Norwegian Spirit Mediterranean 10 day cruise
Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Europe - Western Europe
10 Night Canary Islands & Morocco (Barcelona Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 06, 2014
Ship: Norwegian Spirit
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 4508
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 10 years ago
Review summary
There were pros and cons to this cruise.
Pros:
Excellent food in the cafeteria's dining room.
Freestyle cruising, which allowed for more choices on board.
Excellent friendliness and service from all of the Filipino staff, and most of the other staff; the Brits were somewhat rude, however.
There were great excursions offered on this cruise.
Embarkation and debarkation were very simple and easy.
Jefferson was a particularly talented and very nice musical artist on board, and made for some of the best entertainment option available.
The cruise ship allowed guests to bring in a bottle of wine free of charge, which was an exceptional perk.
Cons:
The stateroom was exceptionally cramped and not adequate for 4 persons. This, in spite of booking and paying for a larger "family" room. Which I do not believe we received. The upper bunkbed was dangerous as it tilted towards the floor, and the exit door and way to washroom were blocked by placing the cot for the 4th person across the entire tiny cabin, making a hazard for anyone getting up in the night. I have never been in such a tiny room before.
There was extremely limited selection on the TV channel for English speaking guests, and only 1-2 movies were offered in the theater the entire 10 day cruise.
The food was not of very good quality in the more formal dining rooms. I am not talking about the specialty restaurants, I am talking about the formal dining options offered to all guests. Here, the food was a real disappointment, although the atmosphere and ambiance in the formal dining rooms was excellent! So that means you could choose to eat good food in a noisy, crowded cafeteria, or choose to dine in a wonderful atmosphere with poor quality food in the Windows or Garden dining rooms. The cafeteria provided excellent and tasty meals, but it was often so crowded it was hard to find a seat.
It was tough to get a plumber to respond to our room.
Room service from the cafeteria was generally very prompt and excellent (all except once).
The pros overall outweighed the cons. I would definitely recommend this cruise to others, but would suggest bringing on board your own movies and entertainment, as your choices in this arena will be very limited. I would also advise to definitely NOT book a room for 4 persons on this ship. You will spend a miserable vacation in your cabin. Book 2 rooms instead if you have 4 people traveling. All of the service staff are exceptionally nice, making for a very enjoyable interaction with your servers, but some of the staff with higher pay grades are much less friendly. Its generally easy enough to avoid these people. I would go on the same cruiselines again because I enjoyed it so much, and now that I know what to expect and plan for, I could make the next cruise even better.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Check out Jefferson's musical performances, the lounge with karaoke and great viewing from deck 12, and the spa offerings. The art auction is also interesting, but the artwork offered is probably a bit "weird" for most tastes. Internet is EXPENSIVE, so keep that in mind if you have work to do.
Ports of call
Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Canary Islands
Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands