Review: Norwegian Cruise Line - Star - [October 04 , 2004]

[Net Reviews]

Review By:

Reviewer Comments:

NCL Star - 8 Day Mexican Riviera 10/4/2004 out of Los Angeles.

Embarkation: Absolute nightmare! Some people waited hours to
board - over 4 was the worst case I heard.

Ship: Gorgeous.

Cabin: Had a mini-suite. Very comfortable and nicely laid out.

Ports:

Acapulco - a dump. have to see the cliff divers but once is enough. hearsay
from other passengers - avoid scuba & snorkeling excursions and excursions
that involve jeeps (if they are still being offered).

Zihuatenejo - tender stop. stayed aboard and relaxed in the pool.
Puerto Vallarta - supposed to dock but had to tender due to another NCL
logistical screw-up. nice port worth a return visit.

Cabo San Lucas - did ship's Chileno Bay Sail & Snorkel tour here - excellent.
beautiful place and favorite port of the cruise.

Dining:

Breakfast and lunch on the ship were almost always the buffet. Dinner
generally at an alternative restaurant. Some things were really annoying at
the alternative restaurants, other things were just disappointing. Among
the really annoying - the constant hawking of the Sena wine (apparently they
have established some relationship with Mondavi for this Chilean product and
are "featuring" it). I'm curious as to whether there is a commission for
the servers. One night I had to tell the server 3 times that I knew what
selections I would be making and that they would be by the glass rather than
by the bottle. Also annoying is that there were numerous "additional
charge" selections in the restaurants where I was already paying $15-$20 per
person extra. I'm not talking caviar or foie gras, I'm talking steamed
dumplings in Ginza as an example.

Cagneys ($20/per) - food was excellent. relentless hawking of the Sena
though.

SoHo ($15/per) - more like So Ho Hum. save your money.

Le Bistro ($15/per) - first time (of about 15 experiences on 6 different NCL
ships) I've ever had a disappointing meal in Le Bistro. cold vegetables with
entree and even the standard crème brulee was not properly prepared.

Endless Summer (no charge Tex-Mex) - fresh salsa and very good Mexican.
avoid the tapas however (yesterday's hors d'oeuvres?).

Versailles (one of the two main dining rooms) - this was very good for
selections beyond Tex-Mex or Italian. service was as good as in the cover
charge specialty restaurants.

Ginza ($12.50-15/per) - options here were the sushi bar (a la carte
pricing), teppanyaki, or regular dining. OK except for some service
glitches but the extra $3 for the dumplings was irritating.

La Trattoria (no charge Italian) - excellent pasta and Italian fare
Market Cafe (the buffet) - surprisingly good and they always had stations
for made to order (omelets and waffles for breakfast. saw a pasta one night
and a stir fry another for dinner) with little waiting. for healthier eating
they also always had a fresh fruit carving station for melon, pineapple,
papaya, etc. at breakfast and lunch.

Blue Lagoon (24 hour) - decent selection of bar menu type items (wings,
fries, burgers, soup, et al) any time of the day that was cooked to order.

Entertainment:

Jean Ann Ryan productions terrific as usual. Stardust theater had weird
seats though. Seats seem to go beyond horizontal such that you felt as
though you were constantly sliding off.

Overall Evaluation:

I opted for this cruise because it had the only less than 10-day itinerary
that included Acapulco plus I've been a fan of NCL's Freestyle cruising. As
it turns out, the ports we enjoyed the most - Cabo & Puerto Vallarta - are
included in the 7-day itineraries offered by many cruise lines. The
Norwegian Star is beautiful, however NCL found many ways to screw things up.
Some of the logistics issues may get ironed out in the future as this was
only the second cruise of this new itinerary for them. And, based on
feedback from passengers we spoke with it would seem there will likely be
some revamping of shore excursions as well (I'm certain NCL did not relish
refunding excursion revenue). We found the additional fee alternative
dining restaurants on the Star very disappointing when comparing to our
experiences on other NCL ships. Except for maybe one special evening, I
would avoid the cover charge restaurants on this ship as the value just
wasn't there.