We just returned from the Dec 6th sailing of the NCL Spirit Cruise to the Western Caribbean. We really enjoyed ourselves and the ship. Things were not perfect but if you overlook the small things and take in the bigger experience it was very fun. Granted, I had a heavily discounted room, and had I paid the higher prices for a balcony or full price for my window room I would have felt let down. We ate in Windows and The Garden Room for almost all of our meals. We found the Garden provided better service for dinner. The anytime dinning worked out well for us as we took long excursions each day and we were able to enjoy the dinning room dinner at whatever time was convenient for us. We once had to wait 15 minutes for dinner and during that time we were given a pager and enjoyed our time in the main atrium listening to music. Food portions were small but that worked for me as I usually order 2 appetizers, 1-2 soups, a salad, the entrEe and 1-2 deserts. The cheese tray was adequate but there is a much better selection in the buffet. Service was very good throughout the ship and the shows ranged from fair to great. I watched the show on the last night twice!!

I arranged all my excursions in advance except for Santo Thomas which was good because we went to Roatan Honduras instead due to problems in Guatemala.

In Costa Maya to visit the Mayan ruins we used The Native Choice (Ivan Cohuo responded to all of my many email inquires in a couple hours or less). I Highly recommend this company http://www.thenativechoice.com We took the excursion tour of Dzibanche which also includes Kinichna (it is an acropolis that was part of Dzibanche - you can find great background information on all the available ruins using Google). There were 5 of us on this tour in a new full size Van with a driver and a tour guide. She gave great detailed information on Mayan history and culture which made the 2 hour ride go by very quickly and comfortably. When we got to the site there was just the 7 of us and we latter saw 4 workers making repairs. We also latter saw a couple of other people who were exploring on their own - not from any ship. Incredible site as we were able to climb up to the top of 3 Mayan temples. We made it back with a few minutes to shop before boarding the ship. Just what I was looking for! Read more