Prior to taking this cruise on the NCL Star, I had read many of the posts in this forum and found them very useful. Indeed, my findings were consistent with other reviews. This was our 1st cruise on NCL (during Thanksgiving week) but 4th cruise overall; other cruises taken were on Carnival and Disney.

Ship Info: Ship is well maintained, very clean. Layout takes a bit to get used to of. Loved the quiet reading room and fitness center.

Embarkation: This was a zoo. Very difficult to find a porter - had to wait in a ridiculous line for 30 minutes because so many folks were cutting the line. Food: Food at the buffet (Marketplace) was mediocre. You absolutely need to fight to get a reservation at the other free restaurants like La Trattoria and the Tex-Mex place. I was lining up at 7:00AM to get a reservation the prior day in order to ensure our dinner. You may think this is extreme, but there were so many folks travelling in groups (i.e. >25 people that basically took up 1/2 the restaurant with one reservation) and seating so limited in some restaurants (La Trattoria does not seat more than 60-70 at a time) that it is absolutely necessary to lineup early to ensure you get a reservation between 6-8:00PM. Otherwise, you can find yourselves starving until 9:00PM or munching at the Blue Lagoon (burgers, chili, chicken wings, etc) or the MarketPlace buffet. Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely horrible. The turkey tasted rubbery and definitely was not freshly cooked; rather, it tasted like a microwaved bird from a TV dinner. You would have thought that for Thanksgiving there would be a good dinner planned; rather it was marginal at best and again we had to fight for reservations at Versailles just to eat this rubber turkey! La Trattoria was our favorite place to eat, but offered the same menu each and every day for dinner. Read more