Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

oregoncruiselover

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    43

  • Joined

 Content Type 

Posts posted by oregoncruiselover

    Just off the Star

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Day two:

    Cruise day. We got up and went and had breakfast. We both had to take our rental cars back to the airport. It took us about 45 min to get completely done. Before the cruise I had a hard time figuring out how we were going to get from the airport to the ship. We finally decided that taxis were the way to go. We ended up needing two taxi vans. They cost 45 $ each. Not bad in my opinion. My friend told them that we were going out of Long Beach, but that was not right. Thank goodness I read cruise critic because I knew we were going out of the Port of LA . We got to the Port about 1030 am .1418879949763.jpg.f5aa728c156376c86e8a0841cba815ed.jpg I was surprised how many people were there. So we got in line. Eventually they started letting us go into the security area. After that we were sent to another line. We were the only ones in this line. The lady at front of the line made us wait while all of the latitude members checked in...( at least that's who I think they were. I might be wrong). It just seemed like when it looked like it was going to be our turn someone from the other line would show up. So we finally got to the check in counter. My kids are getting crazy at this point. It would be nice if only one of the adults had to stand in line and the other one could do something with the kids. Our oldest son has autism and he just wanted to leave the area. Finally we got done and we were set in a waiting area. The check in person said that the concierge was not ready for us. We probably waited hour. Finally a lady showed up and said something that we could not here and about 10 or 15 people got up and left with her. 20 min later she came back and got us and took us to the same area she had taken the others. Eventually they set up some small snacks and drinks. We waited in this area about 30 more min. The concierge then came and got all of us at once, probably 30 or 40 people. It was chaos, people were rushing and shoving. We had a stroller so they made my husband and I split up. He took the elevator and I took the escalator with the rest of the kids. We were all escorted to the steak house for lunch . It was very busy. One of the staff members said that usually not everyone comes to the restaurant at once. The food was ok. My only real complaint was that my 5 year old ordered Mac and cheese and they took forever to bring it. It did not come until we were all done. This upset him. My husband ended up taking our baby out of the restaurant while he finished. During lunch they announced our rooms were ready. We went down to see our room . We were on deck 11 room 11520. We loved our room and loved our butler Made. He was great. We were so tired that we turned in for the evening..

     

     

     

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Forums mobile app

    Just off the Star

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted · Edited by oregoncruiselover

    Here goes a longer review of our trip!

    Some background we are from Oregon (go figure my screen name). As a family we love cruising. This trip it was myself, my husband, and our five kids. Our oldest is 15 years old and our youngest is 22months. So we had a wide range of experience. We were also traveling with our good friends, they also have two kids that are 13 and 14 years old. Both of us had a two bedroom suites.

    Day one:

    We flew out of Portland and into Long Beach. We used JetBlue. First time and we loved them. Great small airport and very easy to get off and get our bags. We then rented vans and drove to our hotel in San Pedro. We stayed in the Pacific inn. It was ok. We had two room , what they called suite. I would never call this a suite. Just a motel in my opinion but good for the price. The owners were gone and had a friend helping them and the gentleman was very nice. 1418775708761.jpg.58e18a8ea123937b7d834d3283eba9c0.jpg

    A photo of the kids in front of the hotel. Our rooms were not ready so we went over to the Pacific restaurant next door. I think that's the name. It was excellent. So good we went back again. A must do if you have time. After that we went back and went to bed. More to come.

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Forums mobile app

    Just off the Star

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your vacation. I do, however, believe that you were at the port way to early. Your E-Docs have a time on it and if one gets to the port to early there is nothing to do but wait and wait and wait. With kids, it's even harder.

     

    People are not off the ship until 10 a.m. Then it takes time before they can start boarding. If you decide to cruise again I'd follow the suggested time to get to the port. That will help in your waiting time, your kids won't make you crazy and at least the start of your vacation will be a good and relaxed one.

     

    Harriet

     

    I have to look again but I don't think our edocs had a time. There were lots of people already there when we arrived.

     

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Forums mobile app

    Just off the Star

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I think you are right food is a hard one to judge because everyone likes different things. It just seemed like there was lots of things that didn't work for us. It also seems like most of my frustration had to deal with things that involved the kids. Like the process of checking them into the kids club was crazy.

    Did you leave from LA also?

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Forums mobile app

    Just off the Star

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I just wanted to take a moment to do a quick review of the Star. This was my first ncl cruise and I was not impressed. First off we were in a two bedroom family suite, and we were traveling with our kids. Our youngest is almost 2. We were at the port at 10 am and we were not let in until almost 1130 to register. Then we were stuck in a waiting area for another hour. My kids are going crazy at this point. Next we were taken to the suite waiting area and waited another 30 min. Finally we were allowed to go aboard were they usher everyone that is in a suite up to the steak house. The staff is overwhelmed at this point and one of them says usually everyone is not there at the same time. We were so exhausted at this point and could barely get over the fact that they screwed up our order. Don't get me wrong we loved the extra space in the room and we loved our butter Made . He took great care of us. Overall the food was horrible. We had just a few good meals. I am not sure we will be doing another cruise with Norwegian. Maybe I am wrong and a different ship and different home port might fix some of the problems. If anyone has questions let me know and I will try to answer them.

     

     

     

     

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Forums mobile app

    What to do in mazitlan, cabo?

    in Mexican Riviera

    Posted

    We are cruising in a few weeks and I just don't know what we should do. I feel like there is lots of information on Caribbean cruises but not so much for Mexico. We have small children. They like the beach we also would like to do shopping. What are the port areas like? Any suggestion will be helpful.

     

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Forums mobile app

×
×
  • Create New...