I just returned from the New England cruise on Norwegian Spirit. It was a spur of the minute idea when a friend got e mail with an offer which seemed like a great price (it was) I booked and then began reading reviews of the ship which made me a little nervous. However, I am an optimist and decided I would still have a great time. Overall the cruise was good. The cabin was inside, no window, no view. It was fine. The beds are very firm but you can get a foam insert, which I did. There is no clock so bring one if you need it. There is a coffee pot. The bathroom is a good size as is the closet. There is a painting where a window would be of a beach scene so it looks like a window. The first night there was a beeping sound from what we thought was the smoke detector. When we finally got the electrician out in the morning it was the speaker making the noise. I called at midnight and they sent someone but they couldn't diagnose it so we waited till the morning for the electrician. I should have called again and gotten him to come at midnight, after all we couldn't sleep with the noise and he is on the ship. We did not have a good night with the beeping every few minutes. We asked for extra towels and had no problem getting them. We had coffee delivered every morning and they ring the phone to tell you it is on the way. It was always on time. The room was clean as was the entire ship. The entertainment on the ship was only ok. We only went 3 nights. We saw broadway show tunes, a comedy group and the talent nite. The entertainment in the champagne lounge was very good, this is on the 8th floor over looking the atrium. The most annoying thing was the daily bingo which was in the lounge at the front of the ship. It was a great place to sit and read, have a drink and relax, BUT they come in every afternoon and play bingo. Very annoying. It should have been in the theater. I had to leave when that started. The weather was good so I sat out on the lounge chairs a couple of times. They need to provide a light blanket for these locations when they are cruising north. On Friday I took my blanket off the bed and brought it down with me. The food in the regular dining areas (no charge) was not good. We ate there 4 nights and I didn't like any of it. I am not fussy, but it really was not good. Portions are very small but you can ask for more, but I didn't like it enough to do that. The bread was very good. The service was good. I do not like the freestyle dining. I would rather be at the same table each nite and get to know the servers. On my other cruise we had lots of fun with the servers, but here you have someone different each time. The buffet was good and we ate there one day and breakfast every day and some lunches. I think the food there was good and they had a good variety. But I don't like self service and they don't have trays so you are carrying dishes back and forth to the table. We tried on special restaurant, Cagney's the steak place. That was excellent. I don't understand why they can't serve excellent food in the regular dining areas.

One problem I had was paying duty on the alcohol I purchased. We decided to carry our luggage off so we could leave early. However I was not aware each person could only take off one bottle of alcohol. So I had 4, two for each person. They stopped me at the end of the gangway and I had to go back on the ship and declare one bottle each. I have no problem with paying the money, but think they should have made that clear when I bought it or at least when they delivered it. I went up to the gym and took a lecture but never did use the gym, it looked nice thou and had a lot of machines and a trainer there. My friend did the golf and enjoyed it. There were 5 hot tubs all filled. I used them 3 days and one day it was so nice there were people in the pool. There is only one pool and one for the children. Not many on this trip. I think for a southern cruise one pool, and not a big one at that would not be enough. Activities and departures where prompt and on time. I was part of a group on line and someone arranged for a meeting room on Monday. Five of the crew came to the meeting and provided coffee and cookies and spoke informally to us. That was a nice touch. We didn't do any tours. We did our own thing when we got off the ship. There were cabs at the ports and in Boston there was a shuttle for $13 round trip provided by the ship. We did lots of walking.

Overall I would say the cruise was worth the money we paid. Don't think I will chose another Norwegian cruise, mainly because of the freestyle dining and the quality of the food. Patricia