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

[medicalma'am]

After dinner on Friday night we went to SHARK BAIT! I was so excited that they were back on the Star. I knew that they had been off during December from Mistugirly's review and I had inquired of those on board two weeks before us (they weren't on board then either).

 

These guys are great. I could watch that show again and again. They also did a 'Circus Q & A with Shark Bait" on Saturday afternoon. We did not go to that. Saturday evening after dinner we went to the Elements show. Also, this is NOT to be missed! The caliber of the shows on the Star are outstanding! NCL has nailed it here!

 

 

The service we had on board never disappointed. It was great having the butler and concierge. I found out late in our week that our steward had been very ill all week and had even seen the ships doctor. I would have never known from our interaction with him and the level of service he gave us. I did leave him the biggest tip of all though. We had played musical pool towels with my DD's room towels and ours, but he made it all right in the end.

 

The beauty of the Star is indeed intact. I had read online that the ship was showing her age. I looked for signs of this during the week and found none.

 

 

Every aspect of the ship impressed me.

 

 

I have never done a behind the scenes tour and hope to one day. After another cruise or two I will be Platinum.....so maybe not until then.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2013 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

We awoke on Sunday morning too early. I was actually up long before my DH. I showered, dressed and made my coffee and sat out on the balcony. I got some pics coming into NOLA.

 

Sunrise

 

 

Moon setting

 

 

Near where we docked

 

 

We spent some last moments in our room.

 

 

 

We had breakfast in Cagney's with much of our family and group. We then went to Ginza and waited (a long time) for all of our group to amass for debarkation together. Planma'am spent some last moments with her DGD while mommy took care of her last bit of OBC.

 

 

[medicalma'am]

The Grand Girls had such a good time together. No telling how old they will be the next time they see each other.

 

 

This is some of the artwork in Ginza where we were waiting before debarking

 

 

We said goodbye to the Star

 

 

 

The waits were not too long. We did have a 15 minute wait in the hallway before you walk into the Customs area. Seems the lines there were backed up.

 

 

We made the trek to our cars and headed out of the port. We stopped for lunch at a fast food restaurant and I was in shock when I walked into the bathroom. It wasn't dirty by any means, it was decorated nicely. I was just looking at all the details like the dirty grout of the floor tiles, rust on the door hinges. I thought "Well I am no longer on the Star!"

Edited February 8, 2013 by medicalma'am

[mitsugirly]

 

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

 

 

 

Loved your review. It was neat to see the different families on the same cruise but yet experiencing different things.

 

The picture above, my daughter has the same outfit (the one on the right), I thought that was neat. :)

 

I HAVE to know more info on Little French Key is it? Please tell me you took more pictures that you could post. What all is there to do there? You mentioned (and posted a picture) of the "small island" and then other pictures I take it is the "big" island. How do you get from one to the other? What do you do on each of them? Do they have snorkeling right there at the island or off of the dock? Give me details!! :D I'm always looking for new places to go and the few pictures you did post really have me wanting to know and see more. :p

[canehdn]

What a joy it was to read this combined effort review. All families had a little different story to tell yet it all came together as a beautiful family cruise. Stories told and pictures posted were a treat. Thanks for sharing your beautiful experience with your fellow CC'rs.

 

Cdn in KS

[Freebythesea]

We are on the star for our first NCL cruise in 23 days. Reading your Awesome review has made the waiting even harder :eek:. I wish I had a remote control that would speed us up to departure day and slowwwwww us down until we disembark!

[medicalma'am]

Little French Key

 

 

Part of the big island

 

 

This was taken from the little island looking toward the big. Behind the guy you can see the stairs from the elevated 'living room/bar'. Behind the trees is a boardwalk that leads from the big to the little.

 

 

The elevated

 

 

 

In this one you can see part of the boardwalk. This was taken from the elevated platform.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2013 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

There were hammocks, canoes, float chairs, volleyball net, snorkeling (you could do this right there [$88 package] or they can take you out to the reef for the $98 package), and the zoo.

 

In the background you see another bigger island. They take you to the right, around that one, out to the water on the left to snorkel the reef. They leave you about an hour and come get you again. It is not that far and there are buoys that they tell you to stay between.

 

 

Under the elevated platform there is the boat that takes you out to snorkel

 

The guys getting ready to JUMP!

 

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/484684_548676908483767_698944563_n.jpg

 

This monkey was so sweet. He came up to the edge of the cage and just leaned his head toward me to pet him. Later he was out and being loved on by everyone. We had to wait several minutes to go back to the Frenchy's 44 at the end of the day because he WOULDN'T let go of one woman! So cute.

 

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/155012_10151205674356945_763771560_n.jpg

 

I looked Roatan up on G earth and was able to find the islands. They are to the right of port quite a way. You can see them quite clearly.

 

 

[medicalma'am]

Pictures from the Chocoholic Buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quest is always fun. Yes, that is a man!

 

 

My DH stayed for Second City Improv. I was NOT impressed with the Second Dict troup on the Star. Same skits I have seen on the last TWO cruises and talent was just not there.

 

I enjoyed the Liar's Club that they have in the Spinnaker. Funny, funny, funny.

[medicalma'am]

The Grand Girls were saying "One Two THREE.....SUPERHEROES!" They had Superheroes day in Kids Club.

 

My version of this is VACATION HERO! The bar staff in the Star bar and the Kids Club staff, hats off to you!

 

 

Her pose

 

 

They were taking pics of each other

 

 

 

I even have pics of the carpet in the Star Bar that my Grand Girl took. Yes....the carpet.

 

One of the best parts of this cruise was the three, one hour, private cocktail parties our group got from NCL. It was the time for the entire group to get together, share what we had done and get to know each other. We had the core group of three sisters and DHs, a SIL of one sister and her SO, a cousin of a BIL and her friend, my kids and their spouses and GG, Planma'am's daughter and GG, friend of hers and fiance, then the cousin and wife of the friend. Did you get all that????? lol So we had 9 in their 20's, 8 older generation and the 4 and 5 year olds.

 

[camz]

The service we had on board never disappointed. It was great having the butler and concierge. I found out late in our week that our steward had been very ill all week and had even seen the ships doctor. I would have never known from our interaction with him and the level of service he gave us.

 

I took notice that you were in an Aft facing Penthouse. Did you happen to be on the 9th floor? If so, was your room steward Aslie? He was our steward in Sept/Oct on the Star and he was the best.

[medicalma'am]

Camz - No, we were on deck 10 and had Angelo. He was tops.

[SakeDad]

Because of your reviews and pics I will be booking (hopefully!) the Chef's Table!! Doing much of the trip on the cheap but THAT is worth springing for!!! THANKS! :D

[BlueLadyBlue]

Love this review. Great idea for all to contribute. Thanks for the aft photo. We have an aft booked on the Star in March so really happy to see your picture.

[Planmaam]

Just checking in to say that I think I'm finally over the hump with this flu! Boy, it was much worse than I expected, and though I finally took a shower yesterday, today is the first I think I can get on the computer again. I will be working on updating my portion of the review, uploading more pics, so keep checking back, it's not done yet!

[Mysticks1]

Just checking in to say that I think I'm finally over the hump with this flu! Boy' date=' it was much worse than I expected, and though I finally took a shower yesterday, today is the first I think I can get on the computer again. I will be working on updating my portion of the review, uploading more pics, so keep checking back, it's not done yet![/quote']

 

Glad you are feeling better. I have been following your review and really am enjoying everyones different views and photos. We are sailing on the Star on May 7, the first cruise from Copenhagen for the Baltics Capitals cruise. I love all the photos of the ship and look forward to the rest. :)

[medicalma'am]

Just checking in to say that I think I'm finally over the hump with this flu! Boy' date=' it was much worse than I expected, and though I finally took a shower yesterday, today is the first I think I can get on the computer again. I will be working on updating my portion of the review, uploading more pics, so keep checking back, it's not done yet![/quote']

 

YEA! Can't wait to read your 'take' on it all. I NEED so see your pic!!!!!

 

Love you, sis

[Planmaam]

I have been doing the same thing - we are in aft-ph 10226 on March 10th - can't wait and love seeing the pictures of rooms close to ours.

 

 

Tricialy, I will be curious to find out whether the decor of your cabin matches the decor of 10726; be sure to come back here after your cruise and let us know!

[Planmaam]

YEA! Can't wait to read your 'take' on it all. I NEED so see your pic!!!!!

 

Love you' date=' sis[/size']

 

Well, I'm at DH's mercy now; he won't let me on his computer to upload more pics to Flickr. He insists in loading ALL the cruise pictures up there himself first, then I can go there and choose those I want to use in my review. Heaven only knows how long it is going to be before I can continue. :mad:

 

Wish him speed!

[camz]

Camz - No' date=' we were on deck 10 and had Angelo. He was tops.[/size']

 

Well, I am glad to hear Aslie was not ill. However, sorry to learn your cabin steward, Angelo was ill. Are you now hooked on Aft Facing Cabins? It only took once for us to be hooked. I saw your aft view picture in your review and it was amazing as always. Thank you for sharing your experiences aboard the beautiful Star.

[Planmaam]

My, it's been a whole week since I've been able to post any pictures, and I had to scroll half-way through this review to see where I left off.

 

Medicalma'am's completed her portion, but I've only gotten through Belize, so will restart with my review of Roatan.

 

Roatan was my favorite port. We arrived about 7:30, and were allowed to leave the ship by about 8:00. We again had breakfast in Cagney's, then gathered in the Star Bar for priority disembarkation with our Concierge, David. It was raining lightly, and I contemplated buying a poncho to cover up, but decided it was not going to hamper my day to get wet; we were going to a "beach day" after all!

 

It took us a minute to find the correct area to meet with our driver for Little French Key. Let me just say for any of you going there in the future, you keep going straight once you get to the shops, don't turn right down the covered area with more shops. Keep walking to the end, then turn right and out the gate at the fence by the street. They were waiting there for us with two vans, and before long we were maneuvering the streets of Roatan. The trip took about 30 minutes to Frenchy's 44 where we gathered, paid for the level of activities we choose for the day, and waited for the ride over to Little French Key. It was still raining lightly, and they put chairs on the deck of the pontoon-type boat for us all to be under cover.

 

Hurdles, the never stop coming.

 

In the week since I last uploaded pictures from Flickr, they have changed the process, and I can no longer get the picture to post, only the red x in a box. We've done everything they have said to do, but I still can't see the picture in my preview. Flickr says to post the link do this, this, and this; but when I do that, that, and that it still doesn't work! We'll keep trying for a while, but at this point, I definitely CANNOT RECOMMEND FLICKR!

[Planmaam]

Test

 

Gathering at Frenchy's 44, awaiting the boat to Little French Key

 

[Planmaam]

Test 2

 

[Planmaam]

Test 3

 

Edited February 10, 2013 by planma'am

[Planmaam]