kwbound

We had Crescencio give us a tour last year and he was wonderful. I had booked Gerry's group but he was a substitute and we liked him so much we came back and shared his email on this thread for others. I see he is getting popular. We wanted to see a LOT and he helped us squeeze it all in!

 

One of my favorite things, we asked him to take us somewhere to eat that the locals eat at and he took us to a place where we were the only tourists and the food was not beautifully plated but it was cheap and delicious!

We have Crescencio booked for Mar 1. Do you remember the name of the restaurant you went to? We want to eat somewhere cheap and delicious too! Did Crescencio join you for lunch? Did the waiters speak English? And did they accept USD? I'm worried about not understanding the menu and ordering something crazy!

Thanks!

Aquahound - Thanks for a great, honest review. It is apparent that you are a laid back guy. We love the Keys and would love to retire there. I keep buying lottery tickets in hopes of rushing that day!:rolleyes:

Eating at the Blue Lagoon is not a quick process so I doubt you can call ahead as I didn't see a phone near the hostess stand. Not sure why so many people love it. Hated having to wait and then my breakfast arrives cold. It was nothing different or better than what was on the buffet. Actually like the buffet better. We nearly missed our excursion because my toast and scrambled (powdered eggs) hadn't arrived. Service is eh eh. If you eat there at lunch, be prepared for a long wait for drinks also - husband ordered a beer to go with his fish and chips and he was nearly done with the food by the time the beer came.

Thanks for your reply. If we go to lunch there maybe will grab a drink from a bar and bring it in with us.

We actually like the Blue Lagoon especially for take out. Like you said the room service menu is lacking but you can get hot food to go from Blue Lagoon anytime and bring to your room. I've also heard that have a pretty decent breakfast.

 

We hated the set time dining and shared table from the past and we were very excited when it changed to freestyle. If I go to a restaurant and there's a wait-rarely-i leave and go somewhere else as there's plenty of choices. But to each his own, its really just peoples opinions and not everyone agrees. We just happen to love the freestyle concept.

 

Thanks for your review and pictures, it helped me get my cruise fix :-)

Can you call Blue Lagoon and place you order so that it is ready when you go pick it up? Or do you have to go there, place your order and then wait for it?

Thank you for taking the time to share!

Kim -

Thanks again for the wonderful review. Do you recall if there were any lockers available on Bannister Island, and if so how large they were?

Thanks!

Donna

I will be there Jan 31st and 90% sure I'm going to Goff's because I've read the snorkeling is better.... I can report back for you if you'd like.

Pls do report back. We haven't decided yet what we are going to do in Belize. How are you getting to Goff's?

Thanks! Have a wonderful cruise!

I doubt Carnival is worrying too much about making MB more easily accessible. If they miss the port, that is more on board revenue for them.

The perfect ending was the first meal once off the ship!

 

 

 

 

a cup of seafood gumbo

 

 

 

 

and a combination shrimp and oyster poboy, dressed

 

 

 

there is no SUBstitute for a New Orleans Poboy! :D

Looks delish! Where is this?

Love the sea lion pictures! I'm glad y'all had such a pretty day in Cozumel after the clouds in Belize and Roatan.

AquaRoatan is the vendor with the bouncy/water slide. They are at Tabyana but anyone can use their services. Prices are on their website.

Have fun!

How long did you have to wait in the tender line?

My sister and I booked him for January 14. Looking forward to it.

Have a great cruise and pls let us know how your Cozumel day goes when you return. Thanks!

That's not a seafood platter - it's only fried shrimp, oysters, and catfish. :p

 

This is their seafood platter (with onion rings and some other stuff). Also available as a half.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never tried any of their desserts.

 

They have some broiled and also some boiled.

 

http://www.deanies.com/restaurants/dinner-menu/

 

You're welcome and thank you!

OMG!! We probably won't make it too dessert either!

Thank you. Guess I'll jump around to make sure to get to the Taste Bar.

 

Deanie's Deanie's Deanie's

 

 

 

Great review as usual! We are planning on having dinner at Deanie's next month the night before our cruise. Based on one of your previous reviews we tried to go to Deanie's last year, but I had too many hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's beforehand and couldn't find the address/directions that I had in my purse so we wound up somewhere else.:o I'm thinking that seafood platter would be enough for 2 or 3 people to share, especially if you started with a salad or some gumbo. What do you think? Does Deanie's have any broiled seafood, or is their menu mostly fried? Have you tried their bread pudding and if so, how was that?

Thanks for taking the time to post all of the pictures and do such a thorough review. You are really helpful to so many people.

Donna

 

writing this review. To “share” MY experience. If I have been somewherOf course you always have people excited about taking a cruise that will ask “What will the weather be like in the Caribbean in December” and you get those few Cruise Critic snobs that will replay “Try going to google and enter what is the weather like in December” answer. Well, that’s not exactly what people are looking for. They want real life experiences. They want answers from other “real” people. They want advice. I hate when people give smart remarks. I mean come on…just give them your experience, give them hope, encourage them, and share in their excitement of packing and getting ready for a cruise. Don’t belittle them or make them feel dumb for asking a simple question. Did you really need to make that remark? If you think it’s a stupid question or one that could be answered by a simple search, then how about you just don’t comment at all and go on to another thread that you might be able to actually help someone. I encourage those here to ask questions. That’s what we are here for…to help one another out. To share our experiences. That’s why I’me or no the answer to a question, I’m always there to try to help. I don’t reply with a smart remark. I even take the time (because if I’m on the cc board, it’s because I have some time to kill) to google things myself and answer questions for people. I’ve taken the time to look up pictures online and post them in a thread to show and help others out. I’ve taken time to make maps and made little arrows to point to something they were looking for. Why? Because I know if I’m in the same situation, if someone would do that for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Share the love for cruising and helping people out on here….that’s all I’m saying. Ok, getting off my soap box and getting things packed.

 

 

 

 

 

Amen Sister!!!!! I'll never understand those people. Better to ask a question that some people may consider stupid, than to post a sarcastic, hateful non-answer that helps no one.

Still loving your review and appreciating all the time you are putting into it.

I highly recommend Crescencio. His English is good and he is extremely friendly. Even though his prices may be similar to those offered at the taxi stand - I'm very sure the experience is different. He will do everything possible to make sure you have a fabulous day - definately reserve him in advance!

We have him booked for March 1. I will do a review on our day when we return.

Since I’m on that “negative” side right now, I’ll go ahead and mention a few other negatives during the cruise. Those of you that are Star lovers, hide your eyes and just skip this part. I know there are tons of people who just LOVE the Star and have sailed on her several times and have additional sailings booked on her, but this is my opinion and what I experienced and I can only compare THIS ship to the others in the fleet I have sailed. So here goes…

 

Back to the restrooms. If you decide you have to potty when you are up at the pool deck area, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT go in to the ladies restroom and hit the first stall you come to. I disappeared for a while and panicked when I went in here one night and couldn’t get out. I was the only one in here and no matter what I did; turning the handle, moving the lock back and forth, nothing worked. What was I going to do? I did the only thing I could do…I kicked the door until it broke open. Whew…you talk about scared and wondering how long it would be before someone entered this restroom to save me. Now, later in the cruise, during the day, it was crowded and I bypassed this known “can’t get out” stall and another person was in there and…yep, locked in and couldn’t get out. Obviously another passenger in there had the same thing happen to her before. You hear the faint cries of someone saying “Can someone help me? I’m locked in and can’t get out. Someone please help me”. Another passenger told them “kick the door”. She did…nothing. She kept kicking and kicking and finally the door opened. What I had discovered was that the door handle opens and turns ONLY from the outside and not the inside. When you turned the inside handle the handle moved but not the “guts” to the door therefore not opening.

Other restrooms I witnessed locks missing in them too. These were public restrooms located in hallways on the main floors on the main decks (like 6, 7 & 8). I have never seen such despair on one of NCL’s ships before. This was really taken me and the hubby off guard.

The food I felt was really not up to par compared to our other cruises. I’m not sure why. There was a lot of “runniness” going on this cruise. I had them make me the alfredo sauce in the buffet one night and it was VERY runny/thin/watered down and just not like I’ve had on the other ships. The ranch salad dressing…very runny/thin/watered down as well. The food they had at the buffet was a hit or miss depending on what time you got there I believe. Some things were tasty, others were pretty bland. Not the normal for any of my other NCL cruises either.

Let’s talk about the cups the soda was now served in. All of my previous cruises, you were served in the hard plastic cups, which would vary in size depending on the bar tender or if you ask for a bigger/taller cup. This time…there was nothing but really thin, cheap throw away clear plastic cups. They were VERY small in size and of course they always load it completely full with ice and then give you a shot of soda in it. Guess what? They saw my face and husbands face about three times more this cruise than any normal cruise because 3 sips and it was gone. In my opinion…very wasteful if they are attempting to save money by using throw away cups now versus having to wash cups. It just seemed so cheap. Anyone know if this has went fleet wide? Or just this ship?

The soda cups that are provided by NCL when you have the soda program where changed a little bit (for the good). They use to have lids you had to peel off the top, which sometimes was hard to do. They have now switched them to a screw on type lid. That was a positive move and it was easier to open. Good job NCL. The shape of the cup did not change since our Pearl cruise in March, but there was a different design. (Previous cruises had different designs and types of cups).

 

Remember the picture I showed of Gatsby’s lounge in the upper level where Ginza is located? Did you look at the buckets all over the floor with the caution tape at the steps? Hmmm, wonder why there was a leak there? It showed up later in the cruise. More a/c leaking or something else? I never heard.

The carpet…throughout the Star. It seemed like every time I turned around, there was either carpet coming up in an area causing a “hump” that I would trip on (or the hubby tripped once too) or a spot in the carpet where it felt like you “sank” down a little in a spot like the floor was weak? We noticed a lot of carpet issues like this all around the ship. Once again, not up to par with the other NCL ships that I’ve sailed. I thought I had read not too long ago someone posting that they read that the Star was for sale. I’m not sure if that is correct but every time we noticed something that just didn’t seem right, my husband said…”it has to be that they are just not keeping the maintenance up on this ship because they plan on getting rid of it”. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s just not the standard for NCL…or at least what I have noticed on any of the others. I was kind of saddened by this.

 

There were small little things here and there like lights burned out, but I understand things can’t be perfect all the time, especially when a light burns out or something. That’s not exactly a “safety” issue that would harm a cruiser. The carpet and the bathrooms…sorry that’s unacceptable.

 

Ok, enough of the few "ship" negatives that I wanted to mention for now. On to more “stuff”…(and yes there are more negatives...I will get to them later.) :rolleyes:

 

 

Gosh, I hate to hear all of this, but I appreciate your honest review. We found many similar housekeeping/service (or lack there of) issues on the Pride of America in 2010. (Including 2 roaches in our cabin :eek:) I'll take the dustbunnies over bugs! We were hoping those problems were due to her American crew and that the problems weren't fleet wide. We are still planning on sailing her in February. The Star is the only ship of any line sailing from New Orleans or Galveston that has a 4-stop itinerary. All of the other ships omit Costa Maya and I really want to visit that port.

I'm loving your review and can't wait to hear about Belize. We are having a difficult time deciding what to do there.

Thank you very much I have booked him,and he is cheaper than ToursPlaza. He seems a very pleasant guy and now can't wait for our day in Cozumel. :)

I contacted Crescenio today via the email that was posted previously. He quoted me the exact same price as ToursPlaza - $95 for 3 hrs, + $25 per hr after that.

Yes, I do have all of the dailies. I keep EVERYTHING...receipts and all. They all go in my scrapbook. However, our printer went out and I had to hook up my old one and I have yet to figure out why I can't get the scanner portion of those "all-in-one" wonderful contraptions to work now. I'm not sure if it's just a matter of updating the driver or finding the disk that came with the printer. So maybe I'll try to figure that out by the end of my review. Sorry. :( If there's anything you want to know about, I can look at it and tell you.

I have problems with my all in one also. Ever so often for no good reason I have to reinstall the driver to get it to work. It's very frustrating. I usually realize it is not working when I want to print something right that minute.

Regarding the dailies - I would love to know if they have, and if so when/where/cost, a wine tasting and a pub crawl.

Thanks again for taking the time to post such a helpful review!

We have reserved Tropicante for our trip in Feb. How did you post your picture to FB? Did Steve let you put your camera memory card in his computer?

I'm a huge fan of detailed reviews, so I'm loving yours. Thanks so much for taking the time.

Hope your son is ok and the weather improves for you soon.

We always enjoy Señor Frogs. If you are downtown, the SF is just upstairs from C&C so you could easily check out both.

I am so sorry I haven't been responding to posts! For some reason I stopped received notifications. I didn't even realize people were still reading my review. I am going to resubscribe to the thread and hopefully will start getting notifications again.

We did not have to show any type of corporate ID at Thrifty.

Happy planning and sailing!

Aloha!

Donna

Here are some pics of it. Excuse the white leg, haven't used the fake tanning lotion yet for our upcoming trip to Hawaii Nov 2012:

That is AWESOME!!!! It looks great! Hope you had (are having) a wonderful trip!