chronozenki

We chose NCL Spirit for our grand Mediterranean cruise trip because of its great itinerary. Undeniably, it is hard to find another cruise ship that goes from Barcelona all the way to Venice. However, the cruise line should really sort out their "free-style" cruising services.

1. Room cleaning is really disgusting, or at the least "questionable". The cleaning lady opened our unopened package of toothbrushes during her cleaning. She also left a brush that was used to clean the toilet right next to our brushes. Also, in many occasions, we found our shower towels wet, wrinkled, and even dirty as supposed to dry and clean. While this could be an individual wrongdoing, we nonetheless felt this is unacceptable by any standards.

2. They failed to recognize the special request that I made for our anniversary celebration, which I did not make just once, but three times during booking, through NCL's online portal, and at their service desk. No singings, no cake, and no congratulations notes. We saw that they did it for other tables, and it made us wonder why we received such a "special" treatment (or "no" treatment).

3. On the second day of the cruise, my wife had a cut under her foot. It caused some pains and discomfort that she couldn't put too much weight on it. She called the front desk to request bandages; however, the person who answered the phone refused to send someone downstairs with the bandages. They asked her to go upstairs because he said they were " all too busy". Sure, it wasn't a serious cut, but we simply didn't understand why they could ask for any gratuities when no services were provided.

4. Freestyle dining is definitely not for everyone. We've cruised before on Carnival, and their food is much, much better than NCL's. All dishes tasted not fresh. Most of them were microwaved.

If I could give zero stars, I would. However, I have to give recognitions to other things of the cruise that made it at least enjoyable in some parts. For example, the entertainment/shows on the ship were pretty amazing. The pool areas felt cleaner compared to other cruise lines. Overall, we felt the ports that we visited saved the day; we at least enjoyed the cities that we visited (not using any of the cruise line's excursions, to be clear).

For anyone who haven't visited Europe before and can withstand the most horrific services and food, be NCL's guests. Otherwise, I would seriously caution against anyone paying this much money for so little service.