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Star: Tips, tricks, favorite areas and foods?

cruisingteachers4

By cruisingteachers4,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Wendy-Europe

Wendy-Europe

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While I liked our itinerary I was not very happy with the Star last year.

 

Buffet was boring, looked and tasted like a canteen. I have a sweet tooth, but none of the desserts was worth the calories...

 

Cabins were ok (had an AFT balcony), but recognizable wear and tear.

 

Food at the MDR was better than the buffet.

 

Service was mediocre, most guests have the UDP ( we did not) so the staff never asked if we want to order drinks (everyone with a drinking package not drinking is saving NCL money....).

It was the first cruise I did mit spend ANY money because I was never asked for an order.

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Visigoth

Visigoth

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Posted
While I liked our itinerary I was not very happy with the Star last year.

 

Buffet was boring, looked and tasted like a canteen. I have a sweet tooth, but none of the desserts was worth the calories...

 

Cabins were ok (had an AFT balcony), but recognizable wear and tear.

 

Food at the MDR was better than the buffet.

 

Service was mediocre, most guests have the UDP ( we did not) so the staff never asked if we want to order drinks (everyone with a drinking package not drinking is saving NCL money....).

It was the first cruise I did mit spend ANY money because I was never asked for an order.

 

It's hard to believe we could have had such different experiences on the same ship. We found the waiters anxious to sell drinks since their share of the UBP service charge is in part determined by the number of cards they swipe. Perhaps they recognized you were not drinking? In more than one venue we were greeted by name and our "usual" drinks were served without having to order. As far as the buffet, we generally skip it. On 11 voyages on 3 different lines we have not noticed a great deal of difference in food troughs. Buffet deserts on every ship look good but are disappointing.

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Wendy-Europe

Wendy-Europe

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Hi Visigoth, I am sure there are differences what kind of service you have - depending on your server, depending on your cruise. Maybe the staff was not so experienced because they sent their best staff at a new ship - these are possible reasons... Maybe many people onboard were at the end of their contract and tired - or at the very beginning and unexperienced....

 

We cruise a lot - different companies - ships mostly the same size and "mass market" - so they are comparable.

 

Service: for example: we were at the MDR, asked for the wine menue. We never received it. So we stayed with ice water. Next day, same table. We got ice water immediatly - and our server asked for our order. We requested wine to drink - he told us, the sommelier will be with us in a moment. Sommelier never came - so we decided it seemed like they don´t want to sell something....

 

Quality of food (and especially desserts) are depending on their chef - and at our cruise at the star the food was really disappointing.

 

We have been on cruises where the desserts were really good (Holland America for example - on every ship, there was always something I really liked. I also liked the desserts at the Norw. Epiv at our Transatlantic cruise...).

 

At the Star we never - and we took pride to try really EVERY SINGLE ONE - had one dessert which was worth to eat. And that was very disappointing for me....

 

There were many broken things onboard. Gym for example: 2 of 3 exercise bikes were broken. Drink Dispenser was out of order. Coffee maker at one room had the wrong plug and cannot work (it has a british plug - and there was no british outlet at the room). Seems like nobody ever noticed. We learned they have a ragbag of different coffeemakers at the cabins - seems like they buy some new ones whereever they are. Unfortunately in different countries. Which need different coffeepads. But they have just one type of coffeepads onboard - which not fit at some of these machines and make a mess of overflowing coffee.... this is not too important for my enjoyement of a cruise - but it is an example that nobody cares a lot about the things. Nobody THINKS about how to do something. Everybody did just the minimum he (or she) is required to do.

 

We enjoyed our cruise, the ports were interesting and if the itinerary is good and the price as well (we always book balconies and single occupancy - so the price IS important - because we pay the double amount...) I will travel at the Star again - but if I have a choice between similar cruises at similar prices I will chose another ship.

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Love Blue

Love Blue

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I hope this was just a fluke. We booked Le Bistro TWICE for our three meals. ONly 24 more days. :D

 

We are also on the Star 3/2 and have booked LeBistro one of three nights; we've never tried specialty dining and have never had a problem with complimentary venues. Looking forward to everything! Two weeks today!

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Laurenran

Laurenran

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Let's talk lobster, guessing it's not on the menu in the MDR but is it available in the speciality restaurants? We will be on the Star in March for a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. I personally don't need lobster, but other family members are looking forward to it.

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fastpitchdad

fastpitchdad

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Let's talk lobster, guessing it's not on the menu in the MDR but is it available in the speciality restaurants? We will be on the Star in March for a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. I personally don't need lobster, but other family members are looking forward to it.

 

We ate at Moderno, Teppanaki, Le Bistro, and Cagneys none of which had lobster.

 

I think I read that the only lobster available on NCL is in the Seafood specialty restaurant on the larger ships.

 

I am with you...I don't need lobster to enjoy a cruise especially not the small rubbery tails they used to serve in the MDR.

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jvsnana

jvsnana

Posted
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Let's talk lobster, guessing it's not on the menu in the MDR but is it available in the speciality restaurants? We will be on the Star in March for a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. I personally don't need lobster, but other family members are looking forward to it.

We were on the Star in November and they had the "secret" lobster tail in Cagney's...not on the menu. A friend of mine ordered it using her Speciality dining plan and also ordered a second tail for $10 thinking it would be the tiny tails they used to serve in the MDR...they were actually very nice size and she could not finish it all :D:D

We will be on the Star again in a few days and I will report back if they still have the "secret" tails!

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Laurenran

Laurenran

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This sounds intriguing! I would love if you could report back on the "secret" lobster at Cagneys. Thank you.

 

We were on the Star in November and they had the "secret" lobster tail in Cagney's...not on the menu. A friend of mine ordered it using her Speciality dining plan and also ordered a second tail for $10 thinking it would be the tiny tails they used to serve in the MDR...they were actually very nice size and she could not finish it all :D:D

We will be on the Star again in a few days and I will report back if they still have the "secret" tails!

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dexddd

dexddd

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We were on the Star in November and they had the "secret" lobster tail in Cagney's...not on the menu. A friend of mine ordered it using her Speciality dining plan and also ordered a second tail for $10 thinking it would be the tiny tails they used to serve in the MDR...they were actually very nice size and she could not finish it all :D:D

We will be on the Star again in a few days and I will report back if they still have the "secret" tails!

 

Have a nice trip! I think this was the Mex Riv with your kids?

 

Maybe you are on it now?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Cruisegirlrik

Cruisegirlrik

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With the UDP, how much should you tip per drink? November 2015 I cruised NCL with UDP and we had to sign and there’s that tip line. I think they let us order two drinks per card so I could order for my husband and I at once, but once in a while we had trouble with that. My memory!

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Captain-John "Live from...." Rare

Captain-John

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With the UDP, how much should you tip per drink? November 2015 I cruised NCL with UDP and we had to sign and there’s that tip line. I think they let us order two drinks per card so I could order for my husband and I at once, but once in a while we had trouble with that. My memory!

 

Do you mean the UBP? UDP is the dining package. If so, the gratuity is included. If you feel the need to tip extra, I think cash is better received by the staff.

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