Review: Great time on the Star, some changes

[kdogg007]

We (me , my wife and our 18 month old baby) just got back from a fabulous time on the Star Feb 2 - 10, 8 night mexican riviera.

 

Embarkation:

We stayed over night on the previous night in LA. Originally purchased a $50 transfer from LAX for two but after scanning these message boards, I cancelled it and took a cab instead, same price (~$50) but no waiting and much less hassle. Arrived by noon and there were a ton of people in line. As I read from other reviews on earlier sailing dates, I expected it to take hours for us to get in but the line went really fast (they opened the gates at noon) once they started at noon. We are non-US and there was a seperate line with only about 3 ppl in it as opposed to the US line which had dozens. All told we were on the ship before 1pm (less than an hour total). I was impressed by the speed and organization.

 

Sea day 1 & 2:

Ship was rocky on first night but after that was smooth sailing. Weather turned comfortably warm on day 1 and then hot on day 2.

 

Acapulco:

We did not book any excursions through the NCL as I knew from reading boards that things were much cheaper once you got on the port. Upon arrival, steps from the ship, we hired a licensed tour guide and his driver for $45 USD. They took us shopping in town, and waited while we shopped. Then they took us on a higlights tour of the city, we hit a famous hotel, cliffs, and other nice spots. They even gladly stopped for raw oysters from a shop that I spotted near a beach. We had oysters and coronas. Afterward they drove us to the beach. All told, they spent about 3 hrs with us and I consider that great value. We spent some time on the beach and made our way back to the ship so the baby can nap. Then we got up and decided to take the recommendation of someone on these message boards and made our way to a restaurant called Su Casa. And sure enough, food was amazing (have the shrimp appetizer) and the ambience was just perfect. Cost: $25 taxi ride round trip (it was about 25 mins drive), dinner:$90 USD. Totally worth trying if you are into good food and great time.

 

Zhuetenajo (sp?):

Small village town, we went for a bit of shopping and then took the advice and went to Los Gatos beach for a $20 water taxi fare. Had some great shrimp skewers and a pina colada on the beach. Highly recoomend the Los Gatos beach, absolutely beautiful.

 

Puerto Vallarta:

Take a taxi to the shopping center, the cruise line says its walking distance but it is really not, would probably take close to an hour to walk and theres not much to see in between (mostly hotels). Pay the $6 for the taxi. Once in town, shopping was nice, town was very nice. We made our way to the beach near the shopping center. Beach was not as nice as Los Gatos but some of the smaller food shops there served amazing food, we had raw oysters (yes again) and tacos and shrimp skewers.

 

Cabo San Lucas:

Got off the ship and were bombarded by tour guides offering to take us places. We settled on a $10 per person tour on a 'glass bottom' water taxi. It was a 45 mins tour where they took you to various points in the water and a good photo op for the beautiful scenery. They then drop you off at medanos beach or lovers beach and pick you up after a pre-arranged time. We got dropped off at medanos beach near the shopping district and made our way into town to hit Cabo Wabo for souvenirs. Then we headed back onto the beach to relax. Yes I found my raw oysters again (yes I like raw oysters with lime and mexican hot sauce).

 

Dinning:

We went to all of the specialty restaurants on board. They changed the procedures where now you can only book restaurants a day in advance. I was all anxious to book the entire week of specialty restaurants when we first got on board but could only book as far as the same night and the next day. No worries though, the specialty restaurants had plenty of seats through out the week.

 

Le Bistro - First night, I was disappointed with this, menu items sounded great but food turned out to be average food that I would expect to be in a free dinning room. Mussels appetizer was dry like those sitting at a buffet table too long. Food was average at best. Not worth the cover charge $15 per person.

 

We ate in Aqua room for the second night (Lobster night). Make sure you eat early as the line ups got crazy at 7-8pm. We were done early but the people who were still waiting seemed unhappy. Lobster was of the frozen kind and it was over cooked and very salty. Nevertheless, it was free lobster and I had seconds :o

 

On third night we hit Cagney's. Had the surf anf turf which was a filet and a half lobster. Thing to note is that unlike free lobster night, the lobsters in the specialty restaurants are fresh and are 100 times better. Man that was good lobster. Overall, very happy with Cagneys. Highly recommend.

 

We ate in Acapulco as mentioned above. Amazing.

 

Next night we went to Ginza. I was skeptical at first but was pleasantly surprised. Execellent food and only $10 charge per person. Well worth it.

 

Then we hit the Soho room the following night. I was looking forward to getting a full lobster but they ran out of live lobster :mad:. I settled for frozen lobster hoping that at least they would prepare it better than they did during free lobster night. They did but only slightly better and lets just say i did not finish it all. Lobster was ok but not worth the $25 fee. So moral of story: IF you need to eat specialty restaurants and like lobster, hit Cagneys and Soho early in the cruise and save Ginza and Le Bistro until later in the week. I was told they only bring on 300 or so lobsters and these usually get sold out after a few days.

 

We did dine in the Versailles (free restaurant) once, I read on these boards about the bad food and so my expectations were lowered but to my surprise, it was not bad at all. In fact it was better than a couple of the specialty restaurants mentioned above.

 

Blue Lagoon as you may have read, is great. Hot wings and fish n chips 24hrs. Great for a snack or quick lunch.

 

Market cafe (buffet) was ok, not fancy food but I liked the pasta station during lunches.

 

Omelette station found next to pools on deck 12. Good omettles or you can have eggs cooked your way.

 

Ship:

We've been on a couple Princess cruises and were pleasantly surprised with the NCL star. Very clean, very family friendly. Did not seem crowed at all and lots of elevators so never much of a wait.

 

Service:

Crew was friendly. Restaurant service in main dinning rooms were very slow (1.5 hrs for dinner). Specialty restuarant service was noticibly better. We tipped extra to the servers that provided good service. There was noise above our inside cabin for the first few nights; I think we were right below a restaurant (we were on 11th deck) and there was a lot of noise in the early morning as I think they were cleaning or moving stuff. We alerted the staff and they moved us up 6 categories to a balony suite which was unexpected but great.

 

Entertainment:

Didnt attend shows as we had a baby with us.

 

Overall:

We thouroughly enjoyed our cruise. The weather was excellent, ports were great and ship was good. I read countless reviews on this message board and got nervous from reading all the complaints and had lowered my expectations but was very pleasantly surprised. YEs the food is not fantastic, but Cagneys and ginza were very good and the rest of it is average to good. I recommend this ship and iteniary, especially for families.:cool:

 

Tips:

Take taxi from LAX to port instead of bus transfer.

Excursions to everything offer on the boat can be found on shore at less than half the cost.

Eat at the fresh lobster specialty restuarants (Cagneys and Soho) before they run out of lobster.

[giftcard]

Thanks so much for your review!!!!! We'll be going to Cagney's on our second night for lobster!

[bubbacat]

Thanks for the review. We're going very soon and can't wait!! :D

[erieboater]

DH and I were on the same cruise. I had read the reviews here and was somewhat concerned. This was our first cruise ever. All those concerns fell away the first day. We had a marvelous time. Having returned to snow and sub-zero weather, I'm ready to go on cruise #2 without delay. If only DH would make up his mind and retire!

[mattR]

Zhuetenajo (sp?):

Small village town, we went for a bit of shopping and then took the advice and went to Los Gatos beach for a $20 water taxi fare. Had some great shrimp skewers and a pina colada on the beach. Highly recoomend the Los Gatos beach, absolutely beautiful.

 

I though it was only 3.50 per person for the water taxi ???

[kdogg007]

I dont recall it being that cheap, $10 pp seemed like what most paid. I would have to say that perhaps someone bargained but if the shops were any indication in Zihuantejo, there was not much bargaining happening, far from what was seen in Acapulco and PV.

[Gaggles]

:) Thank you so much for the review!! We're leaving in 2 days on the Star, and we're just starting to pack, you know laundry first. All six of us are so excited about our first cruise. The older boys are excited about steak and hot wings, the younger about the kids clubs. My husband and I, just about relaxing and going with the flow. I too have been worried about the reviews, but I guess it's like anything, you find what you expect.

[cruisin'mama]

Thanks for the updated info, esp. about the reservation system for the specialty restaurants. I think the new way takes a little of the stress out of trying to plan your whole week in advance. I just need to get to Cagney's early!

[erieboater]

You will have a great time! With all the snow, drifts and wind outside our window right now, I'd be back onboard in a heartbeat :rolleyes:

[Oppgaard]

Gaggles,

 

Did you see on our roll call thread for the STAR that our meet and greet has been changed to 11:30AM, Star Bar, Deck 13, on Monday, February 19?

 

See you on board.

[Hello, Newman]

I dont recall it being that cheap, $10 pp seemed like what most paid. I would have to say that perhaps someone bargained but if the shops were any indication in Zihuantejo, there was not much bargaining happening, far from what was seen in Acapulco and PV.

 

We were on the cruise with you. We only paid $3.50 pp for the water taxi ride to Las Gatas. In order to get that price you had to walk to the main office for the taxi operators- about 200 yards from where the tenders dropped us off. This price was for a round trip.

 

Also, not to get you depressed about what you paid, but more to help future cruisers, we only paid $8.00 pp in Acapulco for the exact same taxi ride. It seems like we had the taxi driver for about the same amount of time. He took us to the cliff divers, Senor Frogs, parasailing, etc. Very accomodating, but they did expect a tip in addition to their fare. Just be prepared for very aggresive people in Acapulco.

[melika091900]

I though it was only 3.50 per person for the water taxi ???

 

 

we paid only like 25$ round trip for 4 people... so it was like 3.00 per person... each way...

 

i wonder if he meant 20$ total.. ???

 

 

when are you going MATTR??? is it almost time yet ..?

 

melissa

[Chipster2]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review of the Star. Glad to hear that you a good time. Looking forward to cruising on her again this fall.

[mattR]

we paid only like 25$ round trip for 4 people... so it was like 3.00 per person... each way...

 

i wonder if he meant 20$ total.. ???

 

 

when are you going MATTR??? is it almost time yet ..?

 

melissa

 

Not till March 22:(

[BJHOOSER]

Thanks for the revue. i am happy to hear that the specialty restaurants have changed to just the day, or night, before on the reservations. I am leaving on the March 6th cruise and have been batting my brains out trying to figure this far ahead what i will want to eat on the cruise. It is hard enough for me to figure out what to have for dinner tonight let alone that far in advance for that many meals. Yes, i have a taste for things but just don't know which order to have them. You set my mind at ease about a lot of things, especially the lobster.

I am happy to hear you had a great cruise.;)

[melika091900]

Not till March 22:(

 

 

its almost here,, are you ready???

 

you will have a great time..

 

 

 

Melissa

[BeveB]

Thanks for the great review...very informative!

[southjerseybob]

I'm ready and waiting...:)

[Hello, Newman]

we paid only like 25$ round trip for 4 people... so it was like 3.00 per person... each way...

 

i wonder if he meant 20$ total.. ???

 

 

melissa

 

Even if it is $20.00 total, it is still twice as much as it should have been. The $3.50 pp we paid was round trip. We only had to hang on to our ticket and present it to the water taxi drivers for our trip back to the dock. The locals on the dock trying to help you with your activities for the day are usually not your "friends". They are trying to make a little extra money in addition to the commission they get from the various shore activities. Can't blame them, but it is something of which to be aware.

[Leafpeeper]

We were on the same cruise and really enjoyed this ship too. We loved Ginza and highly recommend the steak terriyaki and tempura.

 

We live on the NE coast, so cruiseship lobster does not appeal to us. Most cruiseships do not carry NE lobster, so they substitute frozen Florida or west coast lobster. Cruiseship lobster tends to be overcooked and rubbery. Lobster lovers know it is not supposed to be.

 

I found out last year that there is still a law on the books in Massachusetts from way back that says prisoners cannot be forced to eat lobster more than twice a week. Even the Indians didn't eat it.

 

What I really couldn't wait to eat when we got home was authentic Italian marinara sauce. Somehow nobody cooks it better than the Italians in the Northeast. I can't understand why it is so hard to find veal parm, chicken parm, or eggplant parm on vacation. What can I say, I'm an Irish girl with an Italian appetite. It's no wonder my son became a chef.