Impressions of the Norwegian Spirit

The Norwegian Cruise experience was better than we expected, and very new since we have not been on any cruise in 15 years, and never with NCL.

The cruise map is roughly this:

From At Sea Oink

The cabins are small, but not really a problem compared with the space available in Morty. The cabin staff was efficient and unobtrusive -- everything you ever hoped for. Each cabin has only one 110 volt outlet with another on the hairdryer in the bathroom. Some form of power splitter would be very useful.

The waiters are trained to move with military precision through every activity in the dining room. Take for example how the table is cleared, and a new white table cloth positioned and the places reset. No matter who is doing it, every action is a precisely choreographed dance step. The table cloth itself is always perfectly centered on the table.

The female wait staff are far better than their male counterparts. If your waiter is male the chance for poor service is about 30%. If female it drops to about 10%. There is a great advantage in identifying a good waiter, and then asking to be seated in his or her station at subsequent meals [e.g. Kimberly in the Garden].

The food is very good. If you prefer fish, there is a robust selection over the week, and no disappointments. Beef and lamb lovers also do extremely well.

The fitness center is better than on any cruise ship I have experienced. The aerobic and weight machines are all Precor, and in excellent condition. The AquaSwim pools are too great a challenge for most fitness enthusiasts, but I found them a lot better than I expected.

Hand sanitizing stations are placed every 50 or 100 feet in the ships public areas. Plus there are dedicated Washee-Washee attendants at each entry to the ship from the dock as well at each entry to the dining rooms. Probably a smart tactic to keeping down the threat of contact-born diseases.

NCL Latitude Club

Now that we have technically experienced one NCL cruise, we are members of the Latitudes, and are eligible for the captain’s cocktail party. This is an experience of the utmost. We received a couple of cocktails and tiny sandwiches while the captain allowed his direct reports to introduce themselves. There were some nice door prizes for the lucky few winners.

This was the night for lobster and beef Wellington at dinner, and we enjoyed them both reprising our eating performance of last Monday. Except that tonight our waiter offered me as many supplemental lobster tails as I might want. I thought I might enjoy a second, but somehow it seemed not nearly as good as the regular one. Sometimes we learn only with great difficulty.

NCL Spirit aka Superstar Leo

The Thursday late evening buffet features all things chocolate and whatever goes with chocolate. After a warm greeting from our adopted head waiter Kimberly, we sample a few favorites.

At sea on Friday, we are traveling northwest toward the St. Lawrence but we spend most on the day in rain, fog and cold. As you would expect, the indoor public areas and restaurants are chock a lock with passengers seeking diversions – quite a contrast from all the other days in port when the ship seemed ghostly.

The cruise ends tomorrow for some passengers, but we will re-board the ship after exploring Quebec.

This ship began life as the Superstar Leo and called at ports in India and Asia. The murals in our cabins still have that name on the life preserver in the view of a Fiji beach from the ship. Many of the plaques and photos from its early life are still in the Captain’s Bridge room from which passengers can watch the activity or more correctly lack of same on the bridge.

NCL Norwegian spirit

The role of Morty on this trip will be played by the NCL Norwegian Spirit. Some friends booked a cruise to celebrate their anniversary, and we tagged along for a chance to see Canada in its fall splendor. As they quipped, we hope Morty will not be able to smell the salt water on us and the effects of showers in our cabin as opposed to in our campground when we return.



Veterans of at least 15 prior cruises, the last was over 15 years ago if memory serves. We prepared ourselves to be updated into the world of business-casual open-seating dining, and pre-determined daily service charges replacing or supplementing the prior practice of tipping the crew who were directly responsible for our experience. We anticipated that service and food in this more anonymous environment would become anonymously mediocre. We also girded ourselves for the rigors of flying with the Transportation Safety Administration since our last commercial flight was also that long ago.