Just returned from NCL Star. We were a group of 5 women - Mom, daughter, mom's friend, mom's sister and niece. Here is my review: Embarkment - easy. Arrived at pier around noon, yes, we waited in a lineup for a while but the line continued to move. There is a line for Latitude members, which we should have gone in, but the attendant said the line was for those with cabin keys. Didn't really know what that meant so we waited in the longer line. No big deal. The ship wasn't going anywhere until everyone was registered anyway. Cabin - balcony cabin on 8th floor. Cabin was kept clean, location was good. Cabin stewards were good. Food: Buffet - I'm not crazy about buffet food so only grabbed a couple of breakfasts and lunch at buffet. Selection was OK. I didn't really think it was too great. Lot's of stuff that I just wasn't interested in eating. I always looked forward to the chilled soup and desserts. Main Dining Rooms - Ate twice in the Versailles Dining room in the evening and did breakfast on the last day. Choices and food were good. I liked it. Dinned in Aqua for breakfast once, it was good. Specialty Restaurants - very good. You must make reservations. Can get a little costly though. I think most of the charges on my ship bill were from the specialty restaurants. But that was my choice. We tried Teppanyaki, Soho, Ginza Asian/Sushi, and Le Bistro. All very good. Blue Lagoon Cafe - would stop in there for cheesecake and finger foods and bring it back to the cabin for late night snacks. Room Service - limited breakfast choices. They would call your room beforehand to let you know it was on its way. I would order room service for 7:30 a.m. but it always came a 1/2 hr. earlier. Entertainment - pretty good. Took in some of the shows. Thought the juggler was the best of the ones we saw. Checked out the singles party, the white hot party and the deck party. Entertainment staff puts in a good effort but they all seem to fizzle out within 1 hr. Checked out the Karaoke bar, one night of that was enough. Crew - all I can say is wonderful. We met so many of the crew who went above and beyond. Ports - Cabo, Mazatlan & Puerto Vallarta Our favorite was Mazatlan. I don't think we saw enough of Cabo to really make a judgement. What I saw, which was the beach resort Melia ME, was really nice. Just hung out there, used their services, purchased some food and drink and then headed back to the ship. In Mazatlan we toured the Cathedral on our own and then hailed a cab to the Golden Zone. Did a little bit of shopping, grabbed some breakfast and then headed over to Joe's Oyster Bar. Next door is the Ramada Los Sabalos where we spent the day using their beach chairs. Again, we ordered food and drink and no problems. In P.V. we walked down the beach to the Krystal Vallarta. We settled into their beach chairs but the beach area was dirty and that turned me off. Lots of empty water bottles, bottle caps, smoke butts and broken glass, therefore, we moved up to the pool area and parked ourselves there. Again ordered food and drink and never had any problems. The evening in PV we did the Rhythms of the Night tour through NCL and had a great time. Spa - bought the spa day pass for our first sea day as it was cool and overcast. Very nice day using the pool, hot tub, hydro pool, sauna and steam room. We ordered a couple of buckets of beer and enjoyed our time lounging in the spa. Overview: Upon embarkment our sail card became demagnetized and created a bit of a problem but from this we met Paul, the cruise director, who went out of his way for us for the rest of the cruise. Paul is the best. Get to know him if you can. His assistant Jill is great too. What a wonderful young lady. We attended the meet & greet which one of the cruise critic members set up. We met wonderful people at this meet and greet, both passengers and crew. Go to the meet & greet, you never know what might come from it or just who you will meet. The senior officers of each department attended the meet & greet who took the time to speak to each of us and did an overview of what they are in charge of. Through this meet & greet we met Captain Lars. He later invited us to a private viewing in the bridge on the day we docked in Cabo. We were in the bridge for 2 hrs. that morning. What a wonderful experience. From that, we were also invited to dine with Captain Lars and Staff Captains Mattais & Martin. Again, another wonderful experience. And from our evening dinner, arrangements were made for us to view the Courtyard Villas before disembarking the ship. Wow, that would be the way to travel. Very nice. Throughout the week, we also met Murray the Magician and his assistant Isabella (Izzy) who happens to be from our home town. As it turns out she is friends with the older sister of one of my daughters highschool chums. They had pictures taken together and plan to e-mail one another. Nice couple. We also made friends with Kevin, the entertainment host. He noticed my daughters athletic build, she's an ex gymnast and he himself was a gymnast for 10 years. They became fast friends. Overall, this was a wonderful cruise. Yes, I heard some people complaining about this or that but I still believe it is what you make of it. There are better ships out there but there are worse too. I don't have anything to complain about. My daughter and I had a wonderful experience. Remember, don't sweat the small stuff. Look at the positives and don't dwell on the negatives - life is too short. Also, don't depend of everyone else to make your holiday great, you are responsible for that. I hope your trip will be as good as ours. If you have questions, I'll try to answer what I can. Happy Cruising!