We took this cruise as part of a fairly large group of friends. We cruised Norwegian in the past, when we had a great experience, so we were excited. We learned through social media that the Star was having propulsion system problems, and was unable to complete its previous itinerary as planned. One of our group is a travel agent, who contacted the NCL headquarters a couple of days before sailing to inquire about the status of our cruise. She was told that all was well, and there would be no changes to the itinerary. When we boarded, we were told that this wasn’t true. Two ports were dropped (Kotor and Santorini) and two days at sea replaced them. Other port visits were shortened, resulting in abbreviated shore excursions. While we weren’t charged for the Kotor and Santorini excursions, we were billed full price for the shortened ones. The ship arrived late in nearly every port thanks to their engine problems. A letter awaited us in our stateroom, claiming that the changes were due to “unforeseen circumstances,” which of course isn’t true. There is nothing unforeseen about known engine problems. Norwegian has an integrity problem!

We were given a $100 shipboard credit and offered a 20% discount on a future cruise, which is obviously useless to us, as we’re done with Norwegian.

The ship itself provided a Carnival-esque experience, with adequate food and friendly staff. The specialty restaurants were excellent. The ship was dirty in places (the glass on our balcony was dirty enough to be difficult to see through, and the rain gutter had broken glass in it), and the WiFi was glacially slow. Drink packages were exorbitantly expensive, as were the premium cocktails. Read more