My husband and I sailed with a small group of 16 adults and 2 teenage children. Some of us were Lattitude members and some were not. 4 of the Lattitude members arrived aprox 11am at the NYC piers and got very special boarding privileges. They boarded immediately and through a different area upstairs then the rest of us Lattitude members who arrived about 12 noon. We had to wait on a long line outside the actual checkin area. We expressed that we were Lattitude members but that didn't make a difference. Once inside the check-in area we went right to the Lattitudes deck and moved quickly through there. Upon boarding we went directly to Windows for lunch. It was uncrowded and the food was very good. You can't go into your cabins until 2pm so we hung out by the Bier Garden. Most of us are long time cruisers with aprox 20 cruises under our belts but I was amazed at the cost of a glass of wine on the Spirit. It was $9 plus some change. Mixed drinks were less and beer was less but I felt that was a high price for a glass of duty free wine. Oh well if you want to drink they gotcha there.

My husband and I ate the first night in Gardens and it was great. The next night we ate in Windows and enjoyed that also. We decided to try Le Bistro the next night and while we enjoyed the atmosphere the food could have been better. We both had the duck so you might think twice about that dish if you are going there. We ate another evening at Shogun and we were unlucky to get a table that is along side the corridor where everyone is passing to go to either the show or the casino. Very noisy, very unnerving, very unenjoyable. The food was pretty awful too. We eat in many Japanese restaurants on Long Island and this was far from the average restaurant as we know it. The chow fun noodles tasted like the bags of noodles you buy in the supermarket for 9 cents a bag. I ordered the teriyaki steak and it was too tough to eat. My husband ordered the sweet and sour shrimp and it tasted like a tv dinner. We never tried Cagney's Steakhouse but our cruising mates did and they said it was great!

Our balcony cabin was small but doable, the balcony is also small. Our steward was pretty good except that I finished the bottle of water that was in the cabin the first night and never saw another one. The beds are very hard and I had an egg crate padding put on mine and that worked out fine. Read more