Norwegian Spirit Review
sarahbeth722
6-10 Cruises • Age 30s
Rating by category
Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Service
Additional details
Sail Date: Feb 2017
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
My fiance and I chose this cruise because we are recently engaged and found an incredible deal with Norwegian- we decided that this would essentially be our honeymoon, as we are starting our own business and wouldn't have the time or the means to take another trip after our wedding.
The reservation process was essentially painless, we thought we were getting off to a good start. Once we arrived in Barcelona and tried to find the cruise terminal, we saw that it would either be about a 40 minute walk with our luggage over an incredibly steep highway bridge to get to our particular ship, or pay for a taxi which we begrudgingly did. At the terminal, we were harassed slightly for not having paper copies of our reservation in hand and were told to step aside until I could present our reservation number on my phone and the guard could bring himself to actually look at what I was showing him. Past that point, embarkation was smooth and our bags made it to our room. For the rest of the review of the cabin, see below.
Dining! What fun (sarcasm). As we were only able to go on the cruise because of the advertised price of $500/person, we couldn't splurge to go to the restaurants to pay for steak dinners every night. We've been on other cruises with other lines where the food in the buffet area and the main dining rooms have been more that satisfactory- just about everything on Norwegian about killed us. Not only did the food taste cheap and not like real food and was cold, my fiance and I both had food poisoning just about every night. Our only saving grace was to find food ashore and sneak it back on board as to not get sick from the food being served to us. When we had days at sea, our only solace were the rolls and crackers that we knew were safe.
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Inside
Cabin IB
The cabin seemed to be alright aside from the sewage smell coming out of the bathroom constantly and the leaky sink. It also appeared that someone had been frustrated with their cruise experience before us and had punched a hole in the wall that had been somewhat mended by clear masking tape.
I was traveling with my fiance, and when we first arrived on the ship there were two twin beds in the room. I have encountered this before on a cruise and it's usually not an issue for them to push the beds together and give us larger sheets. We had to request for the beds to be put together THREE times before anything was done. And I believed that our cabin attendant was reprimanded because he never introduced himself or smiled at us when we came by. Another lovely way to start the day, being stared down by a person about to clean your room. (We left the Do Not Disturb sign in our door most of the cruise because this man was incredibly off-putting)
Port Reviews
Barcelona
We had a day before and after the cruise in Barcelona and loved it. We explored by ourselves and loved the Sagrada Familia!
Valencia
The largest aquarium in Europe was wonderful! The rest of the nearby town looked pretty run down.
Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)
Another day of wandering with no expectations- we had no idea what was on the island and we just happened to wander in the direction of the cathedral. It was a wonderful and much welcomed surprise!
Monaco (Monte Carlo)
This port of call was another surprise- we were supposed to stop in Marseille but were unable to due to bad weather. Monaco is absolutely breathtaking, and we took the 1euro bus into Nice for the morning and enjoyed it. The scenic views are absolutely worth it.
Florence (Livorno)
Florence was great, but getting to the train station in Livorno was a bit of a hassle. We paid for a shuttle to get to what we thought would be the train station, but it just took us away from the cruise port to a random parking lot where we could either A) pay for a taxi, B) pay for another shuttle, or C) walk 10 minutes to the train station. Just weird. But Florence was excellent- I just wish we had more time there!
Rome (Civitavecchia)
Civitavecchia was another interesting experience- all passengers had to board a mandatory shuttle to take them closer to the train station away from the port. Other than that, we didn't spend much time there as we were on the earliest possible train to Rome which was spectacular. Again, just wish we had more time there!
Taormina (Messina)
This was probably the worst possible choice in a port that I have ever seen. If you didn't go to the countryside (which we didn't but I'm sure was quite lovely), you were left to explore a dirty and extremely unpleasant town where the restaurants close at lunch time so that the employees can have lunch. And when you did find a cafe that stayed open, the baristas and waiters did nothing to stop vendors from constantly approaching your table trying to sell cheap scarves and other kitsch. The whole day was just ridiculous.
Malta (Valletta)
If I could rate this port higher than excellent, I would. I fell in love with this country and would gladly vacation here again if I could. I don't even think an excursion is necessary- we booked a hop-on hop-off tour to see around the main island, but we enjoyed just exploring the capital city.
9 Helpful Votes
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