Live from the Star on the way to Singapore

[Floki]

Enjoying following your cruise. We are doing Singapore to Dubai in March 2017 and it is great to have some tips

[mking8288]

Thank you & following - excellent with live update ... so, satellite broadband or internet on the ship at sea is usable & good. What are the internet/WiFi package & pricing options, for the benefits of others considering these longer sailings ? Much obliged.

 

Perhaps I missed it, how full is the ship and can you share a little bit about the demographics, including age brackets & nationalities of those sailing. We are in the pre-planning stages, looking at the Norwegian Jewel next Fall - it's sailing after the Alaska season to Hawaii, making its way to the South China Sea and we are looking at the SIN-HKG segment ... possibly getting a group together as there's interests for seeing coastal Vietnam from the comfort of a cruise ship.

[GUEST080219]

Muscat again.

As I indeed didn't set my alarm lock I left my cabin shortly after 2pm and first got some food at O'Sheehans. Although already lots of the tours and individual guests had been back on board already the service was spot on. What is still confusing me and I am not sure if it had been like that all the time is that when you order an starter and main course you got your main course as soon as it is ready. So most of the time you won't have finished your starter by then. But makes sense for fast food.

 

After some drinks in the sun I just continued relaxing.

 

We had some other ships in the port with us

[GUEST080219]

As I do. It watch hypnosis shows any more the evening was pretty much the same as most evenings. Listening to some karaoke and bar singers. Have the usual drinks at the usual bars and then watching the British Invasion theme dance party in the spinnaker before heading to bed early again but not without a late night snack in O'Sheehans.

 

The freestyle daily for this day

 

[GUEST080219]

As I hadn't been out here are some pictures from my Muscat walk around the first leg of this cruise.

Here is a complimentary shuttle to the port exit. From there just walk towards the Main Street which is pretty straight forward or just follow all the other people. When you left hand side along the seaside promenade you will pass by the soukh on the opposite side of he road and then after a while see the two remaining towers probably of an old fort.

My plan was to continue on walking to the palace but the heat made me head back at that time

 

[GUEST080219]

Today we have our first out of two sea days before 5 days in India. So a good time to recharge your batteries and relax a bit.

 

I have complained a bit about the service so I was very happy to find the following letter in my cabin

 

Just wished they would do the same with non maintenance concerns.

 

The day started early as I got wakes up by the 8am announcement about the Indian face to face immigration that is today for the even numbered decks and tomorrow the odd numbered decks. Just noticed that I will probably woken up tomorrow at that time as well. They only do the announcements in the public areas and hallways and not in the staterooms but it does not make a difference as there is no sound protection.

[GUEST080219]

Similar to the face to face immigration in Israel this was perfectly organized by NCL. You start at the port side of deck 7 collecting your passport and landing cards and have to sign them. After a couple of checks by NCL staff you line up in the Gonzalez restaurant for the Indian officials who have been very relaxed and helpful to get the stamps and then after a few more checks hand in the passport and landing cards for later ports to NCL again and then exit on the Star board side of Ginza. P effect organization.

 

After that it was time for listening to Peters talk about the Indian ports in the stardust theater. Many might know him from the South American cruises on the Sun.

After that lunch in the buffet which I think is noticeable improved. Hot food and good salad and healthy choices as well as variety every day. And seating was available.

 

The rest of he day was pretty much relaxing in my cabin before the usual evening bar hopping. Interesting might be that even though we stay overnight in Mumbai they will close he port gates. So you can stay in the city but won't be able to get back to the ship after a certain time. We have not gotten official information about that though.

 

The show in the theater tonight was really good. So if the group is on one of your cruises I absolutely recommend going there.

 

Now the Norwegian Night Out has started and the dance floor as well as he Lounge are packed. Here a very dark video of the beginning

 

https://vimeo.com/193083023

[aussie cruzer]

Great work Michael with the blog,

 

So people who boarded the ship without Indian visas can now get them on the ship. ...is that how it works.

 

 

 

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[Cafedumonde]

Love your low key report. Seems like a very relaxing trip.

[susan0000]

Love your review! Thanks for doing it

 

 

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[herdingdogmom]

Has Peter Croyle mentioned how long he will be on board? We sail on Feb. 6 from Sydney to Auckland and would like to hear his lectures - particularly for Milford Sound.

[GUEST080219]

Before Norwegian night out I checked my room and noticed hat it was still on "turn down my room please" and it had not been made. So a quick stop by the guest services again to remind them I need a freestyle daily and most important the nightly mint chocolate.

 

I am happy to be able to report that they took the chocolate request very serious

 

Norwegian Night Out was nice fore 45 minutes until like in the schedule announced the DJ took over. So I changed to Gatsby and later to the casino bar for some more drinks. O'Sheehans at 3am was a bit slow as we were the only guests I could spot ordering something to eat but maybe the galley was already on energy saving mode.

 

 

 

[GUEST080219]

Day 7 is the last sea day before the 5 consecutive days in India. After I got to bed after 4am i obviously missed the cruisecritic M&G at 11am. Another lazy day and I had my first food of the day around 3pm which was again in O'Sheehans and was very good and quick again.

 

This morning I found an invitation for a back to back cruisers event in the spinnaker at 6:15pm

Now I should stop expecting to much but the whole event was like a bad copy of the VIP party. Why is it so difficult to do some things around the fact that we are at least 42 days on this ship. It was just the usual background music free drinks and snacks and hand shaking with some officers before hey quickly left.

 

I watched the production show Vegas again and still believe the show is pretty cheap and just relies on the dancers being rarely dressed and dancing provocative. So a really lazy day before the adventures in India start

[GUEST080219]

Day 8 and finally some land again

 

Regarding the visa situation. I was not affected so I did not get the official information. But what I heard is that NCL was able to organize group visas for $40 a person. Which of course only allows you to get off on an NCL group shore excursion and there were some ports already booked out. Anyway no one who cares about the country visiting should take the gamble

[GUEST080219]

I had signed myself up for another CC shared tour today and the next day with magic Mumbai. There was some confusion about the invalidation of some rupee notes and that originally the co company had requested to pay in rupees and not in ISD or with credit card. In light of the financial situation we could pay either in cash with new rupee bills, USD or credit card.

 

Some additional information about this stop before I continue with the tour. As we already had done immigration on the ship on the sea days before it was pretty smooth. They only checked your landing card and the attached copy of your passport that NCL provided at each port security checkpoint, that was it.

The port has a shuttle bus service to the port gates which was warned in the freestyle daily would have a limited amount of space but I saw at least 6 buses for a very short straightforward distance. They tell you walking is prohibited but when we did it once no one stopped or questioned us.

They do close the gate over night so all aboard for guests was 11pm. You can stay overnight in Mumbai though if you get a place to sleep.

[GUEST080219]

The first day we started after sorting out the payments in a comfortable van with good air conditioning to drive to the Gateway of India to take a ferry to elephanta island

 

The ferry ride was very calm just the view wasn't great due to the fog. It took around one hour to reach the island. As we are here on a Sunday there are a lot of domestic Indian tourists as well so it gets insanely crowded. I am still surprised how we managed to stick all together. Well at least the people on my van.

[GUEST080219]

On elephanta island you first have to walk to the bottom of the stairs and then walk 123 steps with shops on both sides to the plateau of the cave temples. The way is absolutely worth it even in the heat. Just pay attention to the animals around

 

 

We had a fantastic tour guide explaining us all the little details we could see on the different sculptures and I would highly recommend that to get he most out of your stay there.

[GUEST080219]

 

After we finished the one cave we went all the steps back down again and back to the Gateway of India.

We stopped for a quick lunch which could have been a bit quicker before heading to the Gandhi museum.

[GUEST080219]

The museum was quite small, only three floors but very well done and it featured the place where he lived

 

Our last stop was a short photo stop at the second world heritage site here after the caves at elephanta island, the old train station.

 

 

After that we returned to the port quite early around 5:30pm

[TexasGiGi]

What a fabulous review!! Thank you for taking the time to share.

[karoo]

Enjoying your detailed review. I remember the one you wrote last year - the South American itinerary which was helpful as I then booked that itinerary. Now thinking I need to do this, but it will have to be in reverse. (Although the visa issues for Aussies could make it tricky). Great to see Peter is back onboard with his informative talks!

 

 

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[WeBeCruisers?]

Maybe you mentioned it earlier, and I missed it. But looks as though the population on this cruise is very light?

[GUEST080219]

Maybe you mentioned it earlier, and I missed it. But looks as though the population on this cruise is very light?

 

 

 

The average age is 60 and this is not the most active crowd ever. I think we have round 2200 guests. What I heard from the staff is that in Mumbai more than 50% of the guests staid on board. The number of people without a valid visa in the cabin was from what I heard below 200. Not sure what to think about that.

[GUEST080219]

As I felt still fit and active I left our tour van and went straight back on the shuttle to the port gate for a late evening walk around he city.

 

Through a residential area where the people where playing cricket on a non closed street

 

 

Further north to the area around the train station where there were a lot of stalls set up on the streets

 

[GUEST080219]

Outside the train station locked stunning when we went there earlier for a photo stop. Inside not so much

 

 

After that I just went down along the parks to wards the Gateway of India

 

The traffic was insane but just keep going along the bigger Indian groups and go as their shadow and it works.

 

After 2.5 hours I was back at the port again

Quick dinner at the buffet and a shortened bar round before going to bed early.