NCL Star Review & Port Nightmare

[jilly08]

All,

Here is my review ---it's also posted on the review page:

Travellers: Myself and my two grown children (24, 22)

I am an experienced cruiser--6 cruises. (RC Legend of the Seas & Carnival Legend) 1st NCL cruise

My daughter sailed once before and this was my son's first cruise.

Air: United. Got a great fare but probably would not fly them again, if possible. They changed our flights 4 times. I booked early so we could get the seats we wanted -- together.

Pre-Cruise Hotel: Crowne Plaza San Pedro

I got the hotel on Priceline for $68 a night. We've stayed in Crowne's before and this hotel was on par with the others we've stayed at. We had a room with two queen beds overlooking the port. We could see the ships coming in. They provided a no-cost shuttle to the pier.

Embarcation: It was very smooth and organized. The cabins were not ready when we boarded. We were instructed to go to the buffet. Instead, we walked back to our room and on the way, they announced the rooms were ready. We checked our our stateroom and aft balcony. I was sort of surprised at home small it was compared to Royal and Carnival ships we've been on. It was very tight for 3 adults. But, the balcony gave us quite a bit of extra room.

Observations:

I was disappointed we didn't enter through the main atrium--which we've done on other ships.

The champagne upon boarding & the escort to your room--which they promote heavily was not all that. We got no escort and the drinks were available in the area where you board--in the area near the elevators..which not all that 'glamorous.'

Hand Sanitizer was everywhere--starting on the gangway as you entered. Great idea!

I am going to compare the three lines I've cruised on. I thought maybe that would be helpul to some. I will only compare aft balcony cabins.

Cabin size: Carnival & Royal..In addition to cabin size being much larger, the aft balcony was about twice as big as NCLs.

Cabin decor: NCL: Our room was very tasteful.

Cabin storage: Royal: We had a 6 shelf storage area outside the main closet. There was also a decent sized closet as well as two night stands with drawers and a long row of cabinets from the vanity to the bed.

I thought the storage was not adequate on NCL. The shelves in the closet were awkward to use because they didn't slide out.

Aft Balcony: Carnival & Royal's were much larger. (Although, any aft is pretty great!)

Luggage: NCL--our luggage was delivered very quickly. We had it long before dinner.

Beds: NCL's bedding was extremely comfortable. Carnival 2nd and Royal 3rd.

Overall Impression of the Ship: The ship is in great shape. The carpet was a bit worn in places of heavy traffic -- but everything was very clean.

I didn't like the whole "you can't get there from here thing". It took us days to figure that whole thing out. LOL

I also felt the ship was a bit chopped up in their effort to make all the restaurants for Free Style.

The pool is very small. However, the stadium seating in the pool area is nice. I don't know that I would travel on another ship that did not have an outdoor adult pool.

Bar Service: I thought I read you would have these little drink flags to raise on the sun decks when you wanted a drink but maybe that's just on newer ships. We didn't have any. There were plenty of servers walking around though so it didn't take long to get a drink. The drinks were more expensive on this line then the other lines I've been on. Maybe a dollar or two difference. Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things.

Free style Dining: I can't say I didn't like it. But I think overall I prefer a set dining time and the same wait staff for the entire cruise. The quality of the food in the regular dining rooms was not the best. It was edible. I felt like you had to go to the upcharge restaurants to experience the same quality of food that is served in a regular dining room on RC and Carnival. Plus, I like the fact that you get to know your waiters and they know you and have water, iced tea etc... on the table for you after the first night. They remember that you like sour cream but no butter on your potato..etc..

I think it's more like you are being pampered in that sort of atmosphere.

Breakfast: We ate in the buffet or we ordered room service. The food was OK. Nothing special. We didn't go hungry and there was a good variety of food every day.

Lunch: When we ate lunch, we ate in the buffet and there were several days that we had better than average food.

Dinner: We ate in Aqua twice. The food was OK. We went on Lobster night and it was a ZOO. We went to Versailles first and I seriously thought a fight was going to break out. There were so many people there pushing and shoving, it was ridiculous. We ended up at Aqua. We had to wait about 30 minutes--and this was at 8:30. The lobster was not memorable.

Endless Summer: We loved this place. We had the best meal, It was well worth the $10 per person. We started with the black bean soup and it was the best I've ever had. Oh they did bring us fresh chips and two kinds of salsa. Both were very good. We each ordered an entree and then shared them. We had Lobster Tacos (to die for), Grilled Shrimp and Swordfish and a Beef Burrito. We were so full, we didn't even order dessert.

Cagney's: The restaurant was outstanding. Worth the cover charge. The steak was 'like butter'. It was so tender. The Cagney fries were great and my daughter loved the garlic mashed potatoes. The desserts there were wonderful.

Casino: The casino was decent. They had a fair amount of slots, video poker and a decent amount of tables. Blackjack was $10 minimum per hand. They also had 3 card poker and Let it Ride. Let it Ride isn't the same on the ship as it is in Vegas, They don't have the 3 card poker bet that you can make in addition to the Let it Ride bet.

I don't know if it was just this ship and/or sailing but it seemed no one wanted to pay a penny extra for anything. For example, when we were dining in Endless Summer, there were only 3 other tables occupied. But as I stated above, the main dining rooms were packed.

The same in the casino. Most of the tables were empty almost all night. We felt lucky to get more than 1 or 2 other people to play.

We also went to a Sangria Tasting. It was $15 a person. There were only 5 of us there. It was quite a bargain. The chef showed up how to make homemade white and red sangria. Then he served it to us. In the meantine, another chef made all sorts of tapas on a portable cook station. We had about 5 different things. They were all good and there was so much because there only 5 of us. We had a nice buzz leaving there. ;-) The other couple said that the wine tasting they signed up for was cancelled because they were the only people there.

Ports: Here's where it gets interesting.

Cabo: We tendered in Cabo and got off the ship about noon. We walked around the port, looked in the shops along the way and then decided to follow the signs to CaboWabo. We ordered margaritas--which were very good. We didn't plan on staying there for a long time but this band started playing and they were very good. We ended up staying there for a few hours. We had about two hours until the ship sailed so we started to make our way back to the port. My daughter wanted to go back to this jewelry store that was right around the corner from the No Worries bar--which is on the far side of the port. It was pretty hot and I was over shopping so I said to my kids: You guys go back to the store, I'm gonna sit here in the shade. Meet me here in 45 minutes. 45 Minutes came and went. I waited another 15 and then decided we must have missed each other so I walked back to the tenders and went to the ship thinking they would be in our cabin. WRONG.

I called to see if they were on the ship and was told they were not but there was one more tender. Well, they weren't on that one either and I FREAKED out. I tried calling her cell phone from the phone in the cabin and a strange man answered. He spoke limited English but told me he wanted money to let me talk to the kids. Two staff came to the cabin as we were sailing away and I was on the phone with this person. Long story short, my kids ended up with the Port Agent. Both of my kids were drugged in this jewelry store and my daughter was robbed. Her cell phone, an expensive camera and her PASSPORT were taken. Apparently, the people in the store asked them if they wanted a shot of tequila. Would I have taken it? No way. But at age 22 or 24 I probably would have.

The drug did not have a lot of impact on my son as he is 6'6 and about 250. My daughter is tiny.. about 120 pounds. They purchased jewelry and left the store and started walking back to the port. My son said he was hurrying because they didn't want to be late and he got a few steps ahead of her and when he looked back she was gone. So he started looking for her. My daughter doesn't remember a whole lot--she remembers being pulled into an alley and then taken to an ATM machine where the man told her to get money out of her account but she was too messed up to work the machine. So then the guy took her bag and handed her off to another man and he took her through alleys behind the stores and she ended up in the back of the No Worries bar where her brother found her. They went back to the tender area and of course the ship was gone.

In the meantime, Josel from NCL was with me and talking on a ship to shore line with the port agent. She was wonderful--not only during this time but for the rest of the cruise. At some point, she got a call saying the port agent had the kids. We were sailing but I could still see the lights in Cabo. They said we were too far away to send a boat and the Port Agent would find them a hotel and get them to the airport so they could meet the ship at the next port. I had to give him my credit card number to pay for this.

Two days later the kids met the ship in Puerto Vallerta. They couldn't get a flight to Mazatlan so they flew to Mexico City and then PV where they spent another night in a hotel. We had tickets for the Dolphin Swim in PV but they did not want to get off the ship til we got back to the US. Can't say as I blame them.

We had to spend hours with the Senior Security guy on the ship. The port agent told my kids NOT to contact the police or the US Embassy. He took my son's passport and didn't give it back until they got to the airport. (He also kept a necklace my son bought for his girlfriend) The Security guy kept saying but why didn't you go to the Embassy. They were scared and they listened to the Port Agent They were both without passports at this time and my son said he was afraid they would get picked up and thrown into a Mexican jail.

Also, the Port Agent KNEW the people in the jewelry shop (Dorado is the name of the place) He called them while my kids were at the port telling their story and they told him that my kids bought drugs and didn't pay for them and they took my daughter's stuff instead. I know my children are not perfect but I do know they did not try and buy drugs. So the Security Guy on the ship is treating me and my kids like criminals. It was horrid.

At Immigration when we got back to LA, they took my daughter to a private area and seriously interrigated her. She was crying when they brought her back. The guy told us that an American Passport goes for between 5 & 25k in Mexico. They made all kinds of phone calls and then finally we were allowed to leave. But of course, as we're walking through the warehouse we get stopped by 2 more immigration guys. They take us to another room where all of our luggage is searched. I don't mean just looking through it, I mean they took everything out, pulled back lining on the suitcases, swabbed everything with some sort of chemical, Of course, they didn't find anything.

We had problems at the airport but not anything major. We did have a copy of the report we gave to the ship. I was never so glad to be home in my life.

We are now disputing $410 worth of charges on my daughter's cell phone bill. The charges were incurred over three days. My credit card was used for charges of almost $2000 I never made---so that's also under investigation. And we have to worry now about someone stealing my daughter's identity.

As I said Jocel from NCL was wonderful. She did everything she could for us, However, the ship was completely unprepared to deal with this. They didn't know who or how to report a stolen passport to or what the procedure was when we got back to the states. How we would handle the airline? Maybe I'm off base, but you would think they would have some sort of guide or training or something. We cannot be the only people this had happened to.

Despite our problems, you know there is always someone worse off than you are. While we were at the front desk, another man was there and apparently his son was in a hospital in Mexico with his Grandmother and he said.. first the hospital told us they need $4000 in cash now they're saying they need $10000. I hope he made out OK.

Sorry this is so long. But I wanted to warn everyone.

Would I sail NCL again? Yeah I would--just not to Mexico. And I would definitely sail on one of the newer ships.

[rubytue]

Wow! That story is very scary. I'm glad you are all home safe and sound.

[retiredonthesea]

OMG what a heartfelt story, I couldn't imagine this happening to my kids or GD's. We have had tequila at jewelry stores and I must admit have never thought about them being drugged. I just wondered if it was an approved cruise ship store--the ones that have the stickers in the window.

 

Over all your review was very good. I liked your comparison between the ships. We will be on RCCL next Nov. for the first time. It will be fun to see the differences.

 

I hope all goes well with your daughter's passport and all the charges to your CC ect. are removed. Good Luck.

[thunder_lin]

Thank you for your review. I will be travelling with my 19 yr. old daughter so you opened my eyes to what could happen even when you think your safe. I will certainly pay more attention to "things" while in Mexico.

Mexico certainly isn't my favorite place but this cruise just happened to work for us.

I would have freaked had I been on the ship and my kids somewhere else in Mexico. Like you said, it could always be worse, so I guess you can consider yourself lucky that it didn't turn out worse then it did. Your children are safe and that is the main thing. Money means nothing at that point.

I hope your kids and yourself have recovered physically and mentally from your ordeal.

And yes your right, you would think the ship and their security personnel would have procedures in place for incidences like this.

[terrymtex01]

I have to say when I first saw the title to your posting I thought "oh boy.. here is another one exaggerating".. and I almost just skipped it. So many people will use "nightmare" for the least little thing.

 

I'm so glad I did read your post and the only thing I can say is OMG I am SO glad you and your family are all ok. If I ever had read a post where nightmare was appropriate. I really wish there was some way to take all of that awful memory from you but again, Im at a loss for words other than I am so sorry you all had to go through that and so grateful you are all ok.

[rebeljohn]

Sorry to read about your port nightmare. Thanks for the warning about the store. Hopefully, you'll prevent someone else from having it happen to them...........

[jagergirl55]

That is so awful! When we go to Mexico my boyfriend is always so paranoid, I guess he has a reason to be! We will definetly not be going to the jewelry store the next time we're in Cabo.

 

I really hope that your story saves someone else from going thru the same nightmare. I am so happy for you that all of your family is home, safe and sound.

[davejohn]

We got back last week from the Sapphire Princess' Mexican Rivera cruise, and every day in the Patter there was a warning about accepting free drinks and how people have been drugged. I thought it was crazy, but now....yikes!

[rudeman]

Sorry you went through all this but thank you for sharing and opening our eyes to the possibilities of what can happen. I'm no fan of Mexico and usually stay pretty close to the ship but, you'd think that just doing a little shopping would be "okay". Not:mad:

 

Hopefully everything works out for you as best it can under the circumstances.

[PlayTheAces]

Wow. We've been on that same cruise on the Star twice now, and I've never heard of anything like this before. I'm really glad everyone made it back safe and sound, and sure do appreciate the story being shared.

 

This is one tequila drinker who will be pretty careful next time he's south of the border.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Never would have expected this in Cabo!:eek: Glad you're all ok!:)

[Suni99]

All can say is wow! one thing is for sure, if our ship started pulling away with out our kids I would have swung DH overboard so fast your eyes would spin( he is a much better swimmer)...........then I would have met them at the next port.

All kidding aside,although im not kidding:rolleyes:,lol, im glad your family is now safe.

[ketzelacruising]

Thank God you are all home and safe.

We will NEVER cruise the "Mexican Riviera" again- we did it 4 years ago on RCI and the ports and beaches were very, very scary. The only time that I felt safe at all is when we went to a private island on an excursion or on a tour bus. Our children were about 4,5,5, years old and very cute- 3 little monkies around the same age get a bit of attention . Several times in Cabo I swear we were being followed - the guys always seemed to dissipate when they saw my DH. Maybe they had nefarious reasons- like a Mom with 3 youngens might be easily distracted, but it got to a point that I was afraid that one of the kids would be snatched.The beach scene was bizarre as well- we were being so harassed that I finally had DH get a cab and take us back to the ship- this was in Mazatlan. Yes, I know some of this sounds paranoid, but I am not young, not an inexperienced traveler-been all over the world-and am quite saavy at self protection- but these ports truly frightened me.

Having lived in Arizona for 12 years, I can tell you for certain that American passports fetch quite a price in Mexico. My neighbor was a phoenix Policeman and told us that they can be sold for anywhere from One thousand to 15 thousand- depends on what the person in the photo looks like and what other documents are with it-i.e driver's license, scocial security card, etc. This conversation was several months ago after some movers stole DH's passport and all our expired passports, marriage license, etc-yes , the items were were locked up but the creeps still got the stuff.

I have also travelled frequently in various parts of Mexico, but the West Coast cities seem to be the most dangerous- several folks on our cruise had their purses snatched or wallets taken- one family was sobbing trying to get back on the ship at security as the dad didn't even realize that his wallet was gone and he had all the cards...another little lady in her 80's was holding tight to her purse and pushed down- she ended up with a nice cast on her ankle...

This being said, we have a family home in the Yucatan and I have been travelling inMexico for 37 years...and in the Yucatan, well, I always feel safe there. Progresso is never a problem, have stopped going to Cancun as it has grown to such a party town so I can't comment on that- Cozumel is still somewhat charming, andI still feel much safer there than in those Western cities.

 

Again- i am so , so sorry for your horrid experience - and some of the treatment you received afterward is appalling.

 

Many blessings to you this Christmas and Holiday season!

 

Ketzela

 

 

ps- Jilly- I live near Hanover now! Hi, neighbor!

[ketzelacruising]

Now that I am ruminating about your story, I remember seeing an article on a travel website about Ruhiphnoll ( ruffies)that are being slipped into drink samples in ports. I cannot remember if it was Mexico or not, but the drug is the one that gives you amnesia and makes you very weak.

Your story really breaks my heart!

K

[Willie T]

Whoa! I have been given margaritas and beer while shopping and never thought about it. I assummed they figured I would spend more if buzzed. I am paranoid about this at home, but for some reason not in Mexico. My free drink days are OVER! Plus we usually walk around in a small group. Safety in numbers. I leave my passport on the ship, having it with me would make me way too nervous. Going back to Mexico in the fall, but will be very very aware. Thank you so much for the heads up.

[kmc09]

WOW- how awful, but thank you for sharing your story.

 

Glad you are all home safe and sound

[Dukegirl5577]

OMG! That is horrible.

 

As a young woman who went to college during the start of the roofies problem, I am always leery about being offered free drinks when I'm alone or with just girlfriends, yet to be honest, I am not sure I would worry about it if I was with a guy friend (and yet, that happened to your daughter with her brother right there!).

 

And I wouldn't have worried about free drinks at a store...now I will.

 

Your subject line isn't joking...that really was a nightmare!

[mpk218]

I cant even imagine . Thank god no one was seriously hurt. Make sure you daughter puts a freeze on all 3 credit bureau's , its free for her in this case.

[Dukegirl5577]

If you haven't already done so, I'd highly recommend posting the part about the fiasco in Cabo on the Cabo port board.

 

This is definitely something people should be aware of.:(

[terrymtex01]

If you haven't already done so, I'd highly recommend posting the part about the fiasco in Cabo on the Cabo port board.

 

This is definitely something people should be aware of.:(

 

Agreed.. def. a great idea.

[Steph27]

I suggest you contact the New York Times and have them cover your story. Also a major TV network like NBC. From what you said, if you had been with them and also been drugged the ending may have been much worse. Mexico is becoming increasing dangerous. There are more kidnappings there now than Colombia. I am not saying not to cruise to Mexico but people need to be very cautious.

[Lowie]

truly a nightmare. your dd is actually lucky that much worse things didn't happen to her. i'm sure the 'what-ifs' could make a mommy crazy.

 

i'm glad they are both ok and finally home safe. you should really contact NCl about being better prepared for these situations.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Jilly, I am so sorry this happened to you and your family. It is truly a nightmare!

 

I love the suggestion about posting this on the Cabo board to warn others.

 

Not to make light of your horrible experience, but I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed your review. I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of your trip, and I hope everything will be worked out to your satisfaction soon.

[rudeman]

I stuck a link on the ports board earlier this am.

[CanadianTwosome]

Wow. I can't imagine how terrified you must have been for your children! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us and reminding us that 'We're not in Kansas anymore'. I have a 19 year old niece who accepted a beer from a guy in a bar and (thankfully) ended up going out to her friend's car because she didn't feel well... my husband the ex-cop said her description of how she felt sounded like she'd been given Ketamine (horse tranquelizer). We freaked, of course, and told her that's exactly what we'd warned her about many times before and that we hoped she'd learned a valuable lesson, blah blah blah... but honestly, if I hadn't read this I really don't know if I would have even considered it happening in a store. I know that if a store here at home offered a 'sample' of anything, it would be fine - which is what I meant by the Oz quote above... Mexico ISN'T Canada or the US.

 

Also, thank you very much for the great review!! I also appreciated the comparisons; they were very informative. I commend you on being able to be so objective and positive in light of the horrific ordeal you and your family had to endure.

 

Happy Holidays! I hope everything works out and your family remains safe and happy in the future. :)