Norwegian Star Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,584 reviews

Broken engine and missed stops

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Star
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Jenniedale
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2019
Cabin: Family Balcony

I chose this cruise because I was excited that we would be at port most days and I really wanted to visit Santorini, Greece. Unfortunately, we were notified the day before we set sail that the itinerary had been changed and we would not be going to Santorini after all. They offered us $100 compensation per state room. They had also removed a stop to Montenegro and had shortened 5 of our other stops. I was informed by management that we had lost an engine and were running at half speed which is what caused the changed in the itinerary. Suddenly, we were spending significant time on the ship rather than exploring the Mediterranean. I tried to make the best of it. The staff were all very friendly and helpful which did help ease my disappointment. We upgraded to include 5 nights of specialty dining. This was good as the food in the main dining rooms was fine, at times good, but at times the food was not hot and often very salty. Each day we were at sea I looked for entertainment on the ship. This left something to be desired for a middle aged person such as myself. I wasn't interested in Bingo or the art auctions. The classes offered almost always felt like they were trying to sell you something on the ship. The live music was all mostly classic rock and easy listening. There's only so much drinking I really care to do and it was too cold for the pool. This left me fairly bored most days. They had some decent shows at night and I checked out the night club and karaoke once or twice. I'm not sorry I went as I made some good friends along the way and got to see some great places. However, I will not be cruising with Norwegian again which sends people out on a busted ship and then does not compensate properly for changes they make.

Cabin Review

Family Balcony

My cabin was nice and our steward always kept it very clean.

Port Reviews

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is very cool. We booked our own tour through Viator and did the Game of Thrones tour. It would have been much better if a small hurricane hadn't started which made it impossible to finish the tour and very wet and windy.

Venice

I enjoyed Venice. I booked my own tours through Viator. I went to Murano and Burano and would recommend this. I also stayed for a day in San Marco which was very nice. Bring tall rubber rain boots or buy the plastic booties the street vendors sell!

Corfu

Corfu is a wonderful place. I bought a fabulous leather jacket there!

Athens (Piraeus)

I booked my own tour of the Acropolis and the museum. Our tour guide was an awesome anthropologist.

Mykonos

Mykonos is a beautiful town and we enjoyed walking around on our own and shopping and dining. If we had more time I may have looked into an excursion, but it was a short port stop.

Naples

I booked my own trip to Pompeii. I wish I had more time at this port so I could have explored Naples as well.

Rome (Civitavecchia)

We definitely did not have enough time in Rome. It took over an hour just to get into the city from port. We saw as many sites as we could, but needed several more hours.

Florence (Livorno)

I really enjoyed Florence. I mapped my own plan to see several sites that were all near each other on foot and it worked out great.

Marseille

Marseille did not interest me as much. We ate at a tasty restaurant.

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