STAR - HAWAII - 4-11--4-18

Just returned from our Hawaiian cruise aboard the Star. I can honestly say that Hawaii IS the most beautiful place on earth!!! The islands were everything we dreamed they would be. Now, if we were firt time cruisers, I could say the same for the STAR. However, I have to say, having sailed on Carnival Sensation, to the Caribbean -- there was no comparison. I don't mean to dis the Star, but it was really different. I dont know that it was because of the Freestyle idea or what, but everywhere we went to eat, every night, we had to wait in line. And excuse me, but I am not interested in paying extra for what used to be included. Making reservations was a real pain, so many people, ours were at 9:30 at night!!! AND, I dont know if its because we were in Hawaii, or what but this boat never stopped rocking for a minute unless we were docked!! I felt like I was swaying even when we were walking on dry land!! On the Sensation, you didtn even know you were on a boat!! No wiggling at all!!! And NO we didnt get any cute little animals folded out of our towels. (not that that was important, but it did make youfeel special) We never saw our room steward - only twice the entire cruise. To be honest, everywhere we went on the ship, someone was commenting about something they didn't like. Wether it be that there was only one pool - which was always filled with kids, yet the kiddie pool was never filled, or that the rooms were SOOOO hot, or that everytime you turned around they wanted you to pay for something!! Then, their litle promotions!!! You could get a bar hopping card --which was a cut idea. It had 6 different bars on it and if you went to each bar, they would punch a hole in your card. When your card was fully punched, you would get a free gift!! Great idea, and it was fun. Can I tell you what my free gift was? A USED DIRTY (spotted from the dishwasher) and paint chipped off SHOT GLASS!!!!

I was so insulted! And a Hawaiian cruise serving no mangos, no papayas, and the entire boat was decorated in fake flowers and plants -- and not nice ones at that!!!

Hawaii was BEAUTIFUL!! It will never take away from that -- I am grateful we were docked each day so we didnt have to spend any more time on that boat!!

We had a similar experience on the Star on the March 21, 2004 sailing. There were no extra touches and the staff people seemed tired and unhappy. We witnessed an officer, yelling at a waitperson in Market Cafe. I did not think the yelling would ever stop. Could not tell you who our room stewards were and rooms were often not cleaned until 3:00. On our last day, our time to leave the ship was at 10:30. At 9:00, the room steward came and said he had to take all towels and sheets because his supervisor said so. We did not mind the sheets but the towels? We still had an hour and a half left plus the inconvenience of trying to get ready to go with the room steward stripping beds and such. The entire week just seemed like something was wrong...can't put my fingers on it but we have sailed with NCL alot but something was not right. No happy faces, no one seemed festive. Food in Versailles was very slow and cold especially for breakfast. Even the set to the stage shows were broken, beat up and looked like they had seen better days. It was a shame to see the Star and her staff in disarray as we sailed her in March of 2002 and could not say enough good things about the entire trip. This time though was just very different and you always had the sense that something was not right. Of course, it did not help to have this feeling and then the famous propulsion system breakage which required us to turn around from our voyage to Kiribati and return to Hawaii. The whole trip is making us look at alternative cruise lines for our next trip this summer or in March of 2005. It was just overall disappointing compared to other NCL cruises.

I agree with a lot of this, although, in total, we had a wonderful trip on the 4/4/04 sailing. I'm trying to find the time to write my long review (I came back to the inbox from heck.) I definately agree with the lacklustre crew and the annoying thing with everyone trying to sell you something constantly. The kids' club was a HUGE disappoinment, too. We did love Freestle and we thought the food ws awesome, and we had very smooth seas and a wonderful captain, but I don't think we'll be sailing NCL for awhile -- at least not until our daughter is grown up.

Legend of the Seas 8/02

04/04/04NCL Star Cruise to Hawaii

I have noticed CC's lists of 'ten best' (ships, entertainment, food etc.) used to have NCL ships showing up frequently in different catagories.

Lately there do not seem to be any NCL ships in any categories. Is this too a sign that something is seriously wrong with the product that NCL is delivering these days?

I was also on this cruise that gizzie 7 was on. I too noticed all of what gizzie7 said. I did have some waitpersons that really shined and I made sure to write their names down on a comment card for the credit that they deserve. But for the most part no smiling faces at all. No greetings when eye contact was made with these zombies. Room stewards were really efficient when it came to work performed but made no attempt to meet us or let us know who they were. Princess and Carnival stewards did this. In one case a waiter seemed upset because my whole family had declined pepper and when I tried to get up to leave he stood in my path. He was constantly standing right at our table and staring. Really weird stuff. I do not think he meant to harass us but it came off like that.

The excursion department was a whole mess all by itself. To their credit there was a change of itinerary but they were way off the mark in customer service. You needed to stand in line to find out if an excursion was sold out. A real long line sometimes. With Princess and Carnival there was a list that would be crossed off with SOLD OUT so that you could plan before getting into line. One excursion person was rude to me for asking a simple question. Latter on in the cruise when an excursion was canceled and that same person said that she would take care of it and to just give her back the tickets, the charges showed up on the bill anyway. I needed to stand in 2 lines for that one. I had to threaten to go to a higher up to avoid a third line and they still did not give me an adjusted invoice. I needed to go back to another person for that. Weak management seems to be to blame for these stupid mess ups. And the person that I had the problems with seemed not to want be there at all and she showed it.

The rocking ship did not bother me as I sleep better but yea it rocked.

The food seemed like the wackier the concoction the better it was for NCL. It was ok mostly but lots of weird combinations of ingredients.

I really hated the arguing that I saw NCL personnel engaging in. Zombie like conduct that most adhered to made me not quite feel comfortable enough to call it a great cruise. If it where not for the Hawaiian Islands themselves it would not have been a good vacation at all.

Terry

Princess Regal Alaska 02

Carnival Pride Western Caribbean 03

NCL Star Hawaii 04

Wow! This whole thread is a shock to me. We sailed on the Star twice within a year and our experiences were very positive. We sailed as recently as the end of January. We thought the Star was beautiful. Sure the decor in the Market Cafe was a little funky, but the rest of the ship was nice. We have also sailed on the Sensation and thought it was gaudy and distasteful with all its neon. We also did not care for the mix of passengers on the Sensation and heard plenty of complaining there also. The food on the Star was delicious and we never had to wait for a table in the Versailles. We usually ate around 6:30 p.m. Ate in Le Bistro and Soho and the food was outstanding. We love the freestyle. We did not develop a "relationship" with our room stewards, but did not expect to. They were very, very efficient and always made our room up in the morning when we were out and again in the evening while we were at dinner. No towel animals, but I didn't feel slighted by that. The cabins are small, but there is an efficient use of storage space. I don't know what happened to the moral of the crew, but they were very happy and friendly on our cruises. Don't give up on NCL.

Joy

Sensation, 2/20/2000

NCL Sky, 3/4/2001

Grandeur, 2/20/2002

NCL Sky, 9/1/2002

NCL Norway, 2/2/2003

NCL Star, 4/6/2003

NCL Star, 1/25/2004

Thunderbolt said something that reminded me of something else with the excursion department. We went there to ask a question, waited in line for a short time. When it was our turn I asked a simple question about one of the tours. The response was "I don't know I have only worked here for two weeks". I asked if someone else might know and she said "he's too busy". We gave up on that one. Another day with a different question, again stood in line but not for too long. Got our turn with the same person but again, she did not know the answer. Frustrated but still being kind, I asked her to kindly find out for us from the other employee there. Her response, "she won't know either, she has been here for only four weeks. Guess what, we left and NEVER booked a tour. NCL -- your loss, we did our own tour without giving you a dime!!!

Kayla's Mom can you tell me what was disappointing about the Kids Crew? Thanks.

The Star has two pools. If one didn't eat in any speciality resturants, why make reservations?

I fail to grasp the fascination with Hawaii..some beauty spots; but nothing out of the ordinary.

Every time l turned around, my two room stewards were under foot..complete with towel animals.

The shore excursion desk fixed me up with an unplanned excursion..even though it was full. I guess it's all in the way you talk to/ treat people.

Awesome Alaskan Adventure

Dream on 9/22/04

We were on the 14th March sailing of the Star and I really did not witness any of the problems you people have encountered.

Having said that we hired cars at each port as we do not like being herded on organised excursions so we did not make any contact with that department.

Our room steward and his assistant were very friendly and always ready for a chat when we met them so they are not all bad.

As far as the rocking is concerned it is not fair to compare the Caribbean SEA to the Pacific OCEAN.

Nick

NCL Star March 2004

I promise this weekend, my staggeringly long blow-by-blow review, but in the meantime, about the kids' club.....

It was the pits. Let me start by saying that I really am not the kind of person who pushes her kid off to the club -- we just have one daughter age 8 and we prefer it if she is with us -- we have so much fun together. But a couple years ago we took our first cruise on RCCI to Alaska and she begged to go to kids' club and did on the 2nd day and, well, we never saw her again... she LOVED that club so much. The had a variety of opening hours and I even gave in once while we were in port and let her get back on the ship after lunch for a couple hours while we went to a glacier. The RCCI ship just seemed great for kids -- they tagged each one of them with a wristband for the entire cruise in case of emergencies, we got a different towel animal everynight, the kids club staff all knew her name, and life was good. She came home with a huge pile of stuff she had made in arts and crafts, plus they had a deal where every time one attended club, they got a ticket and at the end of the week the kids used the tickets to "buy" hats, t-shirts, etc. They has a kids talent show and a carneval the older kids and teens put on for the little ones. She made such good friends with other kids, she still has pen-pals. She has be begging to go on another cruise....

So when I read the brochure for NCL Star, I was really excited for all of us....especially her. I read somewhere about circus camp, etc.

Now, partially our experience was different because we had a last minute itinerary change that meant we only had one sea day, but that didn't make any difference to the biggest problem - the staff attitude.

I should say my daughter was in the 6-9 age group. To be honest, the bigger kids seemed to be having more fun -- they had two very nice and energetic counselors.

Basically, kids' club was open 7 pm - 10 pm only. On the sea day, they were open for a couple hours in the morning (they watched cartoons) and afternoon, too. To be fair, my daughter enjoyed the club on the sea day, but still said it wasn't as fun as the RCCI one.

Here's exactly the rest of the program -

Boarding night - the staff hosted an orientation which consisted of them handing you a sheet to fill out and then sending parents and kids off to do a ship-wide treasure hunt. Fun. But when we raced around and got back, they had closed. NO excitement, no prizes - just a clever way to get us out of their hair.

Of the six remaining nights, two consisted of taking kids to the shows (which aren't really exciting enough for kids) and three nights they plunked them in front of videos. Two nights ina row, they showed THE SAME VIDEO! So that's five-six nights taken care of without having to learn a single kid's name or get off their behinds.

The final night, they did host a very nice pj party and have the kids color in t-shirts. But what a farce! The kids were supposed to go around getting their new "friends" to sign their shirts -- but they hadn't met anyone! It's not like you make friends when zombied out in front of a video! The staff all turned up and very flagrantly passed the tip envelope. Give me a break! (On RCCI, there wasn't even a way to tip the counselors unless you stuck money into their hands and then they protested!) They hadn't spoken to me or my kid all week but now they wanted a tip!

My daughter just hated the club and didn't want to go after the second movie night. She's a good kid and really easy to please and she wanted to like it so she kept going back to see if it got better...

They did have one dinner the kids could attend, but sign up was noon the previous day. We just weren't organized by the second day enough to know to sign up so she missed that, too.

A couple we met with no kids was telling us that they watched the counselors take the kids to one show. They said the two counselors at the back rolled their eyes and complianed about their job to some passengers.... again, give me a break - three hours work per day and nine counselors for not that many kids???

I noticed one formal night that four of the counselors were off in their sequinned dresses wandering around the ship...first time I saw them smile.

No towel animals, no kids life jacket in our cabin after three requests, no safety wristbands...hhmmmmm. I think NCL pays lip service to being a family ship. RCCI was the real deal.

Oh, and although the kids' pool should have been a hit, on part days the crew are allowed to have guests on and the two days we tried to use the pool in the afternoon, it was overrun with loud pushy crew members' kids. They had also taken over the two ping pong tables.

I LOVED this cruise and had a really good time. Like I said, I loved the food and the itinerry and the beautiful ship and especially the captain....I think the shore excursion situation was a complete MESS -- we just cancelled everything and rented cars in each port and had a ball.

But the biggest disappointment was the kids club, just because Kayla was looking so forward to it. We won't take her on another NCL cruise, I'm very sorry to say.

Legend of the Seas 8/02

NCL Star to Hawaii 04/04

TheDivineMsM

Were you also on the March 21 sailing or was it a different date?

They way that I talked to and they way I treated the excursion personal (as well as all the NCL personnel) was in a kind and friendly manor. I gave no reason to anybody for them to jerk me around or make me feel as if they are being bothered by my request. I only pushed back when pushed on. I am in a customer service field of a technical nature and will never allow what I say to my clients to make them feel like idiots even if they do not know the first thing about computers. This excursion person did just that with me and I will not stand for it.

I am glad that many others found the crew to be happy peppy people but I did not for the most part. I suppose that the ship has been through a lot and that takes the wind out of anybody’s sails but I was not impressed with many of the problems that I encountered. I could not keep chalking it up to life is not perfect. Do not get me wrong… I had a great time but I have seen better customer service from me to my customers and that is what I expect when I pay the way.

Terry

Princess Regal Alaska 02

Carnival Pride Western Caribbean 03

NCL Star Hawaii 04

To the DivineMsM, I concur with Thunderbolt in his comments about treating people properly. I treat people with respect and kindness. When my simple question could not be answered by the excursion desk, I simply thanked her and left. My second time there it was frustrating but I still acted with kindness. Bottom line, the staff is paid to know and paid to answer questions about the excursions that they sell. What the staff person should have done was said, I don't know but would be happy to find out for you. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I guess it's all in the way you talk to/ treat people <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

"The shore excursion desk fixed me up with an unplanned excursion..even though it was full. Iguess it's all in the way you talk to/ treat people."

TheDivineMsM,

So are you saying that thunderbolt and cruisingfromMN must have treated the staff poorly?

Why would you say that since you weren't there? Why would you just assume every negative experience must be the passengers fault?

I'm glad that the DivineMsM had a great time but don't appreciate the negative tone either. I have seen on another thread where she apologized for her words---maybe we will get that here too. You know it's bad enough that we even had to experience and post negative information but then to be told that it must be the way we treated or talked to the staff is really quite offensive.

By the way, we never got a child's lifevest either after asking for it several times. In addition, during the Muster Drill, I asked what our actions should be if our children were in Kid's Crew and the alarms were sounded. I was told that the Kid's Crew Staff would put lifejackets on the kids and get them to a lifeboat and we should get to our assigned lifeboat (basically the kids would be taken care of). However, I was not confident of the answer as the person had to consult several others. So, I go to Kids Crew and ask them. They provided a completely different answer which consisted of that no matter where I was on the ship, I was to retrieve them beginning first at Kids Crew. If I did not get to Kids Crew within a certain timeframe, they would take the kids to SoHo and I should then go there to retrieve them. Seems weird, they have me running conceivably from one of the ship to the other only to find that I did not make it to Kid's Crew "in time" and now I need to go to SoHo, 6 floors away in a different part of the ship all while not using the elevators and fighting all other passengers making their way to their Muster Stations. Still not certain what is the correct answer.

Kayla'sMom sure wished you had a better experience with Kids Crews. Our kids loved it and begged to go each night and for the daytime activites as well. This was true for our other NCL Cruises too. The experience described above was strange for me but they were of course, not impacted.

Just to clarify a point so, if you all should ever go again on NCL or the Star, the pool in the Spa area is available to all guests for no charge, along with the sauna, whirlpools, those wonderful lounge chairs facing the window, etc. We took advantage of them and loved it. Many think you must pay for them, so a lot of times you are almost the only ones in there. To get a locker, just give them your room key in exchange.

Just an FYI.

BTW...I'm soooo sorry you all had such a bad time. I loved the Star, but I understand that things may be all topsy turvy with the changes and unfortunately it filtered down to you all. I have confidence though that come my turn again in November, everything will be back to normal.

Aloha,

Emi

NCL Star-08/31/03 in Hawaii!

NCL Star-11/13/04 to Mexico!

Alaska summer 2005!

[This message was edited by SweetEmi on 04-23-04 at 09:30 PM.]

sweetemi - thank you for letting me know about he pool. I wish we would have known that while on our trip!! That would have been a plus. I am glad you had a good time. We still had a good time, (how can a hawaiian cruise be bad?) It just wasnt what we expected. When we sailed Carnival, we were treated like kings!! EVERYONE was sooooo nice, and you didnt feel like a customer at all, but almost like family. We just didnt feel welcome, and I thought they skimped alot. Thank you for your info, AND for being pleasant about it. Have you ever sailed Carnival? Did you see a difference?

Gizzie: No I've only cruised twice so far, Holland America and NCL. Loved them both. I don't know if I stay in one place long enough except at meal times to be treated like a Queen...lol! I'm going to put in my schedule on the cruise in November to sit and RELAX at least a couple of hours during the week...

Sometime I'm sure I will sail with Carnival - and almost changed to them on this trip to Mexico but in the end decided to stay with NCL. Now it is pretty stuck in stone because I booked (and paid for) my air and my hotel for the week before at Disneyland based on the Star's itinerary.

Aloha!

Emi

NCL Star-08/31/03 in Hawaii!

NCL Star-11/13/04 to Mexico!

Alaska summer 2005!

I am not sure why I am being criticized by MsM when there are others who share my opinion of her comments here. I guess it is because I'm new to the boards. But none the less...I appreciate the support from the others. And, in hopes of ending the war on words I will stop and say that I won't elaborate on it anymore.

Thanks Kayla's Mom for the info on the Kids Crew. I have two boys 5 & 13 and I hope the experience on the Spirit will be good for them. I will be sure to post upon our return. We sail on 5/15 which is the first sailing of the Spriit.

pattict1 -- I hope you experience is GREAT! Have a wonderful cruise.

Legend of the Seas 8/02

NCL Star to Hawaii 04/04

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pattict1:

Thanks Kayla's Mom for the info on the Kids Crew. I have two boys 5 & 13 and I hope the experience on the Spirit will be good for them. I will be sure to post upon our return. We sail on 5/15 which is the first sailing of the Spriit.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A little info that may come in handy.If you have any issues with the kids program on the Spirt see Julie Valeriote she should be the A. Cruise Director.

She started on NCL running the Kids program on the Star and got rave reviews. Last time I spoke with her she was leaving the Dawn and heading to Hong Kong to bring the then Leo across.

Seaward 1/89,Southward II 1/91,Windward 10/93,

Norway 3/94,4/96

Dreamward 4/97

Dream 12/99

QE2 4/02

Carnival Spirit 7/02

NCL Sun 10/03

NCL Dawn 2/03,7/03,2/04

No Clock = No Next Cruise

shoreguy thanks for the tip regarding Julie Valeriote the Cruise Director on the Spirit. While I don't think our kids will spend a lot of time using the kids crew, I would like them to have a good experience.

Kayla's mom,

Have you posted your review yet and if so where?