Norwegian Star Adriatic Coast 22 Oct - 29 Oct 17

Hi folks, we had been on the star about 18 months ago on the Norwegian fjords itinerary..

And we loved the ship so much

...we have decided to come back and do the Adriatic Coast out of Venice and would like to share some of memories from the cruise.

We booked the cruise quite late because it was quite a good deal and we took a guaranteed outside cabin....we were given deck 4 porthole....not exactly where we wanted....but hey ho, you can't win them all, as we have had some great upgrades on some cruise lines.

As we had booked late...airfares to Venice were expensive, so we opted to fly to Verona instead at less than half the price( being budget conscious, we are able to do 2 cruises every year instead of one)

On exiting the airport , on the right there is a bus that runs every 20 mins to the train station, it cost €6 and takes about 10 mins. The train to Venice Santa Lucia took 1 hr 10 mins. We had pre bought our train tickets online....they sent us a link..and we printed the tickets off ourselves, cost £9.35 each.We were stood in Plaza Roma at about 1.00pm with plenty of time to embark.

Once I have figured out how to post photos, I will carry on this review.:cool:

Look forward to seeing your additional posts and photos.

Keith

Verona airport bus to train station.....then arriving in Venice by train

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Opposite the bus station is a tobacconist where you can buy your tickets for the people mover €1.50 pp which is 30 yards to the left....then a bit of a walk to the ship

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And at last we've made it to our cabin

We decided to go to O'Sheahans for lunch...apart from the main dining rooms, this is our favourite place for breakfast and lunch, food is always good and has the best selection of beers, we really liked the Angry Orchard cider....and don't forget to check in on the right hand side to get your table....so our first meal on board was the Salmon Caesar salad....afterwards we were off to take sail away photos of the magnificent Venice.

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We opted for Ginza for dinner, the oriental restaurant complimentary for everyone...the food and service was good....washed down with a couple of glasses of Berenger White Zinfandel

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....So to the welcome onboard show, the one thing we must say the entertainment and cruise director Tom and his team on this ship has been excellent.

Its now on to Gatsby to listen Dave the piano man and have a few cocktails...and if your favourite cocktail is not on the list...tell the bartender what you like and they will make it for you...we find this definitely the best drinks package of the cruise lines we have sailed on...It does help being Free 

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Loving this review! Going on the Star in March! Pictures of the casino please?

We were on the same cruise. Love your reviews. More please 😀😀

Loving this review! Going on the Star in March! Pictures of the casino please?

The casino had about 8 tables roulette and craps, ~150 slot machines, video poker and a video poker bar. Hoping the OP took a picture...I didn't have time to because I lost my money so quickly :loudcry:.

Glad you loved it.

Day 2 and we on route to the beautiful city of Dubrovnik arriving about 1.00pm. We both had a lie in this morning after 1 or 2 too many long island iced teas last night, we ambled to O'Sheehans bout 10.am for a nice breakfast platter.We are now ready to tackle the day ahead.

When we heard the announcement that the ship had been cleared, we headed for the gangway( which was only 30 yards from our cabin)

There was always 2 gangways to use, and there was never a long queue or problem to get off the ship.

We don't do tours, some people love them, some people hate them, I suppose its whatever makes you feel the more comfortable when going out and about. We are DIY ers and find doing a little research about the ports, 2 or 3 weeks before the cruise will keep us on the beaten path.

Once outside the ship, 20 yards to the right, there is a ticket office and ATM.

We took out 100 kuna (just over £12 with commission)

And purchased return bus tickets to the old city, 12 kuna

Each way, nearly all of the shops took £$€ but local buses only took local currency.

We took the #3 bus for the 10-15 main journey to pile gate, #1a and #1b also would have got us there, and #1a back.

Thanks for the nice comments...hope you are enjoying [emoji122]

We have been to Dubrovnik on other cruises and done the wall and cable car, so took a lazily 2 1/2 hour stroll around the Old Town , with its narrow side streets, squares, quaint cafe's and bar's, buying a few souvenirs before heading back to the ship....it really is a lovely place.

For those interested....the prices at the moment are.. cable car is 140 Kunas

Walking the outer wall is 150 Kunas and there is a small Aquarium at the far side 80 Kunas for adults, 20 Kunas for children.

At the time exchange rates were about 6 kn to $ and 7.80 kn to the £.

Once back on the ship, we headed to O' Sheehan's for a late lunch and a couple of Strongbow cider... I forget to mention O' Sheehan's is more or less a 24 hour eating establishment....we also checked out the market cafe on deck 12

Which was serving after 3.00pm teatime , a selection of wraps, sandwiches, cakes and scones all looking very nice.

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We went to the early show at 7.30.....This was the ships own ensemble cast...8 guys and 8 girls of very talented singers and dancers...straight after the show most of the cast stood outside the theatre in their fancy costumes, so you can meet them and take photos and selfies with them...a very nice touch.

After a few cocktails at Gatsbys, we went for dinner at the Aqua main dining room.

Question for the old time cruisers here...Do you remember when NCL menus were about 5 or 6 courses long, Starter, Soup, Salad, Main course and desert, tea or coffee ?

As you probably know the menus have now been condensed to starter, main and desert, not just here but it seems all main stream cruise lines.

We decided to eat old style and have the 5 courses.

The food was good and hot,

The Mrs had the Sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce and I had the chicken dish.

Then it was off for a few more cocktails.... Melon ball for me,

Disaronno and coke for the Mrs before retiring for the evening....early rise for Kotar in the morning.

I forgot to mention...somewhere in the day we went to the Spinnaker lounge for our first trivia...we didn't win but it was good fun.

I will tell you my casino experience tomorrow.. I only have a stock photo for the casino.

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Day 3 and we arrive in Kotar, Montenegro on time.

The town is literally a stones throw from the ship, this morning we went up to the market cafe and made up what us Brits call a 'full English'.

Kotar seems quite a small town, built into the side of a mountain, with some kind of fortress built far up into the mountain.

After such a big breakfast I don't think I will be walking up there, I'm sure the views will fantastic but I need to save my legs for the rest of the cruise.

I'm just glad the Mrs agreed with me.

It was a short stay as the ship was leaving at 2.00pm.

Similar to Dubrovnik's old town , you walk through the main gate to discover narrow streets , cafés in the squares old churches and plenty of souvenir shops.

If we had wanted to walk the mountain fortress, it would have cost us €3 each for the privilege. We did see 2 or 3 entrances to climb the steps of the mountain as we wandered round for about 2 hours with the Mrs getting a few Souvenir's and me...the usual fridge magnet....remember only 20 kilos on the plane lol .

Once back on board, we headed to the market cafe for lunch and swig down a few Heineken's.... After a few days, you soon get into the routine...This is the life......then to the cabin for a well earned snooze.

There was always plenty to do onboard, so never a dull moment....but we just followed the Trivia's as this is what we like.

I was also impressed with the selection of TV channels in the cabin. There was premier league football live, BBC and sky news, as well as news channels from other countries.

Also movie channels in eng, ita, frc and ger. The times of films listed were clearly shown in whichever language you wanted to watch them in.

They were recent films as we had not seen any of them before. The ones that stand out was The Mummy with Tom Cruise and King Kong with Samuel L Jackson.

Tonight we had dinner in the Versailles main dining room, a beautiful and elegant room.

As we were escorted to our table... I noticed former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis having dinner with his wife and friends....as I'm a big boxing fan, I was hoping to meet him and have a chat and perhaps a photo with him.

We did see him on another night eating in the Aqua D R, but unfortunately our paths didn't cross the rest of the cruise . Dinner as usual was excellent.

Tonight we gave the show a miss.....because I wanted to play Texas hold em poker in the casino....bring em on !

The Mrs wasn't happy. She doesn't gamble.

Hi BonstersD....the casino is just as lastpitchdad described, quite a big casino compared to some I've seen on other ships.

Its also a place where passengers are allowed to smoke. They try and keep it to one side, but the smoke is soon all over the place, especially when its busy.

As for the poker.... It never happened....there was not enough cash players to get it going...

There was also meant to be 2 Texas Hold em tournaments...

I don't believe these went ahead either.

So it was back to Gatsby's for more cocktails before bed.

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If anyone has any questions about the ship....please feel free to ask.....as I may be able to help you out.