Pardon my long review but I hope you will find my comments helpful. We are a couple in our early 70’s that just took an 11-day Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Spirit leaving Rome on April 15,2018. This was our 11th Cruise, the 5th on NCL. We’ve also been on Costa, RCCL, Renaissance, Oceania and Azamara.

The first thing I want to say is that NCL’s communication with passengers was abhorrent. There was NONE. NCL should be ashamed of their lack providing any meaningful information to their passengers. Our cruise was very port intensive in ports that were a bit off the beaten path. That was what made it desirable for us. But, the only information NCL provided about the ports were sales pitches for their own shore excursions. No dialogue on what to do in the port, how to get transportation in the port, why the port is significant, no map of the port area, the port or the surrounding area. NOTHING AT ALL. It was ‘get off the ship and you figure out where you are going.’ Don’t expect SQUAT from the company who you paid to put you on vacation unless you want to pay them for their over-priced and underwhelming excursions. And on top of that, the PA system on board was of poor quality and usually impossible to understand as the English being spoken was too rapid and delivered by someone who was obviously not a native speaker.

Now let’s go to the ship. The Spirit’s Asian theme is overdone and no longer relevant to the market being served. But the size of the ship is wonderful and the common areas are great. There are any number of outside dining/socializing options which are very important to us. We leave Michigan in the colder months to get outside not stay inside! But....the ship is tired, a lot more tired than it was when we sailed on her in 2009 out of New Orleans. The mix of passengers were mostly couples or large groups. Lots of Australians, English, Asian and European travelers with Americans being in the minority. Not a lot of kids or young couples. I’d guess the median age as about 60. Read more