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Name: Ken & Bette Maus
Email: kmaus@worldnet.att.net
Age: 64 & 58
Occupation: Retired supervisor
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: NCL-NorwegianStar
SailingDate: 1/11/98
Itinerary: Western Carribean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 85
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets: 60
CabinSteward: 85
ShoreExcVariety: 50
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 80
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 70
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 90
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors: 80
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 65
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 90
EntertShowLounge: 100
OverallPortsofCall: 75
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 90
CruiseActivities: 95
Casino: 50
AirSeaProgram: 0
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 85
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 80
OverallCruiseValue: 85
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 23 Jan 1998
Time: 01:05:06
Remote Name: 153.37.75.33
Remote User:
Comments
Overall, the cruise was very enjoyable. We traveled with another retired couple in our
same age group and they, too,
enjoyed the cruise as much as we did. The low overall rating was due to problems with the
Air/Sea Program-but more
about that later. The only other problem that disturbed us was an encounter with a very
rude assistant purser who
questioned the validity of my wife's signature on a travelers check. When he realized he
was wrong, he didn't bother to
apologize.
The problems reported in earlier reviews seem to have been corrected. Of course the air
conditioning fiasco was resolved
and there was someone aboard who appeared to be an inspector. He was traveling alone and
every time I saw him he had
either a thermometer or clipboard in his hand. I toured every part of the ship that was
open to the public and didn't see
any evidence of water leaks and towels spread around to absorb the water. the ship did
indeed list but only when it was in
port or in a channel. The list was about 3 degrees which I measured with a level and
protractor. I'll probably never hear the
end of this from my wife who thought I was crazy for bring along these items. At any rate,
on the open sea there was no
problem with a list. The Cruise Opinion page on the Norwegian Star shows a capacity of
1198 passengers. Our waiter said
the capacity was only 800 and the captain said we sailed with only 500 people on board.
I'm sure this had something to do
with the air conditioning problems on two of the previous cruises.
The ports of call were geared mostly to the scuba diving and snorkeling crowd. This
exception to this was the stop at Calica
and the excursion to Cancun which was geared to the younger party animal crowd. We opted
for a tour of Xcaret. I enjoyed
this tour as did most of the others from our ship who went there. My wife and out two
friends didn't share this opinion. We
did the shopping thing Cozemel and Roatan, Honduras. There was a division of opinion on
Roatan: I enjoyed it but the other
three in our group didn't. The show lounge entertainment was excellent. There were three
production shows, a comic, a
comic-magician and a male singer. Much applause and a few standing ovations at each show
confirmed that I wasn't the
only one with this opinion.
And now a few words about the air/sea program. When I called Continental Airlines to
confirm the air reservations, I was
told that NCL cancelled them. The reservations for our friends were also cancelled. I then
called NCL and a reservations
supervisor told me that since I booked thru a travel agent he couldn't give me any
information. I then contacted my travel
agent who in turn contacted NCL and was told that our reservations were reinstated. The
travel agent told me to go to the
airport and that everything was in order. When we arrived at the airport we were told that
we didn't have reservations on
the flight for which we had tickets. We were also told that the flight we should have been
on left an hour before we arrived. I
tried to contact NCL while my wife tried to get standby seats. Through the efforts of a
cooperative and sympathetic
Continental Airlines supervisor, we did manage to get seats. My friends arrived somewhat
later and were very close to not
getting on the flight, but did manage to get the last two available seats. The frustration
and anxiety caused by this debacle
should have never occurred. When I got back home, I had my travel agent contact NCL about
the botched air/sea program
but rather than an apology from NCL I was told that it wasn't their problem.
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