Oh, and if you been waiting with bated breath for this season’s disaster...I think we got it out of the way early (at least I hope so!). We are fine, just a little worse for wear when our hotel room flooded this morning.
I’ll fill you in, finish writing about our day and publish an update from Mykonos in two days.
Thanks for your patience!
It is much later on embarkation day. We are still learning our way around the ship but are fairly settled in our cabin. I think we’ll be very happy here for the next nine days. But it’s been a busy few days, and we are tired. Tomorrow is one of those sea days that we are really looking forward to.
We fell asleep early last night at the Hotel Traiano, but I forgot to silence my phone, and we were awakened by text notifications and calls received from home about 1:30am (we don’t have that problem when we’re on a ship, because our phones are in Airplane Mode), and never did really fall back asleep. At 3am I was on Amazon ordering a care package to be delivered to one of the twins older sisters who is in her first year at the US Air Force Academy (we’re just a little proud of her!!). This ability to spend money at night while in bed is one of the most dangerous parts of the internet, isn’t it?
Around 7am, G gave up trying to sleep, and went to take a shower and that is when things went horribly awry. I was in bed, oblivious to the fact that all his shower water was draining onto the tile floor of the bathroom and bedroom. I heard him shut off the shower and let out a yell, and I saw a flood of water soaking anything that was sitting on the floor. Luckily our large suitcases were still closed and upright, and the wheels prevented the water from reaching our clothes, but our backpacks, shoes, socks and the jackets we had hung on the back of a chair were soaked. And the bedspread had soaked up so much water we couldn’t lift it up, so it continued to absorb more and get heavier.
Making the situation even more difficult was that we couldn’t walk across the slick tile floor without slipping and falling, so we couldn’t even dress and notify the hotel’s management. That’s when we devised a quick plan…I would stay on the floor and mop up water using the two thin bath towels and two thinner hand towels, then throw the soaked towels to G. He would stay in the bathroom and wring the towels out in the sink, and throw the towels back to me. And so we did, for over an hour, with him repeatedly warning me not to touch anything electrical (though the electrical cords were sitting on the floor covered with water).
We had no idea how this had happened or if we were the only ones affected. Our first thought was that the hard rain we had overnight was causing sewers to back up, but, thankfully, the water was clean. Our second concern was that it was flooding the room below ours and I half expected our floor to collapse down into that room.
After about 45 minutes of mopping and wringing, G asked if we were making progress, and I told him that the whitecaps had receded, but a large puddle still covered most of the room. We finally called it done when the only puddle remaining was under the bed, and the rest of the floor, though still wet, had no standing water. To add insult to injury, I couldn’t risk taking a shower, lest we have a repeat so I was simultaneously wet and cold and dirty. What a way to start a day!
We dressed in our wet socks and shoes and went down to notify the reception desk of our catastrophe and then eat breakfast (and the only good part of the morning was that they offered decaf cappuccino, which most of Italy has never heard of).
We gathered up our wet backpacks and jackets and relatively dry suitcases and went down to the lobby to take the 10am shuttle to the port. Our original plan was to go over at 11am but there was no point in sitting in the mess that was our room. We had been very happy with the room and the hotel until the flood, but it was hard to remember that afterward. Still, we were counting our blessings. The water had been clean, no electronics were ruined and we didn’t slip and fall, proving that no matter how bad things are, they can always be worse (and just because they could’ve worse doesn’t mean they weren’t bad).
The Norwegian Spirit used a brand new terminal in the port of Civitavecchia for check ins. It was just like an airport terminal, very flash, but they apparently spent no money on WiFi. I had counted on our one day in Civitavecchia to update all my apps, but that didn’t happen either at the Hotel Traiano or in the cruise terminal. Luckily, none of my financial apps need to be updated. We were given boarding group 5, and waited for about an hour before we were checked in. We were on the ship by noon. Our cabin was immediately ready, though some were not available until 2pm. We dropped off our carry on bags, and I unpacked and put away toiletries and the over the door shoe rack and we went to Windows dining room for lunch.
Our cabin is near the top of the ship in the front; Windows is in the back of the ship on a lower deck. Along the way we were getting our first look at the ship, and it is really beautiful. The Norwegian Spirit was built in Germany in 1996 for an Asian cruise line, and was called the SuperStar Leo, so, just as the Pacific Princess is not like other Princess ships, the Norwegian Spirit has no resemblance to other NCL ships. And, in my opinion, that’s not a bad thing. It does similar itineraries to those the Pacific Princess does, ports where the larger ships can’t always go.
The atrium is like those on Royal Caribbean ships, open from decks 7 to 12, with waterfalls and panoramic elevators. There are multiple dining rooms around the ship, many of which are considered specialty restaurants and so are extra cost, but there are numerous ways, through booking promotions and loyalty status, to dine at those restaurants for free.
We had opted to book our cabin with no promotions, such as free specialty dining, excursion discounts or a drink package, and in doing that saved a few hundred dollars per person on our cruise fare, but I had feared that the experience in the no charge Windows dining room might be sub-par. Au contraire! We were blown away by the lunch menu and the presentation and taste of the items we chose. (I am taking photos of all menus and many food items and will post them eventually). I had a Greek salad minus the feta cheese (no problem getting that) and shrimp and penne arrabiata (because you know I’m a fan). Our service was extremely professional and friendly and we loved the table for two by large, floor to ceiling windows (sure, the view right then was of the port terminal, but still…).
Embarkation day lunch menu
We continued exploring the ship again after lunch, looking exactly like the newbies that we are. The main pool area is very pretty with four separate hot tubs and lots of loungers, and there is another kid-themed pool on the back of the ship with a fifth hot tub and lots of loungers in an amphitheater layout so parents can keep an eye on their kids (not that there are many on this cruise).
Kids pool area on the back of the ship
The only area that didn’t wow me was Raffles buffet, not because of the food but because of the chaos there, but it was embarkation day afternoon, and that’s kind of inevitable. I was impressed by the made to order stir fry and pasta, and an entire station of vegetarian food options including my favorite dal.
Muster drill took place on the Promenade Deck, never my favorite spot, but, really, not all that much different than our muster on the Sapphire Princess last cruise, where we had to stand in the Photo Gallery for its duration. We didn’t have to wear, or even bring our life jackets and the instructions were only given in English, which was a plus. I remember Celebrity Cruises muster drills on ships in Europe from 15 to 20 years ago. We wore the life jackets, stood outside on the Promenade Deck and the instructions were completed in about five different languages. Those were tough!
We eventually made our way back our cabin where we found our two large suitcases and unpacked the items we might need on this cruise. It’s hard to top a Princess inside cabin for storage, but this cabin comes very close. The inside cabin on our only previous NCL cruise was postage stamp sized, and that, in large part, is what turned us off to the cruise line (though the insurance convention that was held on the ship that cruise didn’t help). But this cabin is roomier than a standard Princess inside cabin and actually has a small loveseat which we are not very used to having but which does a great job holding those clothes that are clean enough to wear again.
But where this cabin has Princess beat by a mile is the size of the bathroom, the size of the shower (almost as large as ours at home and with sliding shower doors(!!!!!)) and a shower wand. There are two large shelves for storage in the shower and the four shelves around the sink. Very, VERY nice!! And, I must add, my first shower on board was especially appreciated after train rides to and from Rome, an afternoon in that city and crawling around on hands and knees mopping up a flooded hotel room, all of which had occurred since my last shower.
We went to dinner right at 5:30pm in the no extra charge Windows dining room (so named because of the three extra large palladium windows across the back of the dining room overlooking the wake) and were seated at a wonderful table for two next to one of the side, floor to ceiling windows. Our waiter and his assistant, Rico and Derek, both from the Philippines, were wonderful and then the maitre d’ (Masir from Jamaica) stopped by to check on us and…well, we will enjoy that table and those waiters for the rest of the cruise, courtesy of Masir. Perfect!
Again, the menu was incredible, and I had a shrimp and crab cake to start, then a spinach salad minus the bacon, and salmon and quinoa as an entrée. The coffee is really no better than Princess’, but I doctor it up with soy milk and it works.
Embarkation Day dinner menu
The Welcome Aboard show in the Stardust Theater was the usual variety show with a couple of this cruise’s entertainers doing short sets, the singers and the dancers doing two numbers, and the introduction of the senior officers from the Hotel Department. The Stardust Theater is two stories high and impressive, and the seating is roomy but not especially comfortable (all the seating I’ve sat on so far on this ship is hard as a rock); however, the sound system was horrible. I’ll see if it improves at tomorrow night’s show. If it doesn’t, I’ll be wearing my nighttime earplugs to the shows.
Before we fell asleep, I washed out the quick dry T-shirt and quick dry pants I’d worn for two days, and hung them up to dry (our stretchy clothesline was the first thing we put up in our cabin). We’ll see if they’re dry in the morning. If they are, I may get by wearing the same clothes all cruise long.
Hey, we don’t know these people anyway! ;-)