Norwegian Spirit Review

Lacking Spirit

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
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bagelsnbrew
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Apr 2008
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
Traveled with children

We are a family of 4 with a 3yr old and 5yr old boys. We were traveling with 20 others (12 adults and 12 kids, all from Long Island). This is our 3rd cruise, first with kids. Both previous cruises were with RCI. We live locally, so there was no pre cruise travel info of any value. Our cruise was 8 days out of NYC on 4/19/08

On to the review- Boarding was a nightmare. Spirit was late and we stood on line for almost 4 hours. A plus was that NCL brought out cookies and juice during the wait. A minus, the cookies were tasteless and stale, a theme that would repeat throughout the cruise. After finally getting on board (it would not be hard to improve that system) we tried to go to Windows for lunch, but it was already closed. We were much closer to the first on board than the last, apparently only a few people were lucky enough to avoid the first buffet. We went to the buffet instead and it was awful. The main item was pork patties, think Jimmy Dean sausage patties with less flavor. The standout was the stir-fry, even if it had no pork or chicken as advertised. The stir-fry proved to be the most dependable item on the buffet throughout our cruise. We were able to get to our small but usable cabin. We brought a cooler with us, so we call room services for more ice. We were told @7:00 that our room attendant would be around soon and would replenish the ice. That turned out to be 9:30 and then only after begging because our 3yr old was melting down. Standing for 4 hours in a warehouse had taken it's toll. On our previous cruises our room attendant would introduce him/herself, not so here. The only way we met him was to search the hall for him. The next day our room was not turned till 1:45. This was the trend for the trip. Each time we asked to have the room set up early, we were politely told OK and the room schedule remained. We were greeted with towel animals every night, as long as we waited till 10:00 to go to sleep. Our beds also remained unmade till late afternoon. We became well versed in putting away the slide out, folding up the bunk bed ourselves.

Cabin- We had an inside cabin on deck 5. We would have loved a larger cabin with a view, but we have 2 young children. On Spirit, the only cabins that sleep 4 are the smallest on board (exception to a few handicap accessible cabins which book way early). The cabin was the smallest we've ever had, mainly due to the larger bathroom. The shower was outstanding. Our cabin did have a few issues. One of the drawer faces would pull off, the phone stopped working after the second day of the trip and the shower drain was very slow. None of these issues were terrible, all were reported, and none were addressed during our cruise. I didn't make a big stink about then, but I shouldn't have needed to. Ship- For a 10 yr old ship, Spirit is in fine shape appearance wise. There are a few worn carpets and more than a few cloudy windows that will be addressed at the next dry dock. Mechanically, there's a broken engine which caused an itinerary change and someone said a broken stabilizer. I'm not too sure about the stabilizer, but the ship does roll more in calm seas than my previous cruises. The layout of the ship was fine, but some spaces were tight. The popular Seaview Cafe is in a hall way.

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Mid-Ship Inside

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