Live Updates NCL Star June 9-16

[paradiseawaitsme]

Following.....Thank you for taking time out from your cruise.   We are on this ship October 3rd with this Itinerary and very excited.  Sister and I cruised the Epic from Barcelona last October but this will be our First time on a smaller ship(all “away ships so far) and first cruise my Son will be joining us on.  He is super excited for the Game of Thrones tour in Dubrovnik as most young adults are. 

 

Looking forward to your posts.  Have an awesome cruise!!!

 

Angela

[Stealthdog]

Room service menu.  It’s a suite menu - not sure if it’s different from nonsuites.

[Stealthdog]

16 hours ago, Say811 said:

Thanks for the reassurance on the walls...any chance you are biking in Corfu tomorrow?  Lol...

View from the top in case you need motivation.  We did Best of Corfu today.  Tomorrow we do the volcano hike.  

[queenL]

Hi, Thank you for posting dailies and menus.  We will be on this ship in a few weeks.  Are there lots of taxi tours waiting in port as you debark?  We aren't into ship tours.

[eowyn13]

You guys are the best! I appreciate all of your posts and comments 

We also booked the volcano hike. Looking forward to the review

Ive read that for the part where you get in the water to swim to the hot springs that the current is very strong. I’m not a great swimmer so would love your feedback on this part.

[JrzCruiser]

1. How is the wi-fi? Debating between the unlimited wi-fi vs unlimited premium wi-fi.

2. Do you know how the specialty dining option works at an a la carte restaurant?

 

Thank you!!!

 

[wbc12345]

This is awesome! It looks like you are having a great trip. Thank you for posting menus and dailys, those are always so fun to see and super helpful. 

[barbl123]

thank you for this - we are doing this Sept 1-9.  We are platinum so understand that in some ways , the ship is the ship -I am amused by those who worry about the food menus etc.  Or maybe it's just me!?🤨

[eowyn13]

I’m not worried about what I’m going to eat. I just like to get excited about it and look forward to it. Plus I am a curious sort😀😀

[AliClick]

Thanks so much for sharing - enjoy the trip and share more info as you have time. Partner and I are going in October, first time cruisers and are looking forward to hearing about the the ports and your experience on the ship. 

[Stealthdog]

16 hours ago, JrzCruiser said:

1. How is the wi-fi? Debating between the unlimited wi-fi vs unlimited premium wi-fi.

2. Do you know how the specialty dining option works at an a la carte restaurant?

 

Thank you!!!

 

 

Wi-fi on ship is really slow.  I’m still on my original free 250 minute package and still have a 30 minute free package for platinum.  The good news is if you are a Sprint customer they have an international package for free data and you are in port every day.  I’ve been using the internet more off ship than on.

 

All the specialty dining are a la carte except Moderno.  If you don’t have a package you can go and just order what you want.  We have a third with us and she is a la carte while we are on dining packages.  We are able to share our appetizers and deserts.

[Stealthdog]

17 hours ago, queenL said:

Hi, Thank you for posting dailies and menus.  We will be on this ship in a few weeks.  Are there lots of taxi tours waiting in port as you debark?  We aren't into ship tours.

 

So far you will have no problem.  For Kotor you don’t need a taxi.  For Corfu you can pick up a taxi to the Old Towne.  The pier is a little far from the town.  I haven’t seen the hordes of vendors trying to sell you tours like we see in the caribbean, but there have been taxis outside.

[Stealthdog]

General ship notes:

 

- the ship is in good shape.  Looks like it has been well maintained and I think it has recently drydocked.  

 

- the atrium in very well done.  This may be my favorite atrium on the NCL fleet.  Still like the RCL ships better, but the Star does a great job - when they have live music in the atrium you can hear it several floors above.  It’s a good spot.

 

- the theater is also very nicely done.  The hallways into the theater looks great.

 

- the casino is TINY.  It’s not big enough for the number of guests on the ship.  Not enough slot machines or table games.  They always seemed filled.  And there is smoking inside too.  Probably my least favorite casino I’ve seen on a cruise.

 

- H20 is fully secluded and a very nice space for adult only with great views off the ship.  Nice addition.

 

- first NCL ship I’ve been on that has 5 o’clock somewhere.  It’s a nice space that’s a lot of fun. They do the karaoke inside.  

 

The layout on the 12/13 deck is a little weird.  It feels like you always have to walk thru the buffet cafe to get to the gym and spa.  I think there is a way to the spa one deck below but it’s a little annoying walking thu the cafe all the time.

 

- the gym is a little small and enclosed - you can’t be on a bike or eliptical and look outside windows.  The equipment looks to be in good shape though.

 

- the ammenities for the thermal pass is nice on the Star than some others.  They have the ice plunge in the men’s area - many of the other ships don’t have that.

 

- the pool area looks a little small for loungers, but they do a good job of having several rows of loungers along steps leading up away from the pool.  There always seem to be some free.  I don’t think too many are using them because we have no sea days.

 

ill post other menus and photos when off ship.  It takes too long for them to upload on ship WiFi.

 

Any other specific questions, please let me know.

[Yankee123]

Thank you for the updates

 

if possible, would you be able to share with us the process to get tender tickets for non suite passengers - when and where do they start distributing tickets? How early should we get in line? ...

 

thank you

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review and photos!

[Stealthdog]

Dailies for day 2.  think I lost day 3 in Corfu.  

Edited June 12, 2019 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

Day 4

[Stealthdog]

7 hours ago, Yankee123 said:

Thank you for the updates

 

if possible, would you be able to share with us the process to get tender tickets for non suite passengers - when and where do they start distributing tickets? How early should we get in line? ...

 

thank you

 

Ill look into it.  Non excursion and non suite passengers have to sign up and they get tender tickets distributed at a certain time before arriving to port.  I’ll see if I can find a paper that I can copy.

[Stealthdog]

Excursion Best of Corfu was nice, but probably would not recommend it.  The Aquilles Museum was very nice.  The traditional Greek food and dancing is was ok, but it was very hot (you are outside in a patio) and some things you would expect you don’t get (like lamb).  You end with a little bit of free time in Old Corfu.  There wasn’t enough time to really do much there.  I don’t think an hour decision is necessary in Corfu - you can take a bus from from the pier to the old city and just do it on your own.  It’s not far and really easy to do.

[Stealthdog]

View of Corfu from the ship.

[Stealthdog]

Main dining room menu for day 2.  

[eowyn13]

I’ve read on other posts that H2O Spice is supposed to be an adults only space, however children have been spotted there. Do you find this is the case?

[Stealthdog]

14 hours ago, eowyn13 said:

I’ve read on other posts that H2O Spice is supposed to be an adults only space, however children have been spotted there. Do you find this is the case?

 

We haven’t seen children in there. They do all the daily meet and greets in there.  I’ve seen children on other ship H20 but not this one.  There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of kinds on board - I’ve only seen a couple handful pre-teens.  There does look like there are a bunch of teen age kids.  There may be more kids on board later in summer maybe.

[Stealthdog]

We have been to 3 of the specialty restaurants (Cucina, Carney’s, and Le Bistro).  Bistro is definitely the best of the three.  The lamb and filet were amazing.  The escargot and all the deserts were also great.  The onion soup seemed different than other ships and I didn’t like it as much.  Also, partner was not a fan of the mussels.  At Carney’s they both got the oyster Rockefeller’s and loved them.  The lambs and beefs were also good at Carney’s.

[Stealthdog]

On 6/11/2019 at 4:00 PM, eowyn13 said:

You guys are the best! I appreciate all of your posts and comments 

We also booked the volcano hike. Looking forward to the review

Ive read that for the part where you get in the water to swim to the hot springs that the current is very strong. I’m not a great swimmer so would love your feedback on this part.

 

The volcano hike was much easier than city walls in Corfu.  Easily manageable.  Get nice views from there as well.  It’s an active volcano so you can smell the sulfer and see a little bit of steam near the top.  The hot spring was ok - the guide said the later it gets into summer the warmer it gets.  There was very little current.  And when you get to the warm area you can stand because it’s shallow.  I would definitely do it again.   There was plenty of time to still take the cable ride up to the city.

 

Santorini itself was overwhelmed with tourists.  There were several hundred already in line to take the cable car down and the whole area was so packed with people.  We took the cable ride up, ate at a nice restaurant overlooking the bay, and walked down back to the pier.  Walk took about 20 minutes but it is a slow day walk down.  You will see the donkeys, but it was a little depressing.  They are all tied up to a wall standing in their own waste with no water.