I was on the Star on the Feb 4th cruise, and will chime in with a few observations. I enjoyed the cruise, and cruising (for the most part) is what you make of it. The weather was beyond fortunate, so we were able to make and enjoy all ports, and also get some clear viewing of the few hours in some Antarctic islands. The ship was fine, I sailed on her in Alaska, many years ago, and knew that it was a unique and smaller layout. I found the food to be mostly good, with a few misses-- pretty typical for most cruises. Staff were always courteous and generally helpful, but you could tell that many were in training and struggled at times. Shows were small time productions, for the most part, and were fine. Music in the various bars and lounges was very good. Activities were also sufficient.
As to observations regarding this topic:
1. We had only 4 hours instead of 2 days in Antarctica.
2. Every single one of the other port times were also significantly changed.
3. There was a failure to notify passengers of these changes except by a paper handed to us as we boarded. This also caused us to have to scramble to reschedule or change every private tour (all of the ports, in our case) after boarding. This was difficult to do once onboard, because of...
4. ...Horrible, dysfunctional internet. The internet cafe manager told me that they were aware of the problem and had technicians working on it, but it never improved. I was unable to receive a single outlook email during the entire cruise. WhatsApp was spotty, at best, and usually not working. This created problems for the tours, as well as for general comms.
5. There was a failure to provide clear information to the passengers regarding the rationale for the significant changes.
6. Staff made many errors and didn't seem to be well trained, and there did not seem to be any supervision or correction for those errors. Wrong information, wrong meals given, lack of follow-up and often getting things "almost" right was far more common than in my previous cruise experiences. They were generally small things, but just at a high frequency.
Generally, I have had good experiences with NCL, and they had previously been my first place to look when planning a cruise. But NCL has not met their usual standards, IMO. The best description is that it came across as somewhat "unprofessional."
All that said, it was still a very enjoyable vacation, and I will fill out a review, including all the good stuff, once I get around to getting some pics downloaded. Those annoyances were taken with a shrug and a margarita. I will likely cruise NCL again, but they probably will not be the first place that I look anymore.