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

[SpoonerCruizer]

I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your review. I read your review of the Spirit before we took our cruise. We are booked on the Dawn in Feb of 14, so review is bringing us back to the great places we visited and will visit again.

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

[klingoncruiser]

Still reading, but out of time. In the back of my mind, there was a camera shop in the faux port of Costa Maya. However, it seems the shops change every time we go there. Bags are repacked and we are in Slidell, La tonight. :D

[mr&mrscruiselover]

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to reading further installments.

[fayfam]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the fantastic review.

 

We are planning to shout our daughter, her fiancé & granddaughter (also 4) to the US for a Mexican Rivieria cruise on the Star in April 2014. Your review & all of its wonderful photos have cemented our decision to choose the Star. I wish we had NCL in Australia.

 

Cheers

 

Kerry :)

[cruzinmama2]

I also wanted to jump in and tell you how much I am enjoying your review! I keep checking back for the latest installments! Thank you so much for taking the time to do it. I have literally laughed out loud several times. Keep it coming, please.

[mitsugirly]

Girl I totally feel your pain regarding the camera issues. We had camera nightmare issues on our first and so far only cruise in Europe!! Port intensive not to be missed photos....not sure what happened but the "door" that holds in the battery had a little piece that broke off and the battery would lose contact in there somehow and the thing would NOT take pictures at all. We were on a major budget and could not buy a new camera in Europe.

 

We ended up taking some pics with those throw away cameras (YUCK)! I will say that it was cc friends to the rescue. We booked our own excursions and the others took plenty of pics of us and emailed them to us. We were not able to get all the food pics or whatever that we would have wanted but we did end up with some great shots that has both DH and myself in them.

 

Now we always take a back up camera. After reading your story perhaps we should have a back up for the back up

eh?:p

 

That is what happened to my first camera right before we got on the Epic...the part that goes in and shuts the door to the battery broke off and the battery wouldn't stay contacted. You don't know how long I went with the battery door TAPED before I finally broke down and purchased a new camera (the D10 I now have). After my Epic cruise, I purchased the back up battery after the next mishap of running my battery dead while in port, for the next cruise. Then after the Spirit cruise, I decided I no longer wanted to fight with the hubby over who gets the camera while snorkeling. When he would have the camera, I would see something that I just KNEW he wasn't seeing and getting a picture of :p and vice versa. So, time to get another D10. LOL This one was not planned. Back up cameras, for the back ups are always good! :D

 

It was so nice that you found someone on the roll call that would take pictures for you while you were gone. I would definitely do that for someone if they were in that position. I can't imagine going the entire cruise without pictures to look back on and share. :(

 

Mitsugirly, I am so loving your review!

 

Your photos are wonderful and make me want to go on the Star. Some of your photos, made me realize that my parents were on this ship back in 2004, out of Hawaii. The birds in the atrium reminded me first and then other photos. They had a wonderful cruise that time.

 

I see that you like Epic. Im booked on Epic next November and can hardly wait.

 

Thanks so much for your review of the Star, looks like a ship I would like to sail on.:)

 

I loved the Epic. We stayed in 2 adjoining studio rooms and it was AWESOME! Have you seen my pictures of the Epic? I took tons of pictures and did reviews of the ports on that one too.

[mitsugirly]

I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your review. I read your review of the Spirit before we took our cruise. We are booked on the Dawn in Feb of 14, so review is bringing us back to the great places we visited and will visit again.

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

 

Why thank you so much. Are you saying that you cruised on the Spirit after you read my review? I know at the time that we cruised the Spirit, we didn't realize just how much we liked it until cruising some more. It wasn't the big mega ship from the year before, so it was very different (and kind of reminded me of my cruising days from the 80's and 90's.) but it was nice...I just didn't realize "how nice" until after sailing more ships.

 

Since you are going to be on the Dawn in February...I expect a FULL report with pictures when you return since that is what we are planning on going on in May. :D Deal? :p

 

Still reading, but out of time. In the back of my mind, there was a camera shop in the faux port of Costa Maya. However, it seems the shops change every time we go there. Bags are repacked and we are in Slidell, La tonight. :D

 

Have a great time!

[mitsugirly]

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to reading further installments.

 

Thank you and more to come...:)

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the fantastic review.

 

We are planning to shout our daughter, her fiancé & granddaughter (also 4) to the US for a Mexican Rivieria cruise on the Star in April 2014. Your review & all of its wonderful photos have cemented our decision to choose the Star. I wish we had NCL in Australia.

 

Cheers

 

Kerry :)

 

You are very welcome. :)

[mitsugirly]

I also wanted to jump in and tell you how much I am enjoying your review! I keep checking back for the latest installments! Thank you so much for taking the time to do it. I have literally laughed out loud several times. Keep it coming, please.

 

Thanks for the comments...if you only knew my husband and I...it's not stop fun around here with jokes. We have such a good time.

 

Definitely going to keep it coming.

 

 

It's been a long day in the ER and I just got home. I'm a nervous wreck from driving home in the snow (we got a couple more inches and it's still snowing).

 

I had the hubby drag in the totes for the Christmas tree and decorations. It's my goal to try to get the tree down tonight. I will try to post my Almaplena day after I'm done if there is time (since I don't sleep and all). Everyone knows it's faster to take down a tree than put it up...I'm going for record breaking time this time around. :D Ready? Set? Go!!!!!!!!!

[mitsugirly]

Time!! World record? (And I don't have a small tree either...it's about 9' with tons of trimmings) hehe :p

[SMSACE6]

Thanks Im going to check out your Epic review. Im staying in a studio as well.:)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[mitsugirly]

Thanks Im going to check out your Epic review. Im staying in a studio as well.:)

 

Just know that back then, we could post reviews in the port section, so when we went to St Thomas, St Maarten, and Nassau, it wasn't in with my studio Epic review.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1280043

 

Review of the Epic itself: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=26190974#post26190974

 

Review on Nassau: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=26207746#post26207746

 

Review on St Marteen: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=26209813#post26209813

 

Review on St Thomas: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=26210037#post26210037

 

:D

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for the review!

 

 

You are very welcome. :)

[mitsugirly]

ALMAPLENA: COSTA MAYA, MEXICO

 

We were greeted at the door by the owner, Andrea, and he welcomed us to Almaplena and offered us a drink at their bar (located as you walk in under the huge thatched building that was all open. They had a bar to the right as you walk in and seating and a Christmas tree to the left. I took a picture of Sakari by the tree but it turned out absolutely HORRID! I’ll post a small pic because I’m so ashamed and don’t even know what happened there.

 

 

 

As you walk out, you are in the “dining area” and in had the most wonderful view. YEP, I had found that nice little Caribbean slice of Paradise here. As I patted myself on the back I took in the beautiful site of the white sand and crystal clear Caribbean blue water. Ahhh…yes, this is what I’m talking about! I quickly snapped a picture of my first scene as I approached the dining area.

 

 

 

We were told we could go out and find a spot and they would bring our drinks out to us. We started walking out toward the water and palapas taking in all of the scenery. I loved that this place not only had the white sand and blue water, but there was some greenery, which makes for wonderful pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**DISCLAMIER*** Remember that I am now going along this journey with a NEW CAMERA in hand that I know nothing about. I might as well be blind at this point. I have no idea what each of the settings do and how to work them. Of course I have a screen to “kind of” see the pictures as I take them, but I really have no idea how good (or bad they are at this point) until I get home to upload them on to my computer and see them full screen. I messed with the settings back and forth all day long from landscape to a “bright food” setting, beauty, sand/snow, water setting, sharpness and so on. You get the picture. So it’s a mixture of settings. Keep this in mind when viewing the pictures. The bad part is, with all of the pictures I love, I have no idea what settings were used to obtain them either. (Sad face inserted here)

 

In some of these pictures, the sky looks as if it’s going to rain and dark…trust me, if NEVER looked like rain, nor did it rain or even come close. It was BEAUTIFUL and hot out that day.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

This is what you see looking toward the left…see the Star parked at the dock in port? It’s really not that far away and it was neat to know that we could see her.

 

 

 

Looking up toward Almaplena. We decided on the spot here to the right of the picture.

 

 

Looking toward the left from the ocean:

 

 

Our little "spot" for the day, which we didn't spend a whole lot of time there unless we were snacking on that great Mexican food or putting our snorkel equipement on (until the hubby got internet access and had to check his mail)

 

 

 

You could not drag my daughter out of the water. She played there just about all day and we had to act like we were leaving her just to get her out of the water to come up and eat lunch later in the day.

 

 

 

At this point she had her goggles on and had been going under water and was thrilled. (I think she was getting use to the salt water again and it didn't bother her anymore).

[mitsugirly]

For some reason, I just loved these 2 little palapas and where they were situated with the greenery behind them. It just looked like something you would see in a postcard. It made it nice that there were no chairs under them, so no warm bodies there to intrude on my picture. I would continue to take pictures of these throughout the day. LOL I’m not sure how many pictures I took, but there were a lot. I wanted to make sure I got a good one.

 

 

 

Our drinks came and they were yummy. They brought my daughter a non-alcoholic version of mine and she enjoyed it thinking she was a big girl.

 

 

 

We decided to explore around a little bit. I had noticed this palm tree hanging out over the water on the lot next to us and thought it would make for a nice picture so off we went.

 

 

 

 

 

I know it's probably hard to see in the picture, but I was trying to get this shot with the Star in the background. It's small in the picture, but I can see her.

 

The hubby put the munchkin up on the palm tree hanging over the water and she was a little unsure about this at first. It really doesn't look that high up, but as you can tell from the picture and the hubby standing by her, it's as tall as his shoulder and he's about 5'10".

 

 

We talked her in to letting go of daddy to get a picture, she cooperated, but was definitely ready to get down once mommy snapped the picture.

 

 

"Oh come on, you can sit for just one more while I take one showing how high up you are and what a big girl you are right now. I got the "just one more mom"

[DCP]

Darn....you need to take some vacation days so you can finish the review for us!! LOL!!

 

Still lots of snow here, there is like 8" on the ground outside.

 

RNJPN - The Hamburger Inn is still here, new owners, open 24 hrs. on Thur. Fri. and Sat. now. Still the same Chili, burgers and fries. (althought the prices have gone up considerably!)

[mitsugirly]

Then it was my turn for a picture according to daddy. Now, I’m the type of person that is always behind the camera (hence the reason I had to buy a second camera, because I just don’t ever give mine up…of course this cruise proved that I would have to be a big girl and share like I was taught to do growing up) so when we are on vacation, I never really get a lot of pictures with me in them. Then of course I complain how it doesn’t even look like I was on this vacation. However, when the hubby does take a picture, I complain that I hate to have my picture taken because I just don’t like the way I look in pictures…especially after all the weight gain I’ve accumulated over the last 4 cruises averaging around 6-10 per cruise. Did I mention that I gained 7 pounds THIS cruise? Yea…I did. But, he talked me in to a few. I tried to attempt to hide myself by putting my daughter in front of me. haha

 

 

 

Then he managed to get one of me after the daughter ran off...oh come on.

 

 

I talked the daughter in to one more and off we went...

 

 

(Still trying to get a good shot of the Star)

 

 

I have come to the conclustion that point and shoot cameras just don't have an excellent crispy clean "zoom" feature on them. I'm never satisfied with them.

 

Sakari was happy to be headed back to "our spot" so that she could resume playing with her sand toys and in the water:

 

Some people had asked if there was a "drop-off" at the beach area. Where we were sitting (at the end) right in front of us there was. But in most places it was gradual. Nothing major. I don't know if this was erosion or not. To me, it was easy to walk down and nothing that would prevent me from going here that's for sure. The picture below is on down a little where no one is sitting. Remember the palapas I liked taking pictures of? Yep, these are them but from a different direction. Not a pleasing huh?

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

A little tour of the grounds. It was NICELY landscaped and the buildings were nice too. It would definitely be a place I wouldn’t mind spending time here (like for a vacation).

 

 

This is the restroom facility (to the right of the picture obviously) and the showers to rinse off with to the left):

 

 

 

The sinks are located there on the outside with the restrooms to the left and right of the sinks behind a closed door of course:

 

 

 

 

Once again, the eating spot...just a different "view"

 

 

There are hammocks to lounge in...however we didn't try it...it was just a little too hot right there. If you were down by the beach, there was a nice decent breeze to keep you cooler. If you were in the dining area, you were out of the sun and a nice breeze there as well. Anywhere else...well, just plain hot if you were in the sun.

 

Edited December 30, 2012 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

A few more of the grounds:

 

 

 

Remember those palapas I liked to take pictures of...yep...

 

 

 

I found that my new camera had a panoramic button. I thought I would try it out. It is definitely "different" from my dslr pano button by the way that it works. You snap a picture and then arrows appear asking you which way to go. You just start moving your camera toward the direction you want and then this round circle appears. When you "dot" on the screen goes in to the "circle", you've made it to the next picture and it snaps the picture for you. Then you keep going. It's like a pano for dummies type of thing. (Although several of them I took throughout the cruise proved that the camera is not as smart as it thinks it is and did not stitch them together too good).

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, there is a volley ball area if you are so inclined to work up even more of a sweat in the Caribbean heat.

 

[mitsugirly]

More of the grounds:

 

 

 

Another pano that got really wacked out toward the left (it was a huge pano) and I ended up having to chop some of it off because the horizon looked like it was draining in to a toilet bowl:

 

 

 

 

I was watching a pelican flying across and he kept coming back. I never did see him dive down for any fish, but managed to snap a picture of him. It's kind of hard to see since he is right at the light-meets-dark part of the water in the picture

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I HAD to take my Santa hat with me on vacation since it was a Christmas cruise and all and I had to help Santa remember to bring Sakari a few gifts while we were on the cruise to remind him where we were. I brought it to every port with me because everyone likes Christmas themed pictures at the beach, in the sun, on vacation, in the Caribbean pictures while they are in the snow and cold weather right??? Yep, I thought so. This would continue during the remainder of the cruise…sending pictures of us in the Santa hat on the beach to my facebook. Cheezing right now.

 

 

 

 

When mommy says "picture time Sakari", she knows to stop whatever she's doing and pose, then go about her business. LOL I have her trained.

 

 

Going back to what she was doing:

 

 

 

 

[lostone65]

I am just loving your pictures here! We went to Tropicante in Costa Maya when we were there a couple weeks ago and the beauty of this place is head and shoulders above Tropicante! Tropicante was free (only need to purchase your food and drink if you want any) so I guess that might be why. Next trip here I will check this place out! My camera was not cooperating the entire cruise so I was stuck with my cell pohone camera which actually is a pretty good shot.

[mitsugirly]

At this time, Andrea had come around and asks us what time we were interested in eating lunch and what we would like to have. We told him it really didn’t matter and would leave it up to him. He said that another group was going to be eating at (I think) it was 1pm so he would have ours ready around 1:30. We said that was fine. When he asks what we would like to eat, we had no idea what they had, but told him what ever everyone else would be having would be fine. He asks if beef, chicken and shrimp tacos would be fine with chips and guacamole. It sounded wonderful and we agreed. Although I told him to just make Sakari the chicken only and if he had some fries, that would work as well (since she had been living off the fries and pizza on the Star, I knew she was going to want some fries with her authentic Mexican meal. Lol)

 

 

 

We went back out in to the water for a while before it was time to eat. There was a Palometa fish (which you see these all over the place when snorkeling) and he was a “loaner”. He would not leave us alone (not that we wanted him to). He followed us where ever we went and would go between our legs and brush up on us…kind of like a cat. Sakari was missing her cat at home; maybe this was a “sign”. Hehe I took tons of pictures of him, I’m not sure why when it was the only fish and 1 picture was quite sufficient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrea brought us an "appetizer" to hold us over while we were waiting on our lunch to be made (while the other group had already headed up for their lunch <-- they were on our roll call too)

 

 

THESE WERE DELICIOUS!!!! I wish I would have had just an entire stack of these for lunch!!!

 

Sakari was too busy playing in the water and we could not get her to come up and eat her snack. Mommy was glad to help her out with that. No problem!

 

 

This is the look you will get if you try to interrupt her water time:

 

Meanwhile...daddy had discovered the internet...