Norwegian Spirit Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Our 1st cruise was one to love and adore.  We had such a great time, everyone was very attentive not only to our needs, but everyone on the boat.  Loved the fact that it was family friendly, as well as adult oriented.  its such a fine line and NCL accomplished the task to perfection.

In my book it was a 4.7 stars, unfortunately the weather did not cooperate the whole time, but it was fun none the less.... We will def. do it again.

We just got back from our first NCL cruise. This is my 6th cruise so I have experience to compare to. I was pretty disappointed with our NCL experience. I have always found cruise ship crew to be super accommodating and are always falling over themselves to make your stay more comfortable. While there were some crew that did this, it was exception, not the rule. The embarkation process was fine for us but our friends had a difficult time. When they asked about the credit card deposit the check in personnel simply told them I don't know and left it at that. This was by far the roughest travel we have ever had. We chalked it to the rough weather the first two days but it was still bad even after that. I was honestly afraid that when the wait staff poured my coffee it was going to end up on my lap because we were rocking so hard. We came to find out that the stabilizer what not functioning. We only know that because an engineering crew member told a few people in our party. At no time was it widely announced. It was obvious that people were not feeling well. They drained the pool at one point because it was so bad. We had a shore excursion cancelled due to the weather (it was a snorkeling excursion). I totally understand this being done for safety. However I do not understand getting a note on our door an hour before we were supposed to meet and almost 2 and half hours after we had docked. The note was also dated the day before to play it off like it had been there all night. Myself and the 2 other rooms in my party said the same thing that the note was not there when they left earlier in the morning. The note said to go to the theatre to find the shore excursion staff and gave a list of other excursions we could book. We got to the theatre to find chaos and a very overwhelmed staff. There were no other shore excursions available because the rest had already left. Because they took so long to notify of the cancellation we were unable to book another excursion. We were also disappointed with drink service. Bar lines were super long and we had to ask sometimes 2 times in the dining rooms for the drink steward to come around. It was very rare to see servers walking around the outdoor areas and when you did get an order, it was usually a 15 to 20 minute wait for drinks. The dining room staff was nice but food took a long time to arrive. In Shogun the appetizers and noodles were excellent but the entrees were bland and chewy. It took about 30 minutes for us to get drinks there. The food was pretty good in the Blue Lagoon which was open 24 hours a day but the servers were not friendly. They seemed annoyed by everything we asked for. They made minimal conversation and just seemed pissed to be there. Some of the bar staff was unfriendly too. I asked the bartender at the raffles court what was the best place to eat on board and he told me "I don't eat." Entertainment was okay. If you didn't go to the big shows each night there was little else to do. The game shows were great and trivia but that's not really enough for a week's worth of activities. Great Stirrup Cay was nice but they ran out of tequila at the one bar within the first hour and the iced drink machine broke too, so no margaritas there for the rest of the day. There was not a whole lot of variation in the food available each night in the dining room. I was really annoyed to seem the amount up charges that were everywhere. If you wanted lobster tail you were going to have to pay another $30 at the main complimentary dining room. If I am eating at the complimentary dining I don't want to see up charges. And why was the lobster full retail price? Haven't I already paid the base price for the meal, so shouldn't it be discounted based on that? The ship was really small and only had one adult pool which was a bummer. There was only 4 hot tubs which were always full of teens. There were some parts of the ship that smelled terrible. I have no idea why that was but I know I heard a lot of people commenting about that. The free drink package was biggest redeeming quality of this trip.

Smaller ship, although it was in good condition.

Always was able to find a lounge chair, lots of room on top deck.

Freestyle dining - not a big fan of it. I prefer to get to know the wait staff and I think it is a more personal experience.Food was good, not great, some entrees were very good and some kink of blah. - service was spotty, and I felt rushed in the dining rooms.

Ports were fine - the usual.

On board entertainment was very good.

The private island was great, lots of room to swim or just relax.

We Highly recommend this cruise and cruise line. We love Norwegian!

The entertainment was like watching a Broadway performance. Wonderful talent and skill. The staff was extremely friendly and attentive. We have Celiac,gluten intolerance and was assigned our private steward who took great care to provide us the most exquisite meals safely. We felt like royalty. ;)

We have been on this cruise and this ship before in March of 2012. We knew what to expect. 

The boat was fine. Our main complaint about the boat itself was that our room never had beach towels replenished. The steward would just take them and never replace them. He did not give us clean glasses until half way through the cruise. The boat itself is smaller and clean. We do like the smaller boat. Food was fine. Buffet was a little iffy some nights but the Windows and Garden dining rooms were wonderful. 

The other change for the worse is the pay restaurants. May 2015 you paid a cover charge of $10-$20. Now in March 2016, You pay ala carte. It averages $45 per person!!! This is not acceptable. 

also room service now costs $7.95 each time. It used to be free. 

Our main reason for giving this cruise a 3 is Grand Cayman. The weather was a bit rough so our excursion was cancelled. I completely understand that. It happens. But instead of refunding the credit card used to book the excursions, they put the credit on our room. There were 9 of us at $89 each. We had a credit when we left the boat and were told it would be 60 days until we received it!! WHAT?

Ok fine... then they tendered us farther away from Georgetown, Grand Caymans then they were supposed to. They said seas were rough, but there was another ship where we were supposed to be anyway. So I am no buying that. When we were let off the tender boats, it was over 10 miles from town. We had to get a taxi at $90!!! That is ridiculous. It shouldn't have cost us to get us where we were supposed to be anyways. They didn't care nor did they even inform us. The taxi's were all waiting for us. So obviously it was prearranged. 

I began sailing NCL in 2011. I am a platinum Latitudes member and I may not return to NCL. I am looking into other cruise lines at the moment. 

The Spirit is an older, smaller ship with a lively, engaged crew and a decent itinerary. Even with weather issues, we had a great time. The entertainment crew are lively and genuinely interested in helping you have a good time.

The Spirit is a beautiful ship.  The crew was excellent, pleasant, friendly  and always upbeat, from the washy-washy girls to the cabin stewards.  Guest service Luciana went over above and beyond his duties to accommodate our wishes.  Food was excellent.  Cabaret entertainment was excellent.  The Music Maker Duo - Michele and Ray as well as Barry the Piano Man were wonderful. 

Food was excellent - great choices.

Most enjoyable trip.

Thank you.

the cruise was alright ! But I had a Jaw Bone fit bit taken out of my room we don't know where it went, the security team came and went thru my room could not find anything. I feel that you should replace it. If u do my felling of your company would be great! 

We enjoyed our cruise except for the noise in our cabin. Our first cabin was just below the pool, which was especially loud.  Then they moved us to another cabin, which was just below the Kids Zone, which was, also, very loud. Other than that, the cruise was great. In the future, we will pay more attention to where our cabin is when we book it.

This was inexpensive (at first) but constantly having to pay for things that most cruises include really added up. We had to buy a soda package or else pay $3 each! What? Drinks were expensive, $15 each, but the drinks package was an additional $1200. You could have a muffin and coffee for breakfast in your room, but if you wanted a proper breakfast in your room you had to pay for it. The food was hit and miss (steaks were like leather). All aboard for Nassau was 2:00 which meant after my excursion, I couldn't shop. It was a nice cruise, but I prefer an all inclusive cruise fee, like Silver Seas has. 

PLUMBING PROBLEMS, TOILET NOT FLUSHING, CLOSET DOORS OPENING

AND CLOSING BY THEMSELVES, SINK FIXTURES MISSING PARTS, MATTRESSES LUMPY. DINNER RESERVATIONS WERE CONFUSING AS THE

INFO BOARDS AROUND THE SHIP AND ON IN ROOM TV SHOW PLENTY OF ROOM OR FILLING UP FAST BUT WHEN YOU GET THERE WHEN THE BOARDS SAY PLENTY OF ROOM YOU CAN WAIT 10-30 MINUTES EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE PLENTY OF EMPTY TABLES. IF YOU TRY TO MAKE A RESERVATION YOU

MAY NOT GET THE TIME/TABLE YOU WANT AS THEY ONLY TAKE 25% RESERVATION AND 75% WALK IN.. SHOWS WERE A POOR COPY OF MSC

DIVINA CRUISE LINE SHOW WHICH HAS BEEN RUNNING FOR 2 YEARS. BUT

IN DEFENSE OF NORWEGIAN THE SAME TYPE OF SHOWS HAVE BEEN COPIED BY CELEBRITY AND CARNIVAL AND HOLLAND AND STILL DON'T

COME CLOSE TO MSC.  FOOD WAS OK IN BOTH WINDOWS AND GARDEN

RESTAURANTS AS WELL AS RAFFLES(BUFFET), BLUR LAGOON WAS VERY GOOD AND FAST. MOST OF THE CREW WERE PLEASANT AND

FRIENDLY. THE ONE MAIN POOL GOT REAL CROWDED ON SEA DAYS.

THIS WAS OUR FIRST CRUISE ON NORWEGIAN AND WE WILL PROBABLY

TRY ONE MORE TIME ON A LARGER NCL SHIP.  OUR BALCONY STATEROOM WAS CRAMPED FOR SPACE AND THE BATHROOM IS VERY

SMALL. THIS WAS OUR 23RD CRUISE ON  SIX DIFFERENT CRUISE LINES AND THIS ONE WAS DISAPPOINTING.

We had a great time on the Spirit! Food, crew & entertainment were very good. Although 18 years old, ship is small enough to get around comfortably & well appointed. Biggest complaints were lounge chairs hard to find around pool as well as smoking areas not well defined outside. Cruise stopped at excellent ports (especially Tortola) & workout area was excellent. Overall very good experience!

I booked this cruise as a birthday present for my older daughter and myself over my daughter's spring break. Our cabin was changed from what I selected and I was not notified until boarding the ship.  :(  The bonus of $50 toward up to 4 shore excursions was applied to only my shore excursions which I did not know until the end of the cruise.  We had only 3 ports of call and had booked an excursion at all three but the first was cancelled due to expected weather conditions -- it was gorgeous and we were very disappointed -- therefore, only 2 of the $50 credits were used.  The ship is in need of updates (scheduled to begin in 2017) and is quite small.  The staff and crew were overall fantastic and the food was very good and quite abundant.  I would book again with Norwegian but probably chose the Escape as there are many more onboard activities and rooms are much nicer.  I would also consider a European cruise on one of the smaller ships like Spirit.

Awesome trip!!!  My first cruise and we had a Great time, always something to do.  Even took some breaks sitting on our balcony looking at the ocean.  Met some wonderful people.  The sites were breath taking.  The staff was outstanding.  Food was Great!!!  Our Cabin Stewart Budi was the Greatest!!!  Time went too fast.  Thank you NCL Staff for making my 60th Birthday so memorable. Kellee & Bob

Just returned from 7 day cruise to Eastern Caribbean - the Spirit was much better than expected.  We booked two balcony cabins, 11630 and 11632. Our room steward, Ritchie, was fabulous!  The cabins have a hairdryer in them and it desperately needs to be replaced/updated!  There is only one outlet in the cabins so bring a power strip or extension cord.  We ate at 7 different restaurants - all were great with one exception.  Shogun Asian Restaurant was absolutely horrible.  The others were very good!  Had lunch one day at Blue Lagoon (fish & chips) and it was delicious.  Overall, very good cruise!  

We had a fun time. The entertainment  was great. 

food was fine but miss shrimp cocktails and lobster night in the dinning room. your ice cream is always so soft and runny. The ship is old and our bathroom toilet stunk. The crew is very friendly and washy washy happy happy keeps everyone healthy.

Was very skeptical and scared after reading all of the negative reviews regarding the Norwegian Spirit! Sorry for those people that feel that way to write those negative reviews, it must suck to be so negative and never happy or pleased!

The ship was great, yes it is not off the showroom floor but I think that only gives it character. It was very well laid out and the pool area is excellent.

Food was great all over and we especially enjoyed Cagney's!!! Breakfast outside on the back of the ship each morning was awesome as well!

Room was a typical cabin on a ship, if you are expecting a huge hotel room, go to a hotel! We had Balcony room 11128 which was very nice and the balcony is a must from here on out as this was our first.

I would definitely cruise this ship again but am looking forward to trying the Epic next March!

For the most part, we really enjoyed our cruise and the food was awesome.  I was disappointed in the all inclusive beach party excursions though.  They left a lot to be desired and I think Norwegian needs to reconsider those, or at least the price.  The all inclusive in Grand Cayman was a terrible beach and the entire excursion was very unorganized.  The Dunn's Falls/Beach Day in Jamaica was also unorganized and got us back to the ship barely in time.  I also feel that making people wait on the ship for an excursion several hours after the boat has arrived is unfair.  Since we had to take tenders, we felt trapped that if we got off early, we would miss our tour and therefore our free time was limited to check things out.  The boat literally docked and our excursion was not for 2-3 hours later.  We also experienced a lot of delays in the dining room.  Although there are many people who tend to you, we must have been the unfortunate ones as it seemed almost every meal we had (we ate both lunch and dinner in the dining rooms), our service was slow and there were a lot of delays.  The Italian Restaurant and the Steak House were awesome, both in food and service.  I think the Asian Restaurant should extend their hours - especially for days at sea.  The wait service there was also slow, but it appeared there was not much help for the young man who served us, so we tried to be patient.  The Blue Lagoon was a welcome surprise and we enjoyed the chicken wings very much.  Overall, we had a great time and will probably return for another trip again.

The room was so tiny I do not see how 4 people could fit in it without being miserable.  The food was very bland.  Everything tasted the same no matter where or what you ate.  It was annoying to be sprayed with hand sanitizer at buffet entrance each visit.  Buffet area was very crowded.  The pool water was not heated.  Very few swimming.  Hot tubs were very good.  Blaring echoing music at piano bar and pool area. Entertainment was good.  Spa personnel and stateroom attendant were fabulous. Guest service desk was not very friendly. There were basically no television channels to watch. Not the cruise line's fault but it was very windy and cloudy and ocean water was too cold to swim in. So I did not get to play on the beach or swim much which was my main goal. Water was rough and the ship rocked most of the time and it was hard for me to walk without being dizzy.   Wish I had saved my money and stayed home. I would not go on Norwegian Cruise line again because I CAN GO ON CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE AND GET GOOD FOOD, A BIGGER ROOM AND DECENT TELEVISION CHANNELS ALL FOR A BETTER PRICE !

Just felt that there were a few cut backs with staff.  No complaints regarding the food as we added a couple of pounds.  The ship was very easy to navigate around.  Never felt that I was lost and had to get my bearings.  Had excellent help from Guest Services when my daughter needed to contact home due to an emergency with her daughter.