What a wonderful itinerary, and bolstered by our last NCL experience on Epic we booked the Star for the Singapore to Dubai leg. Many of our fellow cruisers had been on the previous legs dogged by the Azipod failures and some were staying on after we departed. As usual a highlight of the cruise was the fellow cruisers, a very international bunch this time.

We enjoyed the freestyle ambience and took advantage of the free drinks package this time. Cabin - inside 5573 - was fine although the cupboard space was tight, our cabin steward good. The majority of our catering experience were good, waiting staff atentive and professional. Indeed all staff interactions were good apart from Guest Servces who were universally poor. Entertainment was good to average, some excellent acts such as the Barricade Boys but also some very average. The onboard entertainers were young and enthusiastic.

Some negatives. Boarding was OK but the check-in staff member mistakenly associated my photo with my wifes card and vice-versa. When we boarded this was detected immediately but could not be corrected, so we had to visit Guest Services for two more cards. Later a drinks waiter told me my card was not working, but at dinner we had no issues ordering drinks so assumed the problem was fixed. Disembarking in Port Klang neither of our cards worked. So we had to get two more cards. Later that day my wife received her landing card for Phuket. Her name had been mispelt. On contacting Guest Services we were told that a new landing card would be delivered to our cabin. It never came. On caliing Guest Services again we were told that they had run out of landing cards. We adapted the original landing card and were able to get off with little difficulty. However, we had to get another cabin card for my wife to correct her name. At no time did anyone in Guest Services say 'sorry' and the final interaction suggested it was my wife's fault that she had had to have so many cards. Read more