We were on the same ship, the same time.
We ate each night in Aqua, around 6:30 pm in order to make the 7:30 pm show. We had excellent service. No lines, no waiting.
No problems at all.
We ate in the Brazillian and found that restaurant to be very slow service. (I missed that early show and had to go to the later one.)
It is sort of a weird setup, across the atrium you see people in the Blue Lagoon free restaurant. You can hear the music from below decks.
We ate at La Cucina one night and people from the Aqua dining room were eating there. It is an overflow restaurant from that main dining room. Also strange.
Food was fine. Not spectacular, but fine. (ONLY vanilla chocolate or strawberry ice cream each night. Boring but adequate.)
We are going on a Celebrity cruise this summer, (we are actually paying for this one) and I expect the experience there to be quite different than with NCL. Improved varieties of shows and cuisine.
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "johnnyzee48127" <greeklandjohnny@...> wrote:
>
> Just returned from an NCL cruise out of New Orleans 3/17 - 3/25 on The Norwegian Star. My comments on Misscraps email are below ( starting with ** )
>
> --- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Misscraps <misscraps@> wrote:
> >
> > If you have a so-called complimentary cruise certificate from NCL the charges you will pay for includes "guest reservation" (of $175 per person, and everyone has to pay them even though the cruise is so-called 'free') plus "port fees and taxes" which vary depending on ports. This total varies a bit depending on time of cruise, port, type of cabin. These fees total around $300 per person for me for a couple upcoming cruises to Caribbean and Mexico. So that should give u a rough idea.
>
> ** I don't mind the port fees and taxes and but the "guest
> ** reservation fee" was a surprise.
>
> >> Soda onboard also is not free, and if u drink anything except water, coffee, tea, or milk (except juice at breakfast), you might want to consider buying an unlimited soda package (around $7 a day I think). As a casino guest, drinks in the casino are free (they will give u a special card the first night of sailing if u attend a meeting in the casino, an invitation will come to your room), or ask at the casino. If u are thrifty, you can get cans of soda and cocktails at the casino bar and walk with them to dinner or your room. Otherwise booze isn't cheap. You can buy lower cost bottles of booze on the ship or in duty free shops in some ports, but the ship confiscates them and won't give them to u until u land. Some people sneak booze on board but ship's really try to confiscate any brought on board so they can sell u their own more expensive cocktails. Look for the captain's party or other special events that might have a glass or two of free champagne.
> >
> ** NCL lets you bring soda or water on board. I don't think there is
> ** a limit. We bought diet coke and water at CSV in New Orleans and
> ** took it on board with no issue. There is a mini bar fridge in the
> ** room and they will empty it for you on request. Ice is also
> ** delivered to your room twice a day.
>
> ** A 16 oz. Bud in the casino was $5.50. Also, they had some drink
> ** specials. 3 shots of Patron Silver was $12 the last night. Since ** that goes for $50 a fifth, that's a pretty good deal.
>
> ** The bartender at the casino said that he doesn't get the usual 15% ** tip on comped drinks and I was never presented with a slip to sign.
> ** I tipped for my drinks and they were very appreciative and most
> ** people who had their drinks comped seemed to be doing the same.
> ** After the first night, I was greeted by name and my drink was on ** its way to me before I even told they what I wanted.
>
> > Other major cost is shore excursions. In many cases u can save money by waiting to go onshore on your own and buying from people onshore. Check the Internet for tips on each port and sometimes u can buy good packages in advance online.
> >
> ** I'd only do this if I knew the port city pretty well. The big plus
> ** to booking through NCL is they take responsibility for the trip
> ** and will wait a little bit for you if the excursion runs late. If
> ** book on your own and the taxi has a flat tire and you miss the boat
> ** you are on your own. You can save a little by booking on your own
> ** but I like having NCL act in my best interest. They want to make ** sure you deal with reputable companies for your shore excursion.
>
>
> >
> > For first time cruisers the NCL cruises will be nice. For more sophisticated travelers, NCL isn't the best cruise line.
>
> ** after travelling with Carnival several times, I thought NCL would
> ** be a step up. I was wrong. I was pretty disappointed with NCL.
> >
> > Food in the main dining room is excellent, and u don't need to spend extra on the specialty restaurants, though some people do and enjoy them. If u eat early, there is no problem with seating but if u eat at prime times u may want to make dining room reservations, despite "freestyle" promises. The buffet is quite good, especially for breakfast, but we found the dining room much better for dinners. You can order as much as u want, so indulge and order two entrees and two deserts if you like, or order something else if the first appetizer or entree isn't so good. Be prepared to gain 5-10 pounds on cruise. Go crazy with the food, it is part of the fun.
> >
> ** This was the biggest disappointment on the trip. Food in the
> ** buffet was average and food in the main dining rooms was below
> ** average with painfully slow delivery. We sent a complaint to the ** food and beverage manager and he comped us to the Brazillian
> ** restaurant and picked up for a bottle of wine and met us there to ** discuss our issues. We told him that a meal of overcooked,
> ** lukewarm fish should not take 2 hours.
>
> We were told on board that the Norwegian Star was voted the best ship in the fleet for food and beverage. If that's the case, they are in trouble.
>
> Now, anyone can get a bad meal. What we got was consistently overcooked, served lukewarm and took way too long to be served. I think they have some major issues with their food prep and need a major change in how they operate to make it right.
>
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