money well spent : )

[RocklandMaine]

I'm glad you and your family had such a nice cruise ! I'm looking forward to my trip on the Spirit next month !!

[maddygirl]

great review thanks! I'm leaving tomorrow!

 

bummer about the internet-I'm kind of counting on it to leave messages for my kids at home....ah well...

[redonion53]

Great feedback! We are leaving on Aug. 14 on the Spirit so this is helpful info. We have cruised on Royal Caribbean twice but have never cruised on NCL. We are traveling with a large group.....our daughter is dancing on the ship with her dance company so many of our friends (18 in total) are traveling with us, as well as other parents and siblings of the dancers. It should be fun. We will post about our trip when we return. Bon Voyage!

[cherylatwork]

 

the cruise director's thick aussie accent and his introduction over the p.a. system proved to be a reliable source of laughter for my 12 and 13 year old boys. we are still saying it around the house, two weeks after being home from the cruise..........."this is paul scally, yaw caaa-rooooooose doy-rector" blah ha ha, it was adorable! great accent.

 

 

Nice review!

 

This gave me a chuckle :D

My hubby couldn’t stand him because he reminded him of the “Geico Gecko”

 

Cheryl

[snorklinbarb]

Great feedback! We are leaving on Aug. 14 on the Spirit so this is helpful info. We have cruised on Royal Caribbean twice but have never cruised on NCL. We are traveling with a large group.....our daughter is dancing on the ship with her dance company so many of our friends (18 in total) are traveling with us, as well as other parents and siblings of the dancers. It should be fun. We will post about our trip when we return. Bon Voyage!

 

Not sure how familiar you are with NCL as this is your first time trying the line. But with a large group you might like to check in with the maitre d' in the DR and make a reservation. I think large groups have a choice eating early or after 8 but at least you won't have a wait. You will probably have to split up into a couple of tables if all 18 have dinner together.

 

Nice thing about freestyle is you can go your separate ways with one group in the DR and others exploring the specialties.

 

You can even make a "standing rsvn" in the DR and just let them know if there will be any changes as the week goes by. Some even request a particular wait team though it's not guaranteed you can be seated with them every night. Sometimes they're in a different part of the DR (or assigned elsewhere) but they will do their best to accommodate you.

 

Pls come back and share your experience. Hope you all have a great time!:D