My thoughts: Our trip on the Star to the Mexican Riviera

[daldog]

Star to the Mexican Riviera: Oct 25 – Nov 1 2008

Preface:

At first I intended to just come back and help answer questions - I wasn’t going to post trip notes or a review - but I decided I should because so many of the other reviews of this same trip were glowing, and that was not my reaction. So I decided the board needs some balance for others who are like I was - new to NCL and wondering. So please don’t get all worked up at me, it’s just my opinion. (whew see, I’m nervous already!) :p

About us:

We are mid-forties, been on just a few cruises. Fairly laid back travelers; we like to do things on our own, and just like to relax. Oh, and eat and drink, of course.

Summary:

This is about to be long :o and maybe a little rambling – so I am putting this first, instead of last, in case no one wants to read on.

We did not have a bad trip; mostly we had a fine trip - I liked the ship, and we liked the ports. However, unlike some others, I thought both the service overall and the food overall were lacking. There were a few positive exceptions, but my summary opinion is that NCL didn’t hold up as well when compared to my other cruises and they did not WOW me. I was looking forward to "Freestyle" and didn't find that a factor really. If we were choosing again and all else being equal, I would likely spend more money to go back on Princess or to try something new. If NCL had a much more interesting ship or itinerary, I would be torn but I would possibly try them again.

For further detail, read on............

[daldog]

Embarkation:

Stayed over the night before at Holiday Inn on Gaffey. It was fine; free shuttle to port. (See below for comments on the luggage handling). Once inside we were a little confused, but it was fast and painless. We arrived slightly after noon. They gave us a boarding group number but we never used it. There seemed to be no sign for us inside, but as we were looking around, they just waived us (and everybody else) into a line that said something about Suites and Villas (I think.) We went thru screening with a liter of rum and two liters of water in our carry-on … nobody cared - the screeners were local security, not NCL employees. Got our key cards, and waltzed right onto the ship, where they were serving champagne, mimosas and OJ. That’s a nice touch. Once boarded, we looked around, and just at the minute I was getting tired of my carry-on, they announced the cabins were ready. I think about 1:30…… really good.

 

Luggage:

Just a tip – get your luggage tags on early. When we got out of our van, a pier employee was already whisking the bags away into a hangar-like building where we could see them being x-rayed, and he was saying “you will pick them up on the other side”. So we never got to put our NCL tags on; we weren’t worried about it because the next person we encountered down the sidewalk was handing out luggage tags, so we still thought we were going to see our bags again. We didn’t. So when we were standing waiting to board, I finally figured “oopsie” and we asked an NCL employee who advised us to go to reception; we did that, they basically said “Uh, oh” – and that all unplaced bags would eventually show up behind reception, and to check back much later – try after 7pm. And then bags showed up at our room before 3! Yay! Great job. ( I think we got lucky partly because we have two different last names, both on our outside tags, and one is not too common.)

 

Cabin:

Loved it. We had an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite – we appreciated the extra space and LOVED how big the bathroom and shower were. Robes were waffle, but soft. It had an Elemnis (sic?) dispenser for shampoo (bring your own if you care about your hair, I found it very harsh) and body wash (which was nice). Lotion too (but it gave me a terrible rash :( the perfume maybe?)

 

The cabin was nicely appointed I thought, and very clean with the exception of our balcony plexiglass – it was pretty dirty. The only small complaint was the closet space; awkward to get in and out of because of how close the doors were to the bed, and there was not as much hanging space – I think the shelves are deeper and take up more room. Our bed was really really mushy, and had plenty of hills and valleys - but not uncomfortable. A few days into the trip, we got the brand new Bliss Bed mattresses. That was nice; then the bed was excellent. Our room steward jokingly said he asked to have the bed replaced “just for us” ;) but we saw them up and down the hall throughout the trip, so apparently they are working on switching them all out on the Star.

 

I was prepared for there to be only one plug … it was over by the dressing vanity, which makes sense. We would’ve liked to have our IPOD speakers over by the sitting area, so that we could also hear them on our balcony; there are several plugs over the frig and coffee area but you would need a converter.

 

Our cabin was on Deck 11; many times the question is asked about noise because it is public space above. My take on this: you can definitely hear noise above, but it is not terribly intrusive. Noise from the hall is much louder. We slept with our balcony door open every night, so the sea sounds drown out everything else, unless your neighbors use their balcony early or late. I am the light and late sleeper, my husband wasn’t bothered ever and rises early: so when I asked him a couple days in “So if we were offered this situation again, an upgrade but to a cabin under public space, would we do it?” He says “YES!” I say maybe. The time I noticed noise most was the night of the Mexican Fiesta (Puerto Vallarta?) but it ended by midnight. And the last day we tried to take a nap around 3:30 and it was pretty noticeable then.

 

Ship:

I loved the Star – I thought she was very pretty. I really liked the décor; all the different areas. I did not find her dirty at all, which has been mentioned by many. Yes, she does have wear … like the carpets in some areas, the arms of the chairs in the theatre, some of the lower walls are a little banged – that kind of thing. I did not find any of that off-putting at all. At first the “can’t get here from there” feeling bugged me, there are so many doors they have blocked off from the decks, ….. but we quickly got used to that and forgot about it. The only area that we found unattractive was the buffet – long cafeteria-style tables, very industrial looking.

 

We used the gym - it’s fine; the floor area was a little small. We thought the jogging track didn’t work well: it goes thru a pool lounge area and the intent is for walkers to split from the joggers and go in front of the lounge chairs and then merge back in at the ends. But who wants to walk for exercise in front of loungers? So that meant there were usually walkers wandering over the jogging track, and it was too narrow to easily pass anybody – so it just doesn’t really work well.

 

The other thing we were disappointed in was the pool deck area; there just didn’t seem to be much space and there is only the one small pool. When we explored the first day, we were found the aft deck areas taken up by what looks to be a helipad and then the kids area. So I am curious - is that helipad on the Star used for Alaska trips? We loved the “stadium” area of lounge chairs below the Bier Garten, but those were prime real estate and you must have to get up early to get one. The only time those chairs weren’t covered by towels (chair hogs?) was either very late in the afternoon, or on a port day. Most days to find any spot at all we went to the quiet areas way forward; we usually had to untie and unstack our own chairs.

 

I could have missed it, but I find it interesting that I didn’t see anyone else mention that we had a hot water outage the first sea day (announced by the captain right around 4:30 when we hadn’t yet showered for dinner) that lasted about 3 hours! We were all sweaty and sunblock-y, so we finally ended up seeking out a hot tub to rinse off in so we could change for “dress up or not” dinner. And as soon as we were dressed the hot water came back. :rolleyes: Later in the trip there was a power outage while we were in port; lasted I think a little over an hour. I read someone else on another trip on the Star recently had one as well. Did you know toilets don’t flush on a cruise ship with no power? :eek: We don’t let that stuff bother us, but also thought it seemed like pretty lengthy service interruptions for one trip.

 

 

Food:

Yes, I know this is a touchy subject and everybody is different. Just so you know where I am coming from, I consider my tastes to be very adventurous. I grew up near the Culinary Institute of America in NY, my mom is a great gourmet cook (never had better anywhere) and I was happily eating things like cream of watercress soup and salmon with hollandaise sauce in NYC restaurants by the time I was 4. So I call myself spoiled. :) BUT I don’t have high expectations for cruise ship food; I expect it to be edible but I don’t expect it to wow me. I was still disappointed in the overall consistency and quality of the food on this trip. Now, I may have had my hopes up too high because reading over the NCL boards prior to our trip so many people raved about the food, I was excited and hoping for it to be better than usual, better than Princess. IMHO, it wasn’t. Of course, we didn’t starve; there are plenty of choices. We fell into the habit of grazing mostly. Food wasn’t a highlight for us.

 

The breakfast buffet had no variation that we noticed, but I personally am ok as long as I can get smoked salmon, cream cheese and a bagel. I only read somewhere about made-to-order omelets at the Grill after we got back so missed that. We ate twice in the Aqua room for the balconies-and-higher breakfast, which was nice for the atmosphere; probably would’ve eaten there more if it didn’t close so early (not a morning person). I had been looking forward to the salmon version of eggs benedict, but didn’t find it very good. Extremely overcooked eggs and sauce that was heat-lamped past recognition.

 

We were fine with the buffet for lunch. We checked on the Versailles lunch the first day, but there was nothing on the menu that interested me. I liked the Caesar salad on the buffet; they tossed it fresh to order and actually had anchovies and block shredded cheese. I ate a lot of that and the regular salad bar, or you can build your sandwich. My dh said the hamburgers on the grill were decent (I don’t eat red meat myself). The dinner buffet always had a bunch of cheeses and stuff out, so we frequently made ourselves a little cheese plate to take back to our balcony for late afternoon private happy hour.

 

First night we ate dinner in the Soho room; the meal was all over the map – from very good (a tuna tartare app with caviar) to very bad (my fish was cooked WAY past death and had minimal flavor). And we saw most of the same food from that menu on the dining room menu and the buffet throughout the week with slightly different preparations. We ate in Versailles a couple times, and thought it was ok….. liked the room. Never had a soup we didn’t like, some were quite good. We liked the fish part of the fish and chips in the Blue Lagoon (the chips are just ok fries). We couldn’t figure out the green mush that came with them – it was peas! Spinach dip was yucky. We even ate in the buffet a couple times for dinner due to lack of interest in the menus. One thing they always had that I enjoyed was the vegetarian Indian dishes (not spicy as I like, but I understand why not). Again, I ate a lot of salad bar. One night toward the end they had out a salad with big slices of seared tuna. We hit the soft-serve ice cream mostly; my dh had a couple deserts he liked - a chocolate mousse thing I think. Most of them I didn’t find to be worth the calories. I had a crème brulee one night that was not fabulous, but pretty good and a coconut cream something pie another night that I liked.

 

Service:

We liked our cabin steward; he was very friendly and professional. (We actually had two assigned, they appeared to work in a team and we tipped them extra as a team after asking how they worked it - we had more contact and conversation with one than the other.) There was also one particular beverage server we saw repeatedly who had the kind of personality we expect on a cruise: happy, out-going, always cheerful and friendly. Other than those two individuals, and the crew in the Soho room, we found the service to be lackluster. (We have both worked in the bar/restaurant business, so yes we know it can be a difficult job. We also know that if you engage your customer in a cheerful way, they and you, will have a better time and you will make more money.) We frequently felt like we were the ones doing all the smiling and encouraging them to cheer up.

 

We asked to have our mini-fridge emptied (we like to use it for beer buckets, wine and we refill our water bottles from the tap) and we were told no, sorry … but at least in a creative nice way ("I could get in trouble if I do that"). We actually had a very bad, unfriendly encounter at a bar. Also, we had a couple of experiences where due to a language barrier, we either settled for something we didn’t really want because we gave up in frustration, or we gave up completely and got it from someone else ourselves. I don’t expect perfect English from everyone, but I do expect if you are assigned to a drink area, you can at least understand what I am asking for – say knowing the difference between “water” and “wine” wouldn’t be too much to ask for.

 

 

Entertainment:

The enjoyed the entertainment was good and I thought NCL offered a nice variety – I liked that they had local Mexican entertainers come onboard the evening we were in Puerto Vallarta. The stage shows were typical and up to par with what we have seen on other ships. We went to most of the shows, and enjoyed the quartet in the atrium and Shaun in the Red Lion. My favorites were the juggler, Romano Frediani (sp?) and the crew talent show towards the end of the trip was really fun; the audience was greatly supportive.

 

The trip:

We got lucky with great weather … and we liked all the ports. Leaving port the first evening, it was quite warm in LA (low 80s) til we rounded the breakwater, and we sailed into pea soup thick fog. That was neat, you could see the tendrils drifting across the deck, but it was suddenly very CHILLY and windy. We saw dolphins leaving L.A. and whales 3 times – all closer to L.A. I had read that it’s sometimes cold on the first and last sea days; but we found it very nice both days out in the sun. That last day coming back, the temperature definitely drops as the sea temps drop (like 10 degrees in a half hour somewhere around noon) but it was still plenty warm enough with the sunshine to be out on deck. Quite chilly and windy that last night out on deck (for me).

 

Cabo, I have been to before on a land trip so we were pretty lazy and didn’t spend much time ashore (it was hot!) My advice would be to go do something beach or water related in Cabo.

 

Mazatlan we were going to do on our own, but again it was hot, so at the last second we decided to take a tour with Jose Velarde from Mazatlan Van Tours, who was one of the drivers soliciting passengers when you get off the tram. It was $25 pp, and he had a cooler of water, pop, and Pacifico included. I originally was only interested in seeing the old town area on foot, but we ended up seeing the Golden Zone also this way - it was all good, we had a very enjoyable time with him. He took good care of us. We were with nice folks off the Oosterdam, so that was interesting. We had wanted some beach time, could’ve squeezed some in but decided against that rushed feeling, so we did the little flea market and then went back aboard.

 

Puerto Vallarta, we did a walking tour of downtown and the malecon on our own. Loved it. Cheap beer with a nice view at the Cheeky Monkey. We had intended to beach it a little at Playa Los Muertos in the romantic zone but the water was really muddy and we saw some lady get knocked down hard and dragged out by a huge wave, so we changed our minds and walked back – we were tired by then anyway. We really enjoyed lying around on the ship that evening and watching the sun set, and the lights come on all around. It was so pretty and relaxing.

 

Debarkation:

Love, love their process and that you can stay in your room. Much better than being evicted at an ungodly hour to sit in a lounge. And it seemed to go very quickly and easily (we chose a later time, not early.) Bags were orderly and easy to find. Customs check in San Pedro? Hah. All we did was hand in our form – they didn’t even care to check that our form was for the right people. No dogs, no nothing.

 

The end: :cool:

 

So NCL: will we ever visit you again? I am not so sure, but I will not say never.

 

Ok, I am ducking down behind my flame-proof pillow now.

[terrymtex01]

If anyone flames you, just ignore them. I thought you have provided a very well rounded review. Our first cruise on the Star I said I would probably not cruise on her again, but we did and now she is our favorite ship so far.

 

Thank you for posting this, I enjoyed reading it.

[newmexicoNita]

Embarkation:

Stayed over the night before at Holiday Inn on Gaffey. It was fine; free shuttle to port. (See below for comments on the luggage handling). Once inside we were a little confused, but it was fast and painless. We arrived slightly after noon. They gave us a boarding group number but we never used it. There seemed to be no sign for us inside, but as we were looking around, they just waived us (and everybody else) into a line that said something about Suites and Villas (I think.) We went thru screening with a liter of rum and two liters of water in our carry-on … nobody cared - the screeners were local security, not NCL employees. Got our key cards, and waltzed right onto the ship, where they were serving champagne, mimosas and OJ. That’s a nice touch. Once boarded, we looked around, and just at the minute I was getting tired of my carry-on, they announced the cabins were ready. I think about 1:30…… really good.

 

Luggage:

Just a tip – get your luggage tags on early. When we got out of our van, a pier employee was already whisking the bags away into a hangar-like building where we could see them being x-rayed, and he was saying “you will pick them up on the other side”. So we never got to put our NCL tags on; we weren’t worried about it because the next person we encountered down the sidewalk was handing out luggage tags, so we still thought we were going to see our bags again. We didn’t. So when we were standing waiting to board, I finally figured “oopsie” and we asked an NCL employee who advised us to go to reception; we did that, they basically said “Uh, oh” – and that all unplaced bags would eventually show up behind reception, and to check back much later – try after 7pm. And then bags showed up at our room before 3! Yay! Great job. ( I think we got lucky partly because we have two different last names, both on our outside tags, and one is not too common.)

 

Cabin:

Loved it. We had an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite – we appreciated the extra space and LOVED how big the bathroom and shower were. Robes were waffle, but soft. It had an Elemnis (sic?) dispenser for shampoo (bring your own if you care about your hair, I found it very harsh) and body wash (which was nice). Lotion too (but it gave me a terrible rash :( the perfume maybe?)

 

The cabin was nicely appointed I thought, and very clean with the exception of our balcony plexiglass – it was pretty dirty. The only small complaint was the closet space; awkward to get in and out of because of how close the doors were to the bed, and there was not as much hanging space – I think the shelves are deeper and take up more room. Our bed was really really mushy, and had plenty of hills and valleys - but not uncomfortable. A few days into the trip, we got the brand new Bliss Bed mattresses. That was nice; then the bed was excellent. Our room steward jokingly said he asked to have the bed replaced “just for us” ;) but we saw them up and down the hall throughout the trip, so apparently they are working on switching them all out on the Star.

 

I was prepared for there to be only one plug … it was over by the dressing vanity, which makes sense. We would’ve liked to have our IPOD speakers over by the sitting area, so that we could also hear them on our balcony; there are several plugs over the frig and coffee area but you would need a converter.

 

Our cabin was on Deck 11; many times the question is asked about noise because it is public space above. My take on this: you can definitely hear noise above, but it is not terribly intrusive. Noise from the hall is much louder. We slept with our balcony door open every night, so the sea sounds drown out everything else, unless your neighbors use their balcony early or late. I am the light and late sleeper, my husband wasn’t bothered ever and rises early: so when I asked him a couple days in “So if we were offered this situation again, an upgrade but to a cabin under public space, would we do it?” He says “YES!” I say maybe. The time I noticed noise most was the night of the Mexican Fiesta (Puerto Vallarta?) but it ended by midnight. And the last day we tried to take a nap around 3:30 and it was pretty noticeable then.

 

Ship:

I loved the Star – I thought she was very pretty. I really liked the décor; all the different areas. I did not find her dirty at all, which has been mentioned by many. Yes, she does have wear … like the carpets in some areas, the arms of the chairs in the theatre, some of the lower walls are a little banged – that kind of thing. I did not find any of that off-putting at all. At first the “can’t get here from there” feeling bugged me, there are so many doors they have blocked off from the decks, ….. but we quickly got used to that and forgot about it. The only area that we found unattractive was the buffet – long cafeteria-style tables, very industrial looking.

 

We used the gym - it’s fine; the floor area was a little small. We thought the jogging track didn’t work well: it goes thru a pool lounge area and the intent is for walkers to split from the joggers and go in front of the lounge chairs and then merge back in at the ends. But who wants to walk for exercise in front of loungers? So that meant there were usually walkers wandering over the jogging track, and it was too narrow to easily pass anybody – so it just doesn’t really work well.

 

The other thing we were disappointed in was the pool deck area; there just didn’t seem to be much space and there is only the one small pool. When we explored the first day, we were found the aft deck areas taken up by what looks to be a helipad and then the kids area. So I am curious - is that helipad on the Star used for Alaska trips? We loved the “stadium” area of lounge chairs below the Bier Garten, but those were prime real estate and you must have to get up early to get one. The only time those chairs weren’t covered by towels (chair hogs?) was either very late in the afternoon, or on a port day. Most days to find any spot at all we went to the quiet areas way forward; we usually had to untie and unstack our own chairs.

 

I could have missed it, but I find it interesting that I didn’t see anyone else mention that we had a hot water outage the first sea day (announced by the captain right around 4:30 when we hadn’t yet showered for dinner) that lasted about 3 hours! We were all sweaty and sunblock-y, so we finally ended up seeking out a hot tub to rinse off in so we could change for “dress up or not” dinner. And as soon as we were dressed the hot water came back. :rolleyes: Later in the trip there was a power outage while we were in port; lasted I think a little over an hour. I read someone else on another trip on the Star recently had one as well. Did you know toilets don’t flush on a cruise ship with no power? :eek: We don’t let that stuff bother us, but also thought it seemed like pretty lengthy service interruptions for one trip.

 

 

Food:

Yes, I know this is a touchy subject and everybody is different. Just so you know where I am coming from, I consider my tastes to be very adventurous. I grew up near the Culinary Institute of America in NY, my mom is a great gourmet cook (never had better anywhere) and I was happily eating things like cream of watercress soup and salmon with hollandaise sauce in NYC restaurants by the time I was 4. So I call myself spoiled. :) BUT I don’t have high expectations for cruise ship food; I expect it to be edible but I don’t expect it to wow me. I was still disappointed in the overall consistency and quality of the food on this trip. Now, I may have had my hopes up too high because reading over the NCL boards prior to our trip so many people raved about the food, I was excited and hoping for it to be better than usual, better than Princess. IMHO, it wasn’t. Of course, we didn’t starve; there are plenty of choices. We fell into the habit of grazing mostly. Food wasn’t a highlight for us.

 

The breakfast buffet had no variation that we noticed, but I personally am ok as long as I can get smoked salmon, cream cheese and a bagel. I only read somewhere about made-to-order omelets at the Grill after we got back so missed that. We ate twice in the Aqua room for the balconies-and-higher breakfast, which was nice for the atmosphere; probably would’ve eaten there more if it didn’t close so early (not a morning person). I had been looking forward to the salmon version of eggs benedict, but didn’t find it very good. Extremely overcooked eggs and sauce that was heat-lamped past recognition.

 

We were fine with the buffet for lunch. We checked on the Versailles lunch the first day, but there was nothing on the menu that interested me. I liked the Caesar salad on the buffet; they tossed it fresh to order and actually had anchovies and block shredded cheese. I ate a lot of that and the regular salad bar, or you can build your sandwich. My dh said the hamburgers on the grill were decent (I don’t eat red meat myself). The dinner buffet always had a bunch of cheeses and stuff out, so we frequently made ourselves a little cheese plate to take back to our balcony for late afternoon private happy hour.

 

First night we ate dinner in the Soho room; the meal was all over the map – from very good (a tuna tartare app with caviar) to very bad (my fish was cooked WAY past death and had minimal flavor). And we saw most of the same food from that menu on the dining room menu and the buffet throughout the week with slightly different preparations. We ate in Versailles a couple times, and thought it was ok….. liked the room. Never had a soup we didn’t like, some were quite good. We liked the fish part of the fish and chips in the Blue Lagoon (the chips are just ok fries). We couldn’t figure out the green mush that came with them – it was peas! Spinach dip was yucky. We even ate in the buffet a couple times for dinner due to lack of interest in the menus. One thing they always had that I enjoyed was the vegetarian Indian dishes (not spicy as I like, but I understand why not). Again, I ate a lot of salad bar. One night toward the end they had out a salad with big slices of seared tuna. We hit the soft-serve ice cream mostly; my dh had a couple deserts he liked - a chocolate mousse thing I think. Most of them I didn’t find to be worth the calories. I had a crème brulee one night that was not fabulous, but pretty good and a coconut cream something pie another night that I liked.

 

Service:

We liked our cabin steward; he was very friendly and professional. (We actually had two assigned, they appeared to work in a team and we tipped them extra as a team after asking how they worked it - we had more contact and conversation with one than the other.) There was also one particular beverage server we saw repeatedly who had the kind of personality we expect on a cruise: happy, out-going, always cheerful and friendly. Other than those two individuals, and the crew in the Soho room, we found the service to be lackluster. (We have both worked in the bar/restaurant business, so yes we know it can be a difficult job. We also know that if you engage your customer in a cheerful way, they and you, will have a better time and you will make more money.) We frequently felt like we were the ones doing all the smiling and encouraging them to cheer up.

 

We asked to have our mini-fridge emptied (we like to use it for beer buckets, wine and we refill our water bottles from the tap) and we were told no, sorry … but at least in a creative nice way ("I could get in trouble if I do that"). We actually had a very bad, unfriendly encounter at a bar. Also, we had a couple of experiences where due to a language barrier, we either settled for something we didn’t really want because we gave up in frustration, or we gave up completely and got it from someone else ourselves. I don’t expect perfect English from everyone, but I do expect if you are assigned to a drink area, you can at least understand what I am asking for – say knowing the difference between “water” and “wine” wouldn’t be too much to ask for.

 

 

Entertainment:

The enjoyed the entertainment was good and I thought NCL offered a nice variety – I liked that they had local Mexican entertainers come onboard the evening we were in Puerto Vallarta. The stage shows were typical and up to par with what we have seen on other ships. We went to most of the shows, and enjoyed the quartet in the atrium and Shaun in the Red Lion. My favorites were the juggler, Romano Frediani (sp?) and the crew talent show towards the end of the trip was really fun; the audience was greatly supportive.

 

The trip:

We got lucky with great weather … and we liked all the ports. Leaving port the first evening, it was quite warm in LA (low 80s) til we rounded the breakwater, and we sailed into pea soup thick fog. That was neat, you could see the tendrils drifting across the deck, but it was suddenly very CHILLY and windy. We saw dolphins leaving L.A. and whales 3 times – all closer to L.A. I had read that it’s sometimes cold on the first and last sea days; but we found it very nice both days out in the sun. That last day coming back, the temperature definitely drops as the sea temps drop (like 10 degrees in a half hour somewhere around noon) but it was still plenty warm enough with the sunshine to be out on deck. Quite chilly and windy that last night out on deck (for me).

 

Cabo, I have been to before on a land trip so we were pretty lazy and didn’t spend much time ashore (it was hot!) My advice would be to go do something beach or water related in Cabo.

 

Mazatlan we were going to do on our own, but again it was hot, so at the last second we decided to take a tour with Jose Velarde from Mazatlan Van Tours, who was one of the drivers soliciting passengers when you get off the tram. It was $25 pp, and he had a cooler of water, pop, and Pacifico included. I originally was only interested in seeing the old town area on foot, but we ended up seeing the Golden Zone also this way - it was all good, we had a very enjoyable time with him. He took good care of us. We were with nice folks off the Oosterdam, so that was interesting. We had wanted some beach time, could’ve squeezed some in but decided against that rushed feeling, so we did the little flea market and then went back aboard.

 

Puerto Vallarta, we did a walking tour of downtown and the malecon on our own. Loved it. Cheap beer with a nice view at the Cheeky Monkey. We had intended to beach it a little at Playa Los Muertos in the romantic zone but the water was really muddy and we saw some lady get knocked down hard and dragged out by a huge wave, so we changed our minds and walked back – we were tired by then anyway. We really enjoyed lying around on the ship that evening and watching the sun set, and the lights come on all around. It was so pretty and relaxing.

 

Debarkation:

Love, love their process and that you can stay in your room. Much better than being evicted at an ungodly hour to sit in a lounge. And it seemed to go very quickly and easily (we chose a later time, not early.) Bags were orderly and easy to find. Customs check in San Pedro? Hah. All we did was hand in our form – they didn’t even care to check that our form was for the right people. No dogs, no nothing.

 

The end: :cool:

 

So NCL: will we ever visit you again? I am not so sure, but I will not say never.

 

Ok, I am ducking down behind my flame-proof pillow now.

Actually my only question of you: what was it that would make you question sailing NCL again? except for a few food concerns you seemed to have nothing but good to say. I doubt anyone would flame you for your review...in fact it was very positive. yes, food is subjective and I am one of those who didn't find the food on the Star as good as some ships, but I too, love to cook...My one difference from you, we loved Soho..

 

Nita

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

We will be sailing on the Star for the week of Thanksgiving and I very much appreciate your post. It seems very fair and more positive than negative. Our trip will be mostly about having a great time with family and friends and enjoying the ship and time off. Thanks for posting.

[daldog]

Actually my only question of you: what was it that would make you question sailing NCL again? except for a few food concerns you seemed to have nothing but good to say.

 

Actually, service mostly - I tried to say it in a polite way :) but it didn't live up for me. I don't want to have to work hard to get something I want, I don't want to feel like I need to cheer up the staff, I don't really want to be told "no" to something reasonable ( yes, subjective again I know) and I certainly don't want someone to raise their voice at my husband about "policy" (our bad bar experience). Argueing with a customer is never acceptable behavior in my book, unless it's a safety concern - and then it's not an arguement. And yep, then the food too. I think I can get a better overall experience and level of customer service for my money elsewhere.

[newmexicoNita]

Actually, service mostly - I tried to say it in a polite way :) but it didn't live up for me. I don't want to have to work hard to get something I want, I don't want to feel like I need to cheer up the staff, I don't really want to be told "no" to something reasonable ( yes, subjective again I know) and I certainly don't want someone to raise their voice at my husband about "policy" (our bad bar experience). Argueing with a customer is never acceptable behavior in my book, unless it's a safety concern - and then it's not an arguement. And yep, then the food too. I think I can get a better overall experience and level of customer service for my money elsewhere.

I think I missed that part: agreed, never argue with a customer unless you can do it in such a way no one is offended. The customer isn't always right. LOL

 

We had a problem on Princess earlier this year, not with a bar tender or server but the purshers desk. I guess they put up with so much, I have rarely seen a nice person working behind the desk if they are challenged about anything. Well I won't go into it now, but what was said was so out of line I almost fell over..In fact our overall service on Princess was lacking, mainly it was communication problems. Otherwise the cruise was wonderful. It was the Mex Riv, not my favorite itinerary, but that wasn't the ships fault. We do intend on cruising Princess again next year. We liked the entrees better on Princess.. The buffets were similar, the food and service in the dining room for breakfast (twice) was awful..

 

I still say you gave a very fair and mostly positive review of the Star with preficing your comments by saying "your opinion only" that is what makes a good and fair review.

 

Nita

[hello]

Great review! Thank you!

[ute_fan]

I thought your review was very fair. Your comments about the service were interesting. One thing we've always enjoyed about NCL (we haven't tried another line yet) is the wonderful service and friendly staff on board. For our first five cruises, it seemed that almost everyone greeted us with a smile and "hello" -- from the crew polishing the railing in the hallway, to our room stewards, to the dining room staff.

 

On our last cruise on the Dawn, we also noticed a decline with the service. The overall attitude that came across -- particularly in the dining room -- was that they were doing a job that they weren't particularly enjoying. We rarely had anyone check back to make sure our food was OK, or refill our sodas -- just the small things that differentiate good service from poor service. That was, however, the only time we've had issues like that on NCL -- so I'm willing to give them another chance.

[daldog]

I think I missed that part: agreed, never argue with a customer unless you can do it in such a way no one is offended. The customer isn't always right. LOL

 

I still say you gave a very fair and mostly positive review of the Star with preficing your comments by saying "your opinion only" that is what makes a good and fair review.

 

Nita

 

Probably because I only summed it up as a bad encounter here ....the hairy details I actually put in another thread, also a review of the same trip.

 

And thank you.

 

 

For our first five cruises, it seemed that almost everyone greeted us with a smile and "hello" -- from the crew polishing the railing in the hallway, to our room stewards, to the dining room staff.

 

That's exactly how we felt on Princess.

 

 

The overall attitude that came across -- particularly in the dining room -- was that they were doing a job that they weren't particularly enjoying. ........ I'm willing to give them another chance.

 

And that's how we felt all over on the Star, and worse. Even some of the staff that were friendly didn't seem happy. I could give them another chance, but unfortunately the crew on this trip made it so that NCL will have to incent me somehow. And if I do try again, they need to be better!

 

 

Thanks everybody for being so nice. Yay, my first real CC review. :D

[dyslexic pirate]

We were on the Star's last Alaskan cruise of the summer. We noticed the staff seemed somber and like they had no life left in their eyes. I spoke with a few and joked with them to cheer up as they were heading to warmer waters and a change of scenery soon. This brought a few smiles.

 

Do you think management on board the ship in some of the departments is what is causing the depression amoung the crew members? I was hoping the crew had perked up by now. I know at one of our stops in Alaska a large portion of the staff that was supposed to get a few hours of "shore leave" were not allowed to get off the ship as a routine test of some kind had been failed. This apparently caused the crew quite a bit of stress as many of them had earned a few hours off and wanted to call family members, pick up a few items at Walmart etc.

 

With so many young people working some many long hard hours I hope that NCL management lets them know they are appreciated. Tips are great but if everytime you turn around your boss tells you how worthless you are and you need to knuckle down and work harder it can eat at you.

 

I cruise in the Star again in March and I hope the crew has perked up by then.

 

I thought the OP gave a lovely recap. I was actually relieved the desserts were tasteless in the buffett as I stayed away from them after a few samples.

[BarBug]

"so we finally ended up seeking out a hot tub to rinse off in so we could change for “dress up or not” dinner"

I was also on that cruise and wondered how many people had 'showered' in the hot tubs that day. Dress up or not, with dirty hair! Surprised not many people complained about that....they just took it in stride.

I was glad I hadn't slathered on the sun screen that day though:cool:

[daldog]

Do you think management on board the ship in some of the departments is what is causing the depression amoung the crew members?

 

Hmmm, you wonder.

 

Another little story: our steward (who was one of the few cheerful ones) one evening greeted us when we returned for our usual balcony happy hour with the usual chatter .... "Hi, how was your day? Are you going to dinner?" And we said probably like in an hour and a half, his face noticeably fell to the floor. Once inside our cabin we wondered to each other, what was up with the sad sad face? Then I pointed out to my dh that they had evidentally started our room but not finished. My dh ducked his head out to ask a question and then asked what was wong, because he sill seemed bummed. It took alot of prodding but finally he said they had an inspection that night and had given their supervisor our cabin number for their "test" because we were so neat! So we asked when it would be, how long did they need, and told them not to worry - and we got ready for dinner in enough time to let them finish our cabin before inspection time. When we got back they were very happy to report they had gotten "100%" - and boy was our cabin perfect! And every night after that we got towel animals. :)

 

Now certainly everybody has to meet some kind of standard, but who knows.... there are lot of ways to get performance out of employees, maybe NCL or this ship in particular has an un-supportive style? And certainly some of them probably feel like it's the best opportunity they have as far as jobs go. It's depressing to work somewhere that you're not happy, but you feel stuck. I hope that's not the reason.

[WinnieinWA]

Thanks so much for your very informative review. I'll be on the Star in about 5 weeks and appreciate everything you had to tell us. :)

 

I've experienced lackluster somber service before and I don't like it at all. It leaves one feeling very awkward. :(

 

Thanks again and I'll report on my Dec. 13th cruise when I return.

[ROCruiser]

Thank you so much for the review! I won't be surprised if the management created pressure on the employees for different reasons. That's why I am so looking forward to our next cruise...to get away from it all!

[ute_fan]

Another little story: our steward (who was one of the few cheerful ones) one evening greeted us when we returned for our usual balcony happy hour with the usual chatter .... "Hi, how was your day? Are you going to dinner?" And we said probably like in an hour and a half, his face noticeably fell to the floor. Once inside our cabin we wondered to each other, what was up with the sad sad face? Then I pointed out to my dh that they had evidentally started our room but not finished. My dh ducked his head out to ask a question and then asked what was wong, because he sill seemed bummed. It took alot of prodding but finally he said they had an inspection that night and had given their supervisor our cabin number for their "test" because we were so neat! So we asked when it would be, how long did they need, and told them not to worry - and we got ready for dinner in enough time to let them finish our cabin before inspection time. When we got back they were very happy to report they had gotten "100%" - and boy was our cabin perfect! And every night after that we got towel animals. :)

 

This reminds me of a similar experience that we had on the old NCL Sea. We didn't have any service issues at all on that sailing. In fact, we had the best room steward we've ever enjoyed even though we were sailing in the "cheap seats" on deck 2. It started when we walked towards our two rooms. He greeted us with "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Ute_fan. Hello (first name of our son) and (first name of our daughter). We were totally shocked! We hadn't even made it to our rooms yet, and he already knew where we were headed and who we were! From then on, he called us by name every time he saw us, and our rooms were furnished with towel animals each night.

 

About half way through the cruise, I returned to our room to grab something about 4:30. He came up to me, and very apologetically asked what time we were planning on eating. I said about 6 PM, and he asked if we'd please arrange to be gone for at least an hour and a half, as his supervisor was coming to inspect both our rooms. Now, my kids were 21 and 19 and sharing a room, and there was nothing neat about their room! I assured him that there was no problem, we'd go to dinner and then the show and give him all the time he needed.

 

When we got back to our room, it was obvious that the walls had been washed down and every surface cleaned. It would have passed anyone's white glove test. I wanted to pack up Santiago (the room steward) and take him home with me, as my own house is never that clean!

[terrymtex01]

When we were on the Star last May/June, we were given a special treat. We asked for and got a tour of the galley. The tour was given to us by the head or executive chef, Andre. The only reason I'm mentioning this is, while on the tour we saw some activity over in one section and Chef Andre pointed out that it was some of his people prepairing a barbeque shrimp feast for his staff, including the servers in the restaurants. They had been working so hard over the last few weeks that he was giving them this special treat.

 

I think the management of the Star gives their staff lots of kudo's for their hard work. Our experience with the Star is complete opposite of the OP's. We found them extremely friendly and more than willing to go out of their way to make sure we had a great vacation. I do have a theory as to one reason why the OP might have had a different experience than we did. Our cabin stewards we had on the Star were the best we have ever had, IMHO and as I have said in other postings, we LOVED the Concierge, Simone. I do know that Sept and Oct are when most of the ships get new staff. That is what the Hotel Director on the Pearl told us a couple of weeks ago. I think maybe the OP was on a cruise with a fairly new staff and they were just in the process of "learning" their jobs, how to deal with the Pax, etc. Not saying that would excuse any negatives the OP felt they had encountered, but just saying that maybe why the OP had a different experience than we did. I have never been able to get confirmation of this, but I have heard rumor that the Star is where they start out a lot of new "recruits" and the Star is a "training" ship for NCL. I'm sure if that is true, it is kept hush hush by NCL, but it is one possible explaination.

[daldog]

I do have a theory as to one reason why the OP might have had a different experience than we did. .........I do know that Sept and Oct are when most of the ships get new staff. That is what the Hotel Director on the Pearl told us a couple of weeks ago.I think maybe the OP was on a cruise with a fairly new staff and they were just in the process of "learning" their jobs, how to deal with the Pax, etc. Not saying that would excuse any negatives the OP felt they had encountered, but just saying that maybe why the OP had a different experience than we did. I have never been able to get confirmation of this, but I have heard rumor that the Star is where they start out a lot of new "recruits" and the Star is a "training" ship for NCL. I'm sure if that is true, it is kept hush hush by NCL, but it is one possible explaination.

 

A whole ship full? My dh likes the training ship theory, but I don't know. That business model seems to be an easy way to have word of mouth about bad service spread like wildfire - and it would be associated with NCL, not just the Star.

 

I would certainly buy that contracts turn over periodically, and so maybe you get a batch of poor english speakers all at once .... but they should at least be smiling - that is an international language, and they just got new jobs!

 

We did discuss that our second cabin steward might be a trainee. He defintely spoke less English, and was less engaing - his conversation with us seemed kind of "canned" ... "have a nice day" or "enjoy your breakfast" same thing, over and over. At least he was trying. Our other steward said he has been with NCL for 13 years.

 

Our bad experience started out with a bartender, but the really rude person who rushed in acted like she was his supervisor or something. She was worse. Maybe she was new and just bossy. Like you said, no excuse. Rude is rude.

[Laguna4Love]

We are leaving this Saturday on Star, and have taken it about 2 or 3 years ago. Everything was fine, no problems. Nothing memorable bad nor good. We've gone down from L.A. to Mexico so many times (to catch the warmer winter weather) on so many different ships that the seven days away and only a 30 minute drive to the port is the most important part of the trip. I just like meeting other people on each cruise. I generally like to eat steak and broccoli for dinner each night and their steak was good each night. But one night we ate in the pay-for steak restaurant and had the BEST PORTERHOUSE STEAK OF MY LIFE, and I do eat them fairly regularly. I still tell my friends about it. Hopefully they will duplicate it again.

[terrymtex01]

A whole ship full? My dh likes the training ship theory, but I don't know. That business model seems to be an easy way to have word of mouth about bad service spread like wildfire - and it would be associated with NCL, not just the Star.

 

I would certainly buy that contracts turn over periodically, and so maybe you get a batch of poor english speakers all at once .... but they should at least be smiling - that is an international language, and they just got new jobs!

 

We did discuss that our second cabin steward might be a trainee. He defintely spoke less English, and was less engaing - his conversation with us seemed kind of "canned" ... "have a nice day" or "enjoy your breakfast" same thing, over and over. At least he was trying. Our other steward said he has been with NCL for 13 years.

 

Our bad experience started out with a bartender, but the really rude person who rushed in acted like she was his supervisor or something. She was worse. Maybe she was new and just bossy. Like you said, no excuse. Rude is rude.

 

I have got to tell you that I was shocked they changed the staff more or less all at once rather than so many a month. But that is what the hotel director told us on the Pearl, unless I completely misunderstood. I just asked Doug exactly what the H.D. said and he can't remember his exact wording, but it was like they change staff two months out of the year, and the months they change them were seperated by a month.. ie. New staff Aug and Oct, etc.

 

Anyway.. doesn't matter, just a theory.. there is never an excuse for bad service and I'm sorry that you experienced it on the Star. I am glad, however, that it sounds like the rest of your cruise was a positive experience.

[daldog]

Like we all keep saying - really any cruise is a good cruise. :)

[oz cleopatra]

We loved the Star when we went on the September the 15th,2008 seven day cruise to Mexico. We are going again VERY soon!! But it seems the displeasure with the bar staff is faily common among a few of us. I have read three bad reviews in the last few weeks. If they could whip them into better shape, I really would be hard pressed to really criticize many other aspects. I received very warm hellos virtually all over the ship, from the waiters, the kitchen staff, the art guy etc. The only staff who seemd truly miserable (and understandably) and not just in a bad mood, was the casino staff as I have mentioned before. But with the casino opening at 9 a.m. and shutting at 4 a.m. as a former dealer and cruise ship worker I can say they WORK them TOO MUCH, poor things. And the money is not much chop at all. So they don't sing and dance for you not do I expect it. There is a limit to how much a person can endure. I know how brutal card dealing is and if I had to put up with the smoke and abuse that many hours a day, only to get the occassional 50 cents thrown at me, I too would be miserable. What's the expression? You need to walk a mile in their shoes... hard to be perky with a face full of cigars and "you bitch" etc muttered at you that many hours a day. Indifference I understand. But flat out rudeness like from the bar? Very different. FYI I thought the Star was SQUEAKY clean too!!! Looking forward to our next venture!! Peace...:)