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NCL
Norwegian Star Cruise Review
Mexican Riviera

Dee & Steve Stompanato
Age: 70
Occupation: Paralegal
Number of Cruises: 3
Sailing Date: December 11th, 2005

While standing in the 2 hr wait line for embarkation we were handed a paper by NCL staff advising us of the change in itinerary eliminating Acapulco & Ixtapa due to mechanical problems with the ship, saying the ship could not go over 20 knots and could not make it to Acapulco. This was an untruth as we cruised at 22 knots on the way back. We booked this trip in May through American Express and neither our agent or ourselves were advised of the change. NCL made the decision 11/23 to change the itinerary and then continued to sell the old itinerary. Norwegian Cruise "Liars" did not notify the passengers and continued their deceit up until boarding, which was like sheep being led to slaughter and handing the sheep a notice that "NCL has the right!" They took away our right to cancel by delaying the notification. We were told that NCL would not allow cancellation without the 50% fee. We would have offered to rebook when the ship was repaired but were told they would not accept that. We met with the front desk manager to discuss how deceived we felt. I asked why NCL allowed the Garden Villa passengers to cancel at $26,000 each. She claimed one Villa was booked and other was being held as a "prize for the bingo game". Now if anyone believes that, I'll sell you a bridge in Calif! We were in a Penthouse and we heard that one of our Penthouse neighbors was very upset about the change in itinerary and NCL upgraded them to a Garden Villa. My husband suggested to the Front Desk Manager that NCL calculate how much money they saved on fuel by not going to Acapulco and split it with the passengers instead of the $50 allowance they insulted us with. She was like all the NCL Management staff in quoting the small print in the contract "We have the right!"

We heard that there was someone on board who was starting a class action suit. We never met this person and anyone associated with this action but would really appreciate it if anyone knows of a contact as we want to get involved. We are highly offended by NCL.

To substitute Manzanillo & Mazatlan for Acapulco and Ixtapa is an insult. Manzanillo was filthy and the Turtle excursion was an insult to your intelligence. You had to use a bucket of water to flush the toilet! The smart people stayed on the ship.

Instead of Manzanillo & Mazatlan NCL should have given the passengers an extra day in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, both beautiful ports with plenty to do and enjoy. They gave us 5 hours in Cabo which was totally inadequate.

Despite being very upset at the blatant deceit by NCL we did manage to enjoy my birthday trip. We went whale watching in Puerto Vallarta which was the highlight of the cruise. The food on the was just OK so we ate in the Extra charge restaurants which we found to be great. We loved the entertainment and atmosphere of the ship which is quite beautiful, and also quite big. To go from the Penthouse to the Versatile at the end of the ship is 900' which was great exercise but a boring trek. We would take the elevator down about 1/2 way and then walk on the outside.

NCL doesn't appear to care what the passengers felt and had an attitude of not caring if we ever cruised with them again. Well, they're getting just that.

As we told our agent, "never, never, never ever on NCL again!"

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