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NCL Star - Panama Canal Sailing - January 19-February 2, 2018


PopPopBear
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My wife and I enjoyed our Panama Canal cruise. Who wouldn't, huh? Especially those from the colder climates. :cool: Like all cruises there is the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly. Fortunately no ugly on this one. I would rate as a 3.5 out of 5.

 

  • Ship was clean but is showing wear and tear here and there. I try not to compare too much from our previous trip on it in September 2016. Needs some attention in various places although not glaringly so other than a few places. Pool tiles missing on wall and some type of rust colored crud as well, threadbare carpet in places to name a couple.
  • Most of the crew were friendly and helpful although I received conflicting information on several occasions. This happened with the photo gallery staff and the activities crew. Nothing that created any real problems just showed to be a lack of communication from their managers. The staff in the restaurants were friendly and attentive.
  • For the most part the food was slightly above average although we did enjoy our two dinners in Cagney's and one in Moderno. Teppanyaki, O'Sheehans's, Aqua and Versailles were just average. The Market Cafe was above average considering it's a buffet.
  • Our cabin (9116) more than met our needs. It was clean and in good shape. Our cabin steward was not the friendliest but took care of the cabin in good order.
  • Itinerary was amazing. It helps when most of the ports are places you've never visited.
  • Embarkation was a longer wait than I ever remember experiencing on any cruise. While long it wasn't a bad wait. I think most passengers were seasoned cruisers and knew how to roll with it.
  • Disembarkation was smooth with very little wait.

The two big downers were the pre-cruise hotel (Pullman Miami Airport) and the transfer to LAX after the cruise. We will probably never use the NCL pre-cruise hotel again. For the price we certainly didn't get much value. The hotel had a funky smell and the staff were not very friendly or helpful. The restaurant for breakfast only offered the buffet at $23.00 a person although they a menu posted. Makes no sense to post a menu if you aren't going to allow guests to order from it. It seemed like it wasn't necessary to have paid for the transfer from the port to LAX. There was no list of names of who could board the buses so it left us to wonder who had paid and pre-arranged for the transfer. I don't mind paying but since they were directing passengers going to LAX all to the same area and there was no check-in process it lead us to believe there were some getting the transfer for free. At the end of the day not a big deal but still pretty rotten if that's the case.

 

 

Like I mentioned we enjoyed the cruise and will continue to cruise with NCL but room for improvement is there. Hopefully, they will receive candid survey responses, reviews, etc. then take notice and act accordingly.

 

 

Anyone else on this same cruise want to share their thoughts? I would like to compare notes, so to speak. :D

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What time was your flight out of LAX? What time did the NCL transfer bus leave? Did you see any Uber's or taxis? Trying to figure out best way to make a 1:05 flight..thank you

 

 

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What time was your flight out of LAX? What time did the NCL transfer bus leave? Did you see any Uber's or taxis? Trying to figure out best way to make a 1:05 flight..thank you

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

 

Our flight was at 2:25. We were off the ship a little after 8:30 and on the bus at 8:45. The bus left a little after 9:00 and we were at the ticket counter about an hour later. I didn’t notice where the taxis and Ubers were as we were being herded out of the terminal and focused on finding the bus. Hope this info is helpful.

 

 

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Our flight was at 2:25. We were off the ship a little after 8:30 and on the bus at 8:45. The bus left a little after 9:00 and we were at the ticket counter about an hour later. I didn’t notice where the taxis and Ubers were as we were being herded out of the terminal and focused on finding the bus. Hope this info is helpful.

 

 

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Yes thank you, so did you use the NCL transfer bus?

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Our flight was at 2:25. We were off the ship a little after 8:30 and on the bus at 8:45. The bus left a little after 9:00 and we were at the ticket counter about an hour later. I didn’t notice where the taxis and Ubers were as we were being herded out of the terminal and focused on finding the bus. Hope this info is helpful.

 

 

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how far did you have to walk to the ncl bus?? I thank you in advance.

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