This was a OK cruise, would not recommend it to others. Just too may delays, change of venue, just not smooth running cruise.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
We experienced an unusually long delay in departing from the port...it was announced that they were waiting for one crew member????? Did not make sense...the delay caused our first shore excursion to be cut short.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The dining rooms were good. Two of the three specialty restaurants we experienced were excellent. The Argentine restaurant was a disappointment.
Cagney's Steakhouse
5 out of 5
The steak house was excellent. The steak was very tender and the prices were very low compared with other steakhouse restaurants.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Played Bingo...it was very pricy. On other ships the cost to play is about $20 and you get to play 5 or more games...a fun, inexpensive activity. This Bingo the lowest price to play was $40 for 3 games...it felt like a ripoff. We only played once...if it was $20 a session, we would have played at least 3 more times thus spending more money, but feeling like we got our monies worth. Also played in a Blackjack tournament and Table Tennis tournament.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The stage shows were entertaining and fun to watch. The performers did a good job. Felcia at the piano was excellent. Jason in the 5 O'clock bar was not very good. On the Vegas night it was billed as the old Las Vegas with the "rat pack", etc. That was false advertising as none of the rat pat performed. Also lacking were some of the greats from the past that should have been included.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Most of the waiters, stewards, etc. were very friendly and accommodating.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ships layout was fine except we, as well as many others, had a hard time figuring out which way to go to get to our rooms...the numbering in the hallway seemed to be backwards...as the numbering went from large to small instead of small to large.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
The cabin was clean. Enough closet space to accommodate everything that we packed. Having the table right next to the bed was a problem. If you were sleeping on the left side of the bed you had to crawl out of your bed to get to the end or squeeze by the couple of inches between the table and the bed. If you wanted to sit up in your bed and watch TV or read, your head would rest on the night light behind you...not very well planned.
Ship tip
Bring lots of money. Almost every activity that was worthwhile had a fee attached in order to play.
Unusually long wait time before our excursion finally took off. Excursion personnel were friendly, but it was billed as going to a secluded "island"...as it turned out it was not an island, but just a beach with a lot of the locals. Food was not good and the restrooms were dirty and no running water. We were expecting an island with a secluded area for our ships passengers, not the local beach.
We did not do an excursion, but took a water taxi to one of the restaurants on the beach. When arriving at the restaurant, we were away from the beach, there were not any steps or easy way to get off the boat. One passenger tried to jump off the boat (there was no other way to get off) and fell over into the water and had to be rescued. Was not comfortable having to walk around in wet clothes and carry your shoes to keep them from getting wet.
It too an unusually long time to get off the ship. The lines were very long. We were told that our color would be departing the ship at 9:00 a.m. We did not get off the ship until after 11:30. There were very little instructions announced as to where to go, where to wait, etc. People were roaming around like they were lost trying to figure out where they should be and at what time they would be getting off the ship. For all the times the ship had done this, it felt like it was their first time...very unorganized.
Been on the STAR many times. A little secret to finding from and back of the ship- follow the fish on the carpeting! They have always announced where to go/wait until your color is called. There could have been an issue with the ship being cleared to disembark.
Not really sure about your comment about the “rat pack “.
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