Live from the NCL Star July 23-August 15, 2023. Will I survive 23 days without the beverage package?

[www3traveler]

I am so happy to read this post.  I am veery happy that your world is going better.

[www3traveler]

Captain Rune Myre currently on The Epic lives north of the Artic Circle in Norway.  Wonder if your Captain knows him.

[YVRteacher]

Can he cook????

[bstreep]

Another vote for O'Sheehan's.  We ate probably 1/2 of our meals there on the Star last summer.  Hate to burst your bubble.  We got the same assurances from the Star management a year ago about the food.  They have known this for a while, all they have to do is read the reviews.  What I don't understand is why.  It's not hard to take decent ingredients and make a good meal out of it.  Sure, I understand that they are cooking for 2500.  But other ships manage to do it right. 

As weird as this sounds, we found the food marginally better in Aqua than the main dining room.  Same kitchen, so not sure why.

 

P.S.  Love your commentary and pics. 

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

Sorry, I don’t have the Freestyle Daily for Day 4, Seydisfjördur.

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[www3traveler]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

Can he cook????

For himself, his family and friends YES

For a whole ship of people--maybe but doubtful

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, bstreep said:

Another vote for O'Sheehan's.  We ate probably 1/2 of our meals there on the Star last summer.  Hate to burst your bubble.  We got the same assurances from the Star management a year ago about the food.  They have known this for a while, all they have to do is read the reviews.  What I don't understand is why.  It's not hard to take decent ingredients and make a good meal out of it.  Sure, I understand that they are cooking for 2500.  But other ships manage to do it right. 

As weird as this sounds, we found the food marginally better in Aqua than the main dining room.  Same kitchen, so not sure why.

 

P.S.  Love your commentary and pics. 

I think my bubble was burst on day one when I was served rotten lettuce.  I knew the food would not be up to par, but I didn’t know it would be this bad.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the dealings you had with management and the food?  
 

Aqua has changed configuration since we sailed on the Star in 2019. Instead of having tables alongside the windows like they do in Versailles, the tables are perpendicular to the wall so that one person has their back to the window facing inward and one person looks out the window or toward the wall facing outward. There is maybe a skinny butt distance between each table, just enough for a server to squeeze in there to place food. This closeness of tables is unbearable for me and I just can’t do it.

 

Part of the problem with the Star is there are ZERO nice spaces to eat in the included dining. Zero. As mentioned earlier, they aren’t even opening a dining room for lunch on port days so the only indoor options are the Garden Cafe and O’Sheehan’s and the Garden Cafe doesn’t have the capacity for the number of people on board.

[ceilidh1]

I just got back from the QE trip yesterday and managed to catch up with all your adventures! Jealous that dad is enjoying his truffles - they were sold out at EVERY port we stopped in. First thing my teen asked when I walked in the door, "Did you get the truffles"...#momfail I'm officially in food and drink detox for the foreseeable future - I think I ate more than I have ever eaten on a ship previously. Can't wait until you get back to BC and we can catch up!

[YVRteacher]

Sold out of truffles? That’s a tragedy!!! 
Did they say why they were sold out? (Not enough staff to make them, shortage of ingredients?) Did you get some fudge or mini-doughnuts as consolation?

I’m super looking forward to hearing all about your QE cruise!

[ceilidh1]

5 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Sold out of truffles? That’s a tragedy!!! 
Did they say why they were sold out? (Not enough staff to make them, shortage of ingredients?) Did you get some fudge or mini-doughnuts as consolation?

I’m super looking forward to hearing all about your QE cruise!

I got lots of choccies at Ketchicandies so it was all good! In Skagway, the truffle store had already closed for the day!

[YVRteacher]

Sea day part two

 

So dinner.

This starts out hopeful, gets quite sad but ends happily.

 

So as you all know NCL markets Freestyle cruising.  Dine where you want, when you want. Normally when I cruise with my dad I make most dinner reservations in advance then we have a concierge to assist with any additional plans. (Just adding here that Carlos is the concierge on the Star! Carlos!!! He gave me his business card and said to contact him if I needed anything.)

 

I was so unsure what each day and port would hold and when I would be eating breakfast lunch and dinner that I didn’t make dining reservations for this cruise. I assumed (hoped? Stupidly thought?) that as a solo cruiser I would be able to put the free in Freestyle cruising and dine when and where I wanted.

Ha!

Tonight at 6:37 I went to see if there was room in Le Bistro.

They said come back at 9:00.

Then I went to Moderno. I could see the empty tables. Actually see them.  With my eyes. The hostess said there were no cancellations.

I asked the Cagney’s host and she said they were full.

 

At this point I took my slightly disappointed self to the Garden Cafe. This is what I found that wasn’t baked in a casserole dish:

There were ZERO vegetarian protein options. The Indian food, which I normally love on NCL, is inedible. I had some on day two and it was super salty. It also made me sick. Tonight’s Indian food was a potato dish. Not that I’m eating the Indian food on this ship.

 

As I was taking my first bite of sad food,

Garry (restaurant manager) came to my table. He said he wanted me to meet with the Executive Chef.  Garry sat with me and we chatted more about the food and service on the Star.  Garry boarded the same day I did.  I told him there was tofu at lunch today! I also told him about my experience trying to get into a restaurant tonight. He said that shouldn’t have happened.  He called up to Moderno and told the Maître d to have a table ready for me. Garry asked me if I’d had the veggie burger on board.  I said I had but it wasn’t the same as the ones on all the other ships.  It’s just a big ole hunk of textured soy protein.  He said these ones come wrapped in plastic and get really hard when they’re cooked.  I told him I couldn’t eat it.  He said the chef knows how to make veggie burgers from scratch. To be honest, I’m trying to avoid bread-based meals.

The executive chef, Nelson Fernandes, came to the Garden Cafe. I know him! He knows me! He apologized and told me some of the vegetarian options they can make. They prefer me to preorder so I will do that moving forward.

 

Garry and I walked up to Moderno where I was seated at one of the empty tables I had seen 20 minutes earlier. The maître d came to meet me. The chef of Moderno and Cagney’s came to meet with me. Then the GM came to apologize for my experience in La Cucina yesterday. While I understand that meals are a logical time to connect with a passenger, this was overwhelming for me as I’m pretty introverted especially when stressed or upset and this was just a lot. I know that I’m the one that raised a concern, but I would have preferred to work toward a solution when I don’t have a mouthful of asparagus and someone in a uniform is standing over me.

 

All I ate at Moderno was the salad bar, some cheese bread and dessert. The dessert was excellent. Truly delicious.

The salad bar was hit and miss. The potato salad was extremely salty as was the tabouleh.  Are the cooks not tasting the food? There was no vegetarian cucumber roll sushi which I always enjoy and the couscous was undercooked.  Again, the cooks need to be tasting the food. 

Oh, I also had one piece of the pineapple. You’ve got to have the pineapple when you dine at Moderno. I did enjoy most of the salad bar as the ingredients were fresh and nicely presented. I also appreciated the quiet space to eat and the wonderful server, Joanne.

 

After dinner I went to the atrium and listened to Nikola do an amazing set of Tom Jones music then watched Paula do her beautiful thing. Paula is on the Star for the next 4 months. Talk to her-she is a delight!

 

I really really believe that cruising it what you make of it. Yes, I’m struggling with the food AND the restaurant manager is working closely with me to make things better. I will preorder and prearrange all dinners from now on.  I will not let the food ruin my overall cruise experience. I met some great people today, the musicians are fabulous, the team in O’Sheehan’s are all excellent and, wait for it, one of the sea day activities tomorrow is a brush seminar. How many people get to come on a cruise and learn about brushes?? (That was sarcasm!)

[YVRteacher]

5 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I got lots of choccies at Ketchicandies so it was all good! In Skagway, the truffle store had already closed for the day!

The truffle store should stay open for all cruise guests to get their required allotment of truffles, both for themselves and for the teenagers at home!

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, WickedRed said:

Kids selling rocks.  That's awesome!!  Last year when I was on the Star in Norway there was a kid at one of the scenic turn out spots selling raspberries.  Lucky for us he was happy to take US $.  (We weren't suppose to go to Norway so none of us had local currency.)  Think he sold out thanks to our tour bus.  Probably the best raspberries I have ever tasted. 

Oh, I hope I see the raspberry salesperson! That would be amazing! Do you know which port this was?

[YVRteacher]

36 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I got lots of choccies at Ketchicandies so it was all good! In Skagway, the truffle store had already closed for the day!

Just caught this-my dad calls chocolate choccies too!

[ceilidh1]

9 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Just caught this-my dad calls chocolate choccies too!

Kindred spirits...

[WickedRed]

10 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Oh, I hope I see the raspberry salesperson! That would be amazing! Do you know which port this was?

I'm not sure at all. We stopped at Bergen,  Olden, Alesund, and Trondheim. All of my excursions required 6-8 hrs bus rides. If I had to guess I'd say Trondheim, because I feel like it was our last stop in Norway. Wish I could be more help. 

[purpleally]

On 7/27/2023 at 3:50 PM, rjw103 said:

I stopped at a local brewery in Ísafjörður last year. It was called DOKKAN BRUGGHUS  Westfjords Local Brewery. It's a small place with indoor and outdoor seating. 

I wouldn’t call it small, especially with the outdoor seating. And steps to the ship

[YVRteacher]

[kitkat343]

On 7/27/2023 at 8:18 PM, bstreep said:

Kalii Lara is the brewery/bar where I had the fantastic lamb.

 

Food:  Last year, the upgrade restaurants on Star were WAY better than the MDR - really excellent.  When I asked what it would cost to upgrade the entire trip, they told me about $15 per day per person.  We were pretty empty, around 60% capacity.  I can't find anything near that rate on our upcoming NCL cruise.  I'm hoping that everyone is right, and that it's just the Star that's bad.  It really was tragic a year ago.  One night the Maitre D' suggest that I have the bratwurst, as the best item on the menu.  I did. It wasn't good. 

 

Interestingly, we had 3 other couples over a few nights ago, that had gone on that cruise.  One of them has done 2 other NCL cruises since then.  We were talking about this cruise.  He said "God the food was bad on that cruise".  That's his "takeaway".

 

BUT, the staff was the best we've encountered on any cruise.

Someone else on this forum recommended only paying for specialty restaurants as part of the included meals you can get with your room (the package where you just pay for taxes/tip for specialty meals).  I sailed recently on the Getaway and would say the specialty dining was only worth about the tax/tip surcharge.  On my first NCL cruise on the Star 13 years ago the food in the MDR was absolutely inedible but the specialty restaurants were amazing.  On my second cruise last year on the Getway, the specialty restaurants weren't worth paying for above the tax/tip meals that were included in your package (the Indian/Asian food at the buffet on the Getaway was usually good - sorry things aren't better for you YVRteacher, and hope they look out for you for the rest of the cruise  ).

 

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by kitkat343

[YVRteacher]

So. Pretzel rolls. People crave them.

Do these look good to you?