Brandon Girl

Alright y'all here it goes.

 

I'm traveling for my cousin's wedding on the first sea day so things might get crazy. On the other hand, I have to work......doh doh doh......so I'll have lucid moments and internets. Normally when I vacation I use that as a chance to completely unplug. But since I have to work and require internet connectivity I'm going to live it UP and do some live reviewing.

 

We've booked a 2 bedroom Aqua Theater Suite, which has intrigued me since the first time I read about the Oasis class ships. Back in those days, as a single mom I was dreaming about watching the show from a balcony and wondering how I'd ever budget my way into this sort of trip.

 

We'll, now I'm 10 years older, remarried and have finally managed to swing it. My husband and 2 year old daughter are traveling with me, but my 15 and 11 year old sons are staying home with Grammy due to the uncomfortable proximity of midterms. Rather unfortunately, my older boys deeply struggled the last time I pulled the out of school to cruise for a week, so they're now on strict rules about entire weeks lost to vacationing (much to my dismay).

 

Also along for the fun......our family friend, Amanda from Canada. Interestingly enough I met both her and my husband on the internets about the same time and we've found that we're pretty great traveling companions. She'll be taking the 2nd bedroom of the suite and potentially chiming in on this thread.

 

Did I mention we're cruising for a wedding? That means 28 of our closest friends and family are all along for the joyous ride of my cousin's wedding in Dazzles. My mother in law, The Judester, is rooming in with the mother of the bride, my aunt. This means we have some built in babysitting, but we'd all rather just hang together than leave some behind.

 

This is my 2nd Royal cruise (first was years ago) but my 11th overall cruise. Not a newbie, but newer to this line.

 

My husband is already packed. However, don't get all excited about that - he's actually in Vegas for a business trip (yeah right) until Friday night and my condition was that he be packed for both trips before he left. Saturday morning we're headed to Port Canaveral to ensure that the trap that is I-4 doesn't beat us down on sailing date. I'm not packed....because I'm home with 3 kids and a full time job....but I'm working on that. All of my evening wear is tucked away in one small suit case to keep my cats from so kindly leaving their hair all over my fancier clothes.

 

So, if you're also cruising on this particular sailing and want to chime in on this thread, please do. I'm not a great photographer, but I'll still snap some shots. The more the merrier!!! Also, if you see our gang out and about please flag us down. My cousin may be a bride, but she's no bridezilla and loves meeting new people.

 

Hopefully tomorrow night my toddler daughter (and ruler of the household) goes to bed at some semblance of a reasonable hour and I get to start on packing. If so, I'll snap some photos of our luggage, etc.

 

Also, we're Christmas decorating our door. So that will be TONS OF FUN. Can y'all tell I'm beyond ready for some vacay???

If the baby is not napping at the time of our Cabin Crawl on the second Sea Day, we would LOVE to tour your cabin. Just show up OUTSIDE Boleros Lounge at 1:00 and we will fit you in. Thanks in advance!!!

Was also on this cruise....NOT a Suite person! Was our 12th NCL cruise (Platinum). The WORST service in 22 total cruises! Food ran the gamut from OK to superb. Service slow.

 

I'll also add that the 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar ran out of margarita mix; ALL bars (top to bottom - think 7 or 8 total??? All are not open at the same times) ran out of Bud Lite!!!! Huh? Also ran out of Bloody Mary mix!!! Magically, some of the above would appear at the same bars later in the evening or the next (early) day, & then disappear again! Bartenders (alleged) didn't know how to make drinks without the "mix!"

 

Agree also w/cabin stewards....ours was NEVER there prior to 1:30 PM or so. So, think about it....u take a shower, go ashore (w/your "pool towel") and come back & room isn't clean....so, no new towels (with sweat, sunscreen, etc.) NO PERSONNEL in the hallway! People would go end-to-end & several decks above/below & take towels from unattended carts in order to take a shower! Happened EVERY DAY!

 

All I heard was excuses..sorry, I spent 20+ in the military & was not impressed. For all of u who were NOT there, please give us who WERE there a break. Thanx!

Thanks for posting this! :)

Brandon Girl Thank you for your expression on this cruise Yes this was a propulsion issue to start this thread. However I tried to express our total dissatisfaction with the entire cruise not focusing on just the pool deck and long long lines but the total lack of service in every part of the cruise. Even the major officers of the ship complaints from us and other fell on deaf ears, almost to the point that they just did not care. Yes you should look into Royal for your next cruise, after the many cruises we have been on you would not be unhappy with the service and attention to detail you will receive from Royal. We were told last night (Saturday) by a person in the jewelry store the ship was understaffed by 75 to 100 people. Its to bad that our 1st cruise on NCL will be our last, but our history with Royal far out shines our 1st cruise with NCL. The cruise just totally SUCKED start to finish even the disorganized way they had people leaving the ship this morning

Thanks for posting!

I was also on this cruise and my husband says he will NEVER sail on NCL again after this cruise. I will start another thread on it since this is mostly about the propulsion issue but that was by far the least of the issues.

I have NEVER written a negative word on cruise critic and love cruising but this was beyond awful.

This was our first Suite experience and it was not the "sweet life" we were looking forward to.

Thanks for posting! :)

the star sailed at 4m and is underway-right on time.

yea!!!

I am sorry you are upset about your cruise. You really should go back to Royal if waiting for a drink and the lack of Grey Goose meant so much. These nice people are discussing the azipod problems and not drink service.

Yes this thread started with propulsion but really the service was horrible. The staff told us that they were overwhelmed by SO MANY people... Told us they had been used to the Baltic cruisers who left the ship early each morning and returned late in the day. They were not used to having so many passengers all day! Every time you sat down for a meal, the service was SOOOO SLOW.... even in the least of the eating establishments. The lines to get anything were so long! The food quality had dropped also...Our Butler did not communicate with us very well, letting us know how long something would take. She just said "Yes Mamam" and left for hours. (It took her 2 hours to pick up a video we borrowed on the last day.) Pre-cruise, I ordered a shrimp tray and a cheese tray. She should have asked me when I would like for her to deliver them... Instead I had to track her down and tell her when we wanted them. She did not even know I had ordered them... Poor, poor service. I really expected more from Norwegian... Especially for Suite passengers! We too might consider Royal Caribbean for our next cruise...

The Azipod mechanical issues that the Star has is the least of their problems. The Star needs to overhaul their entire passenger service program. There is so much to complain about the cruise we just got off this morning 10/25/2015 I dont know where to begin. By far the worst cruise we have ever been on. This happened to be our 1st cruise on NCL and WILL be our last. NCL needs to learn from Royal how to run a cruise company when it come to passenger service. Most everyone one we spoke to had the same feelings, its totally absurd to run out of strawberry daiquiri mix and Grey Goose vodka the 2nd day of any cruise especially after spending the amount to time they were in Tampa before we left last Tuesday morning. The waiting lines on pool deck and lack of servers to get drinks was just totally unbelievable. The list goes on and on and on. We have never been so happy to be home after a cruise, just to get away from the frustration of the NCL Star.:mad::mad::mad:

I was also on this cruise... AMEN and AMEN!!!!

Just speculation on my part... of course they said nothing about our 3:00 AM departure from Tampa last Monday night either (at about 5:00 PM they said we would leave about 10:00 PM due to propulsion problems)... Just don't be surprised...

The Star docked successfully this morning at about 3:00 AM. Being in a starboard aft balcony cabin, we immediately heard loud banging below. When we woke up again at 7:00 AM, there were divers in the water and the outer seal covers were on the dock being welded on... Lots of equipment!!! Looks like they are now working on the Starboard side pods... The Star may not sail on time tonight... :confused:

Thanks for everyone's input on this thread! Looks like we sail today!!! :)

I can thank the design of the US submarines that we never had a shaft seat problem! In all my years on boats it was never an issue. I am glad we never looked to NCL for design advice!

Thank you so much for your service!!!

Well, duh. Everyone knows that ;)

Oh..... Be nice to chengkp75!!! He has given us so much info on this problem...

Thank you bajathree and chengkp75 for the info! 😊

AMEN!!!! Thank you!!!