The Ma'am's Star Western Caribbean Review with Pictures!

[cherylroslyn]

OMG I'm to the end....... SOMEBODY CHIME IN!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I am truly enjoying this review.

 

Looks like everyone had a great time!!!!!! I wish I had thought about booking the Star for this season in NOLA when I was doing my bookings last year.

 

I would have loved to have done this itinerary out of NOLA

[medicalma'am]

Next Cruise Is Booked!!!!

 

NOLA Dec. 15th Jewel!!!! Too Excited!!!

 

OK, that is out of my system. Deep breath.

 

I had to stop to try to post my pics from the Dolphin Encounter that we did in Chankanaab and cannot download my pics off of the EXPENSIVE CD we bought.

 

That and getting dinner on the table...

 

Cherylroslyn - you are too funny. Back in a bit, hand in there!

Edited February 5, 2013 by medicalma'am

[herdingdogmom]

The cruise port itself had no beach but it does have a beautiful pool and a 'beachy' area with sand.

 

 

It is clean and you can spend quite a bit of time wandering the shops and enjoy drinks for hours there inexpensively.

 

Thanks for the multi-perspective review and wonderful photos. We were on this cruise the week after you were. We were shocked at the high prices of drinks at the Carlos Obriens/Senor Frog's where this picture was taken. A basic margarita was $17. Two of us had a maragarita each and quesadillas and the bill was $76 US Big mistake to stop here instead of heading back to the ship after our terrific tour of the Chaccoben ruins.

 

Looking forward to more of the review!

[medicalma'am]

Oh my gosh, Herdingdogmom, that is highway robbery. So sorry. Was the food good at least?

 

[avic77]

. They have several packages at Little French Key to choose from. Three in our group also did zip lining. They were taken to the highest point on Roatan and took 8 different zip lines down! I asked them what they could see and my DD said "Everything!!!" It sounded incredible and was cheaper doing it through them than elsewhere.

 

I was wondering how much Little French Key cost and how much the added Zipline was? I dont see the prices on their website.

[medicalma'am]

Well, I am going ahead with Cozumel. The pics are of each of us 'shaking hands' with, touching the nose, kissing, and being kissed by Louis the Dolphin. Use your imaginations.

 

 

Chankanaab Park is beautiful. You can take a taxi cab, pay $21 USD and spend the day here. My DIL may be able to post the prices of a meal and drinks at the restaurant.

 

After our Dolphin Encounter, which was wonderful, we ate at the little cafe near there. A beer, chicken quesadilas, chips, salsa and guacamole was about $15 USD. Wonderful and worth it.

 

We booked the Encounter (Planma'am, her DD and DGD [5 years], me, my DD and DGD[4 years]) back in June for ...... get this.....$39 USD per person. It was called an Early Bird Discount. Planma'am did it either online or by phone and chose the 1 p.m. time slot.

 

Advice: BOOK THIS EARLY once you know you want to do it.

 

The park itself is a state park and used to be a 'local only' place. Even in '98 when we were there, the taxi cab driver was surprised that we wanted to visit there and told us that. Well, no more! It is really developed into some spectacular. Next cruise (!!!) we will go there early and then go to the old downtown area and have a cool one on the square. We should have headed there as soon as we got off the ship.

 

We walked around the shopping area at the cruise terminal, which was a waste of time in my opinion. All the shops look the same, same STUFF in all of them. This is at the shopping area just outside of the cruise port. You can see the escalator (that doesn't work) and overhead walkway to get across the road to enter.

 

 

 

We had 7 people and got a taxi ride for $22 to the park.

 

 

Grumps doing her thing again

 

 

This guy was spotted all over that day

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2013 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

avic77, Little French Key was $88 for the whole day on the island, meal and any two drinks. If you wanted to snorkel is was $98. The ones who did the zip line were $149 for it and all the rest including snorkeling. Email them and let them know you are considering visiting there and they will give you current prices. We booked back in September or October I believe. Early is better as they limit how many they have each day. When I saw how many cruise ships were going to be there that day, I wanted to book a private place instead of crowded beaches. The owners are delightful, I might add. You can't lose going there!

Edited February 5, 2013 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

There is a great beach area with chairs. They will bring you drinks there.

 

 

The water was that clear Caribbean blue

 

 

My son and Daughter in law planted themselves here while we were on the Dolphin Encounter

 

 

There was an arena with a show that I will catch next time.

 

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

The beautiful lagoon

 

 

We headed back to the cruise port and the party was in full swing. I got a video of the dancers. They were staff from the Star and the Dawn. I have seen videos online that were much better than mine. I enjoyed it more live though.

 

We had one of our Star Bar private parties scheduled for 5 pm, so we got cleaned up and dressed. We all met at the appointed time and the party was on!

 

Notice the beard braids are gone

 

 

I do not have many pictures of that evening at the Star Bar. Well, I take that back, I do. My Grand Girl got a hold of my phone to take some pictures. They were very interesting and are cute to me. She said that she wanted to take a picture of everyone there. She went down the line of seats taking pictures........of the backs of their heads. We got a real laugh out of that.

 

She did get a few others

 

 

And Grampa finally got my phone back from her

 

 

[medicalma'am]

We had reservations at Le Bistro that night for 16. They had two large tables in the 'wine cellar' area that is outside of the restaurant entrance. There is a piano near there and a band played during part of our meal.

 

 

I had the mushroom soup that I had enjoyed before on cruises.

 

 

I recently attempted this recipe and did a great job. I used all portabella mushrooms.

 

 

 

The Grand Girls were again in the Kids Club having the time of their lives.

 

 

Planma'am and I shared the escargo. I guess we must have attacked it because I have no 'before' picture!

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2013 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

I had steak. The potatoes were very flavorful. I have had those same potatoes on other cruises and took one bite and left the rest...not this time.

 

 

 

My dessert was again chocolate and wonderful.

 

 

We celebrated Screenma'am and Bullits anniversary. They provided cake for us.

 

 

We also had been provided a cake by the bar staff at the Star Bar and all shared it. They were above and beyond, definite vacation heroes.

 

 

 

 

We listened to the Melodic Trio in the Atrium for a while after dinner. They are the BEST. We loved them on the last Star Cruise.

 

We then headed to Spinnaker for the Quest game. That is always entertaining.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2013 by medicalma'am

[lostone65]

Really enjoying your review. We were on the Star in December and loved it! The approach of several different views posted is a great idea and very entertaining!

[herdingdogmom]

Oh my gosh' date=' Herdingdogmom, that is highway robbery. So sorry. Was the food good at least?[/size']

 

It was our fault for not questioning the prices before we ordered. The food was ok, but not any better than the market cafe items available from 3-5 and the margarita was just a bit better than the $4.95 margaritas near the pool on board.

 

There is nothing else there at the Costa Maya port and locals would never go there so I guess that is why they price gouge unsuspecting cruise passengers. Just thought I'd post since I hadn't read about this in any other reviews and am not sure when I'll get to my review.

 

I'm enjoying your review and am glad to see you had nice weather in Cozumel finally. That was the only day we had cloudy skies all day.

 

Beverly

[GORDONCHICK]

It was our fault for not questioning the prices before we ordered. The food was ok, but not any better than the market cafe items available from 3-5 and the margarita was just a bit better than the $4.95 margaritas near the pool on board.

 

There is nothing else there at the Costa Maya port and locals would never go there so I guess that is why they price gouge unsuspecting cruise passengers. Just thought I'd post since I hadn't read about this in any other reviews and am not sure when I'll get to my review.

 

I'm enjoying your review and am glad to see you had nice weather in Cozumel finally. That was the only day we had cloudy skies all day.

 

Beverly

 

I compare it to convenience store pricing. And there are many people who never leave the port area. I don't know if they think that's all there is or the like the convenience of it. I read about people hating Costa Maya, and inevitably they never left the port area.

[lmcgrail]

Loving your review! We are on the Star for the TA in April and can't wait. We have an aft penthouse suite booked on Deck 10. Which AFT PH suites did you and your family have on Deck 10? Just wondering if the pictures are of "our cabin".

 

Thanks!

Lori

[medicalma'am]

Planam'am had 10726, you can see her pics on this thread, I had 10728 and have posted my pics. Planma'am's sister in law had 10228. I don't know if she will post any pics. We also had the two aft balcony cabins in the middle for people in our group. I have peeked into the other two and if I recall they are like 726 and 728. So you can see the possibility of what yours will be like by looking at them.

 

 

I have a physical therapy appointment today and have to dry my hair before work, so I will be posting after work tonight around midnight. Till then...

[lmcgrail]

Planam'am had 10726' date=' you can see her pics on this thread, I had 10728 and have posted my pics. Planma'am's sister in law had 10228. I don't know if she will post any pics. We also had the two aft balcony cabins in the middle for people in our group. I have peeked into the other two and if I recall they are like 726 and 728. So you can see the possibility of what yours will be like by looking at them.

 

 

I have a physical therapy appointment today and have to dry my hair before work, so I will be posting after work tonight around midnight. Till then...[/size']

 

 

Thanks so much. We are booked in 10228 for 16 nights on the TA in April. Does Planma'ams sister in law have any pictures of the balcony for 10228? I'm wondering about the lounge chairs. Were they the basic blue ones or were they the rattan ones with the cushions?

 

Thanks!

Lori

[maja651]

We were in a deck 10 aft penthouse on the Star in 2011. The loungers on the balcony were the nice rattan ones with the cushions. I'll see if I can find any pictures for you!

[Planmaam]

As you can see from our pictures, Lori, all of our loungers were the blue mesh ones. I've messaged my SIL about hers, and will let you know as soon as I hear from her. My table was the rattan one, but I believe Medicalma'am only had the white ones, but had two to my one. It gave me the feeling that a lot of the rattan had not stood the test of time, and were being replaced with the blue.

[Planmaam]

Talking about Costa Maya, we spoke to our taxi driver about what we were seeing: trees stubs sticking up from the vegetation which was 6-10' tall, total. He said the hurricaine 6 years ago hit them hard, and therefore all the dead tree "stumps". I call them stumps for lack of another term. They were the main, large branches that were totally stripped of greenery, therefore the trees had died but left these remains. The greenery that was there was what had grown up in the 6 years since. It is very eerie looking. So from the port, when you look out, this is what you see, which is maybe some people think there's not much more out there. But only if yo leave the port area, which must be done by bus or taxi, as there's nothing much near the port, you don't know what's available.

[GORDONCHICK]

Talking about Costa Maya' date=' we spoke to our taxi driver about what we were seeing: trees stubs sticking up from the vegetation which was 6-10' tall, total. He said the hurricaine 6 years ago hit them hard, and therefore all the dead tree "stumps". I call them stumps for lack of another term. They were the main, large branches that were totally stripped of greenery, therefore the trees had died but left these remains. The greenery that was there was what had grown up in the 6 years since. It is very eerie looking. So from the port, when you look out, this is what you see, which is maybe some people think there's not much more out there. But only if yo leave the port area, which must be done by bus or taxi, as there's nothing much near the port, you don't know what's available.[/quote']

 

That would be Hurricane Dean from 2007 There used to be photos here on CC that showed of the fresh damage back then. The port was closed for quite a while for rebuilding.

 

Here's a link I found with some photos: http://blogsofwar.com/2007/08/23/damage-photos-costa-maya-mahahual-wiped-out-by-hurricane-dean/

Edited February 5, 2013 by GORDONCHICK

[rowdyrosie]

Sisters....I am just loving your review. My daughter and I sail Star, March 17th.

[Planmaam]

Well, it's Tuesday, right? The current Star pax are enjoying Costa Maya; hope the weather is great for them and they're having a great time.

 

Anyway, I'm home sick and going to the doctor later; think I have bronchitis. And we are getting our new water heater installed. Boy, for what it is costing, I could do another cruise!

 

I have to eat lunch, but promise to spend time on this review today. Have to upload more pictures to Flickr first, though. Any questions? I'll be on here for a couple of hours.

[kwbound]

I have been checking in on the ship's webcam (because I'm obsessed with our upcoming cruise!). It look like it is a beautiful day in Costa Maya.

 

Feel better!

[operaclg]

I have been checking in on the ship's webcam (because I'm obsessed with our upcoming cruise!). It look like it is a beautiful day in Costa Maya.

 

Feel better!

 

 

You too huh?:D:D:D