Review: NCL Star Feb 26 - the Suite Life in a DOS!

[autrucheplume]

Here's my (better late than never!) review of our week on the Star Feb 26 - March 4. Spoiler alert - we LOVED it!!

 

About us:

 

There were 4 of us on the cruise: me and my DH (both in our twenties) and my mom (50's) and grandmother (70's). It was mine and my husband's third cruise together (and our second time in a suite), and first cruise for mom and grandma. We were in room 12500 (2 bedroom deluxe owner's suite)

 

Overall impressions:

 

Food:

Overall, the food was amazing! I have previously read a review where someone called the food on the Star "inedible". This person was clearly (no offense) crazy. If you eat 6 course meals in 5 star restaurants every other night of the year, you will likely be disappointed. However, if you are like the rest of us, you'll love it. The food and service in the MDRs was fantastic, and we never felt "pushed" towards the up charge restaurants (though we did eat in several, and loved them).

 

Service:

The staff on the Star is friendly, prompt, efficient, and and it was rare to pass someone without them smiling and greeting us. We were very pleased!

 

Suite amenities:

We are among those who say that once you go suite, you never go back! The ability to eat at Cagney's is almost worth the cost of the suite! The added benefits are just icing on the cake (and I LOVE cake icing!) Monica (concierge) was WONDERFUL, and made sure to not only make dinner reservations, but made sure we had great table locations. Maxi (butler) was so wonderful. He took great care of us all week. I miss him SO MUCH even now, several weeks later. He went above and beyond every single day.

 

Room:

The room was beautiful and very functional. It worked well to all have our own space to sleep. The windows in the master bedroom are beautiful! The tub in the master bath was awesome - they're luckily I got out of their voluntarily. However, the room moved a LOT, especially (obviously) when the ship was at sea. This also caused some creaking sounds in the room - noticeable, but not really a bother. I have a vertigo disorder (BPPV) that makes me very susceptible to motion issues. I was on bonine all week, but still had issues with motion. Honestly, as much as I loved this room, I probably would not stay there again due to the motion.

 

I started writing a review on the ship, but it honestly turned into a journal (and was VERY long), so I'll post some bullet points, and let people ask any questions they want:

 

* We stayed at the Chase Suites in Tampa the night before departure. This was SUPER easy and we'll do it again if we're in Tampa again. The shuttle was great, the room was nice (though definitely not new anymore). We had a 2 bedroom suite, so it was nice to all share 1 room but still have our own space.

 

* Embarkation was easy, but we got annoyed because we kept asking for suite check in, and kept being directed to "regular" check in - even once we found the suite check in! They told us we were in the wrong place. Then they looked at our eDocs and apologized. I guess people in their 20s don't look like they can afford a suite.

 

* Breakfast at Cagney's was truly a treat, and we ate their almost every single day. Crab Cakes Benedict? YUM. Fruit de Mer in Brioche? YUM. Lunch was so-so. The menu got boring after a few days, and we hit up Blue Lagoon and room service a few times. However, I could eat off that breakfast menu for WEEKS and be happy.

 

* We were very pleased with the specialty restaurants at which we ate for dinner: Cagney's (Oscar Salmon? so good!), La Cucina (VERY well worth the $10), and Ginza (DH and grandma ate Ginza, and mom and I ate sushi - and we ate WAY less than $30 worth, so I'm glad they went a la carte).

 

* Shows: overall, I enjoyed them. Second City was great. Elements was very good. The aerialists were my FAVORITE. I could watch them for hours. It was amazing!

 

* The ports were good, but we had done a similar itinerary before, so we were not that excited. I highly recommend doing excursions at all of the ports (Roatan, Belize City, Costa Maya and Cozumel) as there is very little to do around the port. We did one excursion (Semi-sub tour in Cozumel - was fun and worth the money, but wouldn't do again - we didn't expect a whole lot, but wanted to do something that my grandmother could easily do) and just some shopping in the other ports.

 

* Chocolate buffet - I was expected to be disappointed by this, having seen one on the Majesty about 4 years ago, and knowing that it had been moved to the buffet. However, I was VERY pleasantly surprised. By and large, the food was delicious, and the presentation was great (especially considering it was in the Market Cafe). Monica snuck us in early, so we got lots of pictures and a big plate of food.

 

Ok, this is getting long, so I'll stop now. I'll add comments to think as I think of anything. I have all the daily's with me, so feel free to ask any questions you have!

[valleyvillage]

We had that same suite for a MR cruise. We loved it, too! That creaking sound is still there, huh? To us it sounded like two pieces of styrofoam rubbing together. It didn't really bother us.

 

We ordered several times from the upcharge restaurants for room service. We were never charged for anything unless we ordered an entree. Do they still offer that perk?

 

Also, the butler was quite cooperative as to the brands of liquor we ordered, didn't have to bother with a menu.

 

I HEAR you about that bathtub!

 

 

So glad you had a great cruise. Thanks for the review!

[chrisc71]

Nice review.

 

I am going on my first NCL this year. Is the Cagney's menu, and all specialty restaurants for that matter, have different menus for lunch and dinner or is it the same? Staying in a SJ so looking forward to that perk.

 

Thanks!

[Got Tequila?]

Thanks for the great review. We'll be in 12002 in a few weeks...and love the suite life. :)

[Got Tequila?]

Nice review.

 

I am going on my first NCL this year. Is the Cagney's menu, and all specialty restaurants for that matter, have different menus for lunch and dinner or is it the same? Staying in a SJ so looking forward to that perk.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Cagney's has three menus, breakfast, lunch and dinner that stay the same each day. All of the other specialty restaurant menus stay the same as well, and they are only open for dinner hours.

[knitlady037]

:DThanks for the review. We are staying in 12000 in a few weeks. It is the twin to your room. Glad you had a good time.

[Dsjay]

Thanks for your positive review. My family, six of us are sailing the Star on May 27th to Bermuda. We now have an SJ and mini suite booked. I was thinking of booking the last DOS for all of us, as the price difference is small. My question, is the pull out sofa bed in the 2nd bedroom comfortable? We have very comfortable accomodations now, don't want to make some of us uncomfortable just to get suite perks for everyone. Thanks for your help.

[peg013]

Thanks for your positive review. My family, six of us are sailing the Star on May 27th to Bermuda. We now have an SJ and mini suite booked. I was thinking of booking the last DOS for all of us, as the price difference is small. My question, is the pull out sofa bed in the 2nd bedroom comfortable? We have very comfortable accomodations now, don't want to make some of us uncomfortable just to get suite perks for everyone. Thanks for your help.

 

Hi! Welcome aboard. We have 29 people so far on our rollcall for May 27th Star to Bermuda. Come join the fun.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1519598&page=7

[chrisc71]

Cagney's has three menus, breakfast, lunch and dinner that stay the same each day. All of the other specialty restaurant menus stay the same as well, and they are only open for dinner hours.

 

Thank you for the info.

[Wildcatllamas]

Thanks for your positive review. My family, six of us are sailing the Star on May 27th to Bermuda. We now have an SJ and mini suite booked. I was thinking of booking the last DOS for all of us, as the price difference is small. My question, is the pull out sofa bed in the 2nd bedroom comfortable? We have very comfortable accomodations now, don't want to make some of us uncomfortable just to get suite perks for everyone. Thanks for your help.

 

Some where on here I read that the pull out sofa wasn't that bad but you can always request a foam pad or two to put on it.

[valleyvillage]

Some where on here I read that the pull out sofa wasn't that bad but you can always request a foam pad or two to put on it.

 

It works fine with the pads!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for the review.

[autrucheplume]

We had that same suite for a MR cruise. We loved it, too! That creaking sound is still there, huh? To us it sounded like two pieces of styrofoam rubbing together. It didn't really bother us.

 

We ordered several times from the upcharge restaurants for room service. We were never charged for anything unless we ordered an entree. Do they still offer that perk?

 

Also, the butler was quite cooperative as to the brands of liquor we ordered, didn't have to bother with a menu.

 

I HEAR you about that bathtub!

 

 

So glad you had a great cruise. Thanks for the review!

 

I had read your review before, and was so glad to hear your great experience!

 

We did not order room service from any specialty restaurants, so unfortunately I can't comment on that. However, our butler was awesome, so I'm pretty sure he would have gotten us whatever we wanted!

[autrucheplume]

Thanks for your positive review. My family, six of us are sailing the Star on May 27th to Bermuda. We now have an SJ and mini suite booked. I was thinking of booking the last DOS for all of us, as the price difference is small. My question, is the pull out sofa bed in the 2nd bedroom comfortable? We have very comfortable accomodations now, don't want to make some of us uncomfortable just to get suite perks for everyone. Thanks for your help.

 

Like the other people have commented, it was definitely adequate. My grandmother slept on that bed, and she was very comfortable. My mom slept on the pullout sofa in the living room. When it was open in the evenings (since the room stewards closed it every morning and opened it every night) I would occasionally lay there and watch TV before we went to bed, and I found it to be one of the most comfortable sleeper sofas I've ever laid on before. (Not that that's saying much, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised)

[2Cruise4Ever]

Monica (concierge) was WONDERFUL, and made sure to not only make dinner reservations, but made sure we had great table locations.

 

Isn't Monica THE BEST???? We were very lucky to have her as our Concierge last year on the Jewel.

[Dsjay]

Like the other people have commented, it was definitely adequate. My grandmother slept on that bed, and she was very comfortable. My mom slept on the pullout sofa in the living room. When it was open in the evenings (since the room stewards closed it every morning and opened it every night) I would occasionally lay there and watch TV before we went to bed, and I found it to be one of the most comfortable sleeper sofas I've ever laid on before. (Not that that's saying much, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised)

 

Thank you everyone for your reply to my question about the bed in the second bedroom. Sounds like it should be okay, maybe with a foam topper. Now decision time.

[RareBird]

* Embarkation was easy, but we got annoyed because we kept asking for suite check in, and kept being directed to "regular" check in - even once we found the suite check in! They told us we were in the wrong place. Then they looked at our eDocs and apologized. I guess people in their 20s don't look like they can afford a suite.

 

How could they tell you are in a suite from looking at edocs?

 

We are sailing in SE suite on Star on 3 weeks, and while the luggage tags are blue and do say PRIORITY, the edocs do not state we are in a suite, just our cabin number and latitudes level.

 

Am I missing something?

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review, glad you loved it.

[DevCruise]

How could they tell you are in a suite from looking at edocs?

 

We are sailing in SE suite on Star on 3 weeks, and while the luggage tags are blue and do say PRIORITY, the edocs do not state we are in a suite, just our cabin number and latitudes level.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Your cabin number would tell them if they knew their suite cabins....