bitsey66

Great review! Very helpful!

I had to laugh at the entertainment note about the "pirates"! They must have seen our group on the Star last year and copied, LOL! There were 20 or more of our group dressed as Pirates!

Sorry if that's so huge, I don't know how to make it smaller.

Anyway, thank you, great review! Happy Sailing!

Although princess doesn't have a ginormous mega ship like some others, out of the 3 lines I've been on, princess is my favorite! NEVER felt crammed anywhere and beautiful ships. JMHO

I pre pay EVERYTHING possible, including hotels for the drive down and overnight before embarkation. It's much more manageable for us to pay this way. Just our preference.

I've sailed Carnival, Princess and NCL and beach towels were provided on all 3 to use onboard and in any port

It's rather funny, I thought there were grown adults on this site, but the more I read, the more those said adults bicker like children.

[/Quote]ENTERTAINMENT: Me 60, DD 32. Before even leaving I was leery of the entertainment onboard. And mind you, my DD and I go to Broadway plays on a regular basis and love the theater. We wished one of the shows, had more currently music and themes. Both complimentary shows were set in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. And if you want something more recent like the 80s you can pay for the Brat Pack. UGH. With such high caliber shows on Royal, we were disappointment with the selection on NCL. Let me say, these folks were very talented. Some of the best singing I’ve ever heard from cruise singers and dancers. But the music just wasn’t our type. There are so many musicals to choose from, I have no idea why NCL chose these three shows with old decades old music to have on the same ship.

We did purchase and really enjoy the Wine Lovers Musical in the Supper Club. Again, very talented singers, fun, upbeat, and you get to drink wine. We saw two comedians plus the host in the comedy theater, BOOK THESE quickly as they sell out and the venue is small.

Are you saying you have to pay for entertainment???

I've just come back from a cruise, my 11th not wearing a lanyard (and proud) People that were wearing lanyards, particularly women, in evening gowns just looked stupid, it ruins your outfit. Never mind if it's sparkly, it looks daft! I'm not a fan as you can tell! Ok during the day I guess, not for me though and definitely not when you're all dressed for dinner! ;)

No definitley not wearing one when dressed for dinner or in photos. Usually have it on during the day when all I have is a bathing suit and towel or most of my summer clothes don't have pockets

It's pretty darn impressive to see her being escorted home! Although I'm sort of "new" in the cruise world (only 4 under my belt), it's still exciting to see! We will be on her next October!

I discovered Expresso Martinis this cruise! Oh my!!

And we veteran cruisers just love to turn our noses up to those newbie cruisers.:eek:

 

Maybe they should have a special ship for those newbies.:cool:

Maybe a special ship for those who turn their noses up at those who don't do things the same as them?! Just saying...

I'm not a newbie cruiser and sometimes use a lanyard and sometimes don't. Depends where I am or what I'm doing!

Another big thing (or maybe it's just my imagination, lol) TIPS!!! It seems every place we went, tips are "expected". I'm not talking pre paid gratuities on board (unless someone provided outstanding service then we tip extra to that individual) but taxis, buses, transportation to/from excursions, to/from port, porters, dining on shore, etc etc etc.... We even asked a little boy in Honduras where a certain shop was located, and instead of just telling us, he told us and then walked us there and stood by the entrance waiting! I think I spent more on "other tips" than onboard required gratuity

We just got off the star yesterday, and we're done with NCL for the time being too.

 

45+ minutes in line for 1 drink is insane. I couldn't believe it. Every excursion, elevator ride, time at dinner all anyone talked about to each other was the horrible service. Rude bartenders (mostly), rude waiters (mostly). Shout out to Horlicks in O'Sheehan's bar who we named our vacation hero for the prompt, friendly bar service. He really impressed us and was happy to recommend drinks and actually seemed to care about quick service.

 

We couldn't believe how rude the servers were at some of the restaurants for basic questions, and seemed almost bothered to have to be serving us. We had a wonderful experience with Samuel in Teppenyaki/ Noodles as our server though. We tipped him $15! He was a really fabulous, personable guy. Sadly, he seemed to be one of the only ones.

 

We were in the elevator with the cruise director and every single person on the elevator was complaining to him about the terrible, terrible service.

 

We just got off the Star this morning! Not much has changed! This was our first NCL cruise also and definitely did NOT meet our expectations as our past Princess cruises were beyond our expectations. HOWEVER, we don't go looking for problems or nit pick every little detail and we (along with the rest of our group of 25+ people) had a fabulous vacation! As 2 of the group, our complaints were the very slow service in general, especially the bar lines. Pretty non existent wait staff at the pool most of the trip except the last day, all of the MDR food was dried out or over cooked and we personally did not care for most of the menus. The bartenders in 5'o'clock somewhere were just PLAIN RUDE. (In fact, one of our group will be filing a formal complaint), one of the bars not having products available for the drink of the day, ALL DAY (don't advertise it if you don't have it)! Our group plans dinners together and one of our ladies organizes all the details & makes reservations so the MDRs can accommodate us instead of us just showing up. Last night was no exception and they acted like they had no idea what to do with a group of 16 & were pi$$ed of that we wanted seated together. My husbands menu was different than everyone else's and when he went to order, the waiter had a deer in the headlights look and pretty much snatched it from him and told him "no, you can't have that!". That is just our complaints. Now, some of our group had other problems. One of the girls encountered problems at guest service were she basically was told they couldn't help her, one man was told "he could be nicer" as the staff continued to argue with him (just poor BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE).

Along with bad, comes good. We were pleased with our cabin steward. Our cabin was kept clean and make up & turn down service was prompt everyday. I have 2 simple requests (full ice bucket and 3 bath towels daily) and I asked once and my request was fulfilled each day. Cagneys was delicious, although not as outstanding as Princesses steakhouse, but still delicious. Service was decent as well. We did show up 30 minutes earlier than our reservation, but told the host it was no problem if we had to wait as we knew they're busy and we are early. He had us seated within 10-15 minutes which was very nice. Most of the shows we caught were fabulous! Surprisingly, embarkation was handled well, disembarkation was typical, nothing out of the ordinary. We loved the Java Cafes coffees, and overall mostly everyone was pleasant to us.

As I stated previously we travel annually with a very large group and can tend to be a little rowdy at times but any of us have no problem showing our appreciation with something extra to those who give us excellent customer service! Our demands are pretty simple and reasonable. Good basic customer service is expected no matter if we are on vacation or not!

Some of our group have sailed NCL many times in the past and had wonderful experiences. This being our first time, we've decided NCL deserves a 2nd chance and did a next cruise deposit for next October on Escape with our group!

On embarkation day you can ask to see the MDR menus for the whole cruise and make adjustments or cancel reservations as necessary.

This is one little gem I did not know! Thank you so much! I'm keeping this info stored for next October!!!

Plus, when the elevators open on Aloha Deck, the automated voice says, in such cheerful tones, "Aloha! Deck 12," that it totally makes your day. "Baja Deck 11" just doesn't have the same vibe -- and no implied exclamation point, either.

I love this! I was on both Crown & Ruby and loved saying it with the automated voice [emoji23]

Love the dress. I just discovered Venus from my daughter. I not only love the clothes, I love the price. I ordered quite a few things for my trip to Vegas. I will also be using them on my next cruise.

Love Venus!!! Most of my clothes, cruise and otherwise are from Venus

What in the heck are packing cubes I keep reading about?

You have to take it without the souvenir glass or it would be over $10.

Or if you want the glass they'll charge your acct for the overage

Although I despise the itinerary, I booked an aft corner suite 13306 to check the ship out. I do hope at sometime in the future, the Getaway and the Escape, or Bliss will alternate itineraries, or head to the southern Caribbean rather than the discount tour to the USVI, BVI and Bahamas.:eek:;)

AGreed! We're think of booking as a "cheap" cruise so that we can just explore & enjoy the ship! We've only been on 4 cruises and never on a mega ship! And by cheap cruise I mean not getting off and wasting money in places we've been to already. I don't like Nassau at all and have been to St Thomas 5 times already.

Wow! I was in Nassau in 2010 and we took a cab from our condo and walked all over Atlantis, inside and out, saw the aquatic tanks, bought some trinkets etc. sounds like a lot has changed

This is scaring me. We will be on the Star in 2 weeks. They better get it together!

I'll be on it in 5 days and hoping they got it together

In all honesty it is worth all the stress for a chair?:confused:

 

And no I do not use the pool chairs either.........

Not at all! Find a different chair! The sun shines everywhere! For the real chair hogs... How about just don't be douchey!

We are retired and travel most of the year.

Ahhh, the life! Maybe some day this will be us [emoji4]

As soon as I step foot into the ship! Then as it starts to move away from the pier it get super real!! 8 MORE DAYS!!!

Honestly, I did not enjoy my first cruise all that much. It just goes to show, it's all about WHO you travel with! Anyway, I didn't think I'd cruise again but I was at work one day when my now husband sent me a text asking what I thought about a cruise to Aruba, Curaçao & Princess Cays and told me about this guy he saw advertising it on FB as a Marines & Friends Cruise. Me being reluctant to send a down payment to a stranger, suggested we use my TA. Ended up meeting up with the Marines at the port while waiting in line! From that moment, we gained an entire cruise family and great friends! That was my 2nd cruise & hubbys first! We LOVED IT!!! We booked our cruise last year with them and THAT was that "one" cruise! Words can't describe how much fun we had! There ended up being about 40-50 in our group, we were the FIRST onto the ship, before VIPs, had a fabulous lunch, one of the girls from Texas surprised her best friend by showing up on board, we held an "amazing race" on board, held the Marine Corps birthday "ball" at Skywalkers, complete with all the traditions , shared so many laughs and memories! Our next cruise with them leaves Tampa in 8 days!

Any vacation involves cleaning the house, doing the laundry, paying the bills, getting hair cut & color, get nails done, and grocery shop for the house/pet sitter.

This will be the 3rd year cruising for us & we cruise in November (around 11/10 to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday. We're the Marines & Friends cruise Group some of you might see) so I've started getting my suitcases out after Labor Day!!! It started as a joke because I get so excited & have to start early. It's now become the tradition