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Norwegian Star Cruise Review to Mexico

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Star

8 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 31, 2008

Ship: Norwegian Star

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 16 years ago

Review summary

We would not choose NCl for another cruise. We have a laundry list of cons and it is hard for us to think of many pros. The stateroom was nice. We weer on deck 9 with a balcony. There were some stains on the love seat and the curtains that we thought should have been cleaned better. The beds were VERY uncomfortable, but were a good size. The reservation system for their dining on ship was horrible. You can only make a reservation 1 day in advance starting at 7am and if you are not up right at 7am good luck getting into any of the no cover charge places to eat with the exception of the main dining room. The variety of food is poor. In the buffet market it was the exact same food for each meal every day and the kids menu NEVER changed. Even in the main dining room over 8 days there were 3 menus and they rotated. There are not many family acitivites at all. There are things for the adults and the kids clubs for the kids, but not much of anything planned for families. The kids club hours are also not very good, they are short blocks of time 2-3 times each day instead of just being open all day. Also, if you are in port you have to pay for the kids to go into the kids club even if you are staying on the ship and you can not leave the kids in kids club and go off for a shore excursion unless your kids are potty trained. The staff at the front desk was not very helpful and on occassion very rude. When we had a complaint or were unhappy about something they would normally just stare at us and not do anything to address our problem. The room service menu leaves ALOT to be desired and 80% of the time they did not even deliver what was listed on the menu. The food places close fairly early at night and the ice cream place is only open until 5pm. If you like the 24 hour food and activites on the ship this is NOT the one for you. Everything stops by 1am on this cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Not enough variety. Exact same menu in 2 of the restaurants every day and they were the only 2 you could go to without a reservation. And you could not get a reservation unless you were up at 7am when they opened for reservations. 4 days we called in between 7:20-7:40 and theywere FULL. Food was very overprocessed and not very flavorful. Leaving the ship I felt like I had eatten bread all week and that was the only thing that tasted good.

Entertainment

1 out of 5
Nothing much for families with kids. There were a few adult shows, but really not much variety overall. The waterslides don't open until 10am and close at 5pm every day. The pools and hot tubs close at 10pm.

Children's Programs

3 out of 5
The staff in the kids club were great. The hours kids club is available was not good and we did not like the fact that they charge for kids club on port days even if we were on the ship

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Some staff were great and others were rude and very unhelpful. The people who come to turn down the room each night were great and so were the kids club staff.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The ship itself was pretty nice. Nicely decorated.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
The room was a good sive, but the bed was AWFUL to sleep on.

Ports of call

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

3 out of 5
We went on a planned excursion here to the Sea Life water park. This was GREAT. There were almost no people there on a Saturday morning. The kids had a great time and there were pools and slides for infant to adult as well as food.

Acapulco, Mexico

1 out of 5
We walked to the old part here and it was VERY dirty and smelly. We could not get people to stop asking us if we wanted a taxi or to stop following us and trying to be our tour guide. It was very annoying, so after about 1 hour we just got back on the boat.
Don't Miss: Don't bother getting off without a planned activity

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

5 out of 5
Cabo was fun. Take a bixe taxi to downtown, it is cheap and you get a nice little tour. Cabo Wabo had GREAT food! The water at the beach here was VERY cold...
Don't Miss: Cabo Wabo in downtown Cabo

Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Mexico

3 out of 5
The little village shopping area just off the dock is fun. Lots to see and buy. Much cleaner and nicer than Acapulco was.

Pros: The room was nice

Cons: Where do we begin...uncomfortable beds, restaurant reservation system, charges for soda, rude employees...

Recommends Norwegian Star? No.

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