We flew into Miami the night before. Our hotel shuttle driver forgot to make his las trip to the airport, and we were left standing at the curb over an hour before the hotel said "just take a cab". We pulled up to the lobby of the Rodeway Inn 2 hours after we landed (1 am), and found 2 police cars with flashing lights there. We walked the length of the building and then down a dimly lit outside walkway to the back of the hotel. We took the elevator up, and then walked through old puddles of water on the landings. In front of our room were huge pipes, and it smelled badly like sewer. Pop machine took our money- no refunds. Room just poor basic room. Supposed to get some free continental breakfast, but shuttle left 1/2 hour early for the ship and we didn't get breakfast. Check-in went very smoothly. They take your bags as soon as you get out of your taxi (these people are not NCL employees, and don't care about your bags- but you MUST leave the larger bags with them). Take small ones with you! Our new luggage had the wheels ripped out. On the ship we were welcomed with about an inch of champagne in a tall glass. We immediately went to Deck 12 to eat and found only a teen center and a kids pool area with giant orange and purple animals taking up the entire Aft outside area of this ship! (There were only 2 or 3 children using this... ever... what a waste!) Food was so-so in all restaurants... the whole week. It was especially hard to find lunch. The buffet was so crowded, and the main restaurant was open a very short time. Our room had an obstructed view. This is fine, as you can still see out between the lifeboats from many of the rooms in this category. Room stewards were terrible. We often did not get ice or coffee supplies. The toilet lid had a brown stain on top for 2 days which I finally cleaned away with WATER. They did not clean the rim of the toilet the entire week. No lotions were left after the first day. All good activities were scheduled opposite the other ones. Ex... Latitudes party opposite ice carving which was a one-time showing. Shopping area was not attractive, and salespeople very rude. This whole ship seemed very gloomy. No one ever smiled. Shore excursions: Dominican Republic was a very nice stop. All excursions seemed to leave people happy. St. Thomas Coral World was fun. Tortola do not bother going to Virgin Gorda unless you go on the boat excursion. We took a water taxi, then a bus. Our guide suggested we take a path to the Cevil's Beach instead of going through the caves as my husband had recent knee surgery and she was afraid he'd fall in the caves. The "safe path" she (Carla) recommended was very long and lumpy through the cacti. My husband fell many times on the rocks. When we got to the beach it was indeed beautiful, but it took so long to walk here that after 5 minutes it was time to go back UP !!! This was difficult. It was hot, and almost too much for me with a heavy backpack of our unused snorkeling gear for the 2 of us. We complained about all this to the shore excursion desk back on the ship. They called Carla and she denied everything. She had almost insisted we take the alternate path. She should have suggested we relax at the TOP area of The Baths and use the pool there. This miserable excursion cost us $160, and is the only excursion I have ever taken with NCL where I felt they should have paid US to take it! We could not tender at Great Stirrup Cay (the planned stop) because of unsafe waves. Instead, we stopped at Nassau. This was fine with us. Nassau was nice, but there wasn't a lot to do downtown after an hour. The cruise terminal was festive, and had many shops and some entertainment. To sum it all up.... hated not being able to eat a casual meal outside Aft on this ship. Hated lack of concern by shore excursion manager (Leo...Leon?.... a surly fellow) for our experience on the Tortola excursion. Were given a $50 ship credit for our NEW luggage that was torn and had the wheels RIPPED out of the bottom. Hated the gloomy faces on ALL the crew and staff except for ONE FACE.... always smiling.... and known as "DJ Patrick" !! He should be the Cruise Director or the Shore Excursion manager. If any of you have ENJOYED a cruise on this ship, you probably have NOT been on the Spirit or the Pearl ! After this cruise we spent a night at the Continental Bayside.... another "yucky" hotel, but they had good (paid) shuttle service that was prompt and efficient.