Disappointed quality with food and service

Norwegian Star Cruise Review to Europe - Western Europe

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 21

Overall rating:

3.1 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Star

10 Night Western Europe & Norway (Southampton To Reykjavik)

Sail date: August 14, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Star

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11022

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

We have been cruising on NCL's Spirit/Jade/Getaway/Jewel. This trip with Star was very disappointing. Food quality and variety was significantly worse and lower. Terrible food at Garden Cafe. I can see why food waste is high! MDR might occasionally surprise us with acceptable cooking. The menu and actual dishes not matching with ingredients...the chefs did a poor job preparing. Several occasions staff failed to record the dishes order and mess up with special instruction provided. We either accepted what arrived or in some serious cases had the kitchen redo. Our Club Balcony Suite shows wear and tear in the bathroom/toilet. Sofa Bed is broken in poor condition, being able to sit or sleep comfortably. Luckily we bought Thermal Spa Pass for everyone so that we use the bathroom as little as possible. Our steward worked hard but often cut corners, and didn't want to put away the sofa bed to save time which made the suite extra tight. We have to address him with this. The Thermal Spa pool and hot tub have a terrible Climb/Stair non-ergo friendly design. We watched several seniors having a hard time get in and out. We hope to upgrade to Suites! The Upgrade Team contacted me 36 hours before sailing indicating they are working on our bids (some with 2x of mini.) asking me to cancel if no longer interested this raises our hope not to unpack after onboard. I didn't cancel all four bids. I checked with Dario at Guest Services that he indicated there's no possibility as there are over 2000 people on board. (It's an irresponsible lie as my FB & CC's said only 1500) Bad news arrived by emails from the Upgrade team at 6pm an hour after the ship sailed. There are several itineraries we are interested in that STAR only makes us worry and uneasy with crew/chef/staff on the Star again.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5
Poor quality with food ingredients and chef preparation

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
We purchased Thermal Spa Pass, the facility is not well equipped and the hot tub and pool lacking ergonomic design for safety.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Waiters/room steward required more training. Waiters in MDR can't record orders correctly, room steward need repeat communication not been thoughtful lack of observation skills. Guest Services staff are rude and not straight forward

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Thermal Spa needs improvement for Safety concern

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Over all our cabin shows wear and tear, it is small for 3 people. Old and dated bathroom/toilet. Broken uncomfortable sofa-bed, unable to replace with request on the first night.

Ship tip

Crew and Chef needs training. Thermal Spa not well equipped and lack of safety measures.

Ports of call

Southampton (London), England

3 out of 5

NEWHAVEN HARBOUR (EDINBURGH), SCOTLAND

4 out of 5

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland

4 out of 5

Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland

4 out of 5

Alesund, Norway

4 out of 5

Haugesund

4 out of 5

Akureyri, Iceland

4 out of 5

Isafjordur, Iceland

4 out of 5

Reykjavik, Iceland

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

2 out of 5
NCL charged $75/person for airport transfer. Not allow taxi drivers to line up for services. Waiting line is miles long. We walked a long way to catch city bus got a taxi ride from downtown. Major big mess at cruise terminal.
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