Imperfect...but YOU Make Your Vacation!

We are a mid-20s couple who love cruising! We booked the NCL Star cruise while on board the NCL Getaway in September 2015. We wanted to experience the difference between a mega ship and a smaller ship. We loved that the Start had been recently refurbished, and the price was right for peak season (January). We did learn that there are clear advantages to the larger ships, however, you make your own vacation so we decided to keep positive and make the best of our trip. We were among a few other "younger" couples, and we aren't party people, so we enjoyed the more laid back and relaxing environment, however, we would have appreciated some newer music occasionally. 

Ship Information 

The Star is a very impressive ship, we loved the glass elevators and bronze embellishments. It was very well maintained and the refurbishment probably has a lot to do with why it looks so great now! I did find it very confusing to learn the ship and find my way around, and usually I am excellent with directions. I just gave up after a few days. I really loved their boardwalk area with lounge chairs on Deck 7 - that was my go to spot every day. The ship REALLY rocked badly, sometimes we couldn't sleep and it was actually scary. That was quite surprising. Next time I won't bring high heels... 

Activities/Entertainment 

The ship had lots of activities and a great cruise direct and team to keep us busy. We got involved in lots of activities like morning trivia (even though we were too young to know very many answers...), shuffleboard, etc. We also watched a lot of the poolside shows. I was a contestant on one of the shows, "Who Wants to be a Bazillionaire," and that was lots of fun! We went to all of the evening activities and enjoyed them all! The crew really makes this sometimes dull ship fun. The evening shows were also quite good. We loved the Russian aerialists, the dancers and the comedian. We aren't into the whole "mentalist" thing, so that wasn't our favorite. That could have been swapped out for magic or something in our opinion. 

Service 

We were a little thrown off at first on this cruise. The baggage porters REFUSED to take our luggage without a tip. It was a little shocking. I see the point to tipping, but it should be a choice, or included in the price of the cruise. He was actually MEAN. It was brutal. They shouldn't flat out refuse. I think it happened to a lot of people, so they store luggage on the ship for you and you can collect it when the room is ready. Once we got our room the beds were not pushed together, so we had to request to have that done. It was done by the evening so that was good. From there, it was up and down with service, especially in the restaurants. 

Cabin 

The cabin was an inside room (we like to save $ because really, we don't need a crazy amazing room since we spend no time in it!) and it was perfect. Larger than the Getaway inside room, and they kept it very clean. We organized all of our stuff on Day 1 in the closet and drawers and stored the suitcases under the beds so that was good. The pillows were the most uncomfortable, flat pillows I've ever had, but I lived with it. 

Dining 

This was a big hit or miss for us. It was not nearly at the caliber that the Getaway was. We were shocked for the first few days, and then just decided that if we don't like the food at one of the restaurants we'll abandon it and not go back. That was a better choice. O'Sheehan's was awful for everything but the wings. Just BAD. Slow, bad food, everything, bad. Versailles was also awful, it was acceptable for breakfast, but atrocious for lunch and dinner. Aqua was AMAZING and so was Ginza. We lived in those restaurants as well as the buffet, which was also great. 

Summary 

This was a great, relaxing trip! The weather wasn't great on the day we left, first sea day, and last sea day so luckily we had the drinks package and could stay in the hot tub or inside! We loved the UBP, they have great drink options and it made for a fun cruise! We gained 6 pounds, just as they told us we would! We did book another NCL cruise, this time the Epic, since we enjoyed larger ships more. This cruise wasn't perfect, but it was good as a relaxing trip. We definitely missed some of the amenities that the Getaway had, like mini gold, ropes course, slides, etc.