Great Trip on the Star - Trip Report

[MalteseSkipper]

We just completed a wonderful week on the Star.

 

Embarkation: We had no wait at all because we were being sponsored by a casino. (There are some benefits to my husband's gambling. ) I had read on CC that the Versailles Restaurant would be open even if told otherwise onboard. We had a wonderful lunch there with our soon-to-be favorite server, Svetlana. We were able to get in our cabin shortly thereafter. Only one piece of luggage was there but we ended up with all three within a couple of hours. Our balcony cabin was small but had everything we would want including a coffee maker. We had considered upgrading to a mini-suite but I liked the configuration of the balcony bathroom. The separate (with doors) toilet, basin, and shower stall (roomy) were ideal. I did find that the dispenser for soap/shampoo in our shower was completely gone. I wondered if someone had ripped it off the wall in frustration as our room steward proved to be less than efficient. I showed her that we had no dispenser and called housekeeping. Neither provided any help so I eventually went and got soap and shampoo myself.

 

Restaurants: We loved the Freestyle Dining. We only waited in line one night and that was when we arrived at Versailles before it opened at 5:30.

We ate at Ginza (oriental), Endless Summer (Mexican), LeBistro (French) and the Soho Jazz Brunch. One night they offered a 2 for 1 special at Endless Summer. This meant that it only cost us $5 each to eat there. A free margarita is included at this restaurant anyway. We loved the lobster tacos but otherwise the food was just OK. The Ginza offered an amazing appetizer called a shrimp salad. It was three large shrimp wrapped in a pastry dough. We love potstickers but are used to meat filled ones. The potstickers at Ginza were vegetable filled and crispy fried. We actually prefer our oriental restuarants at home. LeBistro was wonderful. We ordered some herb encrusted scallps as an appetizer and they were great. Then we both had a tendersloin which was outstanding. The potatoes were made with blue cheese - my huband was happy with that. We had read about the chocolate fondue dessert but were simply to full to even think of something that rich. We had the creme brulee which was good. The Soho Jazz Brunch was terrific. They had a buffet set up but you could also order off the menu. The menu included the tenderloin from LeBistro and also chateaubriand. You could have shrimp with both of these entrees. They also had the same creme brulee from LeBristro. All in all, this was a fantastic deal. I did love the atmosphere at LeBistro. The charger plates were beautiful but the Soho Jazz Brunch would have provided the wonderful food choices we made at LeBistro. None of the specialty restaurants were well attended. This may have been because of the large number of families onboard for spring break. We ate one breakfast at Aqua. I had read on CC that this is an option for balcony passengers (I honestly never saw this info provided on board ship but it was true.) They have a nice buffet with pastries and fresh fruit and drinks provided while you wait for your breakfast order to arrive. I would have liked to have eaten here again but we only ate breakfast twice the whole trip. One can only eat so much. The meals at Versailles were great. I wonder how many wonderful choices we passed up eating at the specialty restaurants. The butternut squash soup was one of my wonderful memories here. The server did make a difference both in time spent and the accuracy of the order here. As I mentioned earlier, Svetlana was the best waitress we experienced on the ship.

 

Entertainment: We enjoyed every show. I think we saw all of them. Even the acts we would normally not seek out (think magic/juggling) proved to be good in part because of the tremendous pride these performers showed in their skill and their family. We never were able to see a movie in our room because of the time conflict with dinner, show, etc. It was nice to get CNN on the TV though so we didn't feel totally cut off from the world.

 

Ports: Perhaps the best entertainment of all was the view from our port side balcony in Cabo. We looked right at El Arco the whole time there. We were told to get our tender tickets beginning a 9:30 that morning. I went at 9:10 and found no line because they had been handing out tickets at 9 or before. I thought this was great - others may have been upset. There was a problem with our tender boat and so our time in Cabo was delayed further. (I would not plan to be ashore until 1 if you make plans.) We had booked a ship tour here. (I thought I might avoid the tender ticket line by doing this but only certain ship tours met onboard and eliminated the need for the tender ticket.) Our tour took a smaller boat around the rocks and then to a resort at the opposite end of the harbor for a drink. It was an OK tour and at least gave us a plan while in Cabo. I should add that the first or second day aboard we were told to change our watches by one hour to be on the correct time. The second port was Mazatlan. I had booked a private tour here. I checked with the front desk the night before to verify they were on the same time. Our tour was with Vista Tours and proved to be a nice but rather short tour. I didn't bother to check about the time situation this night thinking that we would be notified if there was a time change for Puerto Vallarta. We were heading out of our cabin for breakfast that morning when the announcement came that they were an hour ahead. So we ran to meet our private tour instead. This tour was with Tani Tours and made way too many stops for shopping instead of seeing and experiencing the sights. (Both of these tours were arranged through Johann and Sandra.)

I came home feeling very fortunate to live in the USA. Parts of Mexico were beautiful but the poverty was so evident.

 

Casino: As I mentioned earlier, we were on a gambling sponsored cruise. The casino on board was rather large and there seemed to be plenty of winners on board. Not us unfortunuately. Points you earned while gambling translated into onboard credit. They accumulated very slowly however. (1 point = $1.) The last night when they gave you your total number of points and deducted some of your onboard expenses proved to be an exciting time in the casino. Someone was not happy with what he had earned. (My husband did say that the table games did not seem to earn many points compared to the machines.) This man was ready to fight anyone who asked him to calm down. Security was called. He was ready to take the verbal fight onto the deck for a more physical outlet. The next morning we saw the port patrol on board looking for someone -maybe him.

 

Debarkation: We decided to do Express Check Out. This meant that if you were able and willing to carry your own luggage, you were able to leave the ship first. We left our room around 7:15 and headed to a lounge to wait for the call. There was another couple there. It turned out that they were on a VIP package and were to be escorted off the ship first. When we explained that we had just assumed we were both waiting for Express debarkation, we were told to follow them off the ship. As we exited the terminal, we found a taxi sign saying that you could accept a flat rate of $59 to LAX. We decided to travel together with our new found VIP friends. Thus we cut our taxi bill down to $30 plus tax. We were at LAX a little after 8 a.m. and were able to transfer to an earlier flight home.

 

We have been on several cruises but have to say that we found the NCL Star to be our favorite.

[Mooder]

Thank you for the review! I have never experienced the Jazz Brunch, but hope to on my next cruise. OT: Are you from Malta or do you have a lovable furbaby?

[martinchem]

Yeas, good.

[MalteseSkipper]

Malta sounds neat but our "furbaby" is adorable. His name is Skipper - we have a boat he enjoys.

[Mooder]

Malta sounds neat but our "furbaby" is adorable. His name is Skipper - we have a boat he enjoys.

 

Awwwwwwwwwwwww! Yours is braver than my Ivory. We've taken her on the boat, but she shakes most of the time. She'd rather lounge at home. :)

[SnootieTootie]

Hi, we were on the same cruise, and we had a wonderful time also. There were 800 children on board, a lot of families.

 

Our cabin steard was not the greatest either, but we made do. Our room was also a balcony, 9572.

 

We also took advantage of The half price Endless Summer night, and enjoyed Cagney's and LeBistro as well.

 

I was jsut waiting for someone to post a review, saying how terrible everything was....and I was pleasantly surprised to read your favorable review.

[MalteseSkipper]

We were in 9550. Possibly we had the same steward. I'm glad you interpreted my report as positive. We really did enjoy the Star even if I had some negative things to say.

[halos]

I was jsut waiting for someone to post a review, saying how terrible everything was.....

 

why?? :confused:

[Mooder]

We were in 9550. Possibly we had the same steward. I'm glad you interpreted my report as positive. We really did enjoy the Star even if I had some negative things to say.

 

It was an excellent well-balanced review.

[SnootieTootie]

why?? :confused:

 

Why? Because usually when we return, we read a review or two where the poster is complaining about everything, and I have to think "Were these people on the same ship?" or are they just impossible to make happy.

 

We have always maged to have a wonderful time, it's what you make of it...no??

[SnootieTootie]

We were in 9550. Possibly we had the same steward. I'm glad you interpreted my report as positive. We really did enjoy the Star even if I had some negative things to say.

 

I honestly do not even know what his name was. He was not overly friendly. He had two female assistants, one short, and cute, the other tall. The taller gal said that it was her first week on the ship and she looked to be homesick and miserable.

 

We were the room with the magnetic ship on our door with our pictures in the "portholes". We also had green mariachi themed do-dah decorations hanging on our door. I didn't see anyone else with door decorations, so perhaps you remember us?

 

We had our little 7 year old grandson with us too.

 

the first night, we realized that we had no room service menu, and asked for one. He told us that there were no room service menu's, you just had to call and ask what they had. Well, this was our 36th cruiise, so we knew better. We had to go to the reception desk to get one.

 

Also, one night, our blanket inside of the sheet mysteriously disappeared, and we slept with just a sheet.

 

DGS spilled chocolate ice cream on his sheets the second day of the cruise, and the sheets were never changed.

 

Definately not the best cabin steward we have ever had, but nothing worth really complaining about.

[hello]

I enjoyed your review -- thank you for pointing out your positives and negatives. We'll be on the Star shortly -- I've copied down Svetlana's name -- thank you!

[MalteseSkipper]

Yes, SnootieTootie, we walked by your cabin many, many times and always looked at your porthole decoration. Our steward was an attractive young woman. She rarely smiled but at the end apoligized for some things by saying she was busy training others. We laughed at the fact she was training others!

[SnootieTootie]

Yes, SnootieTootie, we walked by your cabin many, many times and always looked at your porthole decoration. Our steward was an attractive young woman. She rarely smiled but at the end apoligized for some things by saying she was busy training others. We laughed at the fact she was training others!

 

 

Hmmm...that must be the standard cop out, that is what our cabin steward said also.

 

Oh well, it wasn't terrible.

[suzyed]

I enjoyed your review -- thank you for pointing out your positives and negatives. We'll be on the Star shortly -- I've copied down Svetlana's name -- thank you!

If you are in a suite and get a chance to talk to Simone, the concierge, could you please find out who the concierge will be on the June 6th sailing?

 

I would very much appreciate it if you reported that info back here or email me at suzyed @ aol .com

 

Thanks! :)

[MalteseSkipper]

Simone said that she was flying home to South Africa right after our cruise(if I heard correctly.) I believe I read that she is planning her wedding. Not sure when she will return.

[rsohn65820]

We never were able to see a movie in our room because of the time conflict with dinner, show, etc. It was nice to get CNN on the TV though so we didn't feel totally cut off from the world.

 

Great review. We will be going on the Star in October. This is our first cruise. Can you tell me more about TV? Do they have more channels than just CNN? I thought I read something on the boards here that they don't have the movie channels anymore except for Pay for view. Do they have anything you can watch other than news without paying extra?

[mking8288]

We're on the STAR (again) last month down to Mex Rivera & both CNN and MSNBC news channel were on, but, it seemed on the way down southbound, there was reception/signal issues with the news channel - the movie channel(s) were fine the whole trip (one with old classics) - along with the NCL's "info-mercial" channels. Trying to remember if there was a sports channel as we don't watch it.

 

There's no pay-for-view channel (I can't imagine even longer lines at the reception desk, as folks started lining up with questions about their bills starting on day 5 ....)

[ValleyCruiser]

Simone said that she was flying home to South Africa right after our cruise(if I heard correctly.) I believe I read that she is planning her wedding. Not sure when she will return.

 

This is correct; Simone told us the same thing. She was expecting to return to the ship around June 13th, I believe.

 

Can you tell me more about TV? Do they have more channels than just CNN? I thought I read something on the boards here that they don't have the movie channels anymore except for Pay for view. Do they have anything you can watch other than news without paying extra?

 

Trying to remember if there was a sports channel as we don't watch it.

 

They have the NCL channels, news, cartoon, and sports channels, and a few movie channels that don't cost anything.

 

Here is a link to additional info about the Star, with the TV info on the first few pages:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14157944/Norwegian-Star-Mexican-Riviera-March-28-2009-Additional-Info

[rsohn65820]

We're on the STAR (again) last month down to Mex Rivera & both CNN and MSNBC news channel were on, but, it seemed on the way down southbound, there was reception/signal issues with the news channel - the movie channel(s) were fine the whole trip (one with old classics) - along with the NCL's "info-mercial" channels. Trying to remember if there was a sports channel as we don't watch it.

 

There's no pay-for-view channel (I can't imagine even longer lines at the reception desk, as folks started lining up with questions about their bills starting on day 5 ....)

 

They have the NCL channels' date=' news, cartoon, and sports channels, and a few movie channels that don't cost anything.

 

Here is a link to additional info about the Star, with the TV info on the first few pages:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14157944/N...dditional-Info

 

Thank you, everyone here at CC is fantastic! My DH is going to be so happy. I don't think he could go a full seven days without at least some TV.

[UpYonder]

I was on this cruise also! Wonderful time. I agree with the room stewards - not real helpful nor friendly. They only made towel animals once, much to the disappointment to of my cabin mates (my 15yr daughter and her friend). There were tons of children on this cruise but it never was a problem. No real drunks either. Very enjoyable. Ports were fun and much shopping was done by the two teens. They finally learned to barter by the last port! The highlight of the trip was the dolphin swim in Cabo. The girls loved it. I enjoyed the sea days to relax on the balcony and read.