My time on the 'Star"

Well I thought I would write a quick review of my cruise experience rather that start my preparation for the new school year. I apologise in advance if it gets a bit longwinded but once I start talking cruising I find it hard to stop.

The Ship: I found the ship very pleasing, the decor and facilities are good (except the toilets are not too reliable). I miss the open promenade deck of the sky and previous ships but this style of the sun and star are what we have now. The ship needs a laundry. At times the show lounge appeared too small and you needed to arrive early to get a decent seat.

The Entertainment: Guest entertainers were Nikki Bennett ( a singer who missed her show due to seasickness but appeared later in the cruise - she was quite good), Mike Harris (a comedian I had seen before but still funny and managed to perform his show with 10 mins notice after Nikki got sick) and Eric Beddard (a magician - must admit missed his show, I don't like magicians). The Pacific Star entertainers were excellent (Mum who is a seasoned cruiser thinks these are the best dancers she has seen on board any ship) the vocalists Joanna Bagley and Benjamin J McHugh showed lots of personality in their performances and I enjoyed them immensesly. Shona was Cruise Director and Adrian the assistant, both excellent. Trivia was great fun (we won 3), only one lot of seahorse racing. marriage game and perfect match (great as usual), dance classes, earring making, sports etc etc. When trivia is held in Casablanca lounge be early, there is not much room. Captains Club cocktail party was good, Mum scored a bottle of Moet for the most cruised passenger. Theme nights were retro, Australiana and island night.

The Food: Great and too much of it as usual but so nice not having to cook or wash up. The buffet areas on Lido were particularly good and I never had to queue. The others had dinner in the Steakhouse once (I am a veggie) and they loved it well worth the $15 for something a bit different and for us away from the kids in the restaurant. Which brings me to my biggest complaint, no kids dinner, I don't blame the kids but dinner is so much more relaxing without them in the restaurant it is too late and long for them after a full day. Also sad to see that they have gone back to a hard version of a pavlova yuk sent it back. Also sorry to see no dancing in restaurant or themed decorations (not even the chicken dance).

The ports of Call: Noumea, oh well Noumea is Noumea hohum! Got some nice night shots of the ship though. Lifou - we did the Cliffs of Jokin tour very nice, although I was too lazy to walk down the steps. I don't enjoy Lifou as much since they stopped the BBQ lunch ashore but still a pretty place. Mystery Island - a lovely spot and I loved the new photo opportunity of the cannibals cooking pot. Port Vila - one of my favourite places, we shopped and shopped for our duty free and souvenir presents. We didn't do a tour as we have toured a few times before but everyone who did enjoyed their tours. Wala Island - my first visit here what a lovely untouched spot we had an old man show us around. Champagne Bay - again my first visit and my favourite beach, the water was lovely and the surrounds shady and inviting, frogcruisers highlight here was buying a Wests Tigers towel for $10. (After we went back on board here we decided to got to top deck for a spa had the whole deck to ourselves just like we were on our own personal ship, lovely).

Fellow passengers: A diverse mixture of people with over 300 kids on board. I even had 8 of my ex-students travelling in a group of 12 on a booze cruise but all good fun. It is always nice to talk with different people and everyone is always friendly (although there was one woman we dubbed have-a-chat that I must admit we tried to avoid).

Embarkation/Disembarkation: Embarkation quick and painless, except the new credit card signup that slowed things a little. Mum was taken on board in a queer wheelchair device and swore never again as gangplank too steep for her. Disembarkation was a different story long and drawn out with many bags, including mine, checked. Then a 45 min wait on bus before we left for transit centre, it really reinforced that this was the end of the holiday.

All in all this was another great trip and we are already in the planning stages for the next one or two.

I did warn you that I would rabbit on, oh well sorry.:)

Sorry forgot to mention no cocktail or mocktail specials of the day - sad:mad:

She also forgot to tell you how hard it is to get out of some of the unisex loo's.

Chaz Mum and me(frog) were playing cards and Suey left to pay a penny after a long time we thought she was talking again but Suey returns very stressed she was locked in the loo. This really was not funny for her and she was very stressed pressed the call button for help nil came.As the name states it is unisex and along came her knight in shinning armour. He promise after he got her out not to tell any-one else. But as he came out he was seen tell all on his table.POOR Suey:D :D :D

I hope they get the kids dinner thing sorted out as the Sunday News has a competition for a trip on the Star in May and I AM going to win it. I rang a friend who just come back before Christmas after winning one on the Sky and they are going to enter this one as well. The trip goes to Dravuni Island, haven't been there, Yasawa-I-rara:D, Apia, haven't been there, Suva:( Vava'u:( and Nukulofa:(

Thanks for your review Suey. Sounds like you had a great time. Fancy running into ex students. It sure is a small world. BTW what year/subject do you teach?

I'm not into magicians either so I hope we don't get one. Nikki Bennet's pretty good though but it's a shame her husband (country singer Mike Carr) wasn't on there as well. He's great.

As for theme nights, I hope we get a Country & Western night as I believe that is the only time they do any linedancing. I go linedancing once a week and I love it. I bet Australiana night was good though. Retro would have been good too. When do your schools go back? Ours go back on 31st Jan. I'm not surprised you enjoyed Champagne Bay. I went there in '86 and thought it was absolutely beautiful. I'm hoping that we can get there somehow when we go to Luganville but we'll just have to wait & see.

Karen

Thanks for your review Suey. Sounds like you had a great time. Fancy running into ex students. It sure is a small world. BTW what year/subject do you teach?

I'm not into magicians either so I hope we don't get one. Nikki Bennet's pretty good though but it's a shame her husband (country singer Mike Carr) wasn't on there as well. He's great.

As for theme nights, I hope we get a Country & Western night as I believe that is the only time they do any linedancing. I go linedancing once a week and I love it. I bet Australiana night was good though. Retro would have been good too. When do your schools go back? Ours go back on 31st Jan. I'm not surprised you enjoyed Champagne Bay. I went there in '86 and thought it was absolutely beautiful. I'm hoping that we can get there somehow when we go to Luganville but we'll just have to wait & see.

 

 

Karen

I teach maths (the subject everyone loves to hate) and this year I am teaching Years 8, 10 & 11. The kids start back tomorrow we had 2 student free days at end of last week - one of which I missed.:(

I teach maths (the subject everyone loves to hate) and this year I am teaching Years 8, 10 & 11. The kids start back tomorrow we had 2 student free days at end of last week - one of which I missed.:(

My daughter loves maths as I did when I was at school. My youngest son quite enjoys it too but as for the older one....well......not so much.

Karen