On Sep 9, 7:14 pm, Ermalee wrote:
> Peg Caldwell-Ott wrote:
> > 1 Night Dinner/Dance Cruise to Nowhere
> > M/V Norwegian Spirit
> > September 8, 2007
>
> > This was a total, but wonderful, surprise trip!! Some colleagues of
> > mine at school, who have all cruised before (on Cunard, HAL and
> > Windstar-or some combination thereof), gather annually in April at our
> > apartment to talk about our sea-faring experiences, have a nice meal,
> > and play our Cruise IQ game. This year, everyone was admiring our NCL
> > voyage scrapbooks in great detail, and talking a lot about the
> > advantages of having a ship sailing in and out of NYC all year 'round.
> > All were interested to hear of our experiences (3 previous voyages on
> > the Norwegian Dawn and 3 previous voyages on the Norwegian Spirit--by
> > the middle of this summer), but none of them had ever tried NCL
> > before. Query into the leaflets and brochures that we get from the
> > company (in the mail, on line, and on board the ships), led us to the
> > realization that NCL was running a series of one night "dinner/dance"
> > voyages out of NYC in September and October to compliment their
> > Canada/New England 6 night trips. For fun, for interest and (as it
> > certainly transpired) to make the beginning of the school year a whole
> > lot more palatable, we decided to book a one night cruise for a group
> > of us, inviting all of the other faculty at the school to come along
> > too, if they chose to join in. A packet was distributed to every
> > faculty member at the school, including how to make a booking, prices
> > for the various cabin categories (provided by our wonderful TA, Lori
> > Cunningham), a cruise guide book description (Berlitz), deck plans,
> > color photographs of the public rooms, and 6 pages of FAQs that I
> > drafted.
>
> > Although any number of colleagues expressed great interest at the
> > thought of a one night trip, only 6 of us actually booked to sail
> > together. We had a simply MARVELOUS time!!! Derek and I sailed on
> > the Norwegian Spirit this summer (the 07-07-07 voyage, together with
> > my 75 year old Aunt, 90 year old mother and 89 year old stepfather)
> > for the same 8 night itinerary that we did a year ago, but this time
> > with the ports in the reverse order-Bermuda, Tortola and St. Thomas.
> > Traveling with the senior generation was good fun, but somewhat
> > stressful owing to the age and medical problems of the oldest parental
> > units. Our one night to nowhere crowd was considerably younger, and
> > the "party" atmosphere on board was positively electric for all of
> > us!!
>
> > Getting to the pier was the only problem we encountered. Both the
> > Carnival Victory and the Carnival Miracle were in port, along with the
> > Norwegian Spirit. Traffic on the West Side Highway was completely
> > jammed up, and even our favorite little short cut route on 59th street
> > was chock-a-block with buses and garbage trucks. But, once at Pier 90,
> > things moved quickly. For a one night voyage, there is no luggage
> > service, so we rolled our bag along behind us, passing through
> > security, check-in, and the "Welcome Aboard" photograph, this time
> > taken with our great friend, Hotel Manager Frank Hassenwinkel. The
> > cabins were not ready for occupation until 2 pm, although you can
> > leave your luggage outside your cabin door, or stow it in Frank's
> > office in our case!
>
> > We enjoyed a delightful luncheon in Windows (Main Dining Room) before
> > heading up to the cabin to settle in (and munch on a plate of
> > delectable chocolate dipped strawberries, generously placed in our
> > cabin by Hotel Manager Frank), and hunt down my colleagues, all of
> > whom had found the pool with no problem at all!! They assured me they
> > had already toured every public room of the ship on their own and
> > enjoyed the buffet or Blue Lagoon for their lunch. We passed the
> > afternoon hours simply enjoying all of the on board amenities-Derek
> > got a hair cut in the Spa, I went shopping, and my colleagues checked
> > out the whirlpools or toured the various dining venues in more detail.
> > No one felt compelled to "stick together" and everyone enjoyed
> > themselves thoroughly!! All of the ships' services and offices were
> > open and functional after the mandatory life boat drill at 3:30 pm
> > (which consumed all of 15 minutes). The duty free shop and casino
> > opened once we were beyond the 12 mile limit, and (since this was a
> > cruise to "nowhere"-quite literally) there were no restrictions on the
> > amount of booze or cigarettes one wanted to purchase; duty free prices
> > were in effect. The lines outside the duty free shop were almost
> > staggering!!
>
> > For us, this was our first time on board the Spirit under the new NCL
> > smoking policy-smoking is now only allowed in your cabin, in the
> > casino and on the open decks in designated areas. While this
> > eliminated one of our most favorite spots on the entire ship-the
> > smoking corner of Champagne Charlie's-we quickly discovered a new
> > haunt that was even better: new sets of tables and chairs set up for
> > smokers on the open deck outside Henry's Pub. Despite the heat of the
> > day, there was a refreshing breeze all afternoon and evening on the
> > open deck, and only a few fellow cruisers popped by from time to time
> > to have a cigarette or chat. Our night time visit back to "our table"
> > was wonderfully breezy (becoming positively chilly as the night wore
> > on!!) and we had a gorgeous view over the expanse of the ocean without
> > having to look around a pillar or even out through a window! We were
> > in "cruise heaven", especially for me-I love the ocean far more than
> > being on land!! The new smoking policy worked out to perfection in
> > our case, and was absolutely no problem at all!!!
>
> > In the early evening, we were treated to a delightful visit for the
> > whole group to meet some of our officer friends and get acquainted
> > with Captain Gunnar Hammerin, the Master of the Norwegian Spirit, who
> > rotates with his counterpart and our great friend Captain Frank
> > Juliussen every 3 months. Owing to my school schedule (which allows us
> > to cruise only in the summer and at Christmas/New Year's) we have
> > managed to sail with Captain Frank three times, but never with Captain
> > Gunnar. Getting to meet him, and seeing Captain Martin Holmqvist
> > (Staff Captain), again was absolutely fabulous!! They were so gracious
> > to give us almost an hour of their time, chatting about past voyages
> > and many mutual friends, while the rest of the group got what can only
> > be described as "the tour"!! Of course, we also had to tease our
> > great friend Captain Niklas Persson (Chief Officer), who we watched
> > take the ship out of her PST berth from the comfort of our balcony,
> > joined by Hotel Manager Frank, our next door neighbor, on his balcony.
> > Somehow there always seems to be a small pleasure craft passing behind
> > the ship whenever Captain Niklas is at the controls, and we certainly
> > hope the skipper of the little boat got the fright he so richly
> > deserved at seeing the back of a cruise ship bearing down on him,
> > having already signaled her intent with three sharp blasts!! In fact,
> > the harbor was more full of little boats on this particular gorgeous
> > Saturday afternoon than we have ever seen it before, all trying to
> > bounce around in the wakes of both the Norwegian Spirit and the two
> > Carnival giants.
>
> > Our group gathered again for dinner in Cagney's, a wonderful private
> > dining room having been reserved for us by Hotel Manager Frank and his
> > incomparable assistant, Concierge Lisa Meyer. Dinner Waitress
> > Jennifer did a wonderful job of looking after all of us (including
> > taking our group photograph), and Hotel Manager Frank was able to join
> > us for most of the meal-a most gracious host in every respect!! Even
> > our favorite bartender, Irina, who has now been assigned to bar duties
> > for Cagney's in the evenings, gave us an incredibly warm welcome. The
> > Maitre D' and other servers recognized us from our July 7 voyage, and
> > were just happy to have us back on board. It was all a very warm and
> > happy time, and made us feel totally at home-even more so than we have
> > experienced on any previous cruise-and this was Derek's 29th, Peg's
> > 44th!! =20
>
> > Although we had planned to have a little more time with our officer
> > friends after dinner (at their suggestion), we made the one fatal
> > mistake that is a common pitfall whenever two or more teachers gather
> > in one spot-we started talking about work and our students!! We moved
> > the conversation to "our table" outside Henry's and enjoyed ourselves
> > thoroughly before the group broke up, some disappearing to the casino,
> > and others to the disco, while we just reveled in being back at sea,
> > drifting at this point, some 110 miles beyond NYC and some 35 miles
> > South of Montauk Point (we could see the intermittent light from the
> > Lighthouse). As we headed back to our cabin in the wee hours, we were
> > surprised to see the crowds still gathered and obviously having a
> > grand time in both Henry's and Champagne Charlie's. No doubt the
> > casino, disco and show lounges were similarly full of frolicking
> > passengers enjoying one last fling to end the summer. As exhausting as
> > this combination of itineraries is for the ship's officers and crew
> > (having to disembark their Canada trip passengers, embark the Nowhere
> > crowd, disembark the Nowhere crowd and Embark the next load of Canada
> > passengers-ALL in the space of 48 hours), there is no doubt that this
> > is quite a revenue generating itinerary for NCL-especially with 2200
> > passengers on board (on this particular voyage).
>
> > This morning brought a wonderful opportunity to watch Captain Gunnar
> > ease the Norwegian Spirit back into her berth, this time sharing the
> > PST with the Norwegian Crown and Holland America's Veendam. Even
> > Captain Martin was into the "spirit" of the day, posing for a special
> > photograph that Peg took looking into the Bridge Wing from the comfort
> > of our balcony once the ship was tied in!
>
> ...
>
> read more =BB- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Hi Peg .Was almost going to do that cruise on the Spirit .But we just
got back from B2B cruises last week on the Majesty and Liberty of the
seas , just to closs .I was at the peir yesterday .Having a ship Visit
and lunch on the Veendam !! She still looks great after being in
sevice fot 11 years !! I am realy sorry to see the Spirit stop
cruising from NYC year round ! I think i like her better then the
Dawn ! After 08 Only the Explorer of the seas & New NCL ship will be
doing wintertime cruises from NYC HAL is pulling out !! We are booked
on the Noordam 2/16/08 11 day Caribbean !! Aso the Explorer of the
seas 8/28/08 9 day Canada cruises round trip from Bayonne !! really
looking forward to that cruise .!!
Ken G...........>
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