Norwegian Star Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We have cruised with Princess, RC, Carnival, and Celebrity. This was our first cruise with NCL. We were very impressed with this cruise line. This cruise was from Dec 21, 2019 in San Antonio to Jan 4, 2020 in Buenos Aires. Embarking The embarking and debarking process are very slow. You make line after line. The terminals are in cargo piers and have to take a shuttle bus from the terminal to the ship. Cabin. The balcony cabin layout is well designed. Even though there is slightly less room space, the partitioned bathroom area has the best layout seen. The closet layout is well organized and allow to store the suitcases inside. It does not have the cumbersome coffee table that is seldom used, allowing more space in the cabin. It offers one electrical outlet each for US/EU/UK. If you want to use all three, please bring one adapter for each outlet. The bed lamps have USB charging outlets next to the switch, and there are other USB connectors next to the AC outlets. The cabin is very comfortable for a couple. The soundproofing could be better. You can hear the adjoining cabins if they speak loudly or turn their TV volumes loud. Be mindful when using the TV or talking aloud. WiFi is slow. For laundry service in this cruise, there were three days when they offer to wash everything that can fit in the bag for $19.99. The Cabin Steward kept the cabin clean and they sanitized the door and hallway handles. If you want to get the best view from your balcony, please choose the side of the ship that will face inland, depending on the route. Dining Food at the Buffet was well stocked and organized. Food did not stand for long and they were restocking as needed. The staff was always cleaning and checking the tables at the buffet. Be advised that in this particular itinerary, especially on sea days, many passengers choose to use the buffet as lounge, going for breakfast, staying over for Wi-Fi, reading, playing cards, and go on for lunch and dinner. This makes difficult finding a place to eat at the buffet. O ’Sheehan’s gets packed during the day, many guests lounge there after dining, you may want to go early for lunch. Soft Serve Ice Cream at the buffet may be better. It melts too fast! Service at the Main Dining Room was quick and good. Best times for the MDR are before 7:00 PM. The Oriental Restaurant fills up very fast and has a 45min-1 hour wait time. If you want to dine right away, be there at 5:30 PM sharp. After that, you make the waiting list. If you do not want to make lines for dinner, the Buffet prepared themed dinners nightly with very good menu choices. Itinerary This itinerary has a comfortable pace. It allows you to rest a day before the next port. Due to the ongoing engine trouble, the ship was traveling first at 19 knots, then at 13. Our cruise shortened some port times to leave early and arrive late. The glacier scenic cruising was outstanding. The best glacier views are in the north side. Strong winds and high waves made us miss circling Cape Horn. Engine trouble delayed leaving the Falkland Islands nine hours late. The call at Puerto Madryn was canceled and it became another sea day. We only got the port fees reimbursed. Tendering is a pain. If you are not in a ship tour, or are Priority Tender, you have to run to the Bliss Lounge to get a ticket for an early tender wait in your cabin for your tender number to be called. Then walk a downstairs line to the tender. In some ports, the tender trip takes 30 minutes. Holiday Events The Christmas worship service was very good. Crewmembers organized, performed, directed, and also attended alongside the guests. One crewmember led the songs and also preached the Word as good as an ordained minister. There were Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve celebrations in various ship venues. For safety reasons, they did not shoot fireworks. When we arrived, the ship was fully decorated for the holidays and everything was removed before we disembarked. There were special menus for both Christmas and New Year holidays. Theater The shows at the theater were very good. You have to get in early to get a good seat. Even though there is a no-seat-saving policy, many guests disregarded it and saved seats for their parties. Shore Tours The San Antonio Port is two hours away from Santiago. The best way to get to and from San Antonio is to take a tour that takes you to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso in the way there. We mostly used shore tours advertised with Trip Advisor. They were better priced, have smaller groups and offered more personalized service than the ship-sponsored tours. They stick to the ship’s schedule and ensure you’re back on time. The only two ship-sponsored tours we took were at Port Chacabuco and the Iguazu Falls tour upon debarking. Climate Even though is summertime in South America, please plan for layering. Santiago, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires have summer weather. Ushaia, Punta Arenas, and The Falklands have winter weather. The other ports have Fall to Winter weather. Many guests were buying coats and sweaters on ship to bear the cold temperatures outside. Final Our experience with this NCL cruise was outstanding. We loved the “Freestyle Cruising” when you can wear anything anywhere, saving valuable suitcase space. We noticed passengers from all over the world, and from all age groups. Overall service by everyone was outstanding. We will certainly consider NCL as a future cruise option.

This was not a typical cruise. There were more sea days than most cruises, and even in summer the weather was cold most of the time. But it was a fabulous experience, with incredible scenery and animal views. Great way to see a remote part of the world. Ship was older but well maintained, with plenty of activities and excellent entertainment.

Do not sail on the Norwegian Star until they fix the engine (azipod) issues. You will miss ports or spend a shorter time in ports then they say. You will then get extra sea days instead. This ship has had problems since it was put into service and they did not fix the problem when it was in renovations in 2018. Food had progressively gotten worse on Norwegian since they went to the "Freestyle Dining" system. Basically what they have done is made the food at the complimentary restaurants and buffet very poor hoping you will pay the expensive prices at there specialty restaurants. I will not be sailing on Norwegian again after this experience.

We had a great vacation and enjoyed seeing different parts of the world.

Travelled down the west coat of South America to places you would never otherwise visit.

Overall a very nice cruise. Would recommend. Ship was nice and port visits were very good.

I know people were disappointed in the itinerary change, but I enjoyed the transatlantic experience. The port locations were the secondary part of why I chose this cruise.

I have been on 8 cruises in my life. Two with NCL. I will not use NCL in the future. It got me from A to B and that was it. I was very upset about a compulsory $15 per night for room service cleaning. I demanded they take it off my bill and I gave the tip to the room steward myself.

Norwegian was a big disappointment! After a great Baltic cruise last year, we booked with Norwegian to do this Mediterranean cruise, then get on the Epic for a transatlantic cruise. Three days before the cruise, my travel agent notified me of a change in the itinerary. For this change, Norwegian would give each stateroom a $100 shipboard credit. Two ports were cancelled and all but two ports had the arrival and departure times changed! $100 credit! Are you kidding me? To change the entire itinerary and not give customers any options is irresponsible. We will never cruise with Norwegian again. The ports we visited were great and other cruise lines offer them. We will be looking at other cruise lines for our future cruising plans.

Very desapointed... they cut 2 ports from the original itinerary ( koror and the marvellous santorini ) they gave us 72$ each onboard credit in compensation. Are they laughing at us

They cancelled two of the best ports and gave us $200 onboard spend, this wasn't the cruise I signed up for. Food was bad. The only good thing was being able to drink away our sorrows every night!

My story I am sure is same as all other guests on my trip. It’s very long and I have sent to corporate and In their survey. The story is attached in photos ... disappointing

The cruise was our least liked of all NCL cruises. First reason is that they changed and canceled the main ports we chose this cruise for ( Mykonos, Santorini , Kotor ). Understand that weather in uncontrollable or mechanical failures happen but doing my study this ship is floating breakdown. Also upset that they weren’t honest about the engine catching on fire and giving us the option to cancel or not. $200 onboard credit and 20% credit isn’t much for their inability to maintain the ship properly. 2nd of all the complimentary was awful and that usually isn’t the case with NCL. Last reason was the service, fairly half of the time. It was hit or miss with the service, in which again it usually not the case with NCL.

Good cruise but the change of itinerary was disappointing

The cabin bath was nasty. The cruise was ok until the ship caught fire and the engines went out making us miss Dubrovnik.

We really enjoyed our cruise. Weather was also verry nice for the time of the year. Ship was not extremely crowded...you could always find a quiet place. Everything was well arranged...also tendering was smooth. We always arrived on time or early. We loved the staff onboard. We will book again with NCL.

Just got off the NCL STAR. They did inform us that they were doing away with the outside kids pool and play area and changed it to an adult only area, but I didn't expect that they would leave only one pool which is more that 5 feet deep at the shallow end as the only pool on board. No kids channel on cabin TV. They put all the children of all ages together in the kids club, then expected my 4yr old to join in the games that were aimed at the much older kids. This was in half term school holidays. Shame on you NCL. Is NCL discouraging families with young children not to cruise with them ?

The cruise was amazing the room was comfy and the balcony was huge.

This ship is amazing. Though the itinerary changed due to Venice restricting departures, you would never have known it if you were not aware. J.C. the cruise director is the best! Marc and the production cast make it look easy. See the shows, they are great!

Understaffed, very limited bar service pool side, pool grill closed every single day, no entertainment pool side, service in the buffet was the worst I have ever seen.