Well, I'll try to keep this short, but it may not be easy! Hubby and I just returned from cruising to the Mexican Riviera on the Norwegian Star. We traveled down to San Pedro a day early. We flew into Long Beach (nice small airport without crowds) and caught a cab to the Vagabond Inn. Accommodations were nothing special but quite adequate for a nice price, and they have a shuttle to the ship terminal. We spent the day walking all over San Pedro. Saw the old Army fort overlooking the bay, had lunch at Rex's cafe on Pacific Ave (great food at a good price), visited the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (awesome sea creatures up close and personal!), and followed up with a sushi dinner next door to the hotel. In the morning we walked toward the terminal and took photos of our ship in port. We got on the first shuttle at 11:00am, expecting to be able to board early as written about in other reviews. Instead we found that they were still unloading the ship and were told we really shouldn't have come before the 1:00pm time published. We stood around for about an hour (luckily some porters did come out and gather our luggage), but the lines did start moving by 12:15 and we whisked through processing and were on board by 12:40. We couldn't get into our stateroom right away, but food was available at the Market Cafe and they soon announced that our rooms were ready, by 1:30. Our luggage arrived soon after and we unpacked and relaxed. The stateroom was bright and cheerful and though a bit tight for walking space, had plenty of storage, and the bathroom was plenty big. We had to get used to the closet and bathroom doors colliding if both were in use, but we worked around that. We had no problems with noise from above or in the halls. Our room stewards seemed to be around all the time if we needed them, but never got in the way. They always had a cheerful hello handy and Andrew was never anything but "excellent" when asked "how are you?" We were given towel animals on three evenings, and chocolates on the pillows most nights.

The layout of the ship is pretty good, but it did take a day or two to remember which way to turn out of the elevators. It was kind of strange to walk through the Blue Lagoon enroute to other places, and sometimes the endless cleaning and maintenance got in the way of our strolls around the deck. There were hand-sanitizing stations all over the place (a good thing).

Since we had heard that we should look at making reservations in the specialty restaurants early in the cruise, we asked for menus for the main dining rooms and tried to decide which nights we could miss out on. We headed up to the reservation desk only to find out that there had been a change in reservation policy. They were now only accepting reservations a day in advance. We decided to try Le Bistro our first night and were not disappointed. The food was excellent and the service fit right with it. Yummy mushroom soup! Only downer was the rowdy group of folks who were having a great time across the room, a bit too loudly. Perhaps the Market Cafe would have been a better venue for their raucous laughter that night? Oh well, can't fault them for being happy to be aboard. We ended up eating most nights in the main restaurants, mostly Versailles; never had to wait and the food was great! We did try Ginza (mixed the Sushi and asian menus and loved it) and Endless Summer (big portions, very good). Service was good everywhere. Once in a while they were busy and we had to wait a bit between courses, but we found it a good time to talk to those near us and share the experience. Sometimes we shared a table, and sometimes we ate alone; it was all good. It was interesting to see the wait staff all over the ship, changing from venue to venue. We saw few mistakes and food was always hot and beautifully presented. Drinks other than coffee, iced tea, milk and water were pricey, so we didn't partake too often, although the margarita tasting was worth it! I did wish they had brewed their iced tea instead of using a mix. Read more