As a seasoned cruiser on many different lines and ships i have just returned from a ten day cruise on NCL SPIRIT. I last used this ship about six years ago on the same tour. At which time we thought it to be an excellent cruise with all conditions and services meeting high standards. Alas what a letdown, the food appeared to be mainly for Asians several types of rice and pasta with meats mainly having the Asian twist. For instant there were a dearth of potatoes, you had chips every meal, baked potatoes once and some “black” potatoes (natural). Cheese was another rare item it appeared lunch time with salads (cut small) but none was available at dinnertime for desert. The majority of the food was tepid so by the time you ate it was cold. Breakfast time there were at least three egg stations catering for all tastes – until you wanted ‘Poached’ eggs when you had to go to a special one, heaven forbid you asked for eggs Benedict this you were charged for and on the last day they did do any –when a chef was asked why he replied it was company policy. A good point was the presence of a coffee machine (good for making tea) in the cabin. A big downside was room service which is normally free (at least to midnight) is charged for at over $7 per request.

Our balcony cabin was good although we had a single fold –up fouton which was excellent as a mini settee but it did take up a lot of room. The toilet, washroom and shower were separate the toilet and shower each having a solid door. Opposite was a large wardrobe with plenty of hangers and a couple of dressing gowns also a stack of shelve tucked away at the side. There was a mini bar which had a lock on it I can only assume being a non-drinker, the room maid had the key. The TV was awkward to operate and had the usual channels plus lots of foreign stations leaving us with mainly the news and one film channel.

On our first day at sea ‘NORO VRUS’ myself and my wife succumbed and spent the next five days in quarantine. We soon got over the sickness and diarrhoea but were only allowed to eat plain boiled rice and grilled chicken accompanied with beef broth, dry toast and jelly which was cold and had to twiddle our thumbs or sleep. Apparently we were informed some people got fed up and went to the buffet which resulted in the spread being up graded to a serious outbreak.. When we were released on day six we found more ‘agro’ the passengers weren’t allowed to touch anything not handed to them. All cruet sets were removed you had to queue up at a drinks terminal and receive small packets; sauces were doled out in little pots. Queuing for drinks took forever, not because the boys were slow it was a continuous queue whether you wanted a bag of sugar or salt, or 6 glasses of water and four glasses of orange juice. Even here so many people started reaching for things under the barrier that they moved the barrier so far from the food that people were moving around the food in single file. One respite was the dining rooms but even here you had to ask for bread to go with the meal and of course the condiments came in little sachets. And all the time in the buffet and dining rooms when a passenger finished his table was striped and ‘Sanitized’. Read more