Norwegian Star

[agmakar]

Wow! Small world.....do you get back to visit often? Gotta love the million dollar beachfront homes at Oceanview just down from Little Creek now. Suffolk (20 mins from us) has really expanded, lots of new homes on the lakes out there. Really beautiful!

 

I have'nt been back last 4 years. but we will be going home in April of 2011, maybe sooner if I can find a good time. But at least I have 3 more before I retire and hang my boots up for good. Then It will be canival crusing from Charleston and Norfolk.

 

Oh and RCI if they lower thier prices a little.

 

My house is near the J River nice area off of RT 17.

[roddymac]

My Husband and I had a great cruise on the Star last Jan - same itin. We prefer Carnival, especially for the buffet. My Husband doesn't like the dining room and the Buffet service on Star for Dinner was not good. This is what stands out for me on the Star - 1) Second City Comedy shows - different and very funny 2) bathrooms are compartmentalized with sliding glass door for shower and the toilet is separate as well 3) Dining venues - dining room is very nice but you also have a choice of 6 other restaurants with a surcharge ranging from $10-$25. The $10 choices were a TexMex and an Italian restaurant = both very enjoyable. I am looking at my freestyle daily now and can give you more info if you like.

[agmakar]

Is the STAR the sister ship of the SKY or the DAWN?

[tiyana4]

Is the STAR the sister ship of the SKY or the DAWN?

 

According to cruise deck plans dot com, the Gem and the Pearl are the same length and hold the same amount of passengers as the Star (971 ft long and 2800 respectively). Based on size alone, it appears that the Sky and the Sun are sister ships.

[Spaniel Lover]

I have cruised five times with Carnival and once with NCL, on the Norwegian Star. All my cruises have been out of Southern California. I've cruised on the Carnival Elation, the Carnival Spirit, and the Carnival Paradise.

 

The Carnival Spirit and the Norwegian Star cruises make a great comparison, as both were long cruises down deep in to Mexico. I really thought I was going to like NCL, because the whole "freestyle cruising" concept sounded like it was designed just for me. On paper, it sounded great. However, I really doubt I'll ever cruise with NCL again because I truly enjoyed all of my Carnival cruises more.

 

As far as the ships themselves... the Norwegian Star and the Carnival Spirit (as well as the Carnival Splendor) are VERY similar. All are fairly new, and have the modern things you want on a cruise ship. However, the Carnival Spirit and the Carnival Splendor have wi-fi available in the cabins, which the Norwegian Star does not. And the Carnival Splendor has the big screen TV out by the pool, which is fun. So, while the ships are fairly comparable, you have to say that the Carnival ships are a little bit nicer.

 

What I found more striking than the difference in the hardware (the ships) was the difference in the software (the actual on-board experience).

 

The biggest thing was that I found the food to be much more enjoyable on all of the Carnival cruises I had been on than it was on the Norwegian Star. By the end of the cruise, my wife and I just were not looking forward to meals as much on the Norwegian Star as we do on any Carnival cruise. The food just was not as good. Enjoying the food is really important! Nothing can put a damper on a vacation as much as not liking the food.

 

The beds on Carnival's ships are also a lot nicer than the beds on the Norwegian Star. In fact, they're not even in the same league. A good night's sleep on a comfortable mattress makes a huge difference in a week's vacation. Spend a week on a bad bed (and with bad food, too) and you really start looking forward to getting home.

 

I really liked the idea of the specialty restaurants on NCL, but in reality it didn't work out well for us. For example, we had been tremendously looking forward to the Tex-Mex specialty restaurant on the Norwegian Star. We had often joked about the irony of how little Mexican food was available on Carnival's cruises to Mexico. So, the idea of having a Tex-Mex restaurant onboard sounded great to us. We fantasized about having perhaps 2 or 3 meals there during our cruise. However, after the first meal, we abandoned that plan! The portions were small, and it just wasn't that good. It just didn't compare favorably to any Mexican restaurant we had ever been to. Ever! And on top of that, the tables were crammed so close together that it was completely impossible to have a private conversation. What good is it to have a table for two when it is literally two feet from tables on all sides?

 

There was a long list of other little things that I noticed about they way they did things on the Norwegian Star that were inferior to the way they did them on all the Carnival cruises I had been on. All these things added together made me decide that the Carnival experience was superior to the NCL experience.

 

For example:

 

When they serve you a dinner roll on Carnival, the roll is warm and they give you some softened butter along with it. Softened butter is easy to spread on a dinner roll. On the Norwegian Star, the rolls were cold and the butter was chilled. Chilled butter is impossible to spread on a dinner roll!

 

How about a nice hamburger for lunch, out at the pool? On Carnival they toast the bun and then they put a hamburger patty on it that has just come directly off the grill. So, everything's warm and tastes like it just came off the grill... because it did. On the Norwegian Star they cook up a bunch of hamburger patties in advance and place them in a metal warming tray in the buffet line. Next to it is a stack of hamburger buns at room temperature, not toasted or grilled at all. So, the bun is at room temperature and the patty tastes like it was cooked at least a half hour ago, because it was.

 

You can read more about my experiences on the Norwegian Star (and see lots of pictures) over at http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/NorwegianStarCruise.html

[katiel53]

We have sailed on NCL two times to Alaska. We sailed NCL Star and NCL Pearl. We had mini suites on both cruises. I do think the cabins were smaller than the mini suites on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. They were more the size of a standard balcony cabin. I think that more space is used in the bathroom areas so that leaves lesser room in the main cabins.

 

I thought the food in the MDR was terrible on both cruises. It seemed to me that there was a lot of cheap food at lunch and dinner. Lots of hamburger meat entrées. On Pearl we went to the specialty restaurants every night with the exception of lobster night. We did enjoy that food and decided that if we sail on NCL again, we will just budget for the specialty restaurants nightly.

 

I thought the buffet for lunch was far better than those on Carnival. No real lines like there are on Carnival. There are also other options for lunch that were good.

 

I don't think service is as good as Royal Caribbean or Carnival. I think Carnival and NCL stretch their cabins stewards too much resulting in service that is just ok, not great. In the dining room on NCL, I think there are some of the worst waiters/waitresses that we have encountered on over 70 cruises. On Star we ended up having the same waitress most nights and she told us at least 5 times every meal that there were other venues to have dinner. She also never brought coffee that was ordered even though it was the beginning of the meal. Not even with dessert would she bring coffee. We also had servers who noticed we ate very little of a meal because it didn't taste good, and never offered to bring something else as they would have on Carnival or RCCL.

 

The shows on NCL were great! We were also fortunate that on the Pearl we had free drinks in the casino. I think it was a trial and has since been discontinued. It was great while it lasted, lol.

 

I would definitely sail NCL again. I would though, as I said, plan to have dinner at the specialty restaurants rather than have dinner or lunch in the MDR's. One thing that I forgot to mention is that NCL I think, still has, a Romance Package that was $79. It includes sparkling wine (Cheap champagne) along with chocolate covered strawberries at boarding, dinner for 2 at Le Bistro with wine, and a reception with a free picture for those celebrating honeymoons, anniversaries etc. We haven't gone to the reception, but did enjoy the other things.

 

As with all cruises, go with a positive frame of mind and you will get the most out of your vacation. Enjoy!