OceanLover11

Thank you for all of this valuable information!!!

 

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You're welcome, thanks for following along!:)

A few parting shots to sum up our trip:

-We enjoy NCL for it's casual vibe, and we especially like the smaller ships. This Adriatic itinerary was fantastic, and would like to do a similar trip, in the future, with perhaps a couple of different ports.

-suite vs. no suite. This was our second time traveling in a suite, and I feel that overall the suites on NCL are a good bargain: ( priority embarkation/disembarkation, exclusive breakfast and lunch at Cagney's/ Modernos, espresso machine in room, free room-service, afternoon snacks, etc...). If you have a good butler, they make you feel like a VIP!

We had an excellent one for our Baltic cruise, this year we had an inexperienced one, and we hardly saw her.

...Choice of suites: we had a family suite, on deck 12, on our last trip; great location, very roomy, floor to ceiling windows, no balcony. This year we had initially picked the same thing, but decided to put in a bid for an aft balcony suite, our bid was accepted 3 days prior to embarkation...the aft balcony is less spacious than the family suite, however, the views from the balcony were to die for, especially when leaving Venice!!!:hearteyes:

Public service announcement coming up:

I had read about this issue on this same board, and after our third day, I figured we were in the clear...NOT, we were sitting out in our lovely balcony, leaving Katakolon, when my DH was abruptly hit by something, we initially thought it might have been bird poop, but it turned out to be ash/ soot from the engine? It got all over his shirt, all over the lounge chairs and the floor of the balcony:(

We called our room steward, who cleaned it up, I had a feeling he had seen this before...on each day after that, we saw evidence of ash on our balcony. So, I would cruise in a suite again, but not in an aft suite on 10! Why pay good money to be covered in ash?

-Venice:

A beautiful, pricey seductress...nothing is cheap here, might as well know this in advance and succumb to her charms! :D We stayed here a couple of nights, prior to our cruise- the hotel we used had a great location, just behind Piazza San Marco, ( Luna Baglioni Hotel), but it was crazy expensive, and did not even include breakfast, at 800 Euro a night :eek:. ( We booked 3 months prior to our cruise, and lots of other hotels were booked solid...My advice would be to book 9-12 months out, if possible, and look for suggestions in the port section of this board...I know you can do better!!)

-If you have an extra day, you can catch a vaporetto, at the San Marco station, for the lagoon islands of Murano, famous for it's blown glass, and Burano, famous for it's lace, and picturesque colored houses, it's only about 20 Euros per person, and Burano, is especially nice!

-My splurge advice in Venice would be to take a private water taxi from the airport to the center of Venice, much faster than the vaporetto water bus, gorgeous views, and some hotels have their own water taxi docks, so you won't have to schlep your luggages all over creation!

You can also rent them to do a private tour of the Grand Canal.

- Best view of the Grand Canal/ Venice from on high:

You can wait in line, and climb the bell-tower in San Marco, but the best view, it's actually free to date, and near the Rialto Bridge...if in the San Marco area, follow signs to Rialto Bridge...just prior to the bridge there's a shopping mall called Fondaco dei Tedeschi,

go up to the terrace, for fabulous views! We went right before it closed, and had some great shots, at twilight! I would check times on their website, for the terrace closes an hour before the rest of the shops.

- If staying in Venice overnight, get up early for uncrowded pictures of the city...you would only have to share the place with the natives and the pigeons, before the hordes of day trippers arrive! :)

....We have a short Disney cruise, planned for December, but no other cruises in the near future. Might have to fly to Europe for a wedding, next summer, so that would be our "big trip".

I am looking at cruises for Summer 2019, and might "shake it up some"...intrigued by the Yacht Club concept, on MSC...can't wait to hear the reports from Seaside and Seaview, or might even try Oceania or Azamara...

Does anyone know if they still have a formal or meet the Captain night?

 

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I don't believe they had a formal night per say, ( which is one of the things we find appealing about NCL), but they did have a night where you could dress-up, and I saw set-ups with professional photographers.

Thank you for all the great information. We are on the 8/27 sailing. My thinking is: Split, Kotor, and Dubrovnik we will do on our own. It looks like it will be crowded with other ships in Olympia and Athens, so we will do a tour through NCL, just haven't decided and am running out of time. (Sorry, I don't know the name of the website that posts what ships are in port, I found it here a while back). I am excited and apprehensive at the same time. It is our first cruise in 11 years and we are traveling with two teens.

Try http://www.cruisetimetables.com

Throughly enjoyed your review. We are 45 days away from our cruise and have decided to forgo organized ship excursions in Kotor and Split. Based on your review we are looking forward to exploring these two ports on our own. Thank you 😊

Enjoy your wonderful vacation, you're in for a treat!!

As they say... "all good things must come to an end"...

Split, Croatia-

We did ship's tour: Sibenik, Trogir, and Split, 8:15 AM- 3:45 PM.

Our tour guide was probably one of the best ones we had on the entire trip; spoke near perfect English, and knew lots about the US, as well as Canadian geography, history, etc. ...really put us to shame, as we knew so very little about Croatia.

All three towns that we saw, Sibenik, Trogir, and Split, were very charming, and would each individually make for a great day itinerary. I'm afraid this was another case of "too much to see, in too short a time!"

Most of the tour was spent being shuttled between towns; a quick walk along the main drag, and an in depth description and tour of each respective main churches...don't get me wrong, they were interesting, but sometimes it's easy to get "church over-load" when traveling in Europe: " Oh no, not yet another carved facade, and exquisite altarpiece, make it stop!!" Joking aside, we had no free time to explore the towns, or shop. We were again taken to a pre-selected lunch venue, prior to returning to Split.

Split is a fascinating town, filled with meandering medieval streets, gracious squares, and of course the piece de resistance; Diocletian's Palace, a sprawling complex that was actually build as the private residence of the Roman emperor Diocletian. It's pretty cool to see how parts of the palace were cannibalized, only to be incorporated into medieval and latter structures, the whole lot manages to coexist in harmony. The lower levels of the palace now serve as a market where one can purchase food, and souvenirs.

Again, the Croatian currency is the Kuna, ( not in the Euro zone), and the exchange rate is pretty favorable! One of the main entrances to Diocletian's palace was literally only a five minute walk from where the ship was docked....if I had to do it again, I would not waste my time trying to see squeeze in too much sight-seeing into the short allotted time. I would recommend sticking with Split, as there's plenty there to explore, and it's easily done on one's own, otherwise you'll end up running around the whole day, without time to enjoy the experience!

Fell in love with Montenegro and Croatia, and would love to return for a more in depth trip!

We were in Venice in the middle of September and had great weather. About the end of the month the news at home was awash with pictures/videos of tourists slogging through St Mark's annual monsoonal flooding.

 

Since the Canals in Venice are not quite pristine:eek:, one can only imagine the sewerage they were wading through!

...I'm afraid some things are better left to the imagination!;)

Thank you so much for your informative reviews, We are booked on Oct.8...I too was disappointed by the revisions to the itinerary dropping Ravenna and Santorini but looking forward to the ports we will be visiting. My question is what times are the production shows? I was planning making some restaurant reservations but wanted to be able to eat at semi -leisure before the shows.

Hi, nightly shows were at 7:30, and 9:30 pm. :)

Sorry for the delay, have been back to the real world for a couple of weeks now, and between work and family obligation, I'm afraid my Mediterranean state of mind is fading faster than my tan.

Best wishes to all of those who are starting off their cruises today!:hearteyes:

Athens:

Let me start off by saying that Athens made for a very trying day, not worthless or lacking in interest, but if you're looking for a relaxing day in an idyllic location...this ain't it!

Again my DH has some motility issues, so we often had to take different escursions, not ideal, but at time necessary, as not to wear him out, but allow the rest of us to get the most out of our visit.

My DH did the Views of Athens and New Acropolis Museum, through the ship, this was supposed to be a more leisurely excursion, (level 1 intensity), lasting 3.5 hours. The bus dropped them off about a 1/4 mile away from the museum, they had about 1 hour inside the museum, he said it felt rushed. The rest of the "views of Athens" were mostly what they could see from the bus windows, except for a 5 minute stop at the Olympic Stadium, to take pictures. Traffic was hellacious!

Myself and DD did the more ambitious Best of Athens and it's Scenic Coast

Also bought through the ship, duration 8.5 hours, and labeled as a "level 3" in intensity, ( more on that to come.)

Athens was super hot that morning, as Greece tends to get in the Summer, I believe temperatures reached 104 degrees F, and no, "but it's a dry heat!" argument does not really help!:')

We were supposed to drive to the Acropolis first thing in the morning, to beat both the heat and the other invading heards of tourists, however, as fate would have it , the tourist guards, ( yes, they have such a thing as "tourist police"), were on strike, and our tour guide informed us that they "might" lift the strike by 11 AM...so the whole tour was started in reverse- we drove into Athens, and visited the outside of the of the Olympic Stadium, home of the modern Olympic Games, dating to 1896; still a cool place to visit, especially if you grew up watching the Olympics, as I did. Good photo opportunities, a kiosk to buy water, and snacks, public bathrooms, I believe they were .5 Euros, and a cute stand selling Olympic inspired souvenirs, at really reasonable prices; very soft t-shirt for 10 Euros.

We then drove back where we had come from, did I mention traffic was hellacious? Drove again towards the port, on the way we saw: the Royal Palace, Hadrian's Gate, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but unfortunately only through the bus window...we also drove past various venues used in the 2004 Olympics, and many vacant businesses, and half finished projects, victims of Greece's economic crisis.

We drove 1.5 hours up the coast, enjoyed beautiful views of the gulf, well as long-stretches, with nothing much to look at...our destination was was Cape Sunion, to visit the temple of Poseidon, beautiful temple, nice photo ops., but not sure can recommend driving more than 3 hours, round trip, out of an 8 hr. Day, to do this. Most of the tour involved driving, with very little time to actually visit the sites. The tour descriptions do not tell you that, so unless you're familiar with the area, you would not know what the distances between sites are, and that visiting an extra temple would chew off 3+ hours from your day!

We drove again into Athens, and were supposed to go to the Acropolis, but because of the strike, it had opened late, and was now swamped with tourists, ( that day another 4 large ships were in port), our tour guide said it would be too crowded, and took us to lunch, instead. We went though the Plaka, their main shopping street, and were hearded up a side street, for lunch. Lunch was decent, large portions, and had a nice time getting to know som elf my fellow cruisers, however, the restaurant was kind of isolated, and lunch took over 1 hour...would have rather have had free time to shop, and to choose my own small lunch, right on the Plaka.

At about this time the natives were getting restless, as it was was past 2pm, all aboard time was supposed to be 4:30 pm, and we had yet to go to to the Acropolis...

We drove to the parking lot for the Acropolis, which was chocked full of busses...our driver tried some "creative parking"' but was approached by the police and asked to move along, in no uncertain terms....we circled the lot a couple of other times, without luck, before finally being dropped off at, at a point a little further off. We walked up, a small hill, and then climbed the 75 or so steps it takes to reach the top,of the Acropolis. As previously mentioned it was a very hot day, of course there are cobble stones, dirt, and uneven steps, but the "75" steps in question and spaced out, with plenty of room to stop and catch your breath, should you need to. In my opinion, this was not really a "level 3" excursion, as 80% of the tour was spent sitting on a bus. So, if you're even moderately fit, going up, the Acropolis should not be a problem! :) ( I do suggest not wearing sandals or open- toed shoes, as both Athens and Olympia's historic sites have dirt roads/ areas. I think athletic type shoes work best and keep one's feet clean.)

The view and temples up the Acropolis were fantastic and worth all the aggravation!! This was also very rushed, as we only had about 1 hr., from when we were dropped off, to make our way up, and tour the site. Once back to our scheduled meet-up place, the bus parking lot, our bus was not there, and we had lots of stragglers... We finally managed to reach the ship around 5 pm, ( 30 minutes past the "all aboard time"... and we were NOT the last group to arrive! ) Never was I so happy to catch sight of the beautiful Star! The the cruise director, Lorena, and her staff welcomed us with music, dancing, not to mention the cool drinks, and wash cloths; baby I'm home!!

In closing, usually private tours always beat the ship's cruise, but in this instance, neither the weather, the traffic, or the strike, could have been preventable. I was grateful to have been on a NCL tour, as the ship hadn't to wait for us. ( A private tour would have had to curtail the program, to get us back on the ship in time.) If I have the opportunity to visit Athens again, I would stick to Athens proper, and ensure our tour has time for proper sight-seeing, shopping, lunching, etc., so the day is not so rushed!

Safe travels!

Did you have to tender at many ports & if so how long did it take?

 

 

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Luckily, we did NOT have to transfer in any of our ports. ( My DH has mobility issues so he was relieved that we didn't have to deal with an extra level of transfers.)

Definitely more than three watching your posts! I'm on the Star Sunday 23rd July (this weekend) and enjoyed all your posts. I've done med cruises a few times, love Venice, and this takes in a couple of new ports for me Kotor, Santorini. we stayed a week last year in Dubrovnik (Milini) as a result of visiting Croatia on a cruise. We have $350 on board credit and thought to use a couple of the speciality restaurants for lunch or dinner. Let me know your top 2 choices? Do you know what time the main dinning room closes on embarkation day? We have 2 nights in Venice pre cruise and I've booked the Doges palace Sunday morning after Mass in st Marks basilica.

Hope you have lovely cruise! My top two specialty restaurants are Le Bistro and Cagney's, enjoy!

Good evening everyone...all three of you!

The next port is Olympia, (Katakolon), Greece-

( When we originally booked this cruise, it included Santorini, about 6 months prior to sailing, out itinerary was changed; Ravenna, changed to Kotor, a sea day removed, Split, Croatia added, and Olympia substituted for Santorini.) I am still bummed about not seeing Santorini, and only see a way out...booking another cruise, that includes it!:D

The Star docked at Katakolon, from what I could see, lots of tourist shops, selling souvenirs, and a couple of restaurants. We used a ship's exursion to tour the ruins at Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games. Honestly, not much was left of this once great site...on earth had to really use it's imagination. The tour guide actually had a book that he would periodically show us , " this great temple, once comprised of 48 columns, was covered in eye-popping colors, and a marvel of engineering ..now look over there at those 2 remaining bricks..." I'm obviously exaggerating, but just not impressed. After touring the ruins, we went to an altogether too long lunch, where we were entertained by enthusiastic Greek dancers.

If I'm ever in this port, I will probably opt to to explore the beach in Katalon proper, which can be reached by foot. In Katakolon, one can also find transportation to Olympic for about 10 euros, if you'd like to do it on your own.

I am on this cruise in October. Thank you for the information on Croatia. If you used a private guide for both ports, who did you use, what was the cost and would you suggest the guide to others? Thank you

Hi, we used Sage Travel for Dubrovenik, ( I believe my DH paid about the equivalent of $400 ,for 3 of us) Really no complaints , both the driver and guide were nice enough and informative, but if I had to do it again, I would probably just take shuttle from the ship, to the old city, and do Dubrovenik on my own. For Split we did a ship tour, I'll describe that, in more detail, later, but the ship docks virtually across the street, and it can be done on one's own, also. Safe travels!

Good evening everyone!

Next up Dubrovenik, Croatia-

Another beautiful town, hard to believe this historic port was under siege, and heavily damaged during the recent war, of the 1990's. if you know where to look, you can still see slight mortar damage, along the Main Street , the Stradun, or a defect along a random building, ( rebuilt stone is slightly whiter, than the original, (or so out tour guide told us), but it's mostly been rebuilt, and ready to charm.

Prior to traveling, I had read Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports book, found it full of cost saving tips, and very informative! I find that I'm able to get more out of my experience, the more I know about a place. I highly recommended it, prior to a Mediterranean cruise! (Some ports, like Kotor, are not in the book, and no, dear Rick does not give me any kickbacks for endorsing his book:D)

DH had booked a private tour, we had a guided tour of the old town, with emphasis on the cathedral, I also asked to check out their pharmacy which is among the oldest in Europe, and there's small museum, and lovely Franciscan cloisters. The pharmacy has been operating since the 1300's... forget the exact year, but really a mute point! They sell lots of made on premises "potions and lotions" , scented with Lavander, ( turns out Croatia and Montenegro are both renowned for their lavander fields; move over Provence), other scents also available. These would make a nice gift!

Croatia IS NOT in the Euro zone, they still retain their own currency, the Kuna. Good thing is that there were lots of money exchange locations around. ( My DH was able to buy some bottled water using Euros, but I was turned away from a public restroom , for not having the 5 Kuna required.) So be prepared, especially, if you have a very small bladder, such as I do:')

On the up-side everything in Croatia is very inexpensive...I did not want to be stuck with a bunch of Kuna, so I only exchanged 10 Euros, received 70 Kuna back, with which I was able to pay my bathroom toll, buy three delicious gelato, 1 bottle of water, and still ended up with 50 Kuna, ( which I saved for Split.)

A definitive must do is to climb the city walls, which go, around the old city; wonderful photo opportunities from the top! There is a charge to access the walls, but they do accept credit cards. It took us about 1.5 hrs to walk around and a leisurely pace, taking lots of photos. Our guide drove us to Srd Hill, by private auto, but one can get there by using the cable car. Once on top of the hill, there's an observatory building, with great views of the city, and valley below. Srd Hill also has a large cross, and a small museum decimated to "The defenders of Dubrovenik", some 200 local men, who died during the conflict that tore apart Yugoslavia.

Dubrovenik was a great port, and would have liked more time there. As I previously said, we had gotten a private tour, but had I to do it again, I would probably do it on my own; no where there did I not feel safe! The ship offered shuttles from the port to the old town for $ 15, per person, might even find a local taxi for cheaper...

We leave in September for this cruise. Thank you for your great review. Good to know to bring change for the bathrooms.

I think you're going to love it! September, ( and May) , are probably the best times to go, not as warm, still nice weather, and not as crowded. ( We have a kid in school, so our travel times are limited by her school and sports activities.)

More port descriptions coming up.

Ports:

Kotor, Montenegro-

We did the ship based Buvda and Kotor-Montenegrin Pearls; our guide was very informative, they gave us those little ear bud sets, which made following along easy. I have traveled in the Mediterranean several times, but was honestly blown away by the sheer beauty of this stretch of Adriatic coastline, around every curve of the road I had this child-like sense of discovery, and found myself amazed that this part of the world is not as well known as other places, such as the Amalie Coast, or the French Riviera? ..I do believe that tourism is picking up, I recall that one of our guides saying that 1989 was a peak year for tourism, but because of the war in the 1990's, and following economic struggles, it took them until last year, 2016, for tourism to reach pre-war levels, and that that figures this year are predicted to surpass last year's figures...

We stopped along the way for pictures along panoramic spots, then had a guided short tour of Buvda, cute little town, and free time, and then back to Kotor, again short tour, and then time to explore. Montenegro uses the Euro, everything was very inexpensive, compared to other countries in Europe. Most public bathrooms require money, so make sure you have change.

I really enjoyed, driving along the coast, and learning about the history of Montenegro, etc., however if you'd just like to explore Kotor on your own, which by the way is a lovely little medieval town, you can walk along the 3 mile long fortified walls, hike all the way to the top of the walls, (if feeling particularly strong)' and come down and enjoy a gelato, or a quick meal in an elegant square, without needed a tour at all; Kotor was across the street from where we docked, just a five minute walk.

All Aboard time was 8:30 time, the fortified walls, going up Mount Sveti, are light-up at night, it's like a swaying river of fireflies rising up the mountain. Make sure you have a good vantage point from which to say goodbye to Kotor from.

Couple more notes about food venues:

Market Cafe'-

Large variety, used for breakfast a couple of times, when we were in a hurry, we did not find it scarily crowded, it hit it in early morning. Decent selection of pastries, cold cuts, hard boiled eggs, breads/ rolls, had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, all the usual suspects. Not sure if they had made to order omelette's, as when we used the buffet for breakfast, we were ina hurry and did a "grab and run" mission. I did look for biscuits and gravy, and did not see any....I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, as it's a European cruise and all.

DD had lunch there a couple of time, they always had several chicken or fish dishes, pizza, those great pretzel rolls, made to order pasta station, a kid's section with burgers, hot dogs, pizza, fries, chicken strips. The desserts seemed mostly generic, but did find a nice eclair, one time, also had Backava and a " nutty" cake, on a Mediterranean inspired day.

The complimentary soft serve ice cream station, was lovingly abused by kids and adults alike.

For dinner, they would have many of the above mentioned choices, but also a daily theme; I recall seafood night, Mediterranean night, Asian night, Indian night, and prime rib night.

Topsiders Grill, out on the lido deck, had, you guessed it, grilled items like burgers, hot dogs, and sausages, with all the fixings.

On the few days we were not off on a port exursion, they also had a separate cook out, on the lido deck: ribs, chicken, burgers, potato salad, etc. One day they had a 2 dueling chefs cooking awesome Paella, lots of fun!

Room service:

On early port days, we elected to have room service breakfast. If you're staying in a suite, room service is complimentary, we however of course gave the delivery person a small tip. You'll find a form that can be hung from the door, with items that can be checked off, at times you'd like your food delivered. Had milk, juices, cereal, pastries, omelettes, thick, yummy French toast, eggs, and sides to choose from. Suites also have an espresso machine, but you can order a carafe of coffee, if you'd rather.

Room service was easy breezy, and saved us tons of time, for hectic early port days!

...next up my opinions on each port

Thanks for the info, sailing July 23 Greek Isles cruise. Did you happen to notice (or utilize) a wine package? We didn't get UBP (opted for Canadian at par due to our limp dollar). It seems some lines are discontinuing wine packages, selling only by the glass or bottle.

Hi, our "Free at Sea" offer included the UBP, however

On embarkation we got a "Welcome Aboard" sheet, that advertised "Ultimate Beverage Package- enjoy cocktails, wines and beers for on $79/day" ( Personally this would not have been worth it for me, but to each their own.)

They also had a separate soda package: $5.50/day for children 12 and under, or $7.50/day for 13 and over. This actually seems like a bargain.

Thank you so much for the great info on the Star! We'll be sailing on her next February and eager to learn as much as we can about the ship.

 

I wondered if you used the spa or the spa pass? We're trying to decide if we will get the pass or not. We wondered if it gets really hot in the spa lounge/sitting areas?

I'm sorry, we did not use the spa or gym

Love your review. We are on the Star to Greek Isles out of Venice.

 

Probably a suite as well. Some questions:

 

Do you have a separate "private" dining area for breakfast and lunch? Using Cagney's or one of others?

 

Were you in a front facing suite -- Cat SE or SF? Was the wind bad so the balcony a bit tough to use? I am debating on front or aft suite.

 

I am unsure which Greek Isles you went to - but interested in disembarking and embarkation - especially if any tenders.

 

Sounds like a great cruise so far. Looking for more postings. Thanks

Hi there, we were on an aft suite , on deck 10. Wind not bad, but we had a problem with ash/soot, halfway through our cruise. More on that to come.

We our cruise stoped in ports serving Olympia and Athens, no tender necessary for either one. Hope this helps!

Good evening everyone :)

Restaurants/Food:

We were staying in a suite, so we did get to have breakfast and lunch at Cagneys, ( certain mornings they used Moderno's for their breakfast)

Cagney's-

Probably my favorite restaurant on the Star.

We ate lunch there on embarkation day, which made for smooth sailings, Bad pun intended, couldn't help myself!

We had breakfast there a couple of days, for the first port day, Kotor, which was an 11 am arrival, and also on the sea day. For breakfast they had a small spread with pastries, lox, cream cheese, etc., as well as a nice menu with egg Benedict's, lobster egg Benedict , I seem to recall a seafood frittata, French toast, steak and eggs, and basics like eggs, bacon, etc.

We also ate there for dinner another night, I think DH and DD had a steak, and I had schrimp linguini. All the food was very tasty, I particularly love the bread and butter, the butter might have been garlic infused?

I found the waist staff at Cagney's to be particularly friendly and helpful!

The only complaint I have is that for dinner the service was extremely slow, not as in " in Europe people like to linger over their food, and not be rushed, like Americans"... it was just plain SLOWWW! ( I noticed that there were several butlers hanging around, collecting food for people that elected to have dinner brought to their suite, and can't help but thinking that this might have slowed down the waterworks.)

Le Bistro-

We had 2 dinners here. I enjoyed the escargots and their scallop appetizers. One night we all had a steak, another night I had salmon, and DH a pork dish, I think picky DD had something very exotic off the kiddie menu ...would one call it "le hot dog", in French? I really enjoy the atmosphere at Le Bistro, always makes for a nice dinner!

Usually they have music that fits the venue, but on the first night we ate there , I recognized the tune,...it was a French rendition of "Son of a Preacher Man":')

O'Sheehan's-

Had dinner here on embarkation night; really quiet, fast service and nice ocean views; might have to,start making this a tradition. We had the nachos, and wings for our appetizers, and burgers. DH had a beer, and DD her usual hot dog. Relaxed dining venue, friendly staff!

Aqua-

Had one dinner here, had heard how service was slow, And food not very good, so was not expecting much, but it was actually a good experience; we were sat almost immediately, service was prompt, DH and DD had a steak, which they said was not as good as the one in Cagney's, but still ok, I had the spaghetti Bolognese, which I quite enjoyed . Also had a wonderful chocolate lava cake! Yum! We had an excellent waiter that helped suggest a good wine to complement our dinner.

Ginza-

We did not have reservations, but came a few minutes prior to their opening for dinner service, I believe it was 5:30 PM, and were sat right away, but then waited a long time, until,our waiter even came to acknowledge us. Took our drink orders, and then disappeared again, for what seemed like an eternity...notice a theme, yet?

We had the pork pot stickers, ( they only gave us 2), and the calamari, for our appetizers. Both very tasty, but very small portions. We had LoMein noodles with schrimp and chicken, also very good, but again small servings.

Unfortunately our server distinguished himself for being the laziest crew member we ever met, kind of became an inside joke, later in the cruise... DD is a picky eater , we sort of knew that Ginza might be an issue for her, we asked if she could have plain white rice, and a side of sweet and sour pork, with the sauce on the side, our waiter told us that it was already cooked with the sauce, not a problem, we went to "plan B"; we asked for a kiddie menu, and here is when things got weird, conversation went something like this :us, "could she have a hot dog?" , waiter openly frowning : "I don't know...I would have to go get it somewhere else, it might take 30 minutes...are you sure you really want it??" ...Comes back a few minutes later with a plate of chicken tenders:') (DD said nothing and just ate them). As we're completing out meal, he then asks if we would perhaps like another appetizer, as the calamari were really good we asked for another plate, look over and waiter is again frowning , " something wrong?" Waiter: "the calamari is made to order in very small batches, it could take a long time, are you sure you don't want something else? More pot sticker, perhaps? " WTH?? At that point we just wanted to leave, and ended up having dessert at the buffet. Basically, he seemed put out by having to do anything.

Have to stop here for tonight, to be continued...

...back to our first night, still no suitcases.. we had contacted our concierge, who ended up sending the butler over, now I had had wonderful experiences in the past, with butlers, but this one was well meaning, but very inexperienced, she brought over a lost luggage form for us to fill out; I had explained that we had hand-delivered our bags , right outside the ship, and that it had nothing to do with an airline, but she kept insisting that we fill out the form completely, including name of airline and flight number. There was also a language barrier, which made the whole exchange very frustrating, all around. We called the concierge again, and explained that we had no clothes to sleep in, etc. they were kind enough to send over 3 little bags, each containing a NCL tshirt and toiletries.

First night on a ship, I'm usually soothed to sleep by the gentle rocking, but this time I kept waking up and staring at the clock. 8 Am a knock at the door, it's a friendly uniformed arm, attached to which are our suitcases, yes!!! We have breakfast at Moderno's, where we ran into our corcierge , he explained that our luggage was found around 4:30 AM, but they waited until,later, as to not disturb us. I feel that if NCL waits until the last minute to upgrade people, they should have a way to issue new luggage tags, upon checking in at port. In our room we also found casino documents addressed to someone else, ( we gave those to our butler, I hope they reached their destination.)

Funny thing, our butler called us later that day, to ask us if our luggage was ever found, as she was still searching for it...

Entertainment:

Our cruise director was Lorena, I was unsure at first, but she was high-energy, and really grew on me, as the cruise progressed. Her staff was also entertaining and interactive.

Some of the acts we saw were Two for Tea- a very talented duo, whose performance included an electric violin ad cello.

The Four Sea Sons were a quartet from the U.K., who among other things, did cover songs from the Four Seasons, they were really good!

We also watched a Las Vegas type show, which was ok, And Paradais, a cabaret type show, set in early 20th century Paris.

We played bingo, participated in trivia games, and attended the White Hot Party, all fun. Only advice would be that if playing for the 5 grand bingo purse, keep in mind that if Bingo was not reached in 47 numbers of less, then the 5k were not issued. I believe that the winning 2 players split $450? Not bad, but not 5k, either.

WiFi- we had gotten 250 minutes free WiFi...let me just say that I was glad we hadn't not paid for it, for it was. Very inconsistent and slow, when available.

Restaurant/food review will be next.

Were did you stay pre-cruise and was it easy enough to get to the port?

Hi, we had arrived the Friday before the cruise, and were staying near the San Marco area. We ended up taking a private water taxi, from the dock outside our hotel, strait to the port.

Yes, they had the pretzel rolls on the Star, a favorite of DD's!

The most ordinary food tastes 100X better on a cruise ship.:rolleyes:

I wish there was a "like" button!