Star Review Oct 17-24

[jkss000]

About Us

We are a middle class family of four, who somehow ended up taking my father in law as well, so a group of 3 adults, 2 kids, age 6 and 12. I like to think our tastes are pretty simple, and we don't expect much. We are not used to large fancy hotels, or restaurants, but have been around California, and have learned to recognize the better offerings. We have been on two cruises as a family, and one as a couple, on Carnival and RCI. All past cruises have been to Ensenada/Catalina/San Diego/Los Angeles. Ive gathered this at work, so pieces of it may not flow well as it was written a bit at a time when possible.

Embarkation

Drive down was great, quick and painless. Parking was a bit confusing as you must drop off baggage, drive around in a circle, then park, $12 a day. But even a schmuck like me figured it out. We arrived at around 11:30a. Bags went off to the porter, we grabbed our backpacks for carry on and joined the line. Note we packed two 12 packs of soda, with just bag labels slapped on, also a case of bottled water with just a label slapped on, all arrived promptly to our rooms. The line was a bit slow, but no worse than our past cruises. Our NCL rep was new and wasn't familiar with the process, so it took longer than usual. I was using one credit card for two rooms, and it seemed difficult for her to understand, then to process this request. We waited only 20-30 minutes after this prior to boarding. Most in the line were rather friendly, with the exception of one of the NCL reps who was constantly yelling, pointing, and seemed impatient to all those who didn't instantly jump at his command. Once on board we did the shuffle past the juice/champagne and were herded to the buffet. I asked if there were other options open for lunch and was seemingly reluctantly told of Versailles being open for lunch, so we were off to Versailles. On the way we bought a soda card for my 12 years old, the crew member was misinformed and advised me there was two choices, adult soda card, or youth pass for smoothies. I argued and argued with him but he said there was no kids soda card, only the kids passport smoothy pass. I purchased the adult for him at $50 something but later complained and was told the kids was $40 or so, and they refunded the overcharge.

Versailles/Aqua

The MDR was my choice for most dinners if the time frame worked out. Service was ALWAYS excellent, I have no complaints there. IMO the MDR attempts to get a bit too fancy. Id rather have a bit more basic home cooked style with the same excellent service. Of course you may chalk this up to simple fancy food ignorance on my part. The food was never bad, but many times strange, or boring at least to me. Many of the dishes were new to me and my family, and I did use this time to experience these new dishes. The banana chilled soup was very good, reminded me of a banana smoothy. The breakfast was typically good as well although repetitive, eggs benedict with the smoked salmon was right up my ally, although some of my family thought the opposite. The steak, was good, in a denny's marie calendars kind of way, perhaps a one notch above. Not wonderful, or to write home about, but not bad. We ordered cocktails from the MDR on one evening and it was painfully slow, not recommended. It seemed as though the typical server staff had nothing to do with cocktails and you had to wait on a specific drink server to find the time to come to you after your request. Leg of lamb, Mahi-Mahi, shrimp cocktail, ceviche, chilled soups, and others Ive probably forgotten are recommended. Kids can order most anything typical at any time such as spaghetti, chicken, etc normal kids stuff, just ask.

Room Service

Ive got to rate room service as hit and miss. Our first experience was bad, across the board. Wait time was 30 minutes, as stated. However, we ordered a couple different sandwiches, and a burger. The bread on the BLT was so hard, you could not bite the bread. Same was true on my sandwich which was supposed to be a hoaggie. The bread on all three plates were clearly, very over toasted/old or combination of. We were told the PBJ was very good, however room service said peanut butter was unavailable. We tried again later in the cruise and were given a jelly sandwich. Maybe the recent peanut butter scare caused the lack of? Our first bad experience was at approx 10pm. On another two occasions, we ordered the burger and a sandwich very late as well as chicken fingers. It seemed perhaps the very late orders, 2am or so, were fresh to order? Im not sure but like I said it was hit and miss, sometimes old and very stale, late at night seemed fresh. I didnt figure out the system, but I believe room service may originate from the blue lagoon? On one of the late occasions the burgers were good but the chicken fingers were totally different than anywhere else on the ship, and gross, like I said hit and miss.

Blue Lagoon

Not bad for a quick fried or greasy spoon type meal. A bit Strange as you sit down, with little assistance in seating, but service will come up and take your order, however you are supposed to get your own drinks, condiments etc. Seating is weird too, with small tables and these little bean bag chairs, almost like its designed for kids or teens, a bit cramped as well. I had heard good things about the fish and chips and tried them on our first or second day. First bit was good, but it seemed like the fish was freezer burnt or thawed incorrectly as it was tough. Real tough in fact, almost chewy. We had ordered three fish and chips at our table and about half of the pieces were like this, some didnt have that problem. I dont think these are battered on site, at least I doubt it, but there is/was some quality problem with the fish and chips on our cruise. This is one of the places you can order omelette's or fried eggs for breakfast. All other breakfast appears to be identical and perhaps even pulled from the buffet. When ordering breakfast here, the pancakes, sausage, french toast etc, are identical to those served on the buffet and in my experience were warm not hot, just as on the buffet. If these aren't pulled from the same location, then they are definitely the same beginning product as the buffet. The server explained the "fresh egg station" wherever that is, can take up to 20 minutes depending on how backed up the station is? He explained orders without fresh egg request (scrambled powder) are pre made and served right away. Strangely he explained this as if the wait would influence us to take the pre made choice. For me breakfast was difficult after a few days as no matter where I went, you would see the same exact things. I found myself eating a bit of fruit or cereal and waiting for lunch instead.

Buffet

The main buffet was good, I mean for a buffet, even more so when considering there are a couple thousand passengers at sea and the food is still rather edible. Nothing was gross in my experience, most food was good, a bit plain maybe and cafeteria/sysco food style. There is an excellent selection of good ripe fruit, which was a big plus. The deserts were boxed/frozen fair typical of a buffet, and most of the ship actually, but good overall. When you can catch the poolside grill fresh and hot, I believe it to be the best option. Pool side in the morning they offer the same breakfast fare, but with an omelet bar that is worth the effort. Lunch time they offer the same frozen disc burger as the blue lagoon, but sometimes bbq'd with the same hot dog choices every day, but for one or two occasions if you can catch it early, fresh and hot, the burgers and dogs are pretty good. They did some BBQ chicken which was pretty good (actual bone in chicken over fire, not the chicken pieces offered with the sauce on the side via buffet) One day they also did a large wok stir fry that was a nice change from the same ol' and was tasty, broccoli beef type stir fry. I found myself in the kids section grabbing the chicken fingers when I couldnt seem to find or approve of something else, a good safe standby. Heck, in a pinch you can live on the chicken fingers from the kids buffet, and the scooped ice cream cones by the kids splash zone in the back.

Drinks

One of my favorite services next to the food obviously. Drink service is second to none. Whatever you want you can have for a price. No one said the drinks were cheap, but at least they arent trying to short pour. Beers are $4.95 plus 15%, so like $5.69 each, buy 5 get one free along with an annoying helmet with $5 deposit, that you have to return with the receipt to get your $5 deposit back. No receipt no $5, but overall the helmet system does work well. Not to mention it is fun to run around the ship intoxicated with the helmet on, and play a little crash up derby. Well at least I thought it was fun, wife and father in law laughed but didn't stay to close. Mohammad was my favorite poolside server. A prophet he was, making my swimming with my two boys and time on the slides with them, an even more divine experience. Fufu drinks are $7-$9, depending on the drink and location. Yes, I said location, different areas, use different glasses, some souvenir, some small regular glasses. (Also see my post on Vita Mix to understand variance in your juice based cocktails.) Some servers said it was the same price with or without the souvenir, others, when asked said they wouldn't charge me for the souvenir cup. In the Spinnaker lounge, the drinks were much different than poolside, and prices seem to alter depending. The only price that stayed the same was the daily special. My wife asked for no souvenir on the daily special, bartender poolside said no matter same price, some guy in a white (officers?) uniform overheard, came to my wife and explained the bartender was wrong, he went to the bartender and the drink was $2 cheaper. However this was the ONLY time anyone discounted a drink due to the lack of souvenir cup, I finally gave up trying to figure it out, and with a small tip, the price of the drink stayed reasonable while the requests of recipe, float or anything else our hearts desired were immediately filled. Ultimately we still had more souvenir cups than we cared to bring home. Its amazing what a few bucks here and there will do to your fufu drinks. Hurricane with float of meyers, Pina colada with float of meyers, mmmm. Im not sure but I think a float of meyers would help out nearly any drink, in between helmets of beer of course. With a friendly bartender the screwdriver is a reasonable choice, at $5.75 or so, and the vodka martini is a bargain at $5.75 also. Heck, mix your own darn juice for that price. Seemed like simple well drinks were under $6, fancy cocktails were upwards of $7. If you like better tequila like we do, $7.25 for about a 1.5-2oz shot, which is about an average price really, but it does add up over a week. I must admit though, I am a cheap skate. This worked well for me, your results, morals, and opinions may vary. Rummrunner, wonderful tool, look them up. Im not suggesting to use this method the whole cruise, but just supplement with it, or be a tight ass and use this method the whole cruise, but I still enjoy the service and feel of a fresh made pro drink. Bring a couple of the plastic fancy "water" bottles all the green health nuts carry around to save the earth by not throwing away the typical water bottle (no offense green health nuts). These "water" containers can be used to transport juice from the buffet to your room/pool to be saved/used with your rumrunner liquid, or you can use room service as well, but the bottle is a nice sealed option that fits easily in the fridge. You can also use the "water" container to carry any comparable liquid to the pool for the day, or other location. My server was nice enough to offer a bucket of ice to keep my "water" container cool, and would bring me an occasional beer to help wash the "Water" down. To each his own, but it is very convenient and very simple. When in Mexican ports, coming back onto the ship, in the event you have liquor you have purchased in your bag, they will search or x ray and see the liquor. They will then inform you to check the liquor at the table just inside. I simply nodded my head, went to the table, mentioned the terrible weather and walked on by. Sams Club offers fine tequilas in Puerto Vallarta at extremely cheap prices, cheaper than in the duty shop, or other shops in Mexico to my knowledge. Don Julio was 397 pesos, about $29 out the door, where it is about $45 here. Even on the ship it was $42 or so. Cassadores was only about $17, nearly $33 at California Sams club, its a true bargain excellent margarita mixer. Mexican ports sipping high end inexpensive tequila from my water bottle on ice, with a beer/fufu here and there and occasional tip to my server, is my idea of a vacation. Enough rambling about drinks-

Vita Mix (or whatever that machine was called)
A fountain drink mix machine, using a syrup added to water on the fly to produce a great or not so great tasting beverage. The Vita Mix machine is responsible for the orange juice, apple juice, tea and perhaps others. When ordering screwdrivers, the vita mix can play havoc as the orange juice is sometimes more or less strong depending on the machine and flow of proper syrup. For anyone who drinks Ice tea, Ive seen the vita mix tea mix being refilled and well, its simply gross. Honestly the entire process doesn't seem right, but for me personally the orange juice turned out ok, while the apple juice was sweet like soda or something, not right at all. The tea, well, there is no tea, there is only this brown liquid that comes out, strange tasting and labeled as tea, but its not. But as suggested by others, take a bit of time, a mug of hot water, one tea bag, and a cup of ice. A minute later, you have iced tea, that tastes like, iced tea. My son became of a fan of the chocolate syrup mixed with the milk, for a chocolate milk treat, I didn't try it but he thought it was the way to cruise.

Entertainment

My favorite was the second city group. A very fun show, easy going and entertaining. I only saw the first night opener of the broadway type stuff, it was entertaining but not my thing really. We did see the comedian, I forget his name, his show was alright, although he constantly seemed to be race based throughout his show. I enjoy a racial innuendo but not 45 minutes of them. He drew racially based comparison from nearly every walk of life and event, it became annoying. I planned on seeing his R rated show but didnt make it, perhaps he is better suited for that type of show and his comedy comes through better. Nice guy though I did chat with him by the pool, strange as he wasnt outgoing at all but yet he was a stage comedian, but quiet in public?

Casino

Played some craps, but typically the table was closed. Limits were at $5 for craps, and some BJ at $5 too. Didn't do well, but I don't blame the casino. Played some slots, actually won more often than I do at my local Indian casino. Casino is a bit small though, I remember the carnival ship from my past having a larger casino, this one works out like an afterthought. I enjoy poker and wanted to play in a tournament and asked what the costs were. Ive lost some of the details in my memory as I lost interest from his explanation but it was something like this. $100 buy in, with a rebuy or two at $100, and a 25% rake. When I heard multiple rebuys and 25% rake, I quit listening. Blackjack tables seemed relatively full most of the time. I would recommend the casino at sea sign up. You get a coupon book, it gives you $20 for $10 on slots, very easy to use and sign up for. Also, a couple of match play coupons for different tables such as craps, blackjack and roulette. If you play these wisely, you can spend some time and at least break even maybe walk away with some lunch money.

The kids programs

We have a 6 yr old and a 12 yr old, both boys. Their idea of fun consisted of sliding down the waterslides until their skin was raw, then eating multiple desserts, followed by an evening doing activities with their buddies in the kids program. We really had a good time, but it wasnt really with credit given to the kids program. The kids program really didn't do anything wrong, but it surely didn't shine. The program schedule they give out wasn't followed, and typically they group all of the kids in the same room. So my 12 year old if it wasn't for a close aged girl or two enclosed in the room with him, he became board with all the 3-6 yr olds running around. Now there were one or two nights they did separate things between the ages, but it seemed dependent on how many kids were there overall. We did take advantage of the late night after 10:30 kids group for a fee. The fee is $6 for the first child, $4 for the next from the same family per hour. We did the extended hours three times, and two of the times, the kids program counselors seemed annoyed to have them there. In one case, the counselor advised against leaving our kids as there weren't going to be many kids in after 10:30 it seemed clear they didn't want to be bothered. It wasn't a huge deal though as we would only leave them till 11:30 or so, as we typically are early risers anyway and most entertainment was over by 10 or so.

Ports

Due to Hurricane Rick we didn't do too much at the ports. We took a van tour on both Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, while missing Cabo altogether due to the hurricane. The van tours were cheap and last minute ideas. Id rather walk around the streets a bit, and we feel we missed that, both ports we were back on board the ship earlier than planned. I cant recommend or not recommend either tour as it was not typical of a port day due to the crazy weather. We ended up in El Eden in puerto Vallarta, tried the plate of seafood, not bad, and looked around a bit. Very touristy and I felt I was being taken advantage of due to the prices of the food, but overall not terrible.

Cabin

So this trip we moved up to the balcony, boy what a treat. The balcony is approx 4x8, fits two chairs nicely, and offers a glass guard for your viewing pleasure. The views, and feelings from the balcony are a true bright spot, and I feel I will always due my best to afford the balcony in the future. The rest of the room was well organized and worked. The beds are too short for me as my feet hang off about a foot or so, but they are comfortable besides being short. You have a small closet space, a small refrig that I cleared of all minibar stuff for the cruise, and a few drawers. Small, tight but well organized and it works out. The shower was exceptional, large and very roomy. I remember soaping up and spinning on my carnival cruise, but I could actually relax in this shower, heck wife and I could even fit, tightly. The toilet area, is separate on the balcony rooms it seems. The toilet area, is very short, with only inches between the front of the bowl and the wall. Many times I found myself uncomfortably close or running into the wall. The sink was well organized with storage underneath and above, and worked out very well. I actually liked the sink, faucet and shower very much, very efficient but comfortable. The tv is tiny and offers very little entertainment value, there were movies on but I couldn't or chose not to figure out the time frame to watch one. We did leave the info channel on often channel 2 I believe which let us know how well Hurricane Rick was bombarding us in the event I had sipped too much from my "water" bottle to realize the swells were evergrowing.

Pool

The pool was great, you have a heated larger pool with stage overlooking and two slides one on each side. The slides are fun and even adults make it down as long as you lay flat and lift your feet a bit, I wasnt kidding about raw skin though, after a few trips, it can get a bit rash you up. There is another pool in the back of the stage, that is cool, perhaps unheated? But I preferred the cooler water in the warm humidity. Then there are four hot tubs one on each corner. There is also one or two more hot tubs on both ends of the ship, as well as a small kid zone, which is for kids under 4'6 or so according to the sign. There was a band from Trinidad called Xcite, or Excite that we enjoyed but they rarely played according to schedule for one reason or another. There songs were good and fun, at least until the song choices became repetitive, Yea Mon.

Crew

I really got a kick out of the captain and his almost strange accent comedic sean connery voice. Its strangely amusing, but I think he sees the humor in it, and his voice was even used in a comedy event on board. I dont feel we met a rude crew member the entire time. Some were more friendly than others, some were exceptional. Perhaps half, are more than willing to help with a smile or at least lack of a frown, the other half are smiling, laughing making comments, and truly enjoying themselves it seems. Every dining room experience was exceptional, with fast courteous service. On occasion they seemed a bit rushed, but who wouldn't considering.

The BILL

So, 5 of us, $420 in prepaid tips/fees. $135 in the store. $40 or so on a kids soda card. $884 bar tab for three adults. So for those that think that my importation of adult liquids on this ship cause some sort of financial difficulty for NCL, think again. I spent about $600 cash, but this included $100 parking costs, as well as extra tips, gambling, and cash in ports. Overall, I think we are in about $2000, plus ticket costs.

Overall

Geez, what do you expect? A week or two prior to departure, all this could have been had for $200 plus taxes, what a deal! Even at $500 each, its like $70 a day, Im not sure there is a better travel value. The star is overall a well oiled machine. I found quirks with the ship that some may or may not even notice but in the big picture, I couldn't find much to fix. I was ready to get off the ship on the seventh day, but I think this is my own personal problem, the food did bore me a bit, but it wasn't bad. I chose not to eat the last day as I was just plain sick of seeing the same buffet cafeteria and food, be sure not to over visit that buffet, I was burned out quickly. The ship is full of sales pitches, but I think I expected that and was prepared. Nearly any activity is related to a sale of one sort or another, but isnt that to be expected with a ticket price that doesn't even cover your food and fuel? With a fully sunny iten and a balcony, it would be my first choice of vacation again.

[thecatsmeow]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a nicely detailed review. Reading it I was dreaming of our next trip on the beautiful Star.

Joyce

[ictcruiser]

Great review. We were on the Star the week prior to you and I was wondering how things went with Rick giving you a ride. Sounds like you had a great outlook while on your vacation!

[CRUZIN TOM]

Excellent review. we will be on the Star agin in March. We have been on her 3 times. Very reliable ship and gret crews over the years. Be sure and stay away from BINGO.

[jkss000]

Originally Posted by CRUZIN TOM

Excellent review. we will be on the Star agin in March. We have been on her 3 times. Very reliable ship and gret crews over the years. Be sure and stay away from BINGO.

3 times, what a deal. I think it would be better for me the second time, but thats the way I am, I would prefer to be familiar with the ship, so Im out shopping for the next one. I learned my lesson with cruise bingo on my first cruise, but I hear NCL is worst, geez that poor asst cruise director constantly trying to sound enthused about ITS BINGO TIME!!! Had the weather been better, it would have been absolutely unforgettable, but even with Rick on our trip, we still made the most of it. What drove me to write this review was the negative reviews out there, reguardless of carrier, its amazing what some people are dissapointed with considering it cost a few hundred each. During the cruise on the first few days thats what I kept thinking to myself, my god what else can you possibly expect for that meager ticket price? Oh and btw, we did recieve an on board credit for missing our port in Cabo...................$9.05 LOL

Id pay $9.05 just not to have to repeat the memory of missing the port, which wasnt announced until we were at the tender position, then the cap came on and made the announcement, up until then we were discussing all our cabo plans.

[Duff Man]

Very enjoyable review. Had to laugh though, as the bar bill for DW and I probably surpasses your bill sometime on day 3! (o.k., that also includes a bottle of wine with each dinner LOL ).

My funny but fond memory of the Star was a cruise we took on one of the Star's first sailings after her maiden voyage. The recorded music at the pool (no band then) only had SIX songs, that looped over and over and over and over and over . . . We still laugh about it when we hear The Gap Band's "Dropped A Bomb On Me"

[STEVENJAN]

We'll find out Saturday. 1st time NCLers. Thanks.

[ruffs]

We were on the same cruise that week, had a great time as well. We had almost the exact same experience and would do it again in a heartbeat.

We did eat at almost all the specialty restaurants though, and had absolutely wonderful food. Cagney's had fabulous appetizers and perfect 10oz steaks, Le Bistro was perfect all around, Tex Mex seemed good, we loved Il Trattoria so much we ate there twice (the price was also good at $10 each/$5 kids). At Cagney’s the waiter offered to cut our kids steak for us, that’s never happed for us at any restaurant on land. We tried Aqua once as well. I thought that was really good too, though I wish I could have been there the night they had Turkey.

Teppanyaki was fun and the food was great but the experience seemed strangely rushed with two chefs and the entrees cooking before the appetizer was served. The food was _really_ good and the kids liked it so it was still a good experience. I read here somewhere that you could order a regular entrée there and ask them to add scallops; they didn’t have a problem with that for us. I love scallops!

I enjoyed the cappuccino after breakfast and dinner as well.

Breakfasts were OK, it would have been nice to try Cagney’s out for breakfast, I would have paid for that. We had such an insane amount of good food that I’m not sure how we could be hungry for an awesome breakfast anyway.

We also had fruit, juice (mostly for mixers), danishes, and a pot of coffee delivered a couple mornings just by filling out the room service card the night before. Just had to write in the pot of coffee and the cranberry and no complaints delivering it. It was always good. I stopped doing that after a couple days as we couldn’t eat that much any more.

The wings at the Blue Lagoon were as promised, very good. Needed extra sauce for me, but like everything else we asked for they brought it to us quickly. The hamburgers there did not impress us, but others on the cruise liked them so I’ll let them have all of them.

I tried to find the pretzel rolls in the Red Lion, but could not seem to be there at the right time. I finally found them at the buffet once so I picked up one. My son loved it as well. I ended up using one as the bun for a sausage, very tasty.

We didn’t try anything else other than breakfast for room service, so I don’t know how good that could have been.

We brought our own wine onboard and paid the corkage, and did the anniversary package. We didn’t have any problems with them opening the wine for us – even at the pool or at the bar by the game room. I highly recommend the anniversary package. I even liked the canape’s. The canape’s were on very dry bread, but I think it was supposed to be that way and since nobody else in our family like them they were all mine.

We did a shopping talk about the shipboard dining (the kids idea), enjoyed being in the spinnaker lounge for almost anything (except Bingo!) so it was no big deal. The kids absolutely loved the gift they gave out if you went to the gift shop and told them you were at the talk. It was a little souvenir coin with the ship’s name on it. They were very generous with these, giving us multiple so the kids could share a couple with their friends onboard and at home.

We liked the shows, but couldn’t see as many as we would have liked.

The crew were fantastic. Our room stewards, Rodrigo and Dennis, were especially good. Rodrigo introduced himself as soon as we made it to our room, and we had towel animals every night after the first. The kids loved them all and saved them until the last day. Sorry if anyone had a towel shortage, they were all in our room.

My son (9 almost 10 years old) loved the kids club, but our 11 year old daughter was not a fan as there weren’t other kids her age there when she was. What I think they could do if they wanted to was have a very good activity the first night or early the first morning where they pretty much invite all the kids of a certain age to some sort of party so they can get to know each other early on. Maybe even do invitations given out at check-in.

All in all a very wonderful first cruise for our family despite the weather and missing Cabo, we would do it again and again. We may try out a different line, maybe on one of the other line's newer ships that can do 'Freestyle dining' but would not hesitate to do another cruise on the Star if given the chance.

[nicrang]

Hi everyone,thanks for great trip reports.Very interesting as we are going on Star in March.Just a few questions did you use kids dining area?What is the idea?Are kids supposed to eat here then chilcare while you eat?How did you go with 2adults and 2kids in a room?Shame kidsroom didn't sound that good.But I think we are on ship during spring break so I guess will be full of kids!!!Thanks for anymore advice.Alcohol from Mexico was an interesting one.Wondering what you did there?Hope you don't mind if I ask you questions as I think of things.

[orioles74]

Thanks for the review. My family of 4 will be sailing oh her next July to Alaska. I am really looking forward to our trip. It can not come fast enough.

[ruffs]

Originally Posted by nicrang

Hi everyone,thanks for great trip reports.Very interesting as we are going on Star in March.Just a few questions did you use kids dining area?What is the idea?Are kids supposed to eat here then chilcare while you eat?How did you go with 2adults and 2kids in a room?Shame kidsroom didn't sound that good.But I think we are on ship during spring break so I guess will be full of kids!!!Thanks for anymore advice.Alcohol from Mexico was an interesting one.Wondering what you did there?Hope you don't mind if I ask you questions as I think of things.

The kids dining area is just a small buffet towards the door to the buffet area with kids style seating and kids type food. It is very close to the rest of the buffet. We tended to stay away from the buffet whenever a MDR or specialty restaurant was open.

We did fine with our room, but we were upgraded to a mini-suite. At the end of the cruise we looked at an inside cabin and a penthouse, and preferred the layout of the mini-suite for our family. We could have made an inside cabin work, but when all the beds are out it will be _very_ cosy.

We did ziplining at both Mazatlan (in a hotel, very safe and nice) and in the jungle (less safe, even more exciting).

[jkss000]

Originally Posted by nicrang

Hi everyone,thanks for great trip reports.Very interesting as we are going on Star in March.Just a few questions did you use kids dining area?What is the idea?Are kids supposed to eat here then chilcare while you eat?How did you go with 2adults and 2kids in a room?Shame kidsroom didn't sound that good.But I think we are on ship during spring break so I guess will be full of kids!!!Thanks for anymore advice.Alcohol from Mexico was an interesting one.Wondering what you did there?Hope you don't mind if I ask you questions as I think of things.

The only kids dining area Im aware of is at the buffet, so if you imagine a short 12ft buffet food display with a 12 ft short table in front of it, this is the kids buffet area.
I know the child care can provide a meal in one fashion or another, but Im not exactly sure how this works. On carnival they pushed the idea more often, and you would often see a counseler with a long line of kids going to the chow line. I didnt see this on NCL, but I believe it exists, at least on some days/meals.
The kids program was more of a baby sitting service rather than a full camp carnival type experience you might see on carnival line, and as a baby sitting service it did well, it is disspointing they didnt offer more though. My 6 year old made friends and every night this week he has given me sad eyes about how much he misses his buddies and wants to go visit them in UT, and OR etc, so he had a blast.
Remember also that our cruise was third week of october where most schools are not out, ours is but we have a strange schedule. During spring break I think you will find a different experience.
We got wet in Mexico, had it been just the adults, I might have just put on a poncho and toughed it out, but with the boys, that would be suicide. So we took the first available van tour in both Matzalan and Puerto Vallarta, Matzalan was $25 each, Puerto $10 each, we did the norm, basic tour of the city, look at the church, look at this store, a couple of scenic outlooks, nothing out of the ordinary you couldnt find on any tour.
I started to go to Stone Island in Matzalan after the tour but was worried with the high tide, incoming storm etc that there wouldnt be much there after we took the water taxi, so our last couple of hours we hit the small taco stand and bar just at the port area.
In puerto Vallarta, I wanted to go to dreams and do the all inclusive for $45, kids are swimming, eating etc, adults can swim, eat and drink, all inclusive. But with the weather and the fact that when we walked to the beach, all the little hut umbrella's were under water from the storm, we took a tour again.

As to the rooms, we had one balcony 9728 with one inside room 9725 right across the hall. We set it up where there was one adult and one child in each room, until father in law weazled his way on board, then we through all the kids with him in the inside...j/k kinda. My son is 12 so I felt comfortable having him alone with my 6 yo son when I was just across the hall. We used the inside room as more of just a sleeping room, and everyone would hang out in our room with the balcony. So with three sleeping in the inside room, it was a pull down bed with a ladder and two others, and no one complained. Of course, I wasnt sleeping in that room, or I may have complained.

We have done two rooms next to or across from each other in the past and it works out great. Ive also done four to a room, and wouldnt again, one bathroom, with two kids and a wife in less than 120 sq ft is asking for trouble.