Norwegian Star Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ship has not had much upgrading in quite awhile.  Chairs in cabin looked like a kitchen chair from the sixties.   All the music venues had the music amped up so loud that it was difficult sitting and listening and you could hear music from one venue to another.  Felt that most of the staff needed more training.  In the restaurants, we felt that the servers didn't really care about the people.  A few time we had to go to a captain to get anyone to serve us.  Not true in specialty restaurants.  

Boarding was a huge lineup due to the recent viral outbreak on the ship, (not their fault I guess) Once on the ship they charged you $15 per bottle of wine you bring on, even if you only have it in your room, Boarded on Superbowl day so was expecting to be able to watch the game(like everybody else in the world :) They have a big screen in O'Sheenans bar which we were told after waiting for an hour, that the screen had fallen out a few days earlier and well, was not there! The entire ship,around 2400 passengers tried to huddle around small TVs to watch the game, what a joke! Ok, well, guess I'll get a beer, whooaaaa? $8.20 for a Coors light? and of course they already have added a tip on that on top of the $13,50 per person per day gratuity that comes at the end! You can buy the drink package for close to $1000.00 for two!!!!! which you are forced to buy for two!Food was decent even though we couldn't touch anything (salt, pepper shaker, buffet etc due to viral breakout) Casino was filled with people smoking to the point it was just not enjoyable! Casino tournaments (blackjack and slots) were a ripoff, $20 entry fee, they took in over $3,000.00 on the blackjack fees and paid out $500 to the winner, same for slots and Deal or No Deal game, just an excessive money grab. Pool was a very small, people go out early in the morning to put towels to hold limited number of chairs and sometime not show back up till noon, Pictures were taken at every opportunity they had so they could charge you $25 per pic, total money grab. Room was decent size and clean, ship was relatively clean. Service was not that great except for a few crew members that went above and beyond. Shore excursions were another money grab, $140 per person and you could go on shore and get the same for less than half the cost, another money grab. Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel were all fun. All in all was a fun time but always felt that we were being gouged. Probably won't be travelling with NCL again.

Due to virus the week before, the delay in check in was long, with many people stuck waiting out in the wind and cold.  When we got to our room we could not get in.  Room for a mini suite was so cramped and not in best conditions, pillows were like rocks, tears and holes in drapes, TV had little of interest and remote worked only sometimes.  We asked for repair but it never came.  Food was just ok and service was not like I remember.  A lot of unhappy workers.  Excursions were ok.  Spa and spa personnel were excellent, but marred it by overkill on trying to get you to buy product!  NCL is cutting back on everything and it is very obvious they are trying to save money but that  says to me that I can go on other cruise lines which offer better service, food and amenities.  for the same price and have a better experience so I would not take another cruise on NCL  

This is an older ship and the layout is weird. I have been on 13 cruises and these were by far the smallest cabins I have ever seen. The elevators don't all go to all the floors (even ones right next to each other). We had ok service (except in the dining room and our cabin steward), but nowhere near as good as we have had on other lines or on NCL Getaway (which we loved). The food was good and so were the drinks. In the dining room there were several nights when the kids didn't get their food until well after the adults were served, so that was disappointing.  our cabin steward was the worst we have ever had by a mile. I think this was the only time I didn't tip extra on a cruise. Overall, I would sail with NCL again, but only because we had such a great experience on the Getaway. If this had been our first experience, we probably wouldn't go back.

This was our first NCL and we wanted to compare to the other cruise lines. We are 40/42 married traveling with our 3/9 year old kid. The boat was an older boat but was up kept well and clean. We had a mini suite and it was about the size of balcony rooms we had on Carnival, Disney, Celebrity, Princess, Costa or Royal. There where some customer service issues that could not be resolved and we felt like we where dealingwiththe CABLE company, in other words they just gave us the run around and we gave up.  One of these instances was when we got wrong information about the kids club and they told us they would watch the kids while we went off on our excursion. We went to the excursion desk to see if we could get a refund and they were closed so we went to guest services desk and they told us we had to get off the boat and go find the excursion staff on the dock an find be excursion staff on the dock and talk to me d talk to them. There was a  30 or 40 minute wait in line and I wasn't going to wait so my wife and older son went why I stayed on the boat with our three year old.  They also charge for room service which we've never experienced with any wine. They also messed up three out of five of our orders and one time they didn't deliver and had wrote the wrong lane number down. Overall from the casino to room service they didn't make us feel special. They made us feel like all they where concerned about was the bottom line. We will not be going back as long as we have other options. The itinerary was very nice and our housekeeper was awesome. They also had a lot of specialty dining options which was nice but the only one that we thought had anything better than cafeteria food was the French restraunt. The kids didnt use the arcade, all games where $1.50 which is double what the games usually are and I didn't see anyone in there. They also charge for the indoor pool,sauna and spa. 

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. 

Staff not as friendly as on the Pearl, food good, clean ship...ports could be changed. Cozumel gets old. Belize and Roatan great. Manny the FB Dir. was great. Caney was outstanding

This was our fifth cruise on the NCL Star and our 18th with Norwegian. That alone should tell you that we are very content with Norwegian. We booked a minisuite on deck 11. Our steward Yuli kept our room tidy and well supplied. He got a Hero's Recommendation Card.  We saw many crew members from previous cruises and it is always nice to be remembered. We had dinner only once in a specialty restaurant and that was La Cucina.  I had the Oso Buco and it was very good. We are Latitudes Platinum and each get a certificate for dinner for two at either La Cucina or the Bistro. We cancelled our reservation at the Bistro and had dinner instead at the Versailles.  You might think that was crazy, but we were treated exceptionally well in the Versailles.  There is an improved new menu that actually had rack of lamb one night. I was disappointed to learn that NCL has redone the wine by the glass menu.  The better wines are now available by the bottle only. Looking at the NCL website, the wine list has not yet been updated. Entertainment wise, we did not go to the theater. We spent our time in the lounges which had very good performers.   Disembarking in Tampa was slow. We had yellow luggage tags which should have given us priority, bur we were not allowed into the baggage claim area until all of the luggage had arrived from the ship. All in all, we enjoyed the cruise and will be on the Star in April for the TATL crossing.

While I wasn't expecting a luxury voyage like Oceania, Celebrity or Seawind I also was not expecting to be as low as a Carnival! Somehow they have managed to add more and more passengers and their "free-style cruising" means poor service and less of it.

If you don't book a table in the 2 main dinning rooms BEFORE you sail, good luck getting a table when you want it without waiting on line. Sure they give a glass of champagne if you have to wait, but I'd rather have a table and not have to stand around or in line.

Since the advent of pre-paid gratuities, low level cruise line staff have an attitude of " I'm getting my money anyway, good or bad service". It is impossible to find a bar waiter anymore during lunch on the Lido or in the dinning rooms.

So my big complaint is that the room steward removed a shopping bag of jewelry and receipts from the room and I have yet to be bale to talk to anyone about it. I have tried calling the ship, the day we got home, untold number of calls to guest relations "we are experiencing high volume please call back later" and Twitter, email and FB. I have asked my cruise booking agent and she cant get through to them either. I purchased 2 sets of cuff links and a fairly expensive watch on board. The watch was on my wrist, but the box, guarantee paperwork and receipts along with the cuff links were removed by the steward. I hope it was not intentional but it does need to be brought to their attention.

What made this cruise tolerable was the 20+ couples from our community who were on board. That made it fun, but I have no plans to sail with NCL again.

next trip: 29 day voyage to Baltic on HAL next month.

We bought the cruise through Groupon and it was a great value we had a balcony cabin that was nice but it was a forward one in a bit bumpy our cabin steward was wonderful as was the crew. Reports were great ports of call with a lot to do. The shore excursions were well organized and as promised.. the only short skirt and I would not do again it is the Belize City Calypso tour it was hard to hear and the traffic around the little train speed exhaust Roatan was our favorite port and it's an absolute beautiful place to visit we went ziplining in Cozumel and it cave park that was outstanding I highly recommend it if you have no walking or health problems the only negative I have to say about the entire trip is the shower could have better water pressure the food on the cruise was good but did not meet our expectations except for the specialty dining I would take this cruise again

The Star is one if not my favorite of NCL's ships. Mid size(2500 passenger) ship that is well laid out. Didn't seem like anything was far away. Plenty to do. Not like mega ships with many venue's open at the same time. Here you need to schedule and plan more carefully. The service was exceptional. Sunshine on the pool deck was totally awesome. I found all the staff to be great. Beer Garden was perfect. Carbins are what cabins are. Sailed balcony this cruise and found it on par with most other lines balcony cabins. Cabin Steward's performance was good. Food over all was fine. Nothing exceptional but good. My feeling is ship staff service is was makes your cruise special. This cruise it was great therefore it was a wonderful cruise. Find Sunshine on the the port side lido deck and he will not disappoint. Will sail this ship agian.

I spoke with the passengers on the same cruise, and we all agreed this cruise is all about making as much money out of us as possible, disregard of our comfort, need, or concern. Beside the nice waiters and the stewards, I can't find anything nice about the service of this cruise line. They charged both me and my husband almost $600 EACH for the ultimate beverage when we made it clear with them that I do not drink and only wanted to buy the package for my husband, the lady at the front desk said yes, she understood, then on the last day our bill was charged for BOTH of us, saying because we are in the same stateroom they charged us both, so the drink alone was almost $1200. Had we known, we would bought the drink as we go, but their lack of English speaking skill, or maybe purposely misled us, to charged us extra. The ladies (in uniform) at the reception were very arrogant and very unfriendly. The food was just ok, no filet mignon nor lobster (unless you eat at the specialty dining and have to pay extra for it). This cruise is different in every way as compare to Carnival or Royal Carrebian, I cruised with them two times each, but this is the last ever with Norwegian, regardless of any sale they have, because they will end up charging you for other things that will be way more than other cruise lines would offer. 

We have been to this same set of ports last year on Carnival.  We cruise at least once or twice each year and enjoy the peace and quiet on our aft balcony while we sail from port to port. This year was much like that.  We had a very restful time together. NCL has open seating so we never sat with others at a dinner or lunch. All staff were friendly. The food was good. Our one issue at the time of boarding was the $15 per bottle for two bottles of wine we were bringing to enjoy on our balcony.  This was a surprise and not a fee we have faced in the past on any ship.

This ship is great! We loved having a show to go to every night. The pools were nice and the kids waterpark in the back was fun too. The service was beyond exceptional, and we had such a wonderful time!

Some say best cruise ever; others complain.  9 in 2 rooms, 5 sailed free, 4 had free dining & beverage packages.  "It was a bad value".  Are you kidding me?

I'm somewhere in between.  Priority was scuba diving.  Weather & diving was good.  Saw wild dolphins, friendly green moray eels.  Videos & pictures.  Lobster on beach in Mahahual.  Lots of silver from Cozumel.  Been on Star before.  Had improvements:  Sugarcane Mojito Bar, O'Sheehan's Bar & Grille.  Meant no buffet spoon for me. 

This was our return to Norwegian after 5 years. We were surprised how great this trip was. The food was amazing. The ship was very nice. On the last port there were 2 Norwegian cruises and on the port they had a party waiting for both ships as we walk in it was great to see both cruise having a good time with the crew. Will never forget that. I meet on of the chef in the buffet and ask a question about the cheese platter and hours later he send an entire chesse tray to our rooms, we were super surprise he remembered I was looking for honey and the selection I liked. Clean ship. My husband and I had a great time.

The staff was polite (with one exception).  Our room steward was wonderful, room was very clean and we had everything we needed.  The food was good.  We did not like the sit down dining room - food was not good and the service was slow.  The entertainment was okay.  We did not like the fact that there were lots of extra charges.  If we wanted to use the sauna/steam room it was extra - it we wanted to use the "private" pool it was extra - everything should be included. There should be a pool area just for adults (that we don't have to pay extra for) - you put the kiddy area at the back of the boat but, the waterslides at the main pool.   Especially did not like the way the on-board sales were run - it was like a big game.  The one rude person we encountered was in the on-board jewelry store - he would not give us a price on a watch unless we tried it on - high pressure sales pitch and we ran into the same person a couple of other times.  Everyone told me I would be impressed with Norwegian as opposed to Carnival - I did not find that to be true.  While I had a good time, if I was to pick between Norwegian and Carnival - I would choose Carnival.  Carnival has no hidden costs - everything included - rooms, food and entertainment are the same as Norwegian.  Carnival has an adult pool at no extra charge.  When Carnival says there is an on-board sale all the prices are marked and there is lots to choose from.  We had a good time and the stops were great but, economically speaking I would choose Carnival - more bang for my buck!

This was our first time cruising where the kids were older...teens. Kids clubs AND freedom for them. Less stress and more fun for us.

We were a group of nine in four rooms.  Overall we had a very good time.  Our housekeeper was very nice, efficient, and we found the crew to be extremely helpful throughout the boat.  The Star is smaller than some ships so it helps if you enjoy cruising for the view off your balcony, plentiful and decent food, and lounging near the pool.  The entertainment far exceeded our expectations, with great dance routines, a phenomenal acrobatic pair, decent musicians, and a first rate comic.  We enjoyed the snorkeling shore excursions; would've enjoyed more time in Roatan.  The restaurants were all better than average. 

A few drawbacks:  the pool is very small and does not accommodate actual swimming; the bartenders are slowed down by NCL's obsession with paper receipts which take too much time to process; the waiters in some bars (O'Sheehan's) cannot get drinks fast enough from bar staff and end up waiting in lines doing nothing.  If you need the Internet it is very expensive and difficult to get on and off of.  The casino is so close to the restaurants that smoke invades eating spaces.  These were all minor irritants compared to the overall cruise which was a success.  On the whole I would recommend this cruise.

An older ship but I felt it was very clean and good enough for me. I very much enjoyed the comedy shows. Out of all the cruise lines I’ve tried, Norwegian has the best food. They have so many more options, especially for late night. I do feel they are lacking on their customer service within restaurants though. We are a younger couple and many times we were forgotten in restaurants or rudely ignored so badly that other cruises sitting near us would call over a waiter or manager to complain for us because it was that noticeable. Despite bad service in restaurants, the food was great. Good itinerary, etc. A vacation is always a vacation.