Norwegian Star, The Boomerang Ship (Melbourne and Back)

Norwegian Star Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 51

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Star

12 Night Australia & New Zealand (Sydney To Auckland)

Sail date: February 06, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Star

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10128

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

I have no problem with the Captain or the crew of the ship. We had very nice accommodations, great service, entertainment and excellent food. The problem lies with who made the decision to keep sailing with a ship that had half of its propulsion system working. We were notified a day before we flew to Sydney that the ship would only be traveling at half speed and would be late arriving at Melbourne with an overnight, no stop in Tasmania (big disappointment). We made it to Melbourne as promised. Then things went south, broke down at sea some 12-15 hours after leaving Melbourne, waited for a tow back to Melbourne (24+ hours). We only visited two ports out of seven and one we visited twice (Melbourne). After the propulsion system was fixed they made a 'b line' to Auckland, NZ the final stop. NCL said we will be fully refunded for the cruise which I haven't received an email stating so? Also offered 50% of what was paid for this cruise to apply on our next cruise. All of this is nice, but a lot of other expenses went into this trip of a lifetime, airfare, hotels and restaurants, not to mention shuttle service and taxi's. I have no proof but I think this was a corporate decision made by NCL to keep this ship sailing and the ships crew was caught in the middle of this poor decision. We were fortunate we weren't further out to sea when the ship broke down. The two star rating has no reflection of the Captain or crew, only of corporate.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Very nice, Neil was our steward, he was excellent, very nice gentlemen.

Ship tip

No problem with the ships Captain or crew. Some bad decisions were made to keep this ship sailing after experiencing propulsion problems back in Dec. of 2016? I think their were many unhappy people who started their trip from its original port of embarkment.

Ports of call

Sydney, Australia

5 out of 5

Melbourne, Australia

5 out of 5

Burnie, Tasmania, Australia

1 out of 5

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

1 out of 5

Akaroa, New Zealand

1 out of 5

Wellington, New Zealand

1 out of 5

Napier, New Zealand

1 out of 5

Tauranga, New Zealand

1 out of 5

Auckland, New Zealand

5 out of 5
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6 Comments

Cruzn144    7 years ago

Still love NCL, they prob wouldn't be happy to see my post...Star, I think was built (2001) with propulsion issues from very beginning ???

Cruzn144    7 years ago

Unfortunately.... this seems to be an ongoing problem... we had propulsion probs in 2002 ¿ ....they cxld Acapulco, in exchange for Manzanillo.... ship had to go slower etc....Acapulco was on my moms bucket list...& now she is gone...

ybiowyap    7 years ago

Sorry to hear that...

willwork4cruz    7 years ago

If NCL advertised a cruise with two ports and they pay you to go on it can you imagine the crowd who would line up? But even then some would complain.

ashleynsarah    7 years ago

that's what travel insurance is for.....

terriesanchez    7 years ago

so... you got 150% back for your trouble and still had a vacation away from work...didn't have to cook or clean... I guess it's all in how you look at it.

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