Norwegian Spirit Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Embarkation was a nightmare.  2+ hrs. waiting in line.  No explanation.  A generic "sorry for the wait" when at the counter.  Felt like cattle being led to slaughter.  Not a good beginning.  Add insult to injury:  When we arrived in St. Thomas we were to take a tender in.  Forty five minutes waiting in line on the stairs.  Norwegian needs to improve their tender methods and be more sensitive to their passengers.  Food in main dining excellent.  Buffet OK but boring same sides all the time.  Entertainment was 50/50.  The cruise dancers and singers were excellent, the comedian was excellent, the magician was not excellent.   While I ultimately enjoyed the cruise, I will take a different cruise line next time.

We particularly remember Violeta Lozano who said "Call me beautiful". We did, everywhere we saw her.  She appeared many places on the

ship, doing many different tasks.  We also had a good time with Steven at the Bistro.  Everyone on an open "bus" enjoyed I. R. Caersar starting when he said, "Call me Gratuities."   He was informative and took good care of his passengers. 

The magic show got off to a slow start but ended well.  We missed other shows because of late dinners. That could not be helped.  Dutch enjoyed the Casino but wished it had been larger..

The only down side I would mention is that the food was not as good as I had on previous cruises.

This cruise was the very first cruise that both my husband and I, both in our 50s, have taken, and while it wasn’t perfect, it certainly met our expectations. 

We arranged to use NCL’s shuttle service from Orlando airport and we were on the bus by 12:00 PM and en route to the port.  We arrived by 1:00 PM and that is when everything came to a halt.  We stood in line for security and check-in until after 3:00 PM.  By the time we stepped foot on the ship, we immediately had to report to our muster station for the emergency drill.  This put a little bit of a damper on our first day, but we were finally on the ship! 

The Spirit is the smallest in NCL’s lineup and it was rather beautiful.  None of the public spaces ever felt too crowded, which was surprising as we were sailing over a holiday week, so it was a sold out ship.  We both found the ship to be extremely clean and well maintained.  There were occasions where a washroom was out of order, but none of them lasted the entire cruise, so maintenance kept up on the repairs.  There were numerous spills in the buffet, as we had rough seas for our last two days, which happened to be sea days, and they were cleaned up almost immediately. 

Our cabin steward was wonderful.  He always had a smile and a pleasant tone when we spoke to him.  Our room was kept clean, towels were refreshed as needed, and he left us a towel animal for 6 of the nights, which were appreciated since this was a first cruise for us.

We found the buffet to be okay.  My husband enjoyed their burgers while I enjoyed the daily stir-fry.  Of course the buffet is where I went for breakfast as I usually woke up hours before my husband.  We enjoyed the dinners we had at Windows for the most part, though the one time my husband had the lasagna, the cheese was hard.  Our dinner at Le Bistro was okay, though my husband ordered the upcharge of lobster tail, which he said was overdone as it was chewy.  We also had dinner at Cagney’s and while good, I wasn’t blown away by it.  I asked for a cup of coffee with my dessert, but I never received it.  By the time I was done with the dessert, I knew the coffee wasn’t coming, so just didn’t bother asking for it again.

The biggest disappointment we had on the ship was from Blue Lagoon.  Not so much with the food, but with the service.  It was certainly the only place on the ship where we found service to be lacking.  My husband was forgotten there twice.  His order was taken and after a half hour he was asked for his order again.  The customer service we received from the everyone else on the ship was outstanding.

Since we were using NCL’s shuttle service back to Orlando Airport, we were given the “green” disembarkment category, which was estimated to occur at 9:45 AM.  We were told to stay in the public areas for the announcements on the TV screens, but we were sitting outside at Raffle’s bar and they never once had announcements on those TV’s.  We started heading down to deck 7 at around 9:30 and discovered that our category had already been called.  We were through customs pretty quickly and were on the bus in no time.

My family and I love to go on a cruise for Thanksgiving.  It gives us quality time together; allows the adults an opportunity to relax and unwind; and usually offers a wonderful dining experience for my eating restrictions (gluten intolerant).  However, that was not the case on this cruise.

 First off, the crew was way understaffed.  We had heard through other guests that a good portion of the crew had to remain in Europe because they did not have the appropriate documentation.  It was also said that this ship had not crossed the Atlantic since 2010.  It was evident in that the gift shop was geared for a European audience when you had several items that said Europe all over them.  This cruise didn't even go to Europe.  Plus, they only had Eurpean shirts to sell when it was a Caribbean cruise.  The staff stated that they didn't get the supplies requested and they were doing the best they could.

The seas were extremely high and forced a lot of activities, especially outdoor activities, to be cancelled.  I can not blame Norwegian for the weather. It just added on to the poor experience.  My family had motion sickness so bad that we didn't get rid of it completely until 3 days after the cruise was over, and I never get sea sick!

The dining experience was the worst.  I am gluten intolerant, and normally have no problem. However, on this ship you have to track down one particular person to order all your meals from 24 hours in advance, and give them the location and time you will be there. This is NOT freestyle cruising.  Plus, if you have questions about a food in the buffet line, they will not answer and tell you to talk to your special diet coordinator.  When my family and I ate in the complementary dining rooms, the food was aweful and the wait was at least an hour after you were seated at the table.  The experience was so bad that my family refused to eat dinner with me in the "Windows" the last night of the cruise.  Their rationale was that if the food wasn't that good, they certainly weren't going to wait forever for it.  They ate in the food court, where the chefs won't answer questions.

There were several other things that went wrong, but all in all it was the worst vacation I ever had, and I don't care to ever cruise with Norwegian again.

Overall customer happiness does not seem to be NCL’s focus. For instance I had called numerous times about the price of our cruise going down in price, and the NCL representatives did not want to give us the difference in the form of an onboard credit and we had 4 staterooms. We have cruised with Carnival before, and they are more than happy to accommodate this request.

Additionally, the ultimate beverage package was not honored by this website for one of our staterooms as originally promised. I do not know if this was an error on this company's part or on NCL's part. Either way, nothing was done to accommodate us in our displeasure.

Secondly, the tendering service in St. Thomas was atrocious! For instance, we had an excursion, and before all of the "pre-tendering" individuals got off of the ship, the crew member’s called tendering group #1 over the loud speaker. It was very disorganized and crowded. The crew members did not effectively control the crowds as the elevators were still running and people were cutting into the lines. Additionally, once we got off of the tendering vessel, there was not a step on shore. Our elderly mom, had to step a good three feet off of the tender to shore. This ended up pulling a ligament in her knee. While the crew members assisting individuals off of the tender were very helpful, it would have been advantageous to have the step on shore. We did notice the step was there when we got on the tender to go back on the ship.

Lastly, the ship had really rough seas and it did not seem like the ship’s crew changed course to help with the rocking and rolling of the ship. Everyone was “drunk walking,” even the crew members, because it was that uneasy. Several members of our party got seasick because of this.

very nice ship but staff starting with check in were not very knowledgeable At check in staff did not have proper training on new computer software.  Restaurant staff were very unorganized with a 45 minute wait each night. Once seated service was very slow but food was delicious.  Buffet staff were right on target, food was great, always a clean table to be found. Entertainment was great. Our room was fine and room steward was fantastic. Ports were incredible.

I only gave this 1 star because I had to!  Never again will I sail with NCL.

The staff could care less...you are completely ignored. The cabin is so small and uncomfortable my husband thought about sleeping outside on the deck. Forget about a hot meal.....the service in the restaurants was so slow it took almost 2 hrs every night to eat dinner. The food was cold and if you questioned anyone about what was taking so long or asked to reheat it they actually looked offended. Oh, don't expect ice in your drinks....or ask for a refill. You might get it 30 minutes later if you are the lucky one. If you want to participate in any of the activities expect to pay out of your pocket dearly! $49 for Bingo and the price went up from there. Nothing was included and if you wanted to see one of the shows go to the late one because the poor dinner service wouldn't allow you to make the early one. The pool was closed 4 of the 7 days, with no back up plan. No activities to keep passengers busy!

This was the most expensive cruise (and worst experience)  I have ever taken! I would not recommend this cruise line at all!

The buffet food very bland and flavorless. The disembarkation  at St Thomas was a joke, docked by 11 but unable to get to shore until 2. The pool was closed ALL day the last two days at sea and some other days. The kids were very disappointed with that! The staff was great greeting us by name every time we saw them. The girls, ages 4 and 8, had a blast at the "Splash Academy", even my shy one wanted to go and play. We will cruise again with Norwegian but not sure if we will go on the Spirit again. 

Have been on 10 Cross Atlantic cruises. This is the worst of 5 on NCL. the Spirit is old and should be retired. Many things did not work. Entertainment was sub par. The staffing was to few to handle the population, but must say worked very hard to keep up. Often ran out of various foods at breakfast and dinner ( no anchovies on Ceaser Salad ). 16 days at sea and only got a chair by the pool ( seldom open )

once before 3:30 pm. Rules never followed any where. Photo of saved chairs, brought to staff and service desk , nothing happened. Some people save 2 sets of chairs at 6:30 am, 2 in sun two in shade, even had a 4 some do 4 and 4. Our room steward had 14 to rooms to do on her own ( wonderful lady ) but also given projects to do at the same time. My entire shower fixture need to be replaced on 1st. day ( no hot water ) many others told me the same. All the multiple cruisers I spoke to all agree, "they will never get n this ship again".Latitudes Member Sliver, now Gold, means nothing for price or service. Have never got an upgrade or any discounts. Bought this a year in advance, everyone else got free stuff if they waited, won't be doing that again. Had planned to celebrate our 40th. Anniversary  on NCL dawn to Bermuda, to happening.

Oh, rules for dress in the dining room, don't bother I may as well been at the beach. Why have them, when no one ever enforces it. Plenty of other places to eat when dressed as one coming to the Gym. Need I go on. STAY AWAY.

The places visited were spectacular and the ship itself was not too shabby either.

We packed clothes for a number of scenarios - ie, weather and formalities but could have done with a lot less for our late October vacation. Cool mornings and nights with warm afternoons. Decent cruise price for a balcony room but everything else was very overpriced. Perhaps other ships are the same?? Be careful where you exchange money. $100 American gets $70 Euros approx.

This cruise advertises, Day one in Venice and Day 2 in Venice but the ship is leaving at 1 am on day two so it is really in Venice LESS THAN 24 HOURS. It seems that day 2 is actually 1 hour in Venice and 23 hours at sea.  Unless you read the fine print you may also not notice that you must be on board by 11 PM on day one so any flight arriving after 9:30 on day 1 will cause you to miss your cruise. Since Cruises Only does not make this clear at the time of booking, we wasted $1500 on a flight arriving at 10:50 PM on day one in Venice. When we received our cruise documents which you do not receive until after you pay in FULL, we noticed this and called immediately. The happiness guarentee they offer got us an onboard credit of $75, resulting in a loss of $1425  and the need to buy replacement airfare at a cost of $ 1750.

Please don't make the mistake we did. If we had booked directly with NCL.com this would not have happened. The cruise itself was perfect, but it ended up being very expensive booking through Cruises Only and we will never make that mistake again. 

Just got back from this a 3 week trip, had to stay in Venice for a few days before boarding this amazing cruise that NCL never fails to let me down.  My third time sailing and Norwegian has been great all around, the food, the staff what a wonderful experience I had with them again.  It has been very easy once your on board, all your worries are gone and this is what I call a vacation.  I'm already planning my next vacation.  One advice you have to visit ROME and pompeii you can skip, Capri island is a must in naples.  I have been using to do all my trips because they make it easy.  Thumps up for and norwegian!!!!!!

The ports and weather were great.

Unfortunately NCL is no longer our favorite cruise line.

They are allowing smoking on both sides of the deck 7 so we could not enjoy a stroll on the deck. Smoking is still allowed in the casino while most other cruise lines have stopped that practice.

The guest services staff were unfriendly and unhelpful.

The ship is in poor shape with many malfunctions. 

Food variety and quality is not as it was on other NCL ships.

TV programing is poor and the same movies were played for 28 days.

We had a lovely rest aboard the ship.  The Norwegian Spirit needs a lot of re-doing.  The staff was lovely for the most part; however, we saw many of the staff not  paying proper attention to clearing tables in the Buffet area.  The ship was very disorganized.  Getting off was horrible. 

Announcements cannot be heard in your staff room or for that matter on deck.  This is terrible and needs immediate attention.  There was never enough chaise lounge chairs.  Fits were witnessed because of this.

We found the office staff disorganized and this created issues.  Entertainment was not par for such a long voyage.  We would never travel the spirit again.

The executive chief was great, food was good.  Old ship, certainly not representative of how Norwegian works.  Never had any issues on any of their other ships and we have travelled most.  It was worth what we paid.

We were very happy with our first cruise experience.  Service was outstanding, especially our room steward, Michael!  Food at 2 of the specialty dinning locations-Cagney's and Le Bistro were delicious and the staff was very attentive.

The only negatives would be the issue with flushing the toilet in our stateroom, which has already been mentioned in many other reviews and we personally did not like receiving separate checks when dinning at the specialty restaurants.  If you go there as a couple, one bill should suffice.  Also, the bottled water was way overpriced.   

I can't comment on the ship tours as we elected to do less expensive independent tours.

Overall, a great way to travel and get a "sampler platter" of the Mediterranean!

First of all, I missing 1 of my favorite shoe after I get back my luggage from the cruise, customer service (who assist me) try to blame on the security at the airport,

but I come there straight from the hotel (I stayed in hotel for 2 days before the cruise). Then on Oct 19 I fell out of bund bed required 9 stitched and 1 day at hospital for CT. I head hurting after that. It's really sad because this is my first cruise and I spend too much money for that.  

The cruise was great. The staff of the Spirit was very attentive and the food was superb. The entertainment could have been better but other than that we had no complaints

Excellent Cruise, with caring friendly staff and crew. Many of the ship's tours were very expensive. I believe NCL was all about making money. The food was well prepared and sanitation was #1. The protocol in place to prevent anything like rhinovirus was excellent. NCL need to have better entertainment on deck.

This was my 6th cruise, but the first time on Norwegian Cruise Line.

We found that toilet flushes in our stateroom were queued with flushes from other staterooms.  Sometimes, there was no noticeable delay between a button push and an actual flush.  More often, there was a 20~30 second delay.  In quite a few instances (around 8 a.m. or before we were about to disembark for shore excursions), there was a 5-minute delay (I actually timed this delay several times)!  This was embarrassing.  I have not experienced this phenomenon (i.e., queuing toilet flushes) in other cruise ships.

The destinations (port calls) and shore excursions were good.  It could have been quite good with a better ship, better food and better entertainment program.

Cruise was excellent, but very busy. Ship was great with good food and plenty to do. No problem getting in free dining rooms when you wanted. Really liked freedom to eat when and where we wanted.