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Devon Berry

Age: 31
Occupation: Dentist
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Norwegian
Ship: Star
Sailing Date: April 30th, 2005
Itinerary: Mexican Riviera

Just back from this cruise and it far exceeded our expectations. My wife and I went on our honeymoon and choose this cruise b/c, frankly, there was no other ship leaving on the 30th. We went with very low expectations, due to the poor reviews the ship and line has gotten via this website and other so called cruise review websites. All I can say is, "WHAT THE @$#% ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT!!!!" This was the best cruise experience we have ever had. We have been on three cruises and this was the best. Best food, best service, beautiful ship, and by far we met the most and nicest people we ever have on any line. We had a blast.

THE FOOD: We are both professionals w/ no kids. We eat out often, 2-3 times per week. We have been to restaurants of all kinds. We live next to NYC so we know very good food. We are not afraid to pay for it either, if its worth it. If you go on this ship do one thing, GO TO THE PAY RESTAURANTS. I will guarantee you will have meals that you would never think came from a cruise. This is not fancy wedding food. We are talking about well prepared, well presented meals with service to match. We ate at all the restaurants and we liked the SOHO the best. Out server was Nellon both nights we ate there and he was terrific. We had a lot of fun with him and he really knew his stuff. The Maitre'd and the sommelier are also VERY fun and VERY knowledgeable. We had lovely bottles of wine with the sommelier helped us pick out and they were decanted for us tableside into nice Schott crystal decanters. The glasses are also Schott crystal, which by the way, we took once we were finished w/ our meal and used at the other bars and lounges. We didn't care much for Cagney's (but only in comparison to some of the nicer New York Steak Houses which only sell prime. Otherwise, it was a very good steak expertly prepared. Word of advice: If you like medium, ask for medium rare. All the steaks and lamb chops we asked for medium, came out a bit overdone, but still were very good pieces of meat which by far surpassed any cruise food we have ever experienced. But, You will pay for these restaurants, which again for us it wasn't an issue as it was out honeymoon and we only had 1 week. The main dining room food was hit or miss and we only went a couple of times. Service is good there and everyone is very nice. The buffet is actually quite good. The have very inventive items for both lunch and dinner and at the end of the cruise I found a cool sandwich station with different kinds of very well made breads and sandwich items. The staff is very friendly and attentive in the buffet rooms as well. In fact, several times my tray was cleared when I was only getting up for a drink, so watch out for them, They are everywhere, cleaning and scrubbing, scrubbing and cleaning. The Blue Lagoon is like a Jersey Diner. You sit and order from a limited menu and the wait staff will bring you the entire. They have excellent burgers, Won Ton soup and AWESOME Fish and Chips. You can also get the fish and chips in the Red Lion Pub which they order from the blue lagoon and bring it to you in the pub. Great beers at the Pub as well.

Drinks: The staff on this ship pushes the booze, and I mean it. You will not sit idle for 10 minutes before being asked to bathe your liver. We went for the buckets of beer which was 6 beers for the price of 5. Definitely worth it. We are basically beer and wine drinkers. Except for when I met Mike, but that's another story. Again, everyone on this ship was cool as hell!!!! Wine list was excellent and beer list was good too. They has Corona, Corona Light, Becks, Bass, Guinness, some microbrews, miller light, MGD, coors light, etc. Pretty much anything you want. Oh yeah, Bud too.

The stops were good but we could have used a couple more hours in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo, but its a cruise.

My only bad report: Getting off and on the ship is a bit cumbersome. The tenders have these dumb tickets, which by the end of the cruise they ceased using, thank God. It really made no sense to have a ship where you can eat whenever you wanted but could only get off when your number was called. Absolutely asinine.

Please don't hesitate to e-mail me w/ any q's

Devon

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