Just back from Star, wonderful trip.

[champagne lover]

We (my DH and myself from Scotland), were on Star 28/5 - 4/6 and loved it. I'll do 2 different threads, this one for the ship then another for the ports. We booked to stay in Venice for 2 nights before which was wonderful, we had a private transfer to the ship on Sunday morning and arrived at 10.50. We were booked into a suite so asked as soon as we arrived in the building if there was priority check-in and were told there wasn't. So we joined the main queue, check in opened at 10.55 and we were through in about 10 minutes. We were then shown to priority lounge (where we should have checked in) and then started to move towards the ship at 11.5, onboard by 11.30. As a suite passenger we were taken to Moderno for lunch, cabins weren't ready for passengers until we got the call at 1.10pm. We then went to our cabin, luggage all arrived by 2.30.

Cabin - aft penthouse with large balcony 9732, was wonderful, very spacious and really chose well and would love to be in that one again. It was spacious, loads of cupboard, drawer and shelf space, coffee machine and fridge. We removed the mini bar items to a cupboard so we could use it for water etc. We asked our butler for teabags and he brought them and cartons of fresh milk. The bathroom was lovely, shower over bath, separate toilet, Bvlgary toiletries and always plenty of towels. Plugs in cabin - there was one European either side of the bed, and a European, a USA and a UK one at dressing table. Hairdrier is fixed in a drawer at dressing table (not one where you have to hold the button down!). The balcony was wonderful, 2 loungers with cushions, small table and the balcony wrapped around the side too.

Room steward - we had Gilbert who was fabulous, looked after our cabin very well and nothing was too much trouble.

Butler - we had Joseph, friendly and efficient but we didn't use him much, one morning we had breakfast in our cabin which arrived 15 minutes before our selected time, by the time I was out the shower the food was lukewarm at best.

Private dining - as a suite passenger we had breakfast and lunch in Moderno each day (when on ship), varied menu but the same menu each day. Food and service was good. Breakfast had a buffet then you could order hot food from the menu.

Priority tenders, as suite passengers we were first off in 2 ports where we tendered, this was a big advantage in Santorini where the small port gets very crowded quickly.

Specialty restaurants - we ate in Cagney's, Moderno and Le Bistro and enjoyed each one, delicious food and good service. We also ate in Versailles and Aqua, a little disappointed that it took 15 minutes there to get a drink though. Versailles service particularly was rather slow.

Entertainment - without a doubt, absolutely loved Barricade Boys. If you like musicals then don't miss their 2 shows, outstanding. They got a complete standing ovation each night. We also saw Vegas and Paradis, both good but not a patch on the Boys.

We loved 5 o'clock Bar, good atmosphere here and, of course, Landshark lager (a treat when you don't get it in UK).

The one problem we had was our OBC, had $425 which we had been told could be used for our gratuities but once onboard were told we couldn't. We had the UBP and Speciality dinners and didn't want to book tours so in the end we asked them to remove the service charge from our account then we left the same amount of our OBC on our account and hope they used it correctly.

Casino - we don't go much but do like Roulette and disappointed there was only one table, every other ship we have been on has had 2 roulette tables. This meant it was very difficult to be able to play in the evening.

On disembarkation, we had priority as in a suite, walked through the door of the ship at 8.00 as one of the first passengers, collected luggage and were outside the terminal building by 8.05 - fastest time ever and so smooth.

We would definitely do the Star again but would love to be back in the same cabin.

I will do a separate report on our ports later, if anyone has questions I will try and answer them.

[L7oopys]

sounds like you had a fab time! i am going on the star 9TH July.

Where did you stay in Venice? as i need to book a pre cruise night there in October.

[champagne lover]

We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn in Mestre, on the mainland, would certainly go back there again. You can catch the bus at the door of the hotel, 10 minutes into Venice, cost is 1.50 euros single or 20 euros for a 24 hour pass which includes water buses, nothing nicer than sailing down the Grand Canal. When we saw others struggling to pull luggage up and over the bridges in Venice to get to and from their hotels we decided it was much easier to stay on the mainland. We arrived at our hotel on Friday evening at 7pm and were in Venice within half an hour, lovely dinner, back to hotel then returned to Venice the following morning for the whole day - oh to be back again!!!

[8228gl]

Hi,

 

Glad you had a great time. We are on the Star this Sunday and really excited but at the same time slightly anxious. This is our first ever cruise.

We are in a balcony, forward on deck 9 and only two cabins from the front of the ship.

I am worrying that this is the worst place to be if you suffer with seasickness, which my wife does.

Do you know if my wife is allowed to bring her hair straighteners and hairdryer with her.

 

Thanks

 

Graeme

[bigjcruiser]

Thank you for the updates. Can't wait to read about the ports although we go on June 18th and I think some are slightly different as we don't go to Mykonos or Santorini. Can't wait though.

 

We have cruised a few times, mostly with RCCL before but never with NCL so any tips would be greatly appreciated. We are staying in an oceanview room so nothing as grand as yours, it sounds lovely! We have Cagneys booked for 2 nights and Le Bistro booked for 1. We were unsure on Moderno - would you switch to that rather than two night at Cagney's? We loved the steak restaurant on RCCL which was why we chose that twice. We've also got the drinks package - any favourites to try?

[easyboy]

Glad you enjoyed your suite. Thanks for the feedback!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[champagne lover]

Bigjcruiser - yes I would recommend Moderno, lovely salad buffet to start then delicious meats that they bring round to your table, served with garlic mash, black beans and veg.

[iratherbesailing]

Bigjcruiser - yes I would recommend Moderno, lovely salad buffet to start then delicious meats that they bring round to your table, served with garlic mash, black beans and veg.

 

 

Can you please tell me what time you docked in Santorini? We have the same itinerary but it says we dock at 2pm but I see they have been docking at 1pm.

[8228gl]

Just off The Star. We docked at about 1.30pm and had to be tendered into the port. We were number 18 and the tendering process was quick as the tenders were a lot bigger and it took less than 10 mins. Santorini and Kotor were the only ports in which we had to tender. Unfortunately tendering to Kotor was horrendous. We were only there for about 90 mins which was such a shame.

[swanmark]

We were on the Epic in may, we were on deck 17, 2nd cabin from the front, and I suffer terribly from motion sickness, but I didn't feel a thing, and because we planned to go on the Star, we asked a few of the staff what that part of the med was like, and we were told it's very calm, so we booked for September, so I don't think your wife will have any problems. Though she won't be able to take her straighteners and the hair dryers are perfectly adequate.

 

 

Hi,

 

Glad you had a great time. We are on the Star this Sunday and really excited but at the same time slightly anxious. This is our first ever cruise.

We are in a balcony, forward on deck 9 and only two cabins from the front of the ship.

I am worrying that this is the worst place to be if you suffer with seasickness, which my wife does.

Do you know if my wife is allowed to bring her hair straighteners and hairdryer with her.

 

Thanks

 

Graeme

[8228gl]

Just a quick note. My wife brought her hair straighteners with her.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[cakeordeath]

Hi, What time were you able to disembark in Venice on the last day? I have a friend that is concerned about a flight time.

[Lauvellers]

Hi, could you please clarify two things for me :) So your on board credit was not allowed to be used for gratuities that are charged daily? I thought with it all being the same account it would equal out. I thought before you used to be able too. Second question, were you able to go to bier garten (think thats how it is spelled) and have it included in your beverage package? Thanks!

[tempus137]

We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn in Mestre, on the mainland, would certainly go back there again. You can catch the bus at the door of the hotel, 10 minutes into Venice, cost is 1.50 euros single or 20 euros for a 24 hour pass which includes water buses, nothing nicer than sailing down the Grand Canal. When we saw others struggling to pull luggage up and over the bridges in Venice to get to and from their hotels we decided it was much easier to stay on the mainland. We arrived at our hotel on Friday evening at 7pm and were in Venice within half an hour, lovely dinner, back to hotel then returned to Venice the following morning for the whole day - oh to be back again!!!

 

We stayed there both pre- and post-cruise, and it was great. The only problem was post-cruise, when we took the bus back to the hotel. There is a pedestrian overpass from the bus stop to the hotel, and the elevators were totally out of order, so we had to pull our luggage up 3 flights and then down 3 flights to get to the hotel.