Star to Bermuda 7/29-8/5

[publius]

We were on the Star to Bermuda last week and thought we should post a quick review. It was our first cruise on NCL. We had been on Royal Caribbean once (Enchantment last year) and Carnival once (Ecstasy in 2004). We traveled with our 7-year-old son and some extended family; total of 8 in our group.

 

We were in an inside stateroom on deck 9 forward. It definitely felt smaller than on previous ships. The furnishings seemed nice enough and in good condition, but the shelves were very dusty -- could write "wash me" in the layers of dust. The air conditioning in the stateroom barely seemed to work. They sent a technician up when we called guest services about it, and it was a little better after that but not much. The bathroom was much nicer than the previous ships, especially the shower with a real door instead of a curtain. Great water pressure too. Hopefully they will upgrade to flat panel TVs soon as the tube ones in the staterooms feel like antiques by now. Also the selection of channels seemed weaker than on RCI. There rarely seemed to be any children's programming on. The steward seemed a little inattentive -- many plates, dishes were never removed, we always seemed to be short on towels, and we got no towel animal a couple of nights. He was certainly friendly though, and we found the crew to be very friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic throughout the ship.

 

We attended the M&G on the first sea day which resulted in an invitation to a bridge tour on the last sea day, which we really enjoyed. For some reason my in-laws also got an invitation to a VIP champagne reception in their balcony stateroom, and another person in our group got a free bingo card, but we couldn't figure out why they were the only ones to get those perks.

 

The food was overall good at every place we ate. We didn't eat at any specialty restaurants, just the free places, so we didn't find the food to be super special but didn't expect any more. Dinner was at Versailles one night, Blue Lagoon one night, Market Cafe twice, and Aqua three times. At the MDRs we could pretty much walk right in, even with all 8 of us never more than a 5-minute wait, but we tended to eat on the early side. That was something we had worried about a little having read some other reviews complaining of super-long wait times for the MDRs. Our son liked the children's menu, but for some reason they didn't offer it at Blue Lagoon which was a bit disappointing (also disappointed that BL doesn't have the brownie sundae on the Star).

 

I think the entertainment was the best we've seen of the three cruises we've been on. The Elements show was the best. Really enjoyed SharkBait as well. No complaints at all with the shows, except that Jorgos the magician's show spent a lot of time on basically a commercial for himself (he was much better in Elements). Plenty of seating, very nice (though the main theater had a lot of broken seats which were uncomfortable if you got stuck in one of them). The main theater seemed less crowded than the other cruises we have been on. The Spinnaker, though, was much too small for some of the shows they tried to put on in there. We wanted to see the Liar's Club comedy show but would have had to look over the heads of the many people already standing, so just left. We attended the beer tasting in the Red Lion Pub, which was fun, but it was slightly annoying being told at first that they needed 6 people to do it, then fifteen minutes after the scheduled start time were told that the event was about to be cancelled because they actually needed TEN participants. Apparently enough people finally showed and the tasting proceeded, just a bit late.

 

One evening in the theater we ordered our child the non alcoholic drink of the day. He complained that he didn't like it, and we assumed he was just being picky. A while later the server came running up our aisle shouting something about "bad stuff" in the drink. Yep, they had served our kid a rum cocktail. He did bring the correct drink to us but by then our son had no interest in blended drinks. We called guest services later and complained about it but never heard back. It did end up saving us money because after that our son only asked for flavored water and soda!

 

Our child adored the kids club. "Caution" and "Super" (at least that's what our son said they were called) were wonderful with the kids. He was always having such a great time there that he did not want to leave. The circus where the children actually got to perform in the main theatre on the last sea day was a very special touch. Our son was so excited to learn real circus tricks. They seemed to be quite the face paint artists, I could have lived with a little less face paint in all of our pictures. We also did not appreciate our child told he'd go to jail for screaming or not picking up quick enough. They must have been joking but he did not get it. We had to reassure him that he would not end up in the brig. Some staff left the ship while we were in port leaving the kids club very packed and chaotic towards the end of the trip. We used the service less when it seemed like the staff to child ratio was excessive in our opinion. Our son lost a baby tooth during bingo on the last sea day. Kind of freaked him out at first but the good news was that, as it turns out, the Tooth Fairy can make it out into the middle of the Atlantic.

 

Bermuda was absolutely beautiful. The weather turned out to be much nicer than we had expected (barely missed a big thunderstorm heading out of NYC too), and the beaches were amazing (our favorite was Jobson's Cove, where we saw some huge tropical fish -- Horseshoe Bay was nice but crowded). We spent the first day at the beaches and visiting Harbour Nights in Hamilton, the second day taking a taxi tour of the whole country (more was open in St. Georges than we expected on the holiday) and a sunset catamaran excursion, and the third day shopping and visiting the Maritime Museum in the Dockyard. We'll definitely be coming back to Bermuda someday!

 

The overall experience, in my opinion, was pretty much on par with Enchantment of the Seas last year and definitely better than Ecstasy. Carnival Ecstasy was smaller and felt older even then, Star and Enchantment are close to the same age but both well-maintained. Enchantment seems maybe a little more elegant and Star a little more contemporary, but both very nice. Not sure yet whether we prefer Freestyle dining or traditional. The flexibility and variety of options on the Star was great, but the old-style MDR is more majestic and we enjoyed getting to know the waitstaff over the course of the cruise.

[redpatti]

Loved the review! Thank you!

 

I'm sailing on the Star on Sunday. Can't wait!!

[vivavegas]

Enjoyed your review! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us!:)

[happythoughts]

Thanks for your review. I'll be sailing in a couple of weeks. Trying to decide if harbour night is worth the treck. I think its on the same night as the family deck party. Did you do both? Did you and your son enjoy Hamilton nights?

[HelenaCruiser2012]

Thanks very much for the review!

 

We'll be on Star in a few weeks, Deck 9 Forward - Rm 9599. Was this your cabin? DH and I like the room to be on the chillier side, so we're really hoping that the A/C works well!

 

Also, did you have any problems finding deck chairs, or did you find some great places out on deck to hang out? What about the quiet area I've read about here and there?

 

Thanks again! :)

[AttilaTheFun]

Thanks for your review! I'll be sailing in less than 2 months now and cannot wait!

[DeeT]

Thanks very much for the review!

 

We'll be on Star in a few weeks, Deck 9 Forward - Rm 9599. Was this your cabin? DH and I like the room to be on the chillier side, so we're really hoping that the A/C works well!

 

Also, did you have any problems finding deck chairs, or did you find some great places out on deck to hang out? What about the quiet area I've read about here and there?

 

Thanks again! :)

 

I was on the same cruise as the OP. Agree with alot of the comments made. That's terrible about the mix up with her child's drink. I would have been very upset.

 

The deck chair situation is very bad. If you are not out there EARLY you will not get a place to sit. So I went out before 7 am on sea days and claimed our lounge chairs. Went to breakfast and then headed out there for the day. Sad but it was the only way to ensure you had a seat.

 

Bermuda was beautiful. Also hope to get back there some day. We had issues with room steward not being very attentive (I really can't say I saw him more than once or twice and had to call a couple of times to get our room cleaned at all) but for the most part really liked the Star. Rest of the staff were very nice and even enjoyed the food in the MDRs.

 

This was our first time on NCL after one Disney and three Carnival. Would for sure sail on NCL again.

[publius]

Harbour Nights in Hamilton: We enjoyed it but don't know what the deck party was like for comparison. They had bouncy castles and slides for the kids. And we liked seeing the local street vendors. Even if they had a better party on the ship we preferred to get some more local flavor!

 

The deck chairs were most definitely a problem on the cruise. Even the quiet area was all filled up. We did most of our hanging out on our family's balconies. We did try every day to get deck chairs but apparently never got up early enough. (we do like to sleep in when on vacation)

 

We were in cabin 9021. We like our room on the chilly side, but it was barely comfortable the entire time. We did not spend much time in our stateroom aside from sleeping. We did notice our family's balcony staterooms were very cool each night. Even with the balcony door shut you could feel very cold air coming from the a/c in their room, whereas the air coming from our a/c felt barely below room temperature. Hopefully, you will get a room with a better a/c!

[Waterloomarc]

Thanks for the review! I'm leaving on this cruise in 3 weeks so I'm boning up on all the reviews. It will be my first NCL cruise as well.

 

I've read several reviews mentioning the broken seats in the theatre. How are the seats broken? Are they movie theater style seats that you fold down or something? I've only sailed on Carnival and their theatre seating is more less bench-style seating (I'm not describing that well) and for all the slamming we all do of CCL I've never seen a broken chair ;)

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Did you check out the gym?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[publius]

I've read several reviews mentioning the broken seats in the theatre. How are the seats broken? Are they movie theater style seats that you fold down or something?

 

Yes, they are movie theater-style seats, and most rows in the theater have one or two seats that stay folded down all the time, and sag down a bit (i.e., slanting downwards) when you sit in them. It feels like you're about to be dumped onto the floor and have to support part of your weight with your feet.

 

Sorry, we didn't use the gym.

[FREDNJ37]

Great review. We are Sailing on the Star Oct 14th.

[halos]

Thanks for taking the time to review!