Nice Crusie

Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

WilliamP6

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 0

Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 30, 2006

Ship: Norwegian Spirit

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 18 years ago

Review summary

This was a nice cruise. The weather remained wonderful for the whole week. The cruise ship Spirit presented a good environment and I was able to get in some reading that I have been putting off for some time. The ship on a whole is pleasant, the dcor is very nice, the casino large and accommodating with many enticing special events (black jack, holdem and slot tournaments), and there was plenty of the bingo and learning seminars throughout the week. The dinning experience was okay, not up to prior cruises I have been on. Raffles (the cafeteria) was a place to stay away from, over flowing with children and strollers and of course the food engineers (those that can erect mounds of food into towers on a single plate). The main dinning room seems to be under staffed and under utilized, causing guests to have to wait for a table (something unusual for a cruise line), the several restaurants on the ship are nice, the better being Gagneys Steak House (and this was only due to the exceptional service by one individual). However I am of the opinion that none of these restaurants are of the quality (in comparison to the main dinning) to rate an additional cover charge (sometimes $25.00 depending on the choice of meal). I would recommend planning your meals, requesting a reservation time in the main dinning room and selecting a wait staff you are happy with for the entire cruise. I found that this ship accommodates every age group, on our cruise there were many families with very young children (below 5 years old with strollers), while the ship has many events for these children (you dont notice them in the open places on board) you will find that in the restaurants and main dinning room many crying children, we took late reservations (8 pm and later) assuming that these children would be in bed, however we were surprises by the number of children in restaurants at 10 pm. The ports of call were again nice, having spent much time in Florida prior, we went to Coco beach at the Port Canaveral stop, and in Miami we walked around South Beach (nice if you are into shopping and restaurants on a cruise), on Stirrup Cay went to the beach and the port of Nassau was only four hours so we went to Atlantis for a walking tour ($49.00 to high for this tour), you can get a cab ($4.00 each way) and walk in the public areas for free at Atlantis (there is a fee for the Aquarium). I was not taken by surprise by any of the above, and it should not be taken as a negative for this ship, as I had researched reviews prior to departure and was aware of the above (except the cover charge not being worth it), and would say I had a pleasant experience, I will reconsider this Freestyle cruising in the future.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Found the service in the main dinning room to be slow, especialy during breafast, those with juice and breads were frequently not around.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

We wnt to every evening 9:30 pm performance, the only one we stayed the entire show was for a Brian G, a very talented and engaging performer.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

I found that the policy of gratuity being part of the daily billing presnted a different type of staff. The staff reanged from those who were extremely atttentive to those of sit back and others will take care of it. Not sure this policy works on a cruise where it is expected that all staff is attentive.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Ship is decorated nice.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Room attendant kept the room well serviced, the room was what we needed to sleep in.