LIVE Comparison: NCL Star 12-21-18 VS Royal Princess 4-06-19

[HBCcruiser]

On 12/23/2018 at 5:05 PM, gerry1.10 said:

Thanks

 

Could you please  find out when Djamel will be going off for his vacation? 

 

Thanks

gerry1.10

He just started so about 3 months.

[HBCcruiser]

19 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

if you just compare MDR and buffet food, Royal Princess will win hands down. 
We just got off the Getaway, and yeah... no. MDR food was so subpar. The buffet was pretty unremarkable as well. No guacamole ever. They had it once in the buffet on a Mexican night but ran out before 8 pm. What a shame. Regal Princess (just like Royal) had guacamole EVERY DAY.

But since you are going to have 3 night specialty dining on Star, you are probably not worried too much about MDR food quality.

 

Actually we are doing 6 night specialty dining. We love Cagneys so going there twice. We are going to the MD room Aqua tonight so I’ll rate that experience. We had lunch in the Versailles MD room and it was quite good. Service was good too. In fact, it’s been great this whole cruise. Internet is the worst! Can’t wait to see how it is on the Royal. I’m using cell service right now. I apologize for not posting more pics. I’ll do a full review once I’m home. 

[gerry1.10]

51 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

He just started so about 3 months.

Thanks HBC! 

[HBCcruiser]

Our excursion - horseback ride snorkel and kayaking was fun but not for anyone with any kind of back or mobility issues. The ride went up and down steep hills. Also you have to ride on a small open sped boat with no backs to the seats and climb over some rocks to get to certain areas. Oh and yes, I was given a mule to ride! LOL I used to ride show jumpers! Too funny. Such beautiful scenery. The beach lunch was nice. All you can eat and drink. Food was very good. Everyone had a blast!

[HBCcruiser]

The lovely Star!

[HBCcruiser]

Mazatlan- we stopped by the town to get some souvenirs. Went back and relaxed in forward hot tub. Dinner in Aqua was good. We had a wonderful server named Ivy. She was very accommodating and efficient. Santa showed up all around the ship! Cute! We went to the Christmas show afterwards,  followed by the Glow party. Both were Ok not great. Glow was rather tame, my guess is folks needed to get up early for Cabo excursions. 

[HBCcruiser]

Dinner. I had the turkey which was delicious. The chocolate lava cake was the BEST dessert ever!! Don’t miss it.

[HBCcruiser]

Cabo- Daily Day 6

[HBCcruiser]

Currently we are relaxing at the Exclusive Beach Resort, which is Casa Dorado,  booked through NCL. It’s nice! 

[zencruisers]

Nice pictures. It looks like a good time.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

hmm, the menu you posted is quite a bit different from Jade's and Getaway's. Theirs were identical.

[HBCcruiser]

3 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

hmm, the menu you posted is quite a bit different from Jade's and Getaway's. Theirs were identical.

 

Perhaps because it was Christmas? The suite and specialty restaurants seem to be the same as what was offered on the Breakaway. Who knows?! 

[HBCcruiser]

The included buffet lunch or breakfast. All good with lovely views. 

[HBCcruiser]

A few more shots of the resort. Heading back to the ship soon and back to crappy WiFi. You may not hear from me again until we are back in LA. It depends on the WiFi. TTFN

[HBCcruiser]

As soon as we started sailing north toward LA the winds picked up. We had been enjoying the front hot tub but had to leave it because it was so windy. Even in H2O the hot tubs were too windy. We were rocking and rolling (Still are) but I remembered that from previous sailings. 

[HBCcruiser]

Dinner last night was at Teppenyaki. It is always a fun show but I think the food was better on the Breakaway. Not bad but didn’t have as much seasoning and flavor. 

[HBCcruiser]

Very rough sailing the last sea day and night. Monica, our concierge, said it’s always rocky going back to LA. We relaxed in H2O and basically ate and drank all day! Dinner was in Cagneys. Food was great as always. 

[HBCcruiser]

More from our last sea day

[HBCcruiser]

Video of last sea day waves.

Ok so video upload not working. 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by HBCcruiser
Video not loading

[HBCcruiser]

Now that I’m home with great Wi-Fi I will do a full review of this cruise. 

[HBCcruiser]

FInal Reveiw:

 

Embarkation - this was smooth but not as smooth as NY. They handed everyone's card out right before boarding and we boarded with everyone else. We did take a separate suite entry and got escorted right to Cagney's for the suite lunch which was very good. Staterooms were ready around 1:30. 

[HBCcruiser]

Our first lunch at Cagney's, which is the suite lunch location, was very good. I loved the grilled asparagus and prosciutto salad and Fettuccini with mushrooms which were all very good. Later in the cruise I had the Caesar salad which became one of my favorites. The deserts were all great but my favs were the warm espresso chocolate brownie and the lava cake. 

 

Cagney Lunch Menu (did not change) 

[HBCcruiser]

Stateroom - Family Suite #12518. This suite was perfect for us. It allowed both our older teen girls to have their own beds and provided plenty of room yet privacy when needed. There are curtains and a sliding wall that section the room off. (see photos next post)

 

The location was perfect. It was near the pool but not too close that you would hear foot traffic or get the smell of smoke in the hallway. (There is a smoking area on the starboard side of the ship in both the pool area and the upper Sky Bar.) The beds were very comfortable but the pull out sofa needed a foam mattress pad. Also, it sloped a little. Two people would NOT be comfortable on this.  The Murphy bed was fine and would sleep 2. 

 

The bathroom was ok. The shower was large with a nice rain shower shower head, and the double sinks were nice. The lighting, though, was terrible. They have installed new energy-saving lighting throughout the ship. In our bathroom the lights never got very bright (no dimmer). We had to put our makeup on in the living room area by the large mirror. This often got tight with three ladies! Also, there is no outlet in the bathroom. 

 

The large windows were lovely for viewing scenery and the ocean. We could all sit and enjoy the views. The one issue was that some of the windows had a tinting film on them that was distorted and peeling -see pic. This distorted the view out of the window - not good! I hope NCL fixes these issues! If they did the room would have been a 10 out of 10.

 

Film distorted on window: 

[HBCcruiser]

Stateroom Photos: 

[HBCcruiser]

Ship Layout: This was a little odd and did not have the easiest flow to it. There is no way way to go from one side to the other on some decks without either going outside or through the Garden Cafe. Finding the main dining room, the Versailles, was difficult too. You defiantly need to take a map. They did have signs and maps of the ship all over to assist you, including in the elevator which was great!  The odd layout did not distract from the experience though. It made it fun trying to find all of the spaces! 

 

Some of the restaurants were recently added to provide the same specialty restaurants found on other ships. The layout of the new places is oddly shaped and small. Book reservations in advance. We did and never had an issue. 

 

I really like the layout of the pool area. The tiered deckchair area, sofas, tables and chair seating by the pool are awesome. We never had to worry about getting seats together, even on this sold out cruise. The sky bar was a great place for adults to enjoy the pool view as was the forward hot tub and lounge area on the bow. 

 

View from Sky Bar: