This was our 11th cruise on Norwegian. We've sailed on the largest and smallest ships in the line and we have a personal preference for the smaller ships, but please - this is our opinion only, because the mega liners have a lot to offer. As Platinum members, we're used to amenities, but we took advantage of a deal and upgraded to one of the 18 suites aboard. Wow, what a difference. First of all, we had a special waiting area in the terminal, and our butler brought us our boarding cards. it went uphill from there! Without going into a lot of bragging - if there's any way you can spring for a suite on a smaller ship - go for it! We've had folks say that the Haven area on the bigger ships is no big deal, (The Escape has 68 suites) but on the Spirit, you are part of a small group and they do go out of their way to make you feel special.

The itinerary for this trip was Nassau, St Thomas and Tortola, with 4 days at sea. The entertainment was nothing special except for the "ELEMENTS" show - it was far above the usual Broadway musical style that frequent cruisers see. In my opinion it was probably the most artistic production they've put on (other than the world class shows on the larger ships) It had acrobatics, magic, very sensual dancing, exotic lighting, smoke, flames, water, etc. The music was very ethereal and it might be too 'artsy' for some folks - but we loved it.

The food was great - Evidently, NCL has changed their beef supplier because the steaks we had were some of the best we've had in 10 years. We also went to Le Bistro - wonderful as usual - the French restaurant on this ship isn't dedicated. They wall off the back of the Buffet at night. It's small and quiet. Cagney's Steak house is dedicated, but also small. We didn't hit the Japanese restaurant - but it must have been good - it was booked solid every night. Because we hit a couple of nights with rough seas, I wouldn't recommend going to the main dining room aft (Windows) because you get a lot of noise form the engines and it moves around a bit. The Garden Dining room is the same menu, but low in the center of the ship, so it's better in rough weather. Since it serves a third of what the Windows room does, we felt that the staff wasn't as rushed and it was quieter. Read more