Norwegian Spirit Return!

Hi, neighbor,

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

"Cruise Crazy" wrote in message
...
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

"Sue Mullen" wrote in message
...


Jean O'Boyle wrote:
We returned late last night from our Norwegian Spirit cruise to Costa
Maya, 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!

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, 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

Jean O'Boyle wrote:
"Sue Mullen" wrote in message
...

Jean O'Boyle wrote:
We returned late last night from our Norwegian Spirit cruise to Costa
Maya, 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!
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, 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).

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

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, 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).

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.

Thanks Peg. I am glad to see that the food has improved, esp in the Main
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

Peg Caldwell-Ott wrote:
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, 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).
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.