Would prefer that the sea days not be all together - Rather would prefer to stop on one of the offshore islands like the Azores or Tenerife. The entertainment was excellent, especially "The Book". A little disappointed that the free NorthStar experience was just up and down and not the full 360 like when you have to pay for it. The ship is beautiful.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Very disappointed in the main dining room menus. The executive chef needs to be more creative. The International menu was a loser for the most part, unless you make better choices. Quite a few nights we chose to eat elsewhere due to poor menu choices. When going to a table with a white table cloth, and set for a formal meal, you dont expect to see burgers and macaroni and cheese. And we are not sure why there was an Indian dish everynight on the menu. Italian night they had osso bucco and prime rib....suggest making that two separate nights. Disappointed you took off you "Classic Choice" that were there everynight before. Service in some areas was questionable but that probably means more training is necessary.
We enjoyed our once a day international coffee in the 270 Cafe. That might be something you consider on all cruises for Diamond and above.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
I used the fitness center and my wife walked the track. We enjoyed our trip in the North Star. The Sportsflex is definitely a keeper. That was always being used. The hamburgers and onion rings were fantastic and thats where hamburgers should be........not in the main dining room! The bumper cars were fun.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Every night was watched an excellent performance. We have never seen such a great performance as "The Book" on a ship. The technology used to make this show was so great as were the performers.
Children's Programs
Elderly Adults traveling alone.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Dining Room.....Overall we had exceptional waiters except for the first night when we had to ask for pepper, sour cream and horseradish. This was brought to Ozcur (head maitre d'), attention and it was ok after that. This action put Raymondo (head waiter) on alert. He was probably doing his job but he became almost annoying asking us how our appetizer was, how our food was, how our desserts were.......it was way too much! As for Maria and Lawrence our waiters, they were excellent. Maria was always pleasant and smiling and Lawrence entertained us with a card trick before we left the dining room.
Room Steward - We rarely saw him but our room was always clean, bed made in the morning and always fresh towels, etc. We would still prefer to have our room picked up and refreshed twice a day instead of once a day.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Great Ship layout except having to walk through Wonderland and Izumi. I would recommend someone design a backdrop for the windows at Giovannis. For the money you pay to eat there you shouldnt have to look out a life boats.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our cabin number was actually 10136, not 12280 for this cruise. The layout was great and our room was always clean. Still wish the stateroom attendant came by 2 times a day.
Ship tip
We were not happy with a couple of the excursions, nor the price, so to avoid the hassle of buses we are leaning towards hiring private tour guides.
We did an excursion to two towns and we thought it was so bad we asked for a refund. The bus ride was 1 1/2 hours. The guide took us to the first town, walked us up into the middle of the old town in front of the church, said a few words and said we could either walk around there or follow him back to the direction of the bus. Once there he walked us down to the marina, and pointed us the direction to walk around for a half hour, back on the bus and another 1 1/2 bus ride back to the ship.
We visited the Mysterious Drach Caves of Palma and it was a great excursion. There was also a visit to the Majorica Pearl Show Room which was ok but not necessarily much interest to us.
We did a private tour with Viator and had a wonderful day visiting highlights of the town and a trip to the beautiful Notre Dame. We also went to the Foret' Communale de Cassis for some beautiful photos of the towns below and around the bay. Then we went to the Port de Cassis and had lunch. Excellent day and the guide was very good.
We took an excursion to Catherdal Square. Very nice tour. Then a tour around Relia Piazza Signoria and then a nice lunch of salad, pasta, bread, wine and panacotta for dessert. Our tour guide was very informative.
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