Review: STAR 3/14 (*LONG*)

Ok...so I still have yet to have a bad cruise.... :p

My husband and I just returned from our Mexican Riviera Cruise aboard the NCL Star (sailing week of 3/14). This was our 11th cruise, 3rd on NCL. We are 46/47 years old and sailed with my MIL and SIL.

I’d like to start by saying that the changes made during F-2 are very nice; the beds are more comfortable, and the champagne at boarding is a really nice touch and gets the cruise off to a great start. The entertainment aboard the Star was definitely the best I have ever experienced in my past 11 cruises.

Paul Baya, the Cruise Director did an excellent job during the week.

The magician, Murray was awesome as was juggler, Romano Frediani.

We absolutely loved Second City. (On our first NCL cruise I didn’t think SC was that hot, this time was a LOT better) Cirque Pacific was excellent,

and my favorite show, Band on the Run was a great way to finish off the cruise.

As far as entertainment around the ship, I wanted to say how much we (and it seems many others aboard) enjoyed Jana Seale. We spent quite a bit of time relaxing at Gatsby’s Bar listening to her guitar/vocals and I purchased 2 of her CD‘s. We enjoyed the band, Xcite out at the pool as well. The only entertainment that really wasn’t all that great was the Jimmy Buffet party at the pool as we sailed away from Cabo San Lucas. This was a real disappointment. I really enjoy ‘cruise’ type music while cruising….Calypso stuff, Reggae, Steel Drums sounds, Mexican Fiesta type party music. Jimmy Buffet would have been perfect, but I think the band played one Jimmy Buffet song, the rest were very odd choices for a cruise….Pink Floyd’s, The Wall??? I thought that was a bizarre thing to play on a cruise ship, personally. The rest of the set wasn‘t much better. (Ok, that takes care of my one complaint for the entire week of the cruise). Since this was a Spring Break Cruise, there were a lot of kids on the ship. All of them seemed to be having a great time. I think there were over 500 kids under the age of 17 and an additional 100 or so between 17 and 21.

This was our first Mini-Suite and we loved the extra space and the nicer bathroom.

Fountains is always a must see and we enjoyed it so much.

The Crew talent show always impresses me as well. I love this on my NCL cruises!!

And let us not forget Quest….it’s really insane, but during spring break, it’s even more insane! So much fun!!

We are never bored for a second when we sail NCL and the great activities are just a small reason why we come back.

NCL has an amazing crew. So many people were wonderful to us all week and I would like to mention the ones that were way above and beyond awesome. We’ll start with the cabin stewards. Rosario Santiago and Mario Lanete got our luggage to us quickly, introduced themselves and made sure to be very present all during the week and making sure we had everything we needed. Many times they would see me walking down the hallway juggling several cups of coffee and they would open my cabin door for me. They always greeted us by name, with a smile and a warm greeting. I like this. It’s good if your cabin is perfectly clean and you have your towel animals every night, but when your stewards go that extra mile, remembering your name and making themselves present, it makes the cruise all the better. Ross and Mario were one of the best set of stewards we have had to date.

On our arrival on the ship, we went straight to Versaille for lunch

Floyd was our waiter. We loved him instantly and when we found out he was working in Le Bistro, we made sure to make a reservation there at one of his tables.

We usually seem to have a bartender that is special for us on each of our cruises, and this time we had not one but three. Emmalia, Gusti and Martin Smith were also a step above the rest, making sure to walk by us often to make sure our glasses were not empty and they remembered our names. If they spotted us while walking around the ship, they always came over to greet us. This kind of attention from the crew members makes it feel like being on the ship is ‘home’. The only problem with this is that it makes debarking all that much more difficult at the end of the cruise.

The food in the dining rooms especially the specialty restaurants was excellent this week. I wanted to say that the buffet at breakfast was actually really awesome too. I’m not usually fond of the buffet food but for some reason the breakfast foods were really, really good. I liked the addition of the scrambled eggs with the ham and veggies mixed in and the French toast was pretty darn fabulous for buffet. The lunch buffet was just OK; decent…like I said, it’s buffet food. Breakfast and dinners were excellent so the so-so buffet lunch was fine, and besides there is always Blue Lagoon (which my DH absolutely loves). We had dinner one night each at Cagney’s ($20), Le Bistro ($15), La Trattoria ($10), and Teppanyaki ($25). The Versaille dining room was used on two of the other three nights, and Aqua on just one. I actually missed out on dinner in Aqua because that afternoon I went to the Martini tasting…..let’s just say that didn’t end well for me ;).

$15 to taste 5 martinis and it was more than just a taste. My 72 year old MIL had no problem downing them, I, on the other hand discovered that I can NOT drink 5 martinis.

My DH and MIL and SIL did have a short wait for Aqua that night but they said it wasn’t bad. That was everyone’s least favorite dinner meal as far as service/food, so it seems I didn’t miss anything good. :p

I still enjoy Traditional Dining on other lines but I have to say that the numerous options on NCL have me sold. Despite the fact that there is a surcharge for some of these dining venues, I have to say that I really like this aspect of NCL. Our next NCL cruise will be a 14 day cruise and having all those dining options really keeps you from getting bored with the food. I truly believe that you do get your money’s worth in these specialty restaurants. We usually tip generously here, although I know it’s not expected of us, we can, so we do.

While I was on this cruise, my Grandmother passed away at the amazing age of 94. It seems that while docked in Mazatlan, neither my DH nor I had cell service. I had a shore to ship call from my daughter as well as an email sent to the ship. Guest Relations contacted me about the email and offered their phones for me to call home and told me that if I needed any help with anything to let them know. They were genuinely concerned. It was very touching.

Despite the fact that we were sad and stressed with what was going on at home, I can’t say I had a bad cruise….it was actually still really awesome. We just understood that making the best of it was best. It would benefit no one if I got miserable and sat in my cabin crying for the remainder of the cruise, so I kept my mind occupied by doing as much as possible….NCL offers a lot of stuff to do and the distractions helped me get through this sad time.

We had no scheduled plans for Cabo San Lucas.

Although I do recommend having an excursion planned at this port, I think this was a good thing we didn‘t this particular day. For some reason tendering seemed to be an issue that morning. It was taking forever to get people off the ship. I imagine that people who had scheduled excursions were not happy with this. We got off the ship about 1:00 in the afternoon and just wandered around and stopped to have a drink at a Place called No Worries. (I do NOT recommend this place for any drinks other than beer. The drinks were really awful. I had a Pina Colada that was HUGE but it tasted like Frozen skim milk. There was no coconut or pineapple flavor and definitely NO alcohol in there. My MIL and SIL had Miami Vice’s and their drinks were no better). We also just wandered to shop a bit, but if you have been to Cabo before, you know that it can be tiresome dealing with all the people pushing you to buy something. It’s difficult for me because I can see how desperate some of them are and want to buy EVERYTHING….next time I will book an excursion.

For our stop in Mazatlan, we booked a tour (4.5 hour) through NCL and it was very good. Usually we book excursions that involve snorkeling or something a little more ’active’ but we wanted to make sure we did a few things a slower activity level with my MIL who is now 72. The Tour was Guided by a man named Cesar and he was fabulous. We went around Old Mazatlan and also the Golden Zone. The tour was informative and interesting. We went inside the beautiful Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception,

We saw some cliff diving (not as intense as the cliff diving in Acapulco, but still amazing)

and saw the Paplanta Flyers…It’s something I recommend highly; a ceremonial ritual that will amaze you….full of color. LOL…this was a big deal for us as we left Maine, which was white with snow for months….some color was good for our souls

Mexico, in general is just so full of color.

Okay, this is an awsome review and love the pictures. Wow, thanks for taking the time to write this and post it. Enjoyed reading and looking at it!

In Puerto Vallarta, my DH and I went on a sailing excursion (booked also through NCL) and it was FABULOUS. It was the VIP Sail, through Vallarta Adventures. I can’t even begin to tell you how great this was and I highly recommend it.

This crazy, adorable, dimpled Mexican was named Ernesto. I wanted to take him home with me. :)

All in all, Mexico is just my favorite place to cruise to. I love the people, the tradition (the food!!). We always enjoy ourselves in Mexico. I know there is a lot going on in Mexico, especially the in bordering US states, but we felt safe while there, and the troubles that are shown on the news every night were never a thought in our minds.

We had NO issues with long waits for a table or making reservations at all…unless you count a 10 minute wait for lunch after embarkation the first day. We were waiting outside Versaille. We had been standing there only about 10 minutes. You could tell that things were a little chaotic for the crew in the dining room. When I think of how quickly they get thousands of people OFF the ship and then have it ready for thousands more to board again, I am always amazed. We were waiting patiently when someone behind me started making a loud fuss. My DH and I rolled our eyes and I thought, “Great, not on the ship 10 minutes and someone is already being an……(you can fill in the blank). Anyway, we were seated and I forgot about it…until we went to the CC Meet and Greet the next day when I was shocked to discover that the person who had made such a fuss was a CC member. I didn’t stay at the Meet and Greet long. The past Meet and Greets I have been to have been wonderful. They have been opportunities for CC Members to meet each other and socialize and we’ve made life-long friends through these boards and the Meet and Greets and I am grateful for it. This Meet and Greet was nothing but a complaint fest. The Hotel Director and Food/Beverage Manager were basically put under attack when they came in to say hello. I left quickly. Life is too short, in my opinion, for petty negativity. I was very uncomfortable with it and although there were probably folks there that would have been wonderful to meet, I just couldn’t stick around. The ‘energy’ wasn’t too good and made me physically uncomfortable.

My favorite part of most of my cruises is always the crew. This ship was no exception. The Cabin Stewards, dining room and bar waiters all knew us by name and really made a fuss over us and made us feel spoiled. That, in a nutshell is what makes a cruise good for me and NCL again, was able to do this for me. I spend most days of my life taking care of other people, so it is absolute BLISS for me to be spoiled and waited on and taken care of for a change once in a while. Add blue skies and a big, beautiful ocean and I am in heaven…..5 months until the next one. I hope the time passes quickly.

Okay, this is an awsome review and love the pictures. Wow, thanks for taking the time to write this and post it. Enjoyed reading and looking at it!

Thank you :)

Angel, I thoroughly enjoyed your review (like always) and all the pictures you shared! Thank you for the feedback.

By cruising the Star, you got a glimpse of the Dawn (her sister ship), with many similarities in decor and layout. We love the crew on the Dawn and I have no doubt you'll have a repeat experience on your next cruise. ;)

Our sincere sympathies for your loss!

Thank you for the wonderful review and photos -- I love positive reviews!!

Please accept our thoughts and prayers for your family's loss.