Just back from Venice/Adriatic cruise, on Star: my 2 cents...

Hi everyone, this is my first review, so bear with me.

I will divide my review into several sections. Sorry no pics. Opinions are obviously just my own, so take them as you will.

General ship info:

We had stayed in Venice a couple of days prior to our cruise, ( will do a ports section, later), embarkation was generally smooth, except for one big problem... we had originally booked a family suite, but a couple of days prior to leaving, they upgraded us to an aft suite with

large balcony; no new luggage tags were ever issued...I hand wrote new cabin number on tags, but you guessed it...our baggage went AWOL.

The ship was very clean and well maintained. The staff was generally very curtious and friendly not once did anyone beg us to leave them a good review, or gave us a sob story to try to influence us to leave a bigger tip, ( as I've had happen on other cruise lines.)

We arrived at port around 11 AM, we were whisked to a suite passenger waiting area, but were only there for about 5 minutes, we were then escorted to the ship. They took our passports and kept them up to the day prior to disembarking; I do not recall this having been done in the past...even more important not to get left behind, while out on an excursion; good luck trying to catch a flight without a passport.

By 11:30 we were sitting at Cagney's having lunch. Good lunch, if limited menu. ( The dinner menu has more choices). We then went to the Spinnaker lounge to add a couple of specialty restaurant reservations,( had done most on line, prior to the cruise), and just checked out the Star. At this point very few people were in the lido deck, and it would be a good opportunity if to use the pool/ hot tub, without bathing with what seemed like 1,000 of your closest friends.

Cabin was ready by 1:00 pm. We had an aft balcony suite, the bathroom had a vanity area, separate from the actual bathroom. King bed super comfortable. Pull out chair was fine during the day, but made getting around the room very tight, once pulled out, for DD to sleep. Chocolate covered strawberries were delivered to us, as well as a fruit basket. The safety drill was in Versailles, went quickly enough. Once that tid bit is out of the way, I felt like I could relax, and that our cruise had really begun. The balcony was nice, especially the views from Venice, as we were pulling out; worth it's price just for that! Eating chocolate covered strawberries and drinking champagne, as we're looking out at "La Serenissima", now that's the life! Our cabin attendant was always very friendly, kept our cabin spotless, through-out.

Went to dinner at O'Shehan's, relaxed atmosphere, very few people there, on embarkation night, then went to Welcome Aboard show... at this time it's about 8:30 pm, and still haven't seen neither hair nor hide of our of our luggage:eek: I think this is a good time to stop, will resume with more on the luggage saga, adios, for now.

Hi all!

OceanLover11 ~ following along. Great job so far. I'm doing this cruise next June so very interested in the ports.

Was on the Star to Hawaii back in 2004 so it might have changed since then.

~ Jo ~ :)

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

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.

...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.

Thanks for the review.

Following along.

Great report - really looking forward to the next installment as we sail on this cruise in just four weeks time - can't wait!!

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

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...

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?

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!

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

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

No worries! Maybe someone else will know how hot it gets in the spa lounge/sitting areas. I'm enjoying your reflections. Much appreciated!

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?

The temperature in the spa area is comfortable. If you want heat, there are saunas & steam rooms in each locker room.

The only problem that we had were in regard to the two relaxation rooms. We had been told that they were sex distinct, but some people insisted they were unisex. Another time, DW found a group of women in the female side who kept up a loud & continuous conversation. Not a very relaxing atmosphere.

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.

The temperature in the spa area is comfortable. If you want heat, there are saunas & steam rooms in each locker room.

 

 

The only problem that we had were in regard to the two relaxation rooms. We had been told that they were sex distinct, but some people insisted they were unisex. Another time, DW found a group of women in the female side who kept up a loud & continuous conversation. Not a very relaxing atmosphere.

Comfortable temperature in relaxation rooms sounds great. Hopefully the loud conversations are not the norm. There must be staff nearby to help manage these kinds of situations. Thanks for the info!

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.

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.

So rather than relying on hearsay and speculation, let's just go straight to the NCL web site

Corks and Caps Wine and Beer Package (ages 21 & older)

Enjoy a wide selection of softdrinks, beers, and wines by the glass during your entire cruise. Prepaid@ $59.00 USD perperson per day x Cruise Days plus 18% gratuity and beverage service charge.

https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

So rather than relying on hearsay and speculation, let's just go straight to the NCL web site

Corks and Caps Wine and Beer Package (ages 21 & older)

Enjoy a wide selection of softdrinks, beers, and wines by the glass during your entire cruise. Prepaid@ $59.00 USD perperson per day x Cruise Days plus 18% gratuity and beverage service charge.

https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

Thanks for trying to answer my question BirdTravels, but this modified drink package doesn't suit our needs. When purchasing a drink package with NCL every adult in the room has to also purchase. This is wasteful for my 2 roomies that don't drink beer and wouldn't want to pay $59+++ /day for a few glasses of house-wine at dinner. We're more interested in a finer selection available by the bottle, which a wine package enables at a reduced price.

As for the "hearsay" comment, isn't that the main purpose of these boards? Often I find the first hand account of a recent cruiser to be more reliable and updated than some cruise line websites. Thanks again.

Thanks for trying to answer my question BirdTravels, but this modified drink package doesn't suit our needs. When purchasing a drink package with NCL every adult in the room has to also purchase. This is wasteful for my 2 roomies that don't drink beer and wouldn't want to pay $59+++ /day for a few glasses of house-wine at dinner. We're more interested in a finer selection available by the bottle, which a wine package enables at a reduced price.

As for the "hearsay" comment, isn't that the main purpose of these boards? Often I find the first hand account of a recent cruiser to be more reliable and updated than some cruise line websites. Thanks again.

I think perhaps the wine package you are looking for is the Viva Vino package available for purchase once on board on the day of departure. You can select 4, 6, or 8 bottles with a starting price of $88. There is usually a table set up in the atrium with forms to complete to select the wines of your choice. You will receive vouchers to retrieve your wine in any bar or restaurant on the ship and may enjoy it there or take it to your cabin.

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.

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

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.