We recently did an eleven day southern Caribbean cruise on the Star. We had an outside cabin with an ocean view. The 1st night was ok, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th we could not get any sleep because of something banging on the outside bulkhead. I called guest services and nothing was resolved. The banging stopped for 2 nights then a different noise like a heavy line or cable rubbing against the side of the ship. That finally when away and was replaced by slouching sound like water is a tank slouching back and forth. So no sleep. Guest services sent me a bottle of wine and some chocolate covered strawberries. I am sorry but that does not make up for a terrible trip. The day we were in St Maarten, we went back to the cabin in the afternoon for a short nap. We woke up to a toxic odor of paint solvent. I called guest services and they said they would send someone down right away. Well, he showed up 24 hours later, we could have been died by then. Luckily, the ship sailed and it dissipated the odor. The food: Most of it was unrecognizable and bland. The only thing with any favor was some beef stew at the Garden Cafe. The dessert sucked no favor, so we ate a lot of ice cream. At the Aqua and Versailles restaurants the only eatable entree was the New York Strip, the rest was garbage. The Ginza Asian restaurant, we ordered sweet and sour pork, it was so bad that we left the plates full and when to the Garden Cafe. We ate lunch at O'Sheehan's Grill several times because they did make a descent burger much better than the Topsider Grill. Entertainment: The entertainment was overall pretty good. The best was the singer Jenene Caramielo, she was fantastic. If you ever have the opportunity to see her show do not miss it! The Russian high wire act good also. The other singers and dancers were good also. We have been on several cruises from different cruise lines, this was the worst experience overall. They should have given us a refund instead of a bottle of wine. I could have asked for a refund of the gratuity but I did not want to punish the cabin steward. Read Less

Last year we cruised on the sun and had a wonderful time. We expected the same but were disappointed in the entertainment choices. The people we met made the trip. Because of limited evening entertainment we were normally in bed before 11 pm The shiws in the main theatre were good. The karoake was not working the last two evenings. When you look forward to karoake as your entertainment something is amiss. They had a piano player but no sing along. Limited poolside activities and the band was too loud poolside The stardust theatre seats are horrid except in the balcony. For anyone over 5 10" you have to sit sideways and then the air condition unit will still leave a mark. The seats are very low to the floor. We ate at all the speciality restaurants except Le Bistro and each meal was excellent as was Ginza. Service at o sheehans was slow Read Less

Chose this cruise because i've always loved sailing on NCL and loved the length and itinerary. Did not realize that the ship was "in transition" from Europe to California. The ship itself was in good shape, have no complaints there. Our cabin 10106 was a balcony cabin and the change that I did not like was the new TV unit. It is a flush unit with no storage. The entertainment that I attended (evening shows) were good to very good. The daytime activities lacked greatly. A high percentage of them were seminars that would lead to trying to sell you something. I would rate the overall service with the exception of the specialty restaurants, poor. There seemed to be a shortage in dining room help and the time it took if you were at a table larger than a table for two was way to long! Went early to be able to get to shows but didn't get out in time. Tables were left dirty in the buffet, again lack of help. O'Sheehans was the same thing. Long waits for service, food etc. I had to go to the bar to get my own drinks several times after waiting far to long for service. Bar service that I used was good, not excellent. Did a few shore excursions in Curacao, Aruba, St. Maarten and St Thomas (St. John). No issues. As the title indicates, I will insure in the future that it is not a ship in transition. I have sailed on the Star previously and loved everything about it. Not this time. My theory is "Any cruise is better than no cruise" so I always find something to do and try to enjoy it. Our cabin steward Ryi was excellent. Read Less

We had two separate rooms that were on opposite sides of the ship, but at least on the same floor. Alberto my cabin steward (8176) was amazing always smiled, made sure we had everything we needed. Dining was extremely slow in both main dining rooms and even worse was O'sheehans. Food was mostly good though. Breakfast at Versailles was typical cold by the time we got it. Dinner took at least 2 hours long. Shows were a mixed some were really good and would happily watch them again. Pool was always too overcrowded so didn't spend much time there. Had thermal spa pass really enjoyed that was nice and quiet. Pool was very cold though we loved taking a book and laying on the heated loungers. Our boys loved the Entourage. They had games and little parties that they enjoyed being a part of. Casino was enjoyable but too smokey to be in for to long. Read Less

It was a very inexpensive 11 day cruise. This was the worst food of all the NCL cruises we have been on. It seems leftovers were being predominantly used day after day. We travelled with a three year old and the crew were fabulous with her. Other than the food we had no complaints, The cruise director was Italian and difficult for an old man to understand. The entertainment was great, We put our granddaughter in the kids club almost every day and she loved it. There were lots of things to keep her happy, including face painting, which she loved. No smoked salmon for breakfast. The fish and chips in O'Sheehan's was terrible. Almost all the regular cruisers we talked to hated the food. It was a big talking point. We joked that all the good food was used on the previous cruise in the Mediterranean. Fortunately the buffet had a huge choice of fruit. Read Less

Loved NCL cruising. The crew and staff on board have always been friendly and attentive. Not this time. None were rude, but few spoke. Service overall in the the restaurants was s-l-o-w. And heaven help you if you were in a group. Expect to spend 2-3 hours for dinner. If we wanted to to see the early show, we had to eat at the Garden Cafe to insure getting done in time to get to the theater. Some of the waiters had colonge on way to heavy. And finally, there were few activities on sea days. I remember in the past, even on the Star having to highlight the activities we wanted to do so we would know when and were to be because there were so many activities you really had to pick and choose what to do. What happened to the entertainment during sea days? There was no band or musicians playing until that night. Not to mention no bar or limited bar service. I really think this ship was grossly understaffed. There just seemed to be no good leadership on board. No enthusiasm of the crew. Not a "happy" ship like it used to be. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary. It was an 11 day cruise going to Jamaica, Aruba, Curaçao, St Maarten and St Thomas. The ports are great except for Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Nothing to see there if you don’t buy an excursion. Embarkation was a nightmare! Waited over 2 hours to board. Was informed before the cruise that the ship was coming in from Europe and would be a longer wait to board because of customs having to inspect everything. By then our flight was already booked and would cost to change it. NCL was aware of this delay ahead of time and maybe they should have provided snacks for those waiting in the port. They didn’t have enough seating for everyone either! I don’t understand why we always have at least an hour wait to board NCL after we check in. We never have that problem with Carnival. I don’t have a problem with long lines but once I get my room key what takes so long! I was disappointed that NCL seems to have downgraded their MDR menu. They no longer serve lobster tails unless you pay extra for it! And the beef they serve is a much cheaper cut. I couldn’t eat most of it because it was so tough and had so much gristle! They didn’t serve prime rib until the last night and it was only 1/4” thick! I have never seen prime rib cut as thin except at the $4.95 dinner at Las Vegas! The ship was very nice. The crew and staff are awesome! The Captain has a great sense of humor! The cruise director, Roberto always stopped to say hi when he saw us! The ships seems a little more reserved. They took out the water slides. I think they are trying to cater to an older crowd. They didn’t have any drink specials (like 2 for 1) except the “drink of the day” and it was on special for $8.95! Compared to other cruise lines this is not much of a “special”! Please replace the seats in the theater! I think they are the original seats. Most are so worn that they slope down! They are so small and so close together that you don’t have any room! My husband is 5’8” tall and weighs 145 and it was tight for him. His knees hit the seat in front of him! The servers have a hard time serving drinks because there is no room for them to get through. If you want a drink at the show you need to sit on the outside aisles but be prepared to stand up every time someone wants to sit in the middle! NCL charges $25 for a Deal or No Deal card and $40 for Bingo! Isn’t $20 enough? I would have played more if it was $20! In the casino I didn’t play as much because they charge a fee if you charge money to your room key! Carnival does not charge a fee! I don’t like carrying so much cash on a cruise just to gamble. If Carnival starts charging a fee then I will play less there also! Read Less

Embarkation went fairly smooth. Our cabin and cabin attendant were very nice for an obstructed Oceanview cabin. The ship was small and comfortable. Entertainment on the ship was okay nothing really spectacular except for one singer rest of it was average. I have nothing to good to say about the main dining room except the desserts were good. Our disembarkation went very smoothly got off the ship quickly and easily. specialty restaurants are very good absolutely enjoyed them. All the extra perks we got on this Cruise made it worth it. Surprisingly the Wi-Fi service was actually fairly good on this Cruise. the pool area was very nice and surprisingly for that many people on the ship there are generally seats available most of the time. I like the pool bar the best for the service and friendliness. also the food by the pool was fairly good the hamburgers were constantly fresh in the buns of very fresh as well. Read Less

Although we were one of the youngest couples on the cruise (and we are mid 50’s) it was a fantastic cruise. The staff were friendly and attentive. The ship was clean. Loved the Cruise Director, Roberto, and his staff. As always we stayed mid-ship in an inside cabin. We were in cabin 9613. No complaints other than every night in the middle of the night, the engine made extremely loud noise and vibrated the room. And no, it wasn’t the tequila! That was annoying and literally woke us up every night. Loved the location of the cabin. The one negative thing I have to say...the quality of the food was poor. We were on an 11 day cruise and did not eat in MDR 4 of those nights. We usually enjoy dressing up for dinner and eating in MDR but the menu options were disappointing as was some of the food. The Garden Buffet was not up to par in comparisons to other NCL ships we’ve sailed on. I feel like they are pushing the specialty dining and I do not appreciate that. Ochoa Rios was a bust...this does not reflect poorly on NCL but I will never get off the ship there again. Read Less

I like to cruise with NCL. The NCL Star was recently refurbished and was a beautiful ship. The staff were great and very helpful, always ready to go the extra mile. There were some good shows onboard. Food in the Versailles main dining room was excellent. I upgraded to a balcony room, and would do that again. Our cabin was roomy and having the outdoor private space was wonderfu. The only negative I have at all was that WiFi onboard is a joke. It costs about 50 cents a minute if you buy a package and it takes 20 minutes to download an app. Ridiculous. NCL either needs to give the very slow WiFi away for free or speed it up if they are going to charge so much. I couldn't even access my Google Mail account. Other than the poor WiFi, we loved the NCL Star and like the size of the ship. Read Less