Calling All STAR Cruisers- Care to Share Your Experiences, Tricks and Tips?

[CrazyKoi]

Happy November, Everyone!

My husband (gee, it is going to take practice to get used to calling him that) and I are celebrating our honeymoon on the STAR in 2 weeks! We are really excited! We are new to cruising and have never really traveled together, so we are especially excited about this trip!

 

I've been reading the reviews of recent cruisers and I won't lie. I'm getting a little nervous! Would anybody who recently sailed on the Star like to share their experiences (good and bad)?

 

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for "Must-Do" or "Must-Avoid" things to do or see on the ship? For instance- any advice on a less crowded bar on board? Out off all of the specialty dining restaurants, are there any that you would recommend? We booked Cagneys twice, but I'm not sure which other restaurant I should book twice. We are staying in an ocean view cabin, so we won't have the access to suite amenities, so are there recommendations for breakfast or lunch that us non-suite-life people to visit?

 

Also, as this is our first cruise, do you have any advice for smooth sailings?

 

Thank you so much!

[Atennelle]

We went to all but one of the shows and they were all good - so make sure you see the shows each night.

 

Teppanyaki and Moderno were both very good food and unique experiences so I would recommend them. La Cucina was good but it is pretty standard Italian, so that is up to you.

 

The Mojito bar and the one outside La Cucina (can't remember the name - Gatsby's maybe) were less crowded than the others. There was actually a waitress at Gatsby's who served us and bussed the table! She got a tip from us!

[Ron_L]

Happy November, Everyone!

 

My husband (gee, it is going to take practice to get used to calling him that) and I are celebrating our honeymoon on the STAR in 2 weeks!

 

 

Are you in the Nov. 15 sailing? Have you joined our roll call? I took a look at the list and didn't see you but if I missed you I apologize. If you haven't joined, please do! We have a fun group and several activities planned. We're going to have s great cruise!

[jpcdds6]

Are you in the Nov. 15 sailing? Have you joined our roll call? I took a look at the list and didn't see you but if I missed you I apologize. If you haven't joined, please do! We have a fun group and several activities planned. We're going to have s great cruise!

We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing and are getting a little worried as well. Since the move to Tampa the Star reviews have been awful. I think Del Rio should get his head out of his porthole and do something about the on board service issues. Let us know what your experience was when you get back if you have time. Have a great cruise.

[Cruzn Bills Fan]

We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing and are getting a little worried as well. Since the move to Tampa the Star reviews have been awful. I think Del Rio should get his head out of his porthole and do something about the on board service issues. Let us know what your experience was when you get back if you have time. Have a great cruise.

 

We are on the Jan 10th cruise & NCL needs to get their act together before then! :mad:

[Ron_L]

We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing and are getting a little worried as well. Since the move to Tampa the Star reviews have been awful. I think Del Rio should get his head out of his porthole and do something about the on board service issues. Let us know what your experience was when you get back if you have time. Have a great cruise.

 

I will. It seems that the cruise that ended on Sunday was better than the week before, but still not up to the usual NCL standard, so hopefully things will improve weekly.

[denas]

We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing and are getting a little worried as well. Since the move to Tampa the Star reviews have been awful. I think Del Rio should get his head out of his porthole and do something about the on board service issues. Let us know what your experience was when you get back if you have time. Have a great cruise.

 

We are on your sailing. I really hope it gets straightened out. It is our anniversary and we had a lot of choices for options and decided on the Star based on our previous experience on NCL and the ports. Hope I don't wish we had gone to Sandals instead! We only get a cruse without kids every 4-5 years so will be really disappointed if I can't get a drink on this one!!

[Strangerush]

We have a group of 8 on the Jan 3rd sailing as well. We have all cruised exclusively with RCCL but wanted to try something new. We are all very nervous we made a mistake, but at least we will be out of the snow! I would also love to hear your thoughts post-cruise!

[jpcdds6]

We are on your sailing. I really hope it gets straightened out. It is our anniversary and we had a lot of choices for options and decided on the Star based on our previous experience on NCL and the ports. Hope I don't wish we had gone to Sandals instead! We only get a cruse without kids every 4-5 years so will be really disappointed if I can't get a drink on this one!!

Have you joined the roll call?

[UM-Fan]

Just off from the Star this past Sunday. All that you have read about the Star service being awful is accurate. The only decent service from any restaurant or dining room was received from Cagney's. O'Sheehan's is a total mess. The service is SLOW and you have to order a glass of water or you don't get any. And you better order dessert with your meal order or they won't come back to take it. They bring you the wrong food and then act like they don't know what to do when you say that is not what I ordered. Out of all of the meals that we had, I can count on my one hand how many came accurate the first time from any dining venue.

Experience in the main dining rooms was not much better. Staff was seen joking with each other and then they come to the table with a unfriendly demeanor. Service is also extremely slow in the dining rooms.

Bar staff around the pool area are basically non-existent. Only one night in the Stardust did someone come to ask us if we wanted anything from the bar.

Stateroom attendant also gave lackluster service. It took two days to get the coffee pot replaced in the room because it wouldn't brew a pot of coffee in the morning. Typically the room didn't get "morning" service until 2-3PM and then several nights we went back to the room after 10PM and still no turn down service. The next morning the dailies were stuck under the door.

I hope that the Star experience is better for you then it was for us!

Edited November 3, 2015 by UM-Fan

[gpb11]

Would anybody who recently sailed on the Star like to share their experiences (good and bad)?

My thoughts/tips having been on the Star on Oct 19 out of Tampa:

 

The "juice bar" in the middle in the Market Cafe serves canned/bottled beer and it seems many people don't realize this; I could walk past the ten person Topsiders bar line and have nobody in line at the Market Cafe bar. I don't know specifics of hours and such, but it's worth checking on them.

 

We were on deck 9 aft. It was so much simpler to go grab a glass of wine at OSheehans after I figured out you could get there from the deck 8 after stairwell. From inside OSheehans it doesn't look like you can pass through, but you can.

 

If at all possible plan to do self-disembarkation. Get to Spinnaker a little early. Realize they funnel you in the doorway opposite the side you're docked, and will exit the other side. Position yourself and your party accordingly. We were outside at the curb by 8:30am and it sounded like the rest of disembarkation was a cluster-f.

 

When they have the midships port section of Market Cafe closed they still may have the aft port section open. Don't forget to go check there; they had some stuff they didn't have elsewhere a couple times. On the same note the different buffet lines sometimes have different stuff; scan your options. We'd often grab a late afternoon snack and take it down to our balcony.

 

Remember to ask your steward to empty your fridge; then if you ask for beer unopened you can keep a couple handy.

 

I can't speak to the upcharge restaurants; we ate dinners at Versailles, Aqua, and Ginza and were pleased with our options and service (mostly). We made no reservations and never had to wait more than a couple minutes for a table.

 

We had breakfast at Versailles and OSheehans a couple times and enjoyed both. Market Cafe was the usual buffet thing, got the job done but nothing really to write home about.

 

Do go to the shows, the comedian is both funny and clean. Sadly a rare combination these days where many comedians don't have the wit to pull it off. Dance Like a Norwegian is fun. The latin band they had playing in Spinnaker was very enjoyable too.

 

I've posted other thoughts about service in other threads, just go to my post history to find those.

Edited November 3, 2015 by gpb11

[spidybabe]

We are on the Jan 10th cruise & NCL needs to get their act together before then! :mad:

 

Hopefully it will be better by our cruise on Jan 10th.

We usually like the service on the smaller ships better than the "away" ships, so we will be very disappointed if service does not improve. Our cruise will also be dealing with the new dining changes. Doesn't really impact us except for the platinum dinners, but we do hope our fellow cruisers will be happy and have a great cruise, without problems dining.

Safe sailing

[RobinKY]

Seriously considering Star Dec 13-20 or 20-27. These reviews are changing my mind. Might try the Dawn out of NOLA

[wilmingtech]

We were on the STAR in June - We found that the hot tub at the front of the ship (Deck 13 I think?) Was hardly used on our cruise (it was through Norway in 60 degree weather) but it was fun to go sit out there at night and no one else was using it. There is also a hot tub in the kids area and I'm sure that would be empty as well with great views off the back of the ship.

 

There is a door at the front of deck 8 that goes out to the bow of the ship. This is typically locked or for ship personnel only. The captain did open the bow up to cruisers a couple times on our trip so we could get out there to take pictures and see the scenery. Not sure this happens in the Caribbean.

 

I can't reply about food or service as it seems it changed greatly from when we were on it. We loved Cagneys, Le Bistro and my wifes favorite is Moderno because of the salad bar.

 

There were two times (we had ultimate dining) when we wanted to go eat in a specialty without reservations and on both occasions they were able to take us.

 

We did have fun meeting other passengers and playing cards with them and just chatting and enjoying ourselves. Not a whole lot to see and do.

 

We loved our trip but it was more because of the Voyage not the ship.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful cruise and the STAR can get itself straightened out.

 

-Sean