Cruise Ship: Norwegian Spirit
Cruise Destination: New England and Canada
Cruise Dates: October 7, 2007
Guest Contributor: Larry
All I can say about my October 7, 2007 Canada/New England Cruise is that I should have gotten off the ship before it departed.
Food
If it's food that you're onboard for, plan to spend your money in the "Freestyle" dining rooms. If you plan on eating in the "FREE" dining rooms, you might as well eat at Denny's or your local nursing home. Just a quick look at a menu could substantiate this bland nonsense. Menus made to sound different, but just re-hashing poor quality food.
The most ridiculous experience was at my first meal, if one could call it a meal. One of the main dining rooms was recommended to me while boarding. The room was called Windows on this ship and there were windows, but any other similarity to a dining room stops with the tables, chairs, and the place settings. It was to be the send-off luncheon, for this long awaited vacation. I sat in this beautiful room, with white tablecloths, a full 9-piece formal place setting, wine and water goblets, and a very efficient waiter, who promptly approached the table. I requested a wine list, and while perusing the list I realized that the list started at 30-plus dollars a bottle for regular "vin Ordinare" (table wine). I ordered a bottle of wine ($36) and then opened the hardbound menu to find a choice of Hamburger, Hot Dog, Club Sandwich...and some ribs....not exactly dining, and I was lucky that I didn't order the $100 bottle.
We promptly got up after lunch to make sure we had reservations for the rest of the cruise at the dining rooms at a cost of $20 per person per day PLUS GRATUITIES. You can't figure how much of your service charge will be going to these waiters, and I can't give a $1.00 tip to someone who took their time and showed knowledgeable service to try and make the cruise enjoyable, so I tipped them an additional $10-$20 per dinner, because it's not their fault that no one really cares about the food in the "steerage class", which we began to call the rest of the food on board. Breakfast and Lunch Buffet in the room they call Raffles was just atrocious. I watched one day as a staff of no less that four "chefs" (at least they were dressed that way) were taught how to make a sandwich.
Accommodations
Well, we left our home in Florida at 5AM to get to the dock in NYC. so after the lunch experience, at 2pm the cabins were cleared for us to get in them. Upon searching for my inside cabin #9577, which looked great online I found that I had to climb over a mountain of luggage. The cabin looked as advertised, but trying to take a nap proved impossible. The noise of everyone's luggage being taken off the freight elevator that was directly on the side of our cabin was ridiculous. Being an experienced cruiser, I knew what the last night of the cruise will have in store for me when the process gets reversed. I ran to the Customer Service Desk. They immediately pointed to a sign that said - ship is fully booked - but that wasn't good enough, so I demanded to speak to someone higher up the chain! To no avail, I was left with the option of getting off the ship or just dealing with it. I opted for getting off, but trying to look for my wife who was then being directed to the lifeboat drill proved to be of no avail and as soon as I found her I was told that the ships gangway was removed so I had to "Deal With It." But I was also promised that the "noise situation was now under control".
Second morning (Our nice and quiet day at sea) was worse. We found out the room service dishes are cleaned right next to our room. After stopping the steward from clanging the dishes, the noise still continued. We went into the hall (7:15) to find a door directly behind our bed marked no access. It was there that we found 4 or 5 guys in machine overalls climbing into the air-conditioning vents and clanging tools, chains and whatever. I was told that they were a special crew from Taiwan, who didn't speak English, and that they would start later tomorrow. Well, with my video of the mornings surprises I went to the "Desk" again and was told again -- sorry. I showed them the sound video and the noise firsthand, and all they offered was a second guarantee of quiet, or I could get off in Halifax.
If it sounds like I am harping to much on the quiet thing, you must be told at this point don't sleep much, I play all evening in the casino, enjoy fine wines and dining, enjoy theater, comedy shows, TV, exciting excursions, and just having a good time. Well, most cruises, or shall I say all of the cruises I have been on, have offered me almost all of these, but not this one.
The Casino closed nightly at 1:30-2am. The dealers were amateurs who were being trained while they played live. It was just painful watching blackjack dealers who were using an automatic shuffler, and still fluffing their deals and failing to be able to count to 21 with any regularity. Crap dealers were worse, not knowing proper odds and payouts for the game. It made for a very long, but short evening. The slots all had little signs stating high payout odds, "Guaranteed Loose." When inquiring about what the slots payout percentage was, I just got a puzzled look.
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