Home from the Star, Dec. 20-27

[tooleman56]

Just returned from a relaxing, fun-filled Western Caribbean cruise aboard the NCL Star, our second NCL cruise and fourth cruise overall. Following are my overall impressions of the ship and key elements of our cruise. Questions are welcome.

 

EMBARKATION: Our flight from Philadelphia to Tampa arrived a few minutes early and after a short wait for our luggage, I "pinged" Uber via cell phone for a ride to the port. The driver arrived in less than 5 minutes and for $15 (cab ride is $25 for 3 people) we reached the cruise terminal about 10 a.m. and made our way upstairs at 10:30. We booked this cruise through Casinos at Sea after receiving a postcard offer in the mail and upgraded to a mini-suite at the time of booking.

We found the CAS check-in line and settled in behind about eight other people. NCL was having intermittent "technical issues" with its computers at check-in and it took about an hour of waiting before we had our stateroom cards. We really didn't mind the wait, we enjoyed talking to some of the other guests and I was able to sweet-talk the dear lady checking us in to transfer my wife's Ultimate Beverage Package (she's not much of a drinker) over to my 25-year-old son, who I knew would find it to be a valuable perk.

We knew our stateroom wouldn't be ready for several hours so we walked the ship to familiarize ourselves with the layout and then headed to O'Sheehan's for lunch. After lunch, we headed to the pool area to relax with a drink and shortly thereafter a general announcement was made that staterooms were ready.

 

STATEROOM: As I mentioned, we upgraded from a CAS-offered inside cabin to a mini-suite on Deck 11. Cabin 11600 was in a prime location for us, only five or so cabins away from the mid-ship bank of elevators and just one deck below the Deck 12 pool area and buffet. We had a balcony cabin on the Gem three years ago; the mini-suite was a bit bigger. We appreciated the privacy curtain between our bed and our son's. The closet and storage area is a bit of a challenge to maneuver around since it's quite close to the edge of the bed, but it's not something we would complain about. We were able to easily slide and hide three large suitcases under our bed.

Our cabin steward provided unobtrusive, efficient service. We rarely saw him, but we're not picky or demanding, so other than a daily greeting and smile when we saw him in the hallway, working his butt off, there wasn't a lot of interaction. He kept the ice bucket filled, provided fresh towels twice a day in the bathroom, turned on the bedside lights, turned down our beds and folded out our son's bed while we were out enjoying the ship at night and left a towel animal on our bed. He kept us happy.

 

CRUISE DEMOGRAPHIC: Since this was a holiday week cruise, there were lots of extended families on board. Babies, younger kids, tweens, teens, college-age kids and 20-somethings, they were all represented. This was my son's first cruise since he was 8. He had a blast and thanked us numerous times during the week for bringing him along. He's a good-looking, fit young man, but is also funny, polite and can carry a conversation with anyone, so he had an endless stream of young people to hang out with and made numerous new friends throughout the week. We enjoyed being around all the young families; we're going to be grandparents for the first time in March so it was fun to see the grandparents enjoying their grandchildren around the holidays. We also enjoy talking to the veteran, long-time cruisers and to hear their stories and memories about the places they've been. It gives us insight about where we might like to go on future cruises. That group was well-represented, also. We would cruise during a holiday week again in a heartbeat.

 

THE STAR CREW:The captain, Mattias Andersson, who has been on the Star only since September, set the tone for his crew. He is a bear of a man from Sweden, and I mean that literally, a towering figure at about 6'-4'' tall and over 300 pounds. He was friendly and accessible, always smiling. His enthusiasm carried over to the rest of his crew. Cruise Director Iain Bagshaw, from the U.K., was funny, energetic, kept the main activities and shows moving and had boundless energy. When you realize how many hours these folks work during a cruise, you wonder how they stay so energized. Bagshaw and his four-person cruise director staff were the best cruise staff we've experienced on the high seas.

 

THE SHIP:The Star, in service since 2001, has aged gracefully. It was clean and there was always painting being done somewhere. The size and passenger capacity is just right for us. A walk-through or two early in the cruise is enough time to familiarize yourself with the layout and to find your favorite hangouts.

 

ENTERTAINMENT AND SHOWS:We attended the opening-night musical show in the Stardust Theater, the Christmas Eve show in the Stardust and a show with comedian Bud Anderson. Anderson is funny and his shows, except for the late-night Saturday show in the Spinnaker Lounge, are all-ages appropriate. We also enjoyed the show band Exotique in the Spinnaker, several of the game shows and the late-night DJ dance music in the Spinnaker. The Spinnaker, especially late-night, was a popular place for the under-30 crowd to gather. I enjoyed my son's company there one night; at about 1 a.m., I realized I was one of only three people over 30 left in the venue and made a graceful exit.

 

ACTIVITIES:We booked our own shore excursions prior to the cruise, so we were off the ship on port days. Otherwise, I enjoyed some time in the casino, the Q&A with the captain, chief engineer and hotel director was informative and enjoyable and I attended the future cruise destinations presentation which provided a lot of information about all the ships in the NCL fleet and where they'll be heading in the future. We purchased four $250 cruise deposits through the NCL CruiseNext program while onboard. By purchasing four, we received a $500 onboard credit, so basically, four $250 deposits for $500. Although these deposits commit you to future NCL cruises, you can use one deposit per stateroom, so if you're cruising as a large family and require multiple staterooms, you can use one deposit per stateroom. The deposits are transferable, so you can give them as a gift if you like.

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS: As I mentioned, we booked our own shore excursions rather than booking them through NCL. When comparing the prices for privately-booked shore excursions to the same excursions through NCL, it seems NCL marks up the excursions 20 to 40 percent, depending on the destination. The tour operators for all of our excursions were always accessible via email, quoting prices and communicating meeting points and times. All required either no deposit or a very small deposit at the time of booking. They are paid in cash on the day of the excursion. Most of these tour companies have been doing this a long time, so they are always aware of a ship's all-aboard time and have you back to the ship in plenty of time.

 

Roatan: We booked a kayaking-snorkeling combo through Rony's Tours. Rony's is a family-owned company. One of Rony's employees met us near the pier and provided an informative narration about the island during our 30-minute drive to the excursion location. We joined several other families for a 45-minute kayak, followed by a 45-minute snorkel. Our guides were three young men who grew up on the island. They were friendly, helpful and patient with the first-time snorkelers and really seemed to enjoy their jobs. If you have your own snorkeling gear, you're welcome to use it, if not, they provide fins, a life jacket and a mask and snorkel free of charge. We saw an octopus, a large turtle and many colorful fish underwater.

 

Belize: Belize is a tender-only port and the tenders come from the port to pick up cruise passengers. It's about a 20-minute ride from where the ships anchor to the port. The seas were rough this day, so tendering was delayed several times because the tenders had a hard time getting to and then next to the ship. We weren't able to get on a tender until almost 11 a.m., so our planned zipline-cave tubing-ATV tour with cavetubing.bz became a zipline tour only. I wasn't feeling great that day, so I stayed behind in port and walked around while my wife and son went to the jungle to zipline. Turns out the two of them had a private guide. Another advantage to booking your own excursions.

 

Costa Maya:We booked an excursion to the Kahunlich ruins through Native Choice. Upon arriving at the Native Choice office, about a five-block walk from the pier, a Native Choice office worker tried to upsell us to a tour of the Chacchoben ruins which would have involved being on a bus with a larger group. We turned her down and wound up on essentially a private tour of Kahunlich for three with an amazing driver and guide who told us all we needed or wanted to know about Mexico, the Yucatan peninsula and the Mayan people during our two-hour drive to Kahunlich. The ruins and the two-hour tour were amazing.

 

Cozumel:We booked an authentic Mexican cooking class with Josefina through Cozumel Chef. We walked to a small, modest house Josefina uses for the class and prepared an amazing meal, including margaritas and beer. More than we could eat. Highly recommended.

 

FOOD AND RESTAURANTS:On our previous NCL cruise on the Gem, we booked a specialty restaurant every night. This cruise, we ate our on-board meals strictly at complimentary venues. On port days, when we were leaving the ship early, we made the quick walk to Deck 12 for fresh fruit, made-to-order omelets and coffee at the buffet for breakfast. The two sea days, we had a leisurely breakfast in the Versailles main dining room and also had lunch there on the final sea day. We especially enjoyed the fresh tropical fruit plate and the omelets there at breakfast.

We ate lunch at O'Sheehans on embarkation day and were not overly impressed. We had Bleu Burgers, a grilled chicken salad and wings that arrived cold. My son said the wings were better during several of his late-night forays to the venue. We found the service to be slow; we stood near a family having dinner later that day while we watched a football game and they tried for almost an hour to get the attention of a waiter. We did not return to O'Sheehans after day one.

We had one dinner at Ginza early in the cruise and found the food to be average, nothing spectacular.

Our find of the cruise was the other main dining venue, Aqua, which was a quick walk down to Deck 6 midship from our Deck 11 stateroom. I didn't compare dinner menus with Versailles but I'm assuming they are the same. We found the food at Aqua to be above-average, bordering on excellent with some dishes, and we sampled a large variety of the entrees, from fish to steaks to pasta. We never had more than a 20-minute wait for a table and were always given a coupon each for a free sparkling wine at the nearby Gatsby's martini bar. Aqua uses a pager system to alert you when your table is ready. Most nights, we ordered a soup and salad to start, always accompanied by a bread basket. Some of our favorite entrees included the strip loin steak and the spicy sausage lasagna, available every night of the cruise. I had a bangers, meatballs and mash entree the last night that was very good and my wife raved about her salmon and mahi mahi entrees. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the chocolate lava cake with strawberry coulis and a scoop of gelato desert. To die for. When I find I desert a love, why switch. I had it four nights in a row. Service in Aqua was pleasant, generally efficient and the atmosphere was perfect for a family meal and good conversation. The waiters in the dining rooms work incredibly long hours, you would see one of your favorite waiters working in the mornings at Versailles in the morning and in Aqua at night, or a bartender working out by the pool in the afternoon and in the Spinnaker at 1 a.m.

 

INTERNET: We purchased an unlimited package, I primarily walked down two decks to the Internet Cafe when I needed to go online. Service there was much faster than on our HAL cruise last year in Europe. I did not access the internet from my I-Phone, although my son did quite frequently and he said the service was so-so, faster at times and slower at others.

 

DISEMBARKATION:We had an 11:15 a.m. flight from Tampa and decided to use self-disembarkation, which was supposed to start at 8:30. I woke up about 3 a.m and the ship was already in port, so I knew there would be no delays in disembarkation, as some have experienced in Tampa recently with fog. An announcement was made at 7:45 that the ship had been cleared and we were free to go. Elevator service is slow from the upper decks down to Deck 7 for self-disembarkation near the Spinnaker during the initial rush. Once we reached the disembarkation point, it was a five-minute wait to swipe our ship cards out and after that a breeze through customs. Since we didn't have to wait for our luggage, we were off the ship, "pinging" Uber and had our ride to the airport within five minutes. We were at TPA before 9 a.m. and beat the rush of passengers using the color-coded disembarkation system.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:I'm not a cheerleader for any of the cruise lines, we cruise based on itinerary and since all of us work stressful jobs, how a particular cruise fits in to our schedule. I have nothing negative to say about this cruise, it was a perfectly relaxing week at a time when we really needed it. Cruising in Asia is on our bucket list and with the Star re-positioning there late next year into early 2017, we'd love to sail this lady again.

We took a bunch of photos during the week but haven't had a chance to download them yet. When we do, I'll try to add some.

 

Thanks,

Scott

Edited December 28, 2015 by tooleman56

[Rede411]

We are sailing on the Star 2/7/16

 

I'm really pleased to hear that everyone loves the new crew, I think they changed in September.

 

I do have a question about the Spinnaker...do they have a big screen there? I don't recall seeing a huge screen anywhere on Star. I'm curious because the Superbowl will be on and The Stardust Theatre will usually have their welcome aboard show the first night.

 

Thanks!

~E

[broncorckcrwlr]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving 1/10/16 and it's great to hear some good comments.

[tooleman56]

We are sailing on the Star 2/7/16

 

I'm really pleased to hear that everyone loves the new crew, I think they changed in September.

 

I do have a question about the Spinnaker...do they have a big screen there? I don't recall seeing a huge screen anywhere on Star. I'm curious because the Superbowl will be on and The Stardust Theatre will usually have their welcome aboard show the first night.

 

Thanks!

~E

 

I know there were several Christmas-themed movies shown in the Spinnaker, so there may be a big screen there. We watched football games in O'Sheehans and the It's 5 O'clock Somewhere bar on normal-sized televisions. CBS games were available on the stateroom TVs. I know that FOX isn't available, not sure about NBC.

[mommom1]

Hi my husband and I are on the Star 1-10-16 and I was so glad to see your review. I have a quick question, was there much to see at the port in Belize? That is the only port I can not seem to find anything we would enjoy. I like beach and snorkeling, but also don't mind a bit of sightseeing. Thank you again for the review and have a Happy New Years! Vicki

[markperth]

Hi mate,

 

I posted a similar question on the main site, but cruising on the star next Xmas through Asia. And will spend Xmas day in board.

 

How did they handle chrissy lunch and or dinner. Did they have options in all dinning venues etc. or was was it pretty much a standard type day.

 

Cheers. Mark

[tooleman56]

Hi my husband and I are on the Star 1-10-16 and I was so glad to see your review. I have a quick question, was there much to see at the port in Belize? That is the only port I can not seem to find anything we would enjoy. I like beach and snorkeling, but also don't mind a bit of sightseeing. Thank you again for the review and have a Happy New Years! Vicki

 

The port area itself is touristy, to say the least. Little shops selling t-shirts, hats and other trinkets. There are outside bars, a few restaurants and pharmacies. From the port, you can see the Bliss Institute, which might be worth visiting. The Belize Museum, the Swing Bridge and the zoo are also located near downtown Belize City.

[tooleman56]

Hi mate,

 

I posted a similar question on the main site, but cruising on the star next Xmas through Asia. And will spend Xmas day in board.

 

How did they handle chrissy lunch and or dinner. Did they have options in all dinning venues etc. or was was it pretty much a standard type day.

 

Cheers. Mark

 

Mark, we were so stuffed from our authentic Mexican meal with Josefina excursion that we didn't partake in dinner until late at the buffet, although I heard that turkey was available in the main dining rooms. The ship was decorated for the holiday, Santa visited with the children on Christmas morning and there was a Christmas carol sing-along on Christmas Eve in the atrium.

[mommom1]

The port area itself is touristy, to say the least. Little shops selling t-shirts, hats and other trinkets. There are outside bars, a few restaurants and pharmacies. From the port, you can see the Bliss Institute, which might be worth visiting. The Belize Museum, the Swing Bridge and the zoo are also located near downtown Belize City.

 

Thank you very much I will look into those places. Have a great week. Vicki

[markperth]

Thanks tooleman,

 

Appreciate your quick Reply.

[watchdiva]

I am interested in booking the cooking class and have been told that class starts at 11 AM. Getaway port times are 11-7. Do you know if the ship changes to local time or stays on ship time? I don't want to miss any of it...

[Laszlo]

Hi my husband and I are on the Star 1-10-16 and I was so glad to see your review. I have a quick question, was there much to see at the port in Belize? That is the only port I can not seem to find anything we would enjoy. I like beach and snorkeling, but also don't mind a bit of sightseeing. Thank you again for the review and have a Happy New Years! Vicki

 

Check out "Barrier Reef & Snorkel Island Beach Break", my wife and I did it last year and really liked it. We went in the afternoon, we took a tender to Belize City around 11:00am, had lunch and left on the excursion from the city docks at 12:30. We were returned to the ship at 4:00pm. After snorkeling they take you to Bannister Caye for about 90 minutes.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bannister+Caye/@17.4400039,-88.0678675,716m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!1m3!3m2!1s0x8f5cfa4133576e49:0xdc2a3ceffee1b64!2sBannister+Caye!3m1!1s0x8f5cfa4133576e49:0xdc2a3ceffee1b64!6m1!1e1

 

You snorkel the outer reef here.....https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bannister+Caye/@17.4651404,-88.0407355,434m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m3!3m2!1s0x8f5cfa4133576e49:0xdc2a3ceffee1b64!4b1!6m1!1e1

Edited December 30, 2015 by Laszlo

[Giventofly]

Cozumel:We booked an authentic Mexican cooking class with Josefina through Cozumel Chef. We walked to a small, modest house Josefina uses for the class and prepared an amazing meal, including margaritas and beer. More than we could eat. Highly recommended.

 

Thanks for a great review. Can you tell me more about this unique shore activity in Cozumel?

[tooleman56]

Here are details on Josefina's cooking class.

 

http://www.cozumelchef.com/services/authentic-mexican-cooking-classes/

 

Our class started at 12 noon. We asked a port security guard to confirm what time it was when we disembarked the ship and the time was what we thought it was. When you book the class online, Emily, who handle's Josefina's bookings and confirms your reservation, can answer specific questions.

 

Also, since it was Christmas Day when we did the class, the market wasn't open that day. Josefina had purchased all the ingredients the previous afternoon.

 

Josefina prepares an amazing meal.

 

One other thing: The house Josefina uses for her class is within walking distance of the pier where Norwegian ships dock. It's a leisurely, 15-minute walk through the commercial section of downtown, a safe, friendly area. We took a cab to class and walked back after Josefina told us it was an easy walk.

[Laszlo]

Here are details on Josefina's cooking class.

 

http://www.cozumelchef.com/services/authentic-mexican-cooking-classes/

 

Our class started at 12 noon. We asked a port security guard to confirm what time it was when we disembarked the ship and the time was what we thought it was. When you book the class online, Emily, who handle's Josefina's bookings and confirms your reservation, can answer specific questions.

 

Also, since it was Christmas Day when we did the class, the market wasn't open that day. Josefina had purchased all the ingredients the previous afternoon.

 

Josefina prepares an amazing meal.

 

One other thing: The house Josefina uses for her class is within walking distance of the pier where Norwegian ships dock. It's a leisurely, 15-minute walk through the commercial section of downtown, a safe, friendly area. We took a cab to class and walked back after Josefina told us it was an easy walk.

 

Thats looks pretty cool, need to remember that next trip down

[Sprout481]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving 1/10/16 and it's great to hear some good comments.

 

The reviews are so helpful! We are also leaving on 1/10/16 for our first ever cruise! Looking forward to it!