rajones007

Star- Port side deck 7 (a section of it close to the Red Lion PUb) Bier Garden on top by the pool and port side of pool area. Hope I did not mix up my right and left!

Just to be clear - only the port side of the Bier Garden on the Star is smoking.

I was on this cruise and I have to agree with the OP - embarkation seemed to be really disorganized.

We stayed at the Intercontinental the night before, took a cab to the port and arrived about 10.45am. We scooted through security and walked in the priority check-in room, which was full of people*. We checked in, but since the room was full we hung around outside the doorway along with another family.

When the guy showed up to take all the priority check-in people away, he made us feel like he was escorting us on the ship. But he had no idea where he was going. The entire group of us followed this guy while he wandered around aimlessly. One or two POM people guided OUR guide to where we needed to go, which was in a quiet corner away from everything else. Then our guide left. There was no water or juice or coffee or anything like that, and the area was very small. This was apparently the VIP/priority check-in lounge.

We hung around there for an hour with no contact from an NCL rep, when finally a ships representative came and got us around noon and took us onboard to Cagneys.

2/3 of our luggage arrived shortly after muster drill, if I remember correctly. Our sons didn't arrive until about 5pm or so.

All in all, it wasn't the most pleasant embarkation I've done. It was just okay. It wasn't terrible, and it could have been worse. But it appeared to be very disorganized.

( * - This reminded me of something...here's a bit of a rant. The priority check-in room just LOOKED full. It probably could have fit twice as many people in the room if the people who were already there weren't afraid of one another. Seriously, a couch can seat THREE people. Not two people and your carry-on in the middle. A love seat can seat TWO people, not ONE fat-ass sitting in the middle with her arms spread out over the back and her purse and carry-on on each side of her. I don't know where these people were from, but where I'm from when you see people looking around for a place to sit, you scoot your butt over and make room, or you move your carry-on to the floor and motion that there is an open seat. You don't sit there with a dumb look on your face wondering what you should do. There was about 5 people in that room who needed their heads clunked together Three Stooges style.)

....Most cruise staff sign on for 6 month stints (some longer). Many often like to remain on the same ship when they return.

 

Don

That's what I was going to say too. I don't know what that guy is talking about either. It's not like the NCL Concierge's change ships every other week. They're typically on the same ship for 6 months at a time. And more often than not, longer than that.

So don't worry about it. Your question is common and completely justifiable.

I agree with the OP. 10-day and 11-day cruises would be enough to extend it to a couple more ports and add one or two more sea days. The 21 day cycle of weekend departures could also make it more convenient for people who might want to arrive/stay in Miami for an extra few days to finish out their typical 2 weeks holiday.

7 days is too short for us now. I won't even consider it. We're just getting comfortable when we have to pack up and leave. By about day 10 I'm starting to really miss my dog, so by then I'm ready to leave.

Hanno was pretty good. We were on the Star from 17 Nov until the 30th. He was at Cagneys during embarkation lunch and introduced himself.

We didn't see him in Cagneys during breakfast (we didn't go every morning though) but he did stop by at dinner once or twice. (EDIT. wait, that's a lie. He did seat us once for breakfast./EDIT)

We never seen him anywhere else on the ship, with the exception of debarkation when he walked us from the theater down to Ginza so we could go through US Customs.

I booked a couple excursions while onboard (using the forms in the cabin) and when the tickets arrived they had a bit of a mix-up (long story). He was good to handle the issue and sort things out.

He was also good to get me a print-out of our onboard account a few days into the cruise. I wanted to ensure they straightened out the excursion mix-up and credited it to me properly + I wanted to SEE the $850 OBC I was to receive. He had it delivered to our cabin and everything was fine.

He got us another print-out again a couple days prior to debarkation, just so I could make sure our onboard account was up to snuff. Again, he had this delivered to our cabin. (Everything was cool.)

Overall, Hanno was a pretty good Concierge. He always answered his phone and handled our few requests quickly and efficiently. He was friendly enough, not in-your-face all the time (which we prefer), and was interesting to talk to.

Canada also has a travel advisory for the Mexican state of Guerrero, but it specifically excludes the tourist zone of Acapulco.

We were just there a couple weeks ago and it looked and felt about as safe as any other port we've been to.

EDIT. I'm actually thinking of going back to spend a week in Acapulco next month.

On the Star for the 13 day Panama Canal Cruise MIA to LA was:

-Expendables 3

-Jersey Boys

-Edge of Tomorrow

-Earth to Echo

-The Divergent

-Guardians of the Galaxy

and a couple other movies that I've just forgotten in the last 2 seconds, but will remember immediately after pressing POST.

The 'Classics' channel played:

-Grumpy Old Men

-Meet The Fockers

-The Dark Knight Rises

and again, I'll remember more as soon as I press POST.

The TV show channel rotated a couple episodes each of Mike & Molly, Parks & Recreation, and Big Bang Theory, plus a few others I didn't recognize. In the morning they'd play current kids cartoons. BONUS - some mornings they would show 4 or 5 Looney Tunes cartoons back to back. It was nice to see some good old UNCUT Bugs Bunny for a change.

All in all I was pretty impressed with the variety of content. If anyone couldn't find something decent on one of those 3 channels then they must be pretty fussy.

There are usually nets put up to prevent this kind of thing. My guess is that someone is in deep dodo for not putting up the nets. Oops!

The nets are only below the areas where they actually move the luggage from the dock and into the ship.

THIS event happened between those loading spots. It was like they decided to move some of the carts to an out-of-the-way spot temporarily.

I think it might be an issue for shoes and small personal electronic type items (electric razor, curling iron, etc.). Makes me think maybe I should seal everything I pack in zippy bags from now on :)!

That's what we were thinking too. Personally I could make do with what I had on for one more day. I wouldn't like it, but I think I could tolerate it.

Not only nice shoes and electronics would be ruined, but also toiletries. I sure as hell ain't going to use that toothbrush, dental floss, and deodorant again (just to name a few).

I just got off the Star cruise from 17 Nov until 30 Nov 2014. I won't get into the wonderful time we had as there's too much to type.

What I wanted to mention was at about 2.30pm we watched the dock workers in Miami drop an entire cart of luggage into the water. They got some of it out by using long poles, but eventually they brought in a couple scuba divers to get down to the bottom and get them all. Muster drill got in the way of watching how many sunk to the bottom, but I did see they managed to bring up the cart itself.

I can't really say exactly how it happened as we weren't looking directly at them at that precise moment. We did however see the "oh crap!" look on their faces shortly after it happened. It looked like the guy driving the forklift put a full luggage cart down. That cart bumped the obviously top-heavy cart next to it, which then tumbled into the drink.

The Star officer/security were out there taking photos and talking to the dockworkers shortly after it happened. There had to be maybe 15 or so cases that went in the water.

My wife and I felt so sorry for whoever's luggage was in that cart. We felt sick to our stomach trying to imagine what it would be like if it was one of ours. What a horrible way to begin the cruise of a lifetime.

When we were in Cartegena (day 3) I seen a room steward pushing an entire clothing rack down the hall and trying to wiggle it into a cabin. I'm assuming that was one unfortunate persons entire clothing contents of their suitcase. There was also a suitcase on the shelf below it, which looked either a)brand new, or b)recently professionally cleaned.

So I'm curious if there is anybody here who were one of the unlucky ones who this happened to. What did NCL do to try to rectify the problem? I'm trying not to be nosy, but I can't help but wonder how they handled it. I'm sure there had to be more than clothing and suitcase(s) that was ruined too.

....I suggest everyone call NCL and complain.

Suggestion noted...and ignored.

I know I'm not alone when I'd much rather have a nice clean safe port suitable for a nice relaxing beach day. It's nice to get off the ship, take a day off from touring, and kick back and spend the better part of the day laying on a beach.

Anything is better than the cesspool that is Belize City.

It's funny how different people react with different Concierges. You mean Virginia. We barely interacted with her, until mid-way through the cruise. Adrian on the other hand, I liked enough to become Facebook friends with.

 

On the Star recently, Omar was the concierge and he was excellent too. He allowed any suite to use the reserved area in the theatre.

Well that is funny...

We seen Virginia practically everywhere during our 3rd NCL cruise. We seen her enough to be useful but not enough to be annoying. She made us realize how useful the concierge could really be.

Our 1st cruise was Patrick on the Star. Like I said; we never seen him once. I wouldn't know him if I fell over him. I can't honestly say anything bad about him only because I can't say anything about him at all!

2nd cruise was Adrian on the Epic. This was when we were just starting to realize what a concierge could do for us and make our cruise even better. Now in Adrian's defense there were some very needy people in the Haven that week. There always seemed to be the same people clamoring around his lounge and the moment Adrian appeared they were on him like blackflies. I have no idea why those people needed him so much and what it was they needed doing. No idea at all.

We're low-maintenance meat & potatoes kind of people, so perhaps Adrian seen that and left us to our own devices.

Disembarkation morning was a whole different Adrian. I never seen anybody so glad to see me in all my life! He personally walked me and my family into their service elevator and took us down to the gangway and literally walked us off the ship and directly to US customs. Hmmmmm, I wonder why the sudden change? :)

- If you are in a suite, the reserved seating section is on Deck 7 port-side, along the side balcony.

Thank you for an interesting post. We were on the Star in Nov 2011 and are just preparing to board her again in 4 days. We're in a 2br family suite.

Is the reserved seating in the theater for ALL suite guests? On the Dawn we were in a DOS and the reserved seating was for DOS and GV pax only. I have to admit we were spoiled by that perk. Very very spoiled.

We're fully prepared to sit with the masses again ;) , but boy oh boy would it ever be nice to get a decent balcony seat and never have to rush to get there early.

Appreciate all the answers and comments.

 

Can anyone inform me WHERE the concierge is located on the Dawn?

When we were on the Dawn in Apr 2013, the actual concierge 'working' office was on deck 12, just inside the port forward sliding doors to the pool area. This office was full of filing cabinets, desktop computer, papers stuck to the wall, etc etc. Usually if she was in there doing paperwork or whatever, she'd still prop the door open so anybody could just poke their head in and talk to her.

She also had a desk just inside the entrance to the Star Bar (deck 13, opposite of Cagneys). This was more of a group meeting type area where she'd have pamphlets and other information available to suite/VIP passengers. She was always there during Cagneys breakfast/lunch. During the day you'd most often find her here or in the general vicinity.

Her name was...Valerie? Victoria? Virginia? Started with a V, I remember that much. BEST...CONCIERGE...EVER. I've never had a concierge who was so accessible and personable. I'd take her over Adrian (Epic) or Patrick (Star) any day. I never even seen Patrick on our Star cruise and Adrian seemed very aloof about most anything asked of him.

Others have covered the dining aspect - I would add the thing that keeps us coming back is the crew. They seem to enjoy their work and they are friendly and will always 'go the extra mile' if they can.

Yup, that's the first thing I thought of too. When we sailed the Crown Princess the crew were nice, but seemed indifferent...or something. Nobody really stood out from another. It's hard to put in words and I've never been able to put my thumb on it. To put it bluntly - an NCL crew would put them to shame.

To pile on the NCL dining; Freestyle is what it's all about for me. That's the deal breaker right there. My experience on Princess with their Anytime Dining and another family members experience with Carnivals attempt simply proves the Freestyle Dining concept is one of those things you can't do half-assed. It has to be all or nothing.

I'm all about tradition and stuff like that. I understand the traditions behind old school cruising and dining being a social occasion requiring your best Sunday duds. I get that and can see how it appeals to some. However, for ME to actually put on MY suit and dress for MY dinner is a whole other ball game. That isn't me. My monkey suit is for weddings and funerals only. That's it.

Glad to hear this, we have 16012 for the TA next April. We like to sleep in on vacation and will be hoping for quiet in the morning.

16012 would be my #1 choice.

Please keep in mind that is based on my single Epic 7 day cruise. I like to people watch, and those observations are solely from that journey, and nothing more.

Of course you're going to get the people from further forward in that hallway going to the Courtyard Grill looking for breakfast. But those numbers will be few when you consider the grand scheme of things on the Epic. And generally the people in the Haven seem to be low-key and very much aware of other passengers.

Another thing that makes me think that that little hallway isn't well traveled is because when the ship is underway they locked the sliding door between the Courtyard Grill (CG) and the Epic Club Restaurant (ECR) due to a wind tunnel effect. This means the only entrance to the ECR will be through the Epic Club Lounge (ECL).

Therefore, when the ship is moving and that sliding door is locked between the CG and ECR, the people forward of those few cabins (16010 to 16016) will typically take the short cut through the pool area to get to the EPL.

(does that makes sense? it's hard to put into words. LOL)

Perhaps things have changed since I sailed the Epic. I don't know. I do know that the door between that short hallway and the CG was originally two side-by-side doors. However when underway and the conditions were right it was damn near impossible to open. And if it was open and you were in the way it could do some major damage if it slammed shut. The bartender told me it was a design error and that it could be quite dangerous.

The week before we boarded they had changed it to an electronic sliding door. When I was onboard they were making minor adjustments to the door, that's why I asked. So NCL was well aware they had some wind tunnel issues to deal with around the CG and EPR.

You can't be too long winded....I really appreciate your input.

 

You are correct, the website doesn't show the availability on the 16th deck so that is one reason I didn't consider. I will talk to the rep to see what's available.

 

You obviously prefer the port side. Curious if you, or anyone reading, have done the Western Carib itinerary and if it good for views when in port?

 

I'm glad you brought up Deck 16...thanks, again.

My NCL rep wouldn't come right out and say it, but he sort-of kind-of hinted that it helps to sell the less popular 17th deck if that's all they show as available on the website. I imagine it helps keep the price up too if they're near final payment date for a sailing and they still have some prime cabins on 16 still available.

Don't quote me on that. That's just the marketing guy in me who likes to over-think the little things.

I don't favour port over starboard. I tend to look at the direction(s) the ship will be sailing and make my decision based on that. I like to sail on the side in which the majority of the land will be on. But I also consider sunrises and sunsets too, so that I can watch them from my own peaceful balcony.

For instance - I'm leaving on a Panama Canal cruise in 6 days. The majority of my cruise from Miami to LA will be northbound up the west coast of Central America and Mexico (8 of 13 days, actually). So that means I would prefer starboard side because 1) I'll see the sunrise from my balcony, 2) I'll possibly see the coast of Central America and Mexico as we sail, probably just the night lights and such but I might be able to see the mountains and stuff way off in the distance, and 3) I can watch the coast appear from my balcony in the early morning as we approach the 4 ports on that end of the cruise.

Is there a reason you're set on deck 17? Just wondering, because whenever I check the Epic it only shows available cabins on deck 17. But when I call my rep at NCL he tells me there's all kinds of cabins on deck 16 (which I would prefer). I believe it's a (intentional) glitch on the NCL website.

We stayed in 16011 back in Nov 2012 and loved it. We had limited choice when I booked, but I wanted on deck 16 and this was the best option available. We were just a few steps away from the sliding door into the pool area.

The only noise from above worth complaining about was shortly after noon on the first sea day. I swear the Harlem Globetrotters moved in the cabin above us and had a two hour long open practice. (Seriously, in hindsight I'm thinking the people above us probably had some issues with the master bed and/or the master bath that only came to light the first night/morning. What I heard was the ships repair crew doing their job). Other than that, I didn't hear much from above other than the occasional cough when I was out on the balcony.

Anyways, if the option was available to me, I'd grab port-side cabin 16012 or 16014 as my first preference. Then 16016, then 16010, then 16008 in that order. When I was onboard I noticed that little hallway in front of these cabins had very little foot traffic. It seemed to be mostly 'local' foot traffic heading in/out of the Courtyard Grill. Most of the people forward of those cabins who wanted to get to the elevators (i.e. mostly everybody else) would scoot through the sliding door in front of 16010 and take the short cut through the pool area.

I could go into deeper detail, but it appears I'm already long winded.

That is an odd thing to put there. I agree.

But don't worry. You can have it cooked however you like.

Like everyone else, we try to track the butler down at some point on the last day. That morning (or even the night before) I go down to guest services and put the tips on my account, so they give me a slip in an envelope to give to the crew member. (This is always interesting too, as they'll write down the crew members real name on the slip and envelope.)

We usually find him in the late afternoon or early evening, give him/her their slip, and spend a few quiet minutes talking and saying our goodbyes and good lucks and handshakes and what not. We do this for the concierge and the room steward too.

...pics...

Very nice photos. Thank you for sharing. It's always nice to see children smiling and laughing.

It is my Christmas tradition to watch A Christmas Story several times on xmas eve and xmas day. On Christmas eve on Epic they played the movie in the atrium and had popcorn. They even sang Christmas carols before the movie.

Bring your santa hat for you and all of your family. Its fun seeing how many people on board thought of the same idea.

 

Its funny because A Christmas Story is a huge tradition movie on TV. But the movie was a flop in the box office in 1982. IMHO its still the best Christmas movie ever.

It is a great movie and for years was a nice tradition in our family as well. However, TBS just totally killed it for us. For about a decade it seemed like it was on constantly for the entire month of December. None of my kids or myself go out of their way to watch it anymore. We've seen it waaaay too many times that it just lost all of its appeal. I hope TBS is happy!!! :(

Christmas Vacation, Home Alone I and II, and Elf are our go-to Christmas movies. We try to limit how often we watch them so we don't suffer from A Christmas Story syndrome. The last couple years we've added Christmas With The Kranks and Deck the Halls (the one with Matthew Broderick and Danny Devito) into our usual playlist.

Welp, that was off-topic. Sorry.

When we were on the Epic in late Nov 2012, the day after American Thanksgiving they started showing Home Alone I on the in-room TV's. There was another Xmas-themed movie, but I can't seem to remember it at the moment.

Wouldn't this work?

 

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD822ZM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-reader

 

I have the original Ipad and use this

 

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A/apple-ipad-camera-connection-kit

Oh my...the prices!!! :eek: That's just apple robbery, plain and simple. You could probably find the same thing made in the same factory by the same children for $1.99 on Ebay.

If it was me, I'd just buy some more SD cards and transfer your files when you get home. They're cheap now. You could probably get 2 x 32Gb SD cards from Amazon for about the same price as that obscenely overpriced cable from Amazon.

Its good to know that there is a great likelihood of having movies to watch while on the Dawn both on TV in the cabin and in lounge/public setting as well. With as much other stuff as there is to do, probably won't watch too many unless they have something playing that is really good that we have not seen before.

They always have some recent releases on the TV. When we were on the Dawn in April 2013 they were showing Lincoln which was just on released on DVD/Bluray a week earlier and that Tom Cruise movie, Jack Reacher, which wasn't officially released on DVD/Bluray in North America until a week after we disembarked. There were more, but those are the only two I can remember off the top of my head.

I know I'm not alone when I say that whenever I watch a movie in my cabin it's always in 10 minutes blocks in totally random order. By the end of the cruise I have seen the entire movie but never in the proper sequence of events. So I'm forced to go out and buy the Bluray when I get home. That's what happened with Lincoln. I couldn't make hide nor hair out of it until I got home and bought it and watched it from start to finish.

I wish they'd show movies in the afternoon in the theater. That's what they did on my first cruise back in the mid-90's on a now defunct cruiseline. I remember one day they played a bunch of James Bond movies back-to-back.

Anyone know if the TV's have HMDI ports on the back? Nice to took the tablet up to a bigger screen to watch movies in the room.

I've tried on the Epic, Dawn, and Star and was never successful. And I brought all kinds of HDMI cables and adapters. I thought I had all the bases covered, but I struck out.

Somebody here once wondered if it was a safety thing. Like, if they needed to announce something in an emergency they might be required to broadcast it on the televisions as well as the PA. So they lock the unused ports to ensure every TV is always available to any emergency broadcast.

Don't quote me on that. I'm just relaying what somebody else once pondered.

When did we sail together???

Well, you've been on every cruise I've ever been on.

If it wasn't for the ships' photographers my wife would never ever get a decent photo of her and I together. So she buys the photos. Lots of them. I hope they have the USB drive on the Star in the couple weeks.

I admit it's a little amusing browsing through the photo lineup, something I think the newer ships don't have. Everybody is so happy. And then there's always a grouch or two thrown in to even things out.

It's also funny how many people I recognize, even if I only seen them in person for just a fleeting moment. EG. "that's the woman who told me to try that weird looking dessert in the buffet..and it was awesome!", or "that's the guy who farted in the elevator just before we got on", or "that couple sat across from us at dinner the other night", or "that guy won big in the casino the other night", etc.