Live from the NCL Star July 23-August 15, 2023. Will I survive 23 days without the beverage package?

[SenatorsFan]

It's so very disappointing to read that your second cruise is starting off so poorly. 😢 I hope things improve.

[TheGuys16]

All of this is frightening, and it just stinks that this is your experience. I’m glad the ports are awesome.  I have never seen a meal consisting of fries topped with a slice of semi-melted cheese and 3 pieces of very well done toast.  And the clippings - I find this doubly disturbing.  Not good that the cabin steward missed them, but who the heck doesn’t clean up after themselves?

[BrianLo]

Honestly, they dropped that sandwich/plate of food on the floor. That's really the only logical explanation unless I'm misunderstanding and you deconstructed it partially yourself.

 

I'm on the Star next this Fall... but at least I follow it up with the Spirit.

[Cruisewilm]

8 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Would now be a good time for me to tell you that there are toenail clippings on the carpet in the new cabin?

 

There are toenail clippings on the carpet of the new cabin.

 

Would this also be a good time to tell you that when I went to the Cruise Next desk today to register for the Behind the Scenes tour she told me it was full?

 

Would now be a good time for me to tell you that the room steward said that since I am back to back I don’t get the Diamond Latitudes coupon book for the two free meals and the laundry.

 

Would now be a good time to tell you that there were no chocolate covered strawberries and Flow Water boxes delivered today? Nothing.

Would now be a good time to tell you that I have read (and enjoyed) all of your posts and am terrified of what I will find for food and service next month on this vessel? 

My head is screaming to look at upgrades and avoid the dining rooms...been on dozens of cruises on 8 other lines and Star is scaring me.  What you have endured is absolutely unacceptable!

Your port days look to have been amazing and I am hoping it compensates for the horrendous onboard experience.  Wishing you better times for the remainder of your travels.

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, lgdesign said:

 

Is this really true (perhaps the steward is as misinformed as the chefs/cooks are inept?) and confirmed by the Cruise Next desk?  Are your B2B cruises under one reservation number or two?

 

I would love to know as I have a B2B (two separate reservation numbers) in Nov and was expecting laundry and specialty dining coupons for the second leg as well as the first.

 

 

It’s true in that I’m not lying. I’m just going to clarify that what the room steward said was that since I was back to back he didn’t get a coupon book for the stateroom. He told me to go to the Cruise Next desk to get the coupon book. He wasn’t saying I don’t get a coupon book for the second leg of the B2B. This is not normal or typical on an NCL B2B.

 

I have two different reservation numbers. 

 

I did go to the Cruise Next desk and the new Cruise Next manager gave me the coupon book.

 

I still haven’t received the water or the chocolate covered strawberries.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

11 hours ago, Tyskie said:

OMG, this is so terrible - almost to the point of jumping ship and taking the loss (win would be more like it) for the second half. 😮😢

 

My heart aches for you, this is not vacation.  Sending HUGS too!

I had a moment on the first cruise where I came very close to going to Guest Services and asking how to disembark early and get my money back!  Had that happened I would have missed the reindeer, the world’s best cake, the North Cape, the beach glass, the new friends…

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

Sorry to @YVRteacherfor the hijack, but did you find Cherryl on the Spirit? I sure hope I didn’t misunderstand when her contract was ending. 

 

We are considering the Star for next June but maybe not with all these negative reports. 

Hi! I never met or saw Cherryl the two weeks we were on board the Spirit. She sounds wonderful!

 

It’s such a tough call with the Star. I read the reviews and thought, “it can’t be that bad…” I was so prepared mentally but nothing could have prepared me for the food.  
 

The itinerary is incredible and the ports are stellar. I would love to return to Norway and Iceland but I won’t be doing so on the Star.

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, QuattroRomeo said:

Yikes.The sandwich 'presentation' reeks of employee sabotage to me; no crew member would serve themselves that mess! Perhaps the waiters are too scared to say anything let alone return it to the kitchen..the Food and Beverage Director and Executive Housekeeper clearly have insufficient, if any, quality controls in place. Maybe the General Manager is in the dark. You have every right to be disappointed with the cruise ship facilities. 

 

I am very glad you are enjoying the ports, tours and the port bakeries! Your beach glass "excursion" description was fun to read!

The GM knows. I wrote that letter and he has seen the photos. 
 

The beach glass excursion was so fun for me and also fun to write. Thank you!

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, JeanKC said:

Your experience on that ship is a nightmare! At least the stops have been amazing....Imagine the poor souls who are on their first cruise or first NCL cruise! At least, I guess, you have good experiences on other ships to offset this disaster but even with that, it's really just not good enough. And while many "important" people like the restaurant manager etc, meeting with you and saying the right things, it's not really translating into much action. It has definitely put me off the Star.....which is a shame as I like some of the itineraries, and I do like ships on the smaller side. Hopefully it gets better for you but I think everyone reading this live review has been hoping that for you since you boarded day 1 and our hopes have been in vain. ☹️

Actually the first time cruisers seem very happy as they don’t know what food on NCL should be like.

 

A lot of my challenges are due to being vegetarian. For sure not everyone is going through what I am experiencing.

Edited August 5, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

10 hours ago, lgdesign said:

 

Completely agree... it absolutely should not matter.  Two cruises should equal two Latitudes benefits.  I was asking in case it contributed to some confusion among onboard staff.

I’m sorry! I think I caused some confusion in the way I worded my post.

 

It’s not that I don’t get get the Latitudes benefits, it’s that the room steward didn’t receive a coupon book for the stateroom.

I apologize for the confusion.

 

[YVRteacher]

5 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Another toe nail incident.

 

Since the cabin service changes cabin standards have dropped also readiness on embarkation can run late.

 

Stewards are rushed and getting sloppy.

 

We now do a thorough cabin check before moving in.

 

Find the cabin steward for corrections and our standing orders if they have not knocked off for the day.

 

If not available it's a call to housekeeping/guest services if the corrections can't wait(like a clean bathroom or a vaccum).

The room has now been vacuumed. I clean all surfaces and handles myself with Lysol wipes. Like in the previous cabin, I am wearing flip flops at all times and am not putting my feet on the floor or carpet on this ship. This is not something I have ever done before.

[YVRteacher]

4 hours ago, BrianLo said:

Honestly, they dropped that sandwich/plate of food on the floor. That's really the only logical explanation unless I'm misunderstanding and you deconstructed it partially yourself.

 

I'm on the Star next this Fall... but at least I follow it up with the Spirit.

So much better than doing it the way I did, with the Spirit first then the Star!

Edited August 5, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

3 hours ago, Cruisewilm said:

Would now be a good time to tell you that I have read (and enjoyed) all of your posts and am terrified of what I will find for food and service next month on this vessel? 

My head is screaming to look at upgrades and avoid the dining rooms...been on dozens of cruises on 8 other lines and Star is scaring me.  What you have endured is absolutely unacceptable!

Your port days look to have been amazing and I am hoping it compensates for the horrendous onboard experience.  Wishing you better times for the remainder of your travels.

Last cruise I ate 6 dinners in specialty dining. One meal was excellent (Teppanyaki) some had excellent elements and poor elements (Le Bistro) one was terrible (La Cucina) and one I was so tired of fighting for edible food that although I liked the food I was too drained to really enjoy the meal (this was the comped meal in Moderno where I had salad bar, bread and dessert.)

 

The specialty restaurants are definitely better than the MDR and the Garden Cafe but they are not stellar.

[YVRteacher]

Why am I spending all this time online this morning when I should be out exploring and hiking in Harstad?

 

Well, they have only set up one very narrow gangway and we are being asked not to line up in stairwells to leave the Star. We docked at 9:00am and it is now 10:54am and passengers are not yet able to disembark for the day. They did this in Hammerfest too (just set up one small gangway so there was a long line to get back on board.)

[Asawi]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

 

A lot of my challenges are due to being vegetarian. For sure not everyone is going through what I am experiencing.

"Fortunately" I'm a meat eater. At home I'm mostly vegetarian, but on this cruise it would have been a challenge! As a meat eater I could actually always find something nice in the buffet (often the carving station). But I definitely passed on most meat/chicken offers. 

As a Scandinavian most desserts (even in speciality restaurants) were not to my taste/liking (seems Americans were happier with them - after all us Scandis are used to "world's best cake"-quality, real cream and real Danishes.). The so called cobblers are nice (but are they actually cobblers?), but what's the deal with chocolate sauce with them?? (If vanilla sauce wasn't offered I took a little soft-ice. Not that the NCL ice, soft or scope is great on any ship, but it's not awful either.)

Edited August 5, 2023 by Asawi

[TrumpyNor]

27 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Why am I spending all this time online this morning when I should be out exploring and hiking in Harstad?

Hi.

I hope you can get off the ship soon, as this extremely slow gangway situation is totally ridiculous.... We are currently sitting on the pooldeck watching live on our mobiles a world championship womens soccer match between Norway and Japan, so didn't plan on going ashore until that match is finished anyway.

 

Wishing you a nice day ashore and look forward to meeting you in person tomorrow!

 

PS: I have been looking for your "Tromsø review" from yesterday,  but couldn't find it.... 

[djasinsk]

Seeing that photo of the grilled cheese, I initially didnt think it was accidental or due to incompetence.  
 

Then I realized.   Grilled cheese is not on the osheehans menu. 
 

So basically you have people for whom English language is second or third.  Western food is not their normal diet.  
 

So it’s most likely it’s a communication and training issue. Your waiter didn’t know what “grilled cheese” was, and communicated to the line cook what he or she thought you meant and it went horribly wrong. 
 

yes, very incompetent and they should of course have asked you or asked for help.  But the fact is cruise lines are still having trouble filling jobs.  So enforcing good service via losing their jobs or having contracts not renewed doesn’t really work like it used to. That’s most likely why your talks with management are not getting results. 
 

I think my own plan for my upcoming cruise is to just bribe all staff I encounter with extra cash.  I shouldn’t have to, but frankly I just think that to have a good experience that’s what I will have to do. 
 

 

[Asawi]

14 minutes ago, djasinsk said:

 

So it’s most likely it’s a communication and training issue. Your waiter didn’t know what “grilled cheese” was, and communicated to the line cook what he or she thought you meant and it went horribly wrong. 

 

This was my thought as well (as a non-english/us/Canada person). After all "grilled cheese" really is an odd name for a sandwich if you leave out the word sandwich! Having said that, if they didn't know they should have asked!

How they came up with that interpretation I would like to know though. Or maybe not...

[Sugar Magnolia]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

The room has now been vacuumed. I clean all surfaces and handles myself with Lysol wipes. Like in the previous cabin, I am wearing flip flops at all times and am not putting my feet on the floor or carpet on this ship. This is not something I have ever done before.

 

Thank you once again for your wondrous way with words! 

 

I have finally caught up with your adventures on the Star and unfortunately, you confirmed my suspicions. It is such a shame as the Star's itineraries are fabulous. I keep staring at the itineraries in hopes to convince myself that the amazing experience off the ship will far outweigh the miserable experience on the ship.

 

Admittedly, Lysol wipes and flip flops are de rigeur for me when traveling.

 

Once a day cleaning does not bother me at all, in fact, I prefer that because I don't want to feel obliged to leave the room in the evenings. However, it is a concern when basic housekeeping functions are deteriorating to the point that we have to make accommodations for the shortfall. Attention to detail has fallen by the wayside which points to poor training, apathetic management, and ultimately poor decisions set by corporate.

 

On a completely different topic...

I visited Longyearbyen a few years ago and ran into trouble with the locals because I was walking around outside the town area without a firearm...who knew 🤷‍♀️

 

[Norwegianprincess]

@YVRteacher I hope you went to Trondenes and had the Worlds best-cake (Kvæfjord-kake) today, that’s what we did today, it was very tasty 😊

And this is the right place to eat it, as Kvæfjord is just west of Harstad. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Norwegianprincess

[odie1024]

It seems like this ship has some serious issues. I have done a number of B2B's the latest in February and my coupon book was in the room when they announced they were ready and strawberries were there when we got back from dinner. I think room standards have been going downhill even before they were reduced to once a day service and of course the Pandemic and labor shortages have not helped. I was on the Sun last October and got to my cabin on the first day and there is not one shred of toilet paper. The little thing that holds the roll is in the sink. (thankfully there were tissues) I called housekeeping and they came with 1 roll. On the Dawn in February there never seemed to be extra toilet paper, are people stealing it so they don't want to leave you too much? No excuse to still be waiting to get off the ship as I would not be happy if I had a non NCL excursion planned or just want time to explore.

 

I did look for this itinerary for next year but could not find anything that looks this amazing.

 

Enjoy the rest of your trip and look forward to your amazing pictures.

[caitlynambrai]

3 hours ago, djasinsk said:

 

So basically you have people for whom English language is second or third.  Western food is not their normal diet.  
 

So it’s most likely it’s a communication and training issue. Your waiter didn’t know what “grilled cheese” was, and communicated to the line cook what he or she thought you meant and it went horribly wrong. 
. 
 

 

 I agree with you, 100%. We were on an RCL Alaska cruise earlier this summer and I kept noticing that some food seemed to be lost in translation. For example, in the buffet at breakfast, there was "avocado toast" which was actually guacamole on non-toasted, sliced baguette. I can't recall the other examples I noticed, but it helped me realize just how different the home diets of the employees are from the diets of many cruise passengers. 

Meanwhile, I was eating AMAZING Indian food for breakfast on that same cruise, including a bread called puri, which I loved and intend to ask for on my cruise on the Star this December. 

[graphicguy]

Holy Moly...that grilled cheese isn't even laughable. It's not even pitiful.  It is downright embarrassing for NCL.

 

Yeah...given the food situation you've encountered, I'm thinking they owe you a partial refund or at the very least a decent sized FCC.

 

Unreal!

[YVRteacher]

5 hours ago, djasinsk said:

Seeing that photo of the grilled cheese, I initially didnt think it was accidental or due to incompetence.  
 

Then I realized.   Grilled cheese is not on the osheehans menu. 
 

So basically you have people for whom English language is second or third.  Western food is not their normal diet.  
 

So it’s most likely it’s a communication and training issue. Your waiter didn’t know what “grilled cheese” was, and communicated to the line cook what he or she thought you meant and it went horribly wrong. 
 

yes, very incompetent and they should of course have asked you or asked for help.  But the fact is cruise lines are still having trouble filling jobs.  So enforcing good service via losing their jobs or having contracts not renewed doesn’t really work like it used to. That’s most likely why your talks with management are not getting results. 
 

I think my own plan for my upcoming cruise is to just bribe all staff I encounter with extra cash.  I shouldn’t have to, but frankly I just think that to have a good experience that’s what I will have to do. 
 

 

There is a grilled cheese sandwich on the kids’ menu and it is available in all restaurants. 

[YVRteacher]

Have I mentioned yet how much I love Norway? I truly love Norway.

 

When in Honningsvåg I did the full day tour with Blue Puffin. The guide, Michael, was superb. So superb that several of us from that tour booked with Blue Puffin and Michael for the Tromsø tour. The name of the tour is Tromso: Why We Live Here and it was not your typical city tour. I didn’t have a map of Tromsø (remember my phone is in airplane mode to avoid roaming charges) so I don’t really know where we were. I do know that I want to return to Tromsø to see more of this beautiful city by the sea.

 

I gave Michael my phone and he typed the names of the stops.

Stop #1 Kvaløysletta

 

 

Stop #2

Ersfjordbotn

Stop #3

Grøtfjorden 

 

 

 

Stop #4 

Tromvika

Someone on our tour had to go to the bathroom so we drove 40 minutes out of the way to a not-used school where there is a portable toilet. This meant we ran out of time to visit the cathedral in Tromsø. I am not happy about this. Note to people going on tours: perhaps don’t drink 3 cups of coffee before you get in the tour van.

 

Making the best of things at the toilet stop, I found a stack of newly cut birch trees. 

Stop # 5

Åsheim 

This was the best stop on our tour (for me.) Our guide served hot black currant drink and we had 10 minutes on this glorious, gorgeous beach. If I lived in Tromsø I would be here every day.

 

Do you see these footprints in the bottom right rectangle?

I said to Michael, “please tell me these are reindeer footprints!” He said they are dog paw prints. I said he could have lied…

Stop #6 

Villmarkssenter

 

The next stop was the husky camp.  There were puppies. There were a lot of friendly dogs who all wanted cuddles and belly rubs.  The conditions seemed better than at the sled dog camps in Svalbard.  The puppies just had play time so they were all tuckered out.

 

We were served homemade chocolate cake as well as coffee in those wooden mugs with the two finger hole handles! I got to drink from a wooden mug with finger holes! 

 

If you are keeping track, this is cake number one in Tromsø. Spoiler alert: there is another cake today! (Don’t worry-I ate vegetables for dinner!)

 

This beefcake of a dog also had some cake. He was my favourite dog at the dog place.  

 

On the drive back to the city centre and port Michael gave some recommendations for dinner restaurants for people staying in Tromsø. He named a place that serves whale burgers. I asked Michael what whale tastes like. He said it is like eating steak with a seaweed flavour.

 

We passed a cow farm and Michael said it is the world’s northernmost cow farm. Then we drove by the Hard Rock Cafe. You guessed it: the world’s northernmost Hard Rock Cafe. Please note that this Hard Rock Cafe will play an important role in a very special meeting at a cafe in Harstad.  Stay tuned for that story!

 

Someone asked Michael about crime and safety in Norway. He has lived in 4 homes here and never had a key for one of them. He doesn’t lock his car door and he says in winter people drive to the grocery store and leave their car running with the key in the ignition to keep the car warm.

 

As we were driving back to port I asked Michael if there was a grocery store nearby. He said yes and told me where they are then he said the Botanical Garden is right across the street from the port. Like a Husky’s ears before a sled run I perked right up and said that is my thing!

 

Michael said it’s the northernmost botanical garden in the world. Of course it is.

 

Another lovely grocery store in Norway. I bought some Norwegian sour cream and onion potato chips and some salted chocolate with caramel inside. Dad and friends back home who are reading this, I have Norwegian chocolate for you! I also found the spice aisle. 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by YVRteacher