Norwegian Spirit Review

Loved Mediterranean, not NCL

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
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sissyfromcab
10+ Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2019
Cabin: Balcony

We picked this cruise for the itinerary. It was my pre-PhD graduation present. Both embarkation and disembarkation were smooth at the ship. We had to tender in two ports, which took much longer than expected. We spent two days in Rome before the cruise. We enjoyed all of the ports, but it was difficult to figure out what would be open on the holidays in Venice and Barcelona.

Because of the dry dock our cruise was shorted by one day after we booked. We tried to take the offered OBC instead of the provided hotel afterwards and our travel agent didn't notify NCL by the deadline. We got off the ship and boarded buses to the hotel quickly, but it went downhill quickly from there. They dumped about 600 people at a hotel between 7am and 9am with no information, just a conference room to wait in. There was no communication from anyone and there were no NCL representatives present. We didn't get a room until 3:30pm and it was only because we complained that we had been sitting there for more than 6 hours. We were told that we could go into Rome, but it was a 1.5 hour walk or a €30 taxi ride. The did provide us lunch the day we got off the ship and breakfast the next morning, but we were on our own for dinner and had to take a taxi because there were no options that were walkable. We wasted out last day in Rome because we were never given any clear information and were stuck at a hotel far outside the city. NCL had plenty of time to make better arrangements or give us information, but failed.

Weather was chilly, except in Barcelona and Monte Carlo, and we had bad storms with lots of wind for the first two days on the ship. The storms delayed our arrival in Venice.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Love the bigger balcony and bigger cabin. We pulled out the couch and used it to sit on and put our legs up.

Cabin vibrates a lot coming into port and when going full speed. Put washclothes in the closet and toilet/shower doors to help keep them quiet.

Port Reviews

Monaco (Monte Carlo)

Wandered around the city a bit, but didn't find too much to see without a lot of walking. Since we had a long walking tour the next day, headed back to the ship at lunchtime. Others said HOHO bus was nice.

Dubrovnik

Took the ship bus to the city and bought tickets to walk the walls. (Bus was free with shore excursion credit!) Very easy to find. Get there early to beat the tours!

Venice

Walked through the city to St. Mark's Square. A little tricky to navigate, but enjoyable day.

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