Norwegian Spirit Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Relaxed atmosphere, easy to get around, good fruit, heck of a deal. With so many passengers on the beverage package, there was a lot of demand at the bars, and it seemed that the bartenders might have been understaffed (though they sure tried!).

My husband and I had a wonderful time on the Spirit. We did get the beverage package and specialty restaurant package, which were both worth it! The specialty dining was wonderful and it sure was nice not to worry about paying for drinks. The ports of call were gorgeous and we had a good time exploring them on our own. We did have some bad weather one at sea day, but the cruise staff provided plenty of indoor activities for us to enjoy. The ship is small, which is great for getting places quickly but means you feel the ship movement a lot more.

When we originally booked we questioned did we do the right thing.  The reviews

were very mixed.   But we were quite pleased and since we have cruised numerously with a different cruise line we kind knew  what to expect. We definitely liked the free style because no time frame for dinner. 

Food was terrible, ship too small can feel all the waves in the ocean.  Wait staff in both dining rooms had terrible attitudes.  Only thing worth mentioning that was decent was the specialty restaurants.  Other than that this trip was not so good. 

Thank you Norwegian Cruise Lines.  My wife and I had a wonderful experience.  The ports that we were able to visit all had nice people.  Everyone was very helpful.  The food was delicious and there was a wide variety to enjoy.  The crew on board the Spirit went out of their way to make sure we had a pleasant cruise.  We enjoyed the Spirit so much because of its size.  We cruised before on the Leeward and it also was a smaller ship.  We understand that the Spirit is aging and some day will be retired.  We hope that NCL will bring on another smaller or small mid-sized ship to replace it.  These ships are becoming to large. 

Norwegian Cruise Lines continues to spoil people with their beautiful amenities.  Great job NCL.  

Thank you!!

Our experience on the Norwegian Spirit was delightful. We enjoyed the shows, speciality restaurants, and easy to get around on ship. One of the bartenders stands out in our mind that made our trip more enjoyable. His name was Joel and usually worked at the Martini Bar on the 8th floor. His smile was infectious, and was extremely professional. I really think he is more qualified than his current position.

Regards,

Debbie and Cliff Jones

itinerary was nicely balanced with port time and sea time.  Crew was always polite and helpful.  Shows were terrific!  Communication was excellent.  Food was delightful.  Ship was clean and well-maintained - for one of the older, smaller ships, it was very nice.

We had a very enjoyable trip on our 1st Norwegian cruise on the spirit.  The food was excellent as well as the theater shows in the stardust theater and in the galaxy. the dining room staff were great and very accommodating and the head of the restaurant came to out table every night to check on us. The buffet was always refilled and the staff was great. The room was a little small but adequate. The window was at the head of the bed so it didn't hit us in the eye when you woke up. We have been on 25 cruises and definitely enjoyed this one. We didn't get off the ship cause we been there several times.  We enjoyed the quiet ship. Thank you Linda for your services and let us know of any great specials  coming up.  You were a big help in making this a great cruise. Thanks,   Phil and Fran Minneci

I so enjoyed this cruise.  The ship is immaculate and the food choices endless.  Missed not having a movie theater with movies playing every day....or a chapel.  

Very professionally done.   

I was grateful to be alone in my cabin without sharing a common area....this was a medicinal cruise and the peace that goes along with a cruise was just what I needed.  The employees were very respectful and always smiling.  Just loved the entire time.  Wouldn't hesitate to do it again.  Liked the smaller ship very much.

Overall service aboard the Spirit was good with a few exceptions; Individual service by room porter was excellent. Dinning service by waiter service was average, with the exception of a the Head waiter and Jonathan were excellent. Specialty restaurants was excellent. Drink service outside was poor, while inside service was average, until we encountered waiters on a regular basis and then it was good.

Communication on board between the staff and guests was poor. The Ship Captain rarely made announcements about weather or most important bad weather conditions that we were about to encounter. Guests WANT to know of adverse conditions before they happen. The unknown and then surprised adverse conditions are more upsetting than not knowing. Rooms are smaller than other ships. The ship is in very good condition for an older ship.

Dinning took a long time- TWO hours minimum every night we ate in the main dinning area ( Windows Restaurant ).

Issues we encountered regarding our room were rectified immediately.

If the communications and bar service were better I would give a 5 star rating.

We loved going out of   this port. parking was close by. It was calm and organized. Close to our home. Much better than other busy ports. Safer feeling too,. Cruise was nice. Great entertainment, food in restaurants good. le bistro excellent. Best steak I had in a long time. service was superb and friendly in le bistro.. Smaller ship. Not a ton of things to do. had some issue with smell in cabin. specially on port mornings. older mustier smell from drain by toilet. Service was good in room. Loved key west. Jamaica same old thing. pushy and not very safe feeling. Grand cayman beautiful. tendering is not my favorite thing since I walk with cane,. Nice cruise . Beds  I thought were not the most comfortable. Love Norwegians latitude program with free dinners and wine in spercialty restaurants. Love love love free movies in cabin.

I had read so many reviews of this ship before we left, that I was a bit nervous. We were limited by budget and Embarkation location.  We liked the stops that this ship made, so I was willing to overlook that the ship was old and small. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the exterior of the ship needs a good painting.  There are also definitely some signs of  wear on the interior of the ship, too, but after reading a 100+ reviews (the majority which were not great), we booked it and hoped for the best.  The inside of the ship was super clean.  Our room steward was like a ninja and we never saw him after the first day or so, but our room was perfectly cleaned whenever we returned to it.  The rooms have bathrooms with glass doors on the shower and they were larger than I remember other showers being on past cruises/ships.  That was a big plus. The carpets, walls and everything else that I noticed were always very clean. The staff were friendly, helpful and kind.  I had an issue with some shirts that I had washed by their laundry staff and they cleared everything up to my satisfaction.  We have gone on Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruises in the past, and I think overall, the food was better on this ship.  We only ate in the dining room twice, but the buffet food was definitely better than I have had anywhere else.  We received the unlimited beverage package and the Excursion package, which gave you $50 per room/port if you booked a Norwegian excursion. The drinks were stronger than expected with the beverage package.  I had to even ask several times for some of the drinks to just have a dash of vodka, etc., in them.

The only excursion we booked was in Tortola, where we did the land and sea package.  I felt very safe the entire time and we learned so much about the island, as well as pirate history and the surrounding islands.  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Overall, this cruise was a very pleasant surprise.  The food and the customer service were incredible.  Even the shows, which are normally super cheesy (and particularly bad on older ships), were pretty great. The Elements show was a must see if you are on a Norwegian ship that offers it.  I would have paid to have seen that, which I never had said about one on a cruise before.

This ship is permanently headed to Europe soon, but i wouldn't hesitate booking a trip on it again before it does.

We knew what to expect from NCL and they delivered.  This is the first time that we ever had the Ultimate Drink Package or some Specialty Dining and we enjoyed those features more than we expected to. The ship was nice, the staff was friendly, and the shows were pretty good.  With open seating dining we find that we don't meet as many people and form as many friendships as on cruises with prescribed dining.  We think that it is nice and comfortable not to have to get overly dressed up, to stay casual but we did partially miss the opportunity to flaunt a bit. This was an enjoyable cruise.

Y'all need to update the blow dryers in the state rooms.  I think the tips should have been explained better at time of booking.  The trip was fun and I would travel again with NCL

Upon arrival on the Spirit, and first look into our room which was to sleep four, we only saw three beds. Our room attendant got a little annoyed with us for asking him to explain how that was going to work. These inside rooms are pretty small for four adults....two almost eighteen year olds. For us to not be able to move about the cabin because one of the beds was between the two twins on the floor made the cabin even smaller! By the looks of the pictures I saw, it looked like we would have a bed (two twins put together) with two upper births. Ha! What a joke! The bed that was pulled out also had a huge divot in it. Might be okay for a tiny kid, but not an almost 18 year old. When we approached our room attendant about that, once again seemed like he really didn't want to deal with it. His solution was to put extra bedding under the divot....which just made it super lumpy. A trip to the customer service scored us a new mattress. Yay, customer service! Our room attendant also gave us the run a round about the beach towels. They brought us the original ones to our room, which after use we left on the floor assuming the attendant would take care of them. He left them there and when questioned said we had to return them to the towel exchange. However, the towel exchange told us he was supposed to take care of them. We also never got the chocolates we saw other people receiving...he must not have liked us!! Also, we were used to the luggage being removed from the room and returned the night before we get back...that didn't happen...we had to shove everything under the one bed we could get to.Food was pretty good....ran out of chicken wings in Blue Lagoon on the last night....REALLY?? Had a little language barrier about the difference between RANCH and BLUE CHEESE.....Had a two hour dinner at Windows (Main Dining Room) one night...the eighteen year olds sat at their own table. We were done in 45 minutes....they were sitting there for two hours.  Too many negatives vs. positives for us to sail with Norwegian again. We've had some better experiences with other lines.

The ship is old.  Our cabin shower needed to be completely re-tiled, we had constant problems with the toilet. After so many problems, we were sent 5 chocolate covered strawberries.

The ship needs to place more lounge chairs on deck 7. Some of us can't take the sun and the noise, but would like to on the outside to read and enjoy the sound of the waves.  

The food was excellent. The service was excellent.

The only thing that was bad is that I didn't receive my $25 gift certificate to spend on the ship like I was suppose to.  I asked about it 4 times and customer service desk people would just say they sent a email and come back tomorrow.  Very disappointing.

Disgusting rooms.  rust and cracked tiles in shower.  service was severely lacking.  food was cold.   etc.  etc.  private island was very disappointing. 

Pros: CLEAN, well taken care of ship! Most crew members were awesome. Especially Allen, who was based in the top outside bar! Every disembarkation, tender, etc, was smooth as butter. You never felt crowded or waited too long in lines, etc. Very well organized in every aspect, especially as you learn the system. Each port of call was wonderful. We especially liked Jamaica. Some of the shows were entertaining, but others, like the magic show was cheesy! 

Cons: Food in the Windows restaurant, (which you had to be somewhat dressed up) was just mediocre. If you like to stay up and party all night, this ship is not for you. Outside bars close way too early and the little entertainment things were lacking. Our beds were hard as rocks. Hint: get a ton of pillows to sleep on. This is not a kids ship either. We had a 13 year old that was bored out of his mind. The layout of the ship kinda stinks, until you can figure out how to get from one place to the other. If you are late to the poolside, you will not find a few chairs together for your family. If you bring something on the ship, like a bottle of rum, you may not get it back. Ours was never sent to our room and got home, realized it was missing. 

A majority of the guests were white, mid-40's, and spoke English, which was right up our alley. I would say we made the right move by taking this ship. The larger ships may have more to do, but the crowds would go with it. We walked right to our tinder in Grand Cayman to re board our ship, and watched a line of over 500 people waiting to get on the Celebrity X cruise tinder. If you like smaller, quieter, more relaxed cruising, this one is for you!! 

My family and I went on a cruise together last week and the staff made the trip absolutely amazing! I have never met people like this, honestly. The ship was very clean and my kids had so much to do. The food was pretty good and we had plenty of choices. My husband ordered the lobster at one of the main dining rooms and he said it was the best lobster he has ever had. Overall we had a great time!