Norwegian Star Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,583 reviews

Good times in the Mexican Riviera

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Norwegian Star

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
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Entertainment
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Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2018
Cabin: Inside
Traveled with children

We chose this cruise as we are about 1/2 way between NOLA and LA. Last year we did a 9 day out of NOLA and had a great time. This year we tried the West Coast. The Star is a great ship. I am sure there will be plenty of negative reviews about this sailing. It was 100% booked. As a result there were times where there was a line or a crowd. It wasn't a big deal. Although some will make it out as though it was horrible.

Embarkation: We took an Uber from our hotel in Long Beach. It was $13 and we had a stay and park package with the hotel. 7 days parking included with a 1 night stay at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown (great area, would have enjoyed a longer stay). We arrived an hour before we were allowed to enter the building. We as well as about 100 people stood outside the door, but there were benches that sat about 30 people right there, as well as ledges farther down to perch on. The weather was chilly, but nice, and the porters took our luggage as soon as we got out of the Uber, so we only had to deal with our carryon. They opened the doors at 0930 for us to check in and go through security. It was a quick and smooth process. All four of us had our cruise/room cards in about 10 minutes. Based on our arrival time, we were in Group 1. We waited in the waiting area until around 1130 when boarding started. NCL provided orange juice and water for those waiting. The NCL Staff were a very organized and a well trained group of people. Once boarding started at 1130, they scanned our cards and looked at our passports and we were headed to the ship.

With such an early boarding time, the rooms aren't available until after 1330. Once on board, we immediately went to O'Sheehan's for lunch. We were seated quickly and ordered wings and nachos. The food was great. As my wife and I had the Ultimate Beverage Package (UBP), we also had drinks. The kids had the soda package, so they had Pepsi (Pepsi, diet, orange, lemon lime, and ginger ale are the soda offerings). I had a Lagunita's Little Sumpin' (best beer on the ship). Then we explored the ship. It took a while for all the luggage to be delivered to all the cabins (duh! the ship is 100% full). Not a big deal. We signed 1 child up for Splash Academy (11 years old) and swung by Entourage! for the 15 year old to check it out.

Cabin Review

Inside

Cabin IC

Nice room, liked that there were charging ports by the head of the bed, watch out for the corner of the light by your head, it has to be low because of the potential for a bunk, but the corner ends up being right by where your head will be when you are laying down! Our son and my wife both hit their head on the corner of the light! The mattress was a little hard for our taste, but we slept fine. The room was always clean, and our Steward was polite and accommodating. Several times our children wanted to hang out in their room, so she wasn't able to go in to clean/turn down, but she always checked with us to see if there was anything they needed.

Port Reviews

Puerto Vallarta

Clean, felt like it could be a town in the USA....lots of recognizable stores. We walked along the main road near the ship, busy 4 lane road with a sidewalk, but we felt perfectly safe. Reasonable prices for the souvenirs.

Cabo San Lucas

Tender was fast, crew was efficient. Town was nice, stayed on the boardwalk along the bay, saw a wild sea lion, lots of pelicans, lots of bars. People selling items all along the boardwalk, too many taxi drivers and glass bottom boat offers. Felt completely safe walking.

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