Star to Bermuda review - 9/2/12 - lots of pics and food!

[family cruisers]

I do remember leaving not totally full lol.... so of course I snacked afterwards which is fine as there are so many other choices. You don't like one, theres always someplace else to eat.

You'll have a great time!!

 

 

 

Good point... I never even thought of why they didn't bring us to Cagneys (at the time I had no idea that was even a "perk" of being a VIP). Luckily we had lunch there a few times during the trip :)

 

 

 

Glad to hear I'm not the only one that thought that!

[mitsugirly]

We will be on the Star in another 3 months and can't wait. I'm really loving your review and can't wait to read more.

[broadwaystar32]

Loving the review so far & all the pictures! Keep them coming. Only a few more weeks until my family & a couple friends will be on the Star!

 

Hope they all love the Star!

 

I do remember leaving not totally full lol.... so of course I snacked afterwards which is fine as there are so many other choices. You don't like one, theres always someplace else to eat.

 

Haha yeah, you can never ever be hungry on a cruise!

 

We will be on the Star in another 3 months and can't wait. I'm really loving your review and can't wait to read more.

 

You'll have a great time! And more is coming now!

[broadwaystar32]

Monday, Sept. 3rd - Day 2 "At Sea"

 

We began the morning by starting with some "Morning Trivia" in Spinnaker Lounge. We didn't do so well - about 8/20. I'm not the best at trivia but I really love doing it. However, what I didn't love was the "swap your paper with another team to grade" thing. I understand they want to prevent cheating, I guess, but I hate having other people look at my answers ( felt like being in school again and the teacher made you swap papers with a classmate to grade!). Especially since the team we swapped with was really competitive, and after every question said things like, "Oh, we got that one right! You got it wrong." Wow, thanks. I adore trivia but we never went back after that first one because I was just too self-conscious, and a team of 2 is hard to compete with a team of 6. Oh well.

 

After that we headed down to Gatsby's to sign up for the "Presumed Murdered" mystery luncheon happening later on in the cruise. Then it was time for the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet! This happened in Le Bistro, and we got to meet some wonderful people that were on our roll call. In particular we met a really nice couple from Syracuse that we ended up meeting up with again multiple times during the cruise. Laura, who had organized it, was very sweet and even gave each of us a little gift for coming! We met the officers, though the captain couldn't make it because he was still working on the decision of whether or not we were going to Bermuda!

 

We left right around noon, and the announcement was made - we would be continuing to Bermuda! They decided that the storm was far enough away and moving slowly enough that we could go, though it was possible the itinerary could still change slightly.

 

For lunch we decided to make use of our VIP benefit and go to Cagney's.

 

 

I started with the shrimp cocktail, which was delicious, juicy shrimp in a tasty sauce:

 

 

DH had the salmon. On the menu it said smoked salmon but this didn't really seem smoked to me. It was also huge for an appetizer. It was good though:

 

 

My entree was the bruschetta with arugula, mozzarella, and roasted red peppers. It looked a little different than what I had been expecting, since it was an open-faced sandwich, but it was absolutely delicious, with huge chunks of fresh mozzarella:

 

 

DH of course had to try a steak while at Cagney's, so he got the NY strip steak with white truffle fries. It was also a very big serving, but it was good. The white truffle fries were so good! I'm not a huge steak person but I adored those fries and kept stealing them off of his plate:

 

 

Both of us got the same dessert, which was the marinated berries and mango. This was the perfect light and refreshing dessert, and it tasted great. Only complaint: I didn't get any raspberries in mine and DH did! But he was kind enough to share some with me lol!

 

[broadwaystar32]

After lunch we were going to try and go in the pool or hot tub, but it was so crowded, especially since the pool is so small to begin with. So instead we grabbed some lounge chairs and read our books in the sun. I got a pina colada and DH got a Mexican Samaurai (basically tequila and lime juice).

 

We spent a lovely afternoon reading (we're both big book nerds), and then went to get dressed for our anniversary dinner at Le Bistro. We had reservations at 5:30. It was "dress up or not" night, and we decided to dress up at least a bit.

 

 

Another random thing I'll place here: I loved all of the artwork on the staircases. I took a lot of pictures of that, so I'll post them randomly when I come across them in my pictures! It just added a really nice atmosphere and touch to the ship that I enjoyed. Overall I thought the Star was a very pretty ship that was well decorated. For those that have maybe heard that it's "showing its age," I couldn't find that to be the case at all.

 

 

Le Bistro is very cute on the inside, with a feel that's between fine dining and cozy. There are curtains and french paintings.

 

 

We ordered a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate. Before we ordered they brought out a very small dish that they said was "compliments of the chef" - I believe it was some sort of salmon pate. It was quite good, and DH being a big salmon fan really liked it:

 

 

For a starter I had the salad, which had frisee, endive, roasted duck, walnuts, and a champagne viagrette. It was so good! It was one of the best salads that I've ever had, and the walnuts really made it. Without their crunch and flavor I don't think it would've been nearly as interesting:

 

 

DH had the scallops, which he really liked. He said they were "as good as scallops can get":

 

[broadwaystar32]

For an entree I had the bouillabasse soup. It's a Mediterranean fish soup with snapper, scallops, shrimp, mussels, and maybe some other things in it. It was a bit of a "risky" order for me - I like seafood but not all of it and I'd never really tried anything like this before. However, it was surprisingly good. The broth had a really nice, spicy kick to it. I very much enjoyed this dish.

 

 

DH went with the duck. It was a breast of duck and duck confit. He didn't comment much on it, but he gobbled it up so I take that as a very good sign:

 

 

For dessert we both had the same thing: creme brulee! We love creme brulee and at a French place, it seems like the thing to get. And it was extremely delicious here, with the top well charred but not burnt, and the berries on top creates a very nice complement of flavors.

 

 

Right after dinner we went to the VIP cocktail party. They had a band playing and drinks. We'd missed the beginning, but still got to sit for a bit and enjoy a drink. It was a very nice time. Here's a shot of Spinnaker Lounge. It was a good space for a party like this, but as we discovered later on it wasn't the best place for some of the shows and stuff that they did.

 

 

Then we went to do Deal or No Deal. I love that show, but thought the version on board was kind of lame. We bought a card, but they were expensive ($20 each). Playing along with the card you're trying to get matches on your card with what the person playing gets in the real game, rather than playing a version yourself. You needed at least 3 matches to get any sort of decent prize (I think it was a free photo), and very few people even reached that - maybe about 10 each game. I didn't get a single match out of two games, so it wasn't all that exciting for me. I guess if you have money to burn it could be a good time, but as people that have had to save up for a cruise and don't get to do them all the time, it just didn't seem like the best way of using our spending money.

 

We finished the evening by watching the show, Band on the Run. It was mostly oldies music and dancing. It was cheesy, in that typical cruise ship entertainment sort of way, but it was still enjoyable and fun.

 

When we went back to the room for the night we found this guy:

 

 

Our first towel animal!

[OnTheGoMom921]

Still hanging in there waiting for your next installment! We really enjoyed Le Bistro as well. The first thing I did when I sat down was picked up the charger on the table and turned it over. The table was set so beautifully and I wanted to see the name...of course, it was Versace.

 

~Michele:)

[bsblindab]

Becky, did you say what type/where your room was? We have a balcony for our upcoming trip to Bermuda and look forward to having my morning coffee on it..

[jdough789]

Hi.

Thanks for your great review and pix. Happy anniversary. We met at the M&G on Monday.

We also had a great time. We are reliving the cruise thru your review.

:)

[tweetylori]

Nothing better than a report that's full of food pics! You are making me very happy (and hungry!) :D Can't wait for more!

[boopsahoy]

Great food porn! :D Looking forward to more.

[vivavegas]

Nice review with great photos! Thanks for taking the time to write a review and share your experiences with us!:)

[Arzeena]

more! more! please!

[broadwaystar32]

Still hanging in there waiting for your next installment! We really enjoyed Le Bistro as well. The first thing I did when I sat down was picked up the charger on the table and turned it over. The table was set so beautifully and I wanted to see the name...of course, it was Versace.

 

~Michele:)

 

It definitely was set beautifully... I'm not surprised to hear that!

 

Becky, did you say what type/where your room was? We have a balcony for our upcoming trip to Bermuda and look forward to having my morning coffee on it..

 

We were in an inside cabin. Room 4553, which was fine for us since we don't spend much time in the room. I'm sure you will love the balcony - especially on the days when you are docked in Bermuda, it's gorgeous!

 

Hi.

Thanks for your great review and pix. Happy anniversary. We met at the M&G on Monday.

We also had a great time. We are reliving the cruise thru your review.

:)

 

Wonderful to "meet up" with you again online! That's why I like to write reviews - it feels like the cruise isn't really over yet while I'm still reliving it!

[broadwaystar32]

Tuesday, Sept. 4th - Day 3 "At Sea"

 

We decided to sleep in this morning, so the first thing that we did was go to get an early lunch. By the time we were ready it was only around 10:30 or 11 and we were really hungry. We didn't want to wait for any of the dining rooms to open and didn't want to do the buffet, so we decided to visit Blue Lagoon, the 24/7 comfort food restaurant. They sat us immediately and we had a very nice view of the ocean:

 

 

 

Overall, I was not impressed with the food here. For my starter I got wonton soup, which was extremely oily (in the picture you can see all of the oil bubbles). I watched the people at the table next to me send it make for being too oily, but I ate most of it.

 

 

DH did not get a starter, and for his meal he just had a cheeseburger, which I didn't take a picture of because it was nothing special. Picture an ordinary cheeseburger and fries, and that's what he had. I got a sandwich - I think it was prosciutto and mozzarella. Again, it was fine, nothing special:

 

 

They brought out the entrees about three minutes after my soup, so I hadn't even gotten halfway through it before my sandwich was there. I'd also asked for an iced tea that never arrived, but the food came so ridiculously quickly I never asked about it again since I would've been done eating by the time it arrived. We decided to head upstairs for ice cream from the buffet for dessert - should've just gotten lunch there!

 

We had gotten a note at our stateroom suggesting that we change our snorkeling excursion date because of the weather. We had it scheduled for Friday but they suggested we do it Wednesday, so we were easily able to switch that at the shore excursion desk. We looked through the photos for a bit at the photo gallery, and then headed to Spinnaker for "Battle of the Pans," which was basically a joke cooking competition. They actually made it pretty funny - having pizza delivered because the food was so bad, and then literally throwing pizza slices into the crowd!

 

 

We also tried the drink of the day while we were there, the Rebellious Fish. It was really good!

 

[mitsugirly]

Glad to see that the Blue Lagoon has windows to look out at the ocean. I've noticed a lot do not. You waited to be seated? All the ones I've went to you just sit down where ever you want and someone comes along to take your order. :confused: Just wondering.

[broadwaystar32]

In the afternoon we headed to a martini tasting, which was wonderful. For $15 you try 4 different martinis, and they give pretty generously sized tastings so DH and I shared. They had done a martini tasting earlier in the week with more "classic" flavors. This time, the first one up was the Lemon Drop. What was nice was that they coated only half of the rim with sugar so that you could try it both ways:

 

 

Next up was the Pomegranate martini. I think this one was my favorite. It had a very nice berry flavor to it:

 

 

The third one was Peach. This was also really tasty:

 

 

And finally we finished with an Espresso. DH and I are not coffee people, so he was convinced he would hate it, but we actually both enjoyed it! It was very smooth and nice:

 

 

Right after that we headed to Versailles for dinner. We were joined by one of the couples we had met at the Cruise Critic meet, and we had a lovely time chatting with them. Since we were with other people and caught up in conversation, I only have a picture of my starter. I got the roasted corn and cheddar cheese soup, which was really good and I highly recommend it:

 

 

DH had the salmon tartare once again. For the entree I had the basil pesto penne. I adore pesto, but this was one of the worst pestos I've ever tried. It tasted like the canned stuff you get from the supermarket rather than freshly made pesto. I was super disappointed and only ate about half of it - it was a huge bowl of pasta though. DH had the lamb, which I think he liked. For dessert I had the chocolate raspberry cake (I had it again later in the week so there will be a picture later!) and DH had a cheese plate.

 

The next thing we did was the "majority rules" game show - it was a fun little game. You play in teams and they ask questions such as "What's the first thing a woman packs in her suitcase when going on vacation?" You have to write down an answer that you think the majority of other people would write down too. We played with another couple sitting near us and actually did pretty well, I think, but we didn't win. Many of the other players got quite silly with their answers, which was entertaining.

 

We skipped the show tonight - "Shout! The Mod Musical." It sounded similar to the previous show and we're not so into the cheesy cruise ship musicals. We went to bed a bit early so we could get up early in the morning for our first day in Bermuda!

 

Here's a random shot of the outside of the ship, very fun decor:

 

[broadwaystar32]

Glad to see that the Blue Lagoon has windows to look out at the ocean. I've noticed a lot do not. You waited to be seated? All the ones I've went to you just sit down where ever you want and someone comes along to take your order. :confused: Just wondering.

 

There was a podium set up by the entrance and a woman standing at it so while we didn't wait to be seated, she did lead us to a table. I would guess she's just there to help direct people? You could probably still sit down if there wasn't anyone there, but she immediately helped us so I just assumed that was the way it was supposed to happen ;)

[mitsugirly]

There was a podium set up by the entrance and a woman standing at it so while we didn't wait to be seated, she did lead us to a table. I would guess she's just there to help direct people? You could probably still sit down if there wasn't anyone there, but she immediately helped us so I just assumed that was the way it was supposed to happen ;)

 

Oh ok I see. I've never seen a podium at any of the others so it kind of caught me off guard when you said you were seated. Thanks for the clarification.

[coscab]

Thanks for the great review, enjoying every minute of it.

DH and I are going on the Dawn in Jan., just wondering how you got VIP, we are in a mini suite but I know that doesn't come with the perks, are you NCL platinum?

[broadwaystar32]

Thanks for the great review, enjoying every minute of it.

DH and I are going on the Dawn in Jan., just wondering how you got VIP, we are in a mini suite but I know that doesn't come with the perks, are you NCL platinum?

 

We were never told how we got VIP. It was our first NCL cruise and we were in an inside cabin. My best guess is that it's my part-time job - I write travel articles for an online website, and I contacted NCL and told them ahead of time. They didn't say anything when I emailed, just a typical "if you have any questions about anything let us know," but my suspicion is that that's why we got it. The only other thing it could possibly be is that they just randomly give it out and we got really lucky.

[boopsahoy]

We were never told how we got VIP. It was our first NCL cruise and we were in an inside cabin. My best guess is that it's my part-time job - I write travel articles for an online website, and I contacted NCL and told them ahead of time. They didn't say anything when I emailed, just a typical "if you have any questions about anything let us know," but my suspicion is that that's why we got it. The only other thing it could possibly be is that they just randomly give it out and we got really lucky.

 

It certainly sounds like being a travel writer got you the VIP treatment, as I can't see them just "giving it away randomly" without hoping for some kind of payback such as free publicity etc.

 

Glad you enjoyed it. We love eating brkfst and lunch at cagneys.

[bsblindab]

It definitely was set beautifully... I'm not surprised to hear that!

 

 

 

We were in an inside cabin. Room 4553, which was fine for us since we don't spend much time in the room. I'm sure you will love the balcony - especially on the days when you are docked in Bermuda, it's gorgeous!

 

 

 

Wonderful to "meet up" with you again online! That's why I like to write reviews - it feels like the cruise isn't really over yet while I'm still reliving it!

the reason why I asked about your room is most people who post are normally "suite" individuals who get all the perks etc..so its nice to see something that would probably apply to me. The food pictures look like ones on menus..no matter how well i take pictures they don't look like these!!

[sbt518]

I'm loving your review. We'll be on the Star in a few weeks! I'm so excited, this is just making it harder for me to wait.

 

I do have a question, did you notice if there were any other drink tastings other than martini? Like a margarita tasting or mojito tasting?

[broadwaystar32]

the reason why I asked about your room is most people who post are normally "suite" individuals who get all the perks etc..so its nice to see something that would probably apply to me. The food pictures look like ones on menus..no matter how well i take pictures they don't look like these!!

 

We are definitely budget cruisers for the most part! And thank you - I spent some time experimenting with the best way to take food pics and while I don't have a great camera they come out decently enough!

 

I'm loving your review. We'll be on the Star in a few weeks! I'm so excited, this is just making it harder for me to wait.

 

I do have a question, did you notice if there were any other drink tastings other than martini? Like a margarita tasting or mojito tasting?

 

There were tons of tastings! I know I saw wine, beer, scotch, and I'm pretty sure margarita... there may have been others too, I can check the Freestyle Dailies when I get a chance later.