Mitsugirlys STAR end of the world/pre-Christmas cruise detailed review & pictorial

[mitsugirly]

More storage and so on...

 

 

 

Holy batman the glare from the life vest, if that don't save you out in the water there's no hope for you at all!

 

It may be me, but it seemed like the safes here were a bit smaller? Anyone else notice this? Or did I just have more "crap" this time around? Yea, that's probably it. They just seemed like they weren't as tall as previously.

 

On to the bathroom. It's the normal small, cramped bathroom as the interior rooms. The potty area did have a pull out glass door. I'm not sure what for or who would use this. It just makes it more cramped in there and there's a main door to shut if you are using the potty. If you are shutting it for privacy while someone else is using the sink...um HELLO...it's a glass door, there's no privacy.

 

 

Their shower is just the same as the others; they provide you with their pump on the wall shampoo and body wash. I do use the body wash (plus I bring along a bar of soap), but I would never be able to use their shampoo, my hair is too long, fragile, thin and tangley.

 

 

 

 

Sink area standard but wait for it, wait for it…does anyone notice what’s in this picture??? Anyone??? I noticed right away when I walked in and shouted for joy. Can you spot one of my missing items?

 

 

 

Do you see it? A MAGNAFYING MIRROR BUILT IN (well glued/stuck/whatever) to the mirror….SCORE!!! :D

[mitsugirly]

Sorry, this will be a post with no pictures (don't cry, there's more to come), but I have already showed you my small room and there's not anything left to see.

 

These are just some notes so sit back and read and let the anticipation build up for the pictures to come:

 

We decided to go ahead and move the previously put together twin beds in the middle over to the side up against the wall and get the room situated the way we wanted it. We found that it worked out best if we put it up against the wall where the pull down bed was located. That gave us the maximum space on the opposite side where the vanity was and we could easily walk through there. But wait, what was that on the floor??? The most disgusting glob(S) of dust balls I’ve ever seen. :eek: It was gross. I kept thinking now how long has this been here and if the beds are normally pulled apart, how could this be missed when vacuuming? Either way it was nasty and disturbing. I made sure to leave the end table pulled away from that area so that the room steward could visibly see it…and he did not that night when he turned down our sheets, but the following day when he made up the room some time during the day.

 

I figured I would go ahead and start to put away some of our things in the drawers and shelves. I pulled some of the life vest off the shelves and stored them in the overhead cabinet that was hard to reach and I knew I wouldn’t be putting things up there. GASP, the shelves were covered with dust! Now I understand that those life vest have probably been sitting there for a while and not used…since the ship has not pulled a Costa Concordia yet (and hopefully never will), but still…you don’t dust the shelves? :confused:

That’s like me going around my house dusting around my vases, knick-knacks, candles etc, on shelves or tables. I mean come on. Who does that? It was gross and I ran to the bathroom (well, not ran since it was right in front of me…remember, I have a SMALL room) and grabbed a wet washcloth and started wiping down things.

 

I finally recovered from my vacation housekeeping chores :rolleyes: and started putting things away trying to evenly distribute each of our clothes per drawer. I did end up sharing the socks and undie drawer with my daughter, but that was ok, she has mini socks and undies so mine hardly noticed hers were there at all. ;)

 

We did have our NCL slot coupon sitting on our bed when we entered. If you play slots, it helps. Pay $10 and they give you $20 to play with. (I take advantage of any offers I can get). I also buy the slot play coupons…pay $25 and get $50 in slot play per person (limited 1 pp per 14 days).

 

I had my “thank you for organizing the cruise critic meet & greet, this is your time, place, date and so on letter. Boy did I feel important and special.

 

We had our “come join us for the latitudes members’ party” tickets there as well. I’m a silver the hubby a bronze. I like to stay a step ahead of him like that. Hehe :p

 

Also if you noticed in the pictures of the room…questions are always ask about the hair dryers in the rooms. You’ll see the big silver hair dryer hanging in its holder on the wall at the vanity. It works fine and like I said, I have LONG hair and I don’t have a problem with it. I never bring my own. Just be aware…you must have muscles to use it. The thing is H-E-A-V-Y. If you don’t have muscles and use it every day, by the time you disembark, you will have muscles.

 

Also, (as I said before, I would forget something)…still containing to the rooms, so I’m claiming “SAFE” on this one… it was around 2pm when they announced that our rooms were ready. It was around 4pm when our luggage finally arrived. Also at 4pm is the MANDATORY life boat drill which we went to before putting our luggage away.

 

By this time, after all the hard work I had done, I thought it was about time we actually went and ate lunch. I decided that Versailles sounded good and off we went.

Edited December 28, 2012 by mitsugirly

[DCP]

Really enjoying your reviews (as I have all of them!) We're from Ohio (Delaware) too, just got back from our 12/09 Pearl trip. It seems we are always right behind you on the ships!:) Looking forward to the rest of the adventure....

[mitsugirly]

Really enjoying your reviews (as I have all of them!) We're from Ohio (Delaware) too, just got back from our 12/09 Pearl trip. It seems we are always right behind you on the ships!:) Looking forward to the rest of the adventure....

 

Well hello neighbor. Do you have anything planned for May 2013? Maybe a Star trip? hehe :p

 

Isn't it hard to come back to this weather? I mean it's ok to see snow on Christmas, but when it doesn't come until a day later, I'd rather it just stay gone instead. Some day I'm going to move to Florida with all of my Epic friends I've made down there! :D

[mitsugirly]

Off to Versailles we went. I may be a little confused about my timing on this. We might have done Versailles now, before the sail away or after…it’s all a blur at the moment, but I’m pretty sure that we did it before the sail away. If someone comes along and says “hey idiot, Versailles isn’t even open around that time for lunch” then I’m changing my story to it was after the sail away. Ok? But then that would make it dinner right? I do know it was for lunch. So, yea…that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

 

We get to Versailles and we are immediately seated at the front of the ship (we always seem to get this spot on all the ships) by the beautiful glass arched windows.

 

I ordered the stuffed mushroom for an appetizer and it was yummy.

 

 

 

 

For the main meal, I ordered the Philly sandwich. We it arrived…hmmm. I’m not sure if maybe the Philly’s that I have always had are wrong or if this was wrong. Problem number 1, the bun was so hard I ended up having to eat the inside leaving the edges on my plate. Problem number 2, it had some type of gravy on it??? Is this normal? I did not like the gravy or whatever it was. Problem number 3, the cheese was American and not Mozzarella like I’m use to on a Philly. The fries were yummy and would remain yummy throughout the entire cruise.

 

 

 

My husband order a hamburger and fries and said they were good and he proved it by cleaning his plate.

 

My daughter had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chips. She decided at that point that our yummy fries were better than any potato chips and would keep this decision for the rest of the cruise and stand firm on it! She had to have her daily fix on fries…daily! (I can’t say I blame her they were good).

 

 

 

Ok, our bellies were full and it was time to head out to the sail away party on deck.

[mitsugirly]

We get up on deck and the party music is playing and Xcite is getting everyone pumped up by playing music that you interact with and it was awesome….until we started to see this roll in…

 

 

We knew it was a matter of time. Come on, it’s past 5pm, let’s get the big boat (I know ship) moving!!!

 

Well, nevermind, Carnival beat us to it and pulled out first. She came really close (at least from our perspective it was close). It was fun to watch her sail away with her huge big screen t.v. on deck (like the Epic has).

 

 

 

This was now our view…people were still pumped up and anticipating the storm rolling in by coming up to where we were sitting at the Bier Garten under a roof.

 

 

 

We watched the Conquest pull out and with the clouds rolling in, the lights came on and I thought it actually made for a nice picture.I actually like storms. I think they make nice pictures. I’m the one you’ll find out standing in my yard taking pictures of lightening. Yep, that’s the crazy neighbor. If it’s just raining and no lightening, we’ll go outside and the daughter will play in the rain and she loves every bit of it!!!

 

 

 

I turned around and snapped this picture because I thought it was neat to see the nasty looking clouds just peaking underneath the bridge.

 

 

 

Here we go…it’s finally our turn. I think we could have tailgated the Conquest a little more, but hey, we at least pulled out and the rain came!

 

 

 

It wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it did get a little windy so the rain was blowing in under the roof at the Bier Garten and people were scrambling for cover. That is…except for those down on the tiered seating/lounging areas…they took off their flip-flops and kept dancing away. GO THEM!! I would have done the same thing if I didn’t the munchkin with me. Nothing like dancing in the rain. When we decided to head down and back inside, we passed by the dancing mob, I gave my husband that “look” and he returned that other “no way look” back at me. Yes, he can read my thoughts and knew I would have stopped to dance!

Edited December 28, 2012 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

We headed inside and looked around a little more, a few more pictures, and then my camera battery finally died. Back to the room to pick up the other (twin sister) camera. By then it was time to let the munchkin have some “kids her age” interaction. She LOVES the kids club and she’s one of those that will wake up begging to go and go to bed talking about going to see her friends the next day when she gets up. NCL has a wonderful kids program. They must be doing something right.

 

We checked her in using that oh-so-small crowded hallway with the rest of every other family onboard with a child who was ready to adventure off on their own, unattended, without kid in tow.

 

Ok, checked in and ready to….um, what shall we do?

 

I know…head to the Casino! Yes! Now I have to say, I have ALWAYS walked away at every casino (land or ship) way ahead of the game. I have a strategy I use and it works for me. I’ve won jackpots before on progressive machines (on the Epic…I managed to win enough to buy the hubby a new black diamond ring in the gift shop). This time, the hubby was the lucky one. He used my strategy and it was working for him. I hung my tail between my legs like a scolded puppy that night. I won some, but not like normal and definitely not more than I came there with.

 

On the way back to pick up our daughter from the kids club, they were having a Mardi Gras party in the atrium. There was a lot of music and dancing and the employees were up on the next floor throwing beads down to us. Thank goodness you didn’t actually have to “do” anything but raise your hand in the air for them to throw them. ;) We ended up with 4 beads. I had to keep trying until I got a purple one (my daughter’s favorite color). Then we were on our way to pick up our daughter and eat dinner.

 

We decided to go to Versailles again since we knew it was LOBSTER NIGHT!!! Now I have somehow managed to miss lobster night on EVERY cruise. I have been told it’s the first night. I have always taken that as the first actual full cruise night I guess. Well, I finally ask these fine cc people on here and they clarified it for me that it was actually sail away night. Yep, I wasn’t about to miss that! I have also read on here that they know it’s this night because it says so in the daily. Um no, it does not at all. I have read it front to back several times and it’s not listed. (But remember I’m blind until I have my contacts in, but no worries, I have magnification now in my bathroom).

 

Yes, there was a line!!! There was also a wait once you made it down the line to the reservation desk. Once “registered” they gave us a little buzzer and we headed next door to the Spinnaker to wait. The lights were almost out. It was very dark in there. They did have the disco balls going around the dance floor and my little one had a blast dancing on the dance floor…she was the star on the Star of the night and had the floor to herself. She loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

^^crappy picture that I forgot to put the setting on NIGHT

 

I think they said it would be about ½ hour wait, but I think it was more like maybe 15 minutes if that and our buzzer went off. We were quickly seated…guess where? Nope, you’re wrong, not a window seat up front this time…weird but fine.

 

I’m searching the entire menu…where is the LOBSTER???? Give me lobster! Oh, I see it’s hidden under the alias “Surf & Turf”. Haha NCL, clever. I really think they don’t want people to know about this lobster night. It’s not advertised in the dailies, it doesn’t clearly state “Lobster” in the heading on the menu and when you waiter comes to take your order, then not only do they not mention the lobster or that it’s your once-in-a-lifetime chance to get your lobster on the ship but they direct you to their “special of the night”….chicken. Um, I can get chicken any night of the week on the cruise…give me my well waited for 4 cruises in a row lobster…tonight!

[mitsugirly]

Now that we know what the surf is…I guess everyone knows that the turf is steak. Does everyone remember I don’t like steak? Well if you didn’t, I don’t! So I ask to have the Rosemary chicken (see I tried your “special” after all Mr. Waiter aren’t you happy now?) instead. They were definitely both yummy! The delivery of soda's was very slow. (We pre-purchase the soda card prior to the cruise every time). The soda also seemed very watered down.

 

 

 

For starters I had the mushroom soup and it was very good.

 

 

 

I don’t know who’s plate this is…either the hubby or the daughters…and nor did I care that night. I was in lobster heaven!

 

 

 

I had ordered cheesecake (because I’m a cheesecake freak) for desert. We sat and sat waiting for them to bring it after we were done eating. They had cleared our tables and then nothing. I finally had to flag the waiter down and tell him I'm still waiting on my cheesecake. It finally arrived. But wait, it tasted funny. Kind of foamy textured funny. I have had cheesecake on NCL with every cruise and have always LOVED it…like the real deal…like New York style type. This was not that! Please tell me you have not changed your cheesecake to this.

 

 

 

We left totally full and totally happy and I felt like I had finally accomplished something (making it to Lobster night).

 

We came back to our beds pushed back out to the middle??? Um, ok we put them along the wall because we obviously wanted them that way for maximum space. Ugh. Me and this room/steward is just not off to a good start and I haven’t even met him yet…which is also kind of weird. We have always been introduced to the steward every prior cruise and they are calling us by name by the next day.

 

Sakari (our daughter) was so excited to see a towel animal and remembered them from the previous cruises. Santa had also brought her a present…just to let her know “Yes, I do know that you are on a cruise and I will not forget you at Christmas and of course, I’M STILL WATCHING YOU and can change my mind at any moment about the naughty list”. Well, at least that was my story. Santa gave her some new “night-nights” to wear to sleep while on the cruise. How thoughtful Santa.

 

 

We moved our beds back along the wall and called it a night after Sakari ate our chocolates on our pillow that she is now totally convinced Santa is leaving for her. Somehow during the entire cruise, she never catches on that Santa doesn’t put any on her pillow. She always grabbed ours and said Santa left them for her. I used our room phone, which I might add is over on the desk on the wall instead of beside the bed like I'm use to in order to put my wake up call in (which if you think about this...when your phone call alarm goes off you actually have to GET OUT of bed to turn it off). I'm still undecided if this was a good thing or not.

 

I crawled in to my hard bed and had a semi-restless night on my flat pillow and thin sheet. Good night. (and I do mean good night..once again, it's 3:09am and I have to work tomorrow) :eek:

Edited December 28, 2012 by mitsugirly

[RNPJN]

Hello DCP We too are from Delaware Oh. But now live in fl Too cold up there, Do miss Hamburger Inn!

[kwbound]

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!

[MaryAnn261]

Your review is FANTASTIC! I appreciate you taking the time to relay all the great information about the Star and your cruise. Makes me feel like I was on your vacation with you. February can't get here fast enough for me.

 

Thanks again!

[luv2cruise53]

Anyone that has read my reviews knows that I like to do a thorough job with pictures included and a link to additional pictures. However, thanks to the awesome review that “Kev” aka Gambee, I decided I would do it a little different this time around. I’m not sure how I’m going to do the ports because usually I do each port individual, in 1 posting, with the allowed 6 images only, and a link to additional pictures. I do this so that people on any of the Ports of Call boards that ask a question about a place I’ve been, I can link them to JUST that posting within the review. We’ll see how it goes.

 

*Disclaimer* I tell my story through my eyes. This may or may not be the experience other cruisers have had with the Star or ports or even those that were on board with me. I’m honest, I’m not too hard to please with service or food, and try to have the mentality of any cruise is a good cruise because you are not at home, work, or school right? I will make reference to the good and the bad and it’s made as an observation and might not necessarily mean that it would provoke me to discourage others from trying it or having their own experience. This is MY experience only.

 

We booked with NCL after returning from our Pearl cruise back in March. I’ve always wanted to sail on the Star, which seemed to always be in Bermuda and I’ve always wanted to go there, and thought I would hold out and book my Bermuda cruise on the Star. So, originally we booked the Epic, which we have already been on when she was new in 2010. We LOVED her so and wanted our 4 year old to experience the Epic as well. (That year was a mommy and daddy only cruise). However, prices dropped drastically on another ship and I just couldn’t pass up the deal. We then changed to the Dawn out of Tampa. Then magically I found out that the Dawn would now be cruising to Bermuda come next year when the Breakaway comes and the Star gets “bumped” from her port, so I decided that I would need to sail the Dawn at that time INSTEAD. LOL So we changed once again to the Star. Hey, I’m a girl and I change my mind a lot. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, my goal is to sail the fleet and don’t want to do the same ship over. I know, I have big dreams and not enough time or money to do it, but I can at least have fun working on it right?)

 

So its official, we are going on the Star out of NOLA (which we sailed the Spirit out of NOLA last year and LOVED it). We are staying with this ship this time. No more changing our minds (I say “our” loosely, like if my husband had a choice or even a say in the matter. He just sits back, I do the research, I book everything and as he says “I just show up and enjoy it”).

 

I have to say I really liked her “smile” and had seen interior pictures of the Atrium prior to booking and I’m one of those that like the WOW factor when entering the ship. I hate that a lot of the ships have gotten rid of the beautiful stories tall atrium with glass elevators and waterfalls. This definitely looked like one of those “wow” ships.

 

 

 

We did get the “kids sail free” promo, the $100 HSN OBC with the booking, the $25 latitudes OBC, and $100 OBC from our TA agent. Win-win!! We always book the cheapest interior room we can find. This allows us to cruise more often and spend more on other things. We are on the go all the time and only come to the room to change, shower and sleep. So, it just doesn’t make sense to book anything else at this point.

 

At one point NCL had drastically reduced the price and we were able to get upgraded to a room with a view…well, supposedly a port hole view of one of the life boats on board, but hey, it’s some light in the room. We remained on the same deck (deck 8) and in the same location (mid/front ship area) and from the looks of the blueprints to the deck, maybe the obstructed view just might not be so obstructed after all. We’ll see when we get there.

 

A little about me: I started cruising in the 80’s (with NCL) and did a cruise in the 90’s with RC. We started cruising again in 2010 and this is now our yearly vacation (with this year taking 2 cruisesßmy goal from now on if we have the time to swing it). I’m in my 40’s, my husband in his 30’s.We’ve been married for a little over 6 ½ years and going on our 11th year together. I have 3 grown children (ages 26, 24, 18 who have all cruised with me years ago and are by my first husband of 18 years) and 1 small child (who is 4 and this is her 3rd cruise and she is HOOKED!!! It’s all she talks about. Yea what can I say; she’s a little consumed with it like her momma). I also have 2 grandbabies, also age 4. I know… this is the part that everyone gasps at. Yes, me, my daughter, and daughter-in-law were all pregnant at the same time. Yes, we planned it that way. Yes it was a blast and yes the 3 of the little ones are VERY close. I’ve been trying to get all of my kids to go on a cruise with me (and was successful in getting my daughter and her boyfriend on our Pearl March cruise) but not all of them at the same time.

 

I work part time at the local hospital in the Emergency Room. I started working there in 1984. Yea, I’ll probably die working there still. I just love the environment, helping people, and yes…even the gory stuff!!! I’m in school to become a nurse and will graduate in May 2014 (can anyone say cruise graduation present? Not like I wouldn’t have taken one anyhow right?). My husband owns his own company and works from home now (after closing his shop) in order to play “daddy daycare” as he calls it while I go to school.

 

We have been cruising exclusively with NCL since we started cruising in 2010. We have been on the Epic, Spirit, Pearl and now Star. We have the Dawn and Jewel for next year. I don’t know, we just like the “Freestyle” aspect of NCL and we buy the cruise rewards certificates each cruise and it’s just been a line we have come to love. (Although I will admit, SOMEDAY my goal is to cruise the Oasis or Allure…what an experience that would be!)

 

Thank you for the heads up....and yes I agree with you on everything from...insides that can get bumped...to Loving NCL and Freestyle...cruise rewards etc...and yes I secretly wish to try the Oasis and or Allure.

 

Don't tell anyone... I am so glad you are reviewing...Jeesshhh I still haven't finished my October Star to Bermuda but I am getting there. I am not sure what you were saying about the Dawn, but it appears she is sailing April to September out of Boston to Bermuda through 2015. I would have booked her for June, but I wanted to try the new Breakaway...for a few bucks more, but still cheaper for me because of solo cabins.

 

I will now read your review and chime in at will....cause I am Kev and I do that ...LOL

:cool::cool:

[medicalma'am]

I am loving your review! I was 'up with you' last night and just kept refreshing the page to read the next post! I fell asleep at 1:30 though and awoke at 3:00 and headed to bed. You outlasted me and I work 2pm till 10 pm! I finished reading this morning.

 

I will be glued to the computer tonight when I get home to read the next set of installments. Our satellite is out and repairman will not be here until MONDAY, ugh. Hate to place that burden on you of being my only entertainment until then, buy your posts are totally enjoyable.

[mitsugirly]

Hello DCP We too are from Delaware Oh. But now live in fl Too cold up there, Do miss Hamburger Inn!

 

Hello to my other "ex" neighbor. I want to grow up to be just like you. From Ohio, live in Florida. :p Maybe some day after I graduate I can live out that dream.

 

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!

 

It's weird that the only thing that isn't working on it is the scan portion. The printing is fine, the copying is fine, the fax was fine last time we tried it. It's just that darn scanner.

 

Yes, they definitely had the pub crawl. We seen them running around the ship with drinks in their hands.

 

Where exactly would you find this info in the dailies? I kind of scanned (not with my actual all in one, but my eyes) the front page and a little inside but I'm not noticing it. Would it just be listed in the back with the "hour-by-hour" stuff?

[mitsugirly]

Thank you for the heads up....and yes I agree with you on everything from...insides that can get bumped...to Loving NCL and Freestyle...cruise rewards etc...and yes I secretly wish to try the Oasis and or Allure.

 

Um...:eek: This entire statement (about trying the Oasis or Allure) just completely through me off. I read this WONDERFUL outstanding and entertaining review from "Gambee" on the Allure and he was on the ship with his partner and mother. It was so entertaining and I would stay up in 3-4am reading it all. It's what inspired me. Then he had said he was on an NCL ship, but it wasn't near as good as the Allure cruise review.

 

Somehow I eneded up on your review and started reading...still hilariously funny and entertaining and couldn't break free from it.

 

My SINCERE APOLOGIES....I thought you were one in the same people but you had just lost your partner (somewhere in between cruises or something).

 

I guess I didn't bother to even look at the name and notice they were two different names. :eek:

 

I feel so stupid now. Especially when I said you had inspired me to write a different kind of review and I called you, Kev as Gambee. Well you BOTH inspired me to do this. My old way is good for linking back to when people need info, but this way will just have to do.

 

Once again sorry. :o

 

Don't tell anyone... I am so glad you are reviewing...Jeesshhh I still haven't finished my October Star to Bermuda but I am getting there. I am not sure what you were saying about the Dawn, but it appears she is sailing April to September out of Boston to Bermuda through 2015. I would have booked her for June, but I wanted to try the new Breakaway...for a few bucks more, but still cheaper for me because of solo cabins.

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure what you are referring to me referring to with the Dawn other than we are going on the Dawn in May to Bermuda and it is the Star's sister ship.

 

I really want to try the new Breakaway too but it's just too expensive for our family of 3 (and actually my oldest daughter and her bf will be coming too). So, I'll probably have to wait until the Breakaway has been out for awhile, the Getaway has arrived, and "getaway jr" comes out. Maybe by then the prices will drop a little.

 

I know the excitement of getting on a new ship and watching it being built and stalking every move of the ship all too well. The rush is great (that's what we did with the Epic in 2010)....but the Epic had dirt cheap prices back when we booked it and we were able to book 2 rooms for less than what they are asking for 1 room and 1 person on the Breakaway. :( Tear.

I will now read your review and chime in at will....cause I am Kev and I do that ...LOL

 

And Kev is more than welcome to chime away. I'll just plop down and wait for your chime. :p

 

Your review is FANTASTIC! I appreciate you taking the time to relay all the great information about the Star and your cruise. Makes me feel like I was on your vacation with you. February can't get here fast enough for me.

 

Thanks again!

 

Hehe, thanks so much. February can't get here fast enough for me either. Not that I have a cruise planned in February, but it does mean that it's closer to the next cruise I have planned. :D

[mitsugirly]

I am loving your review! I was 'up with you' last night and just kept refreshing the page to read the next post! I fell asleep at 1:30 though and awoke at 3:00 and headed to bed. You outlasted me and I work 2pm till 10 pm! I finished reading this morning.

 

I will be glued to the computer tonight when I get home to read the next set of installments. Our satellite is out and repairman will not be here until MONDAY' date=' ugh. Hate to place that burden on you of being my only entertainment until then, buy your posts are totally enjoyable. [/size']

 

Haha. I actually lasted until about 3:21 because I most definately forgot some things and kept coming back to "edit" it. I went up and took a shower and I honestly don't even remember walking to the bed and getting in that's how tired I was. :p

 

If you finished reading everything this morning, there might now be much to keep you entertained with tonight when you get home. I work today as well and don't get home until midnight. I also work this entire weekend. So, I may or may not get a chance to work on it anymore.

 

I was planning on trying to get maybe a few pages done before leaving for work, but I just got up and it's 11:30...so it may or may not happen since I still have to shower and get ready for work. But I'll try. :)

[mitsugirly]

Yawn…I had sat by phone alarm wake-up call to 8am since this was going to be our first sea day. I have to say that if you use the phone system on the ship for your wake-up call, you had better be someone that sleeps light. “burring, burring” (done in an office phone sound…it will only happen a few times and then it stops. It will wait for about another 5 minutes or so and do it again until you eventually pick up the phone and hang it back up to get it to stop, or after a while it will give up on you and just decide that a tornado wouldn’t wake you up at this point. If you’re a deep sleeper, you will never hear this thing. You better bring your “BURRRRRRING, BURRRRRINGGG” type of alarm clock to sit beside your head!

 

Ok, so rise and shine…it was definitely shining through the newly acquired window I received in my upgrade. I jumped in the shower to wake myself up then start to get ready. I’m always first up and let my husband and daughter sleep until I’m done with my shower and getting ready since it takes me a lot longer to get ready.

 

We all get ready and I just remembered that I forgot to charge my one dead camera and my nearly dead second sister camera. Hmmm, that’s funny, I unpacked yesterday and don’t recall pulling the charger out. I’m looking around the room for where it might be. I’m not finding it. I’m going in to panic mode. I’m pulling out the stored luggage under the bed…nothing. However, I did manage to find my hair ties (whew) in one of the front pockets (which is where I shove those last minute items I forgot to pack while I’m walking out the door)…my hair will survive this cruise. But still no charger (or extra battery for that matter). I’m full throttle rampage in the room…looking in cabinets, drawers, previously dusty shelves, suitcases, carry-on bag, make up bag…NOTHING. Nothing at all! GASP!!! I back track my steps before leaving. I had been charging all of the camera batteries the night before. I had one left to go that I left charging in the wall the night before leaving for NOLA. With the fiasco and bad start with the car issues the night before….I got it! THE CHARGER AND EXTRA BATTERY IS STILL LEFT IN THE DARN WALL BEING CHARGED!!!! Double gasp. What am I going to do now???? I am almost in tears and I’m using my own foot to kick myself like a kid about to have a full blown tantrum. How could I do this? How was I going to get by the entire cruise? I’m a photography freak. I can’t go an entire vacation without a camera taking pictures of all of the things we do and especially without taking pictures at all of the places I made reservations for in port. I was responsible for coming back and reporting on those places. I had made multiple promises to people on certain threads that I would come back with TONS of pictures and descriptions of my day there. I can’t let them down. I can’t disappoint. I can’t not look back on my cruise and not have any pictures. I can’t not have any pictures to come home and rub in the faces of everyone I know how I was in the Caribbean and they were in the 23 degree weather back home. My life is over. Just over. What now? I was a complete failure at planning this cruise!

 

Needless to say, I was in a quiet slumber mood that morning. But, I had hope. I would run to the photo shop when they were open and see if they had a charger or at least a universal charger.

 

We went to breakfast at the buffet and I can’t say I was really too impressed and not hard to please. The eggs were a little runny and the bacon was mixed between not cooked and crispy so you had to dig for your choice. I also tried the biscuits and gravy. Gravy was good but the biscuits were pretty darn hard, which made it unappealing. The French toast and pancakes were awesome as well. There was the normal watered down drinks and orange juice, which was good. I normally go to the kids section and grab a few cartons of chocolate milk and that works for me.

 

Then it was almost time for our Meet & Greet. I called our representative that helped me set it up because I was concerned if everyone would be able to find the meeting place. Two days prior to leaving for the cruise, the rep contacted me via email to let me know that our 86 person group was going to need to be moved to a bigger location to accommodate them. Since it was such last minute I only had about 2-3 people that posted on our cc roll call saying they had read the message. She said to meet her 1 hour before it started and she would give me the name tags and sign-up sheet and she would stand at the other location (which I didn’t realize, but it was down stairs) to let people know that it was now located at the Ginza.

 

I showed up the hour prior and people were already starting to pile in to Ginza and sit down, but the rep was not here yet. I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I went ahead and sat down amongst the crowd. After about 15 minutes an employee came in and started talking to the crowd seated. They were the naughty group that was here for the MISSED mandatory (hey guys, it’s mandatory for a reason…did you think you were really going to get out of it by not showing up to the first one the first day?) life boat drill. Um, I felt like a scolded child sitting there and finally got up and we moved toward the back of Ginza to another seat. I got a lot of glares at that moment with people wondering why I was just walking away.

 

They had a nice little table set up with coffee and cookies and I assumed it was for our meet & greet that was to follow this naughty group meeting. People got up and started helping themselves. Gasp. So you deliberately miss the MANDATORY life boat drill announced over the loud speaker, throughout the ship over and over, you notice that the ship is basically empty because everyone is in their meeting location, so you are required to come to the “naughty class” inside, in the a/c, and you think they are serving you beverages and cookies for being naughty? I’ve already had a bad non-battery charger morning and at this point, it wasn’t getting any better.

 

So the naughty class was finally over and people were grabbing their one last stack of cookies and leaving and FINALLY in walks the rep for our meet & greet. She gives me the name tags and sign up sheet and then goes down stairs and actually puts a sign out to let people know that the meeting was now upstairs. Now I know it is NCL’s policy that you are not allowed to put out any signs regarding meetings and such, but she did. I thought that was nice of her (and it wasn’t a small sign either, it was a huge posted board on a stand sign).

 

Meanwhile, I resumed my position at the front table in Ginza. An older man wondered in and started helping himself to the coffee and cookies. Ugh. I did see one of the staff members tell him “those are for a meeting that they are holding here in a few minutes and not for the general passengers.” He looked at him and grabbed some more. He continued standing there, eating and drinking and went back for a few more for the road and then left.

 

I got to meet one of the ladies on the roll call and her bf that had been on the ship already for 2 weeks and this was his 3rd week. He was hilarious and very outgoing. I told him about my camera battery charger issue and he said he would stand up in front of everyone once the meeting was over and announce that we were in desperate need of a charger to match my battery.

 

The officer’s came, including the Captain, and introduced themselves to us, passed out the normal “special call-me-if-you-need-anything” cards like they always do. The Captain made the announcement that since we had such a big turnout for our group, he would like to extend an invitation to tour the bridge with him next Saturday. What a treat. I have never done that before. I’ve seen it from a distance before, but never did the “tour” inside. I was looking forward to that.

 

 

 

 

 

Then they had a “do you have any questions or complaints” session. They told us that if we had any complaints, they really wanted to know about it and if enough people complained, then that’s the only way that NCL would ever change anything. I really don’t like to complain and I take things with a grain of salt, so I kept my mouth shut until they started to walk away. I pulled one of them aside (I believe he was the director of housekeeping), I don’t know why I chose him, but he was the outgoing, goofy, friendly one that had mentioned “problems”…so I started to complain about them removing the “Taste of India”. I told him how much I loved that place when we were on the Spirit and it was sad to see they did away with it. He told me that there wasn’t enough interest in it. I thought that was weird because I know they use to talk about it on here and everyone was always raving about it and saying “if you want a seat, you better sign up when you first get on the ship because they fill up quickly”. Those that don’t know what the Taste of India WAS, it was like a 26 course meal were you got to try everything possible and it only happen 1 night out of the cruise and it was limited seating…the best part…it was only like $10 pp. WOW…you talk about value. I had never tried Indian food before and it was definitely a treat for me. I liked just about everything they served with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 things. He ask me for my name and room number and said he would see if he could do something for me to make up for it. I had no clue what he had in mind and had thought “maybe” he would send me to a specialty restaurant on the house or something. The only restaurant we had planned on eating at was Ginza to begin with. That would have been a treat!

 

“John” on the roll call came through for me and made the “announcement” trying to locate someone on the ship that had a Canon like mine that might have a charger I could use to charge my batteries. We got 2 bites. Yippee! They were both going to be at the latitudes meeting so we decided we would meet up there for me to try their chargers (which sounded like they would work and were the same kind). I breathed a sigh of relief.

 

I was kind of disappointed that once the meet & greet was over everyone kind of scattered and most just up and left. I have never been to a meet & greet that did that. We have been talking to each other and building up the excitement for months (some of over a year) and people didn’t even stick around to meet each other in person. They had also talked about a cabin crawl and a possible slot pull and we had all decided that after the M&G we would all stick around and discuss it. I guess that didn’t happen. The only ones left standing around were 2 groups…the group I was sitting by and discussing my camera battery issues and another group. I was kind of disappointed. I wanted to personally introduce myself and meet everyone since I was the “planner” of this M&G and I put a lot of hard work in to setting it up, keeping in contact with NCL on head counts, keeping this list going of attendees, and trying to pump everyone up about going. Oh well, tis life I guess.

 

We didn’t have very much time before we were to go to the latitudes meeting and I wasn’t about to miss this. I have never been to one and had no idea what to expect. I did read on here that you get free booze, so it was a do not miss on my list this time around. We ran back to the room to grab our “tickets” to get in and headed toward the Spinnaker Lounge.

[luv2cruise53]

At this rate, you just may finish your review before Kev finishes his Star to Bermuda review. :D

 

Thanks a lot Camz...though you may be right....LOL anyways...my review is special and requires patience...right.....

I hope to complete sometime in 2013...OK ....OK

 

Luv kev:cool:

[gambee's_mom]

Awesome review and pictures. Thank you for your time to share it.

 

Happy New Year

[msunrullieone]

Yawn…I had sat by phone alarm wake-up call to 8am since this was going to be our first sea day. I have to say that if you use the phone system on the ship for your wake-up call, you had better be someone that sleeps light. “burring, burring” (done in an office phone sound…it will only happen a few times and then it stops. It will wait for about another 5 minutes or so and do it again until you eventually pick up the phone and hang it back up to get it to stop, or after a while it will give up on you and just decide that a tornado wouldn’t wake you up at this point. If you’re a deep sleeper, you will never hear this thing. You better bring your “BURRRRRRING, BURRRRRINGGG” type of alarm clock to sit beside your head!

 

Ok, so rise and shine…it was definitely shining through the newly acquired window I received in my upgrade. I jumped in the shower to wake myself up then start to get ready. I’m always first up and let my husband and daughter sleep until I’m done with my shower and getting ready since it takes me a lot longer to get ready.

 

We all get ready and I just remembered that I forgot to charge my one dead camera and my nearly dead second sister camera. Hmmm, that’s funny, I unpacked yesterday and don’t recall pulling the charger out. I’m looking around the room for where it might be. I’m not finding it. I’m going in to panic mode. I’m pulling out the stored luggage under the bed…nothing. However, I did manage to find my hair ties (whew) in one of the front pockets (which is where I shove those last minute items I forgot to pack while I’m walking out the door)…my hair will survive this cruise. But still no charger (or extra battery for that matter). I’m full throttle rampage in the room…looking in cabinets, drawers, previously dusty shelves, suitcases, carry-on bag, make up bag…NOTHING. Nothing at all! GASP!!! I back track my steps before leaving. I had been charging all of the camera batteries the night before. I had one left to go that I left charging in the wall the night before leaving for NOLA. With the fiasco and bad start with the car issues the night before….I got it! THE CHARGER AND EXTRA BATTERY IS STILL LEFT IN THE DARN WALL BEING CHARGED!!!! Double gasp. What am I going to do now???? I am almost in tears and I’m using my own foot to kick myself like a kid about to have a full blown tantrum. How could I do this? How was I going to get by the entire cruise? I’m a photography freak. I can’t go an entire vacation without a camera taking pictures of all of the things we do and especially without taking pictures at all of the places I made reservations for in port. I was responsible for coming back and reporting on those places. I had made multiple promises to people on certain threads that I would come back with TONS of pictures and descriptions of my day there. I can’t let them down. I can’t disappoint. I can’t not look back on my cruise and not have any pictures. I can’t not have any pictures to come home and rub in the faces of everyone I know how I was in the Caribbean and they were in the 23 degree weather back home. My life is over. Just over. What now? I was a complete failure at planning this cruise!

 

Needless to say, I was in a quiet slumber mood that morning. But, I had hope. I would run to the photo shop when they were open and see if they had a charger or at least a universal charger.

 

We went to breakfast at the buffet and I can’t say I was really too impressed and not hard to please. The eggs were a little runny and the bacon was mixed between not cooked and crispy so you had to dig for your choice. I also tried the biscuits and gravy. Gravy was good but the biscuits were pretty darn hard, which made it unappealing. The French toast and pancakes were awesome as well. There was the normal watered down drinks and orange juice, which was good. I normally go to the kids section and grab a few cartons of chocolate milk and that works for me.

 

Then it was almost time for our Meet & Greet. I called our representative that helped me set it up because I was concerned if everyone would be able to find the meeting place. Two days prior to leaving for the cruise, the rep contacted me via email to let me know that our 86 person group was going to need to be moved to a bigger location to accommodate them. Since it was such last minute I only had about 2-3 people that posted on our cc roll call saying they had read the message. She said to meet her 1 hour before it started and she would give me the name tags and sign-up sheet and she would stand at the other location (which I didn’t realize, but it was down stairs) to let people know that it was now located at the Ginza.

 

I showed up the hour prior and people were already starting to pile in to Ginza and sit down, but the rep was not here yet. I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I went ahead and sat down amongst the crowd. After about 15 minutes an employee came in and started talking to the crowd seated. They were the naughty group that was here for the MISSED mandatory (hey guys, it’s mandatory for a reason…did you think you were really going to get out of it by not showing up to the first one the first day?) life boat drill. Um, I felt like a scolded child sitting there and finally got up and we moved toward the back of Ginza to another seat. I got a lot of glares at that moment with people wondering why I was just walking away.

 

They had a nice little table set up with coffee and cookies and I assumed it was for our meet & greet that was to follow this naughty group meeting. People got up and started helping themselves. Gasp. So you deliberately miss the MANDATORY life boat drill announced over the loud speaker, throughout the ship over and over, you notice that the ship is basically empty because everyone is in their meeting location, so you are required to come to the “naughty class” inside, in the a/c, and you think they are serving you beverages and cookies for being naughty? I’ve already had a bad non-battery charger morning and at this point, it wasn’t getting any better.

 

So the naughty class was finally over and people were grabbing their one last stack of cookies and leaving and FINALLY in walks the rep for our meet & greet. She gives me the name tags and sign up sheet and then goes down stairs and actually puts a sign out to let people know that the meeting was now upstairs. Now I know it is NCL’s policy that you are not allowed to put out any signs regarding meetings and such, but she did. I thought that was nice of her (and it wasn’t a small sign either, it was a huge posted board on a stand sign).

 

Meanwhile, I resumed my position at the front table in Ginza. An older man wondered in and started helping himself to the coffee and cookies. Ugh. I did see one of the staff members tell him “those are for a meeting that they are holding here in a few minutes and not for the general passengers.” He looked at him and grabbed some more. He continued standing there, eating and drinking and went back for a few more for the road and then left.

 

I got to meet one of the ladies on the roll call and her bf that had been on the ship already for 2 weeks and this was his 3rd week. He was hilarious and very outgoing. I told him about my camera battery charger issue and he said he would stand up in front of everyone once the meeting was over and announce that we were in desperate need of a charger to match my battery.

 

The officer’s came, including the Captain, and introduced themselves to us, passed out the normal “special call-me-if-you-need-anything” cards like they always do. The Captain made the announcement that since we had such a big turnout for our group, he would like to extend an invitation to tour the bridge with him next Saturday. What a treat. I have never done that before. I’ve seen it from a distance before, but never did the “tour” inside. I was looking forward to that.

 

 

 

 

 

Then they had a “do you have any questions or complaints” session. They told us that if we had any complaints, they really wanted to know about it and if enough people complained, then that’s the only way that NCL would ever change anything. I really don’t like to complain and I take things with a grain of salt, so I kept my mouth shut until they started to walk away. I pulled one of them aside (I believe he was the director of housekeeping), I don’t know why I chose him, but he was the outgoing, goofy, friendly one that had mentioned “problems”…so I started to complain about them removing the “Taste of India”. I told him how much I loved that place when we were on the Spirit and it was sad to see they did away with it. He told me that there wasn’t enough interest in it. I thought that was weird because I know they use to talk about it on here and everyone was always raving about it and saying “if you want a seat, you better sign up when you first get on the ship because they fill up quickly”. Those that don’t know what the Taste of India WAS, it was like a 26 course meal were you got to try everything possible and it only happen 1 night out of the cruise and it was limited seating…the best part…it was only like $10 pp. WOW…you talk about value. I had never tried Indian food before and it was definitely a treat for me. I liked just about everything they served with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 things. He ask me for my name and room number and said he would see if he could do something for me to make up for it. I had no clue what he had in mind and had thought “maybe” he would send me to a specialty restaurant on the house or something. The only restaurant we had planned on eating at was Ginza to begin with. That would have been a treat!

 

“John” on the roll call came through for me and made the “announcement” trying to locate someone on the ship that had a Canon like mine that might have a charger I could use to charge my batteries. We got 2 bites. Yippee! They were both going to be at the latitudes meeting so we decided we would meet up there for me to try their chargers (which sounded like they would work and were the same kind). I breathed a sigh of relief.

 

I was kind of disappointed that once the meet & greet was over everyone kind of scattered and most just up and left. I have never been to a meet & greet that did that. We have been talking to each other and building up the excitement for months (some of over a year) and people didn’t even stick around to meet each other in person. They had also talked about a cabin crawl and a possible slot pull and we had all decided that after the M&G we would all stick around and discuss it. I guess that didn’t happen. The only ones left standing around were 2 groups…the group I was sitting by and discussing my camera battery issues and another group. I was kind of disappointed. I wanted to personally introduce myself and meet everyone since I was the “planner” of this M&G and I put a lot of hard work in to setting it up, keeping in contact with NCL on head counts, keeping this list going of attendees, and trying to pump everyone up about going. Oh well, tis life I guess.

 

We didn’t have very much time before we were to go to the latitudes meeting and I wasn’t about to miss this. I have never been to one and had no idea what to expect. I did read on here that you get free booze, so it was a do not miss on my list this time around. We ran back to the room to grab our “tickets” to get in and headed toward the Spinnaker Lounge.

 

I did announce the slot pull during the M&G. About 12 people showed up, so I guess a few people did hear me at least. People did clear out fast though.

[philly50's]

All I can say is WOW. Your review, and pictures, are truly amazing. Do you ever sleep? It seems as if you are up all times of the day and night posting on CC. Thanks for all of the beautiful photos and information

[klingoncruiser]

We board Sunday. I feel like I already know the ship. :D

[camz]

Thanks a lot Camz...though you may be right....LOL anyways...my review is special and requires patience...right.....

I hope to complete sometime in 2013...OK ....OK

 

Luv kev:cool:

 

Kev, my friend, you are too funny! Of course, your review is special. Look at all your loyal followers. As long as you finish sometime in 2013, its all good. Looking forward to your Spirit review as I have never been aboard that ship. I have to say, Kim is doing a stand-up job with her review as well. Kudos to both of you. :D

[OnTheGoMom921]

Mitsugirly, really enjoying your review. The top 3 things I remember from our cruise on the Star were...

 

1. Never any people in that forward hot tub...and it aways looked so nice and inviting!

 

2. The Elements show was fabulous!

 

3. Our dang bed was as hard as a rock and the sheets seemed to be made from sandpaper (we were in a deck 9 midship balcony). They really need to do something about those uncomfortable beds!!!

 

Keep up the great review...and your daughter is adorable!

 

~Michele:D

[gambee]

Anyone that has read my reviews knows that I like to do a thorough job with pictures included and a link to additional pictures. However, thanks to the awesome review that “Kev” aka Gambee, I decided I would do it a little different this time around. I’m not sure how I’m going to do the ports because usually I do each port individual, in 1 posting, with the allowed 6 images only, and a link to additional pictures. I do this so that people on any of the Ports of Call boards that ask a question about a place I’ve been, I can link them to JUST that posting within the review. We’ll see how it goes.

 

 

Hello hello, mom pointed me to your review, I just started wondering around this area of the forum today. Since she has much more free time than me, she quickly noticed your review.

 

First of all I want to thank you for mentioning me in your thread, that is very nice of you. I enjoy every post you did on my review and I very much appreciated it.

 

Second of all I wanted to ask you what exactly you meant by "Kev", my mom and I are puzzled by it. I can honestly say that I am not sure what you mean by it.

 

I also wanted to know how my review changed the way you do reviews, did you mean by posting all the pictures in the thread or something else.

 

This is the only post I've read so far, but I promise to go full in tomorrow. I just had a very long day at work and I am ready to crash in bed.

 

I am not sure if you noticed, but my signature is now showing Breakaway ;), we are super excited about that trip. It will be review heaven for me :D. But more on that later, I don't plan on highjacking your thread.

 

I will see you around, can't wait to start reading your review tomorrow.