Star Post Drydock Review, 5-day Cabo Spring Break, St. Patrick's Day in an OS

[Levanah]

To reply to Shout19691969 questions: The shows were actually very enjoyable. Our favorites were the "reality" shows such as the New Newlywed game and Perfect Couple. They had us laughing hard. The comedian (I'm sorry I don't remember his name was very good as well. Over all I'd rate the shows an 8 out of 10. We only stopped at one port and that was Cabo San Lucas for 1.5 days. We really enjoyed getting off the ship and spending time there. We normally book excursions with the ship but decided to wing it this time to see what happens and we were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the excursions available away from the ship. Cabo is beautiful but touristy (of course) especially around Los Arcos etc. The wind kept picking up, so 1/2 of us was able to parasail, which was an amazing view.

 

The general condition of the ship was one that needed cleaning in some areas (the roofs of the glass elevators was particularly nasty) to quite nice in others (the Stardust & restaurants).

 

We didn't find out that the ship was fresh out of drydock until we had boarded her and the Captain made his first announcement. Had we known, we would probably have booked elsewhere as I've experienced that before on another line. We were impressed with the cabins that we had and commented on how much more spacious and nicer they were than what we were used to on other lines. We found the decor (overall, cabins, restaurants, etc) to be nicer than we expected. It was the poor customer service and lack of staff I don't know how to excuse. It would have been nice to know that they were operation on a reduced staff so I could have lowered my expectations somewhat, but I didn't find that out until getting on this board. As they say, "Unmet expectations lead to disappointment".

 

Greetings to you in OK :)

 

Thanks for your review. It's too bad you had not been able to know about the drydock schedule. Many folks who frequent this board keep close tabs on these kinds of things. I am disappointed to hear about so many unfinished things on the first sail after drydock. It may be common, but it's not the best experience for customers. We board the Star this Sunday and I hear that many of the projects are now completed or in the process of completion including O'Sheehan's.

 

Thanks again :)

[breezy270]

Enjoying your review so far!!!! I will be on the April 5th sailing on the Star. I am hoping staff levels and construction will be where it should be by the time it is my turn to sail. I guess we will find out how it is coming when this weeks passengers arrive on Sunday! Cant wait to hear how things are coming along. For those who were on the March 17th sailing many have said they had lunch at Cagney's. Just wondering if lunch there was standard MDR lunch or something special and if it was worth eating lunch at Cagney's vs. buffet on embarkation day? Any opinions would be appreciated!

[craig-n-carol]

New wine menu in Cagney's is presented on an iPad. We were told this was the first sailing that offered this feature. We only saw this in La Cucina and Cagneys throughout the cruise.

 

[mcgovernsandra]

Enjoying your review so far!!!! I will be on the April 5th sailing on the Star. I am hoping staff levels and construction will be where it should be by the time it is my turn to sail. I guess we will find out how it is coming when this weeks passengers arrive on Sunday! Cant wait to hear how things are coming along. For those who were on the March 17th sailing many have said they had lunch at Cagney's. Just wondering if lunch there was standard MDR lunch or something special and if it was worth eating lunch at Cagney's vs. buffet on embarkation day? Any opinions would be appreciated!

 

we will be onboard for the sailing this Sunday the 29th in a SJ Family suite. Can't wait! In answer to your question, Cagneys is only open for lunch and breakfast for suite passengers. I believe one of the MDR's is open however for lunch on embarkation day if you don't want to brave the lines at the buffet! :)

[Arizona Packer Backer]

Enjoying your review so far!!!! I will be on the April 5th sailing on the Star. I am hoping staff levels and construction will be where it should be by the time it is my turn to sail. I guess we will find out how it is coming when this weeks passengers arrive on Sunday! Cant wait to hear how things are coming along. For those who were on the March 17th sailing many have said they had lunch at Cagney's. Just wondering if lunch there was standard MDR lunch or something special and if it was worth eating lunch at Cagney's vs. buffet on embarkation day? Any opinions would be appreciated!

 

In my opinion it's worth eating at Cagney's anytime!! :D But as mentioned, the breakfast and lunch is only for suite passengers. We ate breakfast there every day, and lunch a couple of times. It was excellent!

[breezy270]

Thank you all for clarifying the cagney's thing. I am sad! I got excited about cagney's on embarkation day. I am in a balcony room haven't been able to make it into a suite yet!!! I enjoyed Cageny's on the Epic last year. It was amazing!!! For the cost it is an unbelievable value!

[JimS4210]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! We'll be on the Star May 20th heading to Norway and I'm looking forward to reviews on the ship's condition post drydock!

 

Jim

[funat55]

I just gotta say the pictures you are posting are amazing. One of these days I want to learn how to post a picture. I notice your pictures come out big on my computer almost covering the whole screen. I've seen other posts where the pictures were small thumbnails.

[Arizona Packer Backer]

I just gotta say the pictures you are posting are amazing. One of these days I want to learn how to post a picture. I notice your pictures come out big on my computer almost covering the whole screen. I've seen other posts where the pictures were small thumbnails.

 

I agree! I don't have photos to post with my review, so another big thank you to Carol for posting hers!

[Ron_L]

I just gotta say the pictures you are posting are amazing. One of these days I want to learn how to post a picture. I notice your pictures come out big on my computer almost covering the whole screen. I've seen other posts where the pictures were small thumbnails.

 

Without hijacking :D Posting pictures is easy. Upload them to a photo hosting site like Photobucket and then copy the IMG Code for each picture on Photobucket and paste it into your post on here.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Ron_L

[tvguy72]

Really liked your review of the Star. We sailed on her years ago, had a blast.

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

The suite looks amazing. maybe someday for us.:D

[craig-n-carol]

I agree! I don't have photos to post with my review, so another big thank you to Carol for posting hers!

 

Hi Arizona Packer Backer, sorry to say it has been Craig, not Carol all along. Although she was with me on the cruise, I do most all of the posting :) BTW, I took all these pics with my iPhone 6+, and use Google+ Photos for hosting all of my pics. I just share each photo with the public, then copy the image URL into the insert picture tool on CC. Hope you enjoyed your cruise!! :)

[craig-n-carol]

Thanks all for helping answer some of the questions, I have been so busy I barely know my own name, lol. More to come soon.

[Levanah]

Hi Arizona Packer Backer, sorry to say it has been Craig, not Carol all along. Although she was with me on the cruise, I do most all of the posting :) BTW, I took all these pics with my iPhone 6+, and use Google+ Photos for hosting all of my pics. I just share each photo with the public, then copy the image URL into the insert picture tool on CC. Hope you enjoyed your cruise!! :)

 

Craig, thanks for taking the time to post photos and give us a quick report on the Star. We sail her this weekend and am looking forward to the time away immensely. It was fun seeing your photos. I am just breaking in a new iphone 6 (well, no breaking in really necessary :)) and it will be fun to take pics with my new "camera" :)

[Arizona Packer Backer]

Hi Arizona Packer Backer, sorry to say it has been Craig, not Carol all along. Although she was with me on the cruise, I do most all of the posting :)

 

Aha, sorry about that, Craig! :)

[craig-n-carol]

Aha, sorry about that, Craig! :)

 

No worries APB! :)

[craig-n-carol]

Dining: As mentioned before, we had dinner at Cagney's the first night, which was fabulous. We had the UDP, we did NOT get in on the FCP promo which included everything, we purchased the cruise before the promo began. So we purchased the UDP for a reduced price of $69 pp online on My NCL. I think this was due to the fact we were platinum and had 2 Le Bistro dinners with wine, which we only used 1 of due to the unavailability of reservations. We tried getting into Le Bistro the second night. I must say, this is the first cruise we were denied a dinner reservation to anywhere, ever. So we had to put it off until the last night of the cruise. Our second night we reserved the new Asian restaurant, it is no longer called Ginza (even though the signage was not changed). There are 3 types of food on the menu, Chinese, which is complimentary, Hot Rock (kind of like an at your table teppanyaki), which is $10 pp upcharge, which is a hot lava rock served with the ingredients of your meal to cook them at your table. It was very good, and fun. I wish I had taken a picture, but I did not. The third type is sushi a la carte. We did not try the sushi, but others around us did and they said it was very good.

 

3rd night we ate a La Cucina. I had the grilled Shrimp, Carol had the ribeye. Both meals were excellent.

 

Night 4 was Moderno, which in the past I really liked, not this time. It just wasn't that good. Meat was bland, salad bar was the best part of the meal.

 

 

Upon arriving to Le Bistro, we realized why reservations were so hard to get. It is TINY!! As in less than half the size of other Le Bistros on Jewel class and the Breakaway class restaurants. There were no tables available when we arrived, with a 6pm reservation. So we had to wait a few minutes to get seated. The seating at this Le Bistro is way less private than others also, the seating was very close together, and there was no chance for the feeling of having a quiet meal with your partner. It was loud, and just not the usual Le Bistro atmosphere. Bad planning in my opinion for such a sought after dining venue on NCL.

 

These may look like the regular Quatres les Coronets from Le Bistro, but they were imposters! Did not taste anything like the wonderful appetizers we have known and loved. What happened NCL?

 

[craig-n-carol]

Spa: We did not purchase a spa pass, but wife and I had acupuncture, which left me pain free with my bad back. Even today, a week after getting my treatment, I feel better than I have in years. I will be continuing this treatment at home. My wife also has a bad knee, and she has had the same results since the treatment, no pain.

 

While I was waiting for my treatment, a contractor and a ship's officer were discussing replacing the wallpaper in the Spa. This ship's officer said all throughout the ship in the common areas, work was going on in the wee hours to complete what was not finished in the drydock.

[craig-n-carol]

Cabo: We met a friend from high school who lives in Cabo at Cabo Wabo. We ate lunch there, had the WABURRITO. Very good and spicy. Washed it down with a couple of Pacifico Beers. After lunch we went on a private tour with Whale Watch Cabo.

 

This was the highlight of the trip

[herdingdogmom]

Thanks for your review. Wow, that photo of the breaching whales is incredible.

I have a question for you about Le Bistro. Because of the cramped seating, we ate in the wine cellar area "outside". Were there still tables there or have they been removed?

[craig-n-carol]

Thanks for your review. Wow, that photo of the breaching whales is incredible.

I have a question for you about Le Bistro. Because of the cramped seating, we ate in the wine cellar area "outside". Were there still tables there or have they been removed?

 

The tables were still there, I imagine it would have been quite noisy out there.

[Arizona Packer Backer]

The tables were still there, I imagine it would have been quite noisy out there.

 

Yeah, we opted not to eat out there, either. I also agree about the atmosphere in Le Bistro. It's not very quiet or romantic at all. The Le Bistro dinner was our "splurge", and it wasn't stellar overall.

 

And I'm actually kind of glad to know that the Quatres Cornets are "not what they used to be". I had read rave reviews about them, but when I tasted them I thought, "This is what everyone goes on about?" lol..at least it wasn't just me! ;)

 

I LOVE your photos of the whales!! What an awesome experience that must have been!

[russianmom]

About 36 family members were on this cruise for my nephews wedding. I did not go They said the food was terrible and the service was horrible.

I really feel that they should have not scheduled this sailing and that they should have waited until the ship was in spit spot condition and with a full crew.

You weren't even on this cruise :mad:

 

This was our first Norwegian cruise having cruised Carnival and Royal Caribbean several times. In all honesty, I wouldn't recommend the Star.

Why are you chiming in with your negativity- write your own review... :mad:

 

I want to read Craig's review!! :D

[craig-n-carol]

Tail Breach

 

 

Action sequence of the full mom and calf breach

 

[craig-n-carol]

Although out of chronological order, this is another action sequence from our front balcony of rounding Land's End with the Crown Princess off the bow.