Dan Elseman

This is our second trip on the Spirit the first being last May,2004 to Alaska. Let me say this first. WE, my wife and I, really like the ship and it's crew.
We found the food in both Windows and the Garden room to be wonderful and the service first rate. Give me the world crews on NCL any day. They seem to appreciate the fact they have a job and go out of their way to please.
Having served in the Navy I've learned that the higher you bunk the more the ship rolls. So for us, we booked our cabin on deck 6 a little forward of mid-ship. It was perfect. My wife loved the towel animals the staff made each night and the candies on the pillow are a nice touch. Small things but it's the little things that you appreciate the most I think.

Entertainment? Some were very good and others just OK but none were bad.

Ports;
We both felt Grenada was the most exotic even though Ivan really caused them harm. They told us it will take 13 years before the spice trees come back on line and that the tourists are the only source of income for now. Still the people we met were gracious and very friendly.

Barbados;
Was OK, perhaps the most developed island on the trip. The landscape, for us at least, was not nearly as exotic as Grenada or St. Lucia, our favorite.
St. John left much to be desired as the smell from the open sewers put us off some. Outside of town the place is beautiful however...

Tortola;
Pretty much the normal island. American style stores and unlike the other islands where the cars are right hand drive and they drive on the left side of the road, in Tortola they have American cars with left hand drive and they drive on the left hand side of the road, go figure. The island is pretty and getting around is no problem. And on the note. We learned from our Alaskan trip that we could do better tours on our own and at a lower cost. However if your not used to bartering you might want to stay with the ship deals.

Conclusion;
We love the freestyle system used by NCL. We never waited more then ten minutes to get a table for two.

Yes, some folks did dress up but for the most part a nice pair of slacks and a Polo shirt will do nicely for dinner. During the day anything but shorts and you'll look stupid.

We plan on taking another cruise later this year and NCL will be a part of it. One other thing. Everyone and I mean everyone we met comments on the cleanliness of the ship. They keep it spotless.

I've read some poor reviews for this ship and can't figure it out. Our opinion is that they work for another cruise line as none of what they complained about was experienced by us or anyone else we talked with.