Second cruise on the NCL Star....wonderful ship. Understand it had recently been renovated and it was "top-notch"! The best thing about the cruise was the cruise itself. we love the "days-at-sea"....lots to do on-board, and fun to prowl around the ship and "discover" stuff!. We now have numerous new "friends" from all around the US....friendships born on the cruise! This cruise was especially fun, because we cruised with three other couples from our hometown. So, we had a built in support group, folks to go ashore with and prowl the port cities. We generally jet right through the touristy retail malls, grab a cab, or otherwise walk into the towns to absorb the local flavor.....generally very safe. We had a ball!!

Ok....the bad stuff.....executing our hotel to ship transfer, day of departure was a disaster. Hundreds of people were waiting in the hotel lobby to get on the shuttle to the Star. Was raining....shuttle was very late....we finally gave up and got a cab. So, we essentially blew that portion of the transfer fee. Got to the port, and the trouble really started. Star as disembarking passengers into the same general area in which new passengers were trying to board. Space, and your patience do not allow me to properly describe the absolutely punishing delays we experienced trying to get our boarding credentials. Very few NCL officials on hand...even fewer who seemed to know what was going on. Lots of milling around, standing in lines, no signage......then the computer system broke down! And we waited....and waited....and waited. NCL finally got things somewhat organized, the computers fixed, and we finally got on board. We went down to meet our shuttle at the hotel at 1130 a.m.. One mile to the Star. We finally boarded at approximately 5 p.m. NCL acted like they had never operated a terminal operation before!

Cruise was pretty flawless mechanically.....until the hot water boiler went "out". No hot water for about 40 hours. No real explanation....none required, I guess....there was no hot water. They opened the bar one evening until 10 p.m. in order to compensate for the discomfort. My question is....how did that make things right for folks who don't drink! Of course, soft drinks are about as expensive on the ship as bar drinks from home. Anyway....finally got hot water going again! That shower felt soooooo good!! Read more