Star Review 3-10 January

[denas]

We just got back from the Star. I will try and post more and add pictures later.

 

We stayed in a suite for the first time. We were in Room 12030 a family suite. When we booked, we received the UDP, UBP, all gratuites and $200 OBC. With the value of the perks (amount we would spend on drinks and dining not the value the cruiseline says it was worth), it was only about $400 more than a balcony room.

 

The really neat thing about this room is that it is right at the bumpout so you have windows in two directions - sideways and forward. In fact, we could look right through the bridge and see officers on the bridge! The bad thing about the room is it is right below the jogging track. There were signs posted that the track was closed until 9am, but people started jogging around 6. We were up early, so not a real bothered but it is amazing how loud someone jogging on deck is. They also felt the need to powerwash the deck at 3 am. I would still book the room again for the views though!

 

We loved the itinerary. Western Caribbean is our favorite and prefer not to have a stop in the Bahamas in January since the weather is so iffy. Unfortunately, we had pretty dismal weather - downpours for three days and chilly the first couple of days.

 

We ate at Moderno (twice), Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, Cagney's, La Cucina, and Versaille. Only meal that was really disappointing was Le Bistro. This was my favorite restaurant on our last cruise and thought this would be our special anniversary dinner which made it more disappointing. Service, atmosphere, drink, and my meal were all poor. If I hadn't had the UDP, I would have asked for a refund! We were actually very impressed with Versaille. We had our best service in this restaurant and the best desserts overall.

 

Bar service was fine. We never really waited long for drinks, but I miss when bar tenders seemed to rely more on tips so we would end up finding a bar tender or two in various places who remembered our names, drinks, asked about our day, etc. Now they are just kind of efficient in getting a drink but don't really go out of their way to socialize at all. There wasn't a lot of consistency in the drinks. Rum punch would be excellent once then the next time not nearly as good even from the same bar.

 

Production shows were FABULOUS. I love the trend to get away from a female and male lead singer (who are older) and a few young dancers lip syncing. On this cruise, there were six performers who sang and danced, eight more dancers, and three acrobats. Band on the Run and Paradis were both phenomenal - some of the best productions I have seen with really good performers. Fred Beville was the comedian and he was great.

 

Cruise director was Iain. Kind of an odd sense of humor (very British). Assistant cruise director was great.

 

Not sure what I expected from the Butler and concierge. We had made all of our own reserevations except Teppanyaki before getting on board. We had a problem on our bill and I brought it up to the concierge, but he didn't do anything about it so we still had to wait in a long line at guest serevices to get it fixed. Our butler delivered food every afternoon, but that was it. She never told us how to make coffee (so we ended up making tea on the first round) or showed us how to order breakfast room service or actually introduced us to anything in the room. In fact, I had tip envelopes ready on the last afternoon and never found her to give it to her (or the concierge). I tipped something because I felt like I was supposed to, but not sure what they did to earn it! Our room steward was great and I left her some extra.

 

We did Maya Key in Roatan, booked through Charilies Cave tubing in Belize, did Native Choice extreme tour in Costa Maya, and went to Chankanaab in Conzumel where we also did the manatee encounter and I got a massage.

 

I will add some more details with pictures later!

[dinkydee718]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review. In a suite on Star in April.

[Heather1972]

I'll be happy to see a current review of the star! Too many of the Escape!

[jpcdds6]

Was on the same cruise. Had a great time. The Star is in great shape. We were in an aft suite and thought the staff was great.

[j-9]

Hey, that's my room for 14 days in September! Can't wait to see some pictures. We're going to Iceland so hopefully it will be too chilly for the 6 am joggers [emoji3]. We choose this room for the bump out, thinking the views would be spectacular.

[murcor]

I was on the same cruise. My review would be almost identical to yours including the first time for a suite, a family suite, but didn't have the bump out windows.

 

With the UDP we also tried all the specialty restaurants. I was more happy with Aqua and Versailles the MDR's.

 

Agree about the bars.

Same thoughts about the butler & concierge.

 

Did different excursions ( it would be very weird if we did all the same ones lol )

 

Can't wait to see your pics when you get them posted.

[footballbabe3]

Was on the same cruise. Had a great time. The Star is in great shape. We were in an aft suite and thought the staff was great.

 

We are in a aft suite also. 8670 I can't find any pics. Do you have any of yours?

[denas]

]Day 1 - Embarkation and our Suite

 

We flew into Tampa the night before. We had to take a very late flight out, so didn't arrive until almost midnight. We opted to stay at the Marriott right at the Tampa Airport. This was great because we just got the luggage and walked across the airport to the hotel lobby and picked up our key. The room was very nice actually - had the higher quality Marriott amenities. The next day, we walked back into the airport and grabbed coffee at Starbucks and picked up a few toiletries I had forgotten. The Tampa airport has tons of shops and restaurants.

 

We caught the cab to the port from the Marriott lobby. They called a cab for us. It wasn't a regular cab so ended up costing a bit more, but it was nicer and closer to a hire sedan than a regular cab.

 

We got to the port around 11:30. Walked in and there were no lines anywhere. Checked in at the desk. I like how NCL swipes the card you want to use right at the desk. The last lines we sailed (RCI and Disney) require you to fill out forms with credit card info online then sign everything. The NCL process seems much more efficient (and safer since you don't give your numbers out).

 

We were escorted over to the concierge/suite area where we met Christopher the concierge. We asked for Teppanyaki reservations (since you can't do those ahead of time on the Star). One of the butlers than grabbed all of us to go on the ship. This was really funny!

 

We were instructed to hold up our keycards and "don't break the line". The butler than filed us around and ahead of everyone. At one point there was a little bottleneck and he informed us "we are going to insert now - don't break the line". We walked in front of everyone and to an elevator they were holding for us then straight up to Cagney's for lunch.

 

Embarkation suite lunch was at Cagney's, but all other breakfasts and lunches were at Modernos. Lunch was good. DH had the fish sandwich. I had a couple of bites and wanted to have it again later in the week, but we never made it back there for lunch! We also ordered our first drinks. They have a very extensive beer menu - but don't actually have most of the beers on board - there was a lot of running back and forth to the bar before DH finally found something they actually had in stock!

 

No one really told us when we could go to our rooms. We wandered the ship a bit, but then I was excited to see my room so just decided to head on over. Jennifer, our steward, was just finishing cleaning. Here are some pics of the room

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Edited January 13, 2016 by denas

[denas]

We did get snacks every day. It was chocolate covered strawberries several times. The ones we got the first day were my favorite (we received them one other time). We also LOVED the espresso machine (once we figured out how to make it work). We didn't find the coffee anywhere on the ship very good so we made a lot of espresso in the room. I even made iced tea with it and it was great.

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[jpcdds6]

We are in a aft suite also. 8670 I can't find any pics. Do you have any of yours?

 

Try youtube

[Lialovestotravel]

We are in a family suite in April, although one further forward..I don't think yours had the murphy bed? LOVE the pictures and info, thanks!

[Heather1972]

I booked an inside cabin for just me and my son. I suspect it's about the size of your bathroom!

[denas]

We are in a family suite in April, although one further forward..I don't think yours had the murphy bed? LOVE the pictures and info, thanks!

 

This one did not have a murphy bed, so I think it only slept 4. There are curtains around each of the distinct sleeping spaces. it was hard to get it all in a single picture!

[mrbucky]

too lazy to write full, so jumping on. Embarkation, fast and easy. Sat on stairs for 30 minutes waiting for Versailles to open at noon. Nice lunch. Had evening meals most of time here. Aqua room quite noisy and staff not as attentive. Shows, fantastic. Professional. No waiters or cruisers filling nights. If you go to O'Sheehans, you must be seated by hostess if you want to get waited on. Bars differ in recipes, but they do at home too. Prime times can be busy, but deal with it. Smoke in Gatsby's can get overwhelming. More smoke in here than in casino. Would like to visit with engineer on cfm's. Buffet breakfast, go aft to avoid crowds. Cabins, had balcony on deck 10. Suite above us with a child that was practicing circus performance. 6:00 am each morning jumping off of bed and running, over and over. Once at 2:00 am. Three cabins in a row on ten called and complained daily. Nothing was done. Other cruise lines have utilized our room credits to offset our gratuities. Not so here. Lost room credits and fully billed for tips.

Tender, confusion as to when we were allowed off. Sent up and down several time.s Finally told girl at bottom, you boat is half full and no one else is coming. Let us on so the boat can go. We filled it.

Disembarkation: utter chaos! sent in circles. One time they closed a door and told us all to reverse course.

wife and I were separated there. Two others in our group a few feet from me got off 55 minutes later. It was as if they had never done this before and had no idea how to line up people. So other than not much sleep, rainy weather, we had a great time!