A wonderful visit to many historic sites

Item: Norwegian Spirit
Rating: 3
Author: RitaJ4

Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Caribbean

RitaJ4

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 0

Helpful Votes: 3

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

12 Night Grand Mediterranean (Venice To Barcelona)

Sail date: October 01, 2012

Ship: Norwegian Spirit

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 12 years ago

Review summary

The Norwegian Spirit is typical of this size/class of ship. It is desinged to be accessible to ports that the mega ships can't access. The iteraction between the cruise director, ship captain and crew was more than we anticipated from past cruises. The Captain was very visible and accessible. The entertainment was better than we have experienced on other Norwegain cruise ships. The itinerary was great, but exhausting with only 3 sea days out of 12nights/13 days and two of them were at the very beginning of the cruise. With the itinerary the excursion days were long ( an average of 7-8 hrs.) so the entire crusie was tiring with little rest time. Cruise lines should really look at an all inclusive option for alchohol....at least beer and wine. The all inclusive resorts and river cruises remain their main competition. It is a hassel to pay for dirinks with your card and to deal with agressive waiters looking for tips. We like the way Norwegian Cruise line does the free style dining better than other cruise lines that offer some form of it.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The food was good but somewhat tedious. Breakfast was the same everyday with no exception. We enjoyed the grilled lunch buffet on deck on sea days very much. Dinner was good in the main restaurants but not exceptional. The Italian restaurant menu was ok...not great.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

We enjoyed the entertainment and thought the quality was much better than a previous Norwegian cruise. My husband truly enjoyed the 2 1/2 hr. behind the scenes tour of running a cruise ship. We were disappointed that the ship did not offer any daily newspapers....even a printed headliine version that other ships offer.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

All of the staff we intereacted with were great and one of the highlights of this cruise.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

This is an older ship\, recently refurbished. It was in good condition\, but the rooms are a little dated. They have added the newer restaurant opitions by rearranging the exiisting spaces. This meant that dinner in the \"Garden \" restaurant was usually slower and colder because of the distance from the kitchens. This ship wasn't built by Norwegian but acquired from another owner. It had a very unique bridge viewing area where you coiuld watch the officers at work that my husband enjoyed very much.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

We had a balcony room and the bath arrangement with a separate shower\, vantiy and toilet areas was nice. Storage was at a minimum.

Pros: The itinerary and the staff

Cons: The cost of excursions\, onboard cocktail pricing\, upcharges for dinner

Recommends Norwegian Spirit? Yes!

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