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A Great Cruise, Fair Waitstaff Service

Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 0
Helpful Votes: 35

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Spirit

7 Night Exotic Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 12, 2009

Ship: Norwegian Spirit

Cabin type: Inside

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 15 years ago

Review summary

The ship was nice but is their oldest of the fleet and is showing some signs of wear and tear. The ship staff were great with the exception of the waitstaff. The freestyle environment is great in terms of flexibility however it creates an environment that allows lackluster peformance. The waitstaff are not working for your tip but rather receive a prorata share of the gratuities that are automatically posted to your room account. This allows for lackluster service. That being said, we did have some excellent servers in the main dinning room on three of the nights and as it turns out they had worked in an "assigned seating" configuration prior in their careers.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Magic shows were great!

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
The ship staff were great with the exception of the waitstaff. The freestyle environment is great in terms of flexibility however it creates an environment that allows lackluster peformance. The waitstaff are not working for your tip but rather receive a prorata share of the gratuities that are automatically posted to your room account. This allows for lackluster service. That being said, we did have some excellent servers in the main dinning room on three of the nights and as it turns out they had worked in an "assigned seating" configuration prior in their careers.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ports of call

Belize City, Belize

3 out of 5
We tendered to this port which has a fairly nice shopping section right at the pier. We did a Landrover Safari excursion which left from the pier via speedboat then 7 miles down river (past the Survivor Belize camp) to a farm where we drove Landrovers to a cave. Explored the cave, had lunch and swam in the river. It was a fun excusrion.
Thumbs Up

Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala

3 out of 5
Industrial port with no down-town tourist section. There is a handycrafts building at the end of the pier where locals sell their crafts and tour guides sell their tours. There is a band playing there which was nice to sit and watch. You should book an excursion here since there is not much else to do. We went to Los Escabos waterfalls where you hike through rain forest and swim in natural pools at the base of waterfalls. This excursion was just OK.
Thumbs Up

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5
Lots of shopping at pier. We tried a Catamaran - snorkling - beach break excursion which was quite nice.
Thumbs Up

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

3 out of 5
We went to the Mayan ruins at Chacchoben and it was great. It is a short 50 min. bus ride each way compared to other tours that were 2 hrs each way. It was perfect for our family with 2 children.
Thumbs Up

Pros: Pirate pool with 2 slides for my kids

Cons: Majority of waitstaff is fair at best

Recommends Norwegian Spirit? No.

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