Norwegian Spirit Review
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This was my second cruise to Alaska on NCL - the first was 5 years ago on the Pearl; identical itinerary. The ship renovation is beautiful! I have no complaints just some observations to share. For specialty dining we did Cagneys and the teppanyaki. Cagneys had great service and food. The teppanyaki was also very good but really you go for the show. Our chef was great at entertaining while cooking the meal. Because our cruise was at half passenger capacity only Windows was open. I found that the food at lunch at Windows was better than at dinner. The Local has good food if you are looking for something quick and casual. The bar at the Local is quite a popular destination since it is right off the Atrium. I suggest you seek out Henry's Pub. Its a small, cozy place for a drink and the evening entertainment was enjoyable. Magnums is also a nice place to sit and observe activities going on in the Atrium or enjoy the piano entertainer.
At the ports we had to tender at Skagway. I don't know if that is always the case, I think we had to because there were two larger cruise ships there that needed the docks. If you do tender, know that it is about a 10 minute walk to town if you are not doing an excursion - excursions will pick you up at the dock where you are dropped off by the tender. There is a city shuttle available for $5 you can access also. NCL is now using Ward Cove as their dock for Ketchikan. It is a 20 minute bus ride to town. This shuttle is provided free by NCL. If you are on an excursion they will pick you up at Ward Cove. We had limited time in Ketchikan - arrive at 6am leave at 1pm - which means you have to be back at the ship prior to 1:00. the last shuttle back to Ward Cove leaves at 11:30. Doesn't leave much time for sightseeing or certain excursions. Also, if you are planning on getting a seafood lunch in town, most of the restaurants won't be open yet. Other stores are open, but not any lunch places that I noticed. In Victoria, BC. unless you have an excursion booked that picks you up at the dock you have to get a taxi to town if you want to walk around on your own. We did not go into Victoria - we are from WA state and have been to Victoria a number of times before.
The original itinerary was to go through Glacier Bay. However, because we were having such extraordinary weather (sunny and 70F) the captain took us up this beautiful fjiord that is normally not accessible due to weather.
Cabin Review
Penthouse with Balcony
Our balcony suite was wonderful! The cabins of this class are very spacious. The diagram on the NCL website does not do it justice. A separate sitting area and the separate bedroom area can be closed off by a sliding door. Very large bathroom with a soaking tub and quite a large walk-in shower. Large countertop with two sinks. Large drawers for storage. The windows in the bathroom let in a lot of natural light and its enjoyable to see the ocean go by. The balcony can accommodate two chairs and a small table with ample space. There is a good size closet with a lot of wooden hangers including pant hangers. The hair dryer they provide worked great, so you can leave yours at home. Be warned that if you need to use a curling iron ask for a power strip from your butler or room stewart. Using the plugins for more than something like a shaver will blow the room fuse.