We've taken 6 cruises on Norwegian, and this one was pretty typical. The ship was fine, the food was fine, the entertainment was fine, our cabin was fine, the staff was fine. My husband and I are budget cruisers, so we usually opt for the best value in a cabin, and we hit the jackpot there: our 11th deck inside cabin was only $599 per person, before port and tax charges. That truly was a "can't refuse" offer! Since we paid so little, our expectations were probably lower than those who paid a lot more. Therefore, we thought the ship was very nice. Sure, some areas had a little wear on the carpet, the shower tile grout wasn't sparkling, and the toilet was hard to flush. But the main public areas were nicely maintained, clean, and attractive. Most of the staff was friendly and helpful. I was very impressed that the cruise director, who is from England, was learning Spanish so that she could communicate directly with Spanish-speaking guests. Overall, we were satisfied with the Spirit.

The itinerary was the main attraction for us. First, the port of embarkation, Barcelona, was wonderful. It's a terrific destination in itself.Toulon, France, was charming and pretty. We enjoyed strolling through the market, looking at the produce and goods, watching the locals shop for their dinner. Nothing really exciting, but a pleasant day. For the Florence-area stop, we had found some folks here on Cruisecritic looking for a couple to share their transport into town. We enjoyed meeting them and spent several days both onboard and in ports with them. We used ship excursions in Athens and Naples. I hated to spend the exorbitant amount of money for them, but we had good experiences both places. Our ship encountered a terrific storm one day at sea, with injuries/illnesses requiring medical evacuations, so we missed the port of Mykonos. While I was sad to miss it, I was thankful that the two evacuees were being treated in hospitals and doing ok, and REALLY grateful to be able to ride out the storm in port. Kotor was interesting and Dubrovnik was unique, so we enjoyed those ports. We loved sampling local beers from those areas, too. Going into Venice was gorgeous, and we were awed by St. Mark's Basilica. So in all, it was an amazing itinerary.

As to the negatives, they centered mostly on costs. Shore excursions and transfers are outrageous. The ship charged $20 per person to go into Dubrovnik; we caught a cab for 4 for 13€. Many, many people had booked their own excursions in the ports for less than half price of ship excursions. Drink charges (and 18% service fees) are ridiculous. While many people had purchased the unlimited drinks package, we did our drinking onshore for the most part, enjoying beer and wine at local (and reasonable) prices. Read more