Norwegian Star Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Overall, this ship, crew & staff were excellent. Because of moving from restaurant to restaurant, you don't build the same relationship with your servers that we have on other ships. But, overall, the service was very good everywhere we went. The staff seem sincerely happy & service-oriented. The ship is beautiful. And the food was some of the best we've had!

We booked a cruise because of a specific entertainer. The entertainer was canceled so we canceled out reservation. It took two months to get a partial refund even though we canceled well within the guidelines of refunds. In the end they kept $100.00 and refuse to return it even though they did not deliver anything.

the ship was good. it is pretty clean and in good condition. the mattresses on the beds need to be changed.

p First off, if you drive/fly in the day before,I would strongly recommend the Hampton Inn at Rocky Point cruise package. They picked us up at the airport the day before the cruise, checked us in early to our kingroom, shuttled us to the cruise port day of the cruise and then picked us up and shuttled us back to the airport after the cruise. Getting on the shipwas well organized withless than a ten minute wait to check in. Boarded the ship and made our way to the buffet. As we finished our lunch we heard the announcement that our cabin was ready. We had a nice, cleanmid-ship balcony room.The entertainmenton board was good with a nice variety of options. The food at the buffet was above average in my opinion. The Aquamain dining room and Cagney#39;s Steakhousewere great. The food preparation at the Teppanyaki Room was a little below my expectations although the food was good. Cruise staff were always smiling, helpful and polite. The ship stopped at Roatan, Belize City, Costa Maya and Cozumel.In my opinion Cozumel wasby far the best stop butI did not try any of the many excursions available. Overall we had a great time and absolutely love NCL Freestyle cruising. This was our second NCL cruise and we put deposits down for two more NCL cruises in the near future.

Cruise on Norwegian Star out of Tampa to Western Caribbean. We have been on 12 other cruises (Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Holland America), but this is the first and last on Norwegian. I cant imagine Norwegian operates all their ships like this one; they would be out of business if they did. There is many reasons to avoid this ship, the biggest being the food. What a joke! All you do is wait in line for very lousy food. We waited in line for about an hour every night. Every other cruise we have been on we have really liked the food. This was absolutely terrible. We ate in a "pay for" restaurant the last night and the food was better but I have a hard time paying $25 for something that should be included. The rooms were smaller than any other ship that we have been on. Given all the other problems, this was a minor issue but still irritating. Their staff was very very poor. Again, we have always been very impressed on all our other cruises. Normally we have a great time interacting with the staff. They usually go out of their way to make you feel good (you know they are working for tips). I wonder how Norwegian pays their staff. It seems like they don't get tips but get bonuses to get you to pay more money. They are always bugging you to buy something else -- very annoying. Lastly the entertainment was very questionable. They nightly shows were ok but nothing to write home about. On all other cruises that we have been on; there are always many entertainment options to choose from. Usually you can't decide on what you want to do. There is always a band, show, musical group, sporting event or other entertainment to take part in. There seemed to be very little happening on this ship. No bands or activities out by the pool, no live music in the bars, besides the shows, very little in the lounge. We do not sunbath too much by the pool but if you do, forget about getting a lounge chair. They don't have nearly enough chairs. I never walked on the top deck that I didn't see one open lounge chair, even at 8:00 in the morning or 6:00 at night. We heard a lot of people complaining about this. It wasn't that there wasn't enough room; there was plenty of open space on the top decks. Lastly, we were totally surprised that we had to pay extra to use the second pool. And not just a couple bucks but I believe it was $90, what a joke. I know the trend on all cruise lines is to pay for more and more things but Norwegian has taken it too the next level. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot. As you can probably tell, we will not be traveling with Norwegian again.

Average, not as good as Carnival ships.

Where to begin....arriving on the ship, I was impressed by the ships quality and decor. Our room was spacious and clean. The bathroom was very nice. The only con to the stateroom was the TINY TV. It was difficult to watch from the bed and didnt work half of the time. It would make a loud static noise suddenly until you turned it off. Also, there is no guide so we were always crossing our fingers to catch the beginning of a movie. Well, one of the three movies they were replaying. There are absolutely no clocks on the ship besides for a channel on the tv that would periodically display it. I get its all about relaxing but come on! I missed many shows because of the lack of clocks. BRING YOUR WATCH! The room steward was very nice and helpful. The majority of the crew speaks broken English so hopefully you dont have any special requests. The food was mostly horrible. My boyfriend and I rarely finished our meal. On the first night I ordered the signature chocolate cake for dessert. I took one bite and was done. By the last night, I decided to give it another try and ate the whole thing!NCL lowered my food standards. Do not, in any way, order the greek pita, stuffing, apple pie, any sweets for that matter, grilled cheese...too many to remember. Dont bring your appetite on this cruise. The ports were very enjoyable besides Roatan, Honduras. Dont bother getting off of the ship. Belize was fun. We recommend the cave tubing. Costa Maya, Mexico was beautiful. Be sure to take a taxi to downtown where the beach is. We both got a 30 minute massage on the beach for $20 total! Beer and medicines are super cheap. Entertainment on the ship was enjoyable. The final show, Elements, was a waste of time. The game shows were very funny. Overall, we enjoyed our cruise. The ship wasnt crowded and was clean, the entertainment and ports were good but the food was horrid.

Ship was in great shape and I had a wonderful cruise. I don't like where they put the spinnaker, but the family suites are amazing. Even without having a balcony in them, I loved that room.

See above cons. Check in was BAD. No layout as to how things were set up. People were cutting in line because no one know where to go. The counter agents didn't know how to check people in. It took our guy 20min to check us in and we had all the right information he needed. He had to ask 3 people what he was doing wrong. Another thing was the cruise before all got sick so instead of telling all of us why they were serving us and using hand sanitizer we all were just getting mad. Why not just tell everyone when we first arrive so we know what to expect.

Parts of ship were nice, parts cheesy, many parts ok. Pools for kids only, really. Laying out decks loud. Casino good enough for a couple of visits (paid out reasonably at times). Too many pay extra restaurants and not enough entertainment spaces. Ports disappointing - mostly shopping. A lot of it the same just with "Belize" written on it instead of "Daytona". The worst part was when bad weather came - yes, I know it happens and is a risk anywhere. BUT we were not updated and in fact were told we were at port by the TV station and got ready to go just to be told at the last minute we would spend the day at sea. Only the cheesiest "entertainment" ever to replace the day - didn't even stay a second day at the day's previous port - then refunded $15.13 for the missed port. NCL had to make more money. There has to be a lot of bad weather and they handled it poorly. Could not even trust them in bad weather. Yes, that tainted things and there is a GOOD chance it would taint yours, too.

Our first time to cruise on Norwegian cruise lines. We only used this ship since we wanted to cruise to Alaska. It was different  and did not like the Freestyle dining. I like to make friends and dining with others. cruising is about making new acquaintances and new experiences. Other than that we enjoyed the ship.

Welcoming-- not always in a state of perfect cleanliness but very comfortable. One can always find something to complain of but overall we love NCL and are quite attached to the Star. So far we have sailed with NCL around a dozen times, mostly on the Star. We have had deck 4 portholes, oceanview, balconies and suites and, apart from the " porthole", loved them all, especially the staff who now often remember who we are. We are coming home from Europe on the Sun in September and spending Thanksgiving on The Pride in Hawaii. Life doesn't get much better than this so what if the room steward misses a bit of dust one day, or we have to run away from a hurricane (which we did), It's still the most fun I have ever had .

We really enjoyed the ship and the overall experience.

The staterooms were very nice, most of the staff was very pleasant, and the shows were excellent, however we felt that we had to pay for too much once we were on the ship. On the last cruise we took with a different cruise line, the only thing we had to pay extra for was alcohol and soda, and there were a lot more options included, such as juice all day, coffee, and more places to eat that were included in our cruise fee, however on NCL we felt there was a lot that was not included in our fee that we had to pay extra for if we wanted it. For instance, the only cold drinks that were included all day were water and iced tea, we had to pay extra for juice unless it was at breakfast. When we were in the lounge for a show, we had to pay for coffee, which was free in the dining rooms and the buffet. Room service options were extremely limited, and we had to pay a fee if it was after midnight, or if we wanted pizza, which was something that was included in the buffet. We also felt that the quality of the food was lesser than what we experienced on our other cruise. Additionally, while we were dining in one of the main dining rooms, we were asked by 3 or 4 different staff members if we wanted to participate in a pub crawl that was going on the next day (which we had to pay extra for), and we had 2 other staff members come around and try to get us to make a reservation in one of the specialty restaurants (where we had to pay extra to eat). We did not appreciate being interrupted during our meal so that the staff could try to sell us something else. While there were many options for places to eat on the ship, only 5 were included in our cruise fee, while 7 required us to pay extra fees. The drink prices were rather high as well, with most mixed or frozen drinks being $8-$9 each and beer being $5-$6 each. We also had an issue with the toilet in our room not working properly. We understand that occasionally issues can occur, however, when going in to use 2 different public restrooms on the ship, the toilets had been overflowing and there was water on the floor, causing the toilets to be inoperable, not to mention the serious safety hazard for anyone that entered the restroom. As far as the excursions, we decided not to book any because they were very expensive. We did go see the lumberjack show on our own, which was the same price as listed on the excursion order form, however, while in Juneau, once we got off the ship, we decided to take a bus to see the glacier and walk the trails. The same exact excursion booked through NCL would have cost us $100 for two people, while we were able to pay $30 for the two of us once we got into town. The combination of all these things has made us decide to cruise with our previous cruise line next time instead of NCL, and I will not be recommending NCL to anyone I know looking to go on a cruise.

This was our 10 year anniversary celebration cruise and also our first. I enjoyed it immensely. My only complaint is the cost of everything on the ship, ie: souvenirs, necessities if you run short, alcohol, shops, etc...

What I liked: freestyle dining is great. We ate what we wanted, when we wanted. I don't need to be told when to eat, I'm not 12. Food was very good. Ship was clean, clean, clean. Every staff member that we spoke to was super nice. Entertainment was better than the last cruise. Not great but ok. The exception to this was Second City, they were awesome. What I did not like, every time you order a beer they PUSH the sale of a bucket on you. If I wanted a bucket I would buy one. There are two choices for water, a small and a large. They don't tell you this and automatically sell you the large, more expensive bottle. Enough with the art sales! They spin it like they are doing you a favor and teaching you how to buy art at rock bottom prices and then they sell you the art. One last thing that I thought sucked, they advertised a special Second City lunch theater. We went to it and it was good BUT I was charged $80. Nowhere did it say that it was to be an up charge. All other entertainment was free so why would we expect this to be different?

Recently cruised Alaska on Norwiegian Star. This was our 21st cruise. Food was just OK. The staff was good with the exception of the Cosierge in the main dinning room. The cleanliness of the ship was not good. My wife wanted to use the sauna ONE time and the spa wanted to charge her $30.00. One night after the show in the theater the staff closed off an exit to force everybody to walk by a jewelry table where they were tying to sell items. Totally felt like cattle being rounded up. Worst cruise ever. Will never cruise with NCL again.

p strongMexican Riviera Aboard the Norwegian Star ndash; 4/23/11-4/30/11/strong p stronguGroup Info/u/strongstrong:/strong Husband Wife (age 50) and Daughter (age 12) p stronguCabin Info/u/strongstrong:/strong BA Balcony Cabin #10612 Mid Ship Deck10 p stronguDay 1/u/strong p We arrived at the Berth 92 around 11:45 a.m., which is about an hour drive from our home in Chino Hills, CA. We hit a lot of traffic trying to disembark from the previous weekrsquo;s cruises. It wasnrsquo;t too terrible and we were parked and walking into the Norwegian Cruise Terminal in less than 20 minutes. This was our 2supnd/sup cruise with Norwegian, so we were able to check in through a MUCH shorter line. We were checked in and on the Star before 12:30 p.m. We knew from previous cruises that the buffet is always the most crowded place to eat your first meal, so we opted for lunch at Versailles. We already knew that this is our favorite restaurant onboard and happens to be one of the two Main Dining Rooms. There was a good selection of items on the lunch menu. I enjoyed the fried calamari rings, my daughter really liked the eggplant that was presented much like Hummus, for our appetizers. Lunch was good and filling and the best parthellip;it was peaceful and the service was awesome. By the time we finished we were able to go to our cabin, which was about 1:45 p.m. We love the balcony cabins midship on deck 10, so we were not disappointed. We were greeted by our Room Steward, Shaik, who was always close by for whatever we needed, most times before we got the chance to ask. Our luggage arrived soon after. We went exploring, registered our daughter in the Kids Club and returned to our cabin to change for dinner. We arrived about 5:45 p.m. at Versailles for dinner and were seated immediately at a table next to one of the large picture windows at the back of the ship. I enjoyed a baby shrimp cocktail (which is always available), a mixed endive salad, Grilled Mahi Mahi and Apricot Cream Cake and a taste of Chocolate Amaretto Bavarian Cream Cake. Both delicious. The service was great! Our ice tea and water glasses never went empty. Our waiter, Ernesto, was very friendly and attentive. After dinner, we dropped off our daughter at the Kids Club and went to explore some more, until we went to the Stardust Theater to see Band On the Run. The two key dancers, Luke and a very blonde girl, that I later learned was the dance captain, were very good. The rest looked tired and unrehearsed. p Now let me break down the rest of the week by category: p stronguEmbarkation/u/strong: Painless and very quick. Being a Latitudes Member this time certainly helped. It is a shame that NCL will no longer be sailing to the Mexican Riviera out of Los Angeles after this next week. p stronguCabin/u/strong:Balcony Cabin midship on Deck 10. The cabin is laid out very well with plenty of storage for 3 people, if everyone picks up after themselves ;-). The bathroom is quite roomy with a separate door for the toilet and shower area. This speeds up getting ready in the morning and at night. The balcony has 2 large chairs, one reclining and a small table. I spent most nights out there reading at the end of the day. The bed and roll out couch were very comfy and I LOVE the crisp white sheets and duvets. There is safe that held ALL of our electronics and valuables. A small refrigerator is useful when you ask your Room Steward to empty it when you embark. There is a small vanity table with ample lighting, powerful blow dryer and extra plug for charging electronics. Each side of the large bed has a very bright light. A table and chair sit near the balcony under the TV. shelf. All in all the layout and amenities were great. p stronguFood/u/strong: We really enjoy the service and ambience of Versailles for dinner, so we ate there every night. We had extremely attentive and friendly service from everyone, but we became very fond of Marjorie. Even if we werenrsquo;t seated in her section, she would go out of her way to talk to us and bring us ice tea and apple juice for our daughter. I donrsquo;t remember what I ate each night, but here are some of my favorite; (appetizers) Cauliflower Cheese Soup, Pear and Walnut Salad, Tortilla Soup, Nicoise Salad, Mozzarella Tomato Salad, Fatoush; (entrees) Rock Lobster with Red Snapper, Grilled Mahi Mahi, Pan Seared Chicken, Grilled Flounder; (dessert) Apricot Cream Cake, German Chocolate Cake, Bavarian Cream Cake, Citrus Mouse and Raspberry Ice Cream. All of those items were served in Versailles. The Market Cafeacute; has plenty of food to fill you up and keep you satisfied. We stopped there between meals for snacks. We LOVED the fresh French Fries at the poolside grill! And my husband enjoyed the burgers BBQrsquo;d on deck each day, weather permitting. This cruise we ordered Room Service to be delivered every morning. You set out your order the night before and schedule it for the time you want it delivered between 6:30-10:00 a.m. You can choose from a variety of things; fresh fruit, cold cereals, hot cereals, dry or buttered toast, rolls, muffins, pastries, regular or decaf coffee, hot tea, regular or low fat milk and hot chocolate. We tipped the waiter that delivered it $2.00 and it was awesome to sit out on the balcony and enjoy breakfast each day. p stronguPool/u/strong: There is really only one main pool and it is set up very well with a stadium arrangement of lounge chairs and tables and chairs. Of course there are people that throw towels on several lounge chairs whether they need them or not. We had three people, but with a 12 year old busy on the water slides and in the pool most of the time, I didnrsquo;t find it necessary to save a lounge chair for her. The pool has a ldquo;waverdquo; pool action, which I really enjoyed and the water slides were kept open all day and the kids never tired of using them. We had great service from a waiter named, Dek, who not only was quick to bring us our bucket of cold beer, continue to refill the ice and lime, but when other waiters were hard to locate when we needed a bottle of beer opened, Dek gave us our own bottle opener to keep. Those small things really make a difference. We enjoyed two long days at the pool. One on the first day and then the second day in Cabo, we opted to stay on the ship and stay by the pool, which was great. The last two days of the cruise were very cold and windy, so we skipped the pool on those days, but others braved it out. p stronguEntertainment/u/strong: The first night we saw Band on the Run. As I mentioned before there were only two reasons to stay and watch this entire showhellip;the two lead dancers, Luke and the very blonde dance captain. The next show we saw was a combination of magic and aerial acrobatics. It was more entertaining, but not amazing. They debuted a new show called Angels, which we enjoyed very much and Elements on the last night of the cruise was a cross between Cirque Du Soleil and a magic show. It was my favorite! p stronguExcursions/u/strong: Since we skipped Mazatlan, we spent two days in Cabo. The first day we went to the Cabo Adventuras for the Dolphin Encounter. Our daughter LOVED swimming with the dolphins. The next day in Cabo, we enjoyed the view of Cabo from the pool deck on the shiphellip;AWESOME!!! FYIhellip;the prices on souvenirs in Cabo are out of control. Prices are higher than Southern California. In Puerto Vallarta, we had booked the Mahahuitas Yelapas excursion. Our first stop was a short snorkeling and kayaking trip to Mahahuitas. The plant life was so overgrown it was very difficult to see the marine life and it was a really short stop. When we returned to the catamaran lunch was served and the bar opened. The next stop was Yelapa. You could get off the boat in town and take a walk to the waterfall or you could stay on the boat and take the catamaran over to the beach. We chose to go to the beach. We were told which restaurant we could sit in front of for free and have access to the beach, chairs, umbrellas and bathrooms. Food and beverages were of course at our expense. What they donrsquo;t tell you is that if you donrsquo;t order food or drinks you are moved to less desirable spots on the beach and your umbrella is moved to someone buying food and drinks. My husband found out that if you go directly to the bartender to order beers it is $3.00 US each, but if you order them from the VERY aggressive waiters on the beach it is $4.00 US. The waiters are supposed to split the difference with the bartender but that doesnrsquo;t happen. On the ride back to Puerto Vallarta the crew put on a show for us and they made sure we all had drinks. We have gone on the Las Caletas excursion before and should have stuck with that excursion this time. p stronguKids Club/u/strong: The staff in the Kids Club is great! The group our daughter was in, for ages 10-12, had a very small room in the Kids Club, so they were kept busy with activities around the ship. They played on the Sports Court, did scavenger hunts, had a pajama party, Easter Egg hunt and more. p stronguDisembarkation/u/strong: We had picked up luggage tags that would give us a 9:30 exit time. We went to Versailles for breakfast went back to our cabin until about 9:00 a.m. and then waited on deck 7 until our color was called. It took us about an hour to get off the ship, get our luggage, go through customs and get out of the parking lot. Not bad! p All in all, we enjoyed our 2supnd/sup cruise on the Norwegian Star. It is truly the staff that makes the ship/cruise so special. It makes us sad that Norwegian will no longer be doing the Mexican Riviera itinerary. But we would definitely cruise again with Norwegian wherever they are. p p

NCL Hiatus My husband & I went on a Mexican Riviera Cruise on 04/09-04/16/2011 for what we had hoped to be an unforgettable 30th wedding anniversary. The beginning of the cruise was somewhat uneventful considering that we had been cruising for 20+ times. We were somewhat disappointed on the so called mini suite with balcony because it appeared a lot smaller than the Regular Balcony Cabin we had occupied @ the NCL, Dawn in 2004 & a lot smaller in comparison with other Cruise Liner with similar category cabin. The food was somewhat average. The line at the regular Dining Rooms were always enormously long that we end up always eating @ a specialty restaurant with cover charge, of course which varies from $10-25pp (the negative side of Freestyle Cruising)We tried Le Bistro on the actual day of our anniversary,04/11/11 & the food was awesome & the service was excellent, thanks to our server, Cristy. We spent an additional $120.00, $25pp/cover charge + additional $10pp for the type of menu we selected & a bottle of wine + 18% gratuity included. I also tried a Spa Treatment, a stone massage & mini facial which was acceptable, Cherry, the Masseuse was exceptionally nice with great customer service, however she can definitely hone in on her skills, I had better experiences before. They canceled Mazatlan for Security & Safety reasons so we docked twice @ Cabo San Lucas which was beautiful as ever.(we went on a Carnival Mexican Riviera Cruise about 14 years ago & there was no beach on the other side where the arch & cave & rock formation is located.) To cut the story short, this cruise was mediocre at best in comparison with our other luding with the previous Mexican Riviera Cruise we took 14 years ago. The highlight of this Cruise for us was when we were left behind in Puerto Vallarta on Wednesday, 04/13/11. There was so many time changes, firstly the difference between the Ship's time & Los Angeles daylight' saving time, secondly there was also a time difference between Mexico & the ship's time so both my husband & I were confused about the time that we missed the deadline to get back to the ship. Funny part was we decided to only hang out at the Mall across the Port where our ship was docked after I had a Spa Treatment @ the same Mall ( which may I add was a lot better & a lot cheaper than NCL's Mandara Spa) & thought we still had plenty of time so we decided to have some Dryers Ice Cream. We were both enjoying our ice cream when my husband said, "I think that's our ship & I think it's moving" I looked at his watch & it read a few minutes before 3pm, I said " Nah, we have time, we're supposed to go back @ 3:30 PM, you did synchronize your watch with the ship's time, didn't you?" He nodded & then we decided to walk around the mall again. Then, his cell phone rang, our son Kris on the other end & asked "Where are you guys @, Are you safe?" My husband replied, "Of course we are & why wouldn't we be safe? We're here at the Mall across the Port." "Well, the ship called & said, they left without you" Kris added. Just as my husband finished repeating the news to me, we both looked at each other then screamed, "nooooo" & started running like we had never ran in our lives before but just the same we saw the ship sailing away!!! The ship finally contacted my husband & instructed him to get some assistance from Javier, the Port Agent for all Cruise Liner. Javier was very polite & helpful & he pleaded for us via text to the Ship's crew to try to get us back in the ship as he had witnessed it to have occurred before in several occasions with other Cruise Liner upon the discretion of the Ship's Captain but to no avail. He said, NCL is the most difficult Cruise Liner to deal with when it comes to similar situations such as ours, which by the way, according to him happens quite often if not every week. He also tried to convince them to at least send our passports & dia

Where to start,  the beginning.   Arrived to the port and the line was so long and slow that it backed up out of the building.   Line went very slow to check in as people stood outside in the cold damp weather.

  Cabin.   We booked an outside cabin.  The room was fine until the A/C kicked in,  the air ducts made a loud popping sound when the a/c went on or off.  This was loud enough to wake me each time.  When I looked you could see screws into the ceiling trying to help this.  We went to customer service and asked for another room and were told "Why don't you try it a 2nd night, you may get used to it"  Had to insist that they change the room since they know this cabin has issues evidenced by the attempted repairs in the ceiling.   All I wanted was a quiet cabin to sleep and relax.  After about 1/2 hour they agreed to move us to different cabin.  This one was quiet until 6 AM when kids were running and yelling  on the open deck above us.   Dinning room.  Most night we had table for 6 to 10 friends,  On 4 out of the 7 nights food was not all brought out at the same time,  one or two people waited as the rest had dinner.   This happened in the pay restaurants and the MDR.   Only good dinning was the French restaurant.  Service in the MDR was slow at dinner,  not as bad at lunch.   The ship layout is not as bad as it used to be.   It is now more like the Pearl.   The only good thing on this trip was traveling with a large group of friends and having fun in port.  Most of us said this would be our last trip on NCL.