Norwegian Spirit Cruise Reviews - Reviews

NCL helped my wife and I have a wonderful experience on our recent cruise. She recently has developed food allergies that cause her mouth to swell and even blister.  She can't eat wheat, oats, and a few other things.  This was our first cruise since she had these develop.  The ship provided her with her own server/liason and chef to make sure anything she (and any others with allergies or restrictions) ate would not impact her.  The food available to her was fantastic and all delivered with a warm friendly smile.  Our other accomodations were great as usual and we put a deposit down for our next trip.  We can't wait!!

Very unsatisfactory cruise.  Never offered shrimp cocktail,  lobster, captain's party without having to pay.  We were all disappointed as it was the first cruise for three members of our party. Had to wait over 2 hours for a meal to come to our table.  Upon leaving the ship, no wheel chair was provided even though it we asked and was told they were busy.  Will never go on another Norwegian cruise.   

My wife and I took this cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The cruise staff were friendly and engaging. The entertainment and activities were very good with a little something for everyone. The food was good to very good, however, it was not always hot and the service was sometimes slow.

All in all a great time. I would cruise Norwegian again.

We had a fantastic time on the Spirit and would go on her again in a heartbeat. 

*Easy on and off -- took us about 20 - 25 minutes to go from car to room for both embarkation and debarkation.

*Crew are friendly, professional, and all around lovely folks who at times had to put up with some crabby guests.

*Wish they had better venues to watch sports, but we managed fine (fresh popcorn at Henry's pub was a nice touch).

*Enjoyed the bands and guitarist (Pablo).

*Just enough activities.

*Food was fine and we had plenty of options on where to eat.

*We are in our late 40s and we found plenty to do (or not do).

*This was the first cruise were we made friends the first day and hung out with them the entire vacation. It was fantastic!

I was very disappointed with the NCL Spirit 7 day cruise from Orlando. 

Food:  The food in the main dining room and buffet was not good at all - it was ALWAYS cold, there were limited options on the buffet, and my youngest son got food poisoning from the main dining room.  The food in the Blue Lagoon (bar and grill type of munchies) was great but not what you would want to eat everyday for dinner (chix wings, tenders, burger, apps).  We did not try the extra cost restaurants at all - probably would have if they still were flat fee but they have now gone to a la carte and based on the pricing it didn't seem worth it.  

Service:  The service was spotty at best - the people were very nice when they bothered to come over but to give you an example....I sat at a table about 25 feet from one of the pool bars and in 6 hours only once did a server come to my table to ask if I wanted anything.  It was like this all over the ship...every bar, dinner, etc. 

Rooms:  The room was ok.  We booked an inside because we really had no intention of spending much time in it (though we did due to food poisoning and also boredom, see comments below regarding activities and fun).  The room had two twins (could be turned into a full), one bunk, and one trundle bed.  Wasn't fond of the trundle, would have preferred two bunks in a room that sleeps 4, but not a deal killer.  The service to the room was also Ok...the room was cleaned daily and on a couple of days there was a cute little towel animal left on our bed - but it was nothing compared to the service we received on Carnival cruise where every time we left the room they somehow knew and went in an straightened, took away garbage, and left us presents every night (turned down bed, left some chocolate or cookies, always had some cute little towel animal waiting for the kids).  Again, not deal killer, but when you combine with all the other things definitely disappointing.

Fun/Activities:  Back to the pool bars - they closed them both by 7pm each night (they reopened at 10:30 one night for the white hot party and maybe late another night...but what exactly is the point of that???) and other then the "sail away" parties that they had leaving port they had very few activities by the pool (there were some BBQs...the food there was better....at least it was hot!) - definitely not the type of outdoor relaxing fun we experienced when we went on carnival cruise about a year ago.  Most everything was held indoors and even those options were very limited in my opinion (unless you are talking about stuff that they could charge extra fees for....bingo, picture nights, etc....there were plenty of that stuff).  Again, just very disappointing as compared with what we experienced on Carnival where there was so much to do we often couldn't decide which activity to go to. 

I will throw in some qualifiers - this cruise was in mid-January whereas our previous cruise was the last week of October....I am not sure how much that factors in.  Also, this was a smaller ship compared to the Carnival cruise we were on (about 2K passengers as compared to almost 3K) so that might have made a difference.  Finally, the average age on this cruise was probably mid 60s....if you are a retired couple looking for things like card games to spend your time you would probably enjoy it more (the game room was always packed with folks playing cards) but I still wouldn't recommend due to the food and service issues....

,our cruise was wonderfull!! Only thing that could be improved  could be better directions to  find your way. We spent more time trying to get where we wanted to go than we did enjoying where we were going. We made the mistake of not going to the ships endocrination! It should be required for first timers.  Thanks for a Wonderfull vacation?....Roger Bratt

The boat was nice but there were any areas that are in need of serious updating. our hair dryer in the bathroom was from 1960's.....everything was very clean. nice staff....

First time on Norwegian.  Smaller Ship but clean and easy getting around.

Ultimate Beverage Package a good deal, except it should be made clear that

it ends the last night of your cruise.  Food was good.  Specialty dining package a good deal, even with the following remarks.  Be sure to make reservations before your departure.  Especially enjoyed the French Restaurant.  Filet with Green Peppercorn sauce was better then any Steak House we have eaten in, including Ruth Chris. Cagney's was good but not the quality expected.   The Italian Restaurant La Trattoria  (Spl.?) was a big disappointment. Part of Ruffles Court, Buffet Area.  Closed off at night.  Extremely slow service and the food was just average.  If they can't do any better than this, they should close this restaurant.  Windows Main Dinning was pleasant and the food was nicely prepared at breakfast and dinner.  If you want a window seat, just ask.  You may have to wait, but the wait was always short and nice tables for two.  The staff was friendly and helpful, especially our room steward, Praveen.  We were delighted with the towel creations every evening, clean room and always had the ice bucket filled. 

This was mediocre compared to other cruises we have taken. We cruise two or three times a year. The ship was not as clean as we expected   but the crew tried really hard to keep up with all they had to do. There was definitely less crew than we were accustomed to. There were less amenities which although not necessary do make a cruise feel more elegant for example no fresh flowers in the dining room ,no body lotions in the room you needed to ask for them,no basket of fruit in the room etc. The most annoying thing, though was the smoking. The entire casino was smoking as well as the semi enclosed pool deck. Overall I don't think we will be using this cruise line again

The wait staff and cruise staff were one of the unfriendliness that we have ever had. We had poor service in the dining room.  They have eliminated many of their food so not much selection.  The selection they had that used to be good was very poor quality and cold.  We were very disappointed.  Out of 40 cruises this ranks on the bottom.

Ports were good.

Not thrilled with the food, activities, time given to spend on each island and the tender process. Service in the dining rooms, bars and other areas was great. Our room steward did an exceptional job. When not able to visit Stirrup Cay I expected to have many on-board activities available to us since the island experience was cancelled. Very disappointed to find that nothing additional was planned.  Will likely not cruise with Norwegian again. 

This was my fourth cruise overall, and my third on NCL, with the first two being on the Breakaway and the Getaway, much larger ships, and I greatly enjoyed my cruise on the Spirit as well. I was surprised to see how many people were on "back-to-back" cruises, though I could understand why.  The decor of the Spirit is reminiscent of the heyday of liners, with a more classic, more "elegant," feel of greater intimacy than I felt on the larger ships, and I have no need of climbing walls or zipropes across the stern, etc.  I tended to alternate my time between my own balcony and the open terrace at the stern of the ship, behind the Raffles buffet.

Service generally was quite good, as was the food.  A major drawback, however, was the great difficulty in getting reservations for the times that I wanted for the specialty restaurants, even trying to get them before departure.  For the Bistro in particular, the ONLY times that I was able to sign up for, as a party of 1, were 5:30 or 9:30 p.m.  Part of this was inherent in the fact that the specialty restaurants are necessarily much more compact than in the larger ships. But not for EVERY night!  (I was able to work around that, for the most part, though.)

I enjoyed the shore excursions at the three ports, although there was woefully inadequate time in Nassau, with the ship sailing at 3 p.m., even though there were two full sea days before the next port.

These points, and others indicated below notwithstanding, I did greatly enjoy my cruise, as evidenced by the fact that I arranged for deposits for four future cruises.

This was our first cruise and Norwegian was definitely the right way to go!

Our vacation heroes were:

Jun Belmonte - Housekeeping; Alex from Ukraine - Activities; Alfredo -  Garden Restaurant

When we decide to take another cruise, it will be on Norwegian, possibly the Spirit!

Thank you for an awesome vacation!!

The employees were wonderful.  Food in the dining room was bland and tasteless.  Not much in the way of variety.  The drinks were weak and tasteless.  A BBC which is supposed to be Bailey's, banana liquor and coconut rum was Bailey's and pina coloda mix.  Boring!  The ship needs some minor maintenance.  I replaced the curtain hook in our room.  Toilet had major ring.  I realize they are selling this ship, but we are cruising with NCL.  Our first NCL (20 previous cruises) and it did not leave a good impression. 

Partner and I are both Platinum w/NCL, and it used to be our favorite line of the five on which we are Platinum or Diamond.  However, this cruise did not measure up, nor did the one prior to this one.  The stateroom (balcony) was probably the smallest we have ever encountered.  The arrangement of the men's very small and cramped dressing room being separated by a public hallway from the steam and sauna was just poor.  The food choices and quality were markedly below the level we had become accustomed to w/NCL, and in some cases dining room food service was tediously slow - started dinner one night at 5:30 and missed the 7:30 show.  This was our 55th cruise overall, but we will do more research before selecting the next NCL ship.  As usual, the room steward was fantastic, but some of the staff were less than helpful and guest services was just rude.  The entertainment was truly great though.

Compared to other cruise lines, NCL is definitely more laid back. No set dinner time, very few on board especially on sea days, and not the greatest food. Can't complain about our service though. Every employee I had an encounter with was pleasant and helpful. The Spirit ship had very nice decor but lacked in variety in the liquor shop as well as jewelry shop. NCL did provide little extras I hadn't experienced before such as cold wet towels when returning to ship, as well as beverages (water/juice) at no charge, and even some ice pops around the pool area on hot days. Although paying for certain extras such as room service was a downside. All in all, if I were to get a good deal, I would sail with NCL again, perhaps a newer ship.

Great cruise.  We didn't take any excursions but chose to walk around the areas and visit a local beach.  The local surroundings where we docked in Nassau, were not very appealing but the beach was nice.  The other stops in the Virgin Islands were very pleasant just walking around.  The ship had good music groups playing around the ship most of the time.  The atmosphere was fun and enjoyable. Evening entertainment was also good and the crew was friendly from the room stewards to the dining staff.  Specialty dining was a special treat.  A wide variety of dining choices was always available.  

Overall the cruise was a good experience.  Cruise Director Gio and the Entertainment was excellent.  Food and service in the Windows dining room was top notch.  Our package included the Premium Beverage Package which I highly recommend.  We also booked a ship's Shore Excursion in Tortola which was well worth the money.  I am glad we tendered in St Thomas as you end up directly downtown.

This is an older ship therefore the ladies bathrooms were often  "out of order".  Embarkation and disembarkation were quick and seamless in Port Canaveral.

When they say Freestyle , it truly is.  No frills.  The dinning room allows shorts and sneakers on formal  evenings.  The staff is impersonal and does their job well but there's no interaction with guests.. Unfortunately I was injured quite seriously by a guest kicking a concrete cylinder, which punctured my ankle. This happened during Mens Sexy Legs contest. Not one person from the entertainment team even inquired as to my well being. No mention from Guests services until I reached out to them the following day. It was even difficult to get a copy of my xrays.  So sad, Shame on NCL. Our beautiful balcony cabin was showing wear and rust. I'd suggest not going on the Spirit.

The food was great and so was the staff. We enjoyed the entertainment and the "game shows" were hilarious. Didn't enjoy the boat rocking and rolling and especially at night as we were in front of the boat.