Just off Star...disappointed

[TrumpyNor]

21 minutes ago, JustAllie said:

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. 

 

O'Sheehans also has a "dinner of the day" special offer on the menue every evening, from around 5.30 PM.

[dhanakorn]

2 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

O'Sheehans also has a "dinner of the day" special offer on the menue every evening, from around 5.30 PM.

When I was on the Star a couple weeks ago, they said they don’t do the blue plate daily special anymore.  

[TrumpyNor]

24 minutes ago, dhanakorn said:

When I was on the Star a couple weeks ago, they said they don’t do the blue plate daily special anymore.  

Ok, sorry about that. Last summer (2022) they did....

[JustAllie]

Huh, that's interesting. The only notices I saw about daily specials mentioned them being in the Garden Café. So I thought maybe I was missing the signs for the specials in O'Sheehan's.  

[The Traveling Man]

16 hours ago, JustAllie said:

Huh, that's interesting. The only notices I saw about daily specials mentioned them being in the Garden Café. So I thought maybe I was missing the signs for the specials in O'Sheehan's.  

It used to be a regular thing at O'Sheehan's on every NCL ship we have sailed.  Sometimes also at The Local on those ships that call it by that name.  Starting about five years ago, though, we occasionally would be told by the hostess or wait staff that the daily special was no longer being offered, only to find it alive and well on our next two cruises, then "Sorry, no longer offered" on the next cruise.  I used to always look forward to prime rib night at O'Sheehan's, but I haven't seen that since about 2019.

[JustAllie]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

It used to be a regular thing at O'Sheehan's on every NCL ship we have sailed.  Sometimes also at The Local on those ships that call it by that name.  Starting about five years ago, though, we occasionally would be told by the hostess or wait staff that the daily special was no longer being offered, only to find it alive and well on our next two cruises, then "Sorry, no longer offered" on the next cruise.  I used to always look forward to prime rib night at O'Sheehan's, but I haven't seen that since about 2019.

I remember that O'Sheehan's often had BBQ ribs one night on each cruise. I'm sad that it's so rare to see those offers lately, but I guess it varies ship to ship and possibly cruise to cruise, depending on expected demand, staff availability, etc.

[david_sobe]

26 minutes ago, JustAllie said:

I remember that O'Sheehan's often had BBQ ribs one night on each cruise. I'm sad that it's so rare to see those offers lately, but I guess it varies ship to ship and possibly cruise to cruise, depending on expected demand, staff availability, etc.

I remember that.  And they would bring more of them if you wanted.  

[insidecabin]

21 hours ago, dhanakorn said:

When I was on the Star a couple weeks ago, they said they don’t do the blue plate daily special anymore.  

We were on 11 May and they were doing daily special then.

 

First night Prime Rib.

 

[The Traveling Man]

27 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

We were on 11 May and they were doing daily special then.

 

First night Prime Rib.

 

Good to know.  We have missed it on our last several cruises.  I wish they would announce the day in advance so we could plan our specialty restaurant reservations around it.

[insidecabin]

21 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Good to know.  We have missed it on our last several cruises.  I wish they would announce the day in advance so we could plan our specialty restaurant reservations around it.

We tend to book our specialty on the day.

 

Can always change if you have booked and special looks good.

[v3cruiser]

When we were on the Jewel this past february o'sheehans did not have dinner specials like the Star did precovid. so maybe its a ship by ship thing. We were not expecting pre shutdown cruising but were happy with the food and our overall experience and wowed by the selections at the lido restaurant. The captain had crew working on the ship all the time and it was always the nicest looking ship in port. Only dissapointment has been lack of variety of beers and whiskeys compared to pre shutdown cruises. I remember cruising no the epic when it first came out and seeing all the cool foreign beer options in these iced tubs. 

 

Northern europe is expensive and it is what it is. Im going to be doing an iceland cruise soon on the Star and experiencing higher than expected costs myself.  Supply and demand. NCL has the itineraries we are looking for and package pricing for our budgeting and looking forward to more experiences. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by v3cruiser

[insidecabin]

5 hours ago, v3cruiser said:

When we were on the Jewel this past february o'sheehans did not have dinner specials like the Star did precovid. so maybe its a ship by ship thing. We were not expecting pre shutdown cruising but were happy with the food and our overall experience and wowed by the selections at the lido restaurant. The captain had crew working on the ship all the time and it was always the nicest looking ship in port. Only dissapointment has been lack of variety of beers and whiskeys compared to pre shutdown cruises. I remember cruising no the epic when it first came out and seeing all the cool foreign beer options in these iced tubs. 

 

Northern europe is expensive and it is what it is. Im going to be doing an iceland cruise soon on the Star and experiencing higher than expected costs myself.  Supply and demand. NCL has the itineraries we are looking for and package pricing for our budgeting and looking forward to more experiences. 

The Iceland cruises are cheap for us in UK.

Some logistical problems/costs with the open jaw using Tromso, IceIand flights have gone up.

 

Doing same day is hard so hotels involved.

 

15 Aug 11n Star from $600pp(Inc tax) with $100pp OBC.

 

Logistics are going to cost more unless the NCL air credit covers enough of the flights.

 

UK now feels cheap compared to US and much of Europe.

 

We(2) have just done 2n in Copenhagen, hotel, food, drinks, 24hr transport not a lot of change from £500, our 10n Dawn cruise with free at sea £1k.

 

Cruises win every time.

 

 

[ColdCruise]

On 6/23/2023 at 2:14 PM, basktchic said:

Venues were crowded, it seemed every time,because there were only a few venues open. When it is dinnertime and you only have 1 MDR open, the buffet and other MDR are going to be crowded. We also noticed that the specialty restaurants were empty most nights. 

 

I don't consider a pay for it wine and chocolate tasting, and a walking better  "seminar" where the spa tries to sell you expensive shoe inserts to be viable options for keeping occupied on sea days. It was either those options or endless trivia. I didn't keep any of the dailies and quite honestly we hardly looked at them because while paid wifi didn't seem to work well, the NCL app did for the lost part. 

 

Amd yes, i say they and them versus we because while I own stock, I do not make decisions on how the ships are run. The best I can do is provide feedback, which was not solicited on this cruse. The ever present vacation hero forms were nowhere on this ship and they never mentioned a post cruise survey. 

 

I am merely pointing out our experience and what others told is of their experience on the same cruise. 

Not really commenting on your valid impressions @basktchic, but CruiseCritic seems to be acting weird…. I do not see in the thread when I look on 7/2/23 any of the comments that you are quoting fin your comments, starting with this post.

 

sorry you and others are noticing a downward trend on NCL ships. Due to job changes, other trips  and family reasons,  we had to cancel 4 Cruises this year (3 NCL). I hope we don’t get she’ll shocked on our next cruise!

[ColdCruise]

On 6/26/2023 at 11:03 PM, basktchic said:

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. 

Since teaching platinum, we have never been able to participate in any of the extra platinum “bennies” other than the stuff that arrives in your cabin/laundry/captains reception. Whenever we try to sign up for the behind the scenes tour (when the ship actually has them), wine tasting, etc, we’re told they’re full because of so many others with higher status aboard. 
 

AFAIK, these benefits are useless benefits if I can not even sign up for them. AND NCL knows in advance of the cruise how many people they have at each status level, So they should be able to schedule a 2nd offering of those events so the rest of those qualified can partipate. Every time I’ve been shut out, I’ve brought this up to the latitudes desk exam and last time to the captain at the cocktail reception. Nothing changed.

[pghflyer]

Not specific to Star, but we were very sad to find Shepherd's Pie was removed from O'Sheehan's, post pandemic.   We gave feedback on that when on the Jewel this year, and we were shocked when the executive chef stopped by for one of our specialty dining evenings and offered to make our whole group individual shepherd's pies for lunch one day in the dining room. What a great customer experience!

[v3cruiser]

On 7/2/2023 at 2:05 AM, insidecabin said:

The Iceland cruises are cheap for us in UK.

Some logistical problems/costs with the open jaw using Tromso, IceIand flights have gone up.

 

Doing same day is hard so hotels involved.

 

15 Aug 11n Star from $600pp(Inc tax) with $100pp OBC.

 

Logistics are going to cost more unless the NCL air credit covers enough of the flights.

 

UK now feels cheap compared to US and much of Europe.

 

We(2) have just done 2n in Copenhagen, hotel, food, drinks, 24hr transport not a lot of change from £500, our 10n Dawn cruise with free at sea £1k.

 

Cruises win every time.

 

 

 Totally agree and my parents too. Cruises win every time. 

 

 

[LobsterStalker]

On 7/2/2023 at 12:32 PM, ColdCruise said:

Since teaching platinum, we have never been able to participate in any of the extra platinum “bennies” other than the stuff that arrives in your cabin/laundry/captains reception. Whenever we try to sign up for the behind the scenes tour (when the ship actually has them), wine tasting, etc, we’re told they’re full because of so many others with higher status aboard. 
 

AFAIK, these benefits are useless benefits if I can not even sign up for them. AND NCL knows in advance of the cruise how many people they have at each status level, So they should be able to schedule a 2nd offering of those events so the rest of those qualified can partipate. Every time I’ve been shut out, I’ve brought this up to the latitudes desk exam and last time to the captain at the cocktail reception. Nothing changed.

I agree completely !! If they are going to list it as a benefit of a certain level .... Then you should be able to access said benefit !!! , Otherwise it's a sham . 

 

[insidecabin]

3 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

I agree completely !! If they are going to list it as a benefit of a certain level .... Then you should be able to access said benefit !!! , Otherwise it's a sham . 

 

You need to get to the cruise next desk embarkation day.

Simple rule to follow not hard and avoids issues of having different rules for different cruises

 

Eg Dawn 2 July embarkation behind the scenes was 8:45am  next day.

 

2 groups and a paid group following.

 

If there was a come when you like it would have required a note somewhere and people would then moan they missed it.

 

Keep it simple, first day 9pm have all latitudes come by to check what's going on for the current cruise.

[The Traveling Man]

On 7/2/2023 at 10:32 AM, ColdCruise said:

Since teaching platinum, we have never been able to participate in any of the extra platinum “bennies” other than the stuff that arrives in your cabin/laundry/captains reception. Whenever we try to sign up for the behind the scenes tour (when the ship actually has them), wine tasting, etc, we’re told they’re full because of so many others with higher status aboard. 
 

AFAIK, these benefits are useless benefits if I can not even sign up for them. AND NCL knows in advance of the cruise how many people they have at each status level, So they should be able to schedule a 2nd offering of those events so the rest of those qualified can partipate. Every time I’ve been shut out, I’ve brought this up to the latitudes desk exam and last time to the captain at the cocktail reception. Nothing changed.

I'm sorry to hear that you have had difficulty receiving the benefits which your loyalty to NCL has earned.  We have been more fortunate.  We missed out on promised benefits shortly after the return to cruising following the pandemic, of course, because NCL cancelled many of them out of concern for spreading disease.  The only other time we missed out was on a recent cruise when a Cruise Next staff member gave us the wrong date and location for a beverage tasting event.  I hope your experience with Latitudes benefits are better in the future.

[ColdCruise]

6 hours ago, insidecabin said:

You need to get to the cruise next desk embarkation day.

Simple rule to follow not hard and avoids issues of having different rules for different cruises

 

Eg Dawn 2 July embarkation behind the scenes was 8:45am  next day.

 

2 groups and a paid group following.

 

If there was a come when you like it would have required a note somewhere and people would then moan they missed it.

 

Keep it simple, first day 9pm have all latitudes come by to check what's going on for the current cruise.

On Pr1ma (I like the style of the 1 NCL sometimes uses), we went to the latitudes desk (long line - another issue) to sign up for the behind the scenes tour and the wine tasting. We were told they were filled before embarkation day because there were so many ambassador and diamond members on board or people who were doing B2B and signed up before we could even embark.

 

Point is … if NCL knows there are 400 people with platinum or higher status on board who can sign up for a “benny “, they should have enough space to accommodate most of that number. Eg wine tasting - if you can only accommodate 100 people at the wine tasting, plan for at least 2 with a 3rd on standby IF the other two fill up.

[TrumpyNor]

6 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

 

 

Point is … if NCL knows there are 400 people with platinum or higher status on board who can sign up for a “benny “, they should have enough space to accommodate most of that number. Eg wine tasting - if you can only accommodate 100 people at the wine tasting, plan for at least 2 with a 3rd on standby IF the other two fill up.

Absolutely agree on this!!!

[insidecabin]

9 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

On Pr1ma (I like the style of the 1 NCL sometimes uses), we went to the latitudes desk (long line - another issue) to sign up for the behind the scenes tour and the wine tasting. We were told they were filled before embarkation day because there were so many ambassador and diamond members on board or people who were doing B2B and signed up before we could even embark.

 

Point is … if NCL knows there are 400 people with platinum or higher status on board who can sign up for a “benny “, they should have enough space to accommodate most of that number. Eg wine tasting - if you can only accommodate 100 people at the wine tasting, plan for at least 2 with a 3rd on standby IF the other two fill up.

Agree there are a number of areas where NCL need to step up, they know in advance how many spaces are needed and they have the records of those that tend to turn up or not to do some estimates.

[luv2kroooz]

This problem will continue to manifest itself as they routinely offer 2x, 3x,4x latitude points on select sailings. All of a sudden a cheap 15 day transatlantics cruise can yield 60 points.

[ColdCruise]

16 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Agree there are a number of areas where NCL need to step up, they know in advance how many spaces are needed and they have the records of those that tend to turn up or not to do some estimates.

I didn’t even consider that part - NCL keeping record of who turns out for which events. Even more reason they should be able to accommodate alll their latitude membe😆rs 

[YVRteacher]

@basktchic

I want to apologize for doubting you and how bad things are on the Star.

 

I’m on board now (day 7/23) and things aren’t as bad as you wrote…

 

They are much, much worse!

 

Nothing could have prepared me for the awful food and dining experiences, the overcrowding, the lack of decent activities and the overall shipboard experience. 
 

Iceland was spectacular. We arrive in Longyearbyen tomorrow. Normally I love sea days. Now I’m counting the seconds until we arrive at the next port and I can get off the ship.