NYDisneyMom
I need to have a vacation planned at all times...
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2003
We got back Sunday night from a 10 day southern caribbean cruise on the NCL Spirit. This is a very nice ship for kids, as long as you're sailing while school is in session. I say that because they do not have the facilities to handle a great number of kids...I think there were probably less than 40 kids total on the ship during our cruise (compared to like 900 last May on the Magic! LOL!)
The pool and 'ampitheather' seating around it on the aft of the ship was great, the kids' club is right near the pool, as is the arcade and buffet. So we pretty much spent most of our time in this area.
The kids' club was okay...my boys are 10 and & and we were also traveling with another child who was 10, so they had their own little group already. The club had things like Survivor Night, Carnivale, Pajama Party, Sports Night, etc. The clubs were only open for certain hours though: 9:00 a.m. to noon, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 and then 7:00 p.m. to 10:00. After 10:00 p.m. you had to pay for the club.
The movie theater on board is absolutely miniscule compared to Disney (so small I couldn't find it!) But again, it's not Disney..so I'm sure not many people even go to the movies. We saw Shark Tales one night and I was very surprised that the movie didn't even start until 10:00 p.m.!!
The food was good...again, not great. There's freestyle dining, which I did like. I hated having to rush to get ready for dinner by 6:00, or on the other hand I'd hate to just be sititng down to dinner at 8:30. So we usually got to dinner around 7:00. You don't have the same waiters, though..so you lose that level of personal attention.
Overall I thought for what the cruise cost (half the price of a 7 day on Disney) we had a great cruise. We did five islands..Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St. Lucia and Tortola. Fabulous itinerary!!
If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I know it's hard going from Disney to another cruise line. I think I'm going to try Royal next time!
The pool and 'ampitheather' seating around it on the aft of the ship was great, the kids' club is right near the pool, as is the arcade and buffet. So we pretty much spent most of our time in this area.
The kids' club was okay...my boys are 10 and & and we were also traveling with another child who was 10, so they had their own little group already. The club had things like Survivor Night, Carnivale, Pajama Party, Sports Night, etc. The clubs were only open for certain hours though: 9:00 a.m. to noon, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 and then 7:00 p.m. to 10:00. After 10:00 p.m. you had to pay for the club.
The movie theater on board is absolutely miniscule compared to Disney (so small I couldn't find it!) But again, it's not Disney..so I'm sure not many people even go to the movies. We saw Shark Tales one night and I was very surprised that the movie didn't even start until 10:00 p.m.!!
The food was good...again, not great. There's freestyle dining, which I did like. I hated having to rush to get ready for dinner by 6:00, or on the other hand I'd hate to just be sititng down to dinner at 8:30. So we usually got to dinner around 7:00. You don't have the same waiters, though..so you lose that level of personal attention.
Overall I thought for what the cruise cost (half the price of a 7 day on Disney) we had a great cruise. We did five islands..Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St. Lucia and Tortola. Fabulous itinerary!!
If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I know it's hard going from Disney to another cruise line. I think I'm going to try Royal next time!