What a disaster!! My family has been sailing with NCL for years and usually go on the Dawn annually. The Spirit IS NOT the Dawn. First, there were over 400 children on board, including my own. The children's groups were not prepared for so many kids. The programs were not well-planned or interesting to kids. They even called the groups "classes"--not a good vacation term for kids. Many of the kids ended up running wild around the boat, and NCL did nothing to stop this. The kids were disruptive, rude, and destructive. NCL must have known the number of kids coming aboard and should have planned accordingly.
The food was okay, but, again, it seems that the Spirit could not organized itself to accommodate people until the end of the cruise. There were lines to wait for dinner (even though the majority of tables were empty). They did not have enough waiters. If you didn't know to make reservations early at the specialty restaurants, you lost out. The restaurants were booked for the entire cruise by the first couple of days. People were very angry about the lack of organization.
The ship seems to be old and not cared for well. Sheets were not changed regularly. Robes in the spa were tattered. Tablecloths were stained and pulled. The sink in our room was chipped and the desk was broken. Certain drawers and doors were difficult to open. We found stains on napkins, straws cut in half, glasses not clean.