beautiful ship and great food, but very rude crew members

Norwegian Star Cruise Review to Transatlantic

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Star

13 Night Transatlantic Westbound (London To Tampa)

Sail date: October 06, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Star

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10202

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

as just stated above, such a nice ship and great food both at buffets and indoor dining rooms. however, I had major problems with gift shop clerk who overcharged me $30 for cigarettes and she got so huffy when I pointed out her mistake. she stomped off to get manager..........etc.....took 3 days to get my account settled..and same thing happened at topsiders bar..........was overcharged 50% on drink of the day.....again the bartender was so rude that a nice pinoy waitress took over for her........I never saw the bartender again....... the live shows were awesome, not only ships show crew, but a 4 seasons tribute group, an electronic strings group, a fantastic juggler and comedian and a wonderful  acrobatic duo.  .we caught the southern fringes of hurricane jaoquin with 35 foot seas and equal winds  but the captain slowed the ship down to make the ride more comfortable. due to thruster problems we could not dock in Miami, instead we went straight to tampa one day early. however, we could not stay on the ship and were taken to a wonderful Marriott hotel with $100 food vouchers.... and one night cruise refund and 15% discount on future cruise.....again, a very poor example of how a crew handled the situation but they compensated by taking us to a nice hotel..........it would have been great if the migration from ship to hotel had been handled more professionally........otherwise, it was a great 13 night cruise and I realize people will always be people.........I have always cruised RCL and this was my first NCL cruise but I think I would be willing to give them another chance!!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
wonderful cabin, plenty of room for one person and nice size balcony which I used on a daily basis. just be sure to take your UK charger as the desk has the single American outlet.

Ship tip

you might want to avoid the haven suite area on deck 12. they are at the stern and top of the ship........I understand those guests really had a rough ride through the hurricane. I cant understand why the highest price suites are in the worst ship position. I always prefer mid ships, middle decks.

Ports of call

Dover (London), England

5 out of 5

Ponta Delgada, Azores

5 out of 5

Miami, Florida

1 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 37

7 Comments

lindsaymc    9 years ago

take a minute why did they put everyone into a hotel, passengers were not meant to leave the ship until the next day why not keep them on board?

 

i was doing the back to back cruise and i was 2 of 100 passengers who did stay on board,

 

Could it be due to the ship inspections which took place on the day the ship was in port with no passengers all crew staff spent the 24 hours cleaning the ship non stop for the inspections and for the passengers who had to stay on board we had 36 hours of nothing no pool no entertainment, bars closed and the food on offer was untouchable what a holiday

 

Also the a lot of passengers who were transported to the hotel after spending hours getting off ship then had to spend hours to find out they were not on the list for a hotel room, taken to another hotel and guess what no rooms for them there either. People spend nearly a full day in ques. 

 

 

JusMe    9 years ago

Glad your cruise went well over all.  Sorry for the rude people you ran into in the gift shop and the bar.  It is interesting that the people were rude to you when everything was going as planned.   I would have thought the crew would have been more stressed when having to move everybody to the hotel and they were under stress of the change in plans.

I have found RCI to be a step above NCL in food and service.  I have even found Carnival to have better service and crew then NCL.  It does sound like NCL handled the situation well with the food credit, hotel and discount on future cruise.  Best wishes that your next cruise goes smooth.

glomarrone    9 years ago

How unfortunate that you ran into Jaoquin.  I don't understand how the crew didn't handle the issue of moving everyone to a good quality hotel, refunding your money for the lost day, giving you the $100 food voucher and 15 % off your next cruise.  I suppose when something has to be done quickly like moving a whole ship load of passengers at one time unexpectedly, things do not go smoothly.  Of cause I wasn't there for the confusion.  At least you did enjoy the cruise despite this event and some major rudeness on the ship.  I sincerely hope that your next cruise with NCL goes more smoothly. Please be sure to write another review.

Ewoodspark    9 years ago

Very disappointing to read that you had issues with NCL crew members. Without trying to extol the virtues of NCL, I am surprised. Every member of the crew that I have encountered on the Pearl and the Jade have been excellent, especially the room stewards who we have always tipped specifically at the end of the cruise, thanking them for their outstanding work. Just as a matter of interest, did you bring this problem to customer services?  

Bubba54    9 years ago

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a challenging cruise but you were able to look past those issues and have a good time.

stephenroth    9 years ago

How did they mishandle the migration from the ship to the hotel? We're on the cruise that embarks in Tampa this Sunday and, as such, had been keeping close tabs on the Azipod issues. From what I understand, in order to fully repair the propulsion system they had to disembark every passenger.

CrusinTim    9 years ago

Good review Stu! I agree, we always book mid-ship in all aspects. I think the reason the higher priced suites are in the less than desirable locations is the view from the balcony. Only problem with that is when your at sea, the view is pretty much the same for everyone!!! Bon Voyage.....

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