Norwegian Spirit Return!
Jean O'Boyle
Guatemala, Belize, and Cozumel. We had a very enjoyable cruise and were
extremely surprised about how good the food and the service were...It was
far from all the negative things that we had been hearing about NCL. The
only complaint was that more than 1/3 of the ship's passengers were small
and mid-size children with teens, high school and a few college aged kids
mixed in. That meant that many of the parents thought the cruise was a baby
sitting service. That meant a lot of running in the halls...even in the
buffet.... plus elevator games.
Even some of the responsible parents complained.. The first two days were
the worst, but then I think Security stepped in and things calmed down quite
a bit. The moral of the story is: Try not to cruise too soon after Christmas
and over New Year's. We still had a great time and as soon as I catch up on
reading all the snail mail and doing all the laundry, I will post a summary.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
It will be a cold night in San Antonio...27 degrees is predicted! Brrrrrr!
--Jean
Marsha
I'll take your 27 degrees if you'll take our 2 degrees, with an even
lower wind chill!!! Welcome back.
Marsha
Jean O'Boyle
"Marsha" <m...@xeb.net> wrote in message news:hhu7kn$mlj$1...@news.datemas.de...
.
> I'll take your 27 degrees if you'll take our 2 degrees, with an even lower
> wind chill!!! Welcome back.
>
> Marsha
OH, MARSHA! No thanks! 27 is bad enough!!!! Where do you live? Double
Brrrrrr for you! Thanks for the welcome back and stay well and warm!
--Jean
Surfer E2468
cruise lover(~~~~~)
.
Bill
> and over New Year's.
Shouldn't it have been obvious that if you cruise on a mass market line
like NCL during Christmas week that the ship would be full of kids??? I
don't like unruly kids either but I don't understand your comment about
the "many of the parents thought the cruise was a baby sitting service".
Were you expecting the kids to stay with their parents all day? The real
issue that the kids were not supervised and the parents didn't care. Or
maybe NCL didn't have enough activities to keep them otherwise occupied.
But the bottom line is if you didn't want to be on a ship full of kids,
you should have waited until after the holidays were over.
Bill
Jean O'Boyle
"Bill" <bill...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:hhueth$6i9$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Bill, I see you are your usual pleasant self.
1. It was our 49th cruise and we have cruised during every month of the
year, so we don't need your advice as to when to take one. As it happened,
it was the only time of the year that one of our children could get away
from his medical research and being an avid scuba diver, we took this cruise
during that particular time for our first time; thus my remark about the
moral of the story.
2. The feeling like being a baby sitter statement was made by an exasperated
crew member who was constantly asking children to stop running up and down
the hallways...In between that, there were elevators that were out of use
because a group of children would get on one and a group on another and see
who could get to a certain level first...the doors would open, the kids
peeked out and then spying the other group, would select another deck to get
to first while people were standing waiting for elevators...If you don't
call this "baby sitting" by the crew, I disagree...Apparently after numerous
complaints, Security started monitoring that area closely and it pretty much
stopped...It was a case of unruly children whose parents are off doing their
own thing and expecting the crew to take over and look after their kids. It
is irresponsible and dangerous.
One about ten years old, while running, ran into a woman carrying coffee;
another group of four with their parents sitting right there, were doing
somersaults in the buffet; which came to an abrupt stop when the 5-6 yr.old
struck a little toddler who was at another table, but standing by and
watching, in the head with his feet. The adults members never apologized.or
said a word...just sat there while it became very quiet...for about 3
minutes..You never know who your fellow passengers are...there could be
child predators on board for all you know, why think that a ship is a safe
haven for children off on their own?
We were phoned on the next to last day of our cruise and asked how we
enjoyed our cruise and if we had any suggestions or complaints. I told her
that we had had a very enjoyable cruise; listing all the things that had
impressed us and that our only complaint was the unattended and unruly
children. She replied that it was the single largest complaint they had had
and that some of the parents were talked to but it seemed useless as they
had to speak to some of them several times.
I love children...have five of my own, but when we went on a cruise as a
family, grandchildren and all, we did things as a family or had them
enrolled in activities. The teens had frequent scheduled reporting times and
set curfews when they weren't with an adult member of the family.. The NCL
Spirit has a lovely children's pool and hot tub and organized activities
plus video games so they certainly cannot be blamed...they tried.
--Jean
peter
> "Bill" <bill...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
> news:hhueth$6i9$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> On 1/4/2010 9:01 PM, Jean O'Boyle wrote:
>>> The moral of the story is: Try not to cruise too soon after Christmas
>>> and over New Year's.
>> Shouldn't it have been obvious that if you cruise on a mass market line
>> like NCL during Christmas week that the ship would be full of kids??? I
>> don't like unruly kids either but I don't understand your comment about
>> the "many of the parents thought the cruise was a baby sitting service".
>> Were you expecting the kids to stay with their parents all day? The real
>> issue that the kids were not supervised and the parents didn't care. Or
>> maybe NCL didn't have enough activities to keep them otherwise occupied.
>>
>> But the bottom line is if you didn't want to be on a ship full of kids,
>> you should have waited until after the holidays were over.
>>
>> Bill
>
> Bill, I see you are your usual pleasant self.
> 1. It was our 49th cruise and we have cruised during every month of the
> year, so we don't need your advice as to when to take one. As it happened,
> it was the only time of the year that one of our children could get away
> from his medical research and being an avid scuba diver, we took this cruise
> during that particular time for our first time; thus my remark about the
> moral of the story.
I think you and Bill agree, though Bill claims you should have expected
what you got. But apart from the unruly kids, apparently you were
surprised by better than expected service and food. How do service and
food compare to Oceania, Celebrity and HAL? Do your comments apply to
the food in the two main dining rooms? Is it no longer true that you are
more or less forced to go to one of the many service-charge restaurants
to have a decent meal?
>
Cruise Crazy
Welcome home again. You seem to be away more than you are home. Glad you
enjoyed NCL. They offer good value on the newer ships.
We will be on Regent Seven Seas Navigator in a few weeks and will be
going to Costa Maya. All the excursions seem to be water related and
since my husband has skin cancer, we wondered what else there is to do
there. What did you do?
This is our first time on a luxury line. RSS is owned by the same
company that owns Oceania, so I am sure it will be a grand cruise.
~~DORIS~~
________ / /___/ /___/ /_________
\::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1-23-2010 Sailing the Regent Navigator to Central America
Jean O'Boyle
"peter" <pet...@stockton.com> wrote in message
news:hhuqfd$5pf$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
Hi Peter,
I feel that Bill comes off as curt and critical in his posts to most
everyone on this group.
Of course I expected families with children during this time of the year,
but not as many with the economy as it is. The cruises tend to be higher
priced during that period of time and it was disturbing that so many of the
youth were not supervised and were so disruptive.
The food, especially in the buffet, compared very well with Celebrity and
HAL....not quite Oceania but much better than on RCL. I realize that
tastes in food are subjective.
I was surprised that they had two Eggs Made to Order Stations and saw many
scrumptious combinations of omelets. The ingredients were of a good variety
and in bowls from which you could choose whatever you wanted. They also had
Eggs Benedict. There was French toast, waffles, pancakes with toppings of
strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, a banana compote that was simply
delicious ( I chose it everytime) and whipped cream. It was the first cruise
that we have taken that they had peanut butter along with different jellies
and jams next to the toast and bagel area. They had smoked salmon and bagels
every morning and lots of fresh fruit...cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, a
bowl of cut up fresh fruit that included grapes, along with peaches,
apricots which were of a canned variety. They had bowls of dates, figs,
prunes (both dried and fresh) along with dried fruit assortment of apple
rings and apricots. The scrambled eggs were prepared nicely...not real dry
as they often are on cruises. The coffee was very good...Ed thought it to be
the best coffee he had ever had on any other cruise that we have taken.. I'm
not a coffee drinker, except for a cup in the morning, but this time I had
two cups each morning and some at night...They had orange, cranberry and
apple juice from the machine along with skim, regular and half and half
milks and creams. Also packets of hot chocolate and different teas.
A separate station made fresh carrot juice, celery juice, watermelon juice,
fresh orange juice, tomato and some different fresh fruits alone or mixed.
There were bowls of different vegetables and fruits that you could choose
from for them to blend together right in front of you...a made to order
drink.
The service varied from very good, as our cabin stewards, to from good to
mediocre, depending where and when you were eating. The buffet food always
was very good. Sometimes I think that prepaid tipping brings out the slacker
in the not too ambitious . What makes me think that is because of the
different service levels that we encountered...
The food in the dining room was also quite good...escargot, delicious French
onion soup, cold soups and the sirloin steak was also very good. We did
think the variety of dishes could have been more, but we always were able to
choose something that we liked...there was a menu that was available every
night if you did not like anything that they offered for that specific
night. We ate in Cagney's Steakhouse on New Year's Eve and the steak I had
there was comparable to the one I had had in The Windows Dining Room, one of
the main dining rooms. The service in Cagney's was impeccable but too much
food! I could not begin to finish it all. The shrimp cocktails in the dining
rooms were tiny tasteless ones. The shrimp cocktail in Cagney's was
humongous! At least five inches in length...no exaggeration...never saw
shrimp that size..even those from the Gulf in Texas!
Of all the restaurants, including The Garden Room, (the other main dining
room) my favorites were The Windows and Raffles (the buffet) They also had
a 24 hr. restaurant, the Blue Lagoon, that served many varieties of food
consisting of hamburgers and fries, different soups and chili as well as
some Asian food. That place was packed every time we went by and it was
right next to the Sports Bar which also had tables that were being served
with dishes from the Blue Lagoon.
And in answer to your last question, no, we did not have to go to a
specialty restaurant to get good food.
Got carried away and almost wrote my entire cruise report...sorry!
--Jean
D Ball
I am so happy you and Ed were able to kick back and enjoy a relaxing
post-Christmas cruise with your favorite dive boy! And that you
enjoyed such a positive NCL experience--it's great to hear a good
review from an experienced cruiser.
I am sorry your New Year's cruise was kid-plagued. As you may recall,
we've done many holiday sailings, both Christmas/Hanukkah week and New
Year's, and the extended family pax demographic is the norm. However,
only one of all those cruises was impacted by the "kids run amok"
phenomenon. The negative emotional drain on crew and non-involved pax
was similar to that we experienced on a cruise with a large on-board
group (a popular musical band and groupies). Until someone has
experienced a "runaway ship" social dynamic, it is hard to explain how
disagreeable it can be...how the simplest of pleasures can be ruined
in one way or another by the selfish acts of others. It's a bummer.
But I wouldn't discount all New Year's cruises as having that problem--
you just drew the black bean on your first one.
Take care, and stay warm. The logs are crackling in the fireplace
tonight, but I still can't seem to get warm enough!
Diana Ball
Austin, TX
Sue Mullen
Welcome home Jean, sounds like a good cruise overall. I am wondering did
you eat only in the main dining room or did you try some of the other
restaurants on the ship?
sue
Sue Mullen
Cruise Crazy wrote:
> We will be on Regent Seven Seas Navigator in a few weeks and will be
> going to Costa Maya. All the excursions seem to be water related and
> since my husband has skin cancer, we wondered what else there is to do
> there. What did you do?
Check and see if there are any excursions to Mayan Ruins. They used to
have them from Costa Maya, but I don't know if they continued with them
after rebuilding.
sue
Cruise Crazy
excursions. All are water type activities and my husband has serious
skin cancer.
Jean O'Boyle
"Cruise Crazy" <Dor...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:10177-4B4...@storefull-3253.bay.webtv.net...
Jean,
Welcome home again. You seem to be away more than you are home. Glad you
enjoyed NCL. They offer good value on the newer ships.
We will be on Regent Seven Seas Navigator in a few weeks and will be
going to Costa Maya. All the excursions seem to be water related and
since my husband has skin cancer, we wondered what else there is to do
there. What did you do?
This is our first time on a luxury line. RSS is owned by the same
company that owns Oceania, so I am sure it will be a grand cruise.
~~DORIS~~
Hi Doris,
I apologize for not answering your post sooner and hope that you have not
already left on your cruise and I am too late with an answer. And thank you
for the welcome back. It seems we are away from home quite a bit with two
cruises in December and we really have to slow down and take care of things
at home that we have put off doing between cruises. ;-) We will be on
Oceania Regatta in March.
Since you are not interested in any water type excursions, there are five
different ruins that are in Costa Maya. NCL offered tours to two. Chacchoben
Mayan Ruins, which was 4 hours long and who's one of the principal
distribution centers for precious woods and jade. It dates back to 360 A.D.
but until last year was largely unexplored. Then there are the Kohunlich
Ruins that are known for the human-like masks in one of its temples. Those
date back to 500 A.D. That tour was 6 1/2 hours and they prohibited video
cameras unless you paid a $5-8 (US) tax.
Costa Maya was our first port and we just chose to walk around and explore
on our own. It is not a very large place and shopping consists of local art
and crafts and souvenirs. There are the many, many jewelry stores that one
encounters at every Caribbean port. Most all the other excursions were of
water or beach type. What we will take next time we are there, which is
soon, is a Mayan Reality Tour... we were too late to sign up for it this
time.
I will be really looking forward to your experience on the Regent Seven Seas
Navigator. I envy you! What a grand cruise to look forward to! I'm sure it
will be even finer than Oceania...and you know how I love Oceania. I just
received a book type Oceania brochure on their new ship, Marina, that was
very polished and so well presented, not your typical brochure... much
fancier than the ones I keep getting from Cunard. Ed looked at it and wanted
to book it...But I think, God willing, if we are still around, we will wait
for it to be out on the seas for at least six months when the kinks are all
out and the prices hopefully go down a bit...Although when you consider that
they include your air in their prices...at least on the Trans-Atlantic,
European, and Mediterranean itineraries, they really aren't all that
expensive.
Have wonderful time on your cruise!
--Jean
Jean O'Boyle
"Sue Mullen" <kjmu...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:7qhdp7...@mid.individual.net...
Sue, thanks for the welcome back. We ate in the main dining rooms (there
were two, Windows and The Garden). We did try their specialty restaurant on
New Year's Eve, Cagney's Steakhouse($25 pp). They do have others; Teppanyaki
($25), Shogun Asian restaurant which had both a Sushi Bar and a Taste of
India, ($15) each plus Le Bistro($15), and LaTrattoria ($10).
--Jean
Sue Mullen
Thanks Jean. I have never been interested in FreeStyle, but maybe one
day we will try it. It seems the reviews of the food on NCL is improving.
Now when is your next cruise? Hope you and Ed will be on the Oasis. That
is one cruise we will change Kevin's chemo schedule if we have to in
order to make it.lol
sue
Peg Caldwell-Ott
Welcome Back, Jean!!
To echo what Jean wrote, and respond to Sue--YES!! the food on NCL is
improving rapidly!! We were on the Norwegian Gem for the Christmas
cruise (as we have been since 2003--with summer voyages during most
years too), and were impressed that the menus in the Main (not extra
tarif) DRs is better, but they have also upgraded the food in the
specialty restaurants too. They hired a new Chef to work over all of
the restaurants (I will have to get his name from our Dailies, which
are still in a shopping bag--no time to do our scrapbook as yet), and
his contribution is having a remarkable effect!!
As far as we are concerned, Freestyle is the way to go, not just for
the improving quality of the food, but also for the fexibility in
scheduling meals, and also (especially for us) the freedom to dress
the way we like to for the evenings.
Bestest,
PegNDerek
Sue Mullen
dining rooms so you don't have to do the others unless you want to and
can get a reservation when you want it.
I have never liked the idea of Freestyle, PC etc, but there are times
and itins. it might work well for us.
sue