GoAndHaveFun

Great review and photos.

Thanks for reading. I will post more when I can :)

No mention of the fact you got a 50% refund on this cruise and 50% future cruise credit ??? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Seeing how my sailing got the better deal compared to previous sailing and then your sailing, I didn't want to rub it in anyone's faces :p

 

I love youtube for researching staterooms and am thankful for those who post videos for us.

Agreed! Interestingly, one of my all time favorite stateroom videos was this couple showing their mini-suite on the Epic. Basically the girl was just completely sarcastic about it but in a very amusing way. It was as if they were purposely trying to shoot a bad informecial for the Epic mini-suite lol

Looking at the Transatlantic in Nov 2017 and the Family suite. How do they do the Suites. Our last and only cruise with NCL was on the EPIC in a 2 bedroom suite. On that ship they have a Haven area, restaurant, several bars, private pool and the Posh area. What do they have on the Star for suites?

Unlike Epic, Jewel-class ships, Breakway-class, and Escape, there's no Haven on the Star of course (nor Dawn or the earlier ships built before Star and Dawn). You get to do private breakfast and lunch at Moderno but on some ships (like Jewel-class ones), it might be at Cagney's instead. There's no real relaxation area for suite guests only if you don't count the private breakfast and lunch at Moderno.

I think you are probably right to step away.

 

As I type this, thousands of people are on NCL ships having fun. They just don't come running on here to tell you about it.

 

This is so true! When I was on my 14 day cruise on the Star in Asia (the one with the revised itinerary), I was having so much fun that I never even came here to post about the cruise so far. My first post about the cruise was when I first arrived in Singapore.

Laem Chabang

This was our final port before Singapore and we were here for 2 days. Points of interest are Bangkok and Pattaya. Bangkok is like 2 hrs away whole Pattaya is like half hour away. We decided to do Bangkok on New Years Eve and Pattaya on New Years Day.

Bangkok

Unlike the previous 2 ports, we decided not to take NCL's excursion of the highlights as it was like $249 a person. Instead, we waited till like 9am and then walked off the ship to see what they had downstairs. They originally had a shuttle bus to Bangkok for like 40 bucks a person and then like 230 bucks for a tour for up to 4 people in a car but they ran out of those fast. We then walked outside more and got a good deal for Bangkok sightseeing.

First place we went to was the Golden Buddha and it was definitely a nice sight. We actually haven't exchanged for any baht yet and our tour guide was nice enough to spot us some money for the entrance fee. It turns out they had an exchange center in the venue so we were able to exchange for some baht.

The Golden Buddha!

After visiting the Golden Buddha, the tour guide then took us to the Reclining Buddha and then the Royal Palace. The King had passed away couple months back so people were wearing black that to mourn him. I also didn't know these 2 sites were within walking distance until the tour guide showed us. To enter the Grand Palace, you had to line up, show passport and go through a metal detector. Since the ship took our passports, fortunately they allowed our California IDs to count as identification.

Commemorating their late King. We also saw a lot of billboards with his picture on it.

On the way to the Palace

Inside the Palace

There were LOTS of people that day so long lines were the norm. After visiting the Palace, we had lunch at a nearby place and it was nice to try some authentic Thai.

I had the seafood fried rice while dad had pad thai and mom had tom yum soup. They were very very yummy.

After lunch, we just walked around and eventually, our tour guide took us to a nice lil shopping mall.

Thai sawadeekap Ronald McDonald. Pretty awesome!

After the mall, the tour guide then made the drive back to the ship. I figure we leave Bangkok a little earlier so we can avoid traffic as it was New Years Eve.

Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon)

The second stop was at Phu My and the 'closest' city was Saigon (around an hour away). Once again, we signed up for the NCL excursion as we figured we are probably better off having a tour guide take us around. We arrived in Phu My in the evening (I think around 8pm) but we didn't go out the 1st night. I imagine some people either went on the Saigon Night Market excursion or they stayed in Saigon for a night and came back the following day.

So for all NCL excursions on the Star (and on other ships I imagine), we would meet up at Stardust theater and the guy on the mic would let you know when you get to leave. The whole I thought it was amusing how he kept pronouncing 'Saigon' as 'say-gen.' I remember things were quite busy that day so our tour didn't began until like 45 mins past the scheduled time. We didn't mind though.

So Saigon is actually the biggest city in Vietnam while the capital Hanoi is 2nd biggest. I have also been to Hanoi as well so it's interesting that I have now been to northern Vietnam and now time for Southern Vietnam!! I actually looked forward to Saigon as I thought it was an intriguing city to check out since it's the economic hub of Vietnam. And also, I have also now been to the the capital of Vietnam and now I am visiting the former capital of South Vietnam.

Our first stop was the Chinatown and we walked around for like 20 minutes. After this was a Buddhist temple and then the biggest market in Saigon. We weren't planning on buying anything so we didn't really go through the market. After this, the tour guide took us to this wood making place for shopping. No lie, I would have bought something if everything wasn't terribly overpriced. Like I know we are tourists and all but it don't mean we will drop like $50 on some small souvenir.

The tour guide recommended a restaurant to us and we figured why not as we weren't familiar with the area and didn't know much about restaurants in the city. He took us to a restaurant called Blue Grass and it was a pretty nice restaurant. We ordered pho and some appetizers and it took us 40 mins to get our appetizers and another 10 mins to get our pho. It has never taken me 40 mins to get pho in the US nor in Hanoi or other parts of northern Vietnam. It also didn't help that our tour guide cut lunch short from 1.5 hrs to an hour so after our lunch, it was time to get back on the bus. Others on the bus also mentioned how service was way too slow and tour guide simply said "Well, it's not KFC and besides, there were a lot of people." When he said that, I just thought "if you knew other guides were gonna take their groups there, why not recommend another place?" Of course, kickbacks and all so made sense why the guides would take people there. Had we known service was gonna be that slow, we would have opted for street food.

Our next stop after lunch was the reunification palace (aka the former Presidential Palace of South Vietnam). It was interesting to know how just 50 something years ago, this place was being occupied.

At the Reunification Palace

The tank that ended the war

This was where the CIA had to evacuate staffers. Of course the green building wasn't there then

Ports

So as mentioned, our itinerary was:

• 1 day in Da Nang
  
• Overnight in Phu My (Saigon an hour away)
  
• Overnight in Laem Chabang (Bangkok an hour away, Pattaya 45 mins away)
  

For all 3 ports, unlike Caribbean, Alaskan or even some European ports, there was NOTHING nearby the ports and any interesting sights were at least 45 mins to an hour away. You will get bored fast walking around the ports. Your options were to either take an NCL excursion, book a private excursion or haggle with whichever driver outside the gates for where you want to go and see.

Da Nang

So this was the first stop and options were you can either go to Imperial Hue (former capital of imperial Vietnam) or Hoi An and both were like 45 mins away. You couldn't do both as Hue was like northwest of the port while Hoi An was like SE of the port. Now if the ship had stayed there overnight (this was actually the original plan when the itinerary was first revised), then you can do Hue one day and then Hoi An the other.

My parents and I chose Hue as the citadel seemed interesting. We also took NCL's excursion as I always saw their excursions as a peace of mind as the ship won't leave should the excursion go late. I think this excursion was called Imperial Hue and $89 pp.

Our first stop was to the Imperial City of Hue including the palace. It was definitely an amazing sight to behold and it's probably similar to the Forbidden City in China. I said 'probably' as I have never been to the Forbidden City.

The second stop was at a pagoda and by this time, we were all hungry for lunch. Lunch was at this restaurant and the other buses were also here so you can imagine how crowded it was. The whole thing was also pretty poorly organized as first off, people would line up along the shape of the table so one wouldn't even know where to begin lining up. The food also came out very slowly and were replenished very slowly too. I remember the fried shrimp didn't come out until at the end when everyone was full. I was also super hungry by this time that I didn't even take any pictures.

Our last stop was at a pagoda I believe but I completely forgot. I do remember we were by a body of water and that it was super hot. By this time, my parents were just about out of energy so they rested while I went to go check out the sights.

Looking at the citadel

More of the Palace

One of the stops at a pagoda

This was the last stop. Forgot what it was called

And finally...the buffet

I typically enjoy the buffets onboard (I am not a particularly picky eater) but I thought the buffet on the Star was pretty underwhelming. Like I enjoy the different theme nights they had but then I would find the food to be bland. I did enjoy the grill extravaganza as I had a LOT of shrimp that night! If anything, my favorite thing to do at the buffet is to get the red jello hoping it's strawberry-flavored (and not cherry-flavored) and getting a Nutella crepe.

The nutella crepe was delicious! Do note that the chocolate crepe tastes a bit different than the nutella one. They tend to run out of nutella for the night at around like 8pm so the cook will instinctively ask if you want chocolate crepe instead. A quick request fellow cruisers, please don't be those people who asks for like 304 crepes at a time when there's a relatively long line behind you. I remember one person asked for like 4 crepes when there were like 4 people lined up after her and I just simply said "...seriously??" to the person right in front of me and she nodded.

A quick tangent here, something I urge of other cruisers is to be more considerate of others. Like I am not just talking about not being super loud at 3am in the morning. If anything, I am talking about the little things. I played ping pong almost everyday and there were times when a new group of folks will come in or a mom and her kid will be seating there waiting to play. I will then tell the folks currently playing that those other folks have been waiting so let them play instead. Another example could be the gym in which you wipe down equipment or share dumbbells vs hogging them. Sharing is caring.

I have noticed NCL has now done away with the hot chocolate packs and instead now have a common pot. I don't know about you guys but I find this unsanitary as who knows what this powder (which has been sitting out there) has been contaminated with. I get hot chocolate every once in a while on previous cruises but didn't get a single cup on this cruise.

Suite breakfast and lunch at Moderno

Of course, suite guests get to dine at Moderno for breakfast and lunch. What I really like about lunch is that it's still the old menu vs. the new menu in the Haven restaurant for lunch. The old menu still has the shrimp cocktail, New York steak and warm brownies with ice cream! For breakfast, I like to get the classic steak & eggs though I also get the waffle at times along with the pancake. For lunch, I always get the New York steak with truffle fries but then when I get sick of the steak, then I will get the turkey burger.

Can't go wrong with steak and eggs!!

Shrimp cocktail!

New York strip steak with truffle fries. Very yummy.

Banana cream pie! You can also get it at the buffet on select days

The warm brownie with macademia ice cream. OMGGGG it's soo good.

The staff here were also very nice folks. I almost always woke up early for progressive trivia so at times I would get breakfast by myself at Moderno. Eventually, the hostess and the assistant maitre'd would be like "where's mommy and daddy?" I would simply say "still sleeping!"

O'Sheehans

I always enjoy O'Sheehans as after a night of dancing or gambling or both, it's nice to get some quick grub at O'Sheehans. The only thing I don't like about O'Sheehans has always been the very slow service BUT that was not the case this time! Instead, the hostess and waiters were pretty attentive and I got my food pretty quick.

I always get wings and fries on the side. The wings come in different types of sauces like Texas BBQ, Thai BBQ, buffalo and Jamaican jerk but I found those sauces to be way too overflavored and salty. The fries are very good though.

Your pictures are nice. I'm sorry about the missed ports. Traveling to the other side of the planet, cost wise would be expensive and then not to get to see the ports would be a disappointment. But it sounds like you got to do some nice things. Thanks for the trip review.

The whole revised itinerary was too last minute and I felt cancelling the trip would just set off a bad vibe for the holidays. Despite the missed ports, I just tried to enjoy myself.

Our experience on Star and Dawn is the butlers seem really busy - my guess is when they added the suites on 12 they never added an appropriate number of butlers.

 

On the new, big ships, yes, the concierge is at the desk but from our experience they pretty much park themselves there and don't venture out much. Also on the big ships if a butler has rooms in the front and back they have a long way to go to take food from the front butler pantry to the back rooms. The one plus on the big ships is they have their own room and don't have to share.

I remember a cabin steward in the Escape Haven told me the Escape has like 96 Haven rooms so that's a lot of rooms and space to cover. Because of that, he prefers Jewel-class Havens as they are way smaller.

Enjoying the beautiful photos, thanks!

Enjoying you review and nice photos.

 

 

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Thanks for following the review fellow cruisers. Will write more when I get back to the States as I'm flying out of Singapore now.

I was on the cruise before yours, the one where we kicked off with the Azipod problem. I've previously sailed three times in the Haven (or around the Courtyard, as it used to be called) on the Jewel and the Jade. Our butler and room steward also seemed distant and less friendly compared with those on the previous cruises. I wonder if they are busier on the Star than on the other ships?

 

I certainly saw far more of the butlers on the previous cruises, though not more of the concierge. But I've never sailed on the bigger ships.

 

Some people seemed to love it; there were some couples that kept him each morning to the extent that he looked like he couldn't wait for the conversation to end.:) Other people didn't seem to love it as much.

Ah. I asked our butler whether he prefers big ships or smaller ships and he said smaller ones as he isn't as busy. I can't imagine being the concierge or the butler on the Escape.

On the bigger ships, you will see the Concierge like multiple times a day as he has a desk near the entrance/exit to the Haven

I remember during breakfast, there were times when a table would be talking to Hanno for probably like 10 minutes. I can only imagine he was thinking "mannnn just end the convo already!"

How was your cruise? My parents met a couple that was on the b2b (so on yours and mine) and they weren't pleased with your cruise in particular. Not sure if my parents ran into them again to ask what they thought about my sailing

La Cucina

We came here 3 times as my parents really enjoy La Cucina. Wait times are definitely a bit longer so plan accordingly! I really like their minestrone soup with grilled shrimp and the affogato dessert. We actually used our Platinum meals here and it allows you on appetizer, one entree, and one dessert. For those who needs a quick reminder, La Cucina is no longer $15 cover charge which means you can't order lots of appetizers, pizza, main course and dessert all for $15. I personally thought the entrees were nothing special. The first time around, I had the rib eye steak as someone once said it's the same ribeye from Cagneys except cheaper here. I cut into it, took a bite and just thought "wait, this tastes bland!!" I believe it was a 14 oz steak and it marks the first time I didn't finish my steak as it wasn't because I was already full but rather, it just wasn't good.

The delicious minestrone soup with grilled shrimp

The bland steak. Even though I don't dine at Cagneys, I like that at Cagney, they just give you the steak and just the steak instead of extra polenta lol.

Affogato!! I swear I can eat this like every day!!

Teppanyaki

We have always love teppanyaki but it's also very tough to book teppanyaki as they only have 2 tables (seating like 16 total) on the Star. Because of this, we only had it once. They also changed it now so the seafood comes with shrimp (instead of lobster). Teppanyaki is already $30 so why not have lobster as one of the options? Heck, you guys sell the surf & turf at the main dining room for like 24.99. Since the 2 teppanyaki tables are side-by-side right next to one another, the chefs obviously couldn't go at the same time as this would be super noisy haha. Instead, one would cook while the other does tricks and vice versa. This was definitely different from the other ships but still very entertaining.

I got steak and shrimp

Green tea ice cream cake. Always yummy!!

To be continued...

Before I continue, I want to give you guys a quick heads-up and that's that although I posted 3 pictures in my first post, I actually really didn't take all that much photos on the ship (more excursions photos than ship photos). I am really hoping I don't spoil you guys into thinking I will be posting lots of photos ;)

Food venues

Surprisingly, I actually didn't make any reservations prior to the cruise as I wanted to play it by ear. I ended up eating at either buffet, Moderno, Ginza, La Cucina, O'Sheehan or Teppanyaki. I never once ate at the Main Dining rooms as I am actually kinda impatient and dislike waiting for too long to get my food. For breakfast, I would either go to the buffet for an egg white omelette or Moderno's. Same for lunch as well.

Moderno

I have always loved Moderno as I am a meat lover and love the endless skewers of meats. My favorite is the picanha and I can just keep eating them until I get super full! I also really like their caramelized pineapple, lamb chop, chicken drumstick and filet mignon. I always start out getting some stuff from the salad bar and then the seafood chowder soup before I continue with the meat. I really like that unlike on the Escape and possibly the bigger ships, they still have seafood chowder on the smaller ships vs. the bitter lobster bisque on the newer ships. My only real gripe about Moderno was 2 of the 3 times I went, the service was pretty slow. I went on the 1st night and we waited a long time for more picanha and pineapple when there were only like 2 other parties there. The second time I went (by myself this time), me along with this other guy (also by himself) were just about forgotten. The waiters would asked the table of 4 across from us if they needed a refill on their drink while I had to flag down the waiter for a refill on my diet pepsi and the other guy had to flag down the waiter to ask about ETA of his well-done meat. I still remember he eventually got sick of the slow service and just asked for the check. His parting words to me were 'good luck on your picanha!' as I had previously requested for more picanha. I definitely felt bad for him as he wanted his meat cooked well done (filet mignon, garlic beef and picanha are typically medium rare to medium) and he had to keep flagging down the waiters to ask for an ETA of those meats cooked well done. I still love Modernos of course although I think the garlic beef is too salty and overflavored!

Notice the picanha!

Ginza

I think I ate here around 5-6 times as service is relatively fast and I do like their menu. I was also pretty surprised my parents enjoyed coming here (besides La Cucina) as they usually have pretty high standards when it comes to Chinese food.

I would say my favorite dish there was probably the spicy seafood udon even though they don't use actual udon noodles for it lol. The soup just really hits the spot and the seafood is just a bonus!

I order the hot stone one night. Funny thing, my stupid one didn't see the part where it says "you cook it yourself" so I was surprised when I first received the stone with the food on the side lol. The food was still delicious.

The surf & turf roll. I would say this was like my favorite roll to get.

Red bean triangles with green tea ice cream dessert. I would say this was like one of my favorite desserts besides the affogato at La Cucina. For the green tea ice cream enthusiasts, Ginza and teppanyaki are the only places that have green tea ice cream for dessert. You won't find it at the buffet or anything.

To be continued...

Background

I previously wrote reviews from where I took the Breakaway and Escape (can be found in my history) so I am back with my review on the 2 week Asia cruise on the Star. I went with my parents and we are all Latitude Platinum. We also had a 2 bedroom suite (more on this below)

Introduction

As many of you might have read, there was an azipod issue on the Star and that led to a revised itinerary. Basically, we weren't able to go to Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Silhanoukville in Cambodia and Ko Samui in Thailand. Kaohsiung, Ha Long Bay and Ko Samui were places I really wanted to go to and it was a real bummer that we weren't able to go. Our revised itinerary was one day in central Vietnam, overnight in port of Saigon and overnight in Laem Chabang (Bangkok's like 1.5 hrs away) and then Singapore. Basically, it was 3 stops total (excluding Hong Kong and Singapore) for a 2 week cruise. People I spoke to on the ship were also not pleased with the revised itinerary but what can you do ya know? Despite the 7 sea days, I still had a blast on this cruise, met a lot of people on the ship and participated in different events.

We had a 2 bedroom suite for this cruise and I loved every minute of it. We were actually originally booked in a family suite but we upgraded last minute to a 2 bedroom suite so that was pretty nice.

A quick note, the Dawn class ships don't have a Haven so suites are just suites but of course you still get to dine at Moderno (or Cagneys) for private breakfast and lunch. One thing I love about the 2 bedroom suite besides the fact that I get my own lil inside room is that the shower is very, very NICE! I love looking out the window (not when docked tho!!) while showering!

The Concierge was Hanno and our butler was Jonathan. Our cabin steward was Ferdinand. One thing I did notice was the cabin steward and Butler never asked for our names like they would on other ships. Ferdinand just simply addressed me as Sir every time he saw me. Throughout the cruise, I would only see Ferdinand as he's always around but not so much Jonathan or Hanno. If you have stayed in the Haven (especially on the bigger ships), you will see Concierge and your Butler way more. Fortunately, we don't really use Concierge nor the Butler so this was fine for us. If you ask me what I think of Hanno, I would say he seemed like a nice guy but then convos with him during breakfast and lunch always felt forced. Like I really like how he would go around saying hi to everyone but there was never a time when I didn't hope that the convo would just end right away lol. Instead, I had better conversations with Enrique, the assistant maitre'd that would always be there during breakfast and lunch and then at Ginza during dinner.

I just got finish the Dec 22 sailing (in Singapore now of course) and will write a review very soon for those who are curious about my particular sailing. :)

Yes, and I think Frankies is probably already copyrighted.

 

O'Sheehans (Ocean) is bigger than a Blue Lagoon perhaps?

First time I came across O'Sheehans was on the Epic in early 2013 and it was an unfamiliar sight at first as at the time, Blue Lagoon was on the other ships. Fast forward almost 4 years, O'Sheehan is on every ship now. No lie, I kinda long for the old Blue Lagoon now and its wonton soup.

Since I couldn't find anything about an exercise room on the NCL website, I suspect the answer will be "no," but just to make sure, has anyone seen an exercise room or equipment on the Pearl?

You have treadmills and ellipticals facing the ocean. The dumbbells go up to 80 lbs and are located directly to your left when you walk in. You also have like 2 rowing machines, leg press machine, tricep machine, bicep machine, pec dec (I think), leg extension and leg curl machines. You also have the exercise room and they got foam rolls, boxing globes, lighter dumbbells, yoga mats etc. I am trying to recall this from memory as I was last on the Pearl last July.

I also feel Food Republic is overrated. I found the meats overseasoned and fatty. The duck potstickers were great though, but while I will absolutely sail on Escape again, I won't return to Food Republic. I am allergic to shellfish and fin fish, which eliminated half the menu for me...maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I could eat seafood.

 

 

 

 

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I love Food Republic and the Japanese grilled squid and the fried squid. However, I do agree that the meat can be overseasoned. I remember I thought the beef anticucho was super salty along with the meat in the kbbq taco

Been in Getaway once and Escape twice so I indeed prefer Escape although Getaway is still very nice. I especially like Food Republic on the Escape but hate how Skyline Bar is right next to the casino as it gets freaking loud when playing blackjack. I like Bliss Lounge more on the Breakway/Getaway

How would you compare your experience on Jewel vs. the mega ships?

 

I really like your reviews!

I totally forgot to reply to this and now I am necroposting in my own thread. A thousand apologies.

I liked the Jewel (and the Jewel-class ships) but more and more I have realized I like the mega ships better as there's more to do and I like their overall environment better. I will always prefer Spice H2O over Spinnaker Lounge.

They indeed have something like this on the cruise every night in the Spinnaker Lounge. They will have some party event (be it 70s Party, Awesome 80s, Norwegian's Night Out, White Hot Party) and then late night with the DJ.

However, I would also say the atmosphere will depend on the people on the cruise. Sometimes, you will have people who love to dance and would go clubbing every night while at other times, you have people that aren't into it so Spinnaker Lounge will be relatively empty most nights. I have noticed the bigger ships like the Epic, Breakaway, Getaway and Escape have more lively clubbing nights due to Bliss Lounge on the Breakaway class ships and Epic and Skyline Bar on the Escape. Gem and Pearl also have a Bliss Lounge that allows for clubbing.

I imagine it's a rough job... you're on 7 days a week for months at a time. It'd be great fun, but I think I'd only last a couple years.

Not only that, I can imagine he just got sick of it as it's essentially the same thing every week. It's like Groundhog Day every week and although I can imagine he loved his job and enjoyed interacting with people, it most likely took a toll on him. I can also imagine there was no more room to grow in terms of promotions. For the cruise staffers and ACD, some of them eye the CD job so they put in a lot of years to show that they are qualified for the position but for Joel, he was already the CD. That's my guess anyways

Do you mean Sinan, from Turkey? He was my favorite. "You are my Sunshine" I know now there is a ton of office work the CD must do, so they don't have as much time to 'meet and greet' as they use to have.

Oh no, not Sinan! Sinan was awesome when I had him on the Breakaway back in 2013. I was talking about Sin Alvarez as he was the CD on the Jewel as recent as the NYE cruise. CDs, from my experience, usually come off as friendly and down-to-earth but Sin came off as too serious. His ACD Thomas from UK and his staffers were more out there and had more energy when they hosted trivia or any other event.