RichNY

My story is very similar to yours.....several weeks still waiting..resubmitted yesterday.

It appears MSC only allows certain cabins to be booked online. When you call them, if you can get through, they will have more cabins available...strange way to do business.

We booked the Seaside for 4-14-18 in the YC.....This will be our second MSC cruise...:):)

I guess it's different strokes for different folks. I've been to most of the Caribbean destinations multiple times. So for me it's more about the ship than the itinerary.

 

I was happy to book the Divina for my first MSC cruise. Having 3 sea days is a bonus.

 

Charlie

I agree, for us its more the ship than the destinations. Cant wait to enjoy the YC.

We'll be on our first Divina sailing in October of 2016. I would never book or cancel my cruise based on the opinions of total strangers. If a particular line appeals to me I book it.

Many times people have an ax to grind and lack total objectivity. If one little thing goes wrong then the entire cruise is a disaster.

Book the cruise, the only way to find out if the cruise lives up to YOUR standards and have a good time.

Many NCL suite and Haven guests have sailed in the YC and have been very happy with the experience. We have sailed in NCL suites and the Haven many times and are looking forward to YC experience...:D

We are booked on the Divina in the Yacht Club as opposed to the NCL Haven. All the indications are MSC is a better value than our most frequented line NCL.

BTW IMO the longer the cruise the older the passengers. It doesn't matter what the line is. :D

Thanks for the info. Having sailed in bow cabins we do know about the wind and the lights...:D:D..thanks again I might rebook our cruise..

Is it still true the bow balconies can only be used when the ship is in port .

Just booked a 2 bedroom family suite in the Haven on the Getaway for next year. Bringing the kids along this time! :)

 

I'll be interested to compare the Haven experience on the Getaway with the suite experiences we've had on the Jade and the Star.

It will be like comparing apples to oranges......no comparison...You will love the Getaway Haven Experience.

The bus/shuttle is $30 per person. You can buy it on board at guest services and have it charged to your account. What I didn't know was that there were several times for the shuttles. They put us on the first bus which was too early so we cancelled and took a taxi only to see a shuttle bus heading out at the same time. Another thing about the shuttle is that your luggage is taken to the airport separately. You don't collect it in the port building, but somewhere at the airport.

We had no problem locating our luggage . Upon departing the bus we were guided to a location opposite the terminal, a very short walk. Finding our luggage was a snap since it was grouped by color.

Thanks for this nice review of the Star. We board her june 12 for 14 days to the North Cape.

You said disembarkation was easy. How did you got to the airport.

We want to go by taxi. Were there plenty available ? Still not sure what time to

Disembark for our 12.25 pm flight

 

Hi RichNY, so sorry we weren,t on the same cruise on the Star. Would have been nice to see you both again.

Ad and Johanna from the Netherlands

Hey Ad and Johanna..good to hear from you.

We took the NCL shuttle to the airport..Taxis are available. NCL offers shuttles check on board and find out if they will get you there for your flight..

Have a great cruise..

We just got back from sailing on the Norwegian Star for 9 days in the Baltic Sea. I'll do my best to give you the low down on all the positives and negatives. This was our second NCL cruise and will not be our last, we're already booked on the Getaway for next year.

 

Embarkation:

First of all, there was some confusion as to which Copenhagen port we were leaving from. Our cruise documents said Oceankaj port, but the NCL website said Freeport. There is a big difference between the two. Oceankaj is brand new and that is where we left from. NCL needs to update their website. Freeport is really not used by the big ships anymore.

We arrived at the port at about 12:30 PM. The boarding area was already a madhouse. We were in a suite so we did have priority embark. However, even in the line for priority was fairly long, which was disappointing. In comparison, when we sailed the Jade two years ago from Rome in a suite, we didn't wait at all.

After checking in were immediately introduced to Hanno, our concierge, and led aboard to Cagneys for lunch. After lunch we headed to our room which was already ready and within 30 minutes of being in the room our luggage was delivered and Dante, our steward, and Cipriano, our butler, had already introduced themselves.

 

The Stateroom:

We were in stateroom 9732 which is a aft penthouse suite. This was very similar to the room we had on the Jade 2 years ago. We actually felt the room on the Star was alittle bigger inside. The balcony is not very deep but it is a wraparound balcony which is well worth it especially for the Baltic Sea with all it's wonderful ports and islands. The bed and furniture are extremely comfortable and we opted for the memory foam pillows. The Lavazza coffee and espresso machine in the room was wonderful. It never once broke down (our one on the Jade was always broken). The closet space is immense and the bathroom is a decent size with a shower/tub combo. We never heard any major noise from the above or below cabins. The only music we ever heard from Spinnaker (deck 7) was on the night we were in St. Petersburg because the engines weren't on. Other than that the sound of the waves out back always put us to sleep. The darkening curtains were a must. Sunrise was at 4:30AM and sunset wasn't until 10:30PM. The curtains were extremely important.

 

The Ship:

We found that we enjoyed the looks and layout of the Star better than the Jade. The grand atrium is beautiful and the glass elevators give the look of what you think of with a cruise ship. All the areas are well kept and well decorated. There are plenty of dining options, plenty of bars, and all kinds of areas to just sit and relax. The Stardust Theater is at the front of the ship while the Spinnaker Lounge is at the back. Another good thing is that we never felt crowded on the ship. Even on the sea days, we never felt that any of the area on the ship were over crowded.

 

Activities and Shows Onboard:

We are very active while we're cruising. We like to partake in a range of activities. The dailies always provided many activities for whatever you wanted to do. We joined in on trivia, shuffleboard, goofy golf, the perfect couple game show, and also watched other shows and games. There was always something to do or see anytime of the day. We attended two shows onboard. There were several (such as German and Russian folklore shows) that didn't interest us much, mainly because we had just been in that port. We attended Iain's (the cruise director) magic show which was hilarious and fun. And we also attended the Pari show at the end of the cruise which was good as well. The cruise director's staff that ran the activities were always fun and engaging and we got to know them very well.

 

Staff and Service:

We both felt that the service onboard the Star was exceptional and agreed that is was better than the Jade. Only once service instance was bad. I'll get to that in a second.

Our concierge Hanno, was pleasant but more to the point and less conversational. But he always took our requests and acted upon them. He helped with dinner reservations and getting off the ship in the ports. Our butler Cipriano was wonderful. If you're traveling on the Star in the near future I hope you have him as your butler. You can tell he truly loves what he does and is always pleasant and proactive with the room. He introduced himself the first day and we told him some of our requests and things we like, and he always kept the room and fridge the way we wanted and was great about helping anytime we asked. Our steward Dante was wonderful as well. He always stopped to talk to us in the hallways and was efficient and quick with making up and turning down on our room. Oh, and he makes some pretty awesome towel animals! The cruise director Iain was always a pleasure to run into on the ship. He always carries around a deck of cards for magic tricks so make sure to ask him to show you a trick if you run into him. His staff of cruise activity leaders were all wonderful and got to know us by name real quick. The bar staffs were all great and fun and we had a great time interacting with them. All the restaurants had wonderful service and a special shoutout to Leah, the matire'd in the Versailles restaurant. She was always pleasant and helped my wife to do pre orders for her gluten free diet. The only negative service experience we had was at Ginza. We were put at one of the back tables, even though it wasn't that full, and weren't greeted for a good 10 minutes. The service that evening was below average and we were disappointed.

Other than that instance, everywhere we went the service was wonderful. Another shoutout to the serving team in Cagney's for breakfast and lunch. They got to know us very quick and anticipated our needs when we showed up.

 

Dining:

So here is the one area of why we are giving the overall rating a 4 instead of a 5. We both agreed that the food was not nearly as good as two years ago on the Jade. A preface to this is that we were limited here and there because my wife is gluten free. Here's the lowdown. We didn't eat in the buffet so I really can't review that area, but in just walking through we weren't impressed with what was there. We ate in Versailles 4 nights and 2 were good and 2 were not so good. We were both fairly disappointed in the menus and the food (although once again the service was wonderful). The dining room was very good about preordering gluten free meals a day ahead of time, but even those were below what we were expecting. We ate at Le Bistro one night. It was a pretty good meal, but I think we both agreed the cover charge would have been better spent elsewhere. We ate at Ginza two nights. Both meals were very good and the sushi is awesome and well prepared. Our best meal by far was in Moderno. The salad bar is excellent and every meat they brought around was awesome. Don't miss out on Moderno. With all that said, we were very underwhelmed with the dining this time around. And we actually had higher expectations regarding dining because of all the new fee changes with NCL.

 

The Ports:

I'll just touch on one of two comments for each port we visited.

Copenhagen: We stayed 2 days prior to the cruise and that wasn't enough time. Denmark is amazing and we both decided we need to go back. So much to see, so little time.

Warnemunde: We didn't make the long trek to Berlin, we opted to tour Warnemuende, Wismar, and Schwerin. All lovely towns and I'd recommend that if you don't want to spend 6 hours on a train to Berlin.

Tallinn: A very beautiful city that takes you by surprise with what's to see. We had a local guide who was wonderful, but you could easily do it on your own.

St. Petersburg: 2 days is not enough to see everything here. You have to try to cram so much in to see this beautiful city and all the sites. The only negative is that the crowds in the museums and sites are awful.

Helsinki: Not much to this town. Very beautiful and the sites we saw were lovely, but 7 hours in the port is overkill.

Stockholm: Unfortunately we couldn't port in Stockholm because of high winds and narrow channels. We skipped it and headed back to Copenhagen early. Bummer!

Overall, the itinerary is very good and the two sea days are spread out well. Be prepared to be very tired after two days in St. Petersburg.

 

Disembarkation:

Disembarking was a breeze. Our concerige met us at La Cocina and got us off the ship 15 minutes before the time that was on our cruise documents. It was a simple process and there were no issues.

 

New Policies:

So I know there's been a lot of talk on the forums about all the policies that NCL has. Here's some things we noticed:

People were still taking food and drinks from the buffet and the grill by the pool. I saw people carrying plates back to their rooms and I never saw anyone say anything to them. It didn't seem to be as many people as when we were on the Jade, but still we saw it.

We heard some complaints about the extra fees and service charges and 18% gratuity. It doesn't bother us. My feeling is, if you're that upset about it, take your business elsewhere. It won't prevent us from sailing with NCL again.

I really can't comment on the room service charge because we were in a suite so it was a free. But we saw plenty of people ordering in and plenty of dirty dishes outside staterooms so people were doing it and paying it. Again, if you're upset, take your business elsewhere.

 

Overall:

Very happy with the cruise and the itinerary. We felt everything lived up to our expectations except the food. If you're sailing on the Star soon you'll be very happy with the atmosphere and the service. We're looking forward to our next NCL cruise on the Getaway next year!

Hey Guys..nice review. You make it sound like we were there..OOPS !!! we were. :D

It was fun hanging with you two. We arrived around 11AM and waltzed right onto the Star,,Timing is everything :D

Good to have met you and maybe our paths will cross again.

I'm off the Star today. I confirm what zootnarf said, that Hugo, the Hotel Director, said they needed to fix an azipod. The second officer on the bridge tour confirmed that in passing. They are onloading contractors today and heading straight to Freetown to drydock and fix the azipod before crossing the Atlantic. Hugo confirmed that the PC cruise was cancelled, but didn't say anything about the TA being cancelled or delayed.

 

The only thing I would say anecdotally is that our top cruising speed seemed to be around 19 knots instead of 20 or 21 knots as I have seen before on occasion.

 

He also said that they would be completing some of the rehab work that didn't get finished three weeks ago due to the port slowdown on the West Coast, for example, the furniture for O'Sheehans was a mix and match of old and new. Otherwise, the Star looked good.

Hey Guys..

Its been a while....Thanks for the Star update, we'll be on her in May for the Baltic Capitals cruise. Fingers crossed..;). Hope Hugo will still be there..

So I guess the issue is what length of bus ride you consider long. :)

 

We are planning to take the AMA "Port Wine & Flamenco" one-way Douro itinerary that starts in Madrid and ends in Lisbon. That will involve a really long bus ride from Madrid, stopping in Salamanca, and on to the boat. After that, anything should seem short!

You forgot the Porto to Lisbon leg, with a stop at Fatima...another long bus ride....;)

BTW I consider any excursion with a bus ride of over an hour a long ride and we had more than one..

Keep in mind there are 2 itineraries, The Wine and Flamenco , the one we did and Enticing Douro.

Sailing the Douro was a great experience...beautiful.

Yes the groups are small with a slow walker category.:D

Don't get me wrong we enjoyed the trip, we did not expect number of long bus rides.

We just finished the AmaVida Douro river cruise...For the most part we really enjoyed it. There are a few differences between this cruise and other AMA cruises.

First the boat is not owned by AMA it is leased from Douro Azule, That's what one has to do if they want to do business in Portugal. The staff, with the exception of our excellent Cruise Director, do not work for AMA Waterways. While we had an excellent waiter the staff is subject to change at a moments notice. We have sailed AMA on the Danube and did no get the same warm fuzzy feeling on this cruise as we have in the past..We felt there was very little loyalty to the line.

Another difference was every stop required substantial bus rides. We understood getting from Lisbon, our start, to Porto and getting from Vega Terron to Madrid would require long bus rides. What we did no realize was almost every day our excursions required a 45 minute to 90 minute bus ride. Unlike the Danube there was virtually nothing to see without taking a bus.

The Douro is very short so we frequently overnighted in various stops.

While we enjoyed the cruise we had way too many long bus rides...

Hope this helps.

July was an absolutely gorgeous month for cruising the Douro (and it really wasn't as hot as I expected) but I'll bet that October is simply sublime. Keep us posted, RichNY!

 

Carolyn

Will do. Thanks for the review and the pictures. We sailed on the AmaLegro 2years ago, our first river cruise, and really loved it..The Vida looks even nicer.

We'll be getting into Lisbon on the 18th, boarding the Amavida on the 21st..

Thanks for all the information. We have a group of 8 going on this cruise in October. We are doing the pre and post cruise additions, we can't wait.....thanks again

You tip your cabin steward very well....despite the fact that he/she has to turn it back in to the pool since you remove auto-tips? The dining and housekeeping staffs are not allowed to keep a tip envelope if auto-tips are removed from the passenger's account. Watch the person next time you give them an envelope...they write down the cabin number on the envelope. Your good intentions are actually penalizing the person you are "rewarding".

Chris thanks for the info..

Question..???...If a dining group decide to tip the dining room staff extra, what would happen to the tip is someone in the group removed the auto tip ??

We totally loved seeing Slam and the Grand Slams..He's a great musician and entertainer..I was honored to sit in with the band..Don't forget he'll be at BB Kings in Manhattan on May 9th..

Any suggestions on how to get to the pier tomorrow??. My usual route will be blocked unless I can cross over 7th Ave or 42nd Street.

http://www.nyrr.org/sites/default/files/NYC_HalfMarathon_2014_CourseMap.pdf

I promise you that I do not work for Park Right or know anyone that does (or am getting commission from them) LOL!

 

We used them last month and it was so easy and fast that I would not even consider using the port parking again. When we got in, we gave them a phone call heads up, hailed a cab because it was so cold and the snow was blocking the walkways (and all the cars at the port) .... they reimbursed us our $5 cab fare and we were on our way so fast, it was just great.

 

Either way, take your shovel. Heaven help us all but they are now calling for snow again on Monday! Yikes!

Thanks for the suggestion..Like I said when we get off the ship we just want to get out of Dodge..fast. I can remember friends of ours still waiting on line for a taxi as we were in our car and heading home..Trust me, the shovel will be in the car..:D:D The year of the NEVER ENDING WINTER.:mad:

We are trying Park Right this Sunday. Will post how it goes when we get back.

We have a roll call going here.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1817402

Feel free to join us..