Venice (Christmas Day) - great city, but still flooded. Very surreal. 
Very walkable, and since I'd been there previously, we didn't take a shore excursion. 
Did a gondola ride, a bit expensive but memorable, just COLD.

Venice

Dubrovnik, Croatia - took the ship-arranged ($15pp) shuttle into town. 
Walked the city walls. Amazing. 
Inside the city walls was magical, though the wind seems to gain intensity traveling through the small alleyways and blasts you with cold air. Spiced wine helped. 


Dubrovnik

Kotor, Montenegro - Ferry drops you off near the small town. 
Walked through town (on our own) to entrance to steps (1300+) that lead to the fort at the top of the mountain. 
Guy at the top sells soda, water, and, more importantly, beer. Amazing views from the top. Small town inside the walls was very cool. 
Cats are EVERYWHERE and very friendly.


Kotor

Pisa was a fun, quick stop, the highlight being, of course, the Tower. 
Florence was amazing. So much history, so much significance. We will definitely return, preferably when it's warmer.


Nice and Little Train tour was okay. Parts of what the tour guide covered were also covered during the Little Train tour, would be good to remove the duplicity in the interest of time. Seems like their significance is based on the famous people who stayed/lived there. Beautiful city.
Upon return to Monte Carlo, we had time to see the Christmas village area near the port. Really, really cool. Had Nutella crepes, then the adults enjoyed spiced wine while the kids had hot chocolate.
**Return Ferry boarding process was a cluster**** Arriving one hour before the last ferry was scheduled to depart, we spent that hour on the pier waiting. Pretty sure the ship departed about an hour and a half late.


Our second time there, so we ventured out on our own. Went to Barcelona Cathedral, very impressive. Spent lots of time on La Rambla. Definitely feels like the center of the city in a good way. La Boqueria Market  (Mercado de Boqueria) is a must-visit. So much good food, it'd be easy to pig out, walk around, then pig out again. We determined the New Year's Eve celebration was at Placa Espanaya. Party there was INCREDIBLE. Finished up and ended up walking about two miles back to the ship (catching a cab in the middle of crowd that size was both difficult and impractical), made it back with about twenty minutes to spare. 


Barcelona

December 22:

-Arrive in Rome: (Of course) one bag wasn’t transferred, 16 year old daughter left without clothes for what was thought would be two days (bag would catch up to us in Venice, scheduled to arrive there on December 24th) 

- Arrive at Cruise Terminal, ask to have rooms adjusted (when booked, given two staterooms with one adult in each, even though NCL POLICY stated kids could be by themselves if in ADJOINING stateroom, which we booked) - staff was unable to do so, we were told it had to be done on the ship.)

- After pleading, attendant takes back tickets she’d given to a standby customer and puts us on flight, all separated from each other (not ideal, but ok)

- Second attendant rushes us through security, but stopped at screening due to water in daughter’s Hydroflask (She hadn’t realized we’d be going through security a second time, we had to surrender the $40 Hydroflask - enjoy TSA)

- Finally get on flight, ten minutes later 13 year old daughter escorted off plane WITHOUT TALKING TO EITHER PARENT.

Norwegian Spirit Review

Enjoyed the Ports IN SPITE of the Norwegian Cruise Line experience

Rating by category

Additional details

Cabin Review

Balcony

Port Reviews

Venice

Dubrovnik

Kotor

Barcelona

Find a Norwegian Spirit Cruise from $1,449