LIVE from the Star 4/18/06

[Hikini]

I'm enjoying following along on your cruise. I like all the detailed info!

 

We were on the Star in June, 2004 and will be again this June. I can picture everything and every place you are speaking of, and it has me extra anxious to get on board again.

 

I hope DH is feeling better. Ginger Ale helps too - I'm sure you're well aware of all the little hints, but just in case....and they do serve it on board. (Maybe this will be helpful info for any future cruisers.)

 

I'm really curious as to why they encouraged you to eat at the buffet instead of Versailles. I wonder if they were short handed in there, or had cooked too much food at the buffet and wanted people to eat there instead. Who knows? When we ate at Versailles the first day, they welcomed us as if they were waiting just for us. But there were hardly any passengers in there at all. I think people are finding out about that more and more (thanks in part to CC) and it will become more and more popular.

 

Isn't it great that we have these boards to learn so much from? I didn't know about CC before our first cruises, but stumbled onto it before our cruise on the Spirit last year. The wealth of information available has really, really been helpful.

 

You were lucky to have the staff show up to your CC greet. On the Spirit last fall we had a room supplied with snacks and beverages, but no personnel showed up. I didn't even think about it until afterwards, because I enjoyed meeting those on our roll call, but in retrospect I wish someone from the crew would have shown up. Oh well - there is next time which will be in 8 weeks from tomorrow!

 

Take good care of the Star, and I look forward to your next posts!

 

Hikini:D

[Nectarologist]

Hi Jenny & tvwebguy. Thanks for the news. If it wasn't for the sound of rain hitting the side of my house I'd feel as if I were there, ha ha.

I have a big favor to ask. I'm dying to find out the recipe for the frozen rum runners, if you could ask a bartender & let me know I'd be very grateful. I have the frozen part down, just add ice:D but it's the rest I can't remember.

tvwebguy, I loved the Bier Garten. Is chef More still there, what a nice guy he is!

Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your trip!

[jennylane]

Day 4 – Acapulco, cont’d.

I forgot to mention something about Acapulco. When we were on our walk, I was wearing flip flops and of course bare feet. I stepped in a puddle and my shoes and one of my feet got wet. I said to dh, hmm, I stepped in something. He said, um, I hope that was water…. So when I got back, I showered and actually took my flip flops in the shower with me. I think my feet are fine but my flips flops, not so sure about them. They’re STILL sticky. Yuck….

We met at the port a little before 8 for the bar hopping tour. The traffic in Acapulco at night is crazy. Kind of like a cross between Las Vegas and New York, with a little complete anarchy thrown in. I have to say that the bar tour is a great deal. (make sure you get your wristband when you get on the van. Another couple and us didn’t get one, but we tracked down someone who had them later in the excursion, and we got them eventually.)

We went to three bars and get four drinks at the first bar, two drinks at the second, and a “yard” of a drink at the last bar. You can also get a can of soda or a bottle of water if you’d rather. Now keep in mind that you spend about an hour at the first two bars and a little less than an hour at the third, so that’s a lot to drink in that amount of time. More important, we didn’t have to stand in line, pay a cover charge, and there were always a group of tables set aside for us. The three bars that we went to were fun, and were much nicer and cleaner than I had expected, especially given what I had seen in Acapulco earlier in the day. (Or maybe anything looks good after a few margaritas!) The bathrooms were even clean and usable. One thing that we never did get used to was the kids drinking and dancing. And I don’t mean 17 year old kids….I mean 8 & 9 year olds, and some even younger, drinking and dancing with their parents. There were lines for shots being poured into your mouth by the bartender (tequila or some other liquor) and often the kid would be standing in front of the parent and they would both get shots. It just seemed so strange to us.

We got to know a few other couples and made plans to meet up with one couple to go shopping the next morning. There was a lot of dancing and the dj’s did a great job getting the crowd involved in the party. I was worried that we’d be the oldest in the group, but the excursion group was actually a wide range…everything from a couple that was probably about 20 to a few couples in their 60’s.

We got back to the ship around midnight, which was the deadline for passengers to be back. I was glad to know that the ship would wait for us (it was booked through NCL) because it was a few minutes after midnight when we got back. Some of the group was going to head to the bars in the ship, but we went straight back to the cabin. I couldn’t imagine drinking any more after all of that. I was asleep before 1:00.

Day 5 – Ixtapa/Xihua…..(that silly city I can’t spell or pronounce)

The tendering today started a little after 7 a.m. Well, after last night, tendering that early was the last thing I wanted to do. We didn’t have an excursion scheduled for today so we had made plans to meet the couple from last night in Versailles for breakfast a little before 9, and then were going to tender right after breakfast. I was definitely feeling better today (thank goodness) and so I ordered smoked salmon and a bagel…yum yum!! DH got a bowl of oatmeal, I think he was feeling the effects of the night before (he’s a bit of a lightweight!).

We picked up tender tickets after breakfast because they were still calling for colored tickets. We headed right down to the tender area and even though our color wasn’t being called, they had us get right on board because there was room on the boat. It was probably around 10. It took only a few minutes to get to Xihua….

Oh, I wanted to mention some of the comments I’ve heard. Strangely enough, the people I’ve talked to aren’t really that thrilled with NCL. (the NON-cc members of course). The couple we had breakfast with hated the fact that there were so many kids on board (it’s spring break still, which might have something to do with that), they hate the freestyle dining, and they don’t like that the spring break high school trip is all getting drunk. Well, I don’t care for that last one either but I’m certainly not letting it ruin my cruise. They were also angry about the portion size of the chicken wings at Blue Lagoon, which I think is silly since they can order more. I also think they’re hanging out in the wrong bar. Remember I mentioned the circus looking Carousel bar? That’s one of the two places that you can go to dance at night, and that’s where they were going.

Well, you can also go to the larger and more formal Spinnaker lounge to dance, and there aren’t anywhere near that amount of kids in that lounge. There were also some ladies on the tender boat who thought the ship was ugly and not well kept, which I think is bizarre. It looks great to us. And one woman said that the rooms were too small…which to her meant smaller than another cruiseline. I was talking to dh and said that I think people want little pieces of the things they like about all the cruises they’ve been on, and if they go on another cruiseline they’ll complain about that one too. We realize that there are things that have not been perfect, but we still think we’ve gotten a great deal for the price we paid, and a lovely vacation, which is what we wanted. I think if you go expecting everything, you’ll be disappointed. If you go expecting to have a nice time, you’ll have a nice time. Ok, enough of that.

After what we dealt with in Acapulco, we thought we were in paradise today. We did not plan an excursion, and since I didn’t do any successful shopping yesterday, we had shopping as our goal for today. We walked around a little when we got off the tender boat, and found a little marketplace a few blocks from the beach. As we were walking back, we found another marketplace right along the beach, selling a lot of the same things, but for a higher price since it was right along the beach. So if you want to shop close to the beach, walk the few blocks to get to the more hidden marketplace. You’ll go a block or two of stores, and then you’ll hit the row of booths. In the booths, there are no marked prices so you can negotiate. The salespeople are pushy, but not horribly so. They do let you walk away without a fight.

Up until today, I had considered myself one of those people who did NOT want to negotiate price for anything. Now I’m the queen of negotiating and I can’t wait to do it some more! I spent about $80 total and got a huge bag of little things. Oh and don’t forget to buy some pure vanilla if you like to cook…it’s PURE vanilla and it’s about $3.75 for 250 ml, whatever that is. (dh thinks that it looks like it’s about 10 ounces) But remember that the teeny tiny bottle in the grocery store is that price or even more. I also got some silver jewelry, some abalone stuff, t-shirts and various knick knacks to take back. A few things I just didn’t get, because they wouldn’t come down in price enough. Which is fine with me, I’m happy to know that they’re willing to let a sale go, so then I think that the prices I got for the things I got were ok. I usually cut the price they gave at least in half. Then went back and forth 3 or 4 times and usually ended up a little higher than the price I started out with. One transaction went like this for an abalone and silver salt and pepper set… (and they talk in US dollars) that is $50…so I said 12…then he said 30…then I said 12…then he said 25…then I said 15…he said 20…I said 16, he said ok. So it started as 50 and I got it for 16. It was fun.

Then we stopped for something cold to drink because it was hot hot hot. The restaurant was close to the marketplace and looked very American-friendly, as all of the menus were printed in English and the waiters spoke fluent English. We each had a canned soda or a bottle of water. The couple we were with shared a steak dish, dh had chicken enchiladas which he said were good, and I had guacamole and chips. It was all good and hit the spot, and the bill for all of us with tip was about $30.

Then we walked back to the dock for the tender boat. As we walked back, that’s when we encountered the other marketplace on the beach. There were also a lot of cute restaurants there too. We never made it to Ixtapa, we had meant to but it got too late. It was about 12:45 and the last tender left at 1:30, and we were ready to get back. Some people on the tender boat said they went to Ixtapa, and some said they went to another village, everyone said they had a good time. It was much different conversation than I had overheard about Acapulco. Here’s the most important tip so far…if tendering in the afternoon, be SURE to sit close to the center of the tender boat because it is soooo stifling hot. We sat about two rows from center, towards the front, and we got no airflow at all. We felt like we were going to melt. It was by far the worst ten minutes of the entire trip.

If anyone is interested in any specifics of anything we’ve done be sure to let me know. I’m writing way too much as it is, but I’m happy to share any info I’ve got.

When we got back, we came back to the room for a shower and to unpack and admire our treasures of the day. Ok, I unpacked and admired, dh read his book…. Now we’re going to go and gamble a bit and decide what to do for the evening. Strangely enough, there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount scheduled for this evening. Much less than other nights, but I suppose they offer more during the at sea days.

I should say that now DH is a little seasick again. I suspect it’s due to the tendering. I poured him a lovely vodka & lemonade made from the vodka from our bar service and the lemonade packets & water I brought. He seemed a little better after that! We were told yesterday that the laundry special was today, but now today we are told that it’s actually tomorrow. So I’m not sure if we’ll even do it because once we get it back, the cruise will be almost over.

We went to the casino and dh won a little at blackjack and I lost some more at slots. All in all he’s probably ahead a little and I’m behind quite a bit. now i'm going to post this and then head to blue lagoon to pick up a snack.

That’s all for now!!

[jennylane]

I’m posting from the internet café. mainly i go there because its just one flight down from my room and so i dont have to carry my laptop very far. I write my posts in my room on my laptop and then come to the internet café and throw them online. Even if you’re using the computer here in the café I’d suggest doing that, it will cut down on your minutes a lot. So far I’ve used about $12 so I think I’m doing fine. One thing….if I’m posting a quick reply to a question, I’ve noticed it gets lost more than half of the time and I have to go back and redo it. So now I’ve started to copy that before I hit the “post reply” so that if it gets lost, I can just paste rather than retype.

I’m not sure what the deal with Versailles was. I heard later that there was a computer glich which made it impossible to print receipts the normal way (they had to hand write triplicate forms) so maybe that was part of it. But the people stationed in the hall made us think that there was little or no food in Versailles, when that was far from the truth. And once we got into Versailles, the service was great. So that’s still a mystery.

The rocking is much better now. First day was by far the worst. Weather has been great except for the 1st sea day in the morning and maybe early afternoon. But its been fantastic since then. Mexico is hot but not horrible.

It could very well have been the buffet that made me sick. I didn’t have any real stomach trouble though, just the headache and chills and fever. But whatever it was is gone thank goodness. I felt better yesterday and now today I feel back to normal. Hubby is still seasick off and on though, unfortunately.

[Hikini]

I'm really having fun following along on your journey. One question about the Market Cafe. When we were on the Star in June, 2004 they had traditional buffet lines, in about 4 different starting places, depending on which side you came in on. Have they changed the buffet now where you get the food from several different islands? Like a Country Harvest buffet here on land? Just curious.

 

I hope they put the trays back in service. It will make it more difficult for those who are dishing up for more than one person. (Those with children or elderly people who don't dish up their own food.) Oh well.

 

Thanks again for writing out all the details. I'm really enjoying it!

 

Hikini:D

[immargaret]

The buffets are still set up the old way, and the trays were there in Feb.

[judyf]

Hi Jenny and everyone on the 4/18 sailing. Glad you're able to write a review while on the ship. I'm reading your now instead of writing mine. LOL

 

There were a LOT of employees directing traffic and each one we encountered suggested very strongly that we go eat at the buffet. But I had already heard that Versailles was open, so we kept heading that direction. When we got right outside of the restaurant, an employee discouraged us so strongly that she told us they “hardly had any food in there and we really should go to the buffet”.

 

We had this happen too and thanks to cc's we knew better. I guess they want everyone up at the buffet the first day.

 

We had a rough day and night at sea returning on 4/18. Wasn't bad when we left but returning was different. I hope you have a smooth sailing back cause it was rough going.

 

I love reading your daily reports makes me feel like we're still there.

[jennylane]

as of right now, there aren't any trays. however, when i went up there, i took a tray i had in my room from room service earlier in the day. the line is set up like you described, but the thing that makes it confusing is that when you start you cant really tell whats in the lines to come, so you kind of have to wander around first before decideing. and the noise level and pool traffic just put it over the edge for me.

 

it's 240 a.m. right now and i'm going to log out long enough to type the last few days of notes. i snuck out of the room because i wasnt tired, but forgot to bring my notes so i'll type as much as i can remember and finish the rest tomorrow or maybe the last day.

[jennylane]

Day 5 – Ixtapa cont.

(I’m typing this really REALLY late at night, and without my notes, so forgive me if something is incorrect or missing or whatever….)

We ate dinner at Cagneys. I’m not sure why but I had thought that our reservation was for Ginza, even to the point of walking us past the Ginza menu so we could decide what to have! I was all geared up for it and when I went to grab my reservation confirmation slip, realized it was actually the next night for ginza and it was Cagneys for day 5. Oh well…. So we headed to Cagneys and I was awfully surprised at how many empty tables there were. I had gotten that feeling at most of the restaurants actually. I wonder if people aren’t interested in the cover charge restaurants, or what the problem is.

Anyway, on to the food. We both had shrimp cocktail and they were great. Dh actually wanted more but was too embarrassed to ask (didn’t want to be perceived as taking advantage of the system…). He then had clam chowder, which he said was good but rich, and I had the spinach salad which was great….yummy bacon bits and great dressing. Then he had the fillet and I had the ribeye. We both had asparagus and he also had potato wedges. Now that I’m typing it, I guess he didn’t “need” another shrimp cocktail!! I thought my steak was a tiny bit overcooked but not nearly enough to send back. Dh thought his was great. We did have dessert (apple tart for me and cheesecake for him) but really didn’t need it, we were both stuffed by then.

Oh, about water. I’d read lots of people talking about the extensive water menu and that it was expensive. Personally I prefer bottled water, even on the ship. The first night I ordered Evian just for me and then dh jumped on board and we found a bottle called Trinity, that is a large bottle, plenty for two, and is only fifty cents more than the mid-sized Evian bottle that I drank myself. We’ve never finished the trinity bottle and take the rest with us.

We weren’t interested in the shows and decided we had already spent too much money in the casino, so we decided to go back and watch a movie in the room that we had brought (watch it on the laptop). Before going back to the room, we stopped at Aqua and asked if we could have some sherbet to take back to the room. Yes, I was stuffed, but I still wanted something cold and icy after the hot day. They were very nice and sent us off with two bowls of sherbet. Yum! We went back to the room and watched two movies and went to bed relatively early. I’m amazed that people can be in a port all day and still stay up all night drinking.

Day 6 – Puerto Vallarta

We called to order room service for breakfast because we had forgotten to put the room service order on our door the night before. Then our friends from shopping called to see what we were doing and since we had an excursion planned and they didn’t, we made arrangements to see them later that night.

The night before, we found the laundry special bag on our bed. If you give them your laundry on Puerto Vallarta day by noon, they give it back to you the evening of the last sea day. So basically its to give you clean clothes to take home. I decided that wasn’t necessary, and instead decided to spend about the same amount of money ($25) and had some of our clothes washed that we might want to wear over the next few days. I paid the extra charge for express, and we had them back the same day (by early evening). Personally I don’t think the laundry is too overpriced. We packed a lot of clothes, so I just had to have a few things washed.

The meeting time and place had changed for our excursion and so I’m not sure where the mixup occurred (probably in my too-full brain) but I thought we were to meet at 10 in stardust, and it was actually 930 in stardust. Unfortunately we didn’t realize until 945, when we were heading off to be early!!! We got to stardust and asked someone if we could still make the excursion. They radio’d someone at the tendering station who told them to send us down to him. We were told to push our way to the front of the line (!!!...imagine the looks…!!) and ask for someone, unfortunately I forgot his name already. We did that and once he saw us he pushed us to the front of the second line (to actually board the tender) and we hopped on the waiting tender. When we got to the pier, we found our group guide who was sent back to wait for us. So all was fine, and I don’t think we held anyone up. We actually were only a few minutes late, and our group was waiting for a boat anyway.

One thing – there were other cruise ships in Puerto Vallarta too. Princess seemed to have the dock, and didn’t have to pier. Our tenders passed them to get to the pier.

We went on the Canopy tour which was great. I’ll tell you a few things and then if anyone is interested in specifics, please ask. First was a short ride in a very small boat to get to the office where the truck would meet us to take us to the canopy tour place. The truck was an open air truck that seated 14 of us. We took a 45 minute ride uphill to get to the tour location. The ride was NOT luxurious by any stretch of the word. It was noisy, hot, bumpy, dusty, and windy!! Once there, the tour was great. We did not get bitten by any bugs but we used an off bracelet (looked like a plastic coil bracelet but had repellant built in) and also a bounce sheet in our pocket (like I read to do). It was hot, even in the shade of the trees. There was a lot of walking, and a lot of that was uphill. A few people had to quit, one out of fear and one for physical reasons. The ziplines were great, and the rappel was fun…we both wished there had been more. Staff was amazing…no other way to describe them. I’d do it in a second, and I think it was well worth every penny.

Psst….tvwebguy….how did your canopy tour go? How was your transportation? Did you get any pictures? Do you know where we can get/buy any pictures??

When we got done, there was still about 2 hours left in town, but we were beat and it was so hot, we didn’t want to do anything else. We were also dusty and in need of a shower. We had planned to go to Wal Mart since it was so close but decided even that was too much of an effort. So we opted for the gas station next to where we were dropped off, grabbed a few snacks, and headed back to tender to the ship. By now we’re getting tired of tendering. On the way back it was stifling hot and just no fun at all. I won’t miss that part of the cruise.

We came back, took showers and then went to go move some dinner reservations around. It was about 4 by that time, and I didn’t want to eat too much (we still hadn’t eaten lunch and dh was starving) if we had to eat dinner at 730. So we moved our dinner to 830 and then as long as we were there, moved our reservation for Le Bistro which was for tomorrow, to the last night. We figured that tomorrow we’ll be coming back from Cabo and will be more likely to be fine with no reservation rather than the last day at sea. After that, we went to Blue Lagoon for some wings and fries. Also brought some cookies and cake back to the room for a late snack. Then went back to the room, dh took a nap and I watched tv for a while.

Before we went to dinner, we made sure to let our friends know we would be late meeting them for after dinner drinks because we had changed our dinner time. We left them a phone message and a note on their door. We did see them later and after seeing them, I needed to let them know about plans for tomorrow, so I went to leave them a note on their door. Well, they had never picked up the first note!!! So they didn’t even know that we had tried to let them know we’d be late, and we didn’t apologize for being late because we thought we had covered it. Soooo, the moral of the story is, if you leave someone a note on their door, just be sure that they’re actually going to be checking for it!!!

Dinner was at Ginza (main ginza, not sushi or teppenyaki). I ordered some a la carte sushi and it was all very good. Then we ordered dinner, we did not care for the hot and sour soup at all. We both got the tempura udon, and enjoyed the tempura but thought there were too many noodles. And hubby also got the black bean tenderloin, which he said was good. Since we were running late and they said there would be a five minute wait for the banana pancakes, we decided to skip that and just have the coconut ice cream that is served on top of them. That’s really what we were after anyway. All in all, we thought the restaurant was really good. The price is a little lower than the other places, but we ended up spending more because of the sushi.

Next we went to meet our friends in Carousel. We sat with them and talked for a while, and then went to see the comedian who was performing her “pg13” routine in spinnaker. We thought she was ok, not horrible but not overly funny either. We think spinnaker is a great lounge though, comfortable couches and a nice setup overall. After she was done we headed back to the room for the night.

Our friends said they went to endless summer, and as many others have told us, the food wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad…but the view was fantastic. We’re still not planning to go, but wanted to mention it anyway.

Tomorrow is Cabo san Lucas. We don’t have anything planned, but we’re going to head in around 10 and try to finish off my souvenier shopping. Then the next day is our last sea day and then the cruise is done!! It’s going to be very strange to get back to the “real world”.

[cruisingfromMN]

The buffets are still set up the old way, and the trays were there in Feb.

 

Hi Margaret, There has been a change in the buffet as there are no trays and there are "stations" as opposed to a roped off line along the food line. We did not miss the trays, I thought we would and the food was very good. I think the best ever. The pasta station was yummy as was the wok station. The pre-prepared sandwiches on specialty breads were quite good too. If you got the pizza when it was fresh from the oven, it was tasty. I was also very, very pleased that the afternoon dessert was different each day including bread pudding and various fruit crisps. Unlike last year in Alaska it was bread pudding every day. Both the bread pudding and crisps were excellent.

[immargaret]

Hi Margaret, There has been a change in the buffet as there are no trays and there are "stations" as opposed to a roped off line along the food line. We did not miss the trays, I thought we would and the food was very good. I think the best ever. The pasta station was yummy as was the wok station. The pre-prepared sandwiches on specialty breads were quite good too. If you got the pizza when it was fresh from the oven, it was tasty. I was also very, very pleased that the afternoon dessert was different each day including bread pudding and various fruit crisps. Unlike last year in Alaska it was bread pudding every day. Both the bread pudding and crisps were excellent.

 

Sounds like a change for the better......except the missing trays. I guess we'll have to start packing our own from now on:D

[LVScooby]

Be prepared to wait in line on the ship for a tender around 10:00. Last week we made the mistake waiting until mid to late morning to go to shore and the line was crazy. We went back upstairs for an hour to let it work it's way down. It was so bad that Simon was on the PA asking folks to wait a little while before going down to deck 4.

[travelbug11]

Hi Jenny,

Thanks for your wonderful information about our cruise, I'm going next week.

 

Am wondering how the feather pillows were and if you had any problem getting them. I too will have a balconey cabin although right now I have a guarantee. Don't know if that makes a difference.

[tvwebguy]

Hi all,

 

We're having a blast on the Star. As I typr this, I'm sitting on the balcony of my room, over looking the harbor in Cabo, watching the boats come and go. Plus, I have free internet wifi from a local resort. Sweet!!! Any way, I've had a hard time keeping up with the list of requests. I'm sorry if I haven't gotten to your questions.

 

All I can say is that the Star is a great ship. In fact, we'll be booking again for next February. We'll bring the kids that time. Any way, I attached another couple of photos. One is showing the Star from Lands End here in Cabo. The other is the Star at night in Acapulco. Everyone who is coming aboard on Wednesday, look forward to a great time. Also, expect some great deals on merchandise. They are already stocking the stores with their Alaska gear so the Mexico gear will be very cheap.

 

One last thing, if you still don't know what to do in Puerto Vallerta, do a canopy tour. It was awesome. We booked ours through Los Veranos tours in PV. It was a blast!!!!!! I'll post some pictures later.

 

Enjoy!!!!!!

[tvwebguy]

Be prepared to wait in line on the ship for a tender around 10:00. Last week we made the mistake waiting until mid to late morning to go to shore and the line was crazy. We went back upstairs for an hour to let it work it's way down. It was so bad that Simon was on the PA asking folks to wait a little while before going down to deck 4.

 

We had zero problems with the tendering operation. In Cabo, we had the help of local tenders so there was always a tender waiting to take you ashore or back. Hopefully they continue with that in the future!!!

[tvwebguy]

Hi Jenny,

 

Thanks for the great info. I am sailing the Star on April 26th. Can you keep us updated on the sea and weather conditions? Has the boat been rocking as much as the first night?

 

Thanks!

Mike

 

Mike,

 

We have had fantastic water conditions. It was slightly rocky from L.A., but after the first day, it's been smooth sailing. In fact, the water conditions have been absolutley stunning. After talking with the navigator for a few minutes, he told me that the ship is equipped with stabilizers to counter the rocking of the ocean. It's been a smooth ride. You'll love it. As for the weather, the first day or so was cool but very nice. Since then, it has been warm to hot. Some of the ports are very humid, but, it's been quite nice. Just plan on sweating a bit. We've had highs in the upper 80's for most of the trip. Very nice.

 

One last thing, bring an extension cord and/or a splitter. There is only one plug in the room.

 

Enjoy your trip,

Ron

[judyf]

I'm loving the reviews & pictures! Can't beleive you found time to type all this while on the ship.

[LVScooby]

We had zero problems with the tendering operation. In Cabo, we had the help of local tenders so there was always a tender waiting to take you ashore or back. Hopefully they continue with that in the future!!!

 

It appeared to me that they were just using the Mexican tenders and then fianlly brought out the ships tenders to eleviate the congestion. Who know? I am glad they got it right this time. Last week there were about 2800 passengers, and that may have had something to do with it.

 

Great pic of the ship from Land's End.

 

Here is one of Land's End at sunrise from our balcony...

http://cabo123.shutterfly.com/action/slideshow?a=67b0de21b33adb2d25ac&auto=0&m=1&d=1145917526634

[howieizme]

Thanks Ron,

 

You "rock" dude.

 

 

Mike

[judyf]

It appeared to me that they were just using the Mexican tenders and then fianlly brought out the ships tenders to eleviate the congestion. Who know? I am glad they got it right this time. Last week there were about 2800 passengers, and that may have had something to do with it.

 

Great pic of the ship from Land's End.

 

Here is one of Land's End at sunrise from our balcony...

http://cabo123.shutterfly.com/action/slideshow?a=67b0de21b33adb2d25ac&auto=0&m=1&d=1145917526634

 

We had no issues with the tenders in either port, we used tenders in 2 posts, Ixtapa/Zih and Cabo. We were off the ship early too. Most cruises there's always a lone but not this one. In Ixtapa/Zih we got a tender number and was heading to breakfast when at 7:45 they announced for 15 minutes only you couls get on without a tender. So we walked right on. In Cabo we also walked right on the tender it was also early can't remember exact time. Maybe everyone waited till later this time.

[brunolvr]

Hi Margaret, There has been a change in the buffet as there are no trays and there are "stations" as opposed to a roped off line along the food line. We did not miss the trays, I thought we would and the food was very good. I think the best ever. The pasta station was yummy as was the wok station. The pre-prepared sandwiches on specialty breads were quite good too. If you got the pizza when it was fresh from the oven, it was tasty. I was also very, very pleased that the afternoon dessert was different each day including bread pudding and various fruit crisps. Unlike last year in Alaska it was bread pudding every day. Both the bread pudding and crisps were excellent.

 

Has anyone taken pictures of the "changed" buffet set-up on the Star? The food sounds good!

[cruisingfromMN]

Has anyone taken pictures of the "changed" buffet set-up on the Star? The food sounds good!

 

Sorry, I wished I had for you. However, it really does not look much different. The ropes have been removed and you simply walk up to whatever portion of the buffet you're interested in. The plates are in the same place they were before but at each station, they also have plates for the chef to place your food on. After one walk thru, you'll see the differences and become familiar with where each station is.

[jennylane]

more tomorrow!!

 

Day 7 – Cabo San Lucas

First, a few things that I had meant to say earlier and forgot. When you go to get off the ship, they will have a table set up with towels and watter bottles in insulated carriers. We had brought our own water and carrier, but we were told that they were $14 to buy them there, which I thought was awfully expensive.

One thing I wished I had brought is cold packs. At home I have small cold packs that you squeeze to activate. When we were sitting on the truck on the way back from the canopy tour, I remember thinking that I’d have given my right arm for one of them!!

Puerto Vallarta was a really pretty city. We didn’t get to see much because our tour took most of the day, but the things we did see were lovely. There is a lot of construction going up (beachfront) and everything is kept up really well. It’s a far cry from Acapulco. (it as almost like the cruiseline designed it so that we would go from the least nice city to the nicest, in order) Once we got away from the beach, as we were driving to the canopy tour, we drove through areas that were more like what we had expected to see. It went instantly from resort city to poor countryside. It was amazing to me that there was such a difference in just a few miles.

Here’s the last tip….Asians can sunburn! J Granted, I didn’t use any sunscreen and I don’t get a whole lot of sun at home, even though I live in California. But I’ve definitely got a small case of sunburn and it’s a very strange sight indeed. Oh, speaking of which, if there are any Asians out there who have gone shopping in Mexico, give me a holler and let me know what your experience was. I felt like I was an alien from the way some of the locals were looking at me. It wasn’t bad, or threatening, it was just interesting to me and made me think that they must not see many Asians.

Ok, now for the Cabo day. We got to Cabo around 8:00 but I think it took a while until we were ready to tender, because I kept hearing announcements saying that they were “just about ready to go.” We weren’t in a hurry anyway, so we took our time getting ready for the morning. We ordered room service for breakfast and this time I wrote in smoked salmon on the room service order and it came! I had done that once before and it didn’t, so I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask, even if you’ve already asked! We got on the tender at around 10:00, and the tender we rode was virtually empty.

Our day in Cabo wasn’t anything exciting. We picked up a city map from one of the people trying to sell time shares, and walked down the beachfront street. First we stopped at some stores right next to the pier, and I got some sunglasses because the pair I had gotten in Zihuataneo had already broken (grr..). If you walk down the beachfront street, you will pass two shopping areas. The first one is actually inland about a block, so we decided to walk down to the second (and larger) shopping center, and then walk back inland to get to the other one on the way back. By the time we got to our destination, we were thirsty, so we went into Hard Rock Café, mainly because it’s air conditioned. We had some cold drinks and a few appetizers, and I picked up a t-shirt to bring back to my son. Then we wandered around a little marketplace, which was much like the one we had shopped at before. I did notice that these people had the $100 “designer” bags. I tried to get one for $40, because I really didn’t want one in the first place but wanted to see how low the guy would go. I got one guy to go down to $55 but that was as far as I could get it. So I didn’t get one. We did buy a few little things.

The other marketplace is more commercial, and we looked around but didn’t buy anything. There are also some very cute shops, lovely glassware and other gifts. We went back to the ship, I think it was around 1:30. We got to take a tender that wasn’t one of “our” tenders, but instead was an open boat that looked more like a tour boat. It was nice, and was open so we didn’t melt in the heat for once.

Once back to the ship, we took a nap (although that wasn’t the plan). We ended up napping until dinnertime. We didn’t make a reservation for that night, so we went to Versailles to check out the menu. Dh decided he’d be able to find something to eat so we stayed there. I had heard that service in the main dining rooms goes downhill as the cruise gets to the end, so I was a bit curious to see if we’d experience that. Oh, I have also heard that if you don’t order wine or cocktails you basically get pushed out of specialty restaurants. We never ordered wine, and at most ordered one cocktail each, sometimes not even that. We did drink a bottle of water each evening. We never ever felt like we were being pushed out of any of the restaurants.

Back to Versailles. I was still warm from walking around that day so I ordered a soda, bottled water AND a cocktail! None of the entrees looked very appealing to me so I ordered a Caesar salad, a salmon appetizer and also a crepe appetizer. All was very good. Dh had a Caesar salad and then a steak entrée….it was French night and I think the steak was in a french sauce of some type. He said it was fine, but we had been spoiled by Cagneys and Le Bistro earlier in the trip so it was bound to be a bit of a letdown. Then I ordered flan and some lemon sherbet, and dh had some strawberry ice cream for dessert. I don’t know why I keep ordering flan, I guess maybe because it looks so good (I love crème brulee, maybe I think it looks like that). Every time I get it, I remember that I really don’t like it. On the service, it seemed just as good as the first night. Everyone was very nice and I couldn’t find anything they could have done better.

After dinner we stopped back at the room to call home and then went to the show. It was Cirque Pacific, which we decided to go to at the last minute. It was fun, and I think NCL does a great job providing a variety of entertainment, or maybe I should give the credit to the dance company. Personally I thought there were a few too many Asian stereotypes, but maybe it was just me. Dh seemed to especially like the girl who juggled a table on her feet!

Then to the casino briefly, and back to the room. We stayed there for a few minutes and then I headed to check out the line for the chocoholic buffet while dh watched tv for a while. I wasn’t going to go to the buffet if there was a line at all, but once I was there I couldn’t help myself. The line didn’t take all that long to get through, and I brought some stuff back to the room. I have to say I was surprised with the quality of the items. Everything looked very pretty but tasted pretty ordinary to me. I didn’t have anything that I thought was fantastic, and I guess I expected it to be really good. I don’t think I’d make the effort to go next time.

Day 8 – At Sea

Well, it’s our last full day and I have to say I have mixed feelings about it. In some ways I’d like to stay and yet I miss the house and the dogs and just being home. So I’m actually ready to go. I had thought I would just be completely saddened by the prospect of going home and I’m not, I’m ready. I had also thought I’d be wanting to think about another cruise immediately and I’m not, at least not quite yet. Maybe soon though…!!

We got up in time to get to Versailles while they were still serving breakfast. It may have been just because it was busy, but I did find the service today to be a bit slow. Not unacceptably slow, just slower than it’s been in the past.

After breakfast we went to the gift shop and bought a few last minute items to take home. Then we went to the front desk to sign up for express disembarkation. The lady who was helping us tried very hard to convince us not to do express, she said over and over that we would be fine going with our assigned color. We explained that our flight was earlier than we were comfortable with for that option (1:30 flight from LAX) and that we also wanted to handle our own luggage rather than leave it outside tonight. Even after saying that, she still tried to talk us into changing our minds. When she realized that wasn’t going to happen, she gave us the round blue express sticker to put on our card and added our cabin number to the express list. We need to be in the atrium at 8:00 tomorrow morning.

I wanted to pick up a few t-shirts from the excursion desk ($7.99!!) but got there a few minutes after it had closed, so I’ll have to go back later this afternoon. Then we went to Blue Lagoon for a quick lunch…some more fried rice and French fries for me, and a burger and fries for dh. Then to the casino for a little while, where one of the casino staff gave me a silver players club keychain as I was playing video poker. Next we had a little time to waste so we went to the Lion pub for some soda and popcorn.

We went to see the magician in the Spinnaker lounge at 1:45. It was titled “up close and personal” so I thought maybe it would be some interesting tricks to see up close, but really it wasn’t. It was a full house, and we waited about a half hour to see a show that lasted about a half hour and to me wasn’t all that entertaining. There were a lot of kids in the audience and they seemed to enjoy it.

After the magic show, we came back to our room to find our disembarkation luggage tickets waiting for us. Because I hadn’t arranged my air travel with NCL, I was given the general time for our deck to leave, which is 10:30 a.m. So had I not decided to leave express, we would have to wait until 10:30 and also factor in the time to pick up our luggage. Our flight is at 1:30 from LAX and since it’s a 30-45 minute drive to the airport, I think that it would have been really tight. So the moral for next time is that if we don’t want to carry our own luggage, we need to either book our air through NCL or book a flight late in the day so that time is not a factor. (the schedule is this – first group is express, then the next three groups are those that booked air through NCL, and then it goes by floor starting from the top and working down. Since we’re on deck 10, we would be the second deck to leave.)

It’s very windy and chilly right now. The boat is rocking quite a bit, and although it’s sunny, I thnk it’s too cold to sit outside. I had hoped to sit by the pool on our last day but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I hope it’s not too rocky tonight, like the first night was.

Spent the afternoon at the casino and taking care of misc. things. Got my customs form filled out and my souveniers packed in my carryon. Went back to the casino for the LAST (really) time, and got those t-shirts at the excursion desk….ok, I also picked up a backpack while I was there because don’t you think it makes a nicer gift…a t-shirt IN a bag?? Now I’m going to go post this, and then relax a bit before getting ready for dinner. We’re at Le Bistro tonight and we’re going to skip the show (talent show) and get packed. So I guess that’s all I’ll be sending LIVE, and I’ll finish up after I get home!!! Hope you enjoyed the trip!

[jennylane]

for the person who asked about the pillows...i asked my steward the first day right when i got there and (with the help of a $20) he got them for me right away, along with several other things i asked for. the feather pillows are SO much nicer, and we asked him to also leave the ordinary ones, so we had extras for sitting and watching tv.

[judyf]

I love your live reports Jenny. The last day at sea was too cool for us to be out side too. Good day to plan indoor things.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post during your cruise.