The Star - Panama Canal Cruise

[mein18]

The shows in the Stardust Theater were 7 PM and 9 PM every night. I hope you have a great cruise.

 

Thank you. Was able to rearrange all of our dinner reservations so not to miss any of the shows. Took a couple calls due to the reps not understanding their system. What they couldn't grasp is the 90 minute rule. If a reservation was say at 8:00, their system would block out from 6:30 to 9:30 to allow the 90 minute estimate to eat. Finally on the 3rd try the girl knew what was happening, canceled one of the reservations for one night and it opened up all the time slots. Other than Teppy, I was shocked that all time slots were available given they only make 30% of the slots available pre-cruise. Guess either most wait until they board or not many on our cruise want to eat at the specialty restaurants.

[SweetEmi]

It is still there...

 

It does not sound like it is going to be repaired when the Star goes to drydock in Portland, Oregon in March 2015.

 

The Star is going to be in Portland, OR? Cool! I'll have to go visit her while she's here. She is my favorite ship up to now. :) Lots of fond memories.

 

Emi

[travelnut1]

Great review Oakman! Very helpful for our cruise in 7 days :)

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[SweetEmi]

Oakman....

 

I posted this link on my roll Call and suggested that all view your wonderful review and photos.

I wish you were on the cruise with us!! :D

 

Don

 

Here I am - followed Don here and am reading every word. :) Starting to really get my cruise juices flowing now!!

 

Emi

[SweetEmi]

Since we had eaten very little food during the tour we headed straight to the Blue Lagoon. I ordered some of the buffalo wings with hot sauce. This was the second time I’ve ordered these and it was obvious to me they don’t know how to make hot sauce hot. Don’t get me wrong, the wings were good, just not spicy hot.

 

This is the same complaint I've heard since I first went to the Blue Lagoon and if I remember correctly, you can order them to be cooked with Tabasco or something like that. Not 100% sure right now but I'm going to try that in a week. :)

 

 

Emi

[sykimball1498]

Just a fantastic review! So glad Don posted this on our roll call. We leave in one week and this review makes me know it will be an awesome cruise!

 

Your pictures were just great as well and went very well with the commentary. You sound like a great guy and would be a lot of fun to cruise with:)

[Linda the Book Lover]

The Star is going to be in Portland, OR? Cool! I'll have to go visit her while she's here. She is my favorite ship up to now. :) Lots of fond memories.

 

Emi

 

Emi, please be our "land reporter" and let us know what you see while she is in dry dock. We are boarding her in LA and though you can't see what is going on inside perhaps you may get a peek at the outside and report in. :D

[Linda the Book Lover]

Oakman,

 

I had a great time reading your review and enjoyed jebby's post about you which made me laugh. No wonder she can catch rainbows she was quick to catch you on the chair.

 

Linda

[quillwercruisers]

Thank you very much for your awesome review. We are in the early planning stages for our 25th anniversary cruise, and the PC is number one on our list. Your review has just gotten me really excited!! Unfortunately we have 2 more years to wait. Thanks again!!

[jertom]

Oakman,

Thanks for the great review !

It has gotten us excited for our Jan 19 PC cruise, as well as provide a wealth of helpful insights.

Good luck to you on future cruises !

[js4rq]

I loved reading your Panama canal cruise photo review! :D Now to plan our cruise!! ;)

[jebby]

Oakman,

 

I had a great time reading your review and enjoyed jebby's post about you which made me laugh. No wonder she can catch rainbows she was quick to catch you on the chair.

 

Linda

 

Linda, after 40 years being married to Bob (OaKman), I've learned to be very, very quick!!!

[Oakman58]

Thank you for all the kind comments everyone, I'm really flattered. I hope those of you going on the Star in the future have as much fun as my wife and I did, especially those going on the January 4th canal sailing.

[prairiedawn1946]

Oakman...

 

Your review with all the photos was the best review I have ever viewed on these boards and with my Panama Canal cruise only a week away, it was so helpful and added to the anticipation of the upcoming cruise. :)

 

Thanks so much!!

 

Don

 

I agree with Don. What fantastic pictures "Oakman". I have also taken 2 pages of notes so we don't miss any of the good shows and entertainers. Now I have to make sure our pre-booked specialty restaurants don't conflict with with prime rib and chateau briand dinners in the main dining room. I appreciate seeing the menus. Thanks.

Can't wait to meet you Don a week today on our Panama cruise.

Donna

[jasbo49]

Nice work, Oakman. Thanks for taking the time to enlighten us all. I'm not booked on the Star and don't have a canal trip booked either (yet), but still enjoyed your review a lot.

 

Jim

[dongordon]

I agree with Don. What fantastic pictures "Oakman". I have also taken 2 pages of notes so we don't miss any of the good shows and entertainers. Now I have to make sure our pre-booked specialty restaurants don't conflict with with prime rib and chateau briand dinners in the main dining room. I appreciate seeing the menus. Thanks.

Can't wait to meet you Don a week today on our Panama cruise.

Donna

 

 

Hey Donna....

I am also looking forward to meeting you in a week and all the other "Canal Cruisers" from our January 4th Roll Call.

I am so glad to also see Emi and Samantha on this thread as Oakman has done a fantastic job of getting all of us ready for our upcoming Panama Canal Cruise. :)

 

Linda...

I promised you a review when I return.

There is no way I can compete with Oakman on his amazing review, but I assure you I will answer any questions and provide my opinion of the STAR and the cruise.

 

I love the comraderie we have on CC (at least most of the time! :D )

 

Don

[don't-use-real-name]

Emi, please be our "land reporter" and let us know what you see while she is in dry dock. We are boarding her in LA and though you can't see what is going on inside perhaps you may get a peek at the outside and report in. :D

 

True while you will not be able to see the inside refurbishing (if any) if you are

close enough you may see what kind of delivery trucks are bringing the goods

to do the upgrading i.e. Costco; Home Depot; "Sasquatch" forest products and

don't forget IKEA ! LOL !

Wish that they would upgrade the ships video to HD and offer more camera

viewing points especially when going thru the PC.

 

NCL has already upped its fares for the 2015-16 season so my wish/bucket

list maybe doomed i.e. can't afford that - cut this - cut that - cut back and

when cutting forward don't fall on the blade !

 

Also of interest is this going to be a true dry dock with hull out of water ?

 

She is not a bad ship - wish that it had better forward view platforms without

those eye level glass partitions getting in the way of photography. For a ship

that transits the PC that is a black mark on photo opts. Fortunately these are

not the days of Eastman Kodak where film is expensive and each shot is done

with care. In this digital age you shoot and shoot again until you get what you

want and delete the miscues.

"So OAKMAN58 what is your secret or are you using one of them newfangled

drones with a camera ?" - - - Outstanding pix 'bravo' thanks for sharing your

work with the readers of CC !

 

Sailed the NCL STAR 10/20-11/03 2014 Miami-Los Angeles.

[Cruisersjb]

Thanks for this great review Oakman, and also the separate Panama Canal one. They have brought back so many happy memories.

I saw the turtle too! I heard you call that you had spotted one so looked out and saw it just below the balcony.

It was lovely to meet you and Joyce over the balcony rail.

For those still about to set sail, I can tell you about some of the excursions we did.

In Huatulco we did a private snorkelling tour arranged via the Roll Call. It was with Oaxaca Expeditions. I can thoroughly recommend this tour. They took us by minibus to a small isolated bay, for most of the time we were the only ones there. There were 2 instructors who took great care of us. I had never snorkelled before and was a little nervous but they soon put me at my ease. They also took us on a short sightseeing tour of the area, including 2 viewpoints with beautiful views. The cost was just over $30, excellent value for money.

In Costa Rica we did the Forest Skywalk and Crocodile safari tour which we enjoyed very much. We did a one hour walk down through the forest, crossing 2 suspension bridges. Although we did not see much wildlife, there were some beautiful views of the coats and countryside. We then did the Crocodile Safari boat trip where we saw lots of crocs and many beautiful birds.

Because we wanted to visit the Fortress, we chose the San Felipe fortress and City at leisure tour in Cartagena. We were given a short guided walk around part of the Old Town then given about 1 1/2 hours of free time. Unfortunately because it was a public holiday in Cartagena all the churches and museums were closed so we could not go inside them but the streets were very quiet and it was lovely to be able to wander round this beautiful city without the crowds. I believe that some museums and churches were open in the morning on that day, but for some reason NCL changed our tour to the afternoon after they had closed.

Thanks again for all your hard work in posting this superb review Oakman. We hope you and Joyce enjoy lots more cruises together in the future.

Jan & Bill

[asc742]

What time do they start disembarking? We are on the LA to Miami cruise on the 19th. We are looking to see if we can make a 1120 flight.

[don't-use-real-name]

What time do they start disembarking? We are on the LA to Miami cruise on the 19th. We are looking to see if we can make a 1120 flight.

 

You are pushing the envelope a tad bit - - -

 

Ship arrives at around 7am and CBP starts clearing passengers around 8am

and with luck you are able to do a walk-off with baggage to the cab stand

outside the cruise terminal. It's about a 8 mile drive from the Cruise Terminal

to the airport - you are attempting this on a Monday possibly encountering

normal Rush Hour traffic although the 19th is a Holiday (MLK) which should

lessen the traffic scene - hope this doesn't take more than hour ???

And another factor is how many other cruise ships are docking at the same time.

Moving on hope your arrival at the airport is at least by 930am then checking

in for your flight and running the TSA gauntlet to arrive at the airline gate in

the required time - take a breath if you are at your assigned gate before 1030am

and the start of boarding of your flight.

 

Not much room for error but it can be done !

Edited December 29, 2014 by don't-use-real-name
add data

[asc742]

You are pushing the envelope a tad bit - - -

 

Ship arrives at around 7am and CBP starts clearing passengers around 8am

and with luck you are able to do a walk-off with baggage to the cab stand

outside the cruise terminal. It's about a 8 mile drive from the Cruise Terminal

to the airport - you are attempting this on a Monday possibly encountering

normal Rush Hour traffic although the 19th is a Holiday (MLK) which should

lessen the traffic scene - hope this doesn't take more than hour ???

And another factor is how many other cruise ships are docking at the same time.

Moving on hope your arrival at the airport is at least by 930am then checking

in for your flight and running the TSA gauntlet to arrive at the airline gate in

the required time - take a breath if you are at your assigned gate before 1030am

and the start of boarding of your flight.

 

Not much room for error but it can be done !

I think we will book a later flight, we haven't booked our flight home yet. Does anyone know how many of the islands use tenders to get there?

[Oakman58]

You are pushing the envelope a tad bit - - -

 

Ship arrives at around 7am and CBP starts clearing passengers around 8am

and with luck you are able to do a walk-off with baggage to the cab stand

outside the cruise terminal. It's about a 8 mile drive from the Cruise Terminal

to the airport - you are attempting this on a Monday possibly encountering

normal Rush Hour traffic although the 19th is a Holiday (MLK) which should

lessen the traffic scene - hope this doesn't take more than hour ???

And another factor is how many other cruise ships are docking at the same time.

Moving on hope your arrival at the airport is at least by 930am then checking

in for your flight and running the TSA gauntlet to arrive at the airline gate in

the required time - take a breath if you are at your assigned gate before 1030am

and the start of boarding of your flight.

 

Not much room for error but it can be done !

 

I agree, it can be done as long as everything goes smoothly. It wouldn't take much of a glitch in Customs or going through TSA at the airport to miss that flight.

[Oakman58]

Thanks for this great review Oakman, and also the separate Panama Canal one. They have brought back so many happy memories.

I saw the turtle too! I heard you call that you had spotted one so looked out and saw it just below the balcony.

It was lovely to meet you and Joyce over the balcony rail.

 

Jan & Bill

 

I'm sorry we didn't more chances to visit with the two of you. We certainly enjoyed the short visits we had on the balcony.

 

Perhaps we'll bump into each other on a future cruise.

[Oakman58]

I think we will book a later flight, we haven't booked our flight home yet. Does anyone know how many of the islands use tenders to get there?

 

 

On our cruise the only port that we used tenders was Cabo San Lucas.

[Oakman58]

 

 

with care. In this digital age you shoot and shoot again until you get what you want and delete the miscues.

 

"So OAKMAN58 what is your secret or are you using one of them newfangled

drones with a camera ?" - - - Outstanding pix 'bravo' thanks for sharing your

work with the readers of CC !

 

Sailed the NCL STAR 10/20-11/03 2014 Miami-Los Angeles.

 

You folks are really too kind with your comments about my photos. No question those pesky glass partitions get in the way of photos. I use a relatively small point and shoot camera (SX160 IS) so I would lean forward and put the camera lens between the partitions to get some of the photos.

 

Heads-up for future canal cruisers. It was very warm and humid the farther south we cruised so in the morning, after being in the air conditioning all night, the lens on my camera would instantly fog up the first time I took it outside. This applies to binoculars too.