In all we had a great time. At first I thought 14 days would be too much but we found it relaxing and did not feel as rushed as we have on 7 day cruises. We were impressed with the staff of NCL they all seemed very customer oriented. We loved the freestyle cruising which did not lock us into any time schedule while on the ship. The beverage package is worth the money if you drink and I think you will be ahead of the game over paying for individual drinks. We will use NCL again.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Big ships long lines but one can not expect anything else so we were not unhappy to stand in line waiting to get on board. It was an opportunity to make friends and we did. We are comparing NCL to all of the Carnival cruises so one of the things that NCL can learn from Carnival is have more info filled out ahead of time such as your credit card info this way one only needs to show the card as approval has already been accomplished.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The buffet was pretty darn good. They always had plenty of variety and never seemed to run out. The staff did a great job at keeping the tables cleared. The main dining room we only went there 4 times out of 14 nights. I felt the food came a little quicker than I would have had, and did not let me relax as much as I would have liked. The food was good but not great. The specialty restaurants were pretty good we were only disappointed with the Italian restaurant the atmosphere was good and relaxed the food was so so. I had shrimp fra diablo and the Diablo part was not and the marinara was off a little. Cagney's, the steakhouse, was outstanding. We went there 3 times and were never disappointed. If you go try the rib eye for steak very flaverful and try the sea bass. My wife says it, the sea bass was the best she has ever had.
Cagney's Steakhouse
5 out of 5
If it wouldn't have gotten strange I would have gone there every night. The food was fantastic and the service was outstanding. I had steak all 3 times we went and found the rib eye fantastic. My wife had fillet twice and sea bass once and loved the sea bass. The sommelier, Lidia, (I am spelling her name wrong) was so personable, she always made us feel welcome and always had good advice. One time we were describing a wine pairing that we had on Carnival and she said she would do it for us and she did. I do feel bad as we had gotten her into a bit of trouble. Perhaps NCL should consider a wine pairing activity. Anyway, the bottom line is go to Cagneys.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Really did not participate just veged out during the cruise.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Only went to one show and that was called "these guys" and they were very good. Saw a show with them with music and another one acapella. Both shows we thoroughly enjoyed.
Children's Programs
We had no kids with us.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
With only one exception we found the entire staff very friendly and always helpful. They always had a smile on their faces and always seemed to be willing to help. Both my wife and I feel that the NCL staff was far more friendly and helpful than the Carnival folks. The one exception, believe it or not, was the guest services staff. I only went to their desk three times and with three different people found them slightly rude, they seemed annoyed with my question, and all three times seemed to just wanted me to go away. BTW these were not issues of complexity, things like asking for change, where the luggage tags were etc. Someone needs to tell guest services that they are there to help if they are annoyed by questions, go back to being a wait person. I hope NCL sees this.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The Star is either one of or the oldest in the NCL fleet and it is starting to show. The ship just looks worn out. Our balcony had warped railings with rusted bolts holding them. The layout seemed a little odd to us with stores at different locations on the ship not all in the same general location as we were used to. Generally, however, the ship was kept very clean and again this relates to the staff. We did not see trash and litter around like we often did on Carnival.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin was comfortable and thanks to our cabin steward, Martin, was always cleaned and in working order. Can't say enough about Martin. We had one issue towards the end of the cruise and that is we ran out of hot water. We have never seen that happen before. Martin was very pro-active and had maintenance right on it and we had hot water within an hour or so. The only negative comment is that I wish there was a more comfortable place to sit. They also need to improve the TV quality.
Ship tip
The one piece of advice I would give anyone taking a NCL cruise is to take the meal plan which will allow you to eat at the specalty restuarants without having to pay. Why you might ask... a silly reason. We like espresso martini's the alcahol was covered in our beverage plan but the espresso part was not so we had to pay $3 for the martini seems nuts to me.
Port was neat and we went whale watching on the Caborey. See my review on trip advisor we had a great time and would recommend this to anyone who likes to see whales. There were so many we did not know where to look. The staff of the Caborey was great and helped make the tour a very good one.
Our tour was a tour of the area and was fine (just OK) our tour guide was good and very informative. The reason for only 3 stars was the length of time we sat in traffic. By the time we got to the fort, the last stop, we only wanted to go back to the ship.
We did a trip to a coffee plantation. The plantation was great but it took an hour and a half to get there. Fortunately the tour guide was very good so he helped to make the long ride go quickly.
We hated this tour. After around 15 minutes we made our first stop at a lake where we could see twin volcanos in the distance very cool. Then there was a 2 hour bus ride to an active volcano. The volcano stop was 10 minutes. Are you kidding me 2 hours for 10 minutes just not worth it. I would have like way more time there but it is 2 hours back. Our tour guide was good. Marjory gave us good info on the long ride and that helped but I would NEVER do this again.
This was the first time I had seen the canal and it did not disappoint. There was a narration during the transit and he gave us great info. I really liked the transit.
Short boat ride to the walled city and the thing I remember most about it was the swarm of vendors attacking the boat when we docked. The walled city is really neat and the 2 hours that we were there is not enough time. I would have loved to see more. The vendors are a real nuisance but I don't think anything can be done about that. Just be prepared if you go.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
