Ncl Star Review 1/28/06

[melika091900]

We made it home tonight from the star.. she is such a beautiful ship.. heres some input on this cruise...

embarkation- A TOTAL NIGHTMARE,,no porters... no help, no direction... it took almost 3 hours to get on...

but of course I didnt let this give me negative feelings since everything else was a+

Food- very good food,, we ate at the buffet alot.. the best ive ever seen at sea, alot of choices and they all tasted great.

we ate at Ginza , which is good if you like sushi.. alot of choices. prices from 2$-12 $

and then we ate at teppenyaki ( like benihana) it was a great dinner, there is only 1 set up for this , so you will be dinning with 14 other strangers... it was worth the extra money... but you usually have to make reservations 2 days in advance

endless summer - we ate here on the 1st formal night which was also lobster night, i was told by guest services we can order lobster from any resturant and they will bring it.. and so they did ,, HUGE LOBSTER tail, very tasty

( everyone else in the resturant looked suprised when our lobster came , they must not have known you can order it anywhere on that night )

BLUE LAGoon - very good cheesburgers !!! the best weve had

room service- excellent sandwiches, snacks , never took more than 15 min

entertainment-- ok,,, nothing i really like,, there was a comedian,, dave heenan, he was ok... and the dance shows and cirque pacific were good, the rest i skipped , not the things i like to see....

rooms - we had a balcony on deck 8..nice size room, small bathroom ( the toliet has a sliding door next to it to separate it . leaves no room ) nice balcony...

room stewards- only saw ours 1 time, that was it..... sad isnt it

always cleaned the room ,but never vacuumed, we always had sand on the bed and floor... that was never cleaned . oh well

ports---

Puerto vallarta -We did the tropical jungle tour , it was cool, we hiked in the jungle past mismaloya... beautiful area.. held an iguana, and ate a nice lunch , it was so worth 50 per person

Manzanillo The town looks run down but the beach was awesome... before someone told us to swim right by where the piers are.. I dont recommed, we saw dead fish and garbage all in that water. we went to la audenica beach, it was nice, not rough.. clear water saw alot of fish , and my husband saw puffer fish. eels and rockfish , very nice clean area. you can rent chairs and umbrella for 8 $ and theres a lot of shopping on the beach, and bars and food places. we had fresh cocount slices with lime and salt ,, yummmm, it was so good ,. we brought our own gear. the taxi was 12 $ for 4 people

cabo san lucas- WE walked and shopped, held a baby lion and took a picture and we took a water taxi to the main beach and my husband and cousins rode some wave runners.. while i shopped on the beach while i was sitting being approached by a lot of vendors, it was worth it , the jet skis were 45 $ for 30 min.

mazatlan - Best shopping port , good bartering, we took a taxi to the golden zone 10 $ for 4 people,and shopped and shopped, then got our hair braided on the beach and shopped some more, that was it, that area has more vendors then we saw on any of the the beaches , so remember to practice saying no thank you. we said it a million times...

we loved this trip on the star, beautiful colorful ship, nice staff, and comfortable..

i loved the mixed ages on board, and the nightclubs were fun.. everything was great. i have no complaints.. and it was so nice to meet fellow CC members !!! at our 2nd meeting,,,

and tendering --- never took too long at all.. no tickets. just getting in line , in PV we had no waiting, in cabo we waited about 10 minutes since the time there was short.

not too bad...

any questions , send me an email. or ask away

melissaofoia@sbcglobal.net

happy cruising

adios

[Melady]

Glad to hear you had an enjoyable time! I'm a little nervous about embarkation now that I read your review & others about no porters available at the pier. We will have alot of suitcases coming from NJ to LA for the cruise - we're going on 2/21/06.

 

Thank you for your interesting review, and I'm looking forward to the lobster!!

:)

 

Melady

 

15 days to go!

[electricron]

No porters? How could that be?

You would think they would have been there just for the tips alone.

 

I guess that proves that NCL passengers in general are cheap!

Even the porters find better things to do when a Norwegian ship is in port.

[immargaret]

Melissa,

 

Did they do the Murder Mystery dinner on the ship, and if so do you remember what evening it was?

 

:)

[judyf]

I too hope there's porters there. We're doing 3 days at Disany before and after the cruise so we will have a lot of cloths to pack. It's just me and my 68 year old mother. I can't carry both our suitcases. LOL

 

Thanks for the report.

[Annie3131]

Hello all,

 

We just returned as well and had the same problem with the lack of porters. We were early though and had a large party. One of our guys went and found one and gave him 20 and he came back 3 times to get all our stuff. As we were in the line inside, I saw a fleet of porters going out. It could have been that they were just waiting til the actual time of embarkation which was 1:00. I wonder how many of the later arrivals had the same problem?

 

The cruise was fun. I liked the freestyle dining and choice of restaurants. Wasn't thrilled when we ate at the Versailles. The servers at the bars seemed to vie for our orders, that was a bit annoying sometimes, but once we found a favorite, we held out for that server. Christina on the pool deck and in the Carousel lounge is by far the best on the ship. Give her a hug if you see her :)

 

One of our travel mates (and the best travel agent ever!!!) will be writing up a full review soon. Look for Gina J's Star review.

 

Happy sailing

 

Annie

 

Annie

[8986641]

We were on the NCL Star cruise 1/20/06 - 1/28/06.

 

We arrived at the port at 11:30 on the 20th expecting to wait for boarding until 1:00. Plenty of porters were available for us, and we were checked in and in our cabin by 12:30, a very pleasant surprise.

 

We were the next to last group to debark the ship on the 28th and didn't get off until 11:30. Porters were still assisting the debarking passengers at that time.

[WaldosPepper]

No porters? How could that be?

You would think they would have been there just for the tips alone.

 

I guess that proves that NCL passengers in general are cheap!

Even the porters find better things to do when a Norwegian ship is in port.

 

:mad: Personally I find this statement highly insulting.

 

Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps the Porters were all busy assisting other passengers at the moment the OP was arriving? There's also the possibility that there was another cause for the absence of Porters, such as shift-change or other scheduling issue.

 

To say that NCL passengers are cheap is simply ridiculous. :mad:

[SailAways]

Melika - Thanks for a great review!

 

When I read of no porters, I am convinced that it must be absolutely easier to park near the pier.

I realize that not everyone drives to the pier, but our experience with porters at the parking garage were wonderful.

They were right there to assist with everything; from parking our vehicle to tagging our luggage.

After tipping them we didn't see our luggage again until it was deposited in our cabin.

Makes me feel sorry for those of you who have to fly in and have the additional hassle of dealing with luggage.

 

Sorry, electricron - I would agree with WaldosPepper - NCL pax are not at all cheap. That was sort of a low blow - surely, you don't really feel that way!

[electricron]

Of course I don't! :rolleyes:

 

I didn't report there were no porters. :D

 

I only followed a string of logic to the obvious conclusions...;)

[johnql]

Very odd situation with the porters. I wonder what happened. I can only speak for my Star sailing last March - plenty of porters and it certainly didn't take us 3 hours to board.

[WaldosPepper]

Of course I don't! :rolleyes:

 

I didn't report there were no porters. :D

 

I only followed a string of logic to the obvious conclusions...;)

 

Logic? Or Devil's Advocacy? :rolleyes:

 

Time for me to utilize the magic button. :D

[gary]

We arrived at the pier at noon and it was indeed mayhem. The Star had just recently docked and the pier was loaded with porters carrying the bags of the disembarking passengers. We asked a porter for assistance and he said he would be back after a few more trips. He came back and we gave him all of our bags, waited for about a half hour and were in the terminal by 1:10. On the ship and eating lunch by 1:45.

 

Cruise was great. Food has taken a turn for the worse, but was still very good. We were with one picky person who acted like his cruise was ruined. We choose to enjoy ourselves.

 

Dave Heenan was very good. His humor grows on you.

 

The shows were great. (Even our Picky traveler liked them)

 

None of us cared for the new cruise director. Way to happy!

 

Old Mazatlan is a very quaint relaxing part of town. Great galleries, cafes and calm streets to stroll. Our favorite port on this itinerary.

 

We did the Turtle excursion in Manzanillo and it was very good, however I think the releasing window for baby turtles is ending very soon.

 

We enjoy NCL. You need to know what to expect and you will not be dissapointed.

[melika091900]

Glad to hear you had an enjoyable time! I'm a little nervous about embarkation now that I read your review & others about no porters available at the pier. We will have alot of suitcases coming from NJ to LA for the cruise - we're going on 2/21/06.

 

Thank you for your interesting review, and I'm looking forward to the lobster!!

:)

 

Melady

 

 

15 days to go!

 

I heard someone say that there was an immigration issue that day and thats what caused the delay,, most of the porters were on their breaks we saw them eating lunch at the food truck ... oh well we finally found a porter and my husband said heres 20 bucks please get our luggage. and it worked out, but it was very un organized !!

[melika091900]

Melissa,

 

Did they do the Murder Mystery dinner on the ship, and if so do you remember what evening it was?

 

:)

 

i never saw it listed in the freestyles. they never did it....

as far as i could tell :) too many white russians :)

 

jk

melissa

[dwrist]

We arrived at the pier to board for the 2/5 sailing of the Star at 11:00am. We went to take pictures of the Star in the parking area across from the terminal. Came back and drove into the port lot, went to the terminal where the Star was docked, got out, opened the trunk and immediately there was a worker to take our bags. We had maybe a 20 minute wait in a check in area and we were on the ship. We had 3 ships in port that day, Island Princess, Vision of the Seas and the Star.

[melika091900]

We arrived at the pier to board for the 2/5 sailing of the Star at 11:00am. We went to take pictures of the Star in the parking area across from the terminal. Came back and drove into the port lot, went to the terminal where the Star was docked, got out, opened the trunk and immediately there was a worker to take our bags. We had maybe a 20 minute wait in a check in area and we were on the ship. We had 3 ships in port that day, Island Princess, Vision of the Seas and the Star.

 

im glad they were there for you.... something happened the day we boarded with immigration i heard someone saying... so it messed everything up.. enjoy your cruise !!! we had a great time and we are ready to go back again.

remember in mazatlan there are timeshare people there at the port offering a tour for 50 for 4 people dont do it its a timeshare i think their shirts say pueblo bonito on them,, be careful , and have a great time !!! play some slots for me, expecially, the tobasco one..

hahahaha

melissa

[frisco13]

Hi Melissa. Where in Cabo San Lucas did you get to hold a lion cub?? My wife would be thrilled to do that?

We are sailing 2/21.

 

Thanks.

[judyf]

Hi Melissa. Where in Cabo San Lucas did you get to hold a lion cub?? My wife would be thrilled to do that?

We are sailing 2/21.

 

Thanks.

 

Me too!!!!

[Cruisinbunnies]

Dave Heenan was very good. His humor grows on you.

 

 

You either like this guy or hate him. I saw 4 of his shows on the Spirit last spring and he was a hoot. Even when he wasn't on, he was getting heckled and then he turned it right back on them.

 

This poor woman fell hard when she heckled. My type of comedian who can make something from nothing!

 

Glad you liked your trip. Sounds like embarkation was an unusual and not a typical situation.

[melika091900]

Hi Melissa. Where in Cabo San Lucas did you get to hold a lion cub?? My wife would be thrilled to do that?

We are sailing 2/21.

 

Thanks.

 

when you get off the tender in cabo,, follow the marina ( or whatever you call it,into the shopping area ) all the way around its about 30 minute walk,,

right when you get into the main area, where the resturants and things are, youll see a lil glass enclosure with the lions in them, theres 1 man and 2 women running it and they will take your picture for 15$ .. there a lil sign that says BABY LIONs... its on your left side,,, the other side is where the boats are docked,,

it was so cool.,...i think they were from the zoo or something

on our picture it says WILD LOS CABOS

 

melissa

melissaofoia@sbcglobal.net

[judyf]

Thanks, I sure hope the lions are well taken care of. The best palce ever to see "Big Cats" is at "Big Cat Rescue" in Tampa. That was the best thing ever and I hope to return there someday.

[frisco13]

Melissa, thanks so much for the info. I can't wait to surprise my wife!

:D

[pistachio]

We arrived at the pier at noon and it was indeed mayhem. The Star had just recently docked and the pier was loaded with porters carrying the bags of the disembarking passengers. We asked a porter for assistance and he said he would be back after a few more trips. He came back and we gave him all of our bags, waited for about a half hour and were in the terminal by 1:10. On the ship and eating lunch by 1:45.

 

Did you do the Pez Gato whale watch in Cabo, as you mentioned in a previous post? We're signed up with them for next week, and wondered how it was. Thanks!!