REVIEW: STAR to Mexican Riviera 10/5-10/13 (LONG)

[mgs926]

About us: Married, both 29 years old and active.

 

Arriving in LA:

We arrived in LA from Chicago around 12:30pm. I had hired a private sedan from Primetime Shuttle Service. This was our first time into LAX so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Our driver was at the bottom of the stairs near baggage with a luggage cart and a card with our name. Excellent. After a quick stop at the grocery to pick up a case of water, we were on our way to San Pedro.

 

Embarkation:

We got to the pier around 1:30pm, turned in our luggage and got in the registration line. The line moved pretty quickly but it was obvious it was peak time. We waited for 40 minutes. Not unreasonable. We made our way to our balcony cabin: 8016 forward on the starboard side. The room was of acceptable size and the bathroom was larger than our last cruise. We were celebrating our 4th anniversary, and my mother was nice enough to get us an Anniversary Package, so there was champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in our room when we got there. About 5 minutes after arriving in our room, our assistant steward delivered our luggage and water. We enjoyed the strawberries and champagne on our balcony before heading out to explore. This was our second cruise; first on NCL. I had ordered a bar setup and the Captain’s Choice wine and fruit basket. Neither were there when we arrived, but arrived throughout the rest of the afternoon. I was fine with that. Because I forgot to journal, I can’t remember where we ate this night. The ship was lovely. We had been on Celebrity's Constellation before this, and I think the decor and food are very comparable.

 

Day 1 – At Sea:

We enjoyed breakfast at the Market Café (the buffet). We ended up eating here every morning but one. We are not big breakfast people and found that the fruit, bread and French toast offerings were perfect for us. The quality was good to us and it was fast. Afterwards we worked out at the Fitness Center. All the equipment on the Star is brand new and each treadmill and elliptical trainer has it’s own television. It would have been more enjoyable if the Star had received the headphones prior to sailing, but what can you do? My husband enjoyed the free weights (they had a nice selection) and I took a class this particular day and then ran on the treadmill. We were very pleased with the facilities and class options. I had an ‘exotic hand treatment’ at the Barong Spa, which was absolute bliss!! Trix is the best!

 

At 3pm we met some Cruise Critic friends in the Star Bar, which was very nice! I had my heart set on Bingo at 4pm in the Spinnaker, so off we went. The bingo prices are a little berserk. Also, they have the electronic handhelds in addition to the punch cards. The electronic ones won every time. I didn’t like the particular games they played and was frustrated that no one with punch cards ever won, so we didn’t go back. We had dinner at La Trattoria (Italian). The menu was okay. I am Italian and an avid cook, so I tend to be critical of my food. I got the arrabiata, which was spicy to my liking. Dave got the chicken parm and he enjoyed it as well.

 

We participated in the pub crawl this night, met 3 wonderful couples and ended up spending most of the rest of the cruise with them. Marissa and Dominique from the Cruise Director's staff were fantastic and remembered us the rest of the cruise. We visited the Spinnaker this night and Simon Murray (our Cruise Director) spent an hour with our group at closing time, going over the bridge controls and just shooting the breeze. I was astonished to have received such personal attention from him for such a length of time. We were all VERY impressed!!

 

Day 2 – At Sea (formal night):

After a morning workout, gorgeous weather brought us poolside for the majority of the day. I don't particularly care for the pool setup on this ship. The waterslides block the view and the pool is pretty small. There seemed to be plenty of sun chairs and lounges and we were always able to find two together. The poolside entertainment "Cruise Control" was just plain awful. We avoided the evening venues in which they performed because it was just so bad.

 

We stopped at Gatsby's for a drink before dinner, and really enjoyed listening to Jana Seale. She is a wonderful vocalist and guitarist and IMO, the best performer on the ship. She sounds like Sarah McLaughlin and I could listen to her for days! Dinner was at Cagney's. Worth every penny of the additional charge. My filet and asparagus were absolultely perfect and my husband really enjoyed his porterhouse.

 

Day 3: Acapulco

We tried breakfast at Versailles, but after waiting quite a while for the same food we could have gotten in half the time at the Market Cafe, we decided to not eat here again. If you prefer a formal meal for breakfast, this was lovely. I had booked Rosie Diaz, a local woman known on CC and available by email at dew_days@hotmail.com, for a day tour. Our CC buddies joined us. Rosie took us to the cliff divers and then did a driving tour with many stops thru the old and new portions of Acapulco. I plan to go into more detail in the Mexican Riviera port section. We ended at Senor Frog's for dinner and drinks. Each couple was celebrating a special occasion, and Rosie arranged a special treat for each of us there. Excellent day!

 

Day 4: Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo

We booked the Dolphin Swim thru NCL, and it was excellent! The tour operator was a little disorganized at first in arranging our transportation, but once that got worked out, it was wonderful. We spent time at the pool afterwards.

 

We had signed up the day before to participate in the Murder Mystery and ended up at Aqua with our group of 8 for dinner. The food was good, but I don't remember it being anything special. My dessert of sugar-free lemon mousse was pretty icky. One thing I like about NCL is that there is no additional charge for cappuccino, which Dave and I like after dinner. That was a big bonus to us. The Mystery was fun, although I'm not sure if we would do it again.

 

Day 5: Puerto Vallarta

I had booked a Canopy Tour with a local company (Canopy de Los Veranos) and we were to meet at the office downtown at 10am. PV ended up being a tendor port, and I think we were originally supposed to dock. They had announced in the Freestyle that we were to pick up tendor tickets to get to shore and said that the tendors would start at 9:30, after the ship-sponsored excursion people were all off. By 10:15, they hadn't started with the rest of us, and we had to be 20 minutes south in 45 minutes! I started to flip out a little and spoke to a woman on the tendor staff, explaining my situation. She fit us on the next tendor boat off. If I hadn't done this, we would have missed our excursion. More excursion details will be in the Mexican Riviera port section of the board.

 

Dinner was at Ginzu with two other PC couples. Holy cow...if you don't mind spending 2-1/2 hours eating a meal, Ginzu is the place for you. It was ridiculous how long everything took. It wasn't even busy, which is what blows my mind the most! Not being a huge fan of Japanese anyway, I found the food tasty. I really like spicy food, and the wasabi delivered!

 

Day 6: Cabo san Lucas

Tendored to shore and took a water taxi to Medano Beach where we spent most of the day, and then met up with the other PCers at Cabo Wabo. This was my favorite port. Very laid back and beautiful.

 

We tried to make reservations at Endless Summer, but it was all booked. I recommend making specialty restaurant reservations the first day or two onboard so you can be accommodated. After a workout, dinner was at Aqua. I had the salmon which was only okay to me- a little undercooked. During dinner Simon made the announcements about the missing guest, which i'm sure you've all heard about by now. The rest of the meal was pretty quiet. We were all feeling terrible for the passenger and her loved ones. The mood was very somber. After dinner, we headed to the Star Bar to listen to Jana. There was a Pub Crawlers Reunion scheduled for later that night, and while we all attended, we spent the entire evening in the Pearl Martini lounge just talking as a group about the day's events, each of us taking time to go out to the promenade while the search was underway. It was an evening of prayer and reflection. Dave and I were so happy to have grown close to a group on this cruise- it helped us to feel like we had a 'family' to lean on during the difficult time. I must say that all the crew and staff handled the tragedy with respect and elegance. Several from our group went to the chocoholic buffet. They said it was beautiful but that the line was very long.

 

Day 7: At Sea (our anniversary)

After breakfast, I booked a last-minute Spa special. The reflexology portion was pretty painful...who knew! Should have done the seaweed wrap instead! The disembarkation meeting was heavily attended becuase of the prior evening's events and subsequent delay in getting back to LA. I think Simon and the NCL staff did they best they could in accommodating guests. We spent the day by the pool with friends and relaxed.

 

We had made reservations earlier in the week for Le Bistro. We enjoyed the ambiance and the service was excellent. I had a filet, which wasn't as good as Cagney's, but was still yummy. Dave enjoyed his food as well. We shared chocolate fondue for dessert, but the dippings were mostly pineapple. I know now that they tend to run out of strawberries later in the cruise. Bummer!

 

Day 8: Disembarkation

It was rough getting off the ship, but we expected it becuase of the delay we had. We participated in the Express program (where you carry your own luggage). We were made to wait in a line with our luggage outside the Spinnaker to clear customs and then head down to Deck 4 midship to disembark. I don't understand why they had us hauling our luggage all over the blessed ship for this. I know there were so many people that had to get off to catch flights, but this just seemed so hectic. However, I am not going to judge too much because we were all dealing with the delay.

 

HIGHLIGHTS: Our Cruise Critic and Pub Crawling buddies, Jana Seale, Cagney's, Fitness facilities, Le Bistro, Crew and Staff, Freestyle dining, Market Cafe breakfast options, overall food quality and taste, our particular port activities

BUMMERS: Bingo, Cruise Critic band, port shopping (no better than a good trip to Kohls!)

 

Overall, I would recommend the Star and her staff. I liked the Mexican Riviera but would have preferred more time in port in Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo and Cabo San Lucas.

 

Thanks for reading!

Jill

[Retired not Expired]

Thank you for your review. I've been thinking about recommending this cruise for a group I sail with every year. I believe it would be a good one for next year. Your review helped a lot. Thanks again.

[melika091900]

great review..im glad you liked the star. we did too, we will be on her again in a few weeks, we cant wait.!!!!!!

[newmexicoNita]

Great review: one of my bosses was on her the same week with his family, brothers, sils, nieces, etc. They had a great time.

 

We are thinking of doing the same cruise or the repo next fall.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

Great review: one of my bosses was on her the same week with his family, brothers, sils, nieces, etc. They had a great time.

 

We are thinking of doing the same cruise or the repo next fall.

 

Nita

[Sen]

Great review: one of my bosses was on her the same week with his family, brothers, sils, nieces, etc. They had a great time.

 

We are thinking of doing the same cruise or the repo next fall.

 

Nita

 

I noticed that you posted the same quote twice. Once you click post, it will automatically do it.

 

Jill,

I am going on the Star in a few weeks and I can't wait. I'll take your word for the free Cappicinos. That sounds great. Do they aslo offer free lattes?

And I will not eat the lemon mousse since I do not eat anything sugar-free anyway. I don't think I'll eat at Ginza's if that's the case.

[Retired not Expired]

I noticed that you posted the same quote twice. Once you click post, it will automatically do it.

 

LOL

 

Once you've been on these boards a while, you will see they have a mind of their own. Click once and get two or even a triple post, or maybe no post at all, or it says you have a post but you can't find it until someone else posts in the same thread. Maybe even a white screen.

[dgund]

Jill,

 

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to write it. We were on the Star this past July in Alaska and had a wonderful time. Reading your review brought back alot of memories.

[GROOVERS]

Thanks for the great review! We were just on the STAR July 30 to Alaska...You just sold me on the Riveria, so I called and booked it for March 6, infact I was telling a buddy and he and his wife did the same!

Thanks a lot!:D

 

Life is made up of blessings and memories, good or bad...Live life to it's fullest!:)