My husband and I took the Christmas cruise on NCL Spirit, the second time we sailed on this ship after sailing with NCL 13 times. Although we realize that NCL is not known to be a luxury cruise line, we do expect decent food and service. Unfortunately, the food on this ship in the main dining rooms was mediocre at best. The service, especially for wine, was slow and we often were finished our meal before we got our first or second glass of wine. The food options were very limited and most of the time arrived to the table cold. The two specialty restaurants (Le Bistro and Cagney's) were better but still did not meet the level of food quality and presentation we were accustomed to on other NCL ships.

The Spirit is an older ship so don't expect smooth sailing. We rocked and rolled all the way from Florida through the Bahamas to St. Thomas. No announcement was made about rough seas; I guess this is the norm for this ship, though I cruised out of NYC several years ago on this same ship, and it was perfectly stable.

The ports were OK. We especially liked Tortola where we took what was supposed to be an "easy" level of activity tour. Unfortunately, half of the cruisers who rode this open air bus tour were struggling to get on and off the bus which had steep narrow steps. When we got to the observatory, there were at least 20 steep, rocky steps to climb. How the cruise line could classify this tour as "easy" I'll never understand. I may not be an athlete, but I would expect at $72 per person for a three hour tour to be provided with steps that can be navigated by the normal 60 year old person. This was not the case, and almost everyone had to be given "lessons" on how to get on and off the thing! I felt sorry for the older and disabled individuals who were under the impression that this would be handicap-friendly. Read more