Norwegian Star Adriatic Cruise Review (June 4 2017)

I've been on the Norwegian Star last week on a 7 night Adriatic cruise. First of all, I'm new to cruising, having only been on one cruise aboard the Escape earlier this year. I had such a wonderful experience that I pulled the trigger almost directly after the first cruise when I found an exceptional deal. They only had a Sailaway Inside cabin available for 399$ and I booked it in a heartbeat.

I'm from Europe, so I arrived in Venice by car the day before the cruise and stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel on a cruise package that included parking and transportation to and from the port. It was well organized by them and I'd recommend this hotel if you need a pre-cruise hotel.

Check-in started around 11 and was without hassle. I boarded in group 4 around 35 minutes later. Passports were collected by NCL staff right after security and just before boarding the ship. I started the cruise by reserving my three specialty dinners in Moderno, La Cucina and Cagney's on nights 3, 5 and 7 respectively. Right after that We had lunch at Versailles and it was really good. Nice to see the lunch menu was a bit different than on the Escape.

They gave the "cabins are ready announcement" around 1pm. We were assigned 11525 and it was really ok. I was afraid that an inside cabin would be claustrophobic but no, it worked for me since I didn't plan on being inside the cabin a lot as this cruise was rather port heavy. The bathrooms are well designed and the shower was even roomier than on the Escape. Our steward was awesome, introduced himself right after we got to the cabin and asked us for our preferences on when our cabin should be done. He was outstanding and made our stay much more comfortable and hospitable! Thanks, Mr Roberto!

Sailing out of Venice is an exceptional experience and a sight not to be missed. Here a few pictures:

Dinner at Aqua was rather crowded. 20' wait at 8.30pm and we were given a voucher for some bubbly while waiting. We witnessed these vouchers being distributed every night around this time. We hadn't witnessed this once on the Escape in April. Don't know if they are a bit short on main dining room capacity on the Star or if we were just lucky on the Escape.

Our first port of call was Dubrovnik and it's a fantastic old town. It's also where many scenes of Game of Thrones are shot. They have Uber in Croatia and that was much cheaper than the NCL tours. The old town was all we visited and wewere happy we didn't book any excursion since the old town is so spectacular.

We had dinner at Ginza and the free choices were good although a bit small in size.

Next port of call was Kotor in Montenegro. Small old town, a bit similar to Dubrovnik. Entirely walkable, rather crowded as Princess Cruises was also there on this day.

On this night, we had a reservation at Moderno and while the food tasted as great as on the Escape, the entire experience wasn't. The space is simply too small for the concept of a Churrascaria. This concept works when there are 300 diners like in the Fogo de Chao or Texas de Brazil restaurants in the US, it doesn't work if there are 30 patrons. It took them ages to bring meat and most guests weren't happy because the skewers were really small with a few pieces of meat only on each. The servers also delivered the worst service of the entire cruise. No photos of the food, however a menu from the main dining room on day 3.

Next day, next port: Katakolon, about 30 minutes from the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Don't use NCL shore excursions. Walk out of the harbour and the first shop on your right will sell sou a bus transfer to Olympia for 10€ roundtrip with 2 and a half hours in Olympia which is plenty enough time to see everything. Tickets to the site and the museums set you back another 12€ in Olympia for a total of 22€ compared to 79$ on NCL. The buses parked at the same spot in Olympia and upon returning there was still enough time for a bit of shopping in Katakolon. Olympia was considered boring by many people on our cruise. I liked it but well, I like the ancient greek history and I felt like I could touch history.

I had dinner at Aqua again and it had a bit less wait this night and no free bubbly. After dinner, we went to see the show in the theater. It was Vegas and featured musical performances of those people you associate most with Vegas: Sinatra, Elvis, Cher, Wayne Newton, Elton John and Celine Dion. It was a great show!

On the fifth day we were in Athens. I don't like it too much. Athens is busy and filthy. We didn't go to see the Acropolis as we've been to Athens before. Fellow cruise mates reported 45' waiting time just to get tickets for the Acropolis. Just outside the main terminal, you can get an Express Bus (the name of the line is X80) to the main tourist areas of Athens. The bus takes 30 minutes and costs 4,5€ for a daily ticket with which you can also ride the subway and other bus lines. Well worth it!

In the evening we had dinner in La Cucina and the service was outstanding. The food was great as well!

Day 6 was a seaday and it was rather crowded on deck. Tough to find a spot in the shadow. I had lunch at the buffet, went to the 10$ sale and they didn't have a single t-shirt or polo shirt on sale. For the rest of the day, I relaxed lazily with a good book and my iPad. Dinner at Ginza and we tried upcharge items. Sushi was great and a good value, the hot stone was a ripoff. I got five! slices of beef for 10$. I don't believe those five slices weighed a total of 3oz. After dinner, we went to the show which was a Parisian nightclub Varieté show and I liked it a lot. Not as good as Las Vegas but still better than what I had seen on the Escape.

Last port of call was Split. Once again, easily walkable. Many people went to beaches but be aware that those aren't white sand beaches but stoney beaches.

On this last evening we went to Cagney's. Great food and excellent service just like it was on the Escape.

Our cruise ended the next morning in Venice. Uneventful disembarkment at 8.30am. Breakfast extremely crowded at the buffet.

Summary:

I had an excellent experience onboard the Star. It was a nice cruise and it was well staffed as far as senior officers are concerned. The captain Mattias from Sweden gave many background information about each port, the cruise director Vincent was a crazy guy and a good performer. The main dining room staff however was lacking big time and no match to the Escape. The cabin steward Roberto was outstanding!

The Star is a beautiful ship and in good shape. I liked the promenade deck to read as it was always really quiet down there. The pool area was only really crowded on the sea day. The water however was always ice cold despite temperatures of around 30 Celsius. Not much seats in the shadow if that's a concern for you.

The food was good but I'd rate it a notch below the Escape in all restaurants across the board. The menus however are almost identical. What I liked better than on the Escape was the Topsiders Grill which meant you didn't have to wear shirt and short to eat a snack by the pool. The buffet was fine but it was really small compared to the Escape. I also didn't like that they didn't change menus or specials for Breakfast during the entire week. The Escape had a different menu in the main dining room every day and specials on the buffet (different pancakes or different eggs benedict every day...) and that made a welcome difference compared to this ship. The worst part of the buffet was their desserts. They were really disappointing. One thing I also disliked was the fact that they operated like a swiss watch. At 3.30 pm exactly, they closed off the lunch side and threw the food away! Despite there being lines full of people returning from excursions... Just keep the stations open and don't refill anything but don't throw perfectly fine food away when people want to eat...

The shows in the main theater were a lot of fun but I can't comment on Bingo, Deal or no Deal, Mr Norwegian Star etc as this kind of entertainment isn't my cup of tea.

Sure, this cruise was port heavy but the bars and casino weren't buzzing. Maybe because the average age was a bit (or a lot) higher than on the Escape. Some people onboard were disappointed that they closed 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar every night at 11.30pm despite the fact that Karaoke here was the only happening place aboard the entire ship. I felt the nightclub (Spinnaker Lounge) really depressing and therefor didn't go there.

Last but not least a few general pictures of the ship:

Thanks for reading this and please ask any questions you might have!

Versailles Lunch on embarment day:

Caesar Salad

Salmon in Vegetable Broth

Sailing out of Venice:

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Cuban Mojo Pork Roast at Aqua

Pistaccio Creme Brulée

Breakfat Waffle at Versailles

Eggs Benedict at Versailles

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Dubrovnik

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Ginza Menu

Orange Peel Beef

Versailles Day 3 Dinner Menu

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Kotor:

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Port of Katakolon

Shopping street in Katakolon

Ancient Olympic Stadium

Ancient Olympic Ruins

Inside the Museum

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Athens:

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Dinner at La Cucina:

Carpaccio di Manzo

Spaghetti Carbonara

Ribeye with Garlic Butter

Tiramisu

Martini Flight at Gatsby's

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Split:

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Great review. My DH and I are looking forward to this cruise in 82 days for our 27th wedding anniversary. I noticed that you said they collected your passport right after security. Did they keep them and if so when did they return your passport to you? Thank you for your review and photos.

Thank you very much for your review. My wife and I are booked on the Oct 22 sailing and we had pretty much planned on doing the same things that you wrote about. So your review provided good affirmation for our plans. This will likewise be our second NCL cruise as we did the Epic Western Med cruise with a Rome stayover last October. This time we are doing London/Paris/ Venice before the cruise. Thanks again and great job!

Great review. My DH and I are looking forward to this cruise in 82 days for our 27th wedding anniversary. I noticed that you said they collected your passport right after security. Did they keep them and if so when did they return your passport to you? Thank you for your review and photos.

Yes, they kept them until day 6 when you could retrieve them in the mid-ship elevator lobby on the floor your stateroom was. If you didn't show up in the timeframe they gave you, they then had a second timeslot in one of their guest service desks. I believe it has to do with immigration in Montenegro which ain't part of the EU.

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Yes, they kept them until day 6 when you could retrieve them in the mid-ship elevator lobby on the floor your stateroom was. If you didn't show up in the timeframe they gave you, they then had a second timeslot in one of their guest service desks. I believe it has to do with immigration in Montenegro which ain't part of the EU.

 

 

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Thank you for explaining how it works with the passports. We have never had them collected on any of our previous cruises, however this is our first Europe cruise so we are expecting things to be a little different.

Can you please tell me how many ports did you have to take a tender?

Can you please tell me how many ports did you have to take a tender?

Not a single one! Sometimes it pays not being on the largest ship [emoji3]

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Gorgeous photos, thanks much!

Great review. We are doing this ship next March. Can't wait.

Thanks so much for your detailed review!! Great pics!

That area is on my bucket list so beautiful!

Thanks

Kerri

I was on this same cruise and ranked it top three of my more than 40 cruises. I was on the Star in 2004 and wasn't sure if I would enjoy being on a now smaller, older ship, but it was fantastic. I only dined at the Specialty restaurants for dinner and all were great. O'Sheehans was great for breakfast too, although I mostly just grabbed some cereal at the buffet. La Cucina and Asian Restaurants were my favorites, dined multiple times at each. In Dubrovnik we just went off the ship to the taxi line and took the panoramic tour... $50 for an hour... it was so great we ended up extending to a four hour tour and it was fantastic. I had private tours scheduled for Montenegro, Olympia and Split. In Athens we took a taxi to the Acropolis. It was very crowded, but I enjoyed it. We also did the changing of the Guard and lunch. Not sure why so many don't like Athens, I did. Split was BY FAR my favorite stop. Awesome tour including a home cooked meal by a family on their farm and I would go back tomorrow. Loved this cruise soooo much!

@Muerz - Thank you for your review. After reading it, I decided to book the same cruise for next month! It will be my first time cruising with NCL, after years of being a loyal Holland America cruiser. Great photos!

@dodge9 - Might I ask, who you used for the Split tour/experience? It sounds wonderful!

@Muerz - Thank you for your review. After reading it, I decided to book the same cruise for next month! It will be my first time cruising with NCL, after years of being a loyal Holland America cruiser. Great photos!

 

@dodge9 - Might I ask, who you used for the Split tour/experience? It sounds wonderful!

Hi It was with a private guide Ante who is beyond phenominal, the tour was called Split Imotski Dalmatian Hinterland Tour. Here is a link to his trip advisor page

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g295370-d5456489-Reviews-Private_Guides_in_Croatia-Split_Split_Dalmatia_County_Dalmatia.html

@Muerz - Thank you for your review. After reading it, I decided to book the same cruise for next month! It will be my first time cruising with NCL, after years of being a loyal Holland America cruiser. Great photos!

 

Thanks, hope you won't be disappointed given Holland America is as far as I know a bit more upscale than NCL.

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Fantastic review we are on the same cruise in September, can't wait, it's only our second cruise, we were on the Epic in may.

Great review and great info. My wife and I will be doing the same cruise next summer