Just off the NCL Star - 15th - 22nd September

[ollienbertsmum]

So I get so much help from the boards I like to help others.   I want to share my thoughts about our recent wonderful cruise.  

 

We did not get to Kotor and our Venice sailaway was in the dark, but it was still a memorable cruise.  

 

First about us:  Early 60s, cruised RLC, NCL (4 times on the Epic) and Princess.  We do our own thing because we enjoy walking and are not very patient on excursions.  We booked this cruise for 6 (eventually 5) new ports to explore on foot and explore we did!  Including two days in Venice pre-cruise and a day wandering around before our 9 pm flight we  clocked up over 100 km.  The most we did was 14 km on our day in Santorini.  

 

We had the beverage package.  The premium did not seem to be available on embarkation.  I would not have made use of it anyway.  I was happy with a simple beer at lunch time, some Prosecco with my meal and exploring cocktails in the evening.  

 

I will summarize my thoughts about the ship and then post a review of each day.  Glad to answer any questions.  

 

The ship:  I have always loved my Epic cruises, but the Star seemed so much lighter inside.   A small ship makes embarkation easy at ports.  We never met long queues.  

 

Food

We mostly ate breakfast in the buffet, lunch in O’Sheehans  and supper in the Main Dining room.  We were quite satisfied.  I only chose one meal that I did not really like and that was a dish that was over-salted to my taste.  We went for supper after the 7.30 show.  We usually had to wait - the longest was about 30 minutes on Day one - because it was basically a sea day.  We are happy eating at around 9 pm at home so the timing suited us.  

 

I find it annoying is  that you have to ask for veggie burgers in O'Sheehans when they are usually available.  Why do they make you feel that you are being a nuisance and  not just put them on the menu like  restaurants ashore.   No vegetarian sausages at breakfast is a shame.  

 

I loved the Asian section in the buffet.  The Udon noodles were delicious.  I think we ought to have tried Ginza but it always looked full and we were happy with the MDR

 

I was not fond of the cakes.  That has been general across all the cruises I have been on.  They are to me style over substance.  I do have to give a shout out to the Zuppa Inglese - I could eat pots of that!! (But didn’t) 

 

 

Bars

We visited most of the bars over the week 🙂.  I missed some of the cocktails that I had got used to in Maltings when on the Epic.  Gatsby’s had my preference selection on this ship.    Other bars seemed to have too many sweet cocktails.  They all did good Aperol spritz - this is a drink that everyone seemed to have been drinking in Venice (I always think of it as a girlie drink, not so in Venice) so I carried on whilst on board. 

 

Crew

All friendly.  It is clear that “How was your day in ....?” Was not really a question that needed to be answered.  We were even asked twice by the restaurant hostess as she gave us our table.  We answered the first time and 10 seconds later she seemed to have forgotten that we had already told her!!

 

Entertainment

With a room beside the theatre I noticed what the shows were and so we went to all except the first night. They were all entertaining  but what happened to Band on the Run??  It was advertised throughout the pre-cruise documentation.  I was looking forward to it.  

 

 

Room 5508

After 10 balcony cruises and retirement approaching I felt I needed to try a cheaper room.  I chose an OV - porthole.  The price difference on this cruise was over £100 a day which goes a long way towards my next cruise.  I have usually spent a lot of time on my balcony.  WIth  OV it means spending more time on the sun deck or in Spice H2O - but I didn’t find this a problem.  

 

It was handy to have the room in a clear place, behind the theatre,  rather than Midship which I could never find on the EPic.  Much easier for my poor sense of direction.  It was great to have the room near when we came back after days out.

 

Some mechanical noise occured as we docked each day. It was really loud as we docked in Venice, the whole room shuddered.  DH slept on.  It was not a deal breaker.  

 

Lack of a coffee maker (possibly only available for balcony and above because I always had one on the Epic) was resolved by filling a flask at night time - but this meant a trip upstairs.  I was determined to use the stairs.  This was for me the only negative of the room.  

  

I missed being able to use the TV to monitor the room account.  If you like to keep a check of what you are spending you need to use the app or go to guest services all the time which Seemed to be a bother.  DH does not have his own My NCL account which meant that we could not his account using the app.  For some reason he was listed as the main account holder (What!!!  All he ever contributes to the planning is to pack his case).  Answer is to set up the My NCL when you are at home.  

 

I would certainly look at the cheaper rooms in upcoming cruises.  I am not sure that I would go for an internal, I did use the porthole in the mornings and when entering ports to monitor where we were.  

 

Passengers

What a lovely cosmopolitan crowd.  There was a lovely mix of people from all over the world:  Great Britain, Spain, Italy, USA, Canada, South Africa (passionate about the rugby that lot!!), South American countries (I can’t distinguish their accents), Japan, India and Australia.  There were probably more countries that I did not identify.  Sorry if I have missed your country out.  

[ollienbertsmum]

This is turning in to a long review.  I will carry on, given that some of what we did might be helpful to those who are in to DIY port days. 

 

 

Venice pre cruise

 

We travelled to Venice on Friday for our Sunday cruise.

 

After a very early start and a delay due to thunderstorms in Barcelona, we got to Venice at about 5 pm.   There are ways of arriving in Venice on the water. We took the lazy way and got the airport bus to Piazzele Roma.  Hotels in Venice are expensive but all we ask for is a clean bathroom and a comfortable bed.  Our hotel Locanda Di Orsaria was not posh but it fitted this brief.  It was only one bridge and a short walk away from this transport hub so very easy to find.  The hotel had no lift but we were on the first floor.  The hotel was old with real keys for the door and the safe. 

 

Venice was magic from the start.  The first evening we walked towards the ghetto area.  It was quiet and full of kodak moments.  We ate in a very nice restaurant.  I forgot to keep the name.  I had heard Venice was expensive, but it was not  eye wateringly expensive.  We wandered back to our hotel.  Everyone, just everyone was drinking Aperol.  At home it is such a female drink.  It was served with an olive.  I tried and I knew it would compete with a gin and tonic as an after-work-on-Friday drink in months  to come.  

 

 

Next day I had a 2 pm restaurant booking on Burano island at Trattoria al Gatto Nero  which I had recently seen featured on BBC.  I got up early, got a 24-hour vaporetto ticket and located where we would catch the boat (very near to our hotel).   I also bought tickets for the people mover the next day.  It was sensible to get them for our return journey the following week.   I also got to check out the Italian traffic police.  They just look so cool in their uniforms.  I think their training must include some dance. 

 

DH got up and we left the hotel at about 10:30 am.  The Ferrovia stop was in front of the hotel.  When I got back to the vaporetto stop there was a longgggg queue and it was about 11:30 when we finally got on the boat.  The 40-minute journey was pleasant, we got off in Murano and walked along the canal by the shops.  It was much nicer than I had expected so I looked forward to Burano which I had seen in photos.  We stopped in a  few glass shops and succumbed to temptation and made a couple of purchases.  DH bought a delicate little cat which he insisted on checking every hour or so.  It survived being taken in and out of its tin.  

 

We were told where to go get the vaporetto for Burano, turned the corner walked through a square and met the mother of all queues.  We got in the queue at about 12:30, which had seemed early enough for the 40-minute ride and the 2 pm reservation.  We waited and waited boats were possibly coming but the queue was not moving.  I emailed the restaurant to say we would be late.  45 mins later the queue was still going nowhere.  We gave up.  I had booked the restaurant back in July so it was disappointing but it was not looking like afternoon tea would even be an option.  Getting back to St Mark’s square was much easier although on this first day I found the boats were a bit confusing.  I think I understand them now.  

 

What should we have done?  After an exchange with someone on Trip Advisor, we should have gone much earlier and made a 1 pm reservation.  We could also have tried to reverse the journey and gone to Burano earlier,  would we then have been stuck on Burano.  

 

So we were hot and  grumpy.  We missed what I know would have been a great lunch.  To top it all the sole fell off my shoe.  At this point the soul had fallen out of Venice for me.  We got off the boat at St Mark’s but since we wanted to eat and had heard about the prices in the square, we walked in the opposite direction towards Arsenale.  We judged prices by the cost pint of beer.  It was about €7 and seemed to be rising.  

 

We gave up and went into a random restaurant which actually turned out to be quite good.  Another Aperol went down well.  The squid in ink with polenta which was delicious.  Soul revived.   

 

We walked back, in my case carefully because I was nursing my shoe.   We walked through St Mark’s Square and saw the Bridge of Sighs from outside and the Rialto bridge from the top.  The streets were so crowded, it was like Oxford Street the Saturday before Christmas.  We passed the Friari Church which was on my go to list.  We got inside at 5: 20 to find it had just closed for visitors. Oh well, it seemed like the way of this day!!  [ later I read that what I had wanted to see, the Titian altar piece was in fake a photo of the real thing which is being restored!]. 

 

I planned a boat tour of the Grand Canal.  We could also have visited the campanile of St Giorgio Maggiore.  There would have been time, but the number of people was draining.  We restored ourselves in a bar and found a  restaurant.  The price was not bad and the food was good but I cannot recall what we ate.  

 

Embarkation Day

I went to catch Vaporetto Number 1 at about 7:40 am after a quick breakfast (did not start until 7:30 am).   I had a Rick Steves audio guide of the journey from Ferrovia to St Mark’s downloaded on my phone.  The tour was interesting.  There was ample room on the boat at this time on a Sunday morning.  

 

In was now 8:30 am, and as I  passed by the Campanile tower I noticed a short queue.    I got to the Doge’s palace easily I had book ahead tickets but I could have bought at the door.   I hired an audio guide and wandered around.  I have to say that I was not blown away by the palace.  It was interesting to see the rooms and to get a sense of how the administration was run.  It would have been spectacular in its glory days, but I can think of palaces that I have enjoyed more.  A first world complaint.  

 

It was interesting to see the Bridge of Sighs from the inside.  The cells looked awful, but I had the feeling of “how will I get out!”  

 

I did get out and got myself back into the Square.  Now it was about 10 am.  I noticed that the queue for the Campanile was considerably longer.  Note to self, next time I visit Venice and want to go up the Campanile, get there at about 8:15 am.  

 

I did a condensed version of Rick Steves audio guide of the Square.  Rick pointed out a few interesting features so it was worth a listen.    I now had about 45 minutes to get back to the hotel and one hour left of my 24-hour ticket.  I would have walked, but given my skills in navigation I went for the vaporetto route.  The luck of yesterday seemed to have changed.  Without the crowds that we encountered on Murano, it seemed easy to work out that there was a fast boat, a number 2 due any minute.  I jumped on and was back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare. 

 

We left at 11 am.  The route to the People mover was crowded.  I was glad I had bought my the day before.  So we got on the people mover and to the port.  We had wheeled luggage and very light carry ons so we were not struggling, but I did not expect such a long walk and confusing walk to the ship.   I think you could get taxis as you get off the people mover if you have heavy luggage.  

 

We could see the ship, just hard to work out how to get on it.  MSC had a shuttle - at this point i would have gone on a MSC cruise.  Check in was a breeze.  We went straight for the buffet, even here it seemed empty.  People did carry on arriving for some time but tables always seemed plentiful.  

 

We went for an orientation walk around the ship and at 1.30 the rooms were open. So the small matter of the lifeboat drill.   Yep, we got it “seven short blasts followed by one long one” and we would find our way to the Stardust theatre.  Now the cruise begins. 

 

The reason I had booked this cruise was because I knew that the legendary sail away was coming to an end.  As a result of an accident in July things changed.  We ended up with a 9 pm sail away.  To accommodate this we ate in the buffet.  I 

 

So on to the sailaway.  As we were waiting to leave, I realised that it was pitch dark.  The historic part of Venice does not have cars so there are not many street lights.  I thought that I was going to be disappointed.  I went up to deck 12 forward and although it was never going to be the same as a day time view, it was something to see.  The next day when I went to Spice H2O I noticed that I would have had less obstructed view, but I enjoyed what I saw. 

 

I acknowledge that the cruise ships do environmental damage and need to be moved away from Venice.  Tourists will still visit Venice.  

 

We had to miss Kotor because of our late departure.  Part of me did not understand the workings of this.  So we were about 3 hours late leaving Venice.  We were due to spend 4 hours in Kotor.  Why could we not have just sailed into Kotor and not disembarked there??  Why did we have to sit off Bar and not disembark?  If we had travelled to Kotor we would have been able to enjoy the scenery.  I wanted to know, but never got around to asking. 

[All-ready2cruise]

Really enjoying your review. Thanks for taking the time to do it. 

[ollienbertsmum]

Corfu 

 

After 9. months in the planning,  a Greek Island. 

 

Corfu port is near to the town.  We could just walk in to the old town but there were lots of taxis available for those who wanted to go to beaches or further afield.  There were 5 or 6 ships in port and though the town was busy it was not Venice-like.  

 

 

We enjoyed our stroll around Corfu town and views of the fort.  We did not really make the most of what is a beautiful island, but knew this would be the case.  I did not really plan on making Corfu a memorable stop.  I did no more research than learning that we could walk into town and get some views.  If we had left earlier, we could have found a public bus and gone to Mon Repos the house does not sound promising but the gardens seemed worth the trip.  

 

We were back on board with time to spare. 

[ollienbertsmum]

Santorini

 

I nearly messed up the tender tickets.  I woke and saw it was just 6.40 am.  Tender tickets were issued at 8:30 am.  Then I realised we were on Greece time and I had not changed my clock.    I quickly showered, grabbed a coffee from O Sheehans and got into the queue at 8:20 am.  We were on tender 3. 

 

I enjoyed the sun during the morning on the Sun deck.  It was so smooth you had to look out to check we had not stopped.  A lovely day on the Aegean.  Santorini and the little houses perched on the cliff was beautiful from afar.  

 

So arriving in Santorini was a bit of a shock.  I had read so much about not being able to get on tenders in time to get onto Santorini, at around 12.45 pm it was announced that we were early and tendering would start soon.  We had still  not eaten lunch.

 

Our tender number was called while we were eating and  we were not ready until they were calling tender 9.  It did not matter, they were calling 1 - 9 and they were not checking numbers.  Maybe it was that the excursions, with fixed times, could not take advantage of the early arrival.  We were in the tender by 2 pm which was our original arrival time in Santorini.

 

So DH  wanted to walk up the 600 steps.  It would have been easy enough to get a fast boat to Oia.  I had read about people waiting for ages for the boats to leave.  I worked out that if you made sure you left the ship early enough the boats would fill. 

 

[back on ship I heard several people complaining about the Oia boats because of difficulties getting on a bus the other end, two different sets of passengers seemed disappointed with this system.  It sounded as if they did not even see Oia].  

 

Going up the steps was a challenge.  There were donkeys coming up and down.  Donkeys have big hooves so are to be avoided.  So is the donkey poo.  So we were concentrating on not being squashed or kicked by the donkeys and concentrating on where we were stepping. There were people coming down who were clearly not prepared.  Some were covering their noses,  several women were holding their  heels and walking barefoot.  People who needed walking sticks were not doing so well either.  There was one girl in tears, could have been fear or could have been pity for the donkeys.  Anyway we did it.  It felt like an achievement.  

 

DH didn’t want the Oia so we started to walk in that direction.  I had worked out the route and had noticed a sort of ‘half way point’.  I was loving the blue domed churches.  At first the road was busy with traffic, I felt a sense of Murano frustration coming upon me.  Then miraculously the footpath became just that.  No traffic.  The views were lovely.  We passed more churches and lovely buildings.  This is what I had come for.  So we got to the half way point at Imerovigli,    We could easily have walked on, but it seemed to be a long walk  and for little gain.  I could not see that Oia would be any better than I had seen, it would definitely be much more crowded than our peaceful footpath.  So we bailed out.  We walked back and stopped for a beer.  I had the taramasalata I was craving.  It was not bright pink like in the supermarkets rather it was olivey and good.  All of the restaurants and bars along the route advertised sunset views for those wanting to wait for the sunset. 

  

The route down was actually more dangerous than up.  The steps were slippery not because of the donkey poo but because they were shiny.  I nearly slipped at one point and carried on more carefully. At the tender was a lady who had slipped, her ankle was swollen and looked nasty.  Later I talked to her and she had broken her leg.  She had avoided the cable car down because she was scared of heights.   She had to get certified as fit to fly from a doctor in Mykonos.  The couple said they were due to get off in Dubrovnik and stay for 3 days.  I didn’t know that the ship allowed that due to immigration procedures.  It was not the time to quiz them.  

 

Another drama of the steps was due to a stupid tourist who refused a donkey ride.  He then proceeded to direct his camera at the donkey owners sitting in the shade.   He would have got a nice photo but very rude.  I carried on walking but could hear the argument build up.  The donkey owner perhaps waved or poked his stick at the tourist.  I could hear “no photos”.  Whistles and shouting carried on for ages.  The tourist was way out of line.  

 

We watched sunset from the ship but it was unspectacular -  who the heck left the Costa ship in the way of my view. .  It was, in fact, a sunset.  Nothing more.    Perhaps if we had stayed in Fira buildings in the picture would have helped.  It did not seem worth waiting a couple of hours in Fira for and then having to go down the steps in the dark

 

They called for two passengers just before sailaway.  Hard to believe someone would be late back when it was pitch dark outside.  They may have underestimated the physical feat of descending by the steps. 

[ollienbertsmum]

Mykonos.  

 

This was my favourite stop.  

 

 

An early 8 am arrival and the ship arrived 30 minutes early which would be great for early risers.  We agreed we would leave at 10 am. 

 

We were berthed in the new port which was about 4 km out of town.  DH was up for walking but there was a water taxi right beside the ship - for only 2 euro we could get into town quicker.  It was a good move.  

 

We were in town by 10.30 and went in the direction that the crowds of people who were clearly on tours were coming from.  Good move and we got where we wanted.    We got to the kodak moment area of Little Venice.  We encountered one of the mascot pelicans that Mykonos is known for. I have no idea how typical the encounter is.  We went on to the windmills and I had a little paddle in the pebbly beach whilst enjoying the scenery.  The streets were busy with two other (tendered) ships in port, but not impossibly so and the town is picturesque.    

 

We stopped at the port for a beer.  Then we took the 30 minute walk back to the ship.  The first part seemed a bit dangerous because we were quite close to the traffic.  I think that if I had had children I would have wanted to take the water taxi.  Just before we got to the ship there was the opportunity for another paddle.  I could well have had a proper dip I had my bikini on, it just seemed too much effort!!  

 

 

There was a very nice looking beach beyond the ship, probably about a 15 minute walk I am sure the whole port stop could have been spent there.   There was also a  beach in the centre of town which would have been perfect had we wanted a swim.  For  For a 2:30 all aboard you can see the ship from the beach.  That is reassuring.  Still there was a call for a single passenger at sailaway time.

[Gershep]

Enjoyed your review. We plan on taking the Star next year and didn't realize you couldn't see your account on the TV. I use that all the time to check my spending.

[ollienbertsmum]

Argostoli 

 

This was a much nicer port than I had expected.  

 

 

We docked early again.  This time we were 30 mins early for our 9 am arrival.  We were not even up yet.  It is hard to stay up late and get up early!!  We are on vacation to rest.  

 

We left the ship at about 10 am.  We soon were in the New Port which was a very short walk from the main town.  

 

We walked along the sea front and then followed the parallel street because I was looking for the post office to send another card.   I found it and took my numbered ticket.  I had to wait for ages because their “system was down”.  I like these little encounters with local people and experiencing the postal system in different countries.  In this PO there were no boxes, you just gave your card in at the counter.   

 

We continued walking and I took photos of street signs to do some translating later on.  I had a list of Greek letters and I like to try and work out the words.  It is a more interesting brain gym than the NCL crossword puzzles which are ridiculous - who knows the people in random comedy shows or very old American films?????

 

We walked along the bridge and up to a view point and then back again.  The views were lovely.  Along the water front we had multiple viewings of turtles, you could spot them by seeing when crowds gathered pointing in the water.  

 

This was a port with more options than I realised.  There were pedaloes on the water, there were cars and bicycles for hire.  It was all flat and there was a route all around the lagoon which could be a fun option.  I am not sure what the traffic was like around the other side.  There was a little tourist train going through town which seemed really popular.  It was not clear where it went.  There were taxis and buses to take you to beaches.  

 

We were back at 1 pm.  Two bus loads of people arrived with about 20 minutes to go to Sailaway.  Ten minutes later two girls came running down the dock.  The captain’s announcement when we left (exactly on time) was that we had had to wait for two guests.  It got a bit blustery so I went back to the cabin to rest.  

 

I bought shuttle tickets for Dubrovnik.  They were $15 each.  Tempting to get a taxi because the last shuttle was said to be at 12 noon which cuts the time in Dubrovnik  but the sight of those two girls running to catch the ship reminded me to take the safe means of transport.  

 

 

Thankfully we are putting our clocks back one hour because we have a 7 am start tomorrow. 

[ollienbertsmum]

2 minutes ago, Gershep said:

Enjoyed your review. We plan on taking the Star next year and didn't realize you couldn't see your account on the TV. I use that all the time to check my spending.

 

If you have a smart phone, download the NCL app (a recent one as the old one is no longer in use).  Make sure you have a my NCL account and it is simple.  

[ollienbertsmum]

 

Dubrovnik

 

I woke before we docked,   7 am seemed an early start.  Later when we saw the crowds building up as we left, we appreciated it.  They were queuing just to get through Pile Gate.  

 

Breakfast  was busy but we were off the ship at about 7.15 am.  We got on an empty shuttle which frustrated me because I thought time would be short.  In ten mins it was away.  I noticed that taxis were plentiful.  They advertised that one way in to town was 14 euro for up to 8 people.  That would be a no brainer if you were a group.  They also said up to 8 people 50 euro an hour for scenic tour.  Again that would be good value for a group.

 

We got into town just as the walls were opening.  We bought the tickets using my prepaid card loaded with some local currency.  There were quite a few steps to get up to the walls but it was flat most of the way with a few optional climbs to towers.  People were taking photos all of the way around.  It gets a bit tedious having to wait for them to take their snaps.  

 

I had read that it takes about 2 hours to get round.  We did it in an hour, but the route was beautiful.  Whilst you cannot get off the walls, you could stop and buy coffee and drinks in several spots.  

 

We then wandered around the town.  It was not very big and we seemed to cover it quickly.  I bought my postcards and a desk calendar for my office.    A shame there were not lace-making (intangible heritage) or food-related cards.  No stamps available noooooo!  I should have bought them on the ship the day before.  

 

We would have stopped for coffee once off the walls but we only had euro and dollars.  I don’t think two coffees would have been enough to warrant a card.  So we left the old town at about 10.30.  There did not seem to be that much to do near the shuttle point.  I noticed sea kayaking at the small beach area below the gate.  It might have been fun if the girls had come with us.  

 

We got back on the shuttle, we had had plenty of time to do what we had wanted.  We would also have had plenty of time to walk back.  It really was not that far.  Better value  for the day would have been to taxi into town, do what we did and walk back.  

 

Once back at the port i found a shop selling stamps.  I bought them in euro which was above the retail rate.  I was not bothered at least i had my stamps.  Finding the post box outside the port was a little mission but i was near to the ship so not likely to get left behind,  

 

We had an early lunch in the buffet.  Afternoon on the sun deck watching the sail away which was nice  and drinking pina colada which was very nice.  

 

We packed :).  We had time to spare in Venice so we opted to put the luggage out to be picked up in the morning. We chose 9:10 am departure so we could have a late breakfast. 

[ollienbertsmum]

.

Disembarkation

 

So I woke at about 6 am and saw that we had nearly arrived.  The mechanical noise was really loud and shuddery this morning, but DH slept through it.  It was much louder than other days, perhaps it depends on which side the ship is docking.   Considering that I found an aft cabin helpful, that little bit of noise would not be a deal breaker.

 

So we were sechdulued to arrive at 6:15 am.  We were not cleared to leave until nearly 7:30 - that could make it hard for folk wanting a 10 am departure from Marco Polo.  I would not risk it.  Getting up and out of the room was easy.  Breakfast was not over busy.  Colours were announced quickly and apparently we were ahead of schedule.  Great for getting off the ship but then it was madness in the luggage hall.  It was easy to find the luggage but not so the end of the queue.  A lovely NCL employee managed to sort out who was queuing where, but surely the whole point of the colours is to control the rate of movement off the ship.  If I am going to criticize anything at all during the cruise it is that!!  

 

It was much cooler in Venice today.  Everything seemed less frantic than last Sunday.  The people mover was much easier to get to now we knew where we were going.  It really was not far from the ship. 

 

We left our luggage at a place opposite the exit of the people mover.  It was $5 a piece of luggage.  Round the corner advertised $7.  

 

I was wearing my light flowery trousers which would be comfortable for the plane.  It started to drizzle and I felt like my trousers were a week out of date.  The drizzle remained all day.  It definitely felt like the end of summer.  

 

We were heading to T Fondaco dei Tedeschi.  We had an appointment at their viewing terrace at 11.30.  After thinking we would never find it because Google maps kept showing me all over the place including in a few canals.  Suddenly we were there and  we were 30 minutes early.   This is a historic building dating back to the thirteenth century used as living  quarters and a trading post for German merchants.  It is now a posh Harrodslike shop.  Apparently it was renovated in 2016 with money from the Benetton group.  We needed the reservation (it did it online the week before our trip, I printed it out but it would have been fine on my phone), lots of folk were turning up and having to do an reservation on to their phone from a machine at the top.  They probably would have had to wait.  The views were lovely.  We did not have an inclination to queue up go up any other tower in Venice.  This made up for it.  15 minutes was over too quickly.  The shop was posh, full of designer stuff that I would not even want.  Downstairs was set up with little gifts and worth a look around .  Full of customers who were waterboated from their hotel (I saw a group waiting for a boat to pick them up).  It would have been fun to do if we had been in. 5 star hotel.  

 

We wandered back into St Mark’s Square and I enjoyed looking at the Basilica frescoes again.  We then walked slowly back through Venice to Piazzele Roma.   At one point it seemed like we were going in circles but we got there.  

 

We were on the airport bus at 4 pm for a 9 pm flight.  We knew it was mega early but really we were tired.  We easily did have time to go into the Frairi church again but now I knew about the replica Titian it lost its appeal.  The Scala Contarini Del Bovolo would have been worth a visit, but DH was put off by the drizzle and the number of people was draining.  We were all canaled out for this trip at least.  

 

My visit to Venice has been magic, even though, like Santorini and Dubrovnik the crowds do spoil it.  I was one of those crowds though so I can hardly complain.  

 

The journey home was uneventful although I could have done with filling my flask with coffee at the airport because my sleep on the plane was not long enough and I was driving tired.  We were home just after 2 am.  A real bucket list trip for me.  I am so thankful that we have experienced it.  

 

I loved the Star, but I would have to say (having had Greek Island vacations before) for anyone who wants to visit the Greek Islands rather than just having a cruise and visiting lovely ports that this is not the ideal way to see them.  Better to fly to Athens and visit a couple of Islands via a ferry.  The port stops are too short. 

 

I hope that the review has not been too long.  I just wanted to share the details that I hope can help others with their planning.  

 

if anyone is planning this cruise, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  I now have to put out the washing.  If anyone has any more questions feel free to ask.  

[AnnieB925]

I really enjoyed your review. We will be taking a NCL Dawn cruise with the same itinerary in May. I'll be back with questions. Thanks so much for all your effort here.

[welove2cruise*]

Did your first time change occur in Corfu? Did you lose an hour the night before? 

[Meekofigaro]

Was the vat charged on any drinks when you had to leave late the first night? I am thinking my cruise in October might have the same issue. It seems to be every other week the Star has missed Kotor. 

 

Kerry 

[ollienbertsmum]

1 hour ago, Meekofigaro said:

Was the vat charged on any drinks when you had to leave late the first night? I am thinking my cruise in October might have the same issue. It seems to be every other week the Star has missed Kotor. 

 

Kerry 

 

We were not aware of any  issue about VAT.    We had the drinks package anyway so we would not really have known.   

 

I wish I had asked more about the Kotor situation but I didn’t want to sound as if I was complaining.  I knew in advance about the Venice change and I understood why it was happening.  My question was “why couldn’t we do the technical stop in Kotor?”.  We had lost 3 1/2 hours by leaving Venice late.  The stop in Kotor was due to be 5 1/2 hours.  Why could we not have done the scenic route into Kotor and had our 2 hour technical stop there?  

 

Do you know for sure that they are visiting alternate weeks?  The Star certainly has to be one of the later ships leaving Venice because an MSC ship was blocking her.  I wonder what is going to happen going on to next year?  The current solution cannot be long-term, but quite a bit of planning would be needed to change the site of the cruise-ship port - jobs will have to move and transport links for thousands of passengers will have to change.  

[ollienbertsmum]

2 hours ago, welove2cruise* said:

Did your first time change occur in Corfu? Did you lose an hour the night before? 

 

Yes, the time difference was as we got to Corfu, then we moved clocks back as we got to Dubrovnik.  That was a good thing because the 7 am start would have seemed brutal otherwise.  

[fastpitchdad]

17 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

We had to miss Kotor because of our late departure.  Part of me did not understand the workings of this.  So we were about 3 hours late leaving Venice.  We were due to spend 4 hours in Kotor.  Why could we not have just sailed into Kotor and not disembarked there??  Why did we have to sit off Bar and not disembark?  If we had travelled to Kotor we would have been able to enjoy the scenery.  I wanted to know, but never got around to asking. 

 

That's really too bad 😞 . Kotor was my favorite stop on our cruise. 

Edited September 24, 2019 by fastpitchdad

[ollienbertsmum]

46 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

That's really too bad 😞 . Kotor was my favorite stop on our cruise. 

 

From the pictures I have seen of Kotor I can see why,  but we still had a lovely cruise.  I enjoyed all of stops, especially Argostoli because we saw sea turtles and Mykonos because it was such an iconic Greek island (and we saw a pelican). 

[serifelogue]

Thank you so much for doing this review! It is so hard to find information on the Star.  We will be on the October 13th sailing. I am planning on the worst for Kotor but hoping for the best.  If it keeps missing every other week then we will be the week it misses and goes to BAR instead. We have a private tour planned so far at all of the stops except for Mykonos. What time did you  typically have to be back on the ship? I can't remember from past experience if it was an hour before departing or 1/2 hour.  

[Meekofigaro]

6 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

We were not aware of any  issue about VAT.    We had the drinks package anyway so we would not really have known.   

 

I wish I had asked more about the Kotor situation but I didn’t want to sound as if I was complaining.  I knew in advance about the Venice change and I understood why it was happening.  My question was “why couldn’t we do the technical stop in Kotor?”.  We had lost 3 1/2 hours by leaving Venice late.  The stop in Kotor was due to be 5 1/2 hours.  Why could we not have done the scenic route into Kotor and had our 2 hour technical stop there?  

 

Do you know for sure that they are visiting alternate weeks?  The Star certainly has to be one of the later ships leaving Venice because an MSC ship was blocking her.  I wonder what is going to happen going on to next year?  The current solution cannot be long-term, but quite a bit of planning would be needed to change the site of the cruise-ship port - jobs will have to move and transport links for thousands of passengers will have to change.  

I don’t know for sure, it just seems to be the trend the port master has been doing reading rolls for other weeks . 
fingers crossed that we do go! 
 

Kerry 

[ProfCruise]

On 9/23/2019 at 3:30 AM, ollienbertsmum said:

 

 

Food

We mostly ate breakfast in the buffet, lunch in O’Sheehans  and supper in the Main Dining room.  We were quite satisfied.  I only chose one meal that I did not really like and that was a dish that was over-salted to my taste.  We went for supper after the 7.30 show.  We usually had to wait - the longest was about 30 minutes on Day one - because it was basically a sea day.  We are happy eating at around 9 pm at home so the timing suited us.  

 

I find it annoying is  that you have to ask for veggie burgers in O'Sheehans when they are usually available.  Why do they make you feel that you are being a nuisance and  not just put them on the menu like  restaurants ashore.   No vegetarian sausages at breakfast is a shame.  

 

I loved the Asian section in the buffet.  The Udon noodles were delicious.  I think we ought to have tried Ginza but it always looked full and we were happy with the MDR

 

I was not fond of the cakes.  That has been general across all the cruises I have been on.  They are to me style over substance.  I do have to give a shout out to the Zuppa Inglese - I could eat pots of that!! (But didn’t) 

 

 

Loving your review!  As a vegetarian I agree with you about the veggie burger at O'Sheehan's - they should add them to the menu.  And I was also disappointed in no veggie sausage on the menu in the dining room like on Holland America.  And I'm also a huge fan of the Asian section on the buffet!  I'm not sure if you're a vegetarian (I may have missed that), but for anyone else who is vegetarian or vegan and booked on NCL, I have a guide posted to my blog with menus, veggie food pics, and tips if it might help anyone.  https://profcruise.com/complete-guide-to-eating-vegan-or-vegetarian-on-ncl/

 

Thanks again for the comprehensive and helpful review.  I'm following!

[ollienbertsmum]

34 minutes ago, ProfCruise said:

 

Loving your review!  As a vegetarian I agree with you about the veggie burger at O'Sheehan's - they should add them to the menu.  And I was also disappointed in no veggie sausage on the menu in the dining room like on Holland America.  And I'm also a huge fan of the Asian section on the buffet!  I'm not sure if you're a vegetarian (I may have missed that), but for anyone else who is vegetarian or vegan and booked on NCL, I have a guide posted to my blog with menus, veggie food pics, and tips if it might help anyone.  https://profcruise.com/complete-guide-to-eating-vegan-or-vegetarian-on-ncl/

 

Thanks again for the comprehensive and helpful review.  I'm following!

I am a pescatarian.  When travelling I try not to be too fussy.  I do however agree with your helpful guide - that the stocks could be labelled and it would be more helpful.   I enjoyed writing the review.  I just edited the notes that I had made for myself.  I find my own notes helpful to me in the planning of my own trips.  The planning has got smoother over the years as I have learned from my own experience!!!

Edited September 24, 2019 by ollienbertsmum

[ollienbertsmum]

6 hours ago, serifelogue said:

Thank you so much for doing this review! It is so hard to find information on the Star.  We will be on the October 13th sailing. I am planning on the worst for Kotor but hoping for the best.  If it keeps missing every other week then we will be the week it misses and goes to BAR instead. We have a private tour planned so far at all of the stops except for Mykonos. What time did you  typically have to be back on the ship? I can't remember from past experience if it was an hour before departing or 1/2 hour.  

You have to be back on board 30 minutes before departing.  There were a few who were back with less than that but I would not have wanted to be one of the girls running down the pier in Argostoli.  

 

When you get to Argostoli, see if you can walk along the waterfront to see the sea turtles.  Of all the things I saw on the cruise, this is what I keep remembering. 

[Mira28]

Thank you for your lovely review. I felt like I was actually there visiting those ports! So well written.

I haven't been (yet) on a cruise in Europe, but loved reading about your experience. One day perhaps...

[Huntingdon1701]

Thank you for this great review. I'm doing this itinerary on MSC next May, having done Venice and some of the islands on Jade in 2016. Looking forward to seeing Argostoli for the first time. 

 

I'm also on the Star in 2021. Did you have a favourite spot on her?