Norwegian Spirit Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,124 reviews

Norwegian Spirit - Eastern Caribbean

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
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Chrislynn55
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Mar 2007
Cabin: Mid-Ship Oceanview Picture Window
Traveled with children

We are a family of three; myself, my husband,and our 16 year-old son. This was the 15th cruise for me, # 13 for my husband, and the 8th for our son. We have cruised numerous times on Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Carnival,Cunard, and Costa. We drove from the Toronto area the day before the cruise and stayed overnight at the Doubletree Suites in Jersey City (great hotel..great location). We were only a 10 minute Path (train) ride to Manhattan so we took advantage of this to do some sightseeing on the evening before embarkation. However,the next day we did not enjoy navigating the streets of New York by car on our way to parking at the pier, and the heavy traffic meant that we arrived at the ship an hour later than we had hoped for....too late for Latitudes advanced boarding. We did, however, bypass the huge registration line inside the terminal by going through the Latitudes line...there was no-one in it and we probably saved a good hour or more there by being Latitudes members.

The ship itself is unlike anything we had seen before (and we have been on some nice ships!). The Asian influence predominates on the Spirit and we just loved the many unique features; from the Terra Cotta warriors in the hallway leading to the theatre, to the old fashioned telephones scattered throughout the ship. Vibrant colors blend beautifully everywhere, most notably in the artwork on the walls and in the carpeting. There is an amazing, round floor covering in the central atrium. We liked that the rugs in the forward, mid ship, and aft stairwells were color coded to help passengers figure out where they were on the Spirit....I knew where I was right from the first day for a change! Everything was clean and well maintained...if someone (not me!) set a glass or plate on a hallway table it was gone almost immediately.Our cabin was on deck 5 and had a large picture window. The window was very clear and we were easily able to see those huge waves crashing beside the ship on our last two sea days! Of course, the view of the islands through the window was spectacular too when we were in port. A nice feature on this ship is that outdoors on deck 7, the Promenade deck, we were actually able to walk around the periphery of the entire ship. This was a great walking track and probably a major reason why we did not gain too much weight on our cruise!

Others have said that the food on the Spirit was tasteless, in small quantity, and indifferently served. Our experience could not have been more different. We tended to use Windows dining room for most lunches and dinners and enjoyed every meal. We always had plenty to eat, it tasted great, and the service was consistently excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the professional, helpful,friendly, and courteous service provided by virtually all of the waiters. Roxana and Leo were an exceptional team and we asked for them several times. Gladys was our waiter for lunch in Windows on the first day and for the rest of the cruise she smilingly greeted us by name whenever we saw her. A particular highlight for us was that our family was selected in a draw to share a "Dinner with the Ship's Officers". This was a first class experience which included a pre-dinner cocktail reception in the Art Gallery (about 10 senior officers including the captain and about 40 other winners) and dinner with a pre-selected senior officer. Tony Rosa, Food and Beverage Director for the Spirit hosted us at his table and we thoroughly enjoyed his interesting and entertaining companionship. We went to Raffles for most breakfasts and a few lunches, the Trattoria for dinner once, and hamburgers (and beers) at the Bier Garten too..all was good.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Oceanview Picture Window

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