NCL Star 7 Day Western Carrib Dailies + mini review

[coffeeaddiction12345]

I just wanted to provide you all with the dailies for the 7 day cruise out of Tampa on the NCL Star.

 

Our cruise was wonderful, many fabulous locations and lots of great excursions! We were in Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

 

We had a wonderful time but sadly, the service seemed really lacking to us. Of all the NCL cruises we've been on, and we've been on many, this was by far the worst. Waits for drinks at the bars at the pool side were 45+ minutes. When pool side servers appeared around 11 on sea days, people actually clapped and cheered. There were 2 servers that I saw for an entire full pool deck. They couldn't take orders or get orders out fast enough.

 

The bartenders were clearly overworked, and far understaffed. We were on the elevator with the cruise director and everyone was complaining to him in the elevator. Every excursion, taxi ride, elevator ride, waiting for the elevator where you encountered other NCL passengers all almost everyone talked about was how terrible the service was.

 

We were impressed by Horlicks in O'Sheehan's who provided excellent bar service, prompt, quick, and was excited to experiment with us and give us drink recommendations. We named him our vacation hero for being the only bartender who truly seemed to understand fast, friendly service.

 

We were also impressed with Samuel the waiter in Teppenyaki/ Noodles who was friendly, personable, and prompt. We wanted to name him our vacation hero as well but the line to get a form was too long, and we used up our other form for Horlicks.

 

We went to O'Sheehan's one day for lunch around 2pm, and we were there for 2 hours and 15 minutes because of the slow service, despite the restaurant being maybe only a quarter full. We had to go up to the hostess stand and ask for someone to take our dessert order after waiting about 45 minutes for someone to come to us. When she finally came, she had a huge scowl on her face as if we were asking for something crazy! I couldn't believe it.

 

Note: All our dinner reservations we had made prior to boarding were cancelled once we got on the ship. It must have been a glitch but people were NOT happy. Everything was wiped completely clean when we got on, and we were thankful we overheard other passengers yelling about it so we could reconfirm ours.

 

 

 

Our excursions went okay- the water in Costa Maya was muddy and full of sea weed. We were really impressed with Maya Chan who offered us a full refund to cancel, or a 10% discount to still come without use of the water. We went anyway and still had a nice day despite being unable to use the water or any of the water toys.

 

We enjoyed Ecotours snorkeling in Belize, and Nachi Cocom in Cozumel. We did NOT like little french key at ALL, and couldn't believe it was #1 on trip advisor!

 

Shows: We absolutely LOVED the comedian, Fred, and thought he was hilarious! He was our favorite show, no doubt. The rest of the shows we weren't really huge fans of it and paled in comparison to shows on other ships, sadly. There seemed like a lack of things to do during "late night" and we found ourselves wondering around looking for things to do. We spoke with others who just decided to go to bed early for lack of things to do. We didn't necessarily mind, but again- paled in comparison to other ships and even paled in comparison to my last time on the star 2 years ago. We advise getting to spinnaker REALLY early for the other shows, it filled up very quickly and lots of people had to stand for many things in there.

 

Spa: I liked the spa, my SO loved the spa. We were last on the getaway, so this spa was far worse than that, which is to be expected of a smaller ship. We really wished they at least had the heated seats, and we missed the salt rooms on the larger ships. We did enjoy the thermal spa and quiet area, as well as cooling down in the lap pool. I also wish they had regular water instead of only lemon water!

 

Our steward Roel on deck 11 in a mini suite was very neat, did a nice job, but of all the stewards I've had he's the only I physically 'saw' the least. Not that that matters, he still did a very nice job and was the 2nd neatest steward we've had. We enjoyed him.

 

Overall we had a nice, relaxing trip despite the service problems. We will be taking a break from NCL for awhile, but we will only sail the mega ships from now on, as it seems they are putting all their resources on those ships.

 

Lastly- disembarking went okay for us, but we were 6th in a line of hundreds. It did get nasty with passengers yelling at each other, lots of cursing and high tensions! We were able to catch a 9:55am flight out of tampa airport but we definitely do not recommend or advocate that- it was very stressful. We were let off the boat at 8:15 despite docking at 6:30 and customs being on board at 7. Again, we were 6th off, so had no lines in customs or waiting for a taxi, but we were in line at 6am. It seemed to be a cluster F for many behind us, despite NCL's efforts to contain it.

 

If anyone has any questions let me know! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: oh dear, you can barely read those! Does anyone know how to make those larger for folks?

 

EDIT 2: nevermind, got it

Edited November 3, 2015 by coffeeaddiction12345
enlarge photos

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Attached here is the remaining 2 days

 

 

Edited November 3, 2015 by coffeeaddiction12345

[Ron_L]

Thanks!

 

So Thursday and Friday were both Day 5? :D

 

I have some questions when you have time...

 

1. Was the comedian only on the one night?
   
2. Which dining room was open for lunch when you boarded?
   
3. Do you have any info on the water package that is mentioned on the dailies?
   
4. What deck to you board on in Tampa?
   

Thanks! I may have more questions later :D

Edited November 3, 2015 by Ron_L

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Hi Ron!

 

1. The comedian was part of the first night welcome aboard show, he had his own show at 7 & 9 one night, and then he had a show at 8:15 in spinnaker on the last night. That was a 'clean' show (we usually found that the ones in spinnaker were adults only, but this was kid friendly).

 

I know you're going next week but FYI to others, he is only on board until thanksgiving then he gets off for the holidays, so his stint is/was short (our week was his second week). Not sure if he comes back after Christmas or not, but he specifically said he was taking off thanksgiving to christmas to go home.

 

2. I heard others say Versailles was open, but I'm not sure because we went to O'Sheehan's and had a delicious burger (their burgers were truly top notch! the black and bleu was absolutely incredible! A must try if you're into that kind of thing)

 

3. No info on the water package, we bring water bottles and a cooler so no need for us. Sorry!

 

4. You will board on deck 7 :)

 

ps: We loved the typo too, someone forgot to change the day! But you'll see the activities are different and the fronts of the dailies are too.

Edited November 3, 2015 by coffeeaddiction12345

[apkpcruisers]

Wow, thank you!

[Mr.Bill]

Did you self disembark, or the assigned disembark?

 

Thanks,

Bill

 

Hi Ron!

 

1. The comedian was part of the first night welcome aboard show, he had his own show at 7 & 9 one night, and then he had a show at 8:15 in spinnaker on the last night. That was a 'clean' show (we usually found that the ones in spinnaker were adults only, but this was kid friendly).

 

I know you're going next week but FYI to others, he is only on board until thanksgiving then he gets off for the holidays, so his stint is/was short (our week was his second week). Not sure if he comes back after Christmas or not, but he specifically said he was taking off thanksgiving to christmas to go home.

 

2. I heard others say Versailles was open, but I'm not sure because we went to O'Sheehan's and had a delicious burger (their burgers were truly top notch! the black and bleu was absolutely incredible! A must try if you're into that kind of thing)

 

3. No info on the water package, we bring water bottles and a cooler so no need for us. Sorry!

 

4. You will board on deck 7 :)

 

ps: We loved the typo too, someone forgot to change the day! But you'll see the activities are different and the fronts of the dailies are too.

[chefcaw]

Who is the current hotel director?

 

 

Thanks

[DENNICH]

Thank you so much for all of this great information. People like you make Cruise Critic such a wealth of information. :)

 

It is disappointing to hear about the service problems. :( Did you eat at any of the specialty restaurants?

 

Do you know why the water was so bad in Costa Maya? Was it from the hurricane that hit the west coast of Mexico, but then came through and exited on the east coast? What was is that you did not like about little French Key?

 

Thanks!!

 

Denise

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Bill- We self disembarked, we had to because of a 9:55 AM flight. It was mayhem behind us. Lots of shouting by passengers. We went with friends who used the ticket system and said it was better later in the morning, but still chaotic which is to be expected.

 

Chefcaw- I'm not sure who the hotel director is, actually.

 

Dennich- We ate at Teppenyaki and Ginza (highly recommend Samuel as a waiter, he was the best waiter our whole entire cruise!), we also ate at Moderno, Cagney's, La Cucina, and Le Bistro. I hate to be negative, but Cagney's was the worst Cagney's we've been to in the fleet including the star itself 2 years ago. The steak was wonderful but the macaroni and cheese which was a huge star for me was dry and tasted different. Moderno we had incredibly slow service, and the salad bar is much smaller compared to the larger ships.

 

I don't think even those in Costa Maya know exactly why the seagrass is so bad. We got LOTS of different answers from everyone we asked. Some say recent tropical storms, but others said it was an unnaturally terrible year for the sea grass in general. As we drove in the taxi, all the beaches just seemed totally trashed. Some blamed Patricia, others said Patricia had nothing to do with it. I'm sure it was a combination of many things.

 

Little French Key, ah. I couldn't believe how disappointed I was. I tried to stay as positive as possible- we felt baited and switched when we arrived and so did EVERYONE in line. We all got emails stating that using a credit card would be an 18% tax, or we could pay in cash. Almost all of us payed in cash and we were still slapped with the 18% fee. Everyone in line was really mad. I tried to stay as positive as possible and not allow it to color my view of the day. But, there was garbage floating in the water, half the place was under construction so there was loud banging all day, we got the cheaper package to save money and thought we'd buy our own lunch, but each plate of food was $25 so we ended up spending equal to the package anyway- which I guess is our own fault, but $25 for a small plate of food was insane. There was pizza on the menu that was cheaper, but they said they only have pizza on the weekends. Since the menu was a chalk board, I wish they just erased it- it was kind of a tease. No staff spoke to us all day, unless we approached them. And the WORST PART was they booted us at 3:15pm, after arriving at noon, and we didn't need to board the ship until 6:30. He claimed we needed time to get back... I get that, but we had planned to stay until 4-4:30. No, we were all out by 3:30 at his (owners?) demand. Everyone, once again, was livid. It wasn't a choice either- he kicked everyone out at 3:30. We were back on the ship by 4:15 and didn't leave Honduras for another 3 hours! We'd never even dream of returning, myself and others there were talking about trip advisor and cruise critic and were blown away at how it had so many positive reviews... we all collectively hated it.

[mikenhe]

Thanks for the review. we are on thanksgiving so I guess we are missing the comedian! Hope the replacement is good.

 

You mentioned Gatsbys - in NCL's write up on line they mentioned they do sancks there. Did you see that or try any?

 

Thanks!

[Oakman58]

Great review and thanks for sharing the dailies.

[LHHFMF]

We were on the same cruise and I agree on the service, it was horrible.

 

My wife had to go track someone down at O'Sheehan's to get silverware and napkins. When she found someone they rolled their eyes at her.

 

The bar in the casino on the first full sea day had one person working. He was miserable that day and every other day I saw him. The bar was completed lined with people waiting, some spots two, three people back and he would go 'Who's next' then would sigh when everyone would look each other.

 

I tried the bar at the pool deck once and never bothered again. So slow.

[denas]

Bill- We self disembarked, we had to because of a 9:55 AM flight. It was mayhem behind us. Lots of shouting by passengers. We went with friends who used the ticket system and said it was better later in the morning, but still chaotic which is to be expected.

 

Chefcaw- I'm not sure who the hotel director is, actually.

 

Dennich- We ate at Teppenyaki and Ginza (highly recommend Samuel as a waiter, he was the best waiter our whole entire cruise!), we also ate at Moderno, Cagney's, La Cucina, and Le Bistro. I hate to be negative, but Cagney's was the worst Cagney's we've been to in the fleet including the star itself 2 years ago. The steak was wonderful but the macaroni and cheese which was a huge star for me was dry and tasted different. Moderno we had incredibly slow service, and the salad bar is much smaller compared to the larger ships.

 

I don't think even those in Costa Maya know exactly why the seagrass is so bad. We got LOTS of different answers from everyone we asked. Some say recent tropical storms, but others said it was an unnaturally terrible year for the sea grass in general. As we drove in the taxi, all the beaches just seemed totally trashed. Some blamed Patricia, others said Patricia had nothing to do with it. I'm sure it was a combination of many things.

 

Little French Key, ah. I couldn't believe how disappointed I was. I tried to stay as positive as possible- we felt baited and switched when we arrived and so did EVERYONE in line. We all got emails stating that using a credit card would be an 18% tax, or we could pay in cash. Almost all of us payed in cash and we were still slapped with the 18% fee. Everyone in line was really mad. I tried to stay as positive as possible and not allow it to color my view of the day. But, there was garbage floating in the water, half the place was under construction so there was loud banging all day, we got the cheaper package to save money and thought we'd buy our own lunch, but each plate of food was $25 so we ended up spending equal to the package anyway- which I guess is our own fault, but $25 for a small plate of food was insane. There was pizza on the menu that was cheaper, but they said they only have pizza on the weekends. Since the menu was a chalk board, I wish they just erased it- it was kind of a tease. No staff spoke to us all day, unless we approached them. And the WORST PART was they booted us at 3:15pm, after arriving at noon, and we didn't need to board the ship until 6:30. He claimed we needed time to get back... I get that, but we had planned to stay until 4-4:30. No, we were all out by 3:30 at his (owners?) demand. Everyone, once again, was livid. It wasn't a choice either- he kicked everyone out at 3:30. We were back on the ship by 4:15 and didn't leave Honduras for another 3 hours! We'd never even dream of returning, myself and others there were talking about trip advisor and cruise critic and were blown away at how it had so many positive reviews... we all collectively hated it.

 

Thanks so much for the info - especially on LFK. We are on the Star in January and had made reservations there, but wasn't sure I wanted to go because we get in so late I wasn't sure if it was worth it. I think I will try Maya Key or just head to Bananarama or use Victor Bodden instead. For almost $100 pp and only 3 hours there, that is some pretty expensive snorkelling and food. I don't even care much about the food since we can always eat lunch/late breakfast onboard with such a late arrival!!

[denas]

Were there any spa specials? I always like the one where there is a list of things and you get three of them for a set price (ie scalp massage, hand treatment, foot massage, etc).

[kosweeps]

Thank you so much for sharing! I'll be on the Jade in Feb. 2016 with similar stops. DH and I have been debating about whether or not to get off of the ship in Roatan. It's crazy because we've never been there and we usually love port stops in new places. We tend to do our own thing. I hate to say it but all of the safety warnings have us saying no to that. I've read the tripadvisor reviews for the excursions and I agree that a lot tend to be so positive. But I read the negative ones too and those repeatedly mention trash in the water, bait and switch, etc. Doesn't seem like fun. We'll see. Thanks again! Glad you had a great time.

[gpb11]

I have been debating about whether or not to get off of the ship in Roatan.

 

Definitely look into Bananarama in Roatan. We did their "cruise ship" deal the week of Oct 19th and had a fantastic time. See the Roatan port sub-forum for more info about snorkeling at West Bay Beach.

 

$30pp included transportation, use of facilities (beach chair, bathrooms, outdoor shower), and a beer. :D It was about a 20 minute ride each way from Coxen Hole.

 

.

Edited November 3, 2015 by gpb11

[dna529]

How was the 5 o'clock Somewhere bar? Was service poor there also? We are sailing on Sunday and I can tell you we won't be happy without good bar service.

[Cruzn Bills Fan]

Well as far as I'm concerned they have 60+ days to clean this mess up. Come on NCL! Oh and thanks for sharing. :D

[Ron_L]

Thanks! Some additional comments inline below...

 

Hi Ron!

 

1. The comedian was part of the first night welcome aboard show, he had his own show at 7 & 9 one night, and then he had a show at 8:15 in spinnaker on the last night. That was a 'clean' show (we usually found that the ones in spinnaker were adults only, but this was kid friendly).

 

Thanks! We'll make sure we catch him at least once!

2. I heard others say Versailles was open, but I'm not sure because we went to O'Sheehan's and had a delicious burger (their burgers were truly top notch! the black and bleu was absolutely incredible! A must try if you're into that kind of thing)

 

We haven't decided where to eat yet, but I know we will avoid the buffet on the first day. O'Sheehan's is a possibility.

 

3. No info on the water package, we bring water bottles and a cooler so no need for us. Sorry!

 

No worries! I was curious. I was planning on bringing some water but if this package is a geed deal I may skip bringing it. I hate lugging it around before we can get into our cabin.

4. You will board on deck 7 :)

 

ps: We loved the typo too, someone forgot to change the day! But you'll see the activities are different and the fronts of the dailies are too.

[Ron_L]

 

I don't think even those in Costa Maya know exactly why the seagrass is so bad. We got LOTS of different answers from everyone we asked. Some say recent tropical storms, but others said it was an unnaturally terrible year for the sea grass in general. As we drove in the taxi, all the beaches just seemed totally trashed. Some blamed Patricia, others said Patricia had nothing to do with it. I'm sure it was a combination of many things.

 

 

Sargasso (sea grass) has been a huge problem throughout the Caribbean this year. The beaches along the Mayan Riviera are piled with it and the resorts have been doing their best to deal with it. Plus, Mark at Maya Chan e-mailed the other day to say that they had 20" of rain a little over a week ago, so I am sure that contributed to the water issues.

 

Either way we're going to be there in a couple of weeks and will have a great day!

[Ron_L]

I think I will try Maya Key or just head to Bananarama or use Victor Bodden instead. For almost $100 pp and only 3 hours there, that is some pretty expensive snorkelling and food. I don't even care much about the food since we can always eat lunch/late breakfast onboard with such a late arrival!!

 

We'll be at Maya Key in two weeks so I can give you a report, but we were there in 2009 and had a fantastic day! the snorkeling is amazing!

 

DH and I have been debating about whether or not to get off of the ship in Roatan.

 

Roatan is a beautiful island! It would be a shame to miss it. Places along the West End like Bananarama that gbp11 mentioned are safe and easy to get to. LFK normally gets great reviews so I am disappointed that coffeeaddiction had issues. We thought about going there for our upcoming cruise but because of the short time in port we opted to go to Maya Key instead.

 

Maya Key is a private island that is a 5 minute boat ride from the pier. The excursion is now through NCL and you pick up the shuttle boat to the island right at the pier so you don't have to leave the secured area if you don't want to. They have a nice pool, beach, animals and fantastic snorkeling.

[kosweeps]

Definitely look into Bananarama in Roatan.

 

.

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm going to check it out. I mean, who wouldn't love another beach day in February, right? :D

[tpnebraska]

Attached here is the remaining 2 days

 

 

 

Where is Day 6? This is day 5 (again) and 7.... Thanks for posting everything as we are on the 1/3/2016 sailing and getting very excited.

[kosweeps]

@RonL Thank you for the Maya Key suggestion. I'm going to check that out too! :)

[gpb11]

Where is Day 6? This is day 5 (again) and 7....

The Day 6 issue has a typographical error as previously mentioned.