A Caribbean Star! Norwegian Star Tampa-Western Caribbean 1/17-1/24

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Good afternoon to all the fine NCL Star fans! I have returned with yet another chapter of my Star Western Caribbean cruise adventure from late January. After having three consecutive port days, we had one more visit to Cozumel to look forward to on this Friday. But you don't really keep track of days like that while on vacation, right? It is more like you see it as day 6 of the cruise and there is only two more to go, huh? Anyway, after seeing three ports I had never been to before, we headed to very familiar Cozumel on this day. This part of the review takes place during the hours of 0800-0300 (24 reference - yeah I liked the original and the rebirth of it this past year was disappointing as in not anywhere near as good). Here we go!

 

DAY 7: COZUMEL, MEXICO

 

Well, as I said a minute ago, I have been to Cozumel countless times and have seen pretty much everything there is to see I think. Still, it is a port day and it is always nice to hang out on land for a while. We docked up at the downtown area in Cozumel, which is further to the north than the area that Carnival and the other lines dock at and I had actually never been here before. We arrived sometime around 0800 and we could immediately see that although it was mostly sunny, it was windy, only about 70 (about as cold as it gets there I think) and the water was rough in the harbor area. Again, that storm was so huge that the tail end of it went through the Gulf and even down into the Yucatan area and really churned the waters up as it passed. More on this storm and our following of it as the day goes on.

 

We got some lunch around noon and planned our activities for the day. I was not interested in any excursions because I had frankly, done so much the other times I had gone to Cozumel that there just wasn't much left to see there. I got a few nice pics of the port area from the top decks of the ship and you can see that the water was really beginning to kick up. The water was washing over the bulkhead near the port gate all afternoon.

 

 

 

Looking to the south, you can see the dock that the Regal and another ship that I could not easily identify were parked at for the day. That Regal sure liked to follow us around all week, lol. Those docks further south are in areas that are built specifically for the cruise ships and everything in the area is geared to just that. In the area that we dock at most is designed for tourists on ships but there is some local stuff there as well.

 

 

We got off the ship around 1230 and it is again a fairly long walk to the port area, so I walked it and my mom got a ride on one of those bicycle-mounted covered cabs for two or so riders and we met at the entrance to the shopping area. There is a huge, multi-level shopping mall right as you enter the port area and we walked through it on our way out to the main road outside the port. There is pretty much any kind of store that you want to see here, and we weren't really interested in shopping so we kept on moving until we got out to the street. The shop keepers aren't that aggressive in that area but they do encourage people to go to their stores. But if you are not interested, they pretty much leave you alone.

 

Upon reaching street level, there is a directory that leads you to restaurants, shopping, excursions, etc. Most of the stuff that is worth seeing is to the south, or a right turn when you exit, and I walked quite a ways down the street to see what kind of stuff they had to do. Lots of boutiques, restaurants, a few hotels, and it goes for a good 10 blocks or so. When I returned from my little walk, we decided to go to the Senor Frog's that is located just a few blocks south of the port mall. Right outside the Senor Frog's I got a nice pic of the ship and of a horse drawn carriage just sitting there patiently, waiting for riders. Frog's seemed to be nice and pretty crowded so it looked like a good time.

 

So, we were met by the host when we arrived and he saw my Alaska t-shirt and was immediately excited. He said he spends a few months a year working during cruise season in the Inside Passage, I think he said he spends most of his time in Juneau. He said he loves the time he spends there each year and we got into a nice conversation about the place. I have been there twice, with the most recent being last May so that was pretty cool.

 

More in a second....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 7: COZUMEL - CONTINUED

 

So, we sat down and were given a nice basket of kettle corn popcorn. We declined to get nachos or anything here as that would be enough of a snack. There was a guy going around making fresh guacamole but I don't like guacamole so we didn't get any. Also, up on stage was a guy dressed up as a cowboy. I guess he was getting the stage ready for the upcoming line dancing show, lol. Our waiter took our drink orders, which for me was a yard of Dos Equis and a yard size mango margarita. I think my mom just got a regular margarita. The drinks for me cost like $25 which wasn't that bad because well, that was a lot of alcohol. Blame it on the alcohol.

 

 

 

 

We finished our drinks and watched the line dancing show up on stage. That was fun. They had the crew that would go around and give people free shots if they agreed to do "people gone wild" type stuff but I wasn't interested. For a small tip, a guy would come around and make balloon animals for everyone that you could wear as a hat. I got one of course and wore it around for the rest of the day, lol.

 

After an hour or so, we were on our way out of the place and off to figure out what we would do for the rest of the day. By the way, I think they might have wifi at the port but I did not try to log on and regular roaming rates in Mexico can be steep so be careful about turning your phone off of airplane mode here. Got a nice pic of me with a balloon on my head outside of Frog's.

 

 

It was still fairly early, not even 1500 yet, so I walked up to the north a little to see what was further up the coast. To the north is a rather large grocery store with what appeared to be an underground parking garage with traffic control officials outside directing cars and taxis around. I didn't go in but I guess that is a central shopping place for locals. There is also a Margaritaville and a few other restaurants in that direction but it was getting later in the day so most places were not crowded or were getting ready to close. Also right across the street from the port area was a Mexican Navy base and I guess they provide protection for that particular area. I never knew that was there before as I had never made my way up that far on my other visits.

 

Shortly after I headed back to the mall area and we headed back through it to make our way back to the ship. Yes, there are multiple banos there for people who need to use them after drinking in the establishments on their way back to the ships. LOL. Around 1530, we stopped at ID and ship card check and were on our way back to the dock. To get back on the ship, you do have to go through the mall and to the upper level and back down, as the other entrances by the street appear to be for port and ship workers only. That was confusing some people it seemed. Before heading back to the ship, I stopped to get a picture taken in front of the Punta Langosta sign right at the gate.

 

 

By 1600 or so, we were back onboard and I figured I would take a short nap before sailaway and my visit to the hot tub and sunset. So I did this and got up again around 1700. I failed to mention that yes, the toilet generally did not work for a good hour or two each day, sometimes just for one stretch and sometimes for multiple short time frames. That was annoying but it always did get fixed so we were still able to use it eventually. So, after getting up at 1700, I headed upstairs to watch our final departure before getting back to home port and I will pick up there in just a second.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 7: COZUMEL - CONTINUED

I forgot to mention that you are able to keep the yard drink cups from Frog's and I took the beer cup as a souvenir. It is now sitting on a shelf in my living room to remind me of good times in Cozumel, hehe. Anyway, a little after 1700 we slowly powered away from the dock and were on our way with the Regal Princess flanking us to the left as they left just a few minutes before we did.

 

We were guided out of the port area by a local pilot boat and that pilot boat was bouncing up and down really badly as they guided us out to sea. Captain Andersson made an announcement once we were away that the seas would be rather choppy that night but that they would hopefully improve later the next day. Well, they did not improve. Once we were out to sea, it got very choppy and it just got worse and worse until we were back home. I will talk about that later also.

 

 

Cozumel's international airport is located just a few miles north of the port area and we got to see a few flights arrive and depart as the departures were heading out over the water on this day. I got a nice shot of a Sunwing 737NG and Sun Country 737-800 headed back to chilly Canada and Minneapolis respectively climbing out after departure as we began to pick up speed and head out to a choppy Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

 

 

 

As you can see, the water was really beginning to get rough and it would only get worse over the next 24 hours.

 

 

Off to our left was the Regal Princess. We would be keeping pace with them for a while after this pic was taken. Next stop for us would be Tampa. Our port visits were all finished.

 

 

Well, I again grabbed a Pepsi and headed to the hot tub and yet again, the girls I had talked to were there yet again. Nice. We talked about all kinds of stuff and there were some other folks from Canada in there as well along with some other people from the NYC area. We talked about the upcoming storm and the Canadian guys made fun of us from the east coast about 2 feet of snow shutting the region down. They don't get that there is not a whole lot of room to put the snow where we are, that you can't just plow the snow into a field and be done with it. Totally different animal. Now, I know how to drive in snow and get around in it so not a huge deal.

However, we were informed that all flights to all northeast airports were cancelled from about Friday evening until at least Monday morning. So those who had flights home on Sunday were out of luck. Yes, a blizzard will shut air travel down in its path. Airlines will not risk getting planes and crews stuck in an affected city and risking the ripple effect on their entire network. Anyway, we all split again around 1900 and the girls said they would be hitting Versailles for dinner and said I was welcome to meet them. Sure, except my mom did not want to go there, ARGHHH! So I never got a chance to meet them for dinner, sigh. I did get a nice night-setting picture of the sunset once again after it was almost completely over but it was worth missing to make a few new friends, right?

To give you an idea of how windy it was getting, I weighed my shirt, towel, camera down with flip flops and put them under a bench and they still blew all around the pool area and I had to go all around the place to pick up my stuff after getting out of the hot tub. Yeah, wicked weather.

 

Sunset

 

 

More to come.....

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2016 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 7: COZUMEL - CONTINUED

 

I got cleaned up and we went to Aqua one last time for dinner. Again, not crowded, tonight I got some short rib and shrimp plate and a BBQ sampler, which included chicken, a few spare ribs and something else (cant' remember) along with sweet potato fries. I think soup might have been chicken noodle but I again do not remember. I know they have some apps that do not change night to night along with a few everyday entrees so there is usually something for everyone on the menu. I got a piece of apple pie a la mode for dessert and it looked much better than it tasted. I will leave it at that. Service was nice once again. Aqua was definitely our choice for regular MDR dinner. Also, they keep your water glass full during your sitting and while there is drink service for those with the soda plan, it sometimes takes a while so don't drink your Pepsi too fast. I would note also that the buffet dinner was not that appealing as I stopped by there a few nights to see what they had on the way back from the hot tub and it definitely wasn't worth making plans for.

 

 

 

Tonight was the night of the white hot party which was to be held in the Spinnaker, along with Norwegian's Night Out, I think. At dinner, we could feel the ship just rocking all over the place. People were really beginning to notice. I do not get seasick, and the motion was pretty much side to side so while it was uncomfortable at times, it was not awful. My mom wanted to see the house cover band play their Elvis Presley tribute show, which was held somewhere around 2100 in the Promenade, right near the guest services counter. Lots of professional photographer shots being taken near here as well, as this was the case many nights. The Elvis show was very good, this band played a Billy Joel tribute the next evening as well.

 

 

After the show, I looked at the video screen on the wall to see what else was on tap for that evening. These are located all throughout the ship and help you to plan your activities and to see how crowded certain dining venues are so you can plan the best time to go eat.

 

 

At this point, it was just windy but the outside decks were still open with warning notes posted on the doors. Going outside on Deck 7, the deck chairs had all been collected and stored, and the spray kicking up from the water immediately got on you if you stood anywhere outside. I think the ship info channel in the cabin said waves were still only moderate, up to 7 feet. Seemed worse than that.

 

 

Anyway, after that I thought about going to the white hot party in Spinnaker but I wasn't wearing white so I went to the casino instead and played in there for a while. I could really feel the rocking of the ship in there and it was actually hard to sit up on the stool near the slots at times. However, the rocking back and forth motion seemed to be worse in the cabin so I didn't want to spend more time in there than I had to. It was not too crowded in the casino at all tonight. I guess people did not want to be out and about too much due to the conditions. All in all, for the time I spent in there during the cruise, I only lost like $30 overall. Not bad for the fun I had in there.

 

So, around 0100 I headed back to the cabin after walking around the ship some. My mom did not want to go to O'Sheehan's as she was beginning to feel a little seasick herself (she almost never gets seasick by the way) and just wanted to go to bed. So no wings tonight sadly. Oh well. It was really, really choppy. Watching the beginning of the storm unfold on the television, we could see this was just massive. Ice storm down south, severe thunderstorms on the gulf coast, blizzard up north. We had that to look forward to when we got back home, whenever that would be. By the time I got to sleep it was 0230 and I woke up numerous times during the night with the feeling that I was about to roll out of bed due to the serious rocking and rolling. The cabin TV now indicated that the waves were up to 12 feet high, or rough. It seemed worse than that at times and watching us go up and down on the bow cam made for a very rough overnight. I also did not get a picture of the next day's Freestyle Daily, for that I am sorry.

 

So, I will leave it at that as this wraps up the 7th day of this journey. Just a few days left to go. The next day would feature some seriously choppy seas and was just a day to watch the storm unfold back home on the tv and try to get through it on our way back to Tampa. I hope you enjoyed reading about this day and have a good day.

[Wedgie Wedgie]

Post #27, the sixth pic down from the top----there is a flying saucer up high in the sky above the great sunset.

 

Is this an intro for the X-Files new season?

 

Thanks for the report, weighing the Star vs Getaway/Escape/Epic.

[baxter44]

You mentioned the screens showing the activity level in certain restaurants to help plan where and when to go, how was that shown? Thanks!

[FraudBroad]

You mentioned the screens showing the activity level in certain restaurants to help plan where and when to go, how was that shown? Thanks!

 

They have large screen TV's all over the place...by each elevator in fact. You can look at them and they have every restaurant on the ship listed with either a green, yellow or red dot. Green means it's open, yellow means there's a wait and red means they're full. That way when you want to go someplace to eat you know where there's the shortest or longest waits. I hope I described that well enough!

[baxter44]

They have large screen TV's all over the place...by each elevator in fact. You can look at them and they have every restaurant on the ship listed with either a green, yellow or red dot. Green means it's open, yellow means there's a wait and red means they're full. That way when you want to go someplace to eat you know where there's the shortest or longest waits. I hope I described that well enough!

 

Perfectly described, thanks!

[baxter44]

Is there anyplace on board Star that has self-serve soft serve ice cream? I know they did on Epic during my last cruise...thanks!

[FraudBroad]

Is there anyplace on board Star that has self-serve soft serve ice cream? I know they did on Epic during my last cruise...thanks!

 

In the buffet...I believe in the aft part! They also serve scooped ice cream on the pool deck right next to the bar (mid ship).

[baxter44]

Noice!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Post #27, the sixth pic down from the top----there is a flying saucer up high in the sky above the great sunset.

 

Is this an intro for the X-Files new season?

 

Thanks for the report, weighing the Star vs Getaway/Escape/Epic.

 

LOL, I looked back at that and I see what you mean. I guess it could be an orb, I have read up some on them and they supposedly show up in photos for one reason or another. I really don't know. It might also be that I took that pic through a window on the pool deck and it might be some weird reflection thing, who knows. Then again, it could be a drone as they are all around now, or maybe it was some X-Files stuff, :).

 

It has been my pleasure to write all about this vacation. I am glad you are enjoying the review. I haven't been on the Getaway size ships yet, so can't say anything about them but I like the class of ship that the Star is in. Not too big, not too small, pretty good amenities and crew. Whatever decision you make, I am sure it will be a good one and you will have a good time. Just avoid the Sky, lol. That is the only cruise ship I have ever been on that I would actively tell people to avoid. Had a terrible experience on it a few months back.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

You mentioned the screens showing the activity level in certain restaurants to help plan where and when to go, how was that shown? Thanks!

 

I saw FraudBroad gave a pretty good answer about the info screens already and yes, they do tell you what restaurants have availability at what times, so you can plan out a meal without having to wait too long to get into the place. Green means open, yellow means iffy, and red means you might be waiting a while as it is crowded or will be crowded. They also list what activities are going on and where and when for the next day or so onboard. Good tool to figure out what you might want to do without having to look at the freestyle daily or the NCL app on your phone (I don't know how that works as I have never used it). They are arranged all over the public decks, so you don't have to go far to find one to look at.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

They have large screen TV's all over the place...by each elevator in fact. You can look at them and they have every restaurant on the ship listed with either a green, yellow or red dot. Green means it's open, yellow means there's a wait and red means they're full. That way when you want to go someplace to eat you know where there's the shortest or longest waits. I hope I described that well enough!

 

Yep, you got it. Thanks for answering the question long before I was able to. LOL. I have maybe only waited once for MDR seating, on the Jewel. Never a wait on the Star or Sky but again, we went to dinner at off times and we made Teppanyaki reservations as soon as we got on the ship on the first day so we wouldn't miss out.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Is there anyplace on board Star that has self-serve soft serve ice cream? I know they did on Epic during my last cruise...thanks!

 

I don't know about this one. I know they have hard ice cream that they serve to you on the pool deck at the grill but I cannot remember seeing custard machines. They might have them at the buffet, I cannot remember honestly. On the Jewel, they have them but there is an attendant serving it to people, it is not self-serve.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

In the buffet...I believe in the aft part! They also serve scooped ice cream on the pool deck right next to the bar (mid ship).

 

I cannot remember about the custard either. I think they might have a machine but I guess it did not make a huge impression on me either way, haha. I know other ships have it but cannot remember if the Star has it. But yes, they do have the hard ice cream at the grill. The banana ice cream is awesome. But they have like 10 different kinds to choose from there as well.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Aahhhh yes, I am finally back after a long hiatus from posting about this adventure. Between work, stuff at home, etc, just haven't been able to update this. Finally that I am under the weather a little bit with nothing else to do, I have the opportunity to do just that. So here goes. The last thing I seemingly talked about was the evening after we left Cozumel, and how rough the seas were. Well, it just got worse and worse and that is where we will pick up. Just one more day at sea and unfortunately the cruise would be over. Here is our last sea day in words and pictures.

 

DAY 8: SEA DAY

 

So, having not been able to sleep well at all the night before due to the high seas and awful up and down motion of the ship, I finally woke up around 1000 to see what was going on around the ship and back at home. Mind you, the rocking was so bad that anything like a door not securely closed, or anything else, was constantly swinging in and out and banging into other stuff. Very hard to stand up and walk anywhere in the cabin as well.

 

I was sort of hungry but seeing how awful the rocking was, I didn't want to get too much breakfast. I have never been seasick on a cruise and I was feeling just a bit queasy. My mom said she had never been sick like this on any of her dozens of cruises either, including a ride through the mouth of the Mississippi River during a storm out of New Orleans where crew put plywood over the windows of outside view cabins due to bad conditions. Anyway, she stayed in the cabin because every time she tried to get up, she said she felt sick to her stomach. Wow. I bravely made my way upstairs and got some breakfast at the buffet and just looked outside the ship to see the YUUUGE waves outside. I went outside and obviously the pool was closed and the deck chairs were all stacked up and tied down to prevent them from blowing away. Wind was insane. I forget but something like 50 knots or worse coming across the ship. Nasty. Temps probably only around 50 degrees. They had a smoking area set up under one of the awnings for those who needed their nicotine fix and all outdoor activities were cancelled for the day. I will say that although it was still bad up here, it seemed that it was not as bad as downstairs in the cabin. Now maybe that was because I had other stuff to distract me from the sea conditions or maybe we were higher up or whatever but I didn't feel as sick upstairs.

 

The pool area that would be normally bustling on a sea day, well....

 

 

The aft of the ship, we were going up and down, up and down, spray everywhere, raining also so wet outside decks.

 

Tried to take a walk around the promenade wrap, it was closed. High winds.

 

 

I got back to the cabin around 1200 to see how my mom was doing and she was still feeling lousy. We watched the news coverage of the blizzard back home. Washington was buried under over 2 feet of snow, and the southeast US was glazed over with ice. It was snowing like crazy back home in NJ as well. Unfortunately the news coverage focused only on NYC and DC so very little coverage of what was going on at home but we got the general idea. No flights anywhere to any airport in the northeast. Roads closed or severely impacted. 2 feet in Philly with more to come. Horrible winds. Flooding at the southern Jersey shore worse than with Hurricane Sandy. I know people who lost property in this one, whole islands were under at least a few feet of water. That was worse than the snow I guess for that area. Anyway, we had that to look forward to when we got home. Yippee.

 

National news coverage of the snow event back home sucked. This was the best I could do. One of the rare times they even talked about the shore or about the southern Jersey snow.....

 

 

I again took a nap and tried to not think about the horrible 12-foot rocking seas and slept for a couple hours. Not much else to do today other than get through it and begin to pack our stuff and get ready to get off the ship the next morning. We could hear the waves hitting the side of the ship where we were and the subsequent rolling of the ship each time. Never in all my cruises have I ever felt this lousy during bad seas. Even on the Carnival cruise out of Miami I took a few years ago where half the people in the MDR threw up one night, I just took that one in stride. Something just made this one worse. I woke up around 1430 and headed upststairs to get lunch before they closed the buffet and my mom tried to get up but again just couldn't do it.

 

Will continue in next post.....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 8: SEA DAY CONTINUED:

The buffet was not crowded but I figure a lot of people just hung out up there to have something to do like I was. I got a hot dog, some soup and pretzel and a Pepsi with no ice from the little bar located at the entrance to the buffet, between the beginning of the serving lines. Never crowded here and the one lady bartender was kinda cute, lol. Anyway, hung out here for a while and again tried to walk around the upper decks some and get some pictures of activities there and maybe try out a few things when the crowds were smaller.

 

 

Giant chess setup, obviously nobody playing today.

 

 

Golf cage which I tried, but only had righthanded woods. All the irons they had were lefthanded. Huh? LOL. One cage on each side on the highest deck, would be fun but......it was hard to stand up here or keep the ball on the tee due to the bad winds also.

 

By now it was around 1600 and I headed back downstairs after getting a copy of the customs form and some bag tags for debarkation from the guest services desk on promenade deck. For some reason, on NCL, you do that yourself and the steward does not provide you with that stuff in the cabin. Or at least on this ship. My mom was even sicker now and she and I began to pack our stuff up so we could put our bags outside the room that evening to be picked up. You know the cruise is almost over when you do that, sigh. But based on how bad the conditions were, everyone was almost looking forward to getting back to dry land for once. I took another nap for an hour or so and planned a trip to the Ginza noodle bar on deck 7 for dinner. I had wanted to try it out all cruise long.

So, around 1730 I headed up there and was seated quickly. The noodle bar is in the same place as the sushi restaurant and the Teppanyaki. No extra charge for this place either. I sat down, ordered pork fried rice and sweet and sour pork and a Pepsi and got my food shortly thereafter. I was first given just chopsticks and while I can use them sort of, it is hard to eat rice with them and my waiter did give me a fork to use as well. The rice was OK, sort of dry and the pork was decent, a nice change of pace kind of dinner. I would say the restaurant was only about half full this evening. I will say this was a lot of food and I was not able to finish the entire thing, although I did try. Remember I was still feeling queasy and last thing I wanted to do was you know.........:eek:

 

 

 

So, after dinner I decided to go for another walk to kill some time, that will be talked about in the next post....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 8: SEA DAY CONTINUED:

I walked around some of the venues that were not crowded on this evening and took some photos of the places.

 

The gym. Should have gone here at some point during the cruise but never made it in here to work out. Lots of weight resistance machines and plenty of cardio equipment to choose from, located at the aft, on one of the highest decks. Have to go past the spa and kid's clubs to get to here I think.

 

 

Hybrid basketball/soccer court. Located towards aft, on deck 13 or 14, seemed like fun during the week but too windy to go play here tonight. I tried to shoot hoops and the ball was just blowing around in the air after I shot it. Tried to kick the soccer ball around some, but almost fell down a few times, not fun. But I think they do some tournaments in here from time to time during the cruise.

 

 

The internet cafe. I felt like the prices NCL charges are too high for internet, so I did not buy any this time. Never really needed to either. Maybe they should adopt the unlimited per day or per cruise tiered access internet plans that Carnival has recently done. But this is on Deck 8 if I recall right, and there are tons of computers to use along with printers that they charge you an arm and a leg to use.

 

 

Ship directory, located near every elevator. I found out that sometimes it is quicker to walk up or down a few flights of steps during busy wait times for the elevators though.

 

 

The library. I walked past this place a ton of times, it is on Deck 12, right near the pool area, I picked a time where nobody was in there to get a pic of it. I didn't go in there but it seemed like a nice place to hang out in as many people of all ages were in there during the week.

 

They had a window of time for everyone to pick up the booze that were confiscated by security during the cruise, around 1900, so I got my receipt and headed over to Deck 7 midship, where I got my bottle of cashew wine from Belize back. I went after the line had died down some, so no wait at all for me. Took the wine back to the cabin, packed it in my suitcase that would be picked up. We were just about packed up by now, and I stopped back in the cabin to see how my mom was doing. She never left the room all day due to feeling sick, the day just totally sucked for her. Bummer. Anyway, I threw on my swim trunks one last time and headed to the hot tub around 2000, as they were still open although nobody was in any of them. I relaxed for an hour or so in one, and got some wt* comments from passersby, and I just told them I was a brave one, lol. Can't keep me out of the whirlpool, haha. Around 2100 I got out of the hot tub, went back downstairs, cleaned up some, and put our bags outside the cabin to be picked up later that night. I still had a couple of hours to kill before the end of the night, so I plotted out what I would do for the rest of the evening.

 

More to come.....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 8: SEA DAY CONTINUED:

 

I forgot to mention that we picked the lime debark bag tags because we planned on getting off the ship whenever the next morning. I will explain more later but usually we are off early due to trying to get the first flight back home possible, but we had other plans this time around so we elected to have our bags go to the carousel last and get off whenever we wanted to.

 

But it was only about 2130 now, and there was still stuff to do so I walked by Deck 6 and saw them playing some music, I think they were doing a rendition of My Girl when I took this. Not bad at all.

 

 

They cancelled the stage show tonight due to the horribly rough seas, and it was replaced by a variety show by Iain, the cruise director, held in the main theater. I stopped in for a little while towards the end, and believe it or not, it was not bad. Better than I expected it to be. He did some pretty good magic tricks as well. It was over by 2200, and I figured I would head to the Spinnaker to see the Quest show as there was not much else to do at all by this point. I did stop by the guest services desk to get a paper printout of my onboard charges although they also put another one under the cabin door overnight. I figured it would be easier to resolve any charges right then rather than wait until morning. This is based on past experiences, by the way. Haha. Everything was good, and I continued to see the Quest show. It was raunchy and childish but it was entertaining and it allowed me to get a good seat for the 2300 show of comedian Fred Bevill.

 

The 2300 show was well-attended and Fred was much funnier tonight than he was during his first show. It was a good time. I think the venue helps as well. Comedians seem to just be funnier when their shows are in lounges like the Spinnaker. Anyway, that was over before midnight and people dispersed once again for the final time as that was pretty much the end of the entertainment for this cruise.

 

I walked around some and got some more pics of venues onboard, these were of the 5:00 Somewhere Bar, located on Promenade, between the atrium and the Spinnaker. It did get crowded at times and the entertainment seemed to be OK, but I did not spend that much time in here. Margaritaville this ain't, lol.

 

 

 

The photo gallery, located on the other side of the guest services desk, between the atrium and the Spinnaker. This is where you view and buy pictures taken by staff. I rarely buy pictures, and did not this time but this is what the gallery looks like from the outside.

 

So, after midnight I was just a little bit hungry and figured it would be worth it to take one last trip to O'Sheehan's for a drink and some wings. Almost nobody in here at this time, sat right down, got my Pepsi and some wings, and headed out again before 0100.

 

I walked around the now pretty empty public areas on the ship, most outside decks were closed, couldn't walk outside even if they were open, just too windy, shops were closed, etc, cruise was pretty much over. I headed back to the cabin after this, laid down, got my carryon suitcase ready to go for the morning, and watched continuing coverage of the blizzard of 2016 from back home. Depending on the area, between 2 and 3 feet of snow with massive drifts in places. The snow was pretty much over by now, but it went down as the 4th highest single-storm snow total in Philadelphia and highest ever in Washington. NYC got it bad too and Boston got it worse than they planned for. All in all, would be a fun situation to go back home to. Also saw the forecast was for it to be cold and windy in Tampa in the morning for our arrival. Like 40 with lower wind chills cold. They did advise us to dress warmly. The ship was still rocking when I went to sleep at 0200, I did want to get some rest before we arrived back at home port for a 0700 estimated arrival, bay conditions permitting.

 

Well, that wraps that up. I will get all into debarkation day and the few days we spent in the central Florida area afterwards as well in the next and final part of the review hopefully sometime tonight or tomorrow as those were fairly exciting also. I hope you have enjoyed so far, thank you to everyone who has followed along and commented on my adventure, and I hope this helps anyone who is wondering if this ship or itinerary is for them or not. Have a good day!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I guess it is time to wrap this thing up, eh? (yes, there was a ton of Canadians on this cruise. I did mention that earlier on but it has to be reiterated. I guess the idea of cruising in the Caribbean in January when it is freezing cold up north is very attractive) I do hope you have all enjoyed my review, it only took 2 months to write, LOL. These do take a while to do. I have one more part to do here, and that will include debarkation day, and the day after which ended up being a day in Florida with a friend who had just moved to the area from NJ. To be frank, Central Florida and the Sarasota/Bradenton area is really nice. I will talk a little bit about that area also if anyone is interested in seeing it. Nice post-cruise stopover. I will also do a critique of the overall ship, ports, etc, part by part and give an overall assessment of my entire experience. So, here goes.

 

DAYS 9 AND 10: DEBARKATION DAY AND POST-CRUISE DAY (SNOW KEPT US FROM GETTING HOME)

 

So, that time is upon us now. It is that part of the trip that every cruiser dreads. Yes, debarkation morning. On NCL, they want you out of your cabin by 0800, regardless of what time you are getting off the ship, so they can begin to turn all the cabins and have them ready for the next week's passengers. So, I got up, got cleaned up, luckily we had already really packed everything we needed away and therefore were quickly out of the cabin. I will note that as soon as we were back into the bay overnight, the seas calmed and no more rocking for the last few hours of the journey. However, I was still feeling queasy even into the next day and my mom said she was still a little bit sick for a while after we got off the ship. That rocking really does mess with you.

 

Like I mentioned in the last post, usually we are racing to get breakfast and be off the ship by 0900 or so in order to get back to the airport for the flight home but not today. ALL flights to PHL were cancelled today and into the next day. Granted, we had sort of planned to stay with a friend from back home who had just bought a home in the Sarasota area anyway and weren't scheduled to get home until the next night, but even if we had reservations for debarkation day, we were not getting home. More on that shortly. Anyway, we took our carryon bags upstairs to the buffet area and got some breakfast before they began shutting it down just before 0900. They really don't want people loitering anywhere on the ship if they can avoid it I guess.

 

They began with self assist around this time and a whole bunch of people made their way to the exit, on promenade deck. Then came the calls for Zone 1, Zone, 2, etc and it seemed to move pretty quickly. I got caught up on some messages while we sat at breakfast as I had finally turned my phone back on after a week out of the country and there was some stuff I had to get caught up on. Finally, a little before 1000, as the ship was pretty much empty, they called any remaining zones and we made our way off the ship. I would say this debarkation process was pretty orderly and quick, all things considered.

 

Yep, just looks cold out there doesn't it?

 

 

The last diehard group of pax leaving the ship. We did see Iain on the way off the gangway, as he made sure to say goodbye to all pax leaving. Nice touch. Not all CD's would do that. He sure did look tired though.

 

We got our bags at baggage claim and made our way to the customs line, which moved quickly and we were through by 1030. It was a very cold morning in Tampa, although it was clear, it was windy and only about 40 degrees with a lower wind chill. Quite a shock after a week in the Caribbean. The area where people get picked up by shuttles and the area where the shuttles drop pax off for check-in is one and the same and thus can get very crowded. It takes a while for the vans to get all the way around to pick people up. We called Barracuda and waited a good half hour in the cold for our van to show up, but he was there around 1100 or so and took us and our bags to the airport where we would be picking up a rental car for the next few days. With that, the cruise itself was over. Sigh.

Our bags. We did wait outside for our driver for a little while but he did show up eventually. I am sure you know but we actually traveled pretty light for this cruise. You should have seen some of the stuff some people were carrying. Honestly, how many of you use everything you bring? I know I rarely do.

 

 

The ride back through downtown Tampa, as we rode back to the airport to get our rental car that we would be using to travel for the rest of the weekend. Downtown Tampa is really nice.

 

In the next post, I will talk a little about our adventures visiting friends post-cruise. It will include a few neat pics of us riding over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, on the way to Sarasota, and a few nice pics of the little downtown area and attractions they have there. I will also explain our adventure home the next night, would our flight actually depart on time or at all due to the snow or would we be spending even more time in Florida? Happy cruising!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAYS 9 AND 10: POST-CRUISE AND TRAVEL HOME

 

We did have a good time in our post-cruise adventure this time around. A friend of mine recently retired and moved to the Sarasota area, and we had long planned a visit to see her and check out her new place. Even before we knew a blizzard back home would keep us in Florida an extra day, we planned this but seeing how everything worked out, it all happened for the best. Anyway, if anyone has extra time to work with after a cruise to Tampa and is looking for stuff to do, maybe this will give you some ideas on how to spend a day or two.

 

So, we got to the airport and were dropped off near the car rental place around noon and got our rental car. Not a bad deal but rental prices in the Tampa area can be very high or low based on season. I generally go to the area for Phillies spring training every March so I know this. The car rental place is landside, across the roadway from the check-in level, so no need to ride an additional shuttle to get to it.

 

We got our car and headed across to Clearwater, where I spend a bit of time every year, and is a really nice area. We stopped at Lenny's, which is a deli/diner type place located right off US 19 south, in Clearwater, right near SR 60 and Drew Street. It really is a famous breakfast/lunch only place and during spring training, it is just packed with baseball fans each and every day. Due to its proximity to Bright House Field and the Toronto Blue Jays spring facility in nearby Dunedin of course. Anyway, it actually pretty crowded for being off-season here but we got our usual omelettes and just took in the scenery for a little while. It is a can't miss place if you are anywhere in the vicinity and like a real deli-style place.

Around 1400 we headed south on 19, through St. Petersburg (which can take a long while with traffic lights and never-ending construction) and eventually across the same Sunshine Skyway Bridge that we went under on the ship. Kinda neat to see it from the opposite perspective. I was hoping to see a ship pass under it today or on the way back to Tampa but unfortunately we did not. There is a modest toll to cross it but nothing like what we are used to back home, lol. Really scenic drive. I would say it is about an hour from Tampa to Sarasota driving, and maybe 50 miles with no major traffic. We got to our friend's place, hung out for a while, saw the place and watched the football conference championship games and went to dinner at a place nearby. I forget what it was called but they had pretty good seafood. It turned out to be a nice day, mid 60s and clear and with the Florida sunshine, it did warm up nicely. It was too cold to swim though, unfortunately. It was again in the 40 degree range that night although it would again warm up the next day.

The Skyway Bridge. Talk they want to raise it again so they can get the mega ships in port of Tampa? Any truth to this? Can't imagine you can raise it much higher than it already is.

 

 

 

So, we woke up around 1000 the next morning and got a nice breakfast before heading out to see the sights in the Sarasota area. We got a guided tour around the must-see places and went to St. Armand's Key, which is a barrier island located right near Sarasota. Really nice place. Reminds you a little of Key West. Lots of local eateries and shops and a unique atmosphere. Parking is kind of hard to find here though.

 

We spent the afternoon here walking around and seeing some of the different shops and attractions on the island. We stopped in a place that has any type flavor of peanut you can imagine and a place that has any kind of hot sauce you could ever think of. I sampled some stuff at each place but declined to buy anything. The prices here are steep. Anyway, we got lunch at a place that offers authentic Cuban food (cannot remember the name but it is popular I think) and got some rice and beans, roast pork and plantains with black bean soup. Ton of food and actually brought some home to have for dinner whenever we got back to NJ.

 

The Pepper Palace, all kinds of hot sauce. Had a good time in here although I did not buy anything.

 

 

St. Armand's Key

 

 

 

Speaking of that, yes, I was monitoring our flight status all day and it was still showing on-time so we did plan to show up at the airport at our scheduled time. As a matter of fact, flights had just resumed early in the afternoon, there, and our flight was one of the first ones that would be arriving back to PHL after the blizzard shutdown. Guess we got lucky. We made our way back to our friend's house at 1500 or so, said our goodbyes for now and made our way back to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight. We drove back over the bridge (no ships passing underneath, sadly), fought the rush hour traffic on the Howard Frankland Bridge (I-275), dropped the car off, checked in, boarded our flight on time, flew home, got home on time and arrived home to a snowy NJ after midnight. We saw tons of people on our flight who had also been on the cruise with us, guess a lot of them had to spend an extra day in Florida because of the blizzard as well. Of course I had to shovel everything out, which was a great way to end a vacation. Yep, back to the real world.

 

Anyway, that is it. Hope you enjoyed following along as much as I enjoyed writing about it. I will talk in a separate post about my observations of the overall cruise itself and things like the ship, ports, crew, etc for anyone who is interested in seeing that. Happy cruising everyone!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

OVERALL OBSERVATIONS AND RATING OF THE SHIP, PORTS, CREW, ETC:

After a nice experience on the Jewel just last year and then a horrible trip on the Sky just a few months ago, NCL had to do an awful lot to get back into my good graces. I would say that the positives outweighed the negatives on this cruise and NCL did a pretty good job of redeeming itself for me.

 

First, the ship. I had heard some bad things about it and the crew in recent months and then associating them with the rock bottom fare that I paid for this cruise, I wondered was something seriously wrong and was I in for another Sky experience? Basically, whatever the issues were before, most of them were corrected and the ship and crew were both pretty good.

 

The Star is not one of Norwegian's great large vessels but it is good for what they use it for. Plenty of stuff to do, layout is pretty good and the ship was generally in pretty good condition. The vast, vast majority of the crew couldn't do enough to take care of us. The stewards on NCL just aren't as chatty or as personable as those on Carnival, but our team did a very good job all week long. Yes, the toilets didn't work way too often and I talked ad nauseam about that but the problem was always corrected within at most a few hours. The cabin was good for us as for what we paid (inside guarantee), we just weren't expecting luxury accommodations. The cabin was in an area not far from the maintenance area and thus it could get loud at times, but I don't have a problem with noise. Just beware that in bad seas, lower decks, forward are very bad and you will not be comfortable, even a person who does not get seasick, was not feeling well on the last sea day.

 

There was plenty to do onboard most nights although they could have a comedian on more than two nights. They had a piano player one night in the theater, who was very good. They also had the gymnast, who performed a few times and that was unique. They had tons of live music and that is always a plus. The casino provided me plenty of fun most nights for not too much money as it turned out. They had a dance club going most evenings in Spinnaker if you are into dancing the night away.

 

The food was pretty good. I love O'Sheehan's and Teppanyaki and this ship has both. Ginza noodle bar is also a neat touch. I am not a fan of the Cagney's brand nor the French restaurant they have on some ships, so I skipped both. Cagney's is also a la carte now, but if I had the ultimate dining package, it might have been worth it but I did not this time. I also think they have a Moderno Brazilian-type steakhouse but skipped that as well and a La Cucina which I liked on the Jewel but did not try this time. I figured what they had in the MDR most nights was more than adequate. I do think that the Aqua dining room was far superior service-wise than the Versailles and that goes contrary to what you would think but that is how I saw it. I found the buffet disappointing, especially for dinner. Bar service was also excellent. No major wait for any drink at pretty much any time at any bar onboard. With the soda package, that does make a difference.

 

The ship management was pretty good. Loved the style of the cruise director, Iain and the captain, Mattias. Both really seem to enjoy what they are doing and do go out of their way to make the cruise enjoyable for everyone. Best management team of all three NCL ships I have sailed.

 

I would say that the TV programming is awful onboard. Why can they not get some decent satellite or basic cable stuff in the cabins? Not being able to see anything but basic news and sports coverage from back home is really annoying. Even Carnival has better TV coverage and I think Royal does as well and theirs aren't any great shakes either. I wouldn't think it would cost Norwegian that much to improve their in-cabin television selections. They do need to improve there.

 

Embarkation and debarkation were smooth. The embarkation staff did a great job getting everyone through check-in and onto the ship, and made sure that everyone's needs were taken care of. Same with debarkation. Orderly and a good way to end a cruise.

 

So, I would rate everything to do with the ship a solid A- overall. I listed what I liked and what I did not like, you don't have to agree or disagree with it but it is my opinion. Yours may differ.

 

As far as the ports, we went to a few places I had never been to before on this cruise. Awesome there. I liked Belize and the personalized tour we got to go on with Channin Bodden and the nice cuisine we had at Monkey Lala near the dock. Lots to do in this place for any taste, but you will enjoy it as long as you stay on the beaten path or travel with someone who is intimately familiar with the area. Belize was OK, but like I said, don't go off on your own here. We got to see a nice tour of the place and did an awesome airboat ride and that was fun although the excursions here are pricey. I also got some uniquely neat cashew wine here. Seems to be a lot to see and do here. Just remember it is a tender port and a long ride from shore. Costa Maya is nice if you just want to go and hang out in the port area and drink and eat all day but nothing too exotic. I do think they have things to see here but not many and nothing close to the port. Cozumel is Cozumel. I got to see a different part of town than usual but I have seen and done quite a bit here. Plenty of shopping options and you can do a multitude of tours here so there is lots to do if you are adventurous or haven't been here before.

 

Overall, the ports get an A. Much different itinerary than I am used to doing. Pretty good port times, good excursions offered through the ship as well.

 

So, I would rate this cruise an A- overall. I know it is hard to get a perfect score from me but they did a good job on this cruise. Like I said, it took a lot to get me satisfied again after the Sky disaster from December but in general, Norwegian's product is pretty good. Definitely was a great value based on what we paid for it. I know that most people on this ship had the ultimate beverage package it seemed, although I did not but most people who had it seemed to be happy with it. The demographics featured many older folks, some families but not that many single people from what I could see. I did hang out with some of the few I did come across but it seemed to be more family-oriented on this cruise than some others.

 

So, that wraps up another FlyingCruiserNJ cruise and vacation review. I hope you enjoyed it and perhaps this helped you with what to expect on an upcoming cruise or in your decision to sail on this ship or from Tampa. Comments or questions are welcome and as always, happy cruising and have a great spring season!

Edited March 21, 2016 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[baxter44]

Great comprehensive review- thanks for all the time and effort, I am sailing on Sunday and you've been very helpful!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Great comprehensive review- thanks for all the time and effort, I am sailing on Sunday and you've been very helpful!

 

Awesome, I am very glad to hear that you enjoyed it and it is helping you get ready for your cruise. It was my pleasure to put together. Writing about the adventure helps you to re-live it for at least a little while longer after it is over. Anyway, enjoy the itinerary and the ship and have fun. Hopefully the weather is a little better for you than it was for my week onboard, lol.