Before my review, here is an additional tip that NCL does not provide: You can take a taxi from the Tampa airport to the Port, and from the Port back to the airport for a $25 flat rate fee each way -- NCL charges people $40 for EACH person, each way if you take their bus. So my wife and I only paid $50 for a round trip taxi -- if we used NCL's bus, it would not only take more time but would have cost us $160 (we saved $110 by taking a taxi -- a van).

Our experience on NCL Star? Above average. This was our second cruise. We had sailed with RCI in the past, but we did not like the fact that they required 48 hours go cancel an excursion, but were free to cancel our excursion the night before we docked so we had to stay on the ship since all of the other excursions were booked.

There were many good things on NCL Star: our cabin steward was wonderful, extremely nice casino personnel, and 95% of the personnel on the ship were friendly. The weather was good, we stopped in several countries and took several shore excursions. All NCL sponsored excursions were far more expensive than if you booked it yourself (another revenue generating device for them). Our first stop was in Costa Maya and we booked the private island excursion (not the private island party excursion). It was very nice and we would do it again (not crowded, great snorkeling and they even provided a life guard of sorts; plenty of lounge chairs and many were in the shade if you wanted, lunch buffet was composed of BBQ chicken and fried sea bass -- both were excellent but it was NOT an all you can eat buffet -- would have had more of the sea bass). Also went to Belize and did cave tubing in inner tubes (check out cave-tubing.com; very nice people, not corporate, would do again). Also did the zip-lining with the tour (I am about to turn 50 so I thought I would try something different). It too was very fun, but a little scary at first. Tip: They put you in a harness and you hold on to your harness with your left hand (feels very safe). But what would help you is this: you are issued a pair of gloves, with the right hand glove is like a baseball glove -- leather on the palm. Your right hand is used to brake at the end by pulling down on the line, but the important part is to keep your body going straight so that you do not go down the line sideways. So to prevent this, position your right hand further back on the line --about 16 inches or more back from the harness. Once they told me that, it was even more enjoyable. Belize itself seemed a little bit scary due to the extreme poverty and unfamiliar surroundings, but the personnel at cave-tubing.com made us feel very at ease (English is the native language in Belize by the way). We had to take a tender to get to shore, and NCL gives preference to those who book excursions through them -- everyone else has to take a number. Finally, did a stop in Cozumel -- if you dock at the International Pier, then you will see El Cid's La Ceiba hotel very close by (no taxi needed) -- you can do an all day inclusive with them -- which we did -- so as much awesome mexican food, drinks, and towels you want on their man made beach where we also snorkeled (not much of a beach on this side of Cozumel). We docked at the downtown pier and took a taxi -- $7 each way total -- agree to the fee in advance). We learned about the El Cid hotel via tripadvisor.com reviews. Read more