They just opened Manila as their new homeport. My previous cruise experience from a different cruise liner left me with a delightful experience so when Star Cruise advertised that they will be opening a new route MNL-LAO-Khaosiung-HK-MNL, we seriously considered it.

I cant help but compare. The balcony rooms at the 11 deck were we stayed were quite small and the furnishing were spartan and quite dated. The buffet area(Mediterranean) was set like a cafeteria and not much variety. The cuisine in the seatdown restaurants were Chinese and Western but not very tasty. The only complimentary drinks were water and hot coffee and tea. If you want soda or other juices, you have to pay for it. There was one breakfast morning when I asked for a sugar substitute from a Chinese waitress and immediately she said there is none with out even trying to look for one. Almost all the items were not complimentary. Their gym area is quite spacious but then again if you want to go and do solitary laps in their mini (3 strokes) pool you have to pay for its use. Majority of their crew are Chinese who hardly understand English and clearly show their displeasure if you cant understand them as well. The saving grace for this cruise is their very efficient, hospitable, and always willing Filipino crew. They also put up very good live shows ala "Las Vegas".

All in all my experience was just average and maybe I might not be interested in taking a cruise offered by the Star cruises in the future.