Really not a lot to laud about NCL's Asia cruise on the Star. First, the Star itself is an antiquity, particularly when compared with any vessel in Royal Caribbean's fleet, and I'm being truly objective. The Star and the Jewel are well below industry standard and NCL doesn't seem concerned a bit. We've cruised on the Star twice in the last three years and the Jewell once, to Alaska, last year. This will our last. This trip the ship experienced mechanical problems which resulted in NCL's cancelling the Thailand visit all together and adding an additional (and terrible stop) in Vietnam. All and all the stops were subpar at best.
Tours booked through NCl, on this trip, have been disappointing, too. Three tours so far and in each case the tour guides were too difficult to understand. Their english skills are not up to standard. Although they were all very kind, the language barriers more often than not brought disappointment from those taking the tours. Perhaps this isn't entirely NCL's fault but it is their problem. Not stating that language barriers are problematic from the outset is unfair. NCL should be professional enough to mention to their customers that the language barrier at times can not be overcome.
Our balcony is fine and kept, but it is very outdated and dark. When compared to Royal Caribbean, it's laughable.