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A little background. . .

Our group of 11 consisted of:
Me, DH, DS~5, DD~2
My husband's parents
My husband's brother, his wife, and their 18 month old son
My SIL's sister and her boyfriend

This was my family's 2nd cruise out of NY on the Spirit. We did the 8 day itinerary last spring. In addition, DH and I have sailed Celebrity and Carnival. This was cruise #2 for my children and the first time they particiapted in the scheduled kid's crew activities.

Day 1: We arrived at the pier around 11:15. We made our way to the terminal, which to our delight was not too busy at this point. We were one of the first groups to get on line to go through the security check point. The 8 day sailing was still disembarking, so once we got through, we were instructed to have a seat. At this time, close to noon, there were plenty of seats. At a little before 1 our number was called and we boarded the ship!

Like last year, we headed straight to Windows for lunch. The secret must be catching on as it was a little more crowded this year than last! We were seated right away and enjoyed our first of many GREAT meals. Several in our party, opted to use the 2 for 1 dinner coupons we recieved from our TA and had no problem making reservations for that evening at Cagney's and LeBistro.

By the time we were done with lunch, our room was ready and our luggage had arrived. Our cabin (deck 10 aft) was a LARGE inside cabin (not a handicapped) in a GREAT location. It was right around the corner from the main elevator bank. It was two levels below the buffet and right down the hall from the arcade, kid's crew, and kid's pool area. The PERFECT spot for those with children. Our cabin had no cabins above, below, or next to it so it was really quiet.

Windows was our favorite place to eat last cruise, so we chose it for our first dinner. Other than one dinner at Cagney's, we ate here every night. We never had to wait more than a couple minutes for a table (even the nights we dined with the entire group!). The service was good for the most part. Some nights took longer than others to get our food. IMO, the portions were perfect. The waiters were very accomodating. It was never a problem to order more than one of anything or request something not on the menu. One waiter that stood out was Adan. We had him two nights in a row. He was great with the kids.

After dinner, the kids got their first taste of the kid's crew. My son ran right in and got busy having fun. MY 2 yo DD was a little more apprehensive. She shed a few tears as this was her first time going off on her own. The counselors were WONDERFUL. They held her until she stopped crying (usually 10 minutes) and after that she had a BLAST!

We were all really tired and decided to call it a night early. The kids were asleep as soon as we turned off the lights. DH and I were not so lucky. It was a rough night at sea. Our drawers kept opening and closing all night. Even with my DD's crib up against them! Wish I brought some duck tape

Up next:
Our first day at sea

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:08 pm by KerCar

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Day 2:

Today was our first day at sea. It was REALLY windy.

We ate breakfast at the buffet. Instead of looking for a seat outside like we normally do, we opted to eat inside today due to the weather. The buffet was pretty much as I remember it to be from the last trip. Good selection of breakfast foods. A little something for everyone. The food was plentiful and always served at the correct temp.

After breakfast, I dropped the kids of at the crew. Again, my DD was a little sad to be leaving me, but after about 10 minutes of being held by the counselors she was fine.

At 10am we had our M&G at Henry's. It was nice to put faces to several of my fellow rollcallers. Thanks to Kathy for making Lanyards for everyone!

The rest of the day was spent doing indoor activities. The kids had a blast at the arcade. My son went through lots of quarters this trip! DD and her baby cousin were just content with running around and pretending to play. Since our last trip, they have added a few games including a virtual reality rollar coaster ride which was really cool!

For formal night, we opted to eat at Windows once again. The food and service were both top notch. We had 9 in our party this evening, so we made a reservation for 6pm. We were seated right away.

After dinner, we dropped the kids back at the crew. DH and I took a nice walk around deck seven and watched as the sun came down.

After the rest of our group came out of the show, we headed over to Champagne Charlie's to listen to some music and have a few drinks. I highly recommend the rasberry chocolate martini

When I picked the kids up from the crew, their faces were painted like a prince and princess. They looked adorable!

I took the kids to bed and DH went to the casino with his brother. If you are going to spend any time in the casino at night be sure to sign up for a Casinos at Sea card. Free drinks!

Next up:
The Ports of Call

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:09 pm by KerCar

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Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:09 pm by KerCar

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After leaving Freeport, I headed down to the spa for a hand treatment, manicure, and pedicure. My time in the spa was nice and relaxing. Between the soothing music, the rocking of the boat, and the hand and arm massage, I nearly fell asleep. The treatments were overpriced compared to what you would pay on land, but it was nice to get pampered (and plus, I was in dire need of a mani/pedi at this point in the trip)

The previous morning, I went down to the reservation desk to make a reservation for Cagney's for tonight. There was no line, so I went up and made a reservation for 6 of us at 5:30 and than a reservation for my MIL and FIL at 8pm. They were going to watch the kids while we ate. Much to our delight, when we showed up for dinner, they led us into the private back room. It was so nice to have an entire room to ourselves. I thought the food and service were outstanding.

At 8pm the Kid's crew reopened and I dropped my two guys off. The theme was "It's a Zoo in Here". When I picked them up a few hours later, they had their faces painted. My DD was a cat and my DS was a bee!

Tonight my DH and BIL volunteered to watch the kids so us girls could go to the Chocolate Buffet at 11pm. Like last time, it was a sight to see. Since we had a big meal at Cagney's a few hours earlier, I didn't eat too much but what I had was pretty good

Next up:
Our Last Day at Sea

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:10 pm by KerCar

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Friday was our last day at sea. The kid's had a full day of activities at the kid's crew so DH and I were able to relax by the pool for most of the morning. At 2pm, I attended the Crusie Reward Certificate Champagne presentation. This program is now available fleet wide and boy do they try to push it throughout the week! It's actually a GREAT deal if you know you'll be cruising with NCL at some point in the next 2 and 1/2 years. The main consultant was very knowledgable about the ships and itineraries. Her assistant, not so much! This was one of many times over the past few years that I have felt way more knowledgable about the NCL product than the NCL reps! DH and I and his parents all ended up buying a reward certificate. There's nothing that beats the post cruise blues like knowing you have another one in the works

After the presentation, I spent the rest of the afternoon packing. For dinner, we decided to eat as a group (minus my 2 kids) one last time. The 9 of us showed up at Windows a little after 7pm and were seated shortly after. This was the latest that we dined this week and the service was a lot slower than usual. The dinner itself was very good though. By the time we were done the International crew show had already started. I decided to skip the talent portion to go back to my room to get some more packing done and head down to the picture gallary to buy a picture. I always wait to the last night to buy my pics so I can pick the best ones.

While I was paying for my picture a parade of chefs came through the hallway headed towards the theater. I knew this meant that the crew show was about to end so I made my way to the theater. The finale of the show where all the officers, etc march onto the stage is not to be missed. A great end to a great week!

At the end of the show, the Captain introduced someone he called, "the bravest passenger". Up stood a young man in his late teens or early 20's. The captain went on to explain that a little boy from the ship got caught up in a wave and was swept out to sea while he and his family were in Nassau. Without hesitation, the young man jumped in and rescued the little boy. Needless to say, the young man got thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the audience. As a mother of two little ones, I got chills down my spine and tears in my eyes listening to the captain's account of what happened. The little boy was said to be doing well and recovering in a hospital in Nassau. NCL: give this hero a FREE cruise!

As soon as the show ended, I booked up to the kid's crew to get my kids before the rest of the crowds. Out came my two, with huge smiles on their faces. One last time, I thanked the counselors for a GREAT week. They are not included in the tip pool, so we tipped them extra.

I headed up to our cabin to finish packing.

Up next:
Our Final Morning

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:10 pm by KerCar

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Saturday Morning:

After doing the 8 day itinerary last year, I expected this trip to fly by. This was not the case. This trip didn't come and go in the blink of an eye, but it didn't drag either. It was just right. Since this was our last morning, we decided to eat in Windows. By this point in the trip, I wasn't too hungry so I opted for a light breakfast. After breakfast I grabbed my camera and headed outside to get some pictures of the NYC skyline, bridge, and Statue of Liberty as we sailed into port.

Since a car service was scheduled to pick us up at noon, we picked 11:30am as our disembark time. We were encouraged to check out of our cabins at 10:15am. We headed up to the kid's pool area to hang out and wait for our tags to be called. A little before 11:30 they announced our color. Unlike last year, there was no line to get off the ship. We just walked right out, had our cards dinged one more time, and off the Spirit we were!

Once in the terminal we found our luggage right away. We tipped a porter to take all of our bags. We got to go through a special customs line for people using porters. Once outside, we called our limo company and told the driver what pole we were at. 10 minutes later he pulled up and we waved good bye to the Spirit.

Random thoughts:
Even though both my sailings were sold out, this one seemed A LOT less crowded than the last. I kept wondering, "where is everyone???" Last trip, I felt like every time I turned a corner there was another line to stand in. This trip, the only lines I encountered were getting on the ship the first day, getting off in Nassau, and waiting for luggage tags. Even the nights we ate as a large group, we never had to wait more than a few minutes for a table. Formal night dinner seemed under attended. Even our waiter commented on how empty the dining room was.

The dress seemed to be more casual on this trip. I didn't see anyone dressed inappropriately, but there weren't as many dressed up on formal night this trip.

I've spent 14 nights on the Spirit the past year and out of those 14 nights only ate one dinner at a pay restaurant. Anyone who claims that you can only get good food at the surcharge restaurants is WRONG!

Pool/Beach towels are now provided in your cabin. Your steward will bring you fresh ones upon request.

You now have to decide what time you'd like to disembark and go down to reception the day before to pick up your tags. Go early as it is first come first serve and there is no one monitoring how many tags people grab.

Up Next:
Even Cheerleaders get to Complain. . .a little

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:11 pm by KerCar

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After reading the first several pages of my review, I'm sure you all get the sense that I am a big fan of NCL specifically the Spirit. But, like everything else in life, nothing is perfect. Here's a brief summary of some of the not so perfect:

~I am a VERY positive and patient person, but I have to say after dealing with NCL customer service reps over the course of the past two years, I really don't have anything positive to say about this aspect of NCL. IMO, they are not adequatly trained to deal with problems (or even answer simple questions correctly). One example, was that our Advanced Guest Registration listed my DH twice. I was afraid that this would cause problems at the pier. Between my TA and myself, we called 5 times to resolve this issue. I got answers ranging from they didn't know what the Advanced Guest form was to I must have done something wrong to my TA must have done something wrong . Finally, they stated that they didn't know how to fix the problem and that was that! This was just one example.

~Check your onboard account summary daily! For the first few days of our cruise, every time my FIL charged something using his card it got added to our account. When I confronted reception about this, their first reaction (just like the land based reps) was that WE must have done something wrong. After lots of digging on my part, I discovered that there was something wrong with my FIL's card and every time he used it, rather than swiping the card, it was entered manually. Since he and my husband have the same first name everything was being charged to our room. In addition, my BIL was charged twice for a soda card. It took a lot of time on their part, but the problem eventually got fixed.

~The staff (especially the room stewards) seemed to be spread a lot thinner this trip than last. I fear that this will only get worse when all the 2.0 changes take effect. On the other hand, laying by the pool in the AM we were constantly bombarded with people aggressively trying to sell us drinks

~Parents: Don't leave your little ones lovies anywhere near the bed when you leave your cabin. My son's blankie went missing during turn down service and was never found

~Not a huge deal, but we were advised not to use our safe this trip. The machine they use to open jammed safes is broken.

Up Next:
The Best of the Best

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:11 pm by KerCar

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Now that I have the complaints out of the way on to what was GREAT about our trip:

The Ship~The Spirit is beautiful and elegant. Windows is by far the nicest dining room from any of my cruises. The ship itself was well maintained and very clean.

The Food~IMO the food this trip was even better than last time. I can not think of one dish that I did not enjoy.

Cagney's~Food and service were top notch. Getting to eat in the private back room was a real treat. Well worth the minimal cover charge.

The Kid's Crew Staff~SUPERB

Deck 10 AFT Kid's facilities~AWESOME

Cabin size and location~Ideal

Fellow Passengers~A nice mix of people: young, old, families, couples, etc. Everyone (except for a few sour pusses) appeared to be having a great cruise.

Disembarkation: Very well organized.

I could go on and on and on. . .

Up Next:
Final Thoughts

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:12 pm by KerCar

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Final Thoughts:

I'll keep this short and sweet! We have had 2 great cruises on the Spirit this year. She's a great ship! I walked away from this trip with the two greatest souvenirs: a BEAUTIFUL portrait of my two children and a Freestyle Rewards Certificate. Off to plan my next trip Any suggestions???

Thanks for letting me share my experiences

Last edited on Thu May 22nd, 2008 05:12 pm by KerCar

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