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Christopher Singleton

Age: 65
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 15+ (various lines)
Cruise Line: NCL
Ship: Star
Sailing Date: October 20th, 2004
Itinerary: Mexico

My wife and I took the NCL Star relocating cruise from Ensenada to Hawaii on Dec 12, 2001. During the cruise we were disappointed in the quality of the food. Most of the time the food was cold or they had ran out. The crew was not very helpful, but we attributed this to it being a new CREW on a new SHIP. Even though we were disappointed, we decided to try the Norwegian Star once more because there were things we did like about this ship, such as the decor and entertainment.

We recently returned from an 8-night cruise to the Mexican Riviera on the Norwegian Star and we have vowed not to cruise with NCL again. We were disappointed once more! The food in the two main dining restaurants was not much better. It got to the point where we had to eat in the specialty restaurants for the last 5 days of the cruise.

We also had to eat in the Blue Lagoon on many occasions just to have warm/tasty food. On the 3rd day, we asked for a hot dog in the Blue Lagoon and found they had ran out. Such poor planning!! Many parents depended on this type of food for their children as a main meal. We just could not understand how they would run out of hot dogs.

Please note below the following, which were very disappointing to others and us:

· Market Place/Buffet: Food always COLD and no creativity with the menu (especially during the breakfast portion). The theme should have been geared towards “Mexican Delights”. After all, this was the cruise venture. WAS IT NOT???

· Not happy with the automatic tip deduction from our onboard account. This should have been optional and not mandatory. We feel that we should tip accordingly to the service we receive (housekeeping/cabin stewards and dinning room waiters). THEY ARE THE ONES THAT WORK EXTREMELY HARD TO PROVIDE US WITH THE SERVICE THAT MAKES US HAPPY!

· Duty Free Alcohol should be delivered to the room on the last day at sea before disembarking. This service always been provided by other cruise lines such as Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, etc. (staff stated that this was a NCL policy). Just imagine seeing senior citizens standing on line to retrieve their request. JUST SOMETHING HEARD OF!!

· The quality of the food, once again was undesirable (3 years later). Imagine your breakfast corn-beef- hash was soupy/watery. Who is this CHEF???

· Finally, the managerial crew was not very cordial and they supervise their employees with a heavy hand. This is not a good sign, because this creates a big turnover of staff. I know that everything is about numbers and money, BUT if the crew are not happy or have to pretend that they are, then this becomes very noticeable.

On the other hand, let me point out on the things that we felt we were very happy with:

· Our cabin service, which we gave additional tip to the cabin stewards who took care of our needs.
· The sanitary stations at all food lines were a welcome idea.
· The disembarking process. This went very smoothly.

I’m very sorry to say that we would not recommend this SHIP or the NCL line to anyone. As I stated previously, (if three years ago it still remains with most of the same problems) it truly reflects that NCL does not CARE due to the fact that the company feels it’s okay to LOSE some customers because there will always be NEW ones!

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