I've booked a Caribbean cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line on Norwegian Spirit. How does it rate vs others?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

We cruised on the Norwegian Spirit last spring to the southern Caribbean. The ship was nice, but not the nicest we have been on. We liked the cruise itinerary to islands in the lower Caribbean. At one time I had NCL as my favorite cruise line but after my last two cruises on NCL I have changed my opinion.

After NCL was bought by Star Cruises and they instituted the "Freestyle Cruising", I do not recommend NCL, especially for people who have been on a number of cruises before because of the "freestyle" cruising. Ever since Star Cruises took over NCL the line it has an Asian flavor; Star is an Oriental company. Some of the performers and musicians were Asian and they had Karioke every evening. Not my cup of tea. Freestyle means that you do not have to specify a dining option; don't have a table and waiter assigned to you.

"FREESTYLE" means you can go to dinner in the main dining room any time of the evening. It means you don't have to "dress up" for dinner ,but just go "sports casual". But it also means that you may be standing in line awaiting a table on some days (like we had to a couple times); not what you want on a cruise. Since you go when you want, you rarely get the same waiter and so never really get to know your waiter and he/she never learns what you prefer. The option to this being pushed on NCL is their optional dining restaurants. However, these dining options can cost $10 to $20 a person for dinner each night. This is not what you want after paying for a cruise which is supposed to be all inclusive.

The optional restaurants are nice, including French, Chinese/Sushi, Tex-Mex, Italian, and steak house restaurants. But who wants to go pay to eat on a cruise ship where all the meals are supposed to be included. We always skipped the optional restaurants and just got to the main dining early. That worked fine, except on "at sea" days when everyone wanted to go eat early. WE finally found that we could reserve a table in the main dining room, BUT we still didn't get the same waiter and table.

You will enjoy the ship, but its nothing special though. I now perfer Royal Caribbean to NCL. My second choice now is Princess which in my book has some of the best ships and food.

RoRo

I've been on a cruise every year for 9 years and Norwegian cruise line is by far the best I've been on. With the 24 hour pizza and hamburgers to the relatively inexpensive drinks, not to mention the constant activities. This year I went to Norwegian Majesty(Bermuda) and Carnival Fascination(Bahamas), I was appalled by Carnival. Hope you have a great time :) Where are you heading?

ROSETTA S

i loved it there my cruise line

thndr97

Norwegian Cruise Line always tries to do things a little different than the other lines. Sometimes it works- sometimes it doesn't. It really depends on your cruise preferences. If you haven't cruised before, you will enjoy the ship. The line admittedly caters to first time cruise guests and their freestyle dining, debarkation, etc. seems to go over well. If you are a veteran cruiser and you prefer the traditions of cruising, you might not enjoy their style. I've found that most people either love it or hate it. The Spirit is conveniently based out of NYC which makes it a great choice for northeasterners. It is not a huge ship (it's in the 70,000 GRT range) but it's big enough for the popular amenities. Ask your travel agent for details and brochures of the ship. Have a great cruise.

tech_fanatic

Overall, I would say that the ship is pretty nice. It isn't one of the newest ships, but it is still new enough that is pretty up to date. So as far as the ship, I think that you will be pretty happy.

Here is a link to more info on the ship and some reviews: http://cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=299

I'm not sure what other lines you have been on. But, for some people the biggest advantage to NCL, to others the biggest disadvantage is the freestyle crusiing. Some people love it, some people hate it. The best thing to do is just look more into and see if you feel it is right for you. Personally, it is not my favorite, but I still cruise with NCL.

I hope this helps!

grouchyeve

I am not a fan of NCL. I do not like their open dining nor their
tipping policy. I find the service horrible because the staff don't care-they get tipped anyways. The food is mediocre compared to some other lines.

clb1101

You can go on line and see how people rate different cruise lines.

St N

All other bases are covered, so try www.ncl.com. They have layouts and pictures of their whole fleet. Also, many of the ships have bridge cams so that you can see what is immediately ahead of the ship at any time. Enjoy.

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