Happy ship; great itinerary

Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 80

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Spirit

12 Night Grand Mediterranean (Venice To Barcelona)

Sail date: August 27, 2013

Ship: Norwegian Spirit

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 11 years ago

Review summary

Older than the rest of Norwegian's fleet, and, although lacking all the latest bells and whistles such as outdoor on-deck movies,Spirit is well cared for, and has its charms The best may very well be that it is a "happy ship" in that the crew always seemed to care about how you were enjoying the trip. Lots of smiles and no cranky staff on this ship! Dining room food is average at best; the buffet was crowded. That said, we found the specialty restaurants to be worth the premium, especially the French Bistro, which we thought was first rate, and to which we returned several times. Entertainment was average, which was not a big deal for us. Besides the wonderful crew , the other reason that this was a very enjoyable cruise was the itinerary, which provided a mix that included three capital cities (Athens, Istanbul, and Rome), a day at the beach (Mykonos), the ruins of two notable ancient sites (Pompeii and Ephesis) and site-seeing in Tuscany. It doesn't get much better than this! The only disappointment was Toulon: the tour to Aix-en-Provence was distinctly underwhelming. I would rather they had substituted a day in Palermo for Toulon.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
French Bistro was great, otherwise food was average

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Compact but clean and workable once you learn that your bags will fit nicely under the bad

Ship tip

Check the times for the evening entertainment, as it varies almost daily.

Ports of call

Venice, Italy

5 out of 5
Venice; what else can you say. Well worth adding a day or two to the cruise.

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5
The Acropolis! See it!

Izmir, Turkey

5 out of 5
Port for Ephesis, otherwise not much to say.

Istanbul, Turkey

5 out of 5
Istanbul, what else can you say! Take the "off the beaten track tour" and avoid the crowds

Mykonos, Greece

3 out of 5
A day at the beach or perhaps shopping

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
You really must visit Pompeii if you haven't already

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5
Port City for Rome, otherwise not nuch to say.

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5
Port for Florence and Pisa, otherwise not much to say

Toulon, France

3 out of 5
Aix-en-Provence was a disappointment

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
Great city. Worth extending a day or two
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