Over all a great cruise itinerary though I don't need to do a 10-day again (as I was ready to get back on land after all that time haha). The booking experience with and staff onboard the ship were great and we had some really amazing port days. I just highly recommend private tours as opposed to group tours booked through or NCL since you can see so much more and get that better personalized touch in each port on your own.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Norwegian staff were nice upon check in but the Civitavecchia cruise port really is the most inconvenient I've experienced in my short time cruising. It's located so far from Rome, then you have to board a bus at the cruise terminal entry even to get to the ship and staff inside the cruise terminal not so friendly.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Entertainment shows on the NCL Spirit could use an update. Talented performers in cheesy cruise ship shows. Definitely not what I expected coming from new NCL ships I've sailed on like the Epic, Breakaway and Getaway.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
One thing the Spirit does have is an amazing crew. Everyone so friendly even more so than other NCL ships I've sailed on. Our room steward I Wayan was just the sweetest and the cruise staff and Cruise Director Dave were so much fun.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Our closet door was broken, bathroom could use an update and more storage space would be a plus, but other than that I Wayan kept it nice and tidy for us and we were fine in there for the time we actually stayed in the cabin onboard.
Maybe my favorite port of call this cruise, but definitely my favorite Greece port. So convenient to just stroll around in all day right from the ship and the buses to the beaches were so easy.
We saw the highlights of Athens but the city is just hot and not very nice over all (graffiti everywhere and not the cleanest). No desire to ever return.
The Old City right at port was so much fun and private tour we did to Lindos was great. (Just of course Lindos was super crowded and frustrating with soooo many people visiting the city that day.)
Beautiful again but with three cruise ships there at one time - Fira was a zoo and not enjoyable, especially when we had to spend all our time there (at the end of our Skymiles cruises excursion) in line for the cable car to get back down to port. Our stop in Oia was better but again super crowded that day so less enjoyable than it could have been.
We were only here for the morning and just explored a little on our own. A surprisingly cute little city and we had a nice breakfast here and caught up on some emails and explored the market a bit.
We had nothing planned in Malta either and it turned out to be great to just wander to the Upper Gardens and a local restaurant we found that was outstanding.
Naples itself had some good food, but not so fun to just wander in come end of cruise. I'm glad we took a hydrofoil on our own over to Capri early that morning before the crowds there got too crazy and then ended the day in Naples city.
It really sucked. Not the ship's fault but it was pouring rain when we had to get off and the ship was at least half a mile walk to cruise terminal check out are where we then had to get on a bus to get to front of cruise terminal to then catch our transportation to the airport/Rome City Center. I was soaked and exhausted by the time I got on my delayed flight out of FCO.
Yes, definitely agreed GIL155! And ninaslcpa, I would always opt on the side of a private tour vs. ship because always just seems more enjoyable (and like GIL155 said tend to be cheaper). You could buy a great Caprese sandwich on Capri for only around 7 or 8 Euros in leu of the provided lunch with the ship tour for example. The hydrofoil fast-ferry station is just near the entrance of the cruise port parking lot (to the left) so pretty easy to get to (if you decide to do that instead) and it's around 20 Euro each way. Only takes around 50-min each way and we took an early one around 8:30am and beat the huge tour crowds to Capri, and then left Capri around 12:30pm to go back to Naples and beat the crowds going back too. You could always do that as a cheaper option if you want to explore on Capri your own and then you can buy tickets over on Capri for all the Blue Grotto boats they have there in port. (We didn't do that though so I'm not sure the cost for a Blue Grotto tour boat over there.) I hope that helps! Best of luck!
Thank you for your review. We are on Spirit 10/12 with the same itinerary. I have everything figured out except for Naples. We want to return to Capri and I haven't decided if we should do a private tour which includes Blue Grotto but no lunch for 210e each or the ships tour which doesn't visit Blue Grotto but includes lunch for 229e pp. or just go on our own. Would appreciate any advice about this. I have read the hydrofoil is near where the ship docks.
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