Norwegian Star Nov 7-14 Mexican Riviera.

First I would like to say that I had a wonderful time on this cruise. The only thing I would complain about is the Embarkation.

My friend and I (females both in our early 60's, I am married and she is single) arrived in Long Beach on Thurs Nov 5 and spent two days with my sister in Placentia. My nephew drove us to the dock and we arrived there at 12:15 pm. I have cruised 4 other times and my friend 5. We assumed we would be able at that time to go through security and board the ship. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The sign for baggage drop was right as we approached the tent. The bags really had to be dropped at the far end so we dragged them down there. We got in line for security, which was poorly run. There were no signs and we got to the front of one line and they told us it was only for people in wheel chairs. So back to the end of another line we went. We got through security and I had a 1.5 liter bottle of wine in my carry on. I was escorted to a table where I paid my $15 for corkage. Then was told I would have to take it to my room because they only take 750ml in the dining room. From there we had to fill out paperwork saying we were not ill and then on to a short line to get our ship card and register our credit card. From there we were told to sit on a chair and wait. We waited and waited. More people came and they were told to go to the other side of the tent and sit in the white chairs. Finally after sitting for over an hour we walked to where they were taking boarding photos and then about 100 people were with us. The security guys who were supposedly handling the crowd did a poor job and one guy kept screaming at everyone. Luckily we were able to board at that point. It was so poorly handled that the people in front of us to go through customs had not even gone through security and they didn't have ship cards. We walked right to the Versailles dining room for lunch because it was 2pm and we were very hungry. When we were done with lunch our room was available so we went and unpacked and got ready for the muster drill. Our bags arrive right after that. Read more