Norwegian Star Mexican Riviera 21-29 Feb

Embarkation: Being on a Cruise Only basis we made our own way to the terminal by 12.15 and were in our cabin by 12.50 which is good and in fact faster than we managed to check-in to our hotel in Las Vegas post cruise! It may have helped being non U.S./Canadian citizens since their queues were a lot longer. Only complaint was that it took 6 hours for our luggage to reach the cabin.
Stateroom: Mini-Suite 11178 Deck 11 was as expected since we had checked one out on Jewel a while back. 28ft x 10 ft plus a 7ft balcony means enough room to relax although the layout was a little odd with only 2 drawers and a wardrobe opening out on to the side of the bed. It later turned out that its position, right under the entrance to the Market Café, led to a fair amount of noise from trolleys late at night and early in the morning. We met a couple staying in another cabin midships under the other entrance and they had the same problem so it is down to sound proofing or the lack of it.
Ship: We have been on both Dawn and Jewel so Star completes the set as far as this class of ship goes. All share the same basic layout but with some fairly major differences in some of the public areas; I am working on a comparison set of photos to show the differences but a quick check on the deck plans will give you some idea. Which one is best? Overall I would say Dawn but Jewel being the newest has some nice touches although the loss of the pub is not one of them!
A major plus point is that NCL continue to employ a lot of Filipino staff who are unfailingly friendly and helpful unlike some from the Caribbean or Indian sub continent.
Food: We prefer to eat breakfast from the buffet but outside which is quieter so the layout on Jewel is far better with a large area all around the stern rather than on Star where the only option is poolside. The variety and quality were quite good, bread rolls being particularly mentionable, and we had no problem with queuing either.
Dinner was taken in a variety of the restaurants; Versailles (grand setting but can get noisy) and Aqua (smaller, more intimate but why they have a large glass window into the cold food preparation/storage area who knows) being the 2 main non chargeable ones. Unfortunately the quality and variety of food left a lot to be desired and has certainly declined from previous experiences – no steak on the always available option!
We sampled Cagneys (extra charge) where the steak was excellent as you would expect and also La Trattoria (no charge) on 2 occasions. Why 2? Since the pizzas on the first occasion were inedible and we thought we would give them a second chance; wrong move since the spaghetti came rolled up like a hair braid! They also managed to mess up the décor; roller blinds are lowered around the buffet area to give the impression of an Italian landscape and very effective it is too when done properly. When the blinds have been put back in the wrong sequence it looks…. well you can imagine.
Ports of Call: We had no problems with queues at any port including tender ports but, as usual, the photographers were always in the way; why can they not go to one side and let those who want a photo with a stuffed dolphin get out of the way of those who do not?
Manzanillo; Should have listened to the excursion consultant and taken one! Went to town and left 30 minutes later to have a look at the hotel zone which turned out to be simply that; lots of all-inclusive hotels and not a lot else.
Puerto Vallarta; did the Jungle Tour and got badly bitten by mosies so do take repellent – they never bite me normally. Stopped off in town on the way back and found a superb little bar in the flea market serving steins of margarita at a very reasonable price!
Mazatlan; Deer Island ocean kayaking seemed like a good idea but my muscles are still aching. It was Carnival when we were there so were advised not to try to go to town since a) taxis were short on the ground and had raised their fares and b) most things had closed down so went to the shopping area around the dock and found another margarita bar frequented by our cabin steward and a group of his mates.
Cabo san Lucas; Arriving early morning and sailing early afternoon meant an early start to beat the organised tours (pre 8.00 a.m.) Unfortunately most shops and bars did not start that early so just strolled around the town till they opened and then went back to the ship. It seemed a good place to stay longer but time did not allow; Oosterdam was there at the same time but was not due to sail until 5.30 some 4 hours after us.
Disembarkation: To be fair it went as smoothly as embarkation until we hit the U.S. Immigration desk for which NCL are not responsible. We elected to leave our cabin at around 9.00 although we were not due to disembark until 10.30 and had no problem finding a seat around the pool although when we went down to the Atrium area as called it was crowded to say the least. We left the cabin early since it appears that the stewards are now expected to look after 34 mini-suites between 2 of them! Remember this includes making them up in the morning and then turning them down at night before even considering changeover days. Overworked. As a point of reference the maids in our Las Vegas hotel only had 24 rooms to look after once a day!
Overall:
For a variety of reasons to follow I could not recommend anyone to go on an NCL cruise currently unless they expect something similar to what I believe Carnival to be like – and I have been alongside some of their ships in various ports and hear what is going on!
Dress Code is stated but not followed; shorts and singlets on men were commonly seen around the ship at night in various bars and one man was even seen in Reception at 9.30a.m wearing only swimming trunks.
Cruise Director should definitely have been on Carnival- It seems there is a TV show called something like “Live at Five” in the States. She attempted to replicate this in the Red Lion pub at 5.00 one evening and the opening challenge was that the first woman clad only in a towel to come to the pub would win a prize! By 5.30 nobody had appeared. What was worse was that her staff were trying to play games with beach balls in the pub; beach balls being thrown around and full glasses of drink do not mix and the obvious spillage all over one woman occurred.
No daily newsletters are available; if you want one you have to pay something like $4 per day! I call that a rip-off.
Prior to sailing I was leaning over the balcony watching what was going on dockside; 5 balconies along a youth of about 12 was spitting down at the dock workers – not being able to reach them he went back inside and then started flicking spoonfuls of ice cream at them instead (there was a birthday party going on according to the sign on the door) and remember he was in a mini-suite!
Lifeboat drill was a complete farce with nothing being said to anybody either on the tannoy or by the muster crew and one group of passengers getting their photo’s taken in lifebelts; only problem was that adult belts do not fit 6 year olds but no staff member even spotted this. It would have been a joke if it were not so serious.
When we booked the cruise it was with an onboard credit of $300. This did not show by day 3 so we queried it and left copies of the relevant invoices. On day 6 we received a letter saying that we did not have such credit and that they had been in touch with our TA in the UK who had confirmed this! Same agents Pobore uses. I immediately emailed my TA( not to mention told their financial accountant that they were wrong) from the ship who sorted it out within 12 hours and the credit appeared. Only problem was that the email onboard is extremely expensive, with a set-up charge applicable, and I had incurred $25 charges sorting out their problem. I asked for a refund and was told nobody on the ship had the authority to grant this! All I was given was a card for Customer Services and told to ring them. This I duly did, since we were in Vegas, only to be told that they would do nothing since the booking had been made in the U.K. so to contact that office! I have written to the U.K. office but am not holding my breath.
We have completed the questionnaires as given and can only conclude with the answer to the question “Would you cruise with NCL again?”
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!
Peebeegee