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Live from the Star on the way to Singapore

GUEST080219

By GUEST080219,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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GUEST080219

GUEST080219

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After 21 days on this ship already going from civitavecchia to Dubai now the real fun starts.

 

21 days to Singapore with stops in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

It will be quite picture heavy again trying to give you a feeling about the atmosphere on board.

 

New guests are boarding at the moment and we won't leave until 11pm I think.

 

And of course the usual way to start a trip report

 

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In case you are wondering why I am on the ship and not in Dubai. This was the taxi line this morning

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No organization at all and people cutting the line all the time. So after 15 minutes in the sun I went back on board.

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GUEST080219

GUEST080219

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I had to change cabins between the two cruises. From a forward facing penthouse to an inside stateroom. The IC cabin on deck 10 looks actually pretty good so far. Especially the bathroom and shower very clean with no visible defects. Same with he rest of the cabin. The only thing I am missing is the enormous storage space I had in my old one.

 

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They moved the luggage quite quickly and give priority for making the staterooms for b2b guests ready so I got the go to use my new room around 10:50

 

So far the only thing that has been a bit difficult is the internet package I bought a couple of days ago in my NCL.com account. It is not showing up but instead I have another 250 mins choice free promotion which imho I shouldn't have. Guest services tries to check with Miami what is going on there. I know the purchase was successful as I already saw it on my credit card account. We will see, their suggestion was to just buy it again on the ship and when they get conformation from Miami that it was already pre purchased thy will take it off my room account.

 

Anyone has an idea what the $0 back to back cruise wifi plan is?

 

dcb51b5f79faaa8a30b5478c4261fa70.png

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GUEST080219

GUEST080219

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Look forward to following along....any highlights of the first sector to report.

 

 

 

I didn't see it but there were people who saw bombs or other explosions going on while we passed Yemen.

 

Apart from that great ports, superior bar service and service in Cagney. Mediocre suite experience apart from the awesome balcony and pretty bad guest service experiences but I am used to that. Entertainment and activities like you are used from NCL nothing really put up other than the usual stuff even for 21 days.

 

Port highlights without doubt Petra in Jordan and going to Luxor. Was well worth it for being able to go to see these places.

 

Oh and I feel a bit bad for the people who bought tickets to burj Kalifa

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GUEST080219

GUEST080219

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I saw Heathers blog on Luxor...sounds like a long day.

 

How was your day in Luxor & Petra.

 

 

 

Petra was pretty much perfect. I mean the site is absolutely stunning. They hand you a map of the area and the exit is same as the entry so you can make sure to get the departure time for your bus and then leave your guide when you come to the gift shops area and see the last parts of the site as well. Otherwise I would have missed it.

 

Luxor was a bit of a mess as after stopping at a souvenir shop and wasting time with getting everyone back on time on the bus when we arrived at lunch they told me that we wouldn't go to Karnak temple but Luxor temple instead. Had to do a bit of complaining but finally changed to a bus that went to karnak temple and we had a 45 minute tour there around sunset which was very beautiful. We arrived back at the port 9:05 with a 8:30 all aboard and 9:00 sail away time but as expected they didn't leave 3 tour busses in Egypt

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aussie cruzer

aussie cruzer

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Petra was pretty much perfect. I mean the site is absolutely stunning. They hand you a map of the area and the exit is same as the entry so you can make sure to get the departure time for your bus and then leave your guide when you come to the gift shops area and see the last parts of the site as well. Otherwise I would have missed it.

 

Luxor was a bit of a mess as after stopping at a souvenir shop and wasting time with getting everyone back on time on the bus when we arrived at lunch they told me that we wouldn't go to Karnak temple but Luxor temple instead. Had to do a bit of complaining but finally changed to a bus that went to karnak temple and we had a 45 minute tour there around sunset which was very beautiful. We arrived back at the port 9:05 with a 8:30 all aboard and 9:00 sail away time but as expected they didn't leave 3 tour busses in Egypt

 

Wow...close call on departure.

 

We are doing Dubai to Venice and dropped Hasheput temple and the sit down lunch...plan on western café near Luxor Temple.

 

Our cruise departs at 11.00 pm from Safaga

 

Karnak is a must see..glad you got to visit...Heathers bus didn't.

https://travelswithheather.com/blog/

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helmel

helmel

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Hi looking forward to hearing details of your cruise. We have sailed on the star before and loved her. We are going on her again on 16 January from Hong Kong to Sydney for 21 nights.

Would love to hear about evening shows etc. Good luck and enjoy!

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GUEST080219

GUEST080219

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Bon Voyage Michael.

 

How's the WiFi in Dubai cruise terminal....does it work on the ship or are using ships Internet.

 

Sent from my SM-T530 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

I don't think we got a signal on the ship. We docked at cruise terminal 2. I just went to Dubai mall to get free wifi. Now I am using ships internet.

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GUEST080219

GUEST080219

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Leaving Dubai

f71f48bfe5a0f28b5b7fbbf199fffdb2.tif

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The rest of the evening has been drinking on different bars so far. One new thing they have is that a lot of he regular cocktails at the bar are already premade and just poured out of jars. Just like they did for the martini and mojito flights. You can still get fresh prepared ones but you have to explicitly ask for it.

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rjrpar

rjrpar

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Thanks Michael,

 

Ncl do have great suites...but it depends on your butler.. I've been lucky most of the time.

 

Those front SE cabins have great balconys....especially deck 10.

 

 

Why are cruisers so quick to justify poor service by saying it depends on the butler, waiter, bartender, etc. In suites, which are actually priced at double or triple regular staterooms, service should always be good, not just if you're lucky. Have we as cruisers become so accustomed to inconsistent service that we now expect and accept it. Something just seems very wrong.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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kiwicruisers51

kiwicruisers51

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Thanks Michael for this live feed. We are doing the back to backs Auckland to Venice (last leg from dubai with Duncan) so these posts are going to be very helpful. Glad Petra went well. We are doing Petra with one other couple through Jordan Horizons - was Wadi Rum worth visiting or would you recommend more time in Petra? Will be interested in feedback on India as we have 3 CC organised tours with Mumbai Magic. Enjoy the cruise - as per usual after all the build up the actual 'cruising' goes sooooo fast. Sue

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deefer "Live from...." Rare

deefer

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loving this thread and perfect timing, we board on December 22 in Hong Kong on the 14 day sailing to Singapore. I have not seen any Star threads in a while so this is awesome. Keep it coming.

 

I am following this post with great interest. Thank you micm for taking the time to post!

 

This is to pieshops, we will be on a similar itinerary to yours but backwards, Singapore to HongKong in 2018. I know, a long ways away! We are still a little overwhelmed with the planning involved as we are tacking on a 10 day land vacation of mainland China at the end of the cruise. I hope to see some posts of your adventures too!

 

It is just so nice to see reviews of Asia specifically from an NCL perspective starting to appear.

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aussie cruzer

aussie cruzer

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Why are cruisers so quick to justify poor service by saying it depends on the butler, waiter, bartender, etc. In suites, which are actually priced at double or triple regular staterooms, service should always be good, not just if you're lucky. Have we as cruisers become so accustomed to inconsistent service that we now expect and accept it. Something just seems very wrong.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Unfortunately a bad Butler or Concerirge can make or break the suite experience

 

I'm quite aware of how it should work....with 3 Garden Villa trips on Ncl & 3 other suites I know the drill.😀

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