NCL SpiritReview: June 12-19, 2009Boston to BermudaBackground information: My wife and I are in our twenties and enjoy cruising. Our last cruise was on RCCL Mariner of the Seas and that was fantastic. Previously we sailed on the NCL Dawn and had a mixed experience. We weren't anxious to sail NCL again but chose to do so because of proximity to the port and the destination- Bermuda. I also had read good things about the Spirit. Embarkation/Disembarkation: Both were great. We are Latitudes members and enjoyed the much quicker Latitudes line. I had read previously that the Latitudes line is often longer, but this was not the case at this time. The Ship (Design and DEcor): Beautiful. One of the reasons I didn't like the Dawn is because I found it a bit loud and tacky. I found the Spirit to be more understated, classy and attractive. The ship was easy to navigate and get around. Age showed here and there (tile work, some windows, paneling) but the carpets were beautiful. It is something I have never noticed before but I found the carpeting around the ship to be very nice.The Cabin: We had an inside cabin, 5581. It was nice, pretty standard. There was some evidence of the ship's age in the cabin, but it was fine. We don't spend a lot of money on the cabin because we usually don't spend too much time in it. The cabin stewards did a nice job. Food/ Dining Room Service: Overall, we found the food to be very good. We ate in Raffles buffet, which always boasted a good selection of food. For dinner we ate the first two nights in Windows. This is the prettier of the two main dining rooms- but the service was extremely slow. We like a nice relaxed dinner but waiting 30 minutes for a Pepsi is unacceptable. After these two frustrating meals, I spoke to the matre'd of Windows. He was apologetic and sent a bottle of wine to our next meal. (We ate in Garden after that with a great waiter, Marcial.) The last night we ate in Le Bistro- it was nice. Our travel agent paid for it and we enjoyed it. However, I would have been disappointed had I paid for it. Spa- I had two massages, which were very good. Idy was the name of the therapist. I highly recommend her. The steam and sauna are free here and require no purchase to use. The aquaswim area is also free. I was unhappy with the spa manager- see my customer service paragraph later.Entertainment- The onboard music was wonderful. I enjoyed each band and singer. I also enjoyed the production shows. They weren't anything to write home about, but they were enjoyable. Don't miss "The Cat's Pajamas" if they are on your ship. They are very talented. The magician didn't thrill me. I didn't see the cruise director (Paul Scally) as much as I have seen the CD on pervious cruises. I thought he stood more on the sidelines. This doesn't make or break a cruise by any means for me, but I have had much better.NCL U- I attended all three of the martini tastings with Gede in Champagne Charlie's. Let me tell you, these were great. They were informative, delicious and a good value- not to mention, fun! There weren't enough people to do it on the final offering, but Gede made us all free martinis and those that did show had a blast.Bermuda- Bermuda was great and I think 3 days there was perfect. We did the transportation pass, which was a great value. We had no need to purchase any excursions. We used the busses and ferries to go to St. George's, Hamilton, The Swizzle Inn and Horshoe Bay Beach. It was a lot of fun.Customer Service- As I mentioned before, I brought my concern about the speed of dinner service to the attention of the person at the service desk. She was very apologetic, understanding and attentive. She had the marte'd come to speak with me and help resolve the situation. My experience on the last day was nothing like the first. On Friday morning I noticed extra charges on my account, about $300 worth. (Buckets of beer that I did not drink and a very expensive massage treatment that I did not receive.) I went to the on-board credit desk to deal with this and after about an hour, we straightened it out. You see, after my first massage I went to retrieve my card from the attendant and she had lost it. She assured me the original card would be deactivated and she brought me a new one. No harm done, or so I thought. It turns out that someone found that card (or stole it) and used it throughout the cruise. Even though it was deactivated, staff can charge the room manually. Multiple bar staff and spa staff did so. I even saw the receipts that the thief signed in my name (with my cabin number printed on it!!.) You can imagine I was quite upset by this. Once the attendant from the on-board credit desk reversed the faulty charges, he brought Bruno over from customer service. Let me tell you, he was not the least apologetic, helpful or even friendly. I advice all NCL Spirit passengers who have a customer service issue to stay clear from him. He repeated the same line over and over again about how the system deactivated and there is no way this could have happened. Ten minutes later he admitted that staff could enter information manually. I was beyond frustrated and asked to speak to his supervisor. He instead gave me the corporate address to write to. Let me also say, that mistakes happen, and I realize that this wasn't the end of the world. I just wanted to help stop this from happening to anyone else and suggest that staff not be able to manually enter charges. It really put a bitter taste in my mouth as I departed the ship. Overall- it was a good cruise. We had a nice time, and it was very affordable. The food was good, the ship was beautiful and we enjoyed our time both on the ship and in Bermuda. The staff were usually nice and friendly, but I don't think NCL has really gotten Freestyle perfected. It is a great concept, but until I can have a good meal, with good service, I will prefer traditional. I enjoyed the flexibility but not the decline in service (especially in Windows.) It really was a nice vacation, but I cannot help feel a bit violated by my card getting stolen and insulted by the lack of response from NCL.Would I recommend this cruise? YES. If I hadn't had the poor customer service experience, I would say, ABSOLUTLEY YES.