Norwegian Spirit Cruise Reviews - Reviews

My wife and I had some difficult times touring Venice, Rome and Florence on our own.  Norwegian Cruise gave us little help in Venice just recommending the monorail "people mover" that put you still hours away from St. Mark's square. The ship's guided tours in Rome and Florence were over priced in my opinion. One of the Ship's Shore Excursion workers gave us wrong information on where we would land in Mykinous, Greece. That was annoying along with not giving us more information about the Florence and Pisa tours that allowed Internet access. Onboard ship Internet access was priced by the minute. There was hardly any news information except for the BBC that concentrated on England and Ireland.  Everywhere onboard our ship seems there are too many extra charges. No free water but the contractors providing the tour gave out free water while our ship charged for bottles before leaving for the tour. Why? I had my wallet stolen in Rome- standing up in a crowded subway we took so that we could quickly catch the next train to Civitavecchia and not miss the ship. We were surprised that we had to take two buses in Civitavecchia. One to reach port entrance because of where the ship had docked and another, out of pocket expense, bus from the port to the train station. A change in location from our last trip to this port.Information from the Ship's shore excursions always seemed to be at the wrong time- while eating breakfast. We were really tired by the time we reached the last port. We felt like we had walked across half of Europe. The Shore Excursion people were negligent, in my opinion , of providing more information on where the ship docked and how to reach points of interest usually some distance away from where we docked. Again it was all about money. Let's squeeze some more tours from our passengers!   

the trip of a life time turned into the trip from hell the 2nd day on the ship when the automatic door closed on me knocking me down causing me to spend the rest of my cruise in a wheel chair due to an ankle injury

I sent the attached to NCL, but was very surprised to hear nothing back. They must not care if comments are negative.  I also have comments regarding Air Canada, but I will send those directly to the airline. Below is the letter I sent to NCL.

To Whom It May Concern:

Re: Norwegian Cruise (Spirit) – September 18-30, 2015

Room 9566 (Mary S. Riolo)

I took the general survey yesterday, but it did not allow enough room, so I am sending this to you as well.

To start, I want to tell you that this is my 4th cruise, but the 1st with Norwegian.  I travelled with 5 other family members and for 3 of them, it was their 1st cruise.  We all purchased the ultimate beverage and dining package and requested and received balcony rooms.

Positives:

Boat was clean and had many restaurant/bar options.

Food was the best we have ever eaten on any cruise line (for the 3 of us who have cruised before and for the 3 newbies – they loved it).

Staff were friendly and courteous (except for one hostess in La Trattoria, but that was handled by your cruise manager).

Arrival/departure times were pretty much on target.  Getting on and off the boat was easy in all ports.

Had to make a medical emergency stop on the way to Venice, but it was handled efficiently and quickly and we docked in Venice on time. Impressive.

Daily drink specials were delicious.

Our restaurant experiences were all excellent and we ate in several of the restaurants for dinner – Shogun, Le Bistro, La Trattoria, Cagney’s.  We frequented Le Bistro and Cagney’s several times – staff were phenomenal as well.

Our steward Derek, (room 9566) was amazing. Not only was he very friendly and courteous, but able to answer all of our questions (unlike many of the staff at the service desk), and kept our room spotless and comfortable.

Shows were very good.

Events in the The Galaxy of Stars were fun and entertaining.

Negatives:

When we began to shop for a Mediterranean cruise, we were convinced to go with Norwegian because the agent not only gave us a good deal, but assured us that our rooms would be together and that the dividing panels between our balconies could be removed so we could have one big balcony to sit out on altogether.  This vacation was a long time coming for us, and we lost two members of our family in 2014, so it was very important to us that we were together as much as possible.  When we arrived at the ship and saw that the panels had not been removed, we inquired and received 3 different answers from 3 different people. Bottom line, we were not able to have the panels removed, which was very disappointing to all of us.  This was a HUGE factor in our booking with NCL and we felt we had been misled.

We had a continuous problem with our toilet in 9566.  We had to make several calls throughout our stay and by the time they sort of fixed it, we had been on the cruise for 10 days! My guess is they were unable to fix it entirely, but did not want to admit it.

We purchased the unlimited beverage/dining package, but were never told that it did not include water or coffee (from the Café).  We found it utterly ridiculous that we could not get bottled water or a café mocha without being charged.  We were told if we put liquor in the café mocha, there was no charge.  It made no sense since liquor is far more expensive than coffee and water that these two items were excluded from our package.  For the tours, you had staff selling bottled water for $4.50/bottle, but as soon as we got on our tour buses we were offered free bottled water.  Do you really think that this makes sense?

Bar service was slow all over the boat.  On the first day at sea, when you had everyone on board, there was only one bartender making the drinks at the upper bar by the pool (we got up early to get chairs right by this area so we could get our drinks quickly). He was extremely fast, but when you have dozens of people coming up to order drinks, and only 1 person making them, we had to wait a long time for our cocktails.

Went to change American dollars to Euros at your desk and found out you charge a $10 commission – ridiculous.  Fortunately, I did not have to utilize it after all and was able to change my money in the ports with no commission.

The staff at the service and shore excursion desk are not as knowledgeable as they should be.  We often found them unable to directly answer our questions, or try to ‘go around’ it and did not get a straight answer.  One or two of them even seemed to get frustrated by our inquiries and that made us a little concerned.

Most of the tours were very good.  However, one tour in particular stood out as bad…Istanbul.  Our tour guide ‘Lily’ seemed to be very knowledge, but it became clear she was not in the mood to take us around and was only out for herself.  Here is what happened…

She told us we would not be able to go into the Blue Mosque because of the holiday, but when we returned we found out that the tour bus right before us got to go in.

She took us to a different mosque, which was very beautiful, but when you spend all this money and expect to see the famous Blue Mosque, it is disappointing.

She took us next to St. Sofia and the museum, but after giving us information, just left us to go around to wherever we wanted and said she would ‘take us’ to specific vendors to buy souvenirs, which she later did.

The last stop, a rug market and jeweler – she insisted that we would have to go into the rug making demo, and it would only last 15 minutes, and then down to the jewelers.  We ended up being there close to an hour (felt it was rude to leave in the middle of the rug demo, and jewelers who were trying to sell us stuff).  When we finally escaped (yes, I said escaped), we found we only had 20 minutes left to shop.  This was an all-day tour and she left us only 20 minutes for shopping. My guess is that she receives some sort of commission for taking us to these particular vendors. In all honesty, to my knowledge, no one bought a rug or jewelry because we had such a short time to shop in the market around the corner, and aggressive sales people are actually a turn-off.  And truthfully, we found the prices outrageous.  When we finally went to the market to shop, having such a short time, we had to rush thru to try and make our purchases.  We were ‘attacked’ by many vendors.  I have travelled to Europe before and I know some salesmen can get very aggressive, but we have never seen anything like this.  One of them actually chased us to our bus – very scary.  And, my cousin was cheated out of $40.00.  She purchased 3 small rugs at an agreed price of $40.00.  The salesman took off with her money, and then another one came by and took all the rugs out of her bag saying they were his rugs to sell and she couldn’t have them. Obviously a setup by these two salesmen to get money out of the Americans. Upsetting to say the least.  Could not wait to get out of Istanbul.  Found Kusadasi so much nicer and the sales people were not pushy, very helpful and gave us some great deals.  We ended up purchasing what we wanted there.

Overall comments:

As a whole, we had an amazing time (spent an additional 5 days in Italy after the cruise to visit family).  However, I cannot honestly say that any of us would take a NCL cruise again. We would definitely consider a Mediterranean cruise again, maybe with some different ports, but not necessarily on NCL. The food was the one great thing you had going for you, but the rest was a little disappointing.  We had many friends and family who could not wait for us to return to tell them what we thought as they want to do a cruise next year.  We will be honest and forthcoming with this info and let them decide who to go with.

I hope you will take these comments into consideration to improve service a bit, and consider including water and coffee in your beverage packages.

We enjoyed a fantastic 12 day Mediterrean cruise from Barcelona to Venice on the NCL Spirit in Sep 2015.  We had been planning to take this type of cruise for over 5 years for a significant wedding anniversary and two things caused NCL to win over the competition: - The ports of call, and 12 days vs 7 gave us a broad coverage over the entire Med region vs just a Western or Eastern focused 7 day cruise. - The fact we'd taken a "budget FL cruise" on NCL 20 months earlier and were quite satisfied in all aspects.  We are not experienced cruisers having taken only 2 cruises in 1998 and 2006 prior to these last 2 on NCL.

The good: - Other than Barcelona and Venice where we elected to arrive 2 days early and leave a day late, we took NCL shore excursions in 5 of the other 7 ports.  We had good luck with all the guides and equipment.  On our first excursion to Florence there was an accident on the expressway causing our bus driver to divert onto side roads.  We got to the ship with at least 30 mins to spare but had we been on our own that would be been worrisome; note if you take NCL based excursions the ship WILL WAIT for you, probably worth the 20-30% premium you pay over outside groups. - We did our own walking tours in Toulon, France (having had a few other trips in France in years past) and Mykonos. We did our own tour by trains in Naples following guidance in the Rick Steves cruise book, it was a little confusing but we made it work saving us $70 in cab fares in a low risk venture to Herculaneum, the smaller version of Pompeii ruins. All this worked well because we had FANTASTIC weather in all ports, sunny, no rain in the daytime and really only 1 sorta rough sea morning sailing into Naples.  Be ready for a LOT of walking and climbing in Rome, Athens & Ephesus and be ready for HUGE CROWDS at all major sights surprising for so late in the season. - Food quality and service in restaurants and the cabin were great.  We ate most dinners at the Windows and Garden restaurants, which have the same menu and the upper right entrees change nightly.  We ate 3 dinners in the Shogun oriental restaurant recently added to the "no upgrade charge" regular dining, and with typically lower calorie food too.  Some breakfasts were in the Raffles buffet but at least 4 when we had time were in Windows for a quieter higher quality experience. - Because we joined cruisecritic on our 2014 FL cruise and were part of a meet and greet group, we had a special meeting of a couple dozen cruisers with the captain and officers.  That gave us the option to get a tour of the bridge with the captain, very interesting if you enjoy a view of how things work.  As NCL Latitudes members we also got an invite to a larger scale (200 people or so?) meeting with wine, food & prizes - nice touch!

- Neither bad or good but this type of cruise really has people from all over, maybe 20% US, 20% Canada and the rest from all over EU especially UK, Spain & Germany, also Far East & Australia.  Just be accepting of the language differences, we enjoyed the mix!  There were some kids and babies but generally lots of couples and probably most over age 50 but plenty of younger persons too. - The Spirit is the oldest of the NCL fleet being built in 1999 and refurbed in 2013.  Our 8th floor window (non balcony) room was fine - everything worked.  We did not notice other problems around the ship, but other than two sea days we were on the go every day in port.  If you want a mega liner with water slides or rock climbing get a different boat. - Supplement your washy wash alcohol cleanings with good hand washing. We also carried hand sanitizer on shore and an advantage using shore excursions is they have deals with merchants to use their restrooms free vs paying a euro in some places for public WCs.  Note Turkish excursions are required to have a merchant sell job, but there are ways out of that.

Not as good: - The NCL shore excursions can be expensive, by our definition anything over $200 per person is pricey, $100 is OK.  Budget a lot for these, don't be tempted to blow all your budget on a balcony or suite when what you want on a cruise like this is to see the sights. - We enjoyed the theatre entertainment especially the Beatles act & Magician, and the rest was just OK, something to do at night since we are not into drinking a lot before bed.  We did visit the Champagne Charlies piano bar a few times for some soft rock and jazz but didn't go to the dance club nor casino.   - Booze has gotten crazy expensive but a few ways to save:  Get the drink of the day if you must have a mixed drink. NCL offered wine prebuys on boarding day, starting at 4 bottles for $22 each (vs $30+ at restaurants) which they'll cork for the next day and you can actually take with you to a bar too.  We were also able to buy 2 wine bottles onboard at Barcelona from a store after we'd cleared security, apparently OK other than they told us we needed to drink it in our room.  Another trick we've learned is buy a coffee or wine in the port shop right before you board for cheap and get a WIFI paswsword to do some quick emails and photos home, much better deal than ship prices for satellite internet.  One more tip: bring an insulated mug to get larger free ice teas or morning coffee. We were disappointed that since our last cruise NCL now charges $8 extra for morning room service coffee & rolls that used to be free. - Do NOT book airfare through NCL if you want to do an arrive early leave later plan.  They charge a LOT to make that change.  If you arrive 2 days earlier and get travel insurance covering airline problems there is very little risk booking your own, which was also a lot cheaper than what NCL had offered for this EU trip.  Tip: having used Amsterdam many times for business travel we transferred through there fine on way to EU but on way home passport and security had a HUGE backup, perhaps normal in this post 9/11 world.  Give yourself at least 2 hours of connect time for a mid day flight in AMS as all flights are full & if you miss it you'll have a tough time even moving to a later flight.

The trip was fantastic.  The ship was very good.  They took excellent care of our room.  Balcony was great for the sound.  Twice a day they checked and made up our room.  The food was way better than I could have expected.  The entertainment (Shows) were pretty good.  Not much other activities because we were so busy at different ports.  On and off the ship went smooth.  Drinks were a little pricey, those could come down in cost.  The ports of call were great.  We really loved them all except Istanbul Turkey.  It was fine, but nothing spectacular.  All the big attractions were closed due to holiday.  Oh yeah, take Euros.  You will need them.  The ship exchange is ridiculous and most exchange places get you pretty well too.  

Norwegian Spirit's crew gave us the trip of our lives even under the most difficult circumstances.  We have been planning this trip for over a year.  Unfortunately our traveling companion had a heart attack the third night out of port.  The onboard Doctor saved her life and made sure that she received the best possible care at a Rome hospital and continued to follow her recovery.  The Embarkation Clearance Officer contacted us the next day and offered to allow us to use their phone to keep in contact with our friends and encourage them.  That is customer service.

In addition to the excellent customer service, the Shore Excursions were fantastic, the food the best the activities we participated in were great.  My next Cruise will definitely be with Norwegian

Great  food and service, enjoyable excursions, beautiful sights in all the cities. the entertainment was good, easy on and off.......................................................................

We chose this cruise mainly for the ports-of-call, and were not disappointed.  The ship is definitely dated, but was very clean. Probably the smallest cabin we have ever had.  We literally had to get off the bed at the end when getting up to use the bathroom - there was not enough room to walk around the sides without running into either a chair or the desk.  The service was excellent, but we felt that the ship nickled and dimed for everything.  First ship I have ever seen that charged for room service.  (They advertise free room service with a $7.95 convenience fee + service charge.)  Not a big deal, as we never use this, but thought it worth noting.  The drink prices were higher than any other ship we have sailed on as well.  The food was fine.  Some nights were great, others were just ok.  We didn't have any bad meals.  Food at the buffet was fine, but nothing special.  The salad bar was lacking for sure and the selection of fruit wasn't great.  We enjoyed most of the entertainment and really liked many of the areas to sit and have a drink, read, etc...  There are never enough chaises near the pool, but at least we could find one on another deck.

Did feel that there might be a plumbing issue on the ship.  Our totally did not always flush on cue, and there was sometimes a 'sewage smell' when walking around.

Again, great ports, service was very good, food was good.  I would say our experience was slightly better than what we were expecting, so that is a win!

Ship was the perfect size. Ports were all awesome water was very smooth most of the time. Small problems were mostly taken care of. Overall a very fun time. Wether was great too 22 -26 most days

This was the BEST cruise itinerary we've ever taken!  We had a fabulous time!!!  There is so much history to see in Europe, we were pleasantly overwhelmed!  The 12 day Grand Mediterrean cruise is the PERFECT itinerary to see so much.  There were many excursions to choose from and we were happy with every one we went on.

The cruise staff were so pleasant and helpful.  We are very thankful for all of the hard work they put in to make the passengers as comfortable as possible and wanting for more!

We've been on many cruises in the past and we thought that this particular cruise was a little on the quiet side compared to the others that we've been on.  That's certainly not a bad thing, however we weren't sure why.  I guess we are used to having music blaring and more upbeat vibe.  We figured it might of been the cruise itinerary.

We highly recommend this spit and cruise itinerary!

Older ship.  Many tourists are rude.  Buffet is average.  Got tired of it.  Did not book excursions through NCL because got lower rate with independent company.  Will try another cruise line next time.

When I read the itinerary for this cruise, it said it started on Sunday in Venice and you could use the ship as a hotel Sunday night as it didn't leave Venice until Monday. Well, what they didn't say was it left Venice Monday at 1 am. Which meant you really had Sunday to see Venice. What a let down. And I wasn't the only one who thought that.

Next, like most ships now, if you want a really decent meal, you have to dine in the 'exclusive' restaurants. Otherwise, you're going to get so-so food, not hot or cold, served by someone who could generally care less. I refused to cave and decided to pretend I was back in college. Come to think of it, dorm food was better.

My husband and I love to cruise and this was the perfect way to start our married life together! This cruise is definitely not about the ship but about the ports of call. This is the only cruise I found that had so many amazing stops on one cruise! The ship and staff are very nice as well, but we booked this for the ports!

Overall the cruise was an experience that I would remember for a very long time.

I have been on two different cruises with different carriers, and this one was the best.  The cabin stewards were excellent, (Joseph) was very helpful, very willing to assist in every way to make the experience what it was.  The sit down dinners and breakfast were superb, the waiters were excellent.

There were two experiences that were not so good: First there were some times when we got a foul smell in our cabins and the surrounding ones (as we checked).  Secondly, there were many times in the early hours of the morning, there were dragging of furniture overhead (seems as in came from the front section of Deck 12. (We were in Room 11509) 

Overall We had a wonderful experience, and we look forward to be on NCL some time in the near future.  I will certainly recommend NCL.

Frank B

I chose this ship because of the itinerary.  It hit all the spots my family wanted to see.  However, aside from the excursions, the ship want nothing to brag about.  The entertainment consisted of all music and dance shows, and the magician was less than magical.  Everything else was extremely expensive to fill the time.  The ship is extremely dated (18 years old).  The recent renovations were actually just repairs, not upgrades.  Couldn't plug in a blow dryer, leaking faucets with mostly cold water (and showers!), hard beds, no iConcierge service, spotty wifi - that you pay an arm and a leg for....thank goodness we spent most of our time site seeing.  My family was so bored in the evenings, we went to beg by 9pm.  Absolutely nothing fun on the fun ship!!!

Wonderful.   No complaints. Staff were great. Magic show ok. Other shows awesome. Naples and Toulon ok but not as great as other destinations. Great bartenders by pool and in champagne bars.  Best food in steak and French restaurants 

With the advent of cell phones I felt the staff to often were communicating on them for personal reasons.  Even when specking with guest they would answer the cell phone. 

The overall cruise itinerary is good, covering the countries and cities that most people desire to visit. The food selection is just average, but food preparation is below average (e.g. ordered the steak as medium rare, and came out twice as medium to medium well). Without offering the captain's dinner/dinners was a big minus. Had multiple interaction with the service desk. Had good experience with the services provided, but one of the staff at the service desk was very rude, and this type of person should go back to basic training before putting on the job. Multiple restrooms (men's and women's) were often broken. The entertainment quality is also just average. I had experiences with Carnival cruise two times before this this one, and both experience were better than this one.

I have sailed many cruise lines over the passed 30 years (in my 50's) with kids and without. This was the best! The entertainment was outstanding. EVERY NIGHT AN EXCITING NEW SHOW WITH NEW PEOPLE FLOWN IN. The magician, Oceans apart and the Other guys along with the specail cruise production staff was amazing. We ate in the "normal" dinning room no specaillty restauarants the food was delicious! Our waiter Willie and Augus we kept the same week. (free stlye cruising) we were trated like royality. The only problem we had was trying to decide what we wanted all great choices. The entertainment staff was non-stop with games, dancers parties I don't think they're himan because i dont know when they sleep. Gio does a great job of keeping us all enteratined. There was several buffett to eat with specail BQ at pool side. (heaven forbid we go 45 min. without eating,) my favorite was in the Raffles buffett for breakfast Amanda and Kelly always came around with fresh pastries and greeted us with a smile "Good morning Chef's surprise!" You had to start the day with a smile after that. The ship is better the hospital clean. The crew works very hard and is so polite and happy. One person was cleaning the stairway banister I asked if I could take her home with me. She said no! loves her job on ship. After a hot day at port yu are met with cold washclothes and a cold drink before going on board. and of course "WASHY WASHY HAPPY HAPPY." You need to take cruise but to laugh as we do now however great way o keep things germ free. Next cruise is Norweign and that with out the awesome ports we went to!        

This cruise was fast paste for senior citizens and too long length in days.  There were too many children (6-12years) running wild and unattended by parents on this cruise.  The food was ok and the drinks cups should be at lest  6 oz..  Sodas shouldn't be included in the drink package.  People should be told of the extra expenses that can or will occur on cruise.  The cleaning or serving crew all seemed to be afraid to speak or communicate with us and were watched constantly by supervisors. This was a very uncomfortable cruise, it looked like modern day slavery at work.