Norwegian Spirit Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,123 reviews

Norwegian Spirit - Eastern Caribbean

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
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bangzoom6877
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Jul 2006
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
Traveled with children

BACKGROUND: I have been on 13 cruises including this one. Three of them were on NCL, the rest were Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and the Regal Empress. The other NCL ships I have been on were the Norwegian Sea in July 2002 and the Dawn in April 2004. I cruised with a group of 21 people total. My husband Eric, my son Philip (18 months old) and I were in the same cabin, #5577 inside cabin. My husband and I are 29. The rest of our group had all different ages. Kids were ages 13, 6, 5, 4, and almost 3. Adults were 31, 36, 38, 39, 51, mid-50s, and 60s. Most of us had been on cruises before, on Carnival, RCCL, Celebrity and Regal Empress, so we are experienced cruisers. I am from Brooklyn, NY and my family who was with us lives in Long Island, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Seattle.

EMBARKATION: This was very nice. We waited upstairs in the Latitude/Suite passengers waiting area. They brought out some cookies and coffee and juice at first which was very nice. Then when it ran out, they brought out mini sandwiches and pound cake and banana bread. It was so nice. I have never seen that in 13 cruises at the pier! We arrived early at the pier, about 9:45. My husband parked the car which was easy. Highly recommended. They brought down the Latitude and suite passengers to check in first at about 12:10 or so. It was very easy. They took our pictures for the onboard credit account and the credit card to put it on. We had to wait for my sister and her boyfriend and kids because they added his daughter very close to the sailing date. So they had to pick up the papers and ticket at the pier. So we got onto the ship at about 1:20 or so, but it would have been much earlier if there wasn't a wait for her ticket. So it's pretty quick. Once on the ship, we were told we couldn't get into the cabin until 2PM so we went to Windows for lunch and to make our nightly reservation for dinner for 5:30.

CABIN: The inside cabin, surprisingly, had ample space and ample storage space for all our stuff, for three people. They put a portable crib in it for my son (like a pack 'n' play, but a different brand). They were able to put the beds together and form a queen bed even with the crib in there which was nice. There was also a chair by the desk and an easy chair. The drawers look very small at first, but when you open them you see that they go very far back and we had plenty of space. There are shelves in the bathroom on either side of the sink which is also convenient, and a shelf underneath. The shower is very large for a cruise ship. We were able to give our son a shower in there with no problem. The showerhead is detachable and that made things very easy. We also got towel animals several nights throughout the cruise which was nice and my son liked them. There is one outlet for 110-V but it only holds 500 watts. I had purchased a dual voltage hair dryer and adaptor plug so I used that for the 220-V outlet and it worked just fine. The hair dryer in the bathroom also works well, but the handle gets hot very quickly, so I opted to use my own. The closet also has plenty of space. Not too many hangers though. But we pack all the hanging stuff in a garment bag so we already had our own hangers to use. There are also shelves in the closet and we had plenty of room for all our stuff (and we had a lot!). Air conditioning is also very good in the cabin. The beds are very firm. I felt comfortable but a few mornings I woke up with a backache that only lasted a little while then went away. My husband did not like the bed on the first night and our cabin steward put the egg-crate mattress pad on it and that made it much better. FOOD: I thought the food was excellent. I had read some bad reviews regarding the food on this ship, but I loved it. We did not eat in the specialty restaurants at all. We had dinner in the main dining rooms every night. On 7 out of 8 nights, we had our large party reserved and ate at Windows with a wonderful waiter named Mark Chisholm. He was the best! His assistant Shirmilla Merzullo was also excellent. They were great with the children and very attentive and excellent service. Wonderful food too. The first night the prime rib was excellent. The lobster tails were larger than they were on both the Dawn and the Sea. The desserts were so good that I ordered 2 of them every night. The souffles are excellent and they have a different one nearly every night. The New York Cheesecake was also very good on the Captain's Farewell night. They always have grilled chicken, steak and salmon available. I took advantage of the steak one night and it was outstanding. On Caribbean night they had delicious crabcakes and a wonderful banana souffle!

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Mid-Ship Inside

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