Just off Star...disappointed

[WakeView4Us]

Just off the Star after an 11 day from Tromso to Reykjavik and this has to be the worst NCL experience in over 20 with the line.

Food in MDR amd buffet - mediocre at best, cold and off tasting at times as well

Food in specialty- teppanyaki no longer uses filet mignon but a cheaper cut of beef, cagneys was OK but we heard many other folks who got steak that was overcooked, my husband ands tuna tartare was of very low quality. Osheehans was also quite bad...eggs were powdered, bacon was either almost raw or so overdone it crumbled immediately and you would only receive about 5 small pieces of potato cubes with breakfast and every time we ordered toast or a bagel, they were burned

Entertainment - the violinist was good and Paradis was decent, everything else was high school quality

Shopping on board - very little selection and the usual effy sales were just meh

Venues- from Food to entertainment to shopping were all crowded all the time. The MDR was always asking for people to share tables and they even had a lomg queue just to get to the hostess one day at lunch. 

Cabin service is down to once a say and while our steward was nice and did freshen up every day, our bathroom was barely wiped down and never smelled like it had been cleaned..we did not leave a mess but I would have expected more thorough cleaning

Wifi was patchy at best and when it did work, it was extremely slow

Sea days would have about 4 trivia competitions but nothing else. 

Excursions were beyond expensive...averaging 249 to over 400 pp at each port with a few excursions between 5 to 700

In 3 ports they tried to get people on "shuttles" to town for $20 per.person when were city busses that were free or very inexpensive. In Akureyri, they had a city walking tour for 149pp that went to the city museum, a church (from.the outside) a.d a botanical garden (which was free). We did this on our own and saved $300..these are just a few examples of the price gauging that NCL now does. 

 

We heard more 2 or 3 families say never NCL again and a stock.holder and NCL fan, I can agree with their sentiment

 

We were on Epic.last December and noticed a significant decrease in quality and service and I am sad to see this is only getting worse..we have a cruise on Viva booked in February which we are seriously considering canceling. 

[DCGuy64]

6 minutes ago, basktchic said:

Just off the Star after an 11 day from Tromso to Reykjavik and this has to be the worst NCL experience in over 20 with the line.

Food in MDR amd buffet - mediocre at best, cold and off tasting at times as well

Food in specialty- teppanyaki no longer uses filet mignon but a cheaper cut of beef, cagneys was OK but we heard many other folks who got steak that was overcooked, my husband ands tuna tartare was of very low quality. Osheehans was also quite bad...eggs were powdered, bacon was either almost raw or so overdone it crumbled immediately and you would only receive about 5 small pieces of potato cubes with breakfast and every time we ordered toast or a bagel, they were burned

Entertainment - the violinist was good and Paradis was decent, everything else was high school quality

Shopping on board - very little selection and the usual effy sales were just meh

Venues- from Food to entertainment to shopping were all crowded all the time. The MDR was always asking for people to share tables and they even had a lomg queue just to get to the hostess one day at lunch. 

Cabin service is down to once a say and while our steward was nice and did freshen up every day, our bathroom was barely wiped down and never smelled like it had been cleaned..we did not leave a mess but I would have expected more thorough cleaning

Wifi was patchy at best and when it did work, it was extremely slow

Sea days would have about 4 trivia competitions but nothing else. 

Excursions were beyond expensive...averaging 249 to over 400 pp at each port with a few excursions between 5 to 700

In 3 ports they tried to get people on "shuttles" to town for $20 per.person when were city busses that were free or very inexpensive. In Akureyri, they had a city walking tour for 149pp that went to the city museum, a church (from.the outside) a.d a botanical garden (which was free). We did this on our own and saved $300..these are just a few examples of the price gauging that NCL now does. 

 

We heard more 2 or 3 families say never NCL again and a stock.holder and NCL fan, I can agree with their sentiment

 

We were on Epic.last December and noticed a significant decrease in quality and service and I am sad to see this is only getting worse..we have a cruise on Viva booked in February which we are seriously considering canceling. 

Thanks for your review. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. I have had so-so experiences at O'Sheehan's for breakfast sometimes. I've had blah scrambled eggs but also pretty good breakfast sandwiches. Question: did you speak with your steward about the bathroom and overall cleaning issues? If you did, and he didn't improve, I'd mention it on your post-cruise survey. Otherwise, the steward can't fix things if you don't mention them. We've ALWAYS (on every cruise line, not just NCL) spoken up to the steward if things weren't right and they were ALWAYS fixed. Other food issues are hard to gauge since food is such a subjective thing. Curious about Teppanyaki, our beef (well, I should say mine, since my wife doesn't eat meat) was very good on our December Epic cruise. Finally, you probably know that Iceland is extremely expensive. It's one of the reasons a number of Icelandic airlines offer cheap flights from the US, because prices are so high. Still, I am sorry you didn't enjoy the cruise. How was Tromso, BTW? I'm thinking of booking an NCL cruise to Norway.

[Asawi]

I cannot comment on the ship stuff since I haven't been on Star yet. But I'd like to comment on land prices: Iceland and Norway are EXPENSIVE countries! Yes, NCL makes them even more expensive, but still... I live in Sweden, near the Norwegian border, and you wouldn't believe the number of Norwegians we have coming over just to shop food and what have you whenever there's a long weekend or something like that. And it's not like Sweden is a particularly "budget friendly" country either.

I do agree that som "excursions" are kind of, for lack of a better word, ridicilous. You do need to read up and use common sense (as it seems like you did when NOT doing the NCL "walking tours").

Entertainment... Did you see Band on the run? If so, how was it?

[mking8288]

21 minutes ago, basktchic said:

Just off the Star after an 11 day from Tromso to Reykjavik and this has to be the worst NCL experience in over 20 with the line ... We heard more 2 or 3 families say never NCL again and a stock.holder and NCL fan, I can agree with their sentiment

 

We were on Epic.last December and noticed a significant decrease in quality and service and I am sad to see this is only getting worse..we have a cruise on Viva booked in February which we are seriously considering canceling. 

First of all, thank you for sharing your trip experience onboard NCL ... we missed the Norwegian Star.  As far as I am concern, this is a valid and fair reporting from your points of reference, please accept my sincere appreciation and recognition for taking the time to post, being on CC since 2002 - and, clearly not a frequent "poster" but sailed 20 times on NCL, that matter.  

 

What is alarming, others are free to agree to disagree, or flame me (and you) for posting the "negatives" is this is reflecting a negative trend, heading NOT in the right directions but rather, the wrong ways.  I like to think the we are finally looking at the global pandemic in the rear view mirrors and moving forward, supply chain logistics and labor issues aside - that ships are finally sailing full and above double occupancies again, things should ease up and float toward the new normal.  But, not at the expense of negative onboard and pre-cruise experience, coupled with higher fares and more for less - in the quest for bottom line profits and stockholder's equities (and, full disclosure - we've owned NCLH for a long, long time, as well ...) 

 

Absolutely agree, 100% that lately, NCL's shore excursion prices are shocking ridiculous and, IMHO, grossly over-priced, ignore the cheerleaders that will continue to defend NCL's practices.  Surely, NCL charge more and comes with the supposingly "peace of mind" if the ship-sponsored tour is late, etc. etc.  The scenic-selfies walking tours as highlights for some of the ports on our recent cruises, LOL, were not funny nor a joke with the asking prices, which we laughed at and declined to do.  

 

Bad news travel faster than good ones, and no wonder ... I am seeing poor bookings ahead for this Fall's Viva TA crossing on the southern routing, prices sliding downhill instead of rising and/or cabins filling out ... I / we don't want to nor like to see NCL continue to fail - aren't they on a mission to self-destruct, hopefully not.  Lately, most of the reports and post-cruise feedbacks are - apparently - suggesting something that some of us as "critics" are paying attention to.  It is not looking good no matter what others say otherwise.  Yeah, "cheers" 🤔 

[WakeView4Us]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thanks for your review. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. I have had so-so experiences at O'Sheehan's for breakfast sometimes. I've had blah scrambled eggs but also pretty good breakfast sandwiches. Question: did you speak with your steward about the bathroom and overall cleaning issues? If you did, and he didn't improve, I'd mention it on your post-cruise survey. Otherwise, the steward can't fix things if you don't mention them. We've ALWAYS (on every cruise line, not just NCL) spoken up to the steward if things weren't right and they were ALWAYS fixed. Other food issues are hard to gauge since food is such a subjective thing. Curious about Teppanyaki, our beef (well, I should say mine, since my wife doesn't eat meat) was very good on our December Epic cruise. Finally, you probably know that Iceland is extremely expensive. It's one of the reasons a number of Icelandic airlines offer cheap flights from the US, because prices are so high. Still, I am sorry you didn't enjoy the cruise. How was Tromso, BTW? I'm thinking of booking an NCL cruise to Norway.

We love Tromsø!  This was our second time. I highly recommend Blue Puffin's Tromsø tour

 They also do Honningsvag which we have done with them as well. Always a great time with Monika or Sebastian!

 

The excursions through NCL for Norway were also much more expensive than Italy and Spain for even walking tours you could do on your own.

 

We had spoken up several times about food and the room to no avail. 

[WakeView4Us]

1 hour ago, Asawi said:

I cannot comment on the ship stuff since I haven't been on Star yet. But I'd like to comment on land prices: Iceland and Norway are EXPENSIVE countries! Yes, NCL makes them even more expensive, but still... I live in Sweden, near the Norwegian border, and you wouldn't believe the number of Norwegians we have coming over just to shop food and what have you whenever there's a long weekend or something like that. And it's not like Sweden is a particularly "budget friendly" country either.

I do agree that som "excursions" are kind of, for lack of a better word, ridicilous. You do need to read up and use common sense (as it seems like you did when NOT doing the NCL "walking tours").

Entertainment... Did you see Band on the run? If so, how was it?

We saw band on the run...it was OK but not something o would see again. It was either see the show or listen to the 3 violins in the atrium for the 3rd or 4th time. 

[Asawi]

16 minutes ago, basktchic said:

We saw band on the run...it was OK but not something o would see again. It was either see the show or listen to the 3 violins in the atrium for the 3rd or 4th time. 

3 violins in the Atrium... I think I'll try Band on the run. 😉 Thanks!

[DCGuy64]

26 minutes ago, basktchic said:

We love Tromsø!  This was our second time. I highly recommend Blue Puffin's Tromsø tour

 They also do Honningsvag which we have done with them as well. Always a great time with Monika or Sebastian!

 

The excursions through NCL for Norway were also much more expensive than Italy and Spain for even walking tours you could do on your own.

 

We had spoken up several times about food and the room to no avail. 

Thank you! I really appreciate the tips on Tromsø. Greetings from Burke, VA, just a bit east of Front Royal (where I have many good friends!). 

[WakeView4Us]

2 hours ago, Agent999 said:

 

Good that you mentioned the above. It is important on Cruise Critic to point out that other people agree with your complaint. It lets people know your complaint is legit.

 

 

Not sure if this is a complaint. When a venue is crowded it is because a lot of people WANT to be there, and people tend not to crowd bad things.

 

 

Hmmm. I don't suppose that you have a Freestyle Daily from one of the sea days? I'd like to personally see one that only lists 4 trivia competitions and nothing else.

 

 

As an aside, I notice that you use "they and them" when talking about NCL. As a stockholder, you are an owner of the company, doesn't matter if you own 80% or 1/80th of a percent, you are still an owner. You should be using "we" when referring to NCL instead of "they".

Venues were crowded, it seemed every time,because there were only a few venues open. When it is dinnertime and you only have 1 MDR open, the buffet and other MDR are going to be crowded. We also noticed that the specialty restaurants were empty most nights. 

 

I don't consider a pay for it wine and chocolate tasting, and a walking better  "seminar" where the spa tries to sell you expensive shoe inserts to be viable options for keeping occupied on sea days. It was either those options or endless trivia. I didn't keep any of the dailies and quite honestly we hardly looked at them because while paid wifi didn't seem to work well, the NCL app did for the lost part. 

 

Amd yes, i say they and them versus we because while I own stock, I do not make decisions on how the ships are run. The best I can do is provide feedback, which was not solicited on this cruse. The ever present vacation hero forms were nowhere on this ship and they never mentioned a post cruise survey. 

 

I am merely pointing out our experience and what others told is of their experience on the same cruise. 

[WakeView4Us]

31 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

Darn right.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable Caribbean cruise on the Prima in February.

I'm glad you did, we did not on Stat and even Epic in December was downhill from prior NCL experience. We had more than one person on Star relay stories of poor prima experiences. 

[WakeView4Us]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thank you! I really appreciate the tips on Tromsø. Greetings from Burke, VA, just a bit east of Front Royal (where I have many good friends!). 

Used to live off Pohick, so hello neighbor!

[WakeView4Us]

42 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

Darn right.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable Caribbean cruise on the Prima in February.

You can see this thread on more folks who weren't happy with Prima

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Fun fact, we just booked a RT out of Reykjavik to Tromso and back today on the Star starting the end of May 2025, as we really want to see Longyearbyen and cruise around Svalbard. If I might ask, how was your visit to Longyearbyen and cruising around up there? Did you see any wildlife? 

[YVRteacher]

I’ll be on the Star for 23 days in July and August this year for a B2B and will be writing a live review. We are scheduled to go to Longyearbyen and I have two amazing excursions booked through Hurtigruten. I will NOT be writing about what I heard other people say

[WakeView4Us]

14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Fun fact, we just booked a RT out of Reykjavik to Tromso and back today on the Star starting the end of May 2025, as we really want to see Longyearbyen and cruise around Svalbard. If I might ask, how was your visit to Longyearbyen and cruising around up there? Did you see any wildlife? 

We saw lots of reindeer n Longyearbyen. I highly recommend just hiring a taxi there for a tour of the seed library location and the area. Note that you cannot go outside the main town area without a tour or a rifle because of Polar bears. 

If you want a more active excursions, try https://hurtigrutensvalbard.com/no/aktiviteter

They had a lot of excursions that were relatively inexpensive and offered a good variety!

 

 

Crusing.to and from Svalbard was smoothe as glass...no rocking at all!

[WakeView4Us]

10 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I’ll be on the Star for 23 days in July and August this year for a B2B and will be writing a live review. We are scheduled to go to Longyearbyen and I have two amazing excursions booked through Hurtigruten. I will NOT be writing about what I heard other people say

Fair enough. 90% of what I posted was our experience. I would rather make people aware than not. 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 minutes ago, basktchic said:

We saw lots of reindeer n Longyearbyen. I highly recommend just hiring a taxi there for a tour of the seed library location and the area. Note that you cannot go outside the main town area without a tour or a rifle because of Polar bears. 

If you want a more active excursions, try https://hurtigrutensvalbard.com/no/aktiviteter

They had a lot of excursions that were relatively inexpensive and offered a good variety!

 

 

Crusing.to and from Svalbard was smoothe as glass...no rocking at all!

Thanks!! We will definitely check out the Hurtigruten excursions. 

[pghflyer]

I appreciate reviews positive / negative so thanks for sharing.  Of the NCL ships we have been on, this is our least preferred due to some wonky layouts, missing features that are on our favorite Jewel class ships, its general age (2021), and some really poor executive officers (at least in Feb 2020)................but we still had a great time and will be trying her again next year.  I do love the smaller size ships.  

Edited June 23, 2023 by pghflyer

[Oceansaway17]

I am so glad I changed my 2024 Iceland trip on STAR to Holland's Statendam.   I just felt it in my bones that HAL was the better choice.

Very sad to hear all the negatives about NCL lately.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, basktchic said:

Used to live off Pohick, so hello neighbor!

☺️

[djasinsk]

I am from DC, so I was intrigued to read your take on the star.  I have cruised a lot, but mostly on celebrity never on ncl, and never on a 20 year old ship.  Found a kick-a$$ itinerary on the star this fall for Lisbon to Rio and can’t resist going. Super excited.  Not too many sea days (crossing just three days)

 

I appreciate the candor, will probably bump up the specialty dining (cruise is very inexpensive), and just make the best of it and enjoy the 11 new ports I have never been to, and the sun and the balcony and pool during this warm weather crossing over the equator. 

[milolii]

Thanks for your review.  We are looking at a similar cruise for 2024.  So we are kinda following some of this years cruises. Did you visit all the planned ports?   Were any of the ports cancelled?  Princess(also looking at them) had several ports cancelled, some before; and some during the cruise. 

[JustAllie]

I sailed on the Star May 31-June 12 from Southampton to Tomsø. Overall we had a great experience. Our only significant issues were:

 

• Tender ports were increased from 1 to 5 with no warning before the cruise. They MUST have known about this well before sailing. This substantially affected my disabled friends' experience, because they could not disembark at some ports.  
• The shore excursion descriptions were messed up and clearly wrong sometimes. Again this made it difficult for my disabled friends to pick excursions that worked for them, because the details about walking distance etc. were not correct. 
• We had one bad experience with a server in one of the main dining rooms. We spoke to the server's superiors and the issue was addressed to our satisfaction. We never saw that server again, so he may have been reassigned after multiple complaints. 
• We ran out of hand soap in our cabin and the room steward said they didn't have any to replace it. After we complained, he found a suitable substitute from somewhere and we no longer had to wash our hands in shampoo. 🙂 

 

Everything else was great as far as we were concerned. We barely had the energy to attend the evening entertainment, we only had one sea day so who knows what the daytime activities were, and we don't expect much of the shops, art shows, etc.

 

We especially enjoyed the Platinum behind-the-scenes tour, as this was our first cruise as Platinum members where it was actually offered. Our tour ran quite long, so we missed the Platinum wine tasting, but it was worth it to see the rest of the tour of the backstage theater, laundry, and galley areas. 

 

We had some lovely meals at Cagney's, Le Bistro, La Cucina, Ginza, and the Sushi Bar. We also very much enjoyed our meals at Versailles main dining room and at O'Sheehans. I had a few long waits at some of the bars -- you have to be assertive sometimes to get the attention of the bartenders. My absolute favorite bar was Proof Whiskey Bar, which also treated me well even when they were busy. I also had good service at Spice H2O, but that bar was never really busy on this cruise. 

 

Anyway we had no issues with food or general quality of service with rare exceptions. The Shore Excursions desk needed to up their game, and the communication about docked vs. tender ports has to improve. Scotland and Norway are beautiful, definitely get the fish soup wherever you eat in Norway. Have a great time on your cruises, everyone! 

[JustAllie]

I forgot to mention that this was also the first cruise where we could use our Platinum meal vouchers at the Sushi Bar. You can get up to 4 of the à la carte menu items per person, and OMG, 4 of those items will be too much for you to eat! The servers encouraged us to order several rolls, and we had to leave so much behind. It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had, but it was very tasty and a nice change from the other specialty restaurants! This is a good place to use your voucher that doesn't include a bottle of wine -- save the dinner+wine voucher for one of the other specialty restaurants.

 

Ginza, in basically the same location as the Sushi Bar, is a complimentary venue, and I highly recommend both of the noodle soups. Yum. Also, be sure to try the panda salad (tasty fruit salad) for dessert, but ask them if it has any panda in it -- that got a laugh from our server! 

[insidecabin]

When we were on in May we found the band in bliss was our go to evening entertainment.

 

Violin trio were good not our thing the others also did atrium and Gatsby's were also good for a session or two.

 

Atrium is not a hang out place.