Just off Star...disappointed

[WakeView4Us]

On 6/23/2023 at 4:41 PM, milolii said:

Thanks for your review.  We are looking at a similar cruise for 2024.  So we are kinda following some of this years cruises. Did you visit all the planned ports?   Were any of the ports cancelled?  Princess(also looking at them) had several ports cancelled, some before; and some during the cruise. 

We made all ports and most early arrival!

[WakeView4Us]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:31 PM, JustAllie said:

I sailed on the Star May 31-June 12 from Southampton to Tomsø. Overall we had a great experience. Our only significant issues were:

 

• Tender ports were increased from 1 to 5 with no warning before the cruise. They MUST have known about this well before sailing. This substantially affected my disabled friends' experience, because they could not disembark at some ports.  
• The shore excursion descriptions were messed up and clearly wrong sometimes. Again this made it difficult for my disabled friends to pick excursions that worked for them, because the details about walking distance etc. were not correct. 
• We had one bad experience with a server in one of the main dining rooms. We spoke to the server's superiors and the issue was addressed to our satisfaction. We never saw that server again, so he may have been reassigned after multiple complaints. 
• We ran out of hand soap in our cabin and the room steward said they didn't have any to replace it. After we complained, he found a suitable substitute from somewhere and we no longer had to wash our hands in shampoo. 🙂 

 

Everything else was great as far as we were concerned. We barely had the energy to attend the evening entertainment, we only had one sea day so who knows what the daytime activities were, and we don't expect much of the shops, art shows, etc.

 

We especially enjoyed the Platinum behind-the-scenes tour, as this was our first cruise as Platinum members where it was actually offered. Our tour ran quite long, so we missed the Platinum wine tasting, but it was worth it to see the rest of the tour of the backstage theater, laundry, and galley areas. 

 

We had some lovely meals at Cagney's, Le Bistro, La Cucina, Ginza, and the Sushi Bar. We also very much enjoyed our meals at Versailles main dining room and at O'Sheehans. I had a few long waits at some of the bars -- you have to be assertive sometimes to get the attention of the bartenders. My absolute favorite bar was Proof Whiskey Bar, which also treated me well even when they were busy. I also had good service at Spice H2O, but that bar was never really busy on this cruise. 

 

Anyway we had no issues with food or general quality of service with rare exceptions. The Shore Excursions desk needed to up their game, and the communication about docked vs. tender ports has to improve. Scotland and Norway are beautiful, definitely get the fish soup wherever you eat in Norway. Have a great time on your cruises, everyone! 

Glad you were able to get some perks

 Even as Sapphire, we couldn't get into the tour or the dinner with officers because there were , "a lot of ambassador level guests" inboard is what we were told. 

[milolii]

40 minutes ago, basktchic said:

We made all ports and most early arrival!

Ok that’s wonderful!  Thanks!  That is definitely the big plus for us.  The folks on the Island Princess are very upset with the missed ports.  They also noted the Star made some of the same ports.  
 

[LloydJr]

On 6/23/2023 at 7:19 AM, mking8288 said:

I like to think the we are finally looking at the global pandemic in the rear view mirrors and moving forward, supply chain logistics and labor issues aside - that ships are finally sailing full and above double occupancies again, things should ease up and float toward the new normal.  But, not at the expense of negative onboard and pre-cruise experience, coupled with higher fares and more for less - in the quest for bottom line profits and stockholder's equities (and, full disclosure - we've owned NCLH for a long, long time, as well ...) 

The debt load of the pandemic is far from being "in the rear view mirror" for our fine cruise companies.

[LloydJr]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:05 AM, Agent999 said:

Good that you mentioned the above. It is important on Cruise Critic to point out that other people agree with your complaint. It lets people know your complaint is legit.

Really?  If I claim that 100 people agreed with me, does that really make my claim more legit?

Edited June 27, 2023 by LloydJr

[LloydJr]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:05 AM, Agent999 said:

As an aside, I notice that you use "they and them" when talking about NCL. As a stockholder, you are an owner of the company, doesn't matter if you own 80% or 1/80th of a percent, you are still an owner. You should be using "we" when referring to NCL instead of "they".

🤣  Really?

[dexddd]

6 hours ago, LloydJr said:

The debt load of the pandemic is far from being "in the rear view mirror" for our fine cruise companies.

Doesn't really matter.  Restructure then.  It is what it is. Get a plan.

[The Traveling Man]

16 hours ago, LloydJr said:

Really?  If I claim that 100 people agreed with me, does that really make my claim more legit?

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.  Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one."

- Henry David Thoreau

[insidecabin]

23 hours ago, LloydJr said:

The debt load of the pandemic is far from being "in the rear view mirror" for our fine cruise companies.

NCL need $30pppd just to pay the interest

[mugtech]

Never been on the Star, how is the upper deck observatory?  Would think it a great thing on this itinerary.  I ask because on a similar  cruise on Prima, the Observatory was used by the art people.

Edited June 28, 2023 by mugtech
Word

[LloydJr]

On 6/27/2023 at 4:29 AM, dexddd said:

Doesn't really matter.  Restructure then.  It is what it is. Get a plan.

They do have a plan.  Sail at or near capacity and control costs.  That's pretty much where we're at, and WallStreet doesn't seem too concerned (NCLH up 8% today).

[kjquilts]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

Never been on the Star, how is the upper deck observatory?  Would think it a great thing on this itinerary.  I ask because on a similar  cruise on Prima, the Observatory was used by the art people.

 

The Star and sister ship Dawn do not have forward facing observation lounges.  The space was transformed into suites and inside staterooms years ago.

 

[The Traveling Man]

7 minutes ago, kjquilts said:

 

The Star and sister ship Dawn do not have forward facing observation lounges.  The space was transformed into suites and inside staterooms years ago.

 

We have sailed on each of these ships several times.  I really miss those observation lounges.

[pghflyer]

yeah the lack of observation lounge AND no aft outdoor dining connected to the buffet were some of the biggest drawbacks for us (yeah they have Topsiders but it is smack in the middle and you have all the pool noise/ chaos)......

[mugtech]

Now I see why the Star cruises are often very cheap, sounds as bad as the Dawn.

[RB9643]

48 minutes ago, mugtech said:

 sounds as bad as the Dawn.

 

 

Hmm. I guess I'm missing what you're seeing.

 

 

[mugtech]

8 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

Hmm. I guess I'm missing what you're seeing.

 

 

No observation lounge

[insidecabin]

14 hours ago, pghflyer said:

yeah the lack of observation lounge AND no aft outdoor dining connected to the buffet were some of the biggest drawbacks for us (yeah they have Topsiders but it is smack in the middle and you have all the pool noise/ chaos)......

On the Star they shrunk the kids and created a great covered outdoor area connected to the buffet  through a bar, there are a few high tops which would be suitable for eating.

 

[hampshirelad]

I find it very difficult to find out which the complimentary restaurants are and what the menus are. Any info greatly appreciated. 

 

Many thanks

 

[JCMass.]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:31 PM, JustAllie said:

I sailed on the Star May 31-June 12 from Southampton to Tomsø. Overall we had a great experience. Our only significant issues were:

 

• Tender ports were increased from 1 to 5 with no warning before the cruise. They MUST have known about this well before sailing. This substantially affected my disabled friends' experience, because they could not disembark at some ports.  
• The shore excursion descriptions were messed up and clearly wrong sometimes. Again this made it difficult for my disabled friends to pick excursions that worked for them, because the details about walking distance etc. were not correct. 
• We had one bad experience with a server in one of the main dining rooms. We spoke to the server's superiors and the issue was addressed to our satisfaction. We never saw that server again, so he may have been reassigned after multiple complaints. 
• We ran out of hand soap in our cabin and the room steward said they didn't have any to replace it. After we complained, he found a suitable substitute from somewhere and we no longer had to wash our hands in shampoo. 🙂 

 

Everything else was great as far as we were concerned. We barely had the energy to attend the evening entertainment, we only had one sea day so who knows what the daytime activities were, and we don't expect much of the shops, art shows, etc.

 

We especially enjoyed the Platinum behind-the-scenes tour, as this was our first cruise as Platinum members where it was actually offered. Our tour ran quite long, so we missed the Platinum wine tasting, but it was worth it to see the rest of the tour of the backstage theater, laundry, and galley areas. 

 

We had some lovely meals at Cagney's, Le Bistro, La Cucina, Ginza, and the Sushi Bar. We also very much enjoyed our meals at Versailles main dining room and at O'Sheehans. I had a few long waits at some of the bars -- you have to be assertive sometimes to get the attention of the bartenders. My absolute favorite bar was Proof Whiskey Bar, which also treated me well even when they were busy. I also had good service at Spice H2O, but that bar was never really busy on this cruise. 

 

Anyway we had no issues with food or general quality of service with rare exceptions. The Shore Excursions desk needed to up their game, and the communication about docked vs. tender ports has to improve. Scotland and Norway are beautiful, definitely get the fish soup wherever you eat in Norway. Have a great time on your cruises, everyone! 

This was very helpful, we are signed up for the Star in 2024, with a great itinerary including Portland England, Scotland including the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Norway and Iceland.  One of the reasons we signed up for this smaller ship was that there is only 1 tender port.  I am disappointed to hear that there were more than planned.  Tendering is much more time than just walking off the ship we understand sometimes they make changes but that is quite a bit.  We have been on the Dawn a few times, so we have an idea of what the Star will be like, it suits us fine.  We booked early and got an aft cabin and are looking forward to the scenery on this cruise. 

[ziggyuk]

44 minutes ago, JCMass. said:

This was very helpful, we are signed up for the Star in 2024, with a great itinerary including Portland England, Scotland including the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Norway and Iceland.  One of the reasons we signed up for this smaller ship was that there is only 1 tender port.  I am disappointed to hear that there were more than planned.  Tendering is much more time than just walking off the ship we understand sometimes they make changes but that is quite a bit.  We have been on the Dawn a few times, so we have an idea of what the Star will be like, it suits us fine.  We booked early and got an aft cabin and are looking forward to the scenery on this cruise. 

 

I sailed on her a few weeks ago in May and loved the ship. I was worried about no Spinnaker lounge which I hated on the Breakaway.

The Star just worked so much better as they use the bliss lounge a lot more for things like "Deal Or No Deal" while on the Breakaway they try to do everything in the atrium which is simply not big enough and nowhere to sit.
While the Star is not my favourite ship, I liked it well enough to book it again for my next cruise, I won't ever sail the Breakaway again.

[JCMass.]

3 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I sailed on her a few weeks ago in May and loved the ship. I was worried about no Spinnaker lounge which I hated on the Breakaway.

The Star just worked so much better as they use the bliss lounge a lot more for things like "Deal Or No Deal" while on the Breakaway they try to do everything in the atrium which is simply not big enough and nowhere to sit.
While the Star is not my favourite ship, I liked it well enough to book it again for my next cruise, I won't ever sail the Breakaway again.

I keep hearing all types of negative things about the Breakaway.   For us it seems just too big, the smaller ships are for us, the Jewel class is our favorite.  I agree the Spinnaker Lounge is special.  It seems when a ship gets to a certain age, they start adding more cabins and taking away public space,  lIke they are trying to get all their value they can out of it.   

[RB9643]

10 hours ago, mugtech said:

No observation lounge

 

Sorry. I thought you were referring specifically to the Dawn. Many NCL ships don't have an OL.

 

 

[insidecabin]

13 hours ago, hampshirelad said:

I find it very difficult to find out which the complimentary restaurants are and what the menus are. Any info greatly appreciated. 

 

Many thanks

 

Star has

2 main dining rooms

Buffet

O'Sheehans (Local on some ships) pub grub style

Topsider grill(never went smoking area)

Ginza, Asian themed.

 

[JustAllie]

You can see info about each of the dining venues, including which ones are specialty and which are complimentary, here:

 

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/star/whats-on-board/dining

 

Ginza is the only complimentary venue that has a sample menu posted on that site. The menus at most places rotate every day, with the exception of O'Sheehans, where the only thing that seems to change is the soup of the day. 

 

Topsiders has good burgers, sausages, and other grilled food. And they also have a great ice cream bar, so check it out! The Topsiders ice cream bar is dipped (hard) ice cream in a variety of flavors and toppings, while the ice cream in the buffet is soft-serve.