Norwegian Star Cruise Review by ictcruiser

Arriving in LA, we used Prime Time shuttles to arrange for transportation to and from the airport/hotels. We stayed at the DoubleTree Inn in San Pedro and used their free courtesy shuttle to the World Cruise Center in the morning. Very slick and easy!

We checked in at the VIP line while my parents used the Balcony Line. From the time we left our hotel (11:45am) to the time we were escorted onto the ship by our butler Ritchie, about 20 minutes had elapsed! There is not a VIP lounge at the World Cruise Center, but the VIP Line is very short (we walked right to the counter). We met our concierge, Simone, who we had heard such wonderful things about on CruiseCritic. Behind the scenes, she facilitated a wonderful trip!

Although generally the staterooms are not ready right when passengers embark, after grabbing our “welcome aboard” glass of bubbly, we were escorted through the shut doors leading to the stateroom corridor right to our Suite (shortly after Noon). The AEs on the Aft of Decks 8 and 9 have wrap around balconies such that your view is off the rear of the ship, but the balcony turns the corner and there is a little section that runs along the side. Our side balcony had a great view of the other passengers boarding the vessel, so we waited and watched until we could yell to my parents as they made their way on board.

We ate lunch in Cagney’s after dropping our jackets and my purse in our suite. I will say that I preferred the Cagney’s Suite Breakfast and Lunch on the Star to the Dawn. Since February, the menu for lunch has changed, and in my opinion, for the better. It is more extensive and the selections were more appealing to me. I had scallops and risotto for embarkation lunch and my husband had the triple sliders (mini hamburgers). For dessert, I had the mixed berries and cream and he had a brownie with carmel and ice cream. While we were eating lunch, an announcement was made that the general staterooms were ready and passengers were welcome to go to their cabins—this was approximately 1:30pm.

That afternoon we explored the ship with my parents making comparisons and noting differences between the Star and the Dawn. We took a dip in one of the hot tubs. Although the Star has some great waterslides on the pool deck, they didn’t lose any of the space dedicated to the four hot tubs on the main pool deck. We decided to eat at the one specialty restaurant that was unique to the Star on our first night: Soho Room.

On embarkation night, the ship ran a special that you could receive on of three free cocktails with dinner at a speciality restaurant. Soho’s cover charge is $15pp and we figured a cocktail would run about $8 prior to the service charge, so it was a good deal to us. The Soho restaurant specializes in whole live lobster, of which my husband is a big fan. We had heard that the ship will run out of live lobster later in the cruise so we wanted to make sure to go early. For dinner, we each had a cevieche-style scallop appetizer, I had surf and turf for the entrée, and he had whole lobster. In addition to the cover charges, these entrees had an ala carte price of $5 and $10 respectively. For dessert, I had wine-poached pear with white chocolate and marscapone cheese, and my husband had apples and ice cream. We learned that the “free cocktails” were a choice between two dessert daiquiris and an Old Fashioned. The daiquiris were very small (we saw them prior to ordering; they were in champagne glasses and looked like smoothies), so we went with the Old Fashioneds. Definitely the better bargain. While conversing with our waiter (Little Edguardo), my husband mentioned we were on the cruise to celebrate my birthday which was the following day. As a total surprise to both of us, the Maitre D and waitstaff came around singing to me and presented me with a birthday cake. We were looking forward to our dessert orders, so the Maitre D thoughtfully offered to have room service deliver the cake to our suite as we made our way to the evening’s show.

We went to the show in the Stardust Theater the first night. It was a review with a couple of singing/dance numbers, and introduction of the entertainment staff by the Cruise Director Ray Carr and an introductory act by a comedian / juggler. I thought the entertainment, with the ship being based on the West Coast and nearer to California, would have been very strong, but it was lacking a little. The Jean Ann Ryan company was good, but were not as strong vocally or dance-wise as the Dawn’s troupe. I thought the introductions by the CD were in bad taste…there was some sexual/racial/drug use innuendo that, if used in an act by the ship’s comedian would have been funny, coming from an NCL employee in charge of relating with guests seemed a little raunchy to me. The juggling skills displayed by the juggler / comedian were great—especially on a moving ship, but I would say that his comedy was more family friendly than laugh-out-loud funny.

By the end of the first day, we had met our two room stewards as well as two others working on our end of the hallway. We saw them multiple times a day as they were always working! We learned their names and they learned ours. I have long hair so our steward started leaving me extra conditioner (conditioner is available in suites) every day as well as adding a few special spa treatment products in our cabin a couple of times. He learned that my mother liked the chocolate mints so he left her tons of extras as well as throwing a few additional in our room. We had 5-6 towel animals throughout the week and new sheets several times. He always changed our towels out in the evening even if I had hung them up to dry because I’d only taken a quick shower before dinner. Gerald and his parter Jose were really great!

Day 2 was a Sea Day and I got up early to work out in the gym. I would describe the gym as adequately equipped, very well laid out and spacious, and BUSY. The equipment was new Precor cardio treadmills/ellipticals/bikes, free weights as well as weight machines. There was a free stretching class going on the in aerobics studio which was very well attended as well. I found a neat benefit of going to the gym…they kept cold wet towels in a minifridge that felt great on my face and neck after my work outs.

My husband and I had breakfast in Cagneys. The breakfast menu had not changed from the Dawn, however both breakfast and lunch for suites were served in the Cagney’s restaurant itself. On the Dawn, the meals were served in the Star Bar next door. Simone used this as her office / the concierge lounge, and she would come by our table as we were eating to check on how our trip was going. I usually ordered French toast or waffles with a side of bacon. My husband liked eggs to order with sausage or the crab cakes benedict. I used the breakfast buffet section every day to get some dried fruits/cheese and chocolate croissants. We always got a pot of the French pressed coffee each morning. I still wish they had granola on the Cagney’s breakfast buffet…

The morning of Day 2 we participated in a Slot Tournament in the Casino. My husband won his heat, but he didn’t have one of the 6 highest overall scores so he didn’t compete at the end of the week in the finals. That was the extent of my casino patronage, but my husband enjoyed heading down there a few times in the evenings when I was tired or wanted to read. As always, the slots were fairly tight but he did pretty good at blackjack.

We spent the afternoon at the adults-only hot tub at the front of the ship and my mom went to an art auction and purchased a watercolor of Notre Dame Cathedral for $70; she was excited and not just due to the free champagne! My dad and husband tried to do the beer and food tasting in the Red Lion Pub, but since it was Sunday, the bar was showing several NFL games on their big screen TVs and the bar was packed. They must have 6 participants to do the drink tastings, and they were the only 2 who asked about it so they just sat at the bar and had a few beers. My husband said the draft beers were the better bargain (cheaper and larger quantities) but his selection tasted a little “skunky.” He switched to bottles after the first draft.

For dinner, we ate in Aqua with my parents. We ordered various entrees including the Lobster and Grouper and the Asian Duck. The food was delicious and the Maitre D (Nigel) and our waiter (Big Edguardo) were fantastic and experts at service. Following dinner, we enjoyed the adult antics of the Newlywed / Not-So-Newlywed Game. It was FUNNY (don’t take your kids)! That night was the White Hot Party and we changed into our all white clothes and had a great time. The dance floor in the Spinnaker Lounge was packed and we stayed until about midnight.

Our morning of day 3 started out overcast and rainy. We had great views of the Land End Arch as the ship pulled into Cabo, but because of the weather and rough seas, both of our excursions had been cancelled. My parents had chosen a sailing trip and we were looking forward to snorkeling. I’m glad they were cancelled because it wouldn’t have been safe. However, my husband and I decided we would just get off the ship and explore Cabo. WRONG MOVE. We tendered to shore on the first boat (suite passengers get priority tendering) and started exploring the downtown area. It was flooded, and the main attractions were limited to bars and shopping. We did have some tasty and cheap tacos/guacamole/bucket of beer, and I purchased a beautiful Maria Munoz designed ring. The town of Cabo was just depressing…a lot of stores are closed due to the economy suffering and in the rain, the streets were flooded and hard to cross. I think we would have been much better off trying to book another excursion and seeing some sights away from downtown. My parents did the glass blowing tour at the last minute, and although they also saw a lot of cancelled development stalled in progress, they enjoyed getting away from walking distance of the ship and exploring outside the city. Lesson learned for us. We need to have a plan—winging it left us disappointed with this port.

Since it was my birthday cruise, my husband called and arranged for an appointment for me in the spa that afternoon. They were running a special on Port days…I requested a 25 minute back and shoulder massage along with a 25 minute peppermint scrub. While the service was fine, I though it ran a little short of the 50 minute total. I believe my “shower off” time was included in the 50 minutes. Be forewarned, the spa service charge is about 16%, so my $99 service really cost $116. I will say that the spa is very well appointed. My treatment room had a floor to ceiling window that looked out over the Land’s End Arch as we were anchored in Cabo. The atmosphere seemed very exotic due to the great view! In the past, I think you could use the rest of the spa areas if you booked a spa service, but they have discontinued this option. To use the pool/hot tub/ steam room / thalassotherapy pools, I would have been charged another $10. I elected to pass.

At Matzatlan, we did the Best of Mazatlan Tour. We saw cliff divers, Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, the Paplanta Flyers and Mexican Dance show, a view OF (not FROM) the light house, and went shopping in the Gold Zone. The sights were interesting and we enjoyed this tour; the emcee for the show was a little hokey—he made several “pro-America” comments which came across to me as an appeal for tips. After the show, we were bused to a resort for lunch and to spend the afternoon.

We were a little leery when we heard the Resort was the Ramada Inn, but once we arrived our concerns were quelled. The resort was very nice, the pool was lovely and clean and the beach and bar area were more than adequate. I believe the occupancy rate must have been very low, because it seemed that our tour group were the only people there. We had a buffet lunch of Mexican food—enchiladas, tamales (delicious), beans, rice, a sweet and sour chicken and guacamole. The lunch also came with two free drinks—your choice of a margarita, strawberry daiquiri, or Pacifico Beer. The bottled beer was definitely the way to go, because the other drinks were served in small “punch” cups. My husband swam in the ocean off the beach, but the waves were way too big for me. I enjoyed the pool, and laying out in the sun. There were vendors on the beach, but they didn’t really bother us. Hey…its Mexico. We were comped a taxi ride back to the ship as part of our excursion and we requested to ride in one of the open air “hairdryer” cabs unique to Mazatlan—very fun!

We ate dinner late in the Versailles main dining room because it was prime rib night. We arrived a little before 9 and our party of 4 was seated in the open middle area of the dining room. We ordered our meat medium rare and my husband ordered two helpings of the entrée. The temperature of the beef was perfect although the twice baked potatoes were a little dry but still tasty. The beef was about ½ inch thick and very flavorful, although it did have a little more fat around the edges than I would have liked to have seen (yes, I know prime rib normally has fat on the edge—there was just too much). I have to say…this dining room is BEAUTIFUL but it is LOUD. Not just with noise of other passengers’ conversations, but in addition the noise of the waiters clinking glasses / plates / silverwear as they were preparing their stations and tables was really distracting. I love this dining room, but its acoustics are terrible. The best place to enjoy a quiet conversation is on one of the two side wings immediately to the left and right of the staircase down into the dining room.

The following day was Puerto Vallarta. Although we like booking excursions from the ship, we had trouble deciding what to choose on this stop. We like the relaxation and sun of going to a resort, so the night before docking in PV, we choose to go on the Resort excursion. We ended up getting a message that this excursion was cancelled due to lack of interest, and so at the last minute we decided to go on the Las Caletas tour. This was the best decision of our entire trip! The boat ride over takes about an hour, but the limited number of guests make this strip of beach and jungle feel like paradise. We choose two lounge chairs in the shade but right by the gentle waves. The snorkel equipment is free so we snorkeled for a little while. The bars were close to our chairs, so we each had several drinks. Drinks were included in our excursion price, as was a DELICIOUS buffet lunch. My only complaint about this beautiful place was that they only allow you to stay for half the day. The excursion is listed as 7 hours, but with the boat trip over and back, the rest of the time goes by quickly. There was a spa on the location and I understood there was a John Huston museum and his house that also had a pool you could swim in—we did not explore any areas other than the beach, the bars, and the buffet. It was lovely and just the relaxing retreat we were looking for.

After returning from Las Caletas, we were on a mission to buy my husband some exotic cowboy boots. Knowing the prices would be cheaper, we asked our local excursion-boat skipper for recommendations for a shopping area away from the pier / tourist areas where we could find some leather goods. He immediately suggested an area called El Pitaille (pronounced L-P-T-al). We grabbed a taxi and headed in this direction. It was definitely an older section of town and very much a “local” place—cobblestone streets, open air cafes full of people grabbing a beer and watching sports on TV. Our taxi driver stayed with us and helped peek into a few shops until we found a western-wear shop. We found exactly what we were looking for: 100% leather, full quill ostrich boots. In the US, these will run about $500 for a good pair. Using the store owner’s calculator and 12.2 pesos per $1US, we realized that the marked prices was equal to $120! We didn’t even try to negotiate with the shop keeper, we just asked if he would take US money and bought the boots!

Wednesday night we enjoyed Second City in the Stardust Theater. They were really funny and their improve was great. During the week, we also made their “unscripted” and “adults only” shows in the Spinnaker Lounge. I did notice several spots of wear and tear in the theather—three broken seats spread around the auditorium. As a plus, there were ZERO plugs for “intant wins” or pull-tabs prior to each show which I really appreciated. There were a few mentions of Bingo throughout the cruise, and although we are not Bingo players, I didn’t feel like it was over the top or too much.

The last two full days of our cruise were sea days. We participated in team trivia several times and went to the stand-up comedian (a black man—name escapes me—but was really funny). His jokes were slightly adult, but very funny. We went to another art auction, spent time on the pool deck, met our friends and acquaintances at our CruiseCritic Meet & Greet, and thoroughly enjoyed our wrap around balcony. We also enjoyed the Chinese Acrobats in the Stardust Theater and watching (not playing) the game Quest (this is seriously 18 and over; you WILL NOT win if you don’t have a man on your team). We enjoyed listening to the guitarist in the Red Lion each evening (John something; from Nashville), and my husband liked smoking a cigar and drinking a Grand Marnier a few times in the cigar lounge.

We attended our VIP reception with other suite holders and met Captain Lars and several officers. The Latitudes party was fun as well and both events had complimentary cocktails and canapés. The passengers on our cruise seemed to spread out all over the ship so not one area ever seemed too crowded to me. The game room was very well utilized with people playing cards / checkers / board games and there always seemed to be a few people reading in the library during the day. The Spinnaker Lounge, which I generally think of as a night club spot, was sprinkled with people reading and viewing out the windows each day. There were plenty of walkers on the “promenade” deck (7) and always seemed to be people playing shuffle board and lounging outside reading and visiting. I preferred the layout of the Star’s pool deck to the Dawn they have more tables and chairs set out and limited the sun loungers to the upper decks of the “stadium-style” tier. This seemed to cut down on the “chair hogs” (I never witnessed any of it) and gave people plenty of seating for eating and visiting out in the sun as a group.

On Thursday evening, my mom convinced me to go with her to the chocolate buffet. Every cruise, I always go, but I forget each time why I don’t like them. I swear I’ll never go to another one! The buffet was held in the Versailles dining room. The buffet started at 10:30, so at about 10:25 we made our way to deck 7. Versailles is at the very aft end of the ship. The line stretched all the way to the theater (the very forward part of Deck 7). They could have given away free diamonds in the gift shop and no one would have noticed! It took about 45 minutes in the line before we made our way into the buffet. For the record, I thought the chocolate sculptures and the ice sculptures were very pretty and delicately done. The chocolate that was actually on the buffet to eat was more “cake” than actual pieces of chocolate, that being said, people were taking two plates each and mounding them up like it was Thanksgiving dinner! People definitely ate with their eyes…leaving half-full plates of leftover chocolate all over the ship. To the hard working staff’s credit, they did a great job picking up all the waste. My thoughts on the chocolate buffet: a lot of hard work by the crew and an exercise in gluttony by the passengers.

Because our last two days were sea days, we were getting disembarkation information on Thursday night. In my mind, we had 2 days left! I thought this was jumping the gun a bit and made the last two days of our cruise seem to fly by. I wanted to relax, not think about leaving :-)

Meals for the week included one dinner each at Soho, Le Bistro and Versailles. We ate at Aqua twice and then grazed between the Blue Lagoon, room service, and the Market Café (Buffet) the other nights. I thought the wings at the Blue Lagoon were great, and one evening when I was feeling a little woozy, the wonton soup really hit the spot. I loved the lunch salad of prosciutto, mushrooms and asparagus in Cagney’s, and the crème brulee dessert in the main dining rooms is one of my all time favorites. We had several steaks throughout the week and thought they were done perfectly medium rare (our preference) and seasoned nicely. When I mentioned this to the Hotel Director, she told me that each ship has a chef specially trained in steak temperature—NICE! The pizza, pasta and carving stations at the Buffet were also good, but alternatively, I do not care for the room service pizza. My husband preferred his room service hot dog to the burger he had in the Blue Lagoon, and he tried to eat a couple times at the outdoor grill at the pool but didn’t like the food as much saying it was over done.

Late one afternoon, I was really looking for some fruit at the buffet and was disappointed that they didn’t have it. When I asked one of the buffet attendants, he said there wasn’t any out, but without me asking, offered to go into the kitchen and get me some. He brought out a heaping plate of berries, melon, and pineapple. This really impressed me! Our butler did bring canapés daily in the afternoons, but I don’t particularly care for them. They are mostly meat with various cheese spreads on little dried bread disks—two days’ selections were chocolate dipped strawberries and pieces of assorted chocolate, those were much tastier. I like to swing through the buffet and bring back a few rolls, cheese and fruit to keep in our room if we want snacks as we usually eat dinner late in the evenings.

As far as opinions on the “specialty restaurant” concept, mine is this: While the food quality is more than adequate and decor in the main dining rooms is nice, the combined intimacy and superb food presentation in a specialty restaurant makes for a higher quality dining experience. I have absolutely NO concerns about patronizing the MDRs of an NCL ship, but I know it’s going to be a lovely evening if we eat in a specialty restaurant. I actually prefer the décor of Versailles and Aqua to all of the specialty restaurants, it is the small SIZE of the specialty restaurants, in my opinion, that gives them an edge.

I don’t like to wait for a table for dinner, so even when we ate in the MDRs we called and got reservations. Nigel in Aqua made sure we were given a quieter table both times we were there; even the restaurant manager Jose came to check on us and said hi both when we were in Aqua and in Le Bistro. That being said, I didn’t notice any lines for dinner so our reservations were really just precautionary.

My parents also tried out the TexMex specialty restaurant (Endless Summer) and the Italian La Trattoria. They liked both saying that the Italian food was wonderful and the lobster tacos were “to die for”, but noted that the Endless Summer location (on deck 8 and open to the Grand Atrium) was very loud as the music played there in the evenings could be easily heard. It was mostly piano music or a classics trio--if you didn’t like the entertainment, there was no way to avoid hearing it.

In summary, we actually felt like we enjoyed the Star more than we did the Dawn… and we loved the Dawn. The Star seemed to be a little cleaner on the interior and where there were differences between the vessels, I’d give the edge to the Star. Both ship’s had an outstanding crew, but we felt more connected to the staff on the Star, although we missed the CD John “Drop Your Pancakes and Your Sausages!” That being said, I’m glad to have done the Mex Riv, but I doubt we’ll do this itinerary again. The port experience (for us) started out mediocre at best and improved from there, but there were only three ports. The two sea days at the end seemed rushed due to getting debarkation information on Thursday night. The seas were a little rough at times on this cruise, so I’d have to say I appreciate the Caribbean area in the winter for its calmness. My parents really embraced the freestyle concept and enjoyed trying a lot of different restaurants. My dad especially appreciated being able to wear jeans to dinner and not feel out of place next to cocktail dresses and suits while my mom enjoyed getting a little fancy for dinner.

As traveling goes, our priorities are to feel relaxed, like we’re enjoying an exclusive experience. We like having a plan but we also don’t want to feel like “one of the herd.” For the money, NCL really delivers on our expectations of what we enjoy about a vacation.

Once again, the crew from our wonderful room stewards (Gerald and Jose and Mark) to our various waitstaff / Maitre Ds (Nigel and Dimitri), the Restaurant Manager (Jose), the Hotel Director (Rosita), and our Butler (Ritchie) and Concierge (Simone) really made this a vacation to remember. They felt like friends by the end of the cruise and I can’t say enough about how much we appreciate this relaxed NCL-approach to service. Believe me, we’ll be back!

As far as advice to new cruisers or those new to NCL: READ YOUR FREESTYLE DAILY!!! We met people on Day 6 who didn’t realize that there were several sit-down restaurants on the ship that were included in the cruise fare—they had been eating every meal in the buffet. There are also several activities to attend that serve complimentary cocktails. Look for spa / restaurant / drink specials in the Freestyle Daily and you will likely find them. If you have a question / concern / complaint, SPEAK TO AN NCL EMPLOYEE. Whether it is your room steward, your waiter, or an officer, you will see them everywhere and they will go out of their way to make sure you enjoy your NCL experience and attempt to rectify negative experiences. Finally, LEARN THE NAMES OF THE CREW YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH and say hello. They’ll go out of their way to help you have a great vacation. Happy cruising!