Great cruise. NCL has really stepped up their performance.

Norwegian Star Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 44

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Norwegian Star

Sail date: January 19, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Star

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11176

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

We loved the Panama Canal Cruise that left Miami on January 19 on the Norwegian Star.  This is the second time that we have cruised on NCL and must say that they have done a great job of revamping their menu selections and quality in the main dining rooms.  We expected to use the specialty restaurants 9 or 10 times during the 14 days, but the food was so good in Aqua and Versailles that we went there 10 of the 14 nights.  Congratulations NCL!  We noticed.

We are not giving 5 stars to this cruise for two reasons:  The ports of call were just so so as were the offered excursions.  Some updating and rethinking is needed here.  The second reason is that my wife and I were totally put off by the never-ending sales pitches on NCL.  No opportunity to inundate us with another sales pitch was missed.  It gets to be really old when the smallest task means that you have to duck another pitch.  Buying a can of Pringles in the gift shop...."have you signed up for our free emerald give away?"  Waiting for the evening show....."how's everyone doing?"  (yaaaahhhh!)  "Come on, you can be louder than that."   (YAAAHHHH!!)  "That's better.  Don't forget that we have our on board lottery tickets for sale."  At some point, NCL needs to take a break on this stuff. 

The ship was beautiful.  The maintenance of the ship was observed and incredible.  Staff was fantastic.  Food was fantastic.  We'll sail with NCL again, but we sure would like it more if they tone it down a little bit.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Miami, Florida Did not visit port

We stayed in downtown the night before the cruise. Miami has really changed, for the better. Downtown is cool.

Cartagena, Colombia

1 out of 5
Lousy tours. Street beggers and vendors everywhere. Stay on the boat next time.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

3 out of 5
The "Original Zipline Tour" is called that because it is the oldest Zipline place in the area. It's not up to snuff. NCL needs to either make them modernize or take this tour off of their offering.

Puerto Chiapas (Tapachula), Mexico

1 out of 5
Nothing to do. Nothing to see. Stay on the ship and do nothing.

Huatulco, Mexico

5 out of 5
River rafting was fun.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5
Snorkeling and tour to Yetalpa was a blast. These guys know how to throw a party.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5
Not enough time to see or do anything in Cabo.

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5
Exit from the ship was extremely efficient. Nice job moving a lot of people.
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