Norwegian Spirit Review

One of the worst cruises we've been on

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
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pirasea
10+ Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Nov 2018

This was one of the worst cruises I have been on. It wasn’t awful, and we mostly still enjoyed our vacation, and there are some things that this ship was very good at. However, everyone in my family had GI issues that caused them to miss activities, and one person was up all night with vomiting and diarrhea. We did not eat off the ship, and it was not norovirus, so I believe it was from the food on the buffet not being hot.

Embarkation was quick and easy and the luggage arrived quickly. The cabin had very few drawers and the balcony seemed smaller than normal. The AC worked well until the last day when they kept turning the system on and off. There was a lot of noise in the cabin from the pool deck above us, and it woke us up most mornings around 4 and again around 6 when the crew worked up there. We were told that our balcony would be inaccessible in port because it would be washed, we had no water one day for 4 hours while they maintained the potable water system, and several days workmen came into our cabin to scrape and paint on the balcony. They never cleaned up after themselves, so we tracked paint chips into the cabin and the steward would vacuum the room but not the balcony. There were sometimes paint fumes when we came back to the cabin. I realize they have to maintain the ship but this seemed like a lot of restrictions on our ability to use our cabin for a single cruise. The voice mail system never worked. The bed was comfortable and there was a lot of storage space under it for suitcases. The ice tongs in the cabin were filthy. There were dark chunks of dust coming out of the vent in our ceiling and getting all over the white duvet so it seemed like they were not using filters.

Our steward did a good job for the most part but we always put out the sign in the morning and he wouldn’t come for 4 or 5 or 6 hours. The stewards on this ship were also maybe the most unhappy bunch I’ve ever seen on a ship. No smiles or warm greetings in the hall, they just seemed miserable. The waiters seemed pretty stressed out, too. If you moved out of the way to yield to crew carrying something heavy, there was never a thank you or any acknowledgement at all.

Cabin Review

Port Reviews

Almeria

We did Panoramic Alpujarras Mountains, which was a nice tour with an excellent guide. Despite the name, this tour is really not wheelchair accessible.

Valencia

I did Highlights and Traditions of Valencia, which was an excellent tour with an excellent guide. The museum was fun, the market was great, the horchateria was a nice place.

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