Fresh off the Star Mex Riv Jan 11-19

[sacway]

We had a great time. This was our first NCL cruise (priors on X, RCL, Princess, and Oceania) and we were very satisfied in all major aspects. Our full review is part done. Meantime, here's a thread for any quick q's for those of you heading south soon. I expect you'll hear more from other CC'ers aboard, it was a great mix! with people having a range of interests.

 

For instance, the 8-day pass to the spa "thermal suite" is $85. I went swimming every day; the lap pool is great and I generally had it all to myself.

 

Re: Freestyle 2.0, we didn't notice anything yet, though the hotel manager said it'll roll out rather fast over the next 1-6 months. While we were on the ship, there was a rotation of hotel manager and cruise director, too, so what we experienced may not be valid for long.

[visconti4]

We leave on Feb. 4th. I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just a few ?. What night is the captains dinner? Is it really cold on the ship? I mean like the restaurants, casino etc. Can't wait to read the full review

[sacway]

Lucky you!

 

If you mean, what night is the "formal" night, then it is the 2nd day at sea. Since this is a 8-day cruise, that changes every week. I mention this because they took photos in the restaurants and when we went to look for our pix (never did find them) the headings were "Saturday Specialty' instead of "Sunday ..." A day or two later the headings were updated, but I think a lot of people were confused. In fact, the whole picture taking area was confusing, as it was all sorted by port and time you got off the ship, but it seemed most of us couldn't remember exactly when we got off... :)

 

The first two days seemed the chilliest. The temperature seemed to vary around the ship, too. Our 2nd night, when we went to La Trattoria, it was so cold we both went back for an extra layer. But then on the last night, I went to the Spinnaker Lounge to see Second City in a sleeveless top and that was fine.

[hazeleyez3]

I am looking fwd to your review. Any chance you have the dailies or menus?

[sacway]

I kept the dailies. I didn't photograph or keep the menus, though probably another CCer will have these. It looks like the menus will change with Freestyle 2.0.

 

My review is mostly "done" so I will post it here as well as submit it in the Reviews area. Especially since there are some things that I don't have in the review that I think board readers might be interested in. For instance, it was fun when we did our run of the ship to see a pile of lugggage in the 12th deck reading room, and realize that this was the temporary "Naughty" room where people had to show up and explaining what they'd brought on board.

[CRUSINBUFF]

Hi,Glad you had a good trip.The quicker you can post more the better, we sail the27th...

We had a great time. This was our first NCL cruise (priors on X, RCL, Princess, and Oceania) and we were very satisfied in all major aspects. Our full review is part done. Meantime, here's a thread for any quick q's for those of you heading south soon. I expect you'll hear more from other CC'ers aboard, it was a great mix! with people having a range of interests.

 

For instance, the 8-day pass to the spa "thermal suite" is $85. I went swimming every day; the lap pool is great and I generally had it all to myself.

 

Re: Freestyle 2.0, we didn't notice anything yet, though the hotel manager said it'll roll out rather fast over the next 1-6 months. While we were on the ship, there was a rotation of hotel manager and cruise director, too, so what we experienced may not be valid for long.

[sacway]

Hi all -

Here's what I've got so far. It leaves so much out, but then you can expect bean24, retiredonthesea, and the rest of our CC cohort to put reviews up soon...

--

Overall, this was a terrific cruise.

 

We are empty nesters and have cruised about a dozen times. This was our first NCL cruise, which we selected over other Mex Riv cruises because it goes further south, to Acapulco. Next year the Star is switching away from this 8-day itinerary, so we are pleased to have had the chance to do this one.

 

We’d arranged our own air and flew into LAX the evening before, staying in a hotel near the port. Embarkation day was sunny and in the 60s. We arrived around 11:30 a.m. for a 4 p.m. departure. Lots of people were in the cruise port ahead of us, and embarkation seemed a little unclear to us as first-time NCL cruisers and first-time out of Los Angeles. We had to ask a couple of NCL people how embarkation was organized, then got our room cards and tickets for embarkation group 18. The cruise port area around Pier 92 had many fewer chairs than cruisers waiting to get on, so people perched on counters or milled around. We were allowed on board around 12:30 p.m. A few late departers were still exiting the ship. We found our room and dropped our hand luggage about 12:40 p.m., since we’d taken a circuitous route so didn’t see the signs that said rooms wouldn’t be ready till 2 p.m. We headed off to lunch at Versailles, the “designated” (no jeans) dining room, then toured the ship before the lifeboat drill.

 

This itinerary had two sea days down to Acapulco, then four ports in a row, then one sea day between Cabo and Los Angeles. The first two days were a great intro to Freestyle Cruising. The ship’s décor is friendly and cheery rather than particularly stylish. The atrium was turned into a temporary multi-level sports bar for the NFL playoff games, which were projected onto a massive screen, easily viewable from decks 7-8-9.

 

Our aft cabin portside was comfortable for two.

Plusses: in room coffeepot (Folgers); magnifying mirror built into bathroom mirror; plenty of storage, two chairs.

Minuses: still the old-style bedspreads that hide dirt rather than the newer bedding we’ve enjoyed our past few cruises (we understand this is changing soon). Upper bunk unit stuck out a few inches in just the wrong spot, I hit my head on it getting up the first couple of days. Liquid soap only, not our preference, so I brought a bar of soap from home.

 

We brought a power strip to charge our electronic gadgets, worked well. Desk was crowded with the power strip and our gadgets, the coffee maker, and the hair dryer, which was more high powered than most of the ones we've used on other ships .

 

The cabin walls were not very well insulated, we could hear our neighbors sometimes. Ship noise and movement were minimal, though, and overall it was very quiet. It was our smoothest sailing ever from Cabo to Los Angeles, don't know if it was the weather or this ship.

 

The fitness center has a good range of equipment, and in addition to fee classes (yoga, Pilates, spinning) offered two classes morning and evening for free. Plus, it’s open 24 hours a day. We like to be physically active on vacation and so signed up for Pilates ($30 for 3 classes) The instructors, Sheri and Jeljko, made these quite challenging. These classes were the best attended I’ve seen on any cruise, as many as about 20 passengers attended the classes, though a couple of times there just a handful. Overall, we found the fitness program to be the best of any cruise we have taken to date. Even the stretch classes were good quality, not the generic relaxation classes we've had on some ships.

 

At end of the first exercise class, someone from the spa came in with an unannounced special – full body massage for $89. ($40 off) that evening. This was the first of many spa specials offered all week. My cruise habit is a massage at the end of a week after all that exercise, and unfortunately specials on rare on final sea days. The “deep tissue sports massage” I did get was good, but nowhere near as fine as the same type of massage I had on the Golden Princess last summer in Alaska. The masseuse did not exhibit much knowledge of sports medicine and did not apply specific, standard therapeutic massage where appropriate. So in this case, I didn’t get the benefit one might expect for the extra $10 or $15 for a sports massage. We’d also bought the spa pool pass ($85) that provided access to the lap pool, a hydro therapy pool, a hot tub, and a row of nice loungers with a great forward view. The lap pool was usually empty, and with the spa open from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m., it was easy to fit in a few laps every day.

 

We really liked the Freestyle dining. We ate as early as 4:30 and as late as 7:30. We ate at Versailles, Aqua, La Trattoria, Blue Lagoon, the Grill and the buffet (Market Café). We appreciated the ease of checking with the very accommodating staffers who manned the reservation table on Deck 8 near Endless Summer most hours of the day. We didn't do any of the charge restaurants, not because we were avoiding the cost, but because we wanted to experiment with a completely open schedule and didn't want to make reservations. Plus, after the first day or so, we felt the amount of food served at the restaurants was more than we wanted to eat in a meal. Finally, we didn't eat at the sushi restaurant (one of our favorite foods) because they didn't have any real crab dishes, and that's one of our distinguishing factors for a good sushi joint.

 

The service in the restaurants was friendly if spotty. All the staff was cheerful and attentive. However, sometimes it didn't seem that they knew either how the food was supposed to be served, or what we wanted. For instance, at La Trattoria, there is an Italian style menu (first plate/second plate). When we went there (twice), we asked for the dinner to be served italian style. In the first instance, it was served as requested (small portion of pasta, followed in a separate course by a small portion of say, meat). The second time, the waiter knew it meant less pasta, separate dish, but he served it all at once. Similarly, at breakfast one morning, I asked for a latte. I guess I should have asked for a cappucino because it's not clear the waiter knew what a latte was -- he came back with a big cup of espresso. These are little things, not a big deal at all, but signs of inexperience, perhaps?

 

One of the oddities about the ship layout is how they have located these various food venues, often in traffic corridors. For instance, the fastest way from our cabin to the pool was to cross through the buffet. But every time we did this, we had to use the antiseptic hand cleaning station or a staffer would step up and request to see our hands and spray them. Plus, if we walked through the buffet, to see what we wanted to eat, then checked the grill outside, then came back in, they’d go after us again. I probably had my hands sanitized 40 times on some days. You’d think people might remember what you look like for 15 seconds, but no. Same thing going from our cabin to the public areas on Deck 7, the route took us through either Endless Summer or Blue Lagoon, though the staff at the edges of these space were not so aggressive with their squirt bottles. Another odd thing at the buffet was how fast the staff would pick up dishes, asking for them while we were just finishing eating. By contrast, the service in Versailles could charitably be called glacial in pace. We had breakfast there on our last sea day and at least 20 minutes elapsed between the time we received the wheat toast we'd ordered and our eggs were served.

 

Overall, we appreciated the consistently good food. We especially enjoyed the variety of curries offered in the buffet -- two for lunch and two others at dinner. These were vegetarian dishes, but it was easy enough to find grilled or roasted fish, chicken or beef to add in, if one didn’t want to go veggie. Things we didn’t like: an inability to get small portions or half orders of dishes in the full service restaurants; only being able to get cappuccino in the full service restaurants; only being able to get curries in the buffet. The buffet coffee was poor, I ended up drinking tea instead when we ate there. I also thought about transporting the British style fish and chips round the corner from the Blue Lagoon to the Red Lion Pub but there was no newspaper-wrapped takeaway version of the dish.

 

The ice cream station is in the same space as the juice bar, out of a window adjacent to the children’s play area and near the buffet. There was a steady stream of customers from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Flavors varied, sometimes by the hour. It took us four days to figure out where and when to get a cookie, they are only offered during “tea” (though it isn’t called that) between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at one end of the buffet. While we were trying to find our preferred dessert, we discovered instead fresh crepes next to the curries in the buffet. These were very tasty and popular.

 

Though we didn’t travel with children, we knew others who did. There is a large play area not far from the buffet on the aft of the boat that was warm and sunny even on the coolest days, it was a popular area for kids and families alike. The buffet had a miniature kids buffet with lower tables, with a low level sanitizing station as well.

 

Another great feature of this ship is the wraparound promenade on Deck 7. It has fun murals all the way around that reflect whatever is on the inside: Blue Lagoon, Ginza, the Galleria, the Carousel Bar… So you can keep track of your location as well as your laps, three laps to a mile. There are also nice teak loungers on this deck, so it served as a common balcony for those with inside or outside cabins who want fresh air. In general, whether topside or down on Deck 7, it was easy to locate a place to stretch out and relax.

 

We visited four ports on this trip: Acapulco, Zijuatanejo/Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. We only docked in Acapulco, we had tenders in the other three ports. It was unfortunate the Star wasn’t awarded one of the two docks in Puerto Vallarta, since it does take a considerable chunk out of time in port to wait one’s turn for tenders. For instance, at Zijuatanejo, scheduled arrival and departure times were 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. But with tenders, and priority given to passengers with ship tours, the wait for a tender was quite long and the last tender back was 1:30 p.m. We thoroughly enjoyed this little town and stayed till nearly the last tender. Overall, tender service was efficient and there were several boats in play.

 

We didn’t take any ship’s excursions on this trip, even though we usually sign up for at least one, since we’d been to all these ports before. We did take a private tour with two other couples in Acapulco. This was fun since we’d only walked Acapulco before and this got us a bit further afield. The traffic was bad, though, and the air pollution was worse. I had a terrible headache by the time it was finished, so we stayed on board in the evening. Luckily, NCL had invited Acapulco aboard. I enjoyed the mariachis on the pool deck and we had a folkloric ballet troupe in the main showroom that evening.

 

For whatever reason, the ship's shore maps and "recommended shopping" are a very poor match to what we want. The best shopping for us was Zihuatanejo, where we got some fabulous Oaxacan textiles at a good price we think from the shop right in the waterfront walk just off the dock to the right. There are several very cool, shady coffee shops here, too, along the beach. If you go a block or two in, there are plenty other shops and restaurants. A brand new shop, called something like Murano Glass, opened just last week and has fantastic jewelry made from Murano (as in italy) glass. Globalization in miniature, local gal, Italian artist of a husband, equals a mom-and-pop shop with truly unique items, not cheap but well priced. I felt bad spending so much in Zihuatenajo till we got to PV the next morning. My favorite store there has shut, amidst what looks like a virtual gutting of the Zona Romantica in the name of progress and new condos for ex-pats.

 

Cabo along the marina seems to have more condos than San Diego, and shopping malls, restaurants, etc. to match. However, as usual, all one has to do is aim perpendicular to the waterfront and walk away to reach in just a few blocks the Cabo of the locals. Still, it has exploded, with lots of cars and traffic as it turns into a regular city. If you find your way to the old(ish) plaza, not easy to do as the ship's map only goes about three blocks in, you will be rewarded by also finding a big blue restarant called Mi Casa. We were looking for (and found) a political office, and afterwards stopped at Mi Casa for refreshment. They whipped up a dynamite bowl of guacamole and homemade torillas to sop up the tequila in the only margarita I had on this trip. Mr. Sacway has been talking about these tortillas for three days I hope he doesn't expect me to learn how to make them.

 

Back on the ship, the other singular entertainment for us on board was the Second City comedy troupe. I’d gone to Second City in Chicago last summer so was interested in seeing this group. They did three shows and an improv workshop. I enjoyed the two I attended thoroughly. At the last show, on the last evening and in the cozier Spinnaker Lounger, about a dozen kids who seemed part of the kids program slumber party sat along the front of the stage. Several had a chance to participate in the improv and it added fun and freshness to the show.

 

Sadly, I had a bit of work to do on this trip. In three ports I dropped into an Internet café to handle a few things. Internet cafes are ubiquitous, and we found if we walked a few blocks away from port, the price dropped rapidly. For instance, in Acapulco prices ranged from $6 per hour in the pier building to $2 per hour in the next building to 80 cents an hour just off the plaza near the cathedral.

 

Disembarkation was typical of most of our cruises. We’d arranged with two other CC couples to share a ride back to LAX ($53 is the official cab fare for 4 persons). This worked out, sort of. This disembarkation was worse than it needed to be. We could have just hung around till there were no lines, in our room or in the atrium where they had CNN on the big screen. Because we were sharing an early ride, we opted for “express” exit. It seemed like about a thousand people also wanted to follow the “express” route, and all lined up simultaneously at 7:15 to go through customs on board in the Spinnaker Lounge. The line ran all the way past the pool deck, to the buffet, then down the stairs, and it took us till almost 8 to do this task. One of the couples had arranged a shuttle for a 9 a.m. pickup, so about 8:15 we went to the gangway, this time with only about 300 people like sardines in a can. We were off the ship about 8:35 a.m. and waited around till 9 a.m. for the couple who’d arranged the shuttle, but never did see them. We did find the other couple, and the four of us shared a very pleasant ride going over the high points of this cruise and our plans for our next one.

[CanadianTwosome]

Wow, you're FAST!! ha ha ha We just got home about an hour and a half ago... of course, we had a bit further to travel, and our last plane was a full hour late. Of course I had to drop in and see if anyone had posted, but I didn't expect to see a review so quickly!! Mine is quite a bit longer, as I kept a bit of a journal, but the good thing is that we did such different things, so it will provide lots more information. We also loved our cruise, although both my husband and daughter seem to have picked up a bug, so they were very happy to see their own beds.

 

To Visconti: I read numerous posts here and my mother (who was on the Star on this trip a couple of years ago) also told me that the A/C was really cold on this ship, but I was hot the entire time I was on board, so I recommend light clothing with cover ups, so you have a choice.

 

I'll post more later. My daughter cried in the morning and I have to admit I was pretty sad myself. I guess we'll just have to book another one as soon as we can!!

[wisteria1019]

Welcome home! We were disemabarking as you were preparing to set sail on the 11th. This was our first NCL and I was pleasantly surprized after reading so many negative reviews. I agree - if you consult the "shopping guides" you are directed to mostly jewels and jewelery. We prefer to find the authentic handicrafts - which we did in Zihuatanejo (our favorite port) and Cabo. My significant other has been talking about Mi Casa since I've known him. Great respite, great food - although disappointing that they don't serve the mole at lunchtime!

 

Dawn

[sacway]

Hi C2Some and welcome back. Hope you are staying warm. I started a cruise journal but didn't keep with it so I'll be looking forward to your review, since there was no way we could do it all. Plus, you spent a lot more time talking with insiders on the ship while we were chilling in our cabin watching the Bourne Ultimatum again ... and again. Ha. Bet that whenever we see Matt Damon, we'll think of the Norwegian Star and our Mex Riv cruise.

 

visconti4, I brought several shells, two long sleeve shirts and a sweater, Mr. Sacway brought tees, golf shirts, a turtleneck and a sweatshirt, this gave us several layers depending on where we were. Inside and outside, the temps really did vary a lot. I could have left a couple of shells and a skirt and a pair of shoes at home, since we didn't eat at main dining as much as expected. (noted on my packing list for our next cruise, which I've already started!)

 

wisteria, thanks, next time we are in Cabo we'll go up early and ask for mole and see if they can't cook up a batch by mid afternoon. That sounds fantastic. We too prefer more local craft and try to buy closer to the source; we have some perpetually starving artists in our extended family and so having our dollars retained in the local community is important to us. I did get a terrific silver and turquoise bracelet in Cabo, saw some things I liked on the way to town (when three ships were in port) and passed them by. Came back six hours later, after the other two ships had left and most of our own were back on board, and of the remainder that hadn't sold, was able to negotiate a pretty fair price (couldn't I have got it for less? couldn't he have got more for it?)

 

Mr. Sacway, something of a political afficionado, was so thrilled with the political poster we were able to get from one of the campaign headquarters in Cabo that he went out on the sidewalk while he was unpacking to show it to the neighbor. So now we'll have to keep an eye on the local election and see how "our" candidate fares on Feb 3.

 

I guess its true that sometimes unhappy people are louder; I imagine the cruise lines look at the #s in the aggregate on the surveys to see if there's any statistical movement one way or another. This may be the first time I've seen the question something like, "if you have cruised on NCL before, was this cruise even better?" (I meant to get an extra copy of the questionnaire, maybe someone has photographed theirs?) This question is really important and I hope that all the Freestyle 2.0 changes are around both improving the experience for past cruisers as well as attracting new ones. One reason we have been jumping around lines lately is we don't think the lines really care for repeat customers. So we have decided to be first time cruisers more. And we didn't buy into the next cruise on NCL for that very reason on board, even though it would have dropped our final bill by $100.

[carontori]

Thanks for such a well thought out review. Great insight! Can you tell me who the new C.D. is? I'm dissapointed that Ricky is gone, he's always been my fav.:( I read somewhere that they are serving champagne already at embarkation, is this true?

[carontori]

Welcome back c2some! looking forward to your review too. How was your Birthday!

[Chipster2]

Welcome home and thanks for the review. Our first cruise was on the Star and it's nice to hear that they are still doing it right!

[sacway]

Thanks for such a well thought out review. Great insight! Can you tell me who the new C.D. is? I'm disappointed that Ricky is gone, he's always been my fav.:( I read somewhere that they are serving champagne already at embarkation, is this true?

The new cruise director is Denny Anderson and the new hotel director is Rosita Schandy. Ricky lost a few friends his last day before his vacation on board, when he came on mid afternoon at a very high volume and talked for about 10 minutes on bingo and the art auction. It was so loud (no kidding) that people were covering their ears on the promenade deck and inside had to shout to ask the desk clerks in the atrium if they couldn't turn down the volume (they couldn't, apparently.)

 

We looked for champagne on boarding but didn't see any. There were free rum punches in the casino, though, right after lifeboat drill and before we got to international waters when the casino could open. This was a consolation but meant my balance was a bit off during the promo "yogilates" class right afterwards. :)

 

Out walking the dog in our coats this morning, we are already talking about a warm weather cruise for next January. Southern Caribbean, perhaps, or Panama Canal. NCL is forefront in our thoughts right now for lots of the things that we enjoyed on this cruise, including the basketball court on the Star. It is larger and more central than others we've seen (less problem with ship movement and wind). At least one basketball unfortunately went over the side on this cruise, according to one fellow. One kid brought his own basketball, that might make sense if you absolutely must play on board. There were shuffleboard courts but no play since, according to the sign, past pax had destroyed the equipment. The sign continued to say they were urgently getting new equipment, I wonder how urgently or whether there's been no shuffleboard for a while.

[Rivercat]

Thanks for posting such a detailed review! I'm considering sailing for my first cruise ever on the Star in March (as a solo), and really appreciate you sharing your experiences.

[flowers58]

There were shuffleboard courts but no play since, according to the sign, past pax had destroyed the equipment. The sign continued to say they were urgently getting new equipment, I wonder how urgently or whether there's been no shuffleboard for a while.

 

:eek: :eek: No Shuffleboard?? What shall we do? Really though, it is one of our favorite shipboard activities, hope they get the equipment replaced!

 

Thanks for the great Info! We can hardley wait for our turn! :D :D

[sacway]

Thanks for posting such a detailed review! I'm considering sailing for my first cruise ever on the Star in March (as a solo), and really appreciate you sharing your experiences.

 

Our first day on the ship, we bumped into a couple that Mr. Sacway had worked with years ago. It was their first cruise; we really enjoyed meeting up with them occasionally to hear their impressions, they are hoping to squeeze in a cruise to Alaska next summer. I think it's a good choice for a first cruise since the Freestyle focuses on what you'd like to be doing, rather than stressing over schedules or attire. Have a great time!

 

flowers58, I'm fond of shuffleboard too, it's such a cruise staple. There were two giant chess boards (one on each side, maybe deck 12 or 13) but that requires too much thinking. Once you get there, let us know if it's back.

[CanadianTwosome]

Thanks Carontori, I had a FANTASTIC birthday!!

 

Sacway, I think the hotel director is different... Rosita came to our CC Meet and Greet and I'm sure she said she was leaving. I could be mixed up though, I think there were three staff changes while we were there.

 

One of the days we were in port, I saw the shuffleboard area closed off for repairs, so the past passengers may have destroyed more than the equipment. It looked like they were working on it.

 

I've posted my review, and it's LONG. As a Word document, it was 17 pages, but there are lots of details that can be skipped by anyone not interested in children's activities or some of the activities we did. It should be up soon. :)

[sacway]

Hi C2some - thx for submitting your review, I'll be watching for it. as for the hotel director, you may be right. I got this name, though, from the last day's daily when I was double checking the CD.

Hi bean24 - this had to be quick, before I forgot some important particulars and got too busy with work again. welcome back! I look forward to seeing your review. thanks for organizing the M&Gs, too.

[ron46936]

We were also on the Jan 11-19 sailing and had a great time. There were 10 of us in all and we had a great time.

 

Just a few comments:

 

The Jean Anne Ryan Co shows were as usual FANTASTIC. We have beent on several other lines and the superiority in JAR shows is amazing. We went to the service club get together which was hosted by one of the shows dancers. It was fun to chat with her after the meeting. One of the interesting insights is the Andrew Lloyd Webber tribute "Music of the Night" has to meet stringent requirements of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Company. Those include review of the show by the ALWC. Also the show has to be done on a sea day which is also a "dress up" night. As regular NCL cruisers (this was number 11) we really appreciate the quality of the JAR shows.

 

The other shows were also good. The musicians feature in the other venues about the ship were also quite good. There was quite a variety of those as well.

 

The comments on the shopping talks and maps don't really affect us because we tuned out the shopping consultants years ago. They don't talk about the types of items we are interested in.

 

Dinner - I was a bit disappointed that we were not able to make reservations in Versaille or Aqua except at 5:30 and 8 something. Our group likes to eat at 6:30. I must say we only had to wait more than 5 minutes one time. That time they told us it would be a 45 minute wait but they seated us in about 10 minutes. It seems everyone wanted to eat at the same time that night. We only got to eat in the reservation restaurants once as it seemed they were booked up for early dining most of the time. If we liked to eat later we could have easily gotten reservations. Next time I think I'll utilize the Consierge service.

 

The food was quite good with some of it being outstanding. I don't know if it was just our good luck but we had some waiter ranging from good to excellent. Most were in the Excellent category.

 

This trip we had to tender in Puerto Vallerta because of three ships being there that day. Normally the ship docks. What is great is the two regular tender ports, Zihuantaneo and Cabo, REQUIRED NO TENDER TICKETS. We arrive early enough that only the very early risers were anxious to go ashore right away.

 

Negatives on the cruise were the amazing number of people that didn't like Freestyle cruising and continuosly complained about it. One fellow said he preferred formal nights where everyone "dressed" and had assigned seating. I wonder why he booked a Freestyle cruise.

 

Debarkation was a bit disorganized. About halfway thru the process the Cruise Director announced that everyone should go thru immigration and could leave immediately. This lead to a mass of people trying to get off at once. This may have been prompted by the immigration people being in a hurry to get their job done so they could leave.

 

Apparently this a rare occasion when three cruise ships were in the Port of Los Angeles at the same time. As a result there was a long wait for taxis. Our driver said this only occurred 2-3 times per year.

 

All in all we considered it a great cruise and we made our deposit for the next one while on board. The $100 credit for a $250 deposit is too good to pass up, especially since we have almost 1000 points on our NCL card.

 

Ron from a very cold Indiana.

[CanadianTwosome]

Hey Ron! It's damned cold here in Saskatchewan too. Our daughter was angling for a ride to school in the morning, but I told her that she'd be just fine. Now the only problem is that she's off her sleep schedule and used to staying up until 11pm... LA time, which means 1am here... she had a lot of trouble getting to sleep. The first few days back might be a bit bleary eyed.

 

We were among the last people to go through customs, and it took us about five minutes to walk through the Spinnaker and have our form stamped. It took a bit longer for us to get off the ship, but not much. We waited deck 6 midship for about ten minutes before the crowd started moving, and we were completely off the ship (*sniff*) within another ten minutes. We had prebooked a shuttle, so we didn't have to wait at all, we just took our confirmation letter to the Prime Time booth (our porter knew exactly where to go) and we were on a shuttle within five minutes and off to the airport.

 

I posted a few personal opinions in another thread, so I would love it if any of you wanted to add to or comment on what I've said there. :)

[sacway]

Welcome back Ron - Thx for some great observations. Guess we need another Star cruise to catch JAR. Especially interesting to hear how the ALWC controls the content of the show using its music. I'm impressed you only had short waits with a party of 10 too, that should alleviate the concerns of some. I too would describe the service as good to excellent, and that is also something I wondered about, since the automatic gratuity is in place and not the one-waiter-all-week-and-tip-envelopes system. I saw a bit of a line at the reception desk last night and wondered if it was people taking the tips off their accounts. If so, that would be a shame. Maybe people complain so they can salve their consciences about stiffing the staff?

[DMRick]

I saw a bit of a line at the reception desk last night and wondered if it was people taking the tips off their accounts. If so, that would be a shame. Maybe people complain so they can salve their consciences about stiffing the staff?

We seem (or someone of our party) to always be at the reception desk on the last night. In our cases, and where I've overheard, it seems it's because people have gotten their bills and found mistakes. As we waited in line on our last cruise, and talked to those around us, that seemed to be the biggest problem.

[ron46936]

We have never really had a problem with the accounts but we don't spend a lot aboard ship. We only spent $0.20 beyond the on board credit we got for putting in the deposit for the next cruise.

 

I have a theory that perhaps there was more wait staff in the main dining rooms than in the past. It seemed the staff had a little more time and weren't as rushed.

 

I am curious as to why so many people were eating early. Usually that is a sign that there is an older crowd aboard, but that didn't really seem to be the case. We would have probably shifted to a later schedule but one of our group is a diabetic that needs to adhere to a regular schedule.

 

I do think that the Second City shows need to refresh some of their skits. The Pictionary one in particular we saw in 2006, 2007, and again in 2008.

[CanadianTwosome]

My mom was telling me that on her trip on the Star a couple of years ago, they got called to Reception on the last morning... seems they had overpaid (in cash) by $0.17. :rolleyes:

 

Sounds like Second City does need a refresher! It would have been new to me, but considering how much repeat business a cruiseline must count on, you'd think they would try to keep things fresher than that.