Panama Canal Transit on The Star Feb. 16 - Mar. 2 Observation

It's been a while since I have done a Trip report, but this is more of an observation of what we experienced on the NCL Star.

I'll have a few questions to ask and will go over the good parts as well as the bad. As you can see by my previous cruises, we have used NCL exclusively and will continue to use NCL. In fact we're on the Jade this September.

The Cruise was the 14 day Miami to Los Angeles Panama Canal Transit from February 16 to March 2 on The Star, a first time on this ship for us.

The Good :

Food, as always is a subjective topic and many have their own tastes. So this is more of an observation of what we seen and experienced. Again this is based on what we (my DW) observed. Because we're Platinum, we chose Cagney's and La Cucina for our two dinners. Both were very good, Cagney's gave us the best Filet Mignon (8oz) we have ever had---- VERY good. But La Cucina was so good we booked a reservation the next night with DW's Sister and Hubby. I had the Beef Carpacio, Osso Buco and the Choc Torte for dessert (getting hungry thinking about it ;)) DW had Breaded Calamari and the Grilled Shrimp... Delicious !

O`Sheehans was another winner, tho there were a few instances with the temp. of some of the foods served were not up to snuff. For example cold Scrambled Eggs in the Express Breakfast, I liked the fast service but at least try to make them fresh. Having said that, after bringing it to the attention of our waiter/server, it was rectified immediately.

Versailles (main dining room) and Aqua always had an excellent selection of choices in their respective menus. But both were not without their issues and while not "deal breakers" they will be mentioned later on.

Biergarten, Sorry, never got to it. Was either closed or shoulder to shoulder with passengers when ever we tried so we passed.

Topsiders bar/food, had some very good Ice cream and the Burgers were more than I could handle. But we were only there twice to eat and it was more of a "while we're here lest grab something" type of a meal.

Wait Staff , were generally good. But La Cucina,Versailles and Aqua were standouts for me, with some issues unfortunately. These will be mentioned later on.

Cabin Steward, was excellent. "Gooday" what he preferred to be called, went out of his way to make sure we were happy. Can't say enough about the whole team on our deck, all made a point of asking how our day was etc.

Bar Staff, Fast and Smiling. Never had any issues in any of the bars we "visited". UBP came in handy and was put to good use. :cool:

Photography Staff, were more than accommodating helping us with a photo that needed touching up etc. We purchased a Port Hole frame which they were more than happy to insert our selected photo.

Casino Staff, were always there to help lighten my wallet but thank goodness for the Bar Staff. They did ease the pain some !

The Bad (sort of ?) :

There is always a "bad" no matter where you go or what you do. So while singularly these did not ruin our cruise, grouped together as the cruise progressed, it did start to cause us to wonder What next.

Embarkation, this was our first time in Miami and we were excited to arrive as soon as possible. In fact, I received a call from our personal travel agent asking us what time we would like to board as she had received a call from NCL who wanted to know. The earliest time offered was 10 am, past experience told us it would probably be later than that, we agreed to that time.

After arriving at the port at 10:25 am on the Hotel Shuttle, going thru the security scan. Then after going thru the booking process we were given Group 7 Boarding tags. Boarding did not not commence until 12 noon which we found unusual as we have never waited that long on previous cruises. But we chalked it up to being a new port for us and this how things were done here. ( so why were we asked what time we would like to board ? ) Port of Miami - Hint, instead of using the PA System to make any announcements, try utilizing the 7 Big Screen Monitors located strategically thru out the Cavernous Waiting/Boarding/Check-in area. Everyone had the "deer in the headlight look" after each announcement. "What did he say?", "Did you understand that?" was all we heard around us. Confusing to say the least.

Not until they announced "Group 1 now boarding" (right after the Haven pax were called) did they figure out to keep it short and simple so the masses were able to understand what was being said.

The Haven N**i, Let me explain this name. Haven Guests were sequestered in their own room, completely understandable. But there was a NCL female employee (Concierge I believe) that needed to make the rest of the hall know that Haven Pax have Priority Boarding privileges. Again, I understand that whole situation. It was the attitude and tone used that earned her that Label. Group 7 now Boarding was announced, off we go. Just as we were about to turn the corner to enter the short walk to the escalators........ out runs this Hobbit yelling at the top of her lungs "Haven have Priority, they must board first. Priority ! " Out shoots this little hairy arm that was close to a Karate Chop across my waist area preventing me from continuing. :o

BTW, this was the second group of Haven Pax ( 5 people) to board. As no one else was coming from the waiting area, I proceeded, big mistake ! The Karate Kid did the One Leg Crane stance and yelled Haven Must Board First ! I reminded her that our Number has been called to board, but before she could answer someone behind us started to move forward and she went Full Ninja Retard on that poor guy. We seen our chance and made a run for it with me screaming "hurry before the Haven N**i sees us !"

Buffet Food, I'm not a buffet lover, but I do occasionally like to have a quick bowl of soup for lunch from time to time. I may even try the odd dish if something looks appealing or interesting.

Not on the Star. I have been in the Hotel/Restaurant business as a Chef and Professional Baker my whole life and I didn't know there were that many ways to reinvent Meatballs ! Everyday there was a different selection of meatballs. Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Turkey. Spanish meatballs w / Rice, oh and the next day they were called Portuguese meatballs w/ Rice but with a different sauce...yummm ! Lets not forget the Meatball Soup, then the Turkey Meatball Soup. Total lack of imagination from the galley, is it because NCL has a new policy or does the test Kitchens back at head office employ McDonald's Head Chefs ?

Biggest complaint we heard from those we spoke to who went to the Buffet was the temperature or should I say the lack of it. Hot should be Hot and Cold Should be Cold, not the opposite. The consequences do not need to be explained here, but there were lots of complaints form many pax near cruise end complaining about getting the Aztec Two Step. ( understanding what Ports we visited was probably the reason, this needed to be mentioned)

Yes this is subjective, and as explained at the beginning this was an Observation. I'm sure there will be some, no, many of you with a different opinion. Just please keep in mind this is what I seen and in some cases actually did attempt to consume.

Guest Services, Started out fine but as time went on, we started to have some minor issues that became rather annoying.

Reservations Desk: Made our two reservations for Cagney's & La Cucina that were 3 days apart. Went to Cagney's first, then checked our time for La Cucina the night before we were to attend. Good thing I looked at the receipt, we were booked at Cagney's again for the same time. Called down and had it corrected, no big deal you say. It isn't but, when you spend a few minutes discussing with the person taking the reservation what night to go to La Cucina instead of Moderno (her suggestion) how can you get that wrong ?

Doesn't end there. My DW and her SIS decided to book the NCL Shuttle to LAX together a few days later. DW asked for the 8:20 am Shuttle Time that was offered, paid for it and then asked the gentleman (Alfred) to do the exact same for her SIS. Sounds rather simple right ? She pays for it, gets the receipt and as they come walking back to us (my BIL and I) who were waiting in the Java bar, she says I just paid for a Map ! We all look at it and sure enough Alfred charged her for a map instead of a Shuttle to LAX. Back they go and after explaining, finally got it resolved. Why? what part of "Can you do the exact same for my SIS as well" was so hard to understand.

Wait, there's more. We received our letter with our Luggage tags. Lime was the color. Wait.... Platinum are Pink, our shuttle was to get a flight home at LAX before 1:30 pm, why we picked the early shuttle time. But lime was for those who had a flight that departed from 2:00pm to 3:30pm on the 9:40 Shuttle.

Our flight was for 1:13 pm.... off we go, the 4 of us back to GS to have them change our tags to Pink.

Platinum Rewards , frankly I could care less about getting Chocolate Covered Strawberries. But as a Platinum Latitude level or any level for that matter, if your entitled/promised that you will have xxxx waiting for you in your cabin at embarkation it should be there or at least be there before the ship departs. No berries. We called down to GS that evening and were told if nothing arrives by days end to give them a call back.

Went to the Latitudes desk for another topic and mentioned it to the staff and we were told that there was a supply issue and that there was supposed to some waiting at the next port. Day 2 of our Second sea day, our Choc. Covered Berries arrived. Must have been helicoptered in. Too bad 2 were nice and the other 2 were mushy.

Latitudes Party, I need some help here so if anyone is up to date on any new NCL Policy concerning these functions please let me know. In all of our previous latitude get together's, there was a good representation from the Captain and his Management Team. Not all could attend of course but there was always a representation of the Galley, GS, Housekeeping/Hotel, etc. Introductions of each From the Captain on down, a few draws for those attending, some Wine, T-Shirts, Nic-nacs, etc. And of course the free flowing assortment of Cocktails and Canape`s.

On this cruise, they separated the Platinum, Platinum +, and the Ambassador from the Gold & Silver due to the unusually high number of Platinum level members.

So my SIL & BIL went to theirs but it ended as fast as it started. Reason? ....only 50 people showed up and enjoy your free cocktail as your prize for showing up? being their first latitudes event they were rather disappointing to say the least.

Two nights later was our night, were we were told that due to the small turnout to the previous Latitudes party, they were going to combine both at this event ! SIS & BIL were told nothing, odd. But for our night, there were no Introductions of the Team. Enjoyed 1 glass of Proseco, some at the 4 tables we were sitting at never got anything, DW did get 1 piece of Cheese tho. Then we were given a presentation of the Cruise next Promotion ! That was it ! No draws, no chatting with the Staff, nothing. Is this the new latitudes party now ? Anyone ?

Language, we found there were more staff members especially in the Dining rooms (evening) that had a problem with communicating with passengers. So much so that DW ended up pointing to what she wanted in the menu. Mentioned this to our cabin steward and he said there was a large turnover of Staff at Miami and the ones who replaced those whose contract was over or got transferred were 90% new to working on a Cruise Ship.

In Conclusion : As I explained at the beginning, this was an observation not a trip report. The Itinerary was excellent, the Cruise itself and the Ports we visited were what we enjoyed the most and why we went in the first place.

All of the above issues I described on their own are not a big deal. But add these up all together it did leave a bad taste with us ever returning to The Star again. But that's our choice, I'm a big NCL fan, always have been and always will.

So for those who like to "Flame" and I'm sure there will be many of you, I have lots of popcorn and will sit back and enjoy the show. :'):'):') Just remember, if you have nothing constructive to say, just scroll on by. No one will think any differently of you if you do. Thanks for reading this Novel.

Thanks for the review, I will be doing this same cruise next February.

Thanks so much for the review- we will be doing the same trip only from Los Angeles to Miami on the Star April 8th.

Thanks for the very interesting report.

Thanks for the review. It is balanced and interesting.

I think NCL do us a disservice by combining the Latitudes representative role together with Future Cruise Sales. On our recent sailing the Latitudes party was also split in the same way, so that may be standard now. The Captain and plenty of senior staff attended, but we also only received one glass of sparkling wine, water or orange juice, along with some cheese cubes and dry biscuits (crackers) placed on the table. (Platinum and P+ gathering, but Silver/Gold received exactly the same.) Not very welcoming for loyal guests.

Then the Future Cruise lecture! We were there for our loyalty, and that should have been the focus. The rep was wearing the wrong hat, more interested in promoting sales than promoting good will and thanks for loyalty.

Like you we enjoyed our cruise overall, just a few silly niggles that need not have occurred. Great service mostly, especially from our cabin steward.

We also have three NCL cruises booked for later this year, but we think we'll go elsewhere in future for better appreciation of loyalty.

Very well written. Thank you for writing this.

Keith

Thanks for the review. It is balanced and interesting.

 

I think NCL do us a disservice by combining the Latitudes representative role together with Future Cruise Sales. On our recent sailing the Latitudes party was also split in the same way, so that may be standard now. The Captain and plenty of senior staff attended, but we also only received one glass of sparkling wine, water or orange juice, along with some cheese cubes and dry biscuits (crackers) placed on the table. (Platinum and P+ gathering, but Silver/Gold received exactly the same.) Not very welcoming for loyal guests.

 

Then the Future Cruise lecture! We were there for our loyalty, and that should have been the focus. The rep was wearing the wrong hat, more interested in promoting sales than promoting good will and thanks for loyalty.

 

Like you we enjoyed our cruise overall, just a few silly niggles that need not have occurred. Great service mostly, especially from our cabin steward.

 

We also have three NCL cruises booked for later this year, but we think we'll go elsewhere in future for better appreciation of loyalty.

Well we're on the Jade this Sept. was hoping this new format was a fluke, and was only done by the Star's latitudes manager. If this is the way of future Latitudes gatherings then I will pass. I don't go for the Cocktails, I have the UBP so there's no incentive there. We go to meet the Staff and mingle with other pax, but there's no time to do that now. "Get them in close the door so they can't leave, give em a drink then push the Cruise Next !" No thank you, I already know about the cruise next and I'll go get what I want to drink at a bar instead. It's too bad they've gone this route, maybe the more people that complain and avoid this event may attract some attention.

We'll still use NCL, but like yourself, we will be looking to alternative Cruise Lines depending on their Itinerary. I read somewhere (may have been here) that MSC will match your current Loyalty Status for any First Time cruisers with them. It's a one off to attract you to MSC, smart idea really, get you to try their Ships to compare Loyalty Program to others. Some will change, some may not.

Thank you for replying and to the rest of you as well. Reading other posts about the same cruise and it seems many experienced the same issues we did as well.

One thing I forgot to mention, my SIS & BIL did not receive their Bottle of Sparkling Wine as per their Latitudes level until day 2 after mentioning it to their Cabin Steward.

No Robes which are standard for Balcony and Above bookings, unless this is a new policy? Plus their Steward had trouble finding coffee packets for their coffee machine to replace the ones used. Said they were hard to find, another new crew member they discovered later on.

Again, separately these are no big deal, but when added together with the rest you start to ask what next ?

Thank you for the review! We leave in 12 days for same cruise,but on the Sun. How did your departure work for you? We were going to book the shuttle to the airport on the ship for LAX as well. Our flight is just after 1 pm. Did the timing all work out for you? What time did the shuttle leave and what time did you arrive at lax?

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Thank you, I enjoyed reading your observations.

Thanks for your review. We loved the Star but it was years ago for a Mexican cruise. Sometimes times and experiences change a ship. MSC matched us to Black recently which we will enjoy in YC next year. We had to book within three years which was fine for us as we needed a break from NCL not counting the one I already had booked. The price difference was about $4,000 cheaper for MSC YC vs NCL Haven.

Thank you for the review! We leave in 12 days for same cruise,but on the Sun. How did your departure work for you? We were going to book the shuttle to the airport on the ship for LAX as well. Our flight is just after 1 pm. Did the timing all work out for you? What time did the shuttle leave and what time did you arrive at lax?

 

 

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Disembarkation was a circus to be honest. Being Canadian probably didn't help once we got off the ship. USA residents were told to line up on the right side (outside of the cruise terminal just off the ship) and all non residents were to line up on the left. Our line moved slower than Molasses in January.

After being in the line for almost 45 min. of mostly standing, then moving 5-7 steps only to wait some more was not pleasant. Then someone from the Port told those who are Canadian residents, that were well behind us and had only been there briefly, to jump the rope barrier and go where the US residents line was. Well because that line was empty you can imagine the uproar from those of us who had been waiting longer ! When asked why not those of us who were here longer, she shrugged her shoulders and kept walking........ we all loved her so much for that :mad:.

Once inside, it was a breeze, our shuttle did not leave until 9:45. Arrived at LAX about 30 mins. later, so you should have no problem catching a 1 PM flight at all. Our flight was for 1:13 scheduled that is lol. Was delayed for 1 hour, but we made it home 10 mins sooner than we were actually scheduled for ! Jet stream was very strong, so we made up the time and then some, 4 hours 6 min to Toronto ! Not Bad at all.

If I may suggest, if you can, do a self disembarkation. These started @ 7:30 am and the "coloured tags" started about 8:30 ish.

Disembarkation was a circus to be honest. Being Canadian probably didn't help once we got off the ship. USA residents were told to line up on the right side (outside of the cruise terminal just off the ship) and all non residents were to line up on the left. Our line moved slower than Molasses in January.

After being in the line for almost 45 min. of mostly standing, then moving 5-7 steps only to wait some more was not pleasant. Then someone from the Port told those who are Canadian residents, that were well behind us and had only been there briefly, to jump the rope barrier and go where the US residents line was. Well because that line was empty you can imagine the uproar from those of us who had been waiting longer ! When asked why not those of us who were here longer, she shrugged her shoulders and kept walking........ we all loved her so much for that :mad:.

Once inside, it was a breeze, our shuttle did not leave until 9:45. Arrived at LAX about 30 mins. later, so you should have no problem catching a 1 PM flight at all. Our flight was for 1:13 scheduled that is lol. Was delayed for 1 hour, but we made it home 10 mins sooner than we were actually scheduled for ! Jet stream was very strong, so we made up the time and then some, 4 hours 6 min to Toronto ! Not Bad at all.

If I may suggest, if you can, do a self disembarkation. These started @ 7:30 am and the "coloured tags" started about 8:30 ish.

Thanks Umpy!

Thank you for your review

Port of Miami has never been able to figure out how to handle boarding issues ( odd since it is the most traveled port in world)

Buffet comments are becoming very common and similar on all cruise lines

personally give me a dining room everytime

GS issues are also becoming a Industry issue it seems that all are trained in I Do Not Know instead of problem solving

Language problems are unavoidable on Cruise ships since turnover is so high, in MDR a conversation with Maitre"d will usually take care of issues even if it means moving to a new table. If a waiter does not understand your requests how can we expect good service ?

All in all great review very informative thank you

Thank you for your review. We are sailing on the Star April 8 LA to MIA through the Panama Transit.

We were on the same Feb 16 cruise and found our experience a bit different. I booked dining and shore excursions 2 months in advance, so we never experienced any issues. The 12 pm embarkation time is pretty standard on NCL. This time is even stated in your cruise documents. Turning a 2200 passenger ship in a matter of hours is quite an undertaking. We showed up at 1:30 pm and after 15 minutes in the VIP lounge we were allowed to board. We never saw any "Hobbits, Haven N***s, or Ninja retards," just professional, but exhausted crew members doing their jobs. Many who sign on to 8 month contracts that require them to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. We also had no problems communicating with any of the staff throughout the ship. 40% of the staff on the Star are Filipino, and speak fluent English.

I will agree that the weak point on the Star was the buffet in the Garden Cafe. Variety was missing for most of the 14 days. Not bad, just not very exciting. The food and service anywhere else on the Star was very good. Cagney's being the hands down winner.

I'm sure you just wanted to make your review a bit more colorful, if not entertaining, but we did not experience any of the issues that you stated your post. I was told that 60% of the passengers on this cruise were Canadian. Every Canadian that we spoke with were incredibly nice folks. You, Umpy10, might have even been one of them. Cheers!

Disembarkation was a circus to be honest. Being Canadian probably didn't help once we got off the ship. USA residents were told to line up on the right side (outside of the cruise terminal just off the ship) and all non residents were to line up on the left. Our line moved slower than Molasses in January.

After being in the line for almost 45 min. of mostly standing, then moving 5-7 steps only to wait some more was not pleasant. Then someone from the Port told those who are Canadian residents, that were well behind us and had only been there briefly, to jump the rope barrier and go where the US residents line was. Well because that line was empty you can imagine the uproar from those of us who had been waiting longer ! When asked why not those of us who were here longer, she shrugged her shoulders and kept walking........ we all loved her so much for that :mad:.

Once inside, it was a breeze, our shuttle did not leave until 9:45. Arrived at LAX about 30 mins. later, so you should have no problem catching a 1 PM flight at all. Our flight was for 1:13 scheduled that is lol. Was delayed for 1 hour, but we made it home 10 mins sooner than we were actually scheduled for ! Jet stream was very strong, so we made up the time and then some, 4 hours 6 min to Toronto ! Not Bad at all.

If I may suggest, if you can, do a self disembarkation. These started @ 7:30 am and the "coloured tags" started about 8:30 ish.

We were on this cruise too and I agree, disembarkation was a circus! Our flight didn't leave until 4:30 so we opted for one of the later groups to kill time on the boat and not at the airport. By 9:00 am they were running an hour late and things only got worse. At 11:00 am they told everyone remaining to disembark. Once our cards were scanned we walked maybe 100 steps off the ship and hit the LONG LINES for Customs. We were in line just over an hour but I think more custom agents had been added by that time. I agree with "umby", do self-disembarkation to avoid the lines!

We were on the same Feb 16 cruise and found our experience a bit different. I booked dining and shore excursions 2 months in advance, so we never experienced any issues. The 12 pm embarkation time is pretty standard on NCL. This time is even stated in your cruise documents. Turning a 2200 passenger ship in a matter of hours is quite an undertaking. We showed up at 1:30 pm and after 15 minutes in the VIP lounge we were allowed to board. We never saw any "Hobbits, Haven N***s, or Ninja retards," just professional, but exhausted crew members doing their jobs. Many who sign on to 8 month contracts that require them to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. We also had no problems communicating with any of the staff throughout the ship. 40% of the staff on the Star are Filipino, and speak fluent English.

 

I will agree that the weak point on the Star was the buffet in the Garden Cafe. Variety was missing for most of the 14 days. Not bad, just not very exciting. The food and service anywhere else on the Star was very good. Cagney's being the hands down winner.

 

I'm sure you just wanted to make your review a bit more colorful, if not entertaining, but we did not experience any of the issues that you stated your post. I was told that 60% of the passengers on this cruise were Canadian. Every Canadian that we spoke with were incredibly nice folks. You, Umpy10, might have even been one of them. Cheers!

Yes I tried to be a bit Humorous at the time this was written. Just to clarify a few things here, I may have confused some of you and probably myself ;p;p . That was the latest we had ever Embarked on any of our previous Cruises. I questioned this mainly because our personal Travel Agent received a phone call from NCL and wanted to know what time we wished to board. First time we've ever been asked this, so I said how about 10:30am. Knowing full well it would probably be a bit later, but certainly not what time we actually did. So I questioned why we were asked at all?

40% of the staff were not the issue when it came to the language problems, it was the other 60% (your figures not mine) I'm Greek, born in Canada, so I'm comfortable around those who have trouble speaking the English language, heck, even I get muxed ip all the time. It just got to be a habit to point to what we wanted in the menu and hope we got it.

As for the "Haven N**I" ...... It may have been your group we were abruptly "Halted" for :eek::*. Yes they were very busy that day and overworked. But that's no excuse for a poor attitude towards NCL Customers. I guess you had to be there to understand how the whole situation played out in front of us. I'm a really easy going guy, have spent all of my working days in the service industry. That was not Customer Service at it best. If we're are talking about it, there must have been an issue somewhere right ?

Like I stated in a few places of this "observation post" ....Separately each issue we encountered was not a deal breaker. But add them all up it became a question of what's going to happen next today near the end of our cruise. I'm glad we went, thoroughly enjoyed the ports. We also had the opportunity to experience the Port of Miami and LAX as well. Something to reconsider next time we have to visit either site when travelling. Thanks very much for contributing to this thread, glad you had a good time. We may have even met at one point during those 14 days.