This Ship Had a $100,000,000 Upgrade – Still my Favourite?

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When I found out that Norwegian Spirit, the first ship I ever cruised on, was having a massive $100 million upgrade, I knew I had to get back onboard.

I was excited, but definitely a bit nervous, too. This was the ship that made me fall in love with cruising way back when I was 11 years old, and I knew that they would be changing absolutely everything.

They have added some new things, changed some, and removed a few entirely – including one of my favourite childhood spots.

I’ve spent 11 days onboard to find out if she would still feel like the ship I loved. 

I noticed the first difference before we even embarked the ship, that was the updated hull art on the side.

There was nothing wrong with the old design of course. It was a goddess with a few dolphins, but the new design was more impressive.

It instantly made the ship look more modern, and I was so excited to get on board. 

We headed straight into the main atrium. This area is one of the places I remember from my cruise when I was 11.

I loved going up and down the lifts. There used to be a piano and water fountains here. 

It didn’t take me long to notice that Norwegian had completely changed the layout of the stairs and added a massive TV. I have no idea how big this TV is, but it is absolutely massive. 

At first, I wasn’t convinced by this change. It’s weird to say, but I was weirdly attached to the old staircases, and I did love the water features.

As the cruise went on though it made more and more sense. Moving the stairs like this changed the atrium from an area that people really only walked through to a place that people used every day.

Sure we used to take photos on the stairs before, but it wasn’t an area we really spent much time in.

Now, though, this impressive atrium is the heart of the ship, and there would always be people here doing trivia or crafts or maybe sitting for a drink. 

The cafe down on the bottom level serves Starbucks coffee, and there is also the pub – one of my favourite areas when I was a kid.

We used to spend our evenings here singing along to traditional Irish songs, including a song about unicorns that I thought was very funny.

I still remember all the words and the movements. The pub itself hasn’t changed at all, but more about why that is later. 

The lower level of the atrium is deck 7, and wandering down the side of this deck, I found a bar called “The Local.”

This is a bar I recognise from my other Norwegian cruises and I used to eat here a lot when I was younger.

I was 11 on that first cruise, so I had a little bit of freedom. With that freedom, I would usually choose to come here with my cousins to eat buffalo chicken wings. Those are still on the menu, I’m pleased to say.

They’re available on all Norwegian cruises, and is open 24/7. It’s also included in the cruise fare.

I love the lighting, chairs, everything about it really. If the team who designed this could come to my house to redesign it, I’d be very very happy… 

We ate here quite a lot during our cruise and would come either for brunch, lunch, dinner or even just a snack.

The seating area is much bigger than it used to be because they have taken out the video arcade and expanded it. I definitely used to play pacman in there when I was a child but this change makes so much sense.

We never found a time where we couldn’t get a seat here even though it was a popular place to be.

The windows are lined with tables, and if you sit here, you can look out on the promenade deck, which is lovely.

There are more seats at the other end and seats on the bar, too. (Not literally on the bar, but hopefully, you understand what I mean.) 

Norwegian Spirit isn’t an adult-only cruise ship, and there are still activities happening for kids onboard.

Norwegian Spirit is certainly geared towards a more adult experience than it was on my first cruise. She’s grown up, just like I have! 

The kid’s clubs have been removed, and the teen club has been converted into a lounge for everybody to use.

I cruised on the ship in Japan and we had very few children onboard so having these spaces available for everybody definitely makes more sense.

I really felt as though this ship had a lot of space per person, and that was brilliant. I think that’s a great benefit of ships of this age. 

Later, I’d find out what happened to my favourite area when I was younger; spoiler alert: It is gone.

The way that the local has been updated was replicated in all the bars onboard. Champagne Charlies near the atrium has been changed to Magnum’s Champagne Bar and every single chair, cushion and curtain has been replaced.

When you take a cruise the things that you interact with are the things around you, I don’t think it really matters how old the actual steel of the ship is.

Take this observation lounge, for example. She’s been completely restyled and looks brand new. I love the new colours and the way the lounge now feels so big and open.

You can always find a nice corner area to sit in though, and there were lots of things that happened here in the evenings like gameshows and live music.

There used to be a thing in here that I miss, and that is a Bridge Viewing Room. You used to be able to walk down to watch the captain and their officers at work.

I completely understand why they don’t have that anymore, though. I’d hate be working with people looking at me like I was in a museum or a zoo.

I’m sure it’s for safety reasons too. 

There are some areas onboard that haven’t changed so dramatically, but that’s because they really didn’t need to.

One of those is the theatre which interestingly is at the back of the ship. Usually theatres are at the front.

I found this ship very easy to get around, the only quirk is that the second main dining room you can only get to from one staircase, but apart from that all the public areas are on decks 7 and 8 and then up on 12.

My cabin was on deck 10 which was perfect, we were never too far from anything. 

There was seating up on the top level of the theatre which could be accessed from deck 8 and loads of seats in the main section.

The colours have changed slightly since I was onboard last but you can’t improve on this really, it’s a very impressive theatre with a great big stage.

There were a few pillars in the way if you sat on the upper level but down low there weren’t any at all.

This would have been important when Star Cruises owned the ship, because they used to have a real-life Tiger onboard, and you wouldn’t want to miss seeing that.

I’m happy to report that Norwegian haven’t ever had a real Tiger here, but still I find that history very interesting. 

This area has kept her charm but been updated in the same way that areas like the main pool deck and the main dining rooms have.

I love this massive main dining room, and the food in here is included in the cruise fare. 

Another area that hasn’t changed much is the promenade deck. It’s pretty impossible to improve on this, and I love it.

Promenade decks are meant to be timeless in style, and this one does go all the way around the ship which is great.

Find out more about Promenade decks on cruise ships here:

Cruise Ship Promenade Decks – Photos, Uses, and History

The pub is just inside here, and I don’t think this has changed too much. 

This is just what a pub looks like, always has been and always will be. If you tried to make it all marble and sparkley that would be the weirdest pub in the world.

There are a few technical updates onboard,, like the addition of TVs here and on the screens around the ship.

The photo centre is also entirely digital now whereas back in the olden days of 2005 all of the photos were printed out and then you decided if you wanted to buy any.

This way, photos aren’t printed unnecessarily, which is much better.

I did used to like looking at the photos of other people though, especially if they pulled a funny face.

I often did that when I was younger, I’d smile and at the last second stick my tongue out. 

On deck 12, a completely new restaurant called “Onda by Scarpetta” has been added. I first ate in this restaurant onboard the Norwegian Encore, and I’ve been to it on other ships since.

The bread they serve here is SO good; it’s worth coming just for that. The design makes me feel as though I’m inside a whale, and it is so impressive to me how they’ve managed to take a concept they had on a newer ship and retrofit it here.

Norwegian Spirit has lots of speciality restaurants and this massive refit has made each one look and feel the same as they do on the more modern Norwegian ships.

Take Cagneys on Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Encore for example, theyre very similar. 

To have a look at all the amazing places to eat – and all the other changes made during the refit, watch this video next:

From Onda, you can look down on what used to be my favourite area as a kid.

It was called Buccaneers Wet and Wild, and I spent a lot of time here with my brother. 

The pirates are gone, and now there is an adult-only area called Spice H20. Now that I’m an adult, I think this is my favourite area of the ship. 

We had the most incredible views, and I was so glad that they updated this space. Of course, 11-year-old me would disagree, but 11-year-old me doesn’t get a say in this.

Another area where I was impressed was the cabins. I had the most amazing cabin on the ship, a penthouse suite and my dream of having a bath on a cruise finally came true.

The decor felt modern, and I really enjoyed it. Nothing was damaged, and looking at the original photos of what this cabin looked like makes me realise how much she has changed.

Last time I was onboard I stayed in an inside cabin. A friend of mine was very kind and let me have a look around her inside room this time too.

She was very happy with it and it looked good to me, theres not a lot to dislike really. The bathroom was a good size, and there was plenty of storage. 

The $150 million of changes made did make a huge difference to the experience of cruising onboard. It definitely wasn’t just a case of painting the ship in more modern colours and changing the pillows.

This ship is pretty much a new ship and I hope that means that she has decades more of life in her. She’s only 28, after all! Maybe I’ll update this video in the 2030s! 

You can be on the most beautiful ship in the world but if the food is bad, the entertainment is boring and you have problems with your itinerary you are unlikely to enjoy your cruise.

Many people would say that Itinerary is more important than the actual ship.

To find out how our cruise on this ship went, including where we visited and everything we got up to, watch this video next:

Before You Go

Find out why modern cruise ships have more balconies than older ships here:

Why Cruise Ships Have More Balconies Than Ever Before

Find out which cruise lines controversially still allow smoking on their cruise ship balconies here:

Cruise Line Balcony Smoking Policies – On These Four Lines You Can Still Smoke On The Balcony