Mitsugirlys STAR end of the world/pre-Christmas cruise detailed review & pictorial

[mitsugirly]

I'm reliving the trip through you...great job! Have to agree with you about some of the things you noticed on the Star. The casino bathroom was just a mess several times during the week. We also had an issue a few times with the casino dealers not paying out the correct amounts at the craps table and at 3 card poker. I think it was honest mistakes/inexperience, but we (and others around us, at times) really had to keep up with the payouts. :confused: (I always do monitor my bets but we were catching a lot more mistakes than usual.)

 

I have to say though that our room steward was one of the absolute best we've ever had! He was truly exceptional and I made sure to mention him by name on our email survey. Guess that was just luck of the draw.

 

Sorry to hear about having to really watch when playing poker but yet glad that someone else noticed a few "blurps" with the Star as I did. The casino bathrooms were the worse, I agree...and the one on the pool deck that I was locked in. :eek:

 

I took names and wrote them down for my email survey as well. The hotel director (which is who took my information down and set up my Indian meal with Deepat in Versailles), to Deepat and Mohammed...which were the best! They got a raving review from me. Of course I couldn't leave out Pedro...the best cruise director yet! I definitely let them know about that! :D That man was amazing.

 

I'm so glad you got a great room steward. ALL of our stewards in the past have been EXCELLENT. That was one of the shockers to me. I don't know if he was new or having a bad week or what it might have been. It was just not up to par and kind of disappointing.

 

 

Amen Sister!!!!! I'll never understand those people. Better to ask a question that some people may consider stupid, than to post a sarcastic, hateful non-answer that helps no one.

 

Still loving your review and appreciating all the time you are putting into it.

 

I agree and as much as I want to just yell "stop it" at these people, I take my own advice and just help the person to the best of my knowledge and then walk away quietly from the other. :)

[mitsugirly]

Kim, I'd like to thank you for your effort into giving all of us C.C. family members an awesome reveiw! We sailed on the Star the week after Thanksgiving. I've only sailed on the Pearl and like you found the Star to have a few "rough spots". One evening crew members had blocked off an area by some stairs and were laying new carpeting down. We also experienced the freshly varnished rails, oops, maybe I didn't see the warning signs quickly enough! Several times I found public bathrooms in high traffic areas needing to be cleaned. On the Pearl in 2009, 2010 and 2011 we ran into many more crew members cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I saw far fewer crew doing this on our Star cruise.

 

One thing I noticed this sailing as compared to past sailings...the portion sizes have increased!!! Oh my! One thing I love about cruising is getting small portions as then I can order an appetizer, entree and dessert and usually have no left-over food. This cruise all of my portions were huge whether we ate in the free or paid restaurants! Was this just me or have others experienced this?

 

I must second your opinion that Maya Chan has THE BEST EVER GAUCAMOLE and PICO ever served on earth. Seriously, make your eyes roll into the back of your head delicious!

 

I love the fact you are sailing on the Jewel next. We are taking our extended family (14 of us) on the Jewel the week of Thanksgiving 2014. I'm certain, hint, hint, that you will be posting another fantastic review after your sailing which I can read and help to make my plans with! Again, a wonderful and very fair review of the Star - thanks again!

 

 

Thank you for chiming in and letting me know that I wasn't the only one that thought the Star was a little rough around the edges on "certain" things. Of course the only thing that I can compare it to are other NCL ships that I have been on and that's pretty much what I was doing. Comparing. If this was my first cruise, I probably wouldn't have noticed much.

 

Hmm, I'm not sure about the portion sizes. To me, they have always been pretty big and I attempt to eat every bit of it from beginning to end. The staff at NCL have always been very accomodating and if there was ever something I didn't like, they would bring me something else out. They were always try to please me (on different cruises). I hate for people to go out of their way, but they always insist. That's just the wonderful staff at NCL.

 

I must second your opinion that Maya Chan has THE BEST EVER GAUCAMOLE and PICO ever served on earth. Seriously, make your eyes roll into the back of your head delicious! I completely LOLed at the eyes rolling back in your head and I agree 100% on that one. Heavenly.:p

 

I love the fact you are sailing on the Jewel next. <---correction, I have one cruise before that in May. So, the Jewel is my "next second" cruise as of now. :D Stop rushing me. :p Baby steps first!

 

You bet I'll be doing another review like this one. It's been a lot of sleepless nights, tons of caffeine, and headaches getting this done, but it was all worth it. I'm reliving my own cruise now. It's funny how I haven't even posted or shared any of my pictures yet with our own families but I've managed to do so here. This is just my "extended" family! :D

[lostone65]

Amen Sister!!!!! I'll never understand those people. Better to ask a question that some people may consider stupid, than to post a sarcastic, hateful non-answer that helps no one.

 

Still loving your review and appreciating all the time you are putting into it.

 

I agree 100%!!! The entire review is the best I have ever read! Very interesting, funny and informational. The pictures are fantastic and it feels like we are on a personal journey with your beautiful family. Even though I cruised the Star just before you I feel like I did a virtual b2b! Bu of all the things you have said I think the paragraph quoted above is the best! You captured what many of us think and feel. Thank you for answering questions and researching answers to provide helpful information to those of us reading this. Fantastic job in everything Kim! I have no doubt you will be a caring and wonderful nurse!

[pcreek]

Once again - Great Review, Kim!!

Thanks so much for taking the time. I've spent the week 'virtually' traveling with you & your family and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

Loved the video of Sakari and the ship horn! LOL

Looking forward to your next review. The Dawn is our favorite ship (as you can see from my siggy) We just did the Jewel and LOVED it, too!

:D

[mitsugirly]

I agree 100%!!! The entire review is the best I have ever read! Very interesting, funny and informational. The pictures are fantastic and it feels like we are on a personal journey with your beautiful family. Even though I cruised the Star just before you I feel like I did a virtual b2b! Bu of all the things you have said I think the paragraph quoted above is the best! You captured what many of us think and feel. Thank you for answering questions and researching answers to provide helpful information to those of us reading this. Fantastic job in everything Kim! I have no doubt you will be a caring and wonderful nurse!

 

Aww thanks so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks for the Nurse comment...brought a tear to my eye. :o

 

Once again - Great Review, Kim!!

Thanks so much for taking the time. I've spent the week 'virtually' traveling with you & your family and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

Loved the video of Sakari and the ship horn! LOL

Looking forward to your next review. The Dawn is our favorite ship (as you can see from my siggy) We just did the Jewel and LOVED it, too!

:D

 

You are very welcome.

 

Ok, so where's you Dawn review? I need some motivation myself...and while we are at it...give me that Jewel report too. :D

[mitsugirly]

(My daughter has been watching the entire series of “Shark Week” as I write today and I have to say it has been nice to sit down without too many interruptions from her so that I could finish this review.)

 

 

THE FINAL FINALE:

We woke up at 8am, got dressed and took and second and third look around the room to make sure that we were not leaving anything behind. So far, I have not discovered anything missing…so that is a good sign.

We headed for the buffet area and had our last big meal on board the “Beautiful Norwegian Star” and went out to the deck to take in everything as they were announcing which passengers were now getting kicked off the ship.

It was kind of a cold brisky day out. I was not happy about that. I had hoped for a nice sunny day because we had a late flight home and we needed to kill some time. Our plans were to send our luggage to the airport and just take off walking around NOLA for the day with our Airport Shuttle service picking us up at the hotel we had told them we would be standing at around 2:30pm.

 

I quickly checked my phone for the weather and seen that it was only in the 50’s I believe and the day called for rain. GASP. NOOOOO! This was not how the cruise was supposed to end. Rain and cold. YUCK. Thank goodness I had kept out warm clothes for us to wear home on our trip.

We kind of went back and forth about what we were going to do. We finally thought about just going ahead to the airport and just hanging out. After all, Sakari did have her new dvd player and was armed with 3 new movies to watch. But the final decision would not come until after we left the ship.

When it was getting close to the time NCL was going to force us off the ship, we headed down to the Atrium and sat for a while. I, of course, do not “sit” I take pictures. A few last one’s for the road of the beautiful atrium and one of Sakari by the huge Christmas tree.

Ok, sigh, it was time. Time to go. DARN! My husband glanced at me and gave me the “don’t make a scene on your way out by refusing to leave” look and I obeyed… I pouted, but I went willingly.

Disembarkment was a breeze. The lines were short, they moved along quickly, we said our good-byes to the staff on the way off the ship and away we went. We located our luggage…still intact but a little more of the thread coming apart was loosened more. (Deep breath). Customs went smoothly and quickly. The lady was nice and we encountered no problems. Usually they are kind of “uppity” but this one was nice and talkative to Sakari.

 

Out of customs we went and into…..H3LL!!! The same issue as when we arrived for the cruise. People everywhere not knowing where to go, what to do, what line was to get on, what line was to get off….round 2!

 

We walked out front and noticed the Airport Shuttle pulling away from the port loaded with people (this would become significant later on) and we were in the mob of people coming and going. I’m looking around for the desk, which the shuttle service AND the baggage transportation told me they had a desk right outside, to figure out how to go about sending our luggage and getting our transportation confirmed for our ride to NOLA airport later in the day. Asking people that worked there got me nowhere. I left the hubby and daughter standing outside with all of our luggage and headed in. I ask several employees that worked there where this “desk” was. They told me that it was outside (a different area) but they didn’t know if it was what I was looking for. I went out that door (it’s an area on the side that has a street, but it is covered above…like an underpass). I ask the person at the desk about this service and he tried to tell me that the port officials were having issues with the service and they had stopped running the shuttle service now. Um, did this just happen this week? Because I definitely had the service on my arrival and had spoken to them on the phone and in person at the airport about pick up just 1 week ago when we arrived. They did offer to take my baggage to the airport and drop it off but with the uncertainty of how we were going to get to the airport (other than taking an expensive cab), we weren’t sure. It was just a mess out there.

 

I went back out to tell my husband what was going on. We grabbed all of our luggage and headed back inside and out the other doors to just see about getting transportation with a cab to the airport instead and nixing the idea of staying in NOLA to walk around. It was cold and rainy looking, I was frustrated, we were in the middle of a mob scene and at that point I just wanted to go somewhere I knew we weren’t going to get left behind.

The people there kept asking me if I had prepaid for my transportation with the shuttle service. Not that I was aware of but now I wonder. As I said in the beginning, we paid $38 per person (when the website said $36) and then the lady took our “meeting point and time” for our return there at the desk when we had first arrived in NOLA. We paid and that was it. So now I’m thinking maybe this amount was for the ROUND TRIP and we were actually prepaid??? I have no idea how it works. The other thing that makes me wonder if it wasn’t for a round trip is because we were told that it’s cheaper to use their service compared to the taxi’s prices which would run about $48ish for one way to the airport. However, the people at the desk put us in a taxi to go to the port and it was cheaper than the $36 we had paid. This makes me think that it was a roundtrip ticket that we must have paid for. Then, I still wonder because the lady at the deck had told me that on our return trip we would get $4 off. So if that were the case, it wouldn’t have been for a round trip ticket. I don’t know. I was tired and aggravated at that point.

We got in the cab and headed for the airport….where we would spend the next 6+ hours just waiting…and waiting…and waiting. We would facebook, read emails, I had brought a book with me to read and I managed to read half of the book that day with almost the other half on the plane ride home. Sakari watched 2 of her videos and we ate $6 chips. OUCH! This place was crazy expensive. We were not even allowed to check in our luggage for 2 hours because of the time that our plane was leaving. They only allow a 4-hour before check in. So there we sat with our luggage until we could dump them off and finally make our way in to the security area.

 

Once in, we decided to get something to eat (since we were so use to eating a couple of times by now, we were starved). We ended up getting 2 “small” pizza’s, which cost us $20 and they were only cheese pizza’s because they were out of the pepperoni ones. We grabbed our boxes and plopped down on the floor in the hallway against the wall (there wasn’t any place to sit at that point) and open the box. Um, where’s my small pizza? I didn’t order a “personal” pizza, I ordered a small. Give me small! Well, that was “their” small. What a complete rip-off. We walked away starved!

 

Finally it was our time to board the plane and head for Tennessee for our next flight. I won’t bore you with the details. There was nothing interesting. More book reading, eating/snacking, watching videos and checking in with the family about our status of arrival.

 

We arrived home to EXTREMELY cold weather and I was exhausted and had to work the next day…Christmas Eve. Things were back to normal..until I started writing this review. LOL Then came the snow...and snow...and snow. I need a cruise! :D

So now, I have 1 more week off before I start back to school. I have neglected my normal “readings” on cc and feel so left out at the moment. I know things are about to get hectic again with work and school and I’m hoping that I will find time to start to research for my next cruise in May. I don’t know how I’m going to manage, but I gotta put my best foot forward and just find the time. My oldest daughter is planning on joining us again on this cruise. She’s trying to talk my oldest son in going. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe I can get my youngest son to join too. But, he will be graduating from High School some time around that time, so I’m hoping it won’t interfere with my “cruise dates” or I’ll have to pick another date.

 

Until the next cruise and review…I hope you all have enjoyed living my cruise through my eyes.

 

If you have any questions, you know I’m here for you and will answer to the best of my knowledge.

Adios Amigos!

[pcreek]

Ok, so where's you Dawn review? I need some motivation myself...and while we are at it...give me that Jewel report too. :D

 

LOL Okay - Here is the Jewel :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1747593

 

And here is from the Dawn - but remember, it is older (2008) and before they remodeled -if that makes any difference.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=889034

(spoiler alert - you'll see we had dinner with Pedro!) :D

[peg013]

Thanks for a great review. We just did the same cruise only on the Dawn and it was fun comparing what you did with what we did on each of our two weeks.

[Toola99709]

Toola, are you sailing Feb 10? Come, join our roll call!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1369519&page=94

No, we're two weeks later. But thanks for the invitation.

[3dogsrule]

Awesome review as always, Kim, I'll be rereading it to prepare for our Star cruise in 35 days! Thanks for adding to my anticipation, the pictures were awesome, and Sakari is just adorable!! Glad that overall y'all had a great cruise.

[dr.d]

Thank you for your excellent review!

[CruiseIreland]

hi, thanks for your excellent review. Looking forward to your next cruise. Ken

[flowerpetal2166]

Isn't it hard to come back to this weather? I mean it's ok to see snow on Christmas, but when it doesn't come until a day later, I'd rather it just stay gone instead. Some day I'm going to move to Florida with all of my Epic friends I've made down there! :D

 

I'll be waiting for this...

[Highboy90]

Thank you for the well written, informative and visual review as always. :)

[mytern2]

Thanks again for the wonderful review. I'm in the process of scrapbooking our past adventures; last night I re-read out notes from our 10-day cruise on the Gem in 2011. Seems we need to step up a bit on the details. In another 25 years, we may still be asking - was parasailing on St. Thomas or St. Maartin? lol

[Texrails]

Thank you so very, very much for the detailed, insightful review.

 

I so appreciate all the time and effort you put forth to share your family's experiences.

 

We will be following your path a week from today and I can hardly wait.

 

Best of luck in all your future endeavors,

 

Texrails

[mitsugirly]

LOL Okay - Here is the Jewel :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1747593

 

And here is from the Dawn - but remember, it is older (2008) and before they remodeled -if that makes any difference.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=889034

(spoiler alert - you'll see we had dinner with Pedro!) :D

 

Thanks, I read them both. :)

 

Thanks for a great review. We just did the same cruise only on the Dawn and it was fun comparing what you did with what we did on each of our two weeks.

 

Thanks. How did you like the Dawn? We are suppose to go on her next and I know she's the sister ship.

[mitsugirly]

Awesome review as always, Kim, I'll be rereading it to prepare for our Star cruise in 35 days! Thanks for adding to my anticipation, the pictures were awesome, and Sakari is just adorable!! Glad that overall y'all had a great cruise.

 

You're very welcome. I love to add to the excitement of an upcoming cruise. :D

 

Thank you for your excellent review!

 

You're welcome. I hope you enjoyed it. :)

[mitsugirly]

hi, thanks for your excellent review. Looking forward to your next cruise. Ken

 

I'm looking forward to my next cruise too Ken. :D

 

 

I'll be waiting for this...

 

I know you will be Steph. Have me a Nursing job ready down there! See you in a few years. :p

Edited January 6, 2013 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

Thank you for the well written, informative and visual review as always. :)

 

You are very welcome. Thanks for commenting.

 

Thanks again for the wonderful review. I'm in the process of scrapbooking our past adventures; last night I re-read out notes from our 10-day cruise on the Gem in 2011. Seems we need to step up a bit on the details. In another 25 years, we may still be asking - was parasailing on St. Thomas or St. Maartin? lol

 

I now have 2 cruises to catch up with my scrapbooking on. I'm falling behind too. :p But I have everything organized and ready to go...I just need the time to do it now. :eek:

[mitsugirly]

Thank you so very, very much for the detailed, insightful review.

 

I so appreciate all the time and effort you put forth to share your family's experiences.

 

We will be following your path a week from today and I can hardly wait.

 

Best of luck in all your future endeavors,

 

Texrails

 

Aww, thanks for the comments. Have a GREAT cruise and a GREAT time. :)

[peg013]

Thanks, I read them both. :)

 

 

 

Thanks. How did you like the Dawn? We are suppose to go on her next and I know she's the sister ship.

 

We loved the Dawn. We noticed improvements from the new suites on the Star to the new suites on the Dawn. All the closets on the Star are too short so our clothes dragged on the bottoms......on the Dawn they configured them better and added drawers instead of too short hanger space. The curtains that get in the way in the Family suite on the Star are gone on the Dawn. But that does mean that only the bed can separated from the other spaces in the room where as on the Star you can split the suite into four different areas.

 

Otherwise the Dawn and Star are nearly identical. While I love the new suites in the old Spinnaker area.....I miss the Dazzles Lounge that disappeared with the upgrade. Pearly Kings Pub is too small for karoke and using the atrium for the "2nd" form of entertainment makes the Blue Lagoon a hang out rather than a restaurant.

 

While I enjoyed the Dawn and the Star, I am ready to get back to the Jewel class ships and am looking forward to the Breakaway.

[meltingmoments]

I am SO glad I joined you on this journey! What a detailed and entertaining review! I loved it!

As a relative newcomer to both cruising and to NCL, I read lots of reviews of ALL the NCL fleet........well who knows....a girl might get lucky and have a choice!! ;)

 

Thank-you once again for taking the time to review and to post all those fab photos.........the ones of your daughter made me smile each time.....she's gorgeous!

[avic77]

Wonderful review! Thank you so much! We are on the Star 3/3/13 and very excited. Port excursion reports were very helpful. I was wandering where you suggest the best place to Snorkle would be in these 4 ports?

We are planing to do Cave Tubes in belize and Zip-N-Dip in Roatan but I have no clue what to do in Costa Maya and Cozumel... do you have favorites or suggestions?

[camz]

 

 

 

Kim - Too cute! Thanks for posting this photo. WOW I missed a couple of days here on CC and now I have much to catch up on. I did see Kev has returned! :D