Norwegian Spirit Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,124 reviews

Great crew, nice ship, but...

Review for Alaska Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
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onepoorguy
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Aug 2022
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony

We are Platinum Latitude members. That means we have done a lot of NCL cruises. This is our second time on the Spirit, and fourth Alaska cruise overall. What can I say, we love the beauty of Alaska. The Spirit was refitted during COVID, but it's still an older ship with smaller cabins. We do like the uncrowded feel of cruising on a smaller ship. Alas, most cruise lines seem to be going BIGGER.

First, the positives. Yes, it's a smaller ship (about 2000 capacity). The crew is fantastic. They bend over backwards to make you happy. Zero complaints there. Our cabin was fairly quiet, and we seldom heard anything from an adjacent cabin or in the corridor. The cabins are smaller than newer ships. They also have an adults-only area if you want to get away from kids, though we didn't see too many kids anyway. But the area is available if you want it.

The negatives have to do with corporate NCL. Things beyond the control of the crew.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony

We were on deck 10, balcony. It was a decent cabin. Reworked during the renovation, but still small. The bed was comfortable, there was limited storage (but enough), and the bathroom had new fixtures. The toilet wasn't isolated from the sink/shower. I seem to recall a deployable partition last time we cruised the Spirit, but the renovated Spirit definitely didn't have one. Not a huge deal, but a little surprising. Very limited electrical outlets in the room (i.e. ONE). However, there were a few USB charge points for phones and tablets. The balcony itself also was small. The two chairs were crowded.

Port Reviews

Icy Strait

Icy Strait (Hoonah) is being turned into a theme park. Plus the NCL exclusive dock is further from the cannery and town than the original dock. If you don't go on a nature excursion, probably not a lot of reason to get off the boat.

Juneau

Juneau has several dining opportunities near the docks. The whale watching excursion and Mendenhall Glacier excursions are well worth doing. We did both in one excursion (supplied by Gastineau Guiding Company), and it was the best thing we did on this cruise.

Victoria

Should have been a nice stop, but they reduced our port time so the Butchart Garden excursion (at night!) was not available. May as well have not stopped here at all.

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