Fabulous Mediterranean Cruise
Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Third Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 129
11 Night Mediterranean (Rome To Barcelona)
Sail date: November 12, 2017
Ship: Norwegian Spirit
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 9576
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Highly recommend this cruise! We bought the beverage plan and may rethink that going forward, especially if taking as many excursions as we did. The average drink is $10., you do the math. Do not splurge for the wi-fi, it is nice to disconnect. Not to mention we heard from those who did and they had terrible coverage.Embarkation
I can only believe NCL was this unorganized as a result of being in the process of building a permanent structure for embarkation. The tent structure was very unorganized and made for a bad 1st impression. The process could have easily been explained on the transfer bus of what to expect, rather than be shuttled through like cattle.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Being able to pick and choose when and where we wanted to eat was fantastic. We enjoyed this flexibility. It would have been nice had they put up menus in advance for the entire week for the main dinning so that we could have planned our specialty dinning around it. Great selection of food on the buffet line. One suggestion would be to work on their selection of pastries and offer more seafood i.e. shrimp and other shelled seafood on the buffet lines.
Onboard Activities
Many were offered, but we were on an excursion every port and rested on the sea days so we didn't participate with much. It was great they offer four hot tubs that will seat eight each comfortably. The fitness center was spacious, but was busy most of the time. The night shows were enjoyable. The game room was a nice feature, but most of them were missing pieces.
Entertainment
Get there early for a good seat. The 1st night the magician spent 45 minutes doing some amazing card tricks and 10 minutes on an escaping act. We didn't go back to his next show, but heard it was much better. Not a fan of the violin and an hour of it was very long. She had a good variety of music. The aerialists were amazing, or rather the female aerialist was. We didn't see the juggler.
Children's Programs
We didn't bring our children.
Service and Staff
Fantastic experience in all areas. We only came across one grumpy bartender, one impatient bartender who didn't take the time to explain our wine choices and one new waiter who appeared to have remorse with accepting his job which took him away from home and appeared to be lazy.
Ship Quality
NCL did a great job with cleanliness and bravo for keeping germs at bay. They made sure a hand sanitizer was applied before you entered any eating establishment other than the bars.
Cabin / Stateroom
This was a typical cabin. Glad we splurged on getting a balcony and will do so on every cruise in the future. It was nice having a coffee maker, but the coffee was awful. I would take the carafe and fill it with decent free coffee outside of Raffles as a result. Having a fridge was a plus too. We asked our steward to remove the items and were able to place our own items in it. It was nice they put a privacy door in the toilet area. The tile in the bathroom was outdated, but clean. Wish there was more shelving area in both the room and bathroom.
Ship tip
Indulge.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We spent three days in Rome (highly recommend) which is easily reached via train to the port. From there you'll see many people looking lost. 99% of them are looking for the port. Share the cost of renting a taxi and make new friends for about 5 Euros to take you there or you can walk about 15 minutes on uneven ground with your luggage.
Pronounced "Nap-oh-lee", Naples is in Florida....lol One of our favorite ports. We highly recommend the tour of Sorento and Pompeii, it was amazing!
We took the wine tour that also showed you an old lava flow where a local honey company greeted us with samples. Great honey and were were able to buy some too. I don't recommend this tour as you spend much time on the bus. Lovely vineyard location, but they didn't speak any English.
Who knew the movie Popeye was filmed here. That was really cool to see the film set. We took the 4x4 experience, which turned out to be jeeps. That was a disappointment. It was difficult to see much unless you got out of the jeep. The places we stopped were amazing thou!
Did an excursion, but don't remember which one. I recommend purchasing excursions in advance, but double checking at the excursion desk for details before you commit. There they will have more specifics about drive times and will set proper expectations. You are not committed to the excursion you purchase in advance and don't need to pay until after you take the excursion.
Did an excursion, but don't remember which one. I recommend purchasing excursions in advance, but double checking at the excursion desk for details before you commit. There they will have more specifics about drive times and will set proper expectations. You are not committed to the excursion you purchase in advance and don't need to pay until after you take the excursion.
Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands
I believe this is the Rock of Gibraltar opportunity that we passed on and regretted it. We heard it was a 2ish hour drive one way and didn't want to have to sit that long. We opted for a wine tour that was good, but others shared their experience and wished we had gone as a result.
We spent an extra four days at this port and highly recommend it. There is a Hop on Hop off bus that will pick you up and can bring you closer to your hotel. You'll need to take a bus to get to the taxi's to where you can then pick up the bus. We didn't take the underground.
Disembarkation
We were able to choose the time we wanted to disembark. This allowed us the opportunity to take our time and enjoy breakfast. Tip, have your luggage tagged for about 30 minutes sooner than you want to leave. This will better ensure it is waiting for you when you disembark.