Live Report- Norwegian Star May 11th-21st 2023. Is this my last time on a small ship?

[ConnieTact]

As I draw this thread to an end, I guess I’d better answer my question. Was this sailing my last time on a smaller ship? 
while I think I prefer larger ships, I have to say I have enjoyed the size of the Star. It is easier to navigate around but the quality of entertainment meant we didn’t need lots of choice. I have been on large ships that cannot accommodate us sitting in a music venue at night (Norwegian Prima) but we found seats every time we wanted them in Gatsbys and The Bliss Lounge. 
It was easy to bump into our friends and the ship had a friendly feel and maybe that is because it was smaller. The majority of people onboard were from U.K. or USA. Sometimes we have been on sailings with lots of German or Italians and I wonder if the lack of a shared language made those sailings feel less friendly. 
This itinerary was a special one and ‘for sure’ a ‘grand’ one we won’t forget. I think it could only do a lot of these ports because of the smaller sized ship so that is a consideration too.

In conclusion, I would and actually probably will, book a cruise on a smaller ship but we have another couple of cruises coming up soon. Both on larger, newer, MSC ships. Having said that, the stellar light of this Star is well worth following! 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by ConnieTact

[susansch2]

3 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

….and we’re back home. MrCT taking all the burden of the luggage to save me any discomfort. We’ve been on the Star for 10 wonderful days but I’ve taken the real star home! 😍⭐️

It was so nice to meet you at breakfast today. I’ve loved your writing and pictures, especially Dingle mini bus pics! 

[ConnieTact]

1 minute ago, susansch2 said:

It was so nice to meet you at breakfast today. I’ve loved your writing and pictures, especially Dingle mini bus pics! 

I hope you enjoy a few more sunny days in London. Safe journeys. 🌸

[insidecabin]

I mentioned we did Spike Island while in Cobh.

 

I was thinking while walking round this should be on Abandoned engineering.

 

Series 6 episode 11 from 2020.

Must have seen it but will be watching again soon.

 

Set record of repeat on Yesterday(UK) 25th May 8am.

[susansch2]

2 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

I hope you enjoy a few more sunny days in London. Safe journeys. 🌸

It looks promising! 

[bluesea777]

@ConnieTact

 

Great review and photos! And to answer to your topic question ... NO! Not your last time on a smaller ship!

 

We have been on all NCL ships, except the Sky and Prima. We have enjoyed all our cruises, however, each ship has its own pros and cons. For port intensive cruises we prefer smaller ships, Spirit being our favourite (you gotta try her sometime!), and for longer cruises with several sea days (like transatlantic) we prefer the larger ships.

 

Remember very large ships cannot get to the ports where the smaller ships can, so when you book cruises you need to decide: itinerary vs ship. For this reason we chose Spirit for our upcoming two back to back Alaskan cruises and chose the new Viva for our transatlantic in Nov.

 

Enjoy planning your future cruises!

 

[ConnieTact]

12 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

@ConnieTact

 

Great review and photos! And to answer to your topic question ... NO! Not your last time on a smaller ship!

 

We have been on all NCL ships, except the Sky and Prima. We have enjoyed all our cruises, however, each ship has its own pros and cons. For port intensive cruises we prefer smaller ships, Spirit being our favourite (you gotta try her sometime!), and for longer cruises with several sea days (like transatlantic) we prefer the larger ships.

 

Remember very large ships cannot get to the ports where the smaller ships can, so when you book cruises you need to decide: itinerary vs ship. For this reason we chose Spirit for our upcoming two back to back Alaskan cruises and chose the new Viva for our transatlantic in Nov.

 

Enjoy planning your future cruises!

 

Thanks Bluesea!

 

We have actually booked Spirit 3 times but only sailed her once! Two sailings were cancelled due to covid and a family bereavement.n

We went to Haifa on her and enjoyed that cruise a lot.

I agree a big ship for sea days and transatlantic crossings and smaller for the port intensive. Smaller older ships are often offer bargains too! 
Enjoy your cruises too and thanks for following along! 
 

[insidecabin]

Enjoyed seeing the places we never went to.

 

Being eyeing up the Spirit we really liked it and want to try it with new layout/refurb.

 

Might need to splash out on the flights and do Alaska, cruises are very reasonable.

[bluesea777]

59 minutes ago, ConnieTact said:

Thanks Bluesea!

 

We have actually booked Spirit 3 times but only sailed her once! Two sailings were cancelled due to covid and a family bereavement.n

We went to Haifa on her and enjoyed that cruise a lot.

I agree a big ship for sea days and transatlantic crossings and smaller for the port intensive. Smaller older ships are often offer bargains too! 
Enjoy your cruises too and thanks for following along! 
 

Were you on the Spirit in Feb 2020 from Rome to Dubai? She went to Haifa. We were on that cruise!

 

 

[ConnieTact]

9 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

Were you on the Spirit in Feb 2020 from Rome to Dubai? She went to Haifa. We were on that cruise!

 

 

We were on the Spirit in November 2016.

in Feb 2020 we wee enjoying the brand new MSC Grandiosa!

The Spirit was a friendly ship & I remember there were awful fires in Haifa at the time and we saw some from the ship! I was surprised we were allowed off for our excursion but we were!

[insidecabin]

Well that was a surprise email late last night $100 FCC for drinkgate.

 

With the 1/2 price FAS offer I feel a new booking is in order.

 

Also was not aware this was a insider triple got us 40points closer to Diamond 

[Bootravel]

On 5/13/2023 at 3:50 AM, ConnieTact said:

Well, I always bring my own little travel kettle, mug and tea bags! I enjoy my ‘Lady Grey’ tea black so I am self sufficient that way. Officially this is not allowed, and I do pack it away when I leave the cabin. 
My friends onboard, asked for a coffee maker and they received it. This may be fine for most but I am particular and don’t like to have hot water that has run through a machine where coffee has been! I don’t like coffee and sometimes I haven’t liked the coffeemaker machines provided. If one has tea with milk, and sugar, they may well be happy with the machine. It’s just for me, with a delicately flavoured tea, it is best to have good water.
I hope this answers you question. Maybe someone else on this sailing, can upload a picture of their coffee machine and give information if any extras are provided, eg teabags or coffee and creamers?

I loved reading this and it’s so helpful! We are on the Dawn in September. How is the Dublin port tender? And, I hope alcohol is back by then! 
cheers!

[Bootravel]

On 5/17/2023 at 1:39 PM, ConnieTact said:

Sadly, I would not recommend this tour. The coach was late leaving, hit traffic and was freezing cold. We didn’t stop until we got here so no way to tell them we were cold as yelling from the back didn’t work! 😅Also tour guide didn’t know how to use his mic so nearly all of it could not be heard. 
He was alerted twice by my calling out but I gave up on the end. Apparently he put the mic between his legs so that’s why we couldn’t hear him. 

Our ships in the background of that third photo- across the bay!

 

Which tour is this?

 

[ConnieTact]

1 hour ago, Bootravel said:

Which tour is this?

 

GLWN05 THE BURREN AND THE AILLWEE CAVES from Galway.
It was the lack of time at the actual caves or Burren mainly. Most of the time we were in the coach. Also, the owner of the coach company stood in, (I think!), and the commentary was the worst we have ever heard! 
On the way, we mostly didn’t hear him as he kept putting the microphone between his knees as he sat down so it wasn’t picking up sound! 
I yelled down the coach a few times ‘We can’t hear you,’ but he couldn’t hear me either! 😂

We were also freezing in the coach. When we got to the destination, after 90 minutes, I told him we were freezing and he just said, ‘why didn’t you tell me?!’ 😅
The caves were worth the visit and the guide was very good. We were only there for 45 minutes and stood outside the coach for another 15 waiting to get in. The cave gift shop was closed so there was no access to water, food or gifts. 
The trip was 3 3/4hrs, but if you are up to it, I would recommend another private tour that is longer. We had friends who did this and they enjoyed it.

[ConnieTact]

1 hour ago, Bootravel said:

I loved reading this and it’s so helpful! We are on the Dawn in September. How is the Dublin port tender? And, I hope alcohol is back by then! 
cheers!

Thanks for your kind words.

See post #96 and post #105.

We got off later in the day in the early afternoon and got straight onto a tender. On the way back there was a queue and we waited 23 minutes to get on a tender. I think the crossing was only around 10-15 minutes.

You can just see the ship in the distance from the port. I hope this helps! 
Also, alcohol issue is all sorted now so have no fears- you will be able to have a toast as you sail out from Southampton! 🥂

Edited May 29, 2023 by ConnieTact

[Bootravel]

4 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

Thanks for your kind words.

See post #96 and post #105.

We got off later in the day in the early afternoon and got straight onto a tender. On the way back there was a queue and we waited 23 minutes to get on a tender. I think the crossing was only around 10-15 minutes.

You can just see the ship in the distance from the port. I hope this helps! 
Also, alcohol issue is all sorted now so have no fears- you will be able to have a toast as you sail out from Southampton! 🥂

Awesome and thanks! We are spending 3 days in london before our cruise. Cannot wait!

[Bootravel]

4 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

GLWN05 THE BURREN AND THE AILLWEE CAVES from Galway.
It was the lack of time at the actual caves or Burren mainly. Most of the time we were in the coach. Also, the owner of the coach company stood in, (I think!), and the commentary was the worst we have ever heard! 
On the way, we mostly didn’t hear him as he kept putting the microphone between his knees as he sat down so it wasn’t picking up sound! 
I yelled down the coach a few times ‘We can’t hear you,’ but he couldn’t hear me either! 😂

We were also freezing in the coach. When we got to the destination, after 90 minutes, I told him we were freezing and he just said, ‘why didn’t you tell me?!’ 😅
The caves were worth the visit and the guide was very good. We were only there for 45 minutes and stood outside the coach for another 15 waiting to get in. The cave gift shop was closed so there was no access to water, food or gifts. 
The trip was 3 3/4hrs, but if you are up to it, I would recommend another private tour that is longer. We had friends who did this and they enjoyed it.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your commentary 😊

[trump]

Excellent review and wonderful photos.  We have booked this cruise (with slight differences) for Sept 2023.  Could you please explain "tender numbers"?  How do they determine the order in which you depart on the tender?  Thank you.

[ConnieTact]

53 minutes ago, trump said:

Excellent review and wonderful photos.  We have booked this cruise (with slight differences) for Sept 2023.  Could you please explain "tender numbers"?  How do they determine the order in which you depart on the tender?  Thank you.

Thanks for your positive words.

the tender process works by the night before, everyone who wants to disembark the next day, goes to the Bliss lounge and just outside the entrance there is a table giving out tickets with numbers to guests. I guess the later you go along, the higher the number.

Anyone who is gold status and above doesn’t need a tender ticket. They just work their way to exit and board the tender.p when they are ready.
(see post #67 for letter that explains it.)

We often went off after the rush even though we have Sapphire status. We just prefer it less busy and like a leisurely start to our days. 
I hope this helps.

Have a fabulous cruise!

[trump]

Thank you - that helped immensely.  And referencing post #67 explained everything!

[YVRteacher]

This is a fabulous review! Great photos and sense of adventure.  I bet you and Mr. CT are a lot of fun!  Thank you for sharing this journey.

[insidecabin]

To add to the tender info.

collecton.

IIRC  it was 8pm for Waterford and 9pm for all the other ports.

 

On Waterford collection  night 20:05  line was all the way from bliss through photo, reception, heading to GInza

 

line moves quick as they just said how many and counted, 1 person could collect for groups. 

 

I suspect a lot preferred to stand in line to collect a low number then get off when they wanted
As we had priority this was all observation as we also tended to wait as not a lot o point unless an early tour no where is open at 7:30am .

One day there was another group in the mix  forget it was something like earlybird,  might have been a group on a private tour(someone might know).

 

we found it pretty slick, for out timings we only had a short(10min) wait getting onto the tender, all the other short waits were the tender filling up.

[trump]

Re: tender: What if you have an NCL shore excursion that starts at 8:00am in a tender port?  Are there special provisions made for this situation (vs. the pick up your number the night before) ?? 

[ziggyuk]

22 minutes ago, trump said:

Re: tender: What if you have an NCL shore excursion that starts at 8:00am in a tender port?  Are there special provisions made for this situation (vs. the pick up your number the night before) ?? 

 

NCL shore excursions trump everyone, they get you off as a group.

No need for a number, they handle it all.

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by ziggyuk

[trump]

Thank you!