My wife and I returned home yesterday from the Norwegian Star 7 day Mexican Rivera cruise that departed LA on March 6th. We had cruised on Carnival twice prior to this trip and had wanted something more relaxing and less intense and found that with NCL we were able to accomplish that. In talking to experienced NCL cruisers they had express concern over many of the cutbacks that NCL has made to deal with the bad economy. Because this was our first time on NCL I can't speak to any of those cutbacks. Our last cruise with Carnival was 3 years ago and it seemed that more was included in the price (sushi bar and cappuccino come to mind) then NCL did on this trip but I am assuming that Carnival may had to cut back as well. Despite any criticism you may read below we would defiantly do this trip again.

The Star had been scheduled to be a hotel for the Olympics prior to our trip but because it was not needed for the Olympics we benefitted from some remodeling of the ship while it was not in use. It may have been because of this but the condition of the ship was fantastic. Our room was better then we expected and all of the public areas were well maintained. Or Cabin had the best restroom of any of the ships we have been on.

The 3 ports of call on this trip Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta are picturesque and interesting places. Read more