6/2 Star Review

[RMcoolX]

To flowerchild - thanks for your review that you wrote, it was helpful. I actually liked it so much that I will use it as a reference for mine; I'm too lazy to come up with my own. :) I hope you don't mind!

 

We've cruised a few times, but this was our first NCL cruise. I'm 40, and I went with my 38 yr old wife and 10 yr old daughter.

 

We took a taxi from the airport to the pier for $32. Got there around 11am, checked-in by 11:20, and after a forced wait, we were on-board by 12:10. I quickly went to reserve two specialty restaurants for the night and the next. Although Versailles was getting ready to open, we went and ate at the buffet. The cabins were not yet available, so we just walked the ship until they were ready at 2pm.

 

Cabin: We had cabin 8586, which is an oceanview with an obstructive view. I had already researched the room so I knew that it still had a good view out one of the windows. I was pleased with the view considering that we had the best view of all the other similar cabins on the 8th deck, plus we got it at the same price as an inside lower deck cabin. We normally get a balcony cabin, but from what I heard, it was often too cold to enjoy it, and the stuff you would have wanted to see is always on the other side. We spent enough time up top to never have longed for a balcony. The shower was nice, but overall the bathroom was tighter than other cruises we've been on.

 

 

The Ship: The ship was well maintained and fairly easy to get around after a couple of days, but then again, I am pretty good with remembering layouts. The main auditorium was configured so as to make it easy to see the stage from most seats, but there is more legroom on an airplane! I was disappointed by the design of the Spinnaker, as the seats were terribly configured for a packed house. Plus, I can't stand smokey venues, as was the case for many of the shows in the Spinnaker. A plus for this lounge was that it has a great view over the front of the ship. The Galleria shopping area was nice, and had most everything you might need to make it through the week. The picture gallery was not well laid out, often making it difficult to find your pictures. But at least they don't take a million pictures of you like our other cruise experiences.

 

Dining: We reserved Endless Summer the first and fourth night, Cagney's the second (50% off after 8pm), La Trattoria the 3rd and 6th nights. To my surprise after reading so many posts here, Cagney's was a disappointment. They overcooked our "medium" steaks and prime rib. Even if they had been cooked as we asked, they would have been on par with Denny's. Endless Summer was more to our liking. The food was good and the setting was nice with the live music and view. The only thing negative I will say on ES is that I can't believe that the chips and salsa were evidently Tostitos and Pace picante sauce. La Trattoria was my favorite specialty restaurant...the calamari appetizer with lemon was to die for! We did Versailles and Aqua for 3 lunches and three dinners (yes, we sometimes ate at two dinner venues, but I only gained 7 lbs ;) ). Blue Lagoon was our overall favorite because we loved just being able to quickly get our fill of wings, fish/chips and a good burger anytime. The buffet was just OK, except for the stir fry food which was always the best that they had to offer.

 

Like flowerchild's husband, my wife is a coke-addict. We normally buy the coke card on Carnival, so we were shocked to see that NCL was charging double the price. When flowerchild said that the cokes were flat, we decided to purchase 6 1-liter bottles before boarding. Best decision we made, as it saved us money and kept my wife happy with good fizzy cokes! We just stored them in the refrigerator in the room (no need to clear it out though).

 

Service: If there was one thing that NCL clearly beat Carnival on (in our opinion), it was the service. Everywhere we went, the service was always excellent. The room stewards knew us by name on the first day. We had not even met them yet and as we walked down the hall on Day 1, they spoke using our names. That was impressive, and I still wonder how they knew us because they did not see us come out of the cabin. The wait staff was great, and the maitre D's would normally come by and speak.

 

Entertainment: Enjoyed the Blackstreet Boyz and the dancers' performances. That was about it. Overall, the entertainment was lacking when compared to our other cruises.

 

Ports: Prince Rupert was expensive and boring, but it did look like a nice place to perhaps live. The only highlight was seeing all the bald eagles. We rode the city bus around for awhile and walked the pier area. Ketchikan and Juneau were great for shopping, viewing, and dining. We did not do any excursions, but I'm sure they were great for those that did, although some were canceled due to the weather. In Skagway, we rented a car and drove all the way to Emerald Lake. Everyone who rode the trains and saw my pictures were envious of the things that we saw that would not have been possible by train. The things we saw made the $95 (with gas) the best deal in Alaska. I frequently stopped, taking over 150 photos and 60min of video between Skagway and the Yukon by way of British Columbia. Everything was a picture just waiting to be taken!!! The Emerald Lake is called that for a reason, as I've seen no body of water as beautiful. Other highlights of our drive were going into the town of Carcross, walking in the self-proclaimed "world's smallest desert" (yes, it really is a real desert in Yukon), and having a snowball fight with my daughter. This was her first time ever seeing snow, and my second time in 15 years.

 

Tracy Arm was too icy, so the captain went up Endicott Arm instead to view Dawes glacier. No one was disappointed as he did a great job of getting the Star as close as possible to the glacier. Here we saw lots of wildlife from whales to bears to seals to orcas.

 

Disembarkation: Easy...just got our carry-on luggage and walked off. Got in a cab and headed for the airport. Whole thing, from official check-out to airport was 35 minutes. I could have booked an earlier 10:30am flight if I had known it would be so easy.

 

We enjoyed the cruise. I rank it with our best experiences on Carnival; my wife ranks it a little less than Carnival and lesser compared to Disney. She is big on entertainment and main dining room/buffet food selection; I'm big on the ship features, service, and food selection. My daughter viewed it as heaven, just like the others. It was our first free-style experience, with the major advantage to us being that we could pack less clothes. Otherwise, we could take-it-or-leave-it.

 

Bottom line is that if the price is right, and they are going to where we want to go, we would definately do NCL again!

[Chipster2]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Endless Summer was a real favorite restaurant of ours also. Looking forward on cruising her again this fall.

[miami]

I was on this cruise also and I agree, it was great. The ship is beautiful and the staff is terrific. I especially liked Reynaldo in Versailles. We tried to get reservations to Cagney's but it was booked... maybe I'm glad. Also ate in the Endless Summer and enjoyed it very much.

 

We saw the Music of the Night and the Blackstreet Boyz, both were good. Saw a lot of people walk out of the Second City show. Missed Band on the Run.

 

We were pretty lucky with the weather. It only rained one day. I was a little nervous because the weather channel called for showers at every port.

 

Also did the express disembarkment but felt it took too long. On the Dawn 2 years ago it was limited to 250 people and it went much faster.

[Eeyoregon]

Many thanks for writing your report. We leave Saturday and I can't wait! This will be our 1st NCL cruise.

 

We are bringing our own canned soda as well. NO WAY am I going to pay $250 for soda cards!!!!

 

Glad you had a nice cruise.

[AussieKathy]

We are sailing on the Star in September to Mexico with my 10 year old daughter. Did your daughter go to kids club? If so, did she enjoy it and what type of activities did they do?

 

Also, I have read a few posts where people have mentioned that you need to tip the kids crew separately as they are not included in $10 per day. Is this true and if so what would be the norm to tip? We are from Australia and tipping isn't a big thing over here.

[flash3967]

Hi there

 

We are taking the Star on the August 4th sailing. Can you tell me is the soda card like the one on Princess ships? Do they put a little coke or sprite sticker on your cruise card? My kid's stickers kept peeling off! I sure do not want to stand on line at the Pursers desk on this cruise!

 

Amy

[RMcoolX]

We are sailing on the Star in September to Mexico with my 10 year old daughter. Did your daughter go to kids club? If so, did she enjoy it and what type of activities did they do?

 

Also, I have read a few posts where people have mentioned that you need to tip the kids crew separately as they are not included in $10 per day. Is this true and if so what would be the norm to tip? We are from Australia and tipping isn't a big thing over here.

 

My daughter did not care to join the Kids Club. She was afraid she might miss something by not hanging with us! Try posting your question as a new post and maybe you'll get an answer from someone who knows.

[RMcoolX]

Hi there

 

We are taking the Star on the August 4th sailing. Can you tell me is the soda card like the one on Princess ships? Do they put a little coke or sprite sticker on your cruise card? My kid's stickers kept peeling off! I sure do not want to stand on line at the Pursers desk on this cruise!

 

Amy

 

From what I could tell, the kids who had Coke cards were given a wrist band. The price was $60 for adults. I'm not sure what it cost for kids.

[RMcoolX]

I was on this cruise also and I agree, it was great. The ship is beautiful and the staff is terrific. I especially liked Reynaldo in Versailles. We tried to get reservations to Cagney's but it was booked... maybe I'm glad. Also ate in the Endless Summer and enjoyed it very much.

 

We saw the Music of the Night and the Blackstreet Boyz, both were good. Saw a lot of people walk out of the Second City show. Missed Band on the Run.

 

We were pretty lucky with the weather. It only rained one day. I was a little nervous because the weather channel called for showers at every port.

 

Also did the express disembarkment but felt it took too long. On the Dawn 2 years ago it was limited to 250 people and it went much faster.

 

Yes, the weather was as good as one could expect.

 

Band on the Run was great. It was a very high energy show that was one of the best that I've seen on any cruise. Second City wasn't bad the first night, we actually enjoyed it. After that it went downhill for the other two shows they did, mostly because of sub-par audience participation.

[AussieKathy]

Thanks anyway RMcoolX.

[flowerchild]

To flowerchild - thanks for your review that you wrote, it was helpful. I actually liked it so much that I will use it as a reference for mine; I'm too lazy to come up with my own. :) I hope you don't mind! QUOTE]

 

Thanks for the compliment and your great post.

 

I agree about Cagney's, I was so excited about dining there and Le Bistro and I found them to be just ok. I found the main dining rooms to be just as good, with a better menu. I loved La Trattoria and enjoyed Endless Summer, but were a bit dissapointed with the service.

 

I agree about Prince Rupert, also. I wish i had thought of getting the bus, Great idea.

[RMcoolX]

Thanks for the compliment and your great post.

 

You're welcome.

 

I agree about Prince Rupert, also. I wish i had thought of getting the bus, Great idea.

 

...and at only $2pp, it was one of the best values in Canada! :)

[SweetpeaOne]

Thanks for posting your review. We are going on the Star in July and enjoy what other people have to say about their cruise.