Another Star 4/22/05 review! (long)

First of all, let me say we had the time of our lives! What a wonderful 8 days.

I have never written a review before, so bear with me and I will try to be as helpful as so many at this website have been to me.

My 9 yr. old son and I flew in to LAX the morning of the cruise and after about a 30 minute ride from a family member, arrived at the pier at noon. We spent about an hour waintng in lines and boarded the ship about an hour later. I was a bit disappointed in the area we first walked in to (I was expecting the atrium for some reason, instead of a stairwell). We were directed to our room, which was room 8168 aft, an oceanview and our bags were already in the hall. The room was bigger than I anticipated, with plenty of storage. It was clean and smelled fresh. Our steward, Mario, called me by name and introduced himself. He did a great job all week. We did have a CC meeting in the Star Bar on Saturday. It was so fun to put faces to names and just get to know each other a bit. I wish a member of the crew had been able to come talk to us, maybe next time.

I could go on and on about the ship. It was beautiful in every way. The crew was friendly and helpful at every turn.

Let me just rate a few things and then leave you with a few comments:

Ship-9, Serice-9, Room-9, embarkation-7, debarkation-8,

Shows-7, our favorite was Shaun Farquar, the magician. Our least favorite was the cirque pacific. We also enjoyed the local Folkloric Dance group, Newlywed game and the talent show.

Dining-8, We ate at the buffet alot. It was good and my son loved the kids buffet. The omelet station was good but always had a long line. We ate at Endless Summer which was good, but has a very limited menu. We also ate at La Trattoria. We really liked the food there. We ate in both Versailles and Aqua and found the food very good and the wait staff excellent. The pistachio soup was to die for!

Ports-B, We did everything on our own, no ship excursions. We took a taxi to the cliff divers in ACA, did the local beach in Zihuatenejo, walked over to Walmart in PV (some others in our group took the city bus to town and had a ball shopping on the main drag) and walked around the marina to the beach in Cabo san Lucas. We had a great time every where we went. We did find the vendors to be very plentiful in CSL, but they did move on as soon as we said "no, gracias".

Kids Crew-A, I can’t say enough about this program or its counselors. They were wonderful with the kids. They kept them busy and my son wanted to go to almost every session they had. He also loved the kids pool area and the free ice cream by the pool.

A few comments which I also addressed on my comment card on board.

I was not satisfied with the kids "soda" program. DS couldn't use it when he was in Kids Crew and the bigger problem was that it only included coke, diet coke and sprite. He doesn't drink caffeine, so that left sprite. Whenever he went up to get a soda, root beer and orange were also displayed, but not available. They told us it was because they were not a coke product. IMO, it should be called a "coke product card" instead of a "soda" card. Needless to say, we won't purchase one again.

About pictures...I found myself wishing I could just get a picture of my son and I arriving at a port without some weird dressed up character in it, too. Maybe just in front of a port sign or a life preserver??? But big red parrots and lady pirates are not really what I want to remember from my trip.

Other than those minor things, we really were impressed with the Star and her crew and would love to do it all again. Thank- you to all those who have posted your insights and knowledge. You made our cruise all the better!

Hi there, great review of the Star. We are thinking of going on it in 06. I know you said your son loved kids camp.

Can you tell me what times it was available? We always are off the ship all day in ports, but husband & I like a little alone time in the evenings to see shows or eat dinner alone. Did they offer any kids dinners?

What type of activites where there? How where the Sea days? Was the ship crowded? Thanks for your help. You can email me TamiHost3@msn.com

Thanks,

Tami

Enjoyed your review! Especially good to hear about the kids' program since I travelled with my friend in Feb. on the Star and she is in her 40's :)

Interesting about the soda card, I don't use it but that just seems wrong. Glad you mentioned it on your Guest Comment card.

Embarkation was very quick and painless when we did it, but I totally agree about the stupid character pics at some of the ports. Frankly, they took SO many pictures that they could not all be displayed properly and more often than not, you couldn't find yours in the mass groups.

We did shore excursions for 3 of the 4 ports and enjoyed them all (Mayan Palace Pool party in Acapulco, the John Huston Hideaway in Puerta Vallarta and Whale Watching in Cabo San Lucas, with a sidetrip to Cabo Wabo).

Is Kieron still the Cruise Director? He was hysterical and we loved his Live at 5 from the pub! :)

Thanks for the report!

Cathy

Thank you for that review! We're taking our 4 kids(13, 10, 8 & 8<twins> then) in Jan. on the Star. Good to know about the soda card, I guess we won't be getting one either for them. Great review.

Jenne

Hi there, great review of the Star. We are thinking of going on it in 06. I know you said your son loved kids camp.

Can you tell me what times it was available? We always are off the ship all day in ports, but husband & I like a little alone time in the evenings to see shows or eat dinner alone. Did they offer any kids dinners?

What type of activites where there? How where the Sea days? Was the ship crowded? Thanks for your help. You can email me TamiHost3@msn.com

 

Thanks,

Tami

Tami, Kids Crew was open for 3 sessions a day on sea days. 9-12, 2-5, and 7-10. They also had group sitting after 10:00 for an addtional cost. We never used it, so I cant remember the price. On port days the schedule depended on the hours we were in port. One day they had a morning session and one day there was an evening session. Basically if we were in port, they were not open. One night they do a special buffet for the kids, so mom and dad can have dinner alone. They had two evenings where the kids crew took the kids to the show. I have the kids schedule for 9-12 yr. olds and I will attempt to email it to you. The ship was full, but only 100 kids on board. There were never more than 15 in the session for the 9-12 yr. olds at one time. It was perfect. They said they had 800 kids the month before! The ship itself was congested at times in certain areas, but we could always find a seat in the buffet, and at the kids pool area. If you decide to go, you'll have a great time!

Corri