I promised a wrap up of our Norwegian Spirit cruise today, and, even though it’s only 6:15am and I just opened my eyes, I’m going to get it done. Today will be a two-post day; having this completed in the morning will give me the rest of the day to write the second one. (Those nuns really left an impression, didn’t they? Well, those nuns and my mother.) ;-)
I mentioned in my first post of the season that we rather stumbled upon the Norwegian Spirit cruise through CruiseTimetables.com. We were in that mad rush to figure out how to fill the 28 days of the Sapphire Princess repositioning cruise when the Spirit cruise appeared in our radar. It was not a case of booking just anything to fill the time; I had been feeling a bit let down that Santorini did not appear on the itinerary for the repositioning cruise. Cancelling that, I thought we had lost Rhodes, which had been on that itinerary. When we saw the itinerary for the Norwegian Spirit, it immediately seemed perfect.
It was also the most expensive cruise, on a per day basis, of our entire season (excluding air). I guess that wasn’t a surprise. On Princess, we get quite a nice accumulation of on board credits (OBCs). Military, stockholder, Future Cruise Deposits, Captains Circle, and promotional OBCs all add up each cruise. We had none of that on NCL. The daily tips charge was also higher (I don’t have it in front of me, but I think it was around $15pp), and, when we purchased NCL’s travel protection plan, there was no free upgrade to their highest level of coverage, which, by the way, only provided 90% of cancellation charges back as a future travel credit in case we cancelled for a non-covered reason (on Princess, we get a free upgrade to Platinum protection, with 100% back in future travel credits). So, we didn’t book that cruise because it was an inexpensive way to spend ten days.
We had only been on one NCL cruise in the past, in May 2000 on the new Norwegian Sky to Alaska. Our cabin had been so small (the smallest we’ve had in 130 cruises), and the food in the main dining room was so bad that we never returned to the cruise line. We had been lucky; extra cost restaurants were just being rolled out on cruise ships, and NCL was leading the way. There was a fondue restaurant with beautiful views on top of that ship, for just $5pp, and we ate there six out of seven nights. But none of that mattered in our choice to return to NCL. We did a few minutes of research on the Norwegian Spirit and got out our credit card to book the cruise.
We booked the cheapest guarantee cabin category, which meant we did not have a specific cabin. There were immediately other decisions to make though. It was one fare for the basic cruise and a higher fare if we wanted to add in a promotion. These promotions were things like an unlimited drink package, or a $50 per port discount on ship’s shore excursions, or an internet package or a specialty dining package. We stayed with the simple booking. G might have enjoyed the drink package but we’d‘ve both needed to add it. I don’t drink and it would have cost us $20 each per day in additional gratuities (I didn’t like that at all).
Within just a couple of weeks, we were assigned an inside cabin on Deck 10 toward the front of the ship. We were quite pleased with that; we’d prefer to be above the Promenade Deck rather than below it in most instances. Then the upgrade offers began. We had several opportunities to bid on upgrades to higher cabin categories, with a minimum bid for ocean view cabins and another for balcony cabins. The one thing (maybe the only thing) I remember from a Masters-level economics course is that exploiting the area under the demand curve results in a more perfect economy. Bidding does exactly that- people pay what they are willing to pay, and the entire area under the demand curve is filled- but it all seemed a little gimmicky to G. We stayed put in our Deck 10 inside cabin.
Naturally, we had to navigate an unfamiliar website to complete our check in and print travel documents and luggage tags, but I don’t remember that as being too onerous. We completed that process and really didn’t think anymore about our reservation.
It was not until that sleepless night at the Hotel Traiano in Civitavecchia (G renamed it the Hotel Traitanic after the flood), after ordering a care package on Amazon for an Air Force Academy cadet but before the room flooded, that I really thought about that cruise again. I looked at all the recent reviews. The ship was older, built in 1997 for an Asian cruise company as SuperStar Leo. It was decorated by the owner’s wife, with strong Asian influences, and, though it had been renovated several times since, the Asian influences still remained. The general consensus of the reviews was that the ship was dated but in good condition, and the food and crew were all good. I was hopeful.
Well, from the time we stepped on board the Norwegian Spirit, we were blown away by the friendliness of the officers, staff and crew. We’ve been on several friendly ships before (and staying on for months at a time made them even friendlier), but we’ve never encountered anything like this. We were just second time NCL cruisers, knew no one on board. And these interactions felt comfortable, not forced, not stilted. We were instantly comfortable.
The ship was in excellent condition. It reminded us quite a bit of the Pacific Princess, larger, of course (nearly three times the size), but with the dark woods and deep colors of the Pacific Princess. Our inside cabin was excellent. There were sliding doors on the closet (much better than doors than open out but not as good as no doors), cubbies in the closet, a lighted safe and four very nicely sized drawers in the vanity. The beds were perfect, the best I’ve ever had on a cruise. That we both liked them means they appeal to people who need firm support as well as those who want comfort. There was a top sheet and an encased duvet on the bed.
The bathroom was amazing. A long shower with a sliding glass shower door and two shelves inside, a long vanity and two shelves on either side of the large mirror. Towels were not notable one way or the other. There was a wall dispenser with liquid hand soap (loved this) next to the sink. There was a combined shampoo/conditioner on the wall in the shower, a shower gel and there were nice bars of lemongrass soaps available too (I brought one to use on the Pacific Princess).
However…the TV was small, old and, worst of all, had maybe one English speaking entertainment channel, a couple of English news channels, and the rest of the channels were in other languages. Luckily, this was such a port intensive cruise that it really didn’t matter, but, with several sea days, it would have been an issue.
The entertainment on board was average. The production shows lacked…something. I’m not sure if it was the set design (or lack of it), which could be attributable to the size of the ship), the choreography or the vocalists, but something was off. The guest entertainers ranged from good (the magician) to average. There were plenty of live music and game show type entertainment around the ship, but we were simply too tired to enjoy most of it.
The cruise director, Dave, from Mexico, was fantastic. Fun yet professional, he seemed involved in far more things than CDs are on Princess. The cruise staff members we met were very friendly and helpful. On embarkation day, several crew wore badges that said ‘ DirectionalAssistance’ and were standing at cross points by elevator lobbies and stairs to offer directions and answer questions.
The pool areas were beautiful, and adequate for the number of passengers onboard. There were plenty of loungers, I would think, even for a hot itinerary. Two pool towels were in our cabin; replacements came from the pool deck by showing our key card (in reality, this really wasn’t enforced. We often got a pool towel to use to wring out our hand laundry).
Raffles Buffet was a disappointment, not because of the food, but because of the décor (dark) and lack of lightning. It felt dirty as a result, but I’m certain it absolutely was not.
Windows dining room was the highlight of the cruise. It had a plethora of tables for two and four, which is what most cruisers want these days, but several larger tables too. At the back of the ship, it had a large section with three palladium windows overlooking the wake. We tried lunch in that area once, but settled on a favorite table for two next to a port side window and sat there for dinner every night. Our waiters, Rico and Derek, were friendly and attentive.
Windows Dining Room
The food on the Norwegian Spirit in all venues- the menus, the taste, the presentation- was among the best we’ve ever enjoyed on a cruise. I asked the maitre de if their menus were specific only to the Spirit or the same fleet wide, and was assured every ship was the same. I had feared that, with the focus on specialty dining, our food in the main dining room and buffet would suffer. Not so at all. We went a bit wild, eating far more than we do on Princess, simply to try more things.
Although we pretty much reserved ourselves into traditional dining, we like that freestyle dining was available. We never saw lines outside restaurants as a result, as there often are on Princess. We liked that people could dine in any restaurant any night in nice jeans. If one wanted to wear shorts to dinner but enjoy the dining room menu, Garden restaurant was the place for that.
We dined at two specialty restaurants- Cagney’s steakhouse and Teppanyaki, and they were both excellent. They offered the same excellent service we enjoyed in the Windows dining room every night.
For our one previous NCL cruise, we received a bottle of Prosecco in our cabin upon boarding. We also could have gotten 10% off any logo wear in the gift shop.
We looked into, but did not book, a NextCruise deposit. On NCL they are $250, and do not provide OBC on a future cruise but on the cruise on which they are booked, up to $500 for the maximum of four per person. Also, just one is required to book a cruise for two people. However, they are not refundable and must be used within four years. We were tempted…but not entirely sold.
We would cruise again on the Norwegian Spirit in a heartbeat. I’m not certain we would cruise on a larger NCL ship, but our wonderful experience has made us more open to try a slightly bigger ship, providing the cabin size is acceptable. Specifically, I am lobbying hard for three Norwegian Spirit cruises from February 10 to April 15, 2020 that sail from Rome to Dubai, Dubai to Cape Town, South Africa, and Cape Town to Singapore. I’m providing a list of the ports in case someone else is interested. The time frame is not great for us, but these itineraries are amazing.
Rome; Athens; Kusadasi, Turkey; Rhodes, Greece; Limassol, Cyprus; Haifa, Israel; Suez Canal; Safaga, Egypt (with an overnight); Aqaba, Jordan; Muscat, Oman; Khasab, Oman; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Dubai, UAE; Fujairah, UAE; Port Victoria (with an overnight), Seychelles; Nosy Be, Madagascar; Port Louis, Mauritius; Pointe des Galets, Reunion Island; Richard’s Bay, South Africa; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Mossel Bay, South Africa; Cape Town, South Africa; Male, Maldives; Phuket, Thailand; Langkawi, Malaysia; Penang, Malayasia, Singapore.
The Norwegian Spirit continues for 16 more days beginning April 15, 2020 in Singapore, stopping in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Shanghai and several ports in Japan before ending in Tokyo. And that point, I believe the ship is due to be transferred to another company. However, there is another refurbishment prior to these cruises, so it will be in great shape.
Please, someone, take these cruises, and blog about them so I can vicariously follow along. I can promise you that the Norwegian Spirit will not disappoint you!