Review Norweign Star 08/08/04 Part 6

[alonzo14]

Saturday: The spa is open from 8:00am to 8:00pm At 8:30 is a total mat workout. More excercise!!! There are several things at 9:00am. From 9:00am-11:00am you can use your free slot pull voucher, 9:00-11am there is a white elephant sale in the atrium. From 9:00am-2:00pm the slots and tables are open in the casino. From 9:00am to arrival in port around 5:30pm the shops are open.From 9:00am-7:00pm & 10:pm-1:am the photo gallery is open. At 9:15 is morning trivia in the pub. At 9:30am is spinning and booking a futrue cruise in the atrium. At 10:am is shuffleboard play with your fellow guests,a bridge lecture on opening bids, a handwriting lecture in the lifsyles room on deck 12 fwd and the shore excursion desk is open from 10:00am to 1:00pm At 10:30 there is bingo and yoga.And at 11:30am a abs and back care clinic.

 

Evening Dining: From 5:00-6:30pm there is a sail to Victoira BBQ.Tonight there is an Italian Buffet. It is Star Spangled Dinner night in the dining rooms. We ate in the Versallis after coming back from Victoria. It was very good.

 

Afternoon: From noon-2:00pm you can eat sushi for 10:00p.p. At 12:45 you can learn to make Ribbon Roses in Gatsby's. At 1:00pm there is a scavenger hunt in the Java Cafe on deck7, napkin folding in the Carousel, & cha cha & salsa dance class. At 1:30 is name that tune with pianist Todd Wells in Gatsby's. At 2:00pm there is movie theme trivia in the spinnaker, bridge play, a ladies ping pong tournament portside deck 12 aft and you can book a future cruise. At 2:15 is a golf putting tounament in Gatsby;s and a yogalates class. At 2:30 is a basketball tournament deck 14 aft. At 2:45 there is bingo.At 3:00pm thereis a step&pump aerobics class and an art auction in the Carousel. From 3:00-5:00pm the shore excursion desk is open. From 3:00-7:00pm portraits can be taken. At 3:30 is the shufffleboard men's tournamnet. You can redeem your coupons for t-shirts in the fitness center from 4:00-4:30pm. Krakits are sold today inside the Stardust from 4:00-4:30pm. See earlier reviews for other times. At 4:30 there is Matinee Showtime with Jane L. Powell in the theater and Catholic Mass in the spinnaker as well as a chess players meet in the card room.

 

Evening: At 5:00pm is team trivia, a meeting of the Masonic Brethren in the Star Bar, friends of Bill W in the boardroom and Wecome to Victoria. At 8:00pm&1015pm there is a big screen movie , Runaway Jury in the theater. At 11:00pm there is a farewell bash in the spinnaker. All aboard at 11:30pm Don't miss the ship! Today's movie is Laws of Attraction showiing at noon, 3:00pm,6:00pm,&8:30pm.

 

Sunday: Debarkation Day!!!! Our luggage tags were brown and we were scheduled to get off at 8:15am. However there was a back log and we didn't get off until 9:30am We exited from the promenade as we did on the first day. After getting into the terminal there were people directing everone to their color group to claim their luggage. Another person was helping direct to transportation. However we were told wrong and when you do get outside the terminal there is no one there from NCL. You can have a continental breakfast in your stateroom or go to the Versallis or the buffet. You can stay in your stateroom until your color is called.

 

Ports: Juneau - I really liked Juneau. The shopping was good. Most shops are on Franklin street. We arrived in Juneau at noon. The ship anchored and tendered passengers to the dock in town from 12:15 until 2:00pm they tendered passengers to shore to the Marine Park Dock in town. At 2:30pm after the Norwegin Spirit leaves they dock at the AJ dock 1.5 miles from town. After docking if you want to go back to the ship there are shuttles that leave from the Tramway parking lot to the left to take you back to the ship about every 15 minutes. You can go to the atrium beginning at 8:00am to get your tender tickets. You do not need one if you are on a ship sponsored shore excursion that meets in a lounge on baord ship.

 

We booked a whalewatch tour from Ora Enterprises begore our cruise. After we got into town we checked in at the office across from the tramway. You can take the stairs to the left or the elevator straight ahead to the second floor where their office is located. We had a 5:30 tour, but asked if they might have a 3:00 tour open for two. Sure enough they did so we changed times. So if you book with them and want an earlier or later time just ask. They have a gift shop. You can wait at there officve at the specified time they tell you to meet or downstairs on the patio.

 

We took the shuttle to the dock. As we got on board, Captain Larry was waiting on us. He greeted everyone. To me he looks like a salty captain. The trip into Akue Bay was pleasant. It was a nice day to be out on the water. Actually perfect would be a better word. We took some pictures of Mendenhall Glacier from the boat. You get a close up view from the shuttle on the way to the boat. But of course not as good as going there. We went pretty far out. There is an outside deck. And there is an upper deck that hold six people. You just go yup the stairs from the outside deck. The whale veiwing was not as good as earlier in the day, but we saw some backs and tails. We saw about 4 whales. One came pretty close to the boat. We also saw a buoy that had some harbor seals bunched up together on it. We saw some more seals in the water as we traveled around. We also saw some dolphins. Captain Larry pulled along side of an eagles nest and lo and behold we saw a big eagle in all his glory. He was looking at us like yea, What do you want? Captain Larry knows his stuff. All the other boats from the cruiselines and dolphin tours were following us. They kept asking if they could get closer and join us. They have great respect for Captain Larry. We had 18 people on our boat. To me this size is perfect for whalewatching. You are close to the water and have more room. We were on the water for 35 minutes longer than the other boats. I highly recommend this tour.

 

Skageay: The weather was great. We had a private tour arranged with Frontier Tours. They met us at the dock.We went up to the Yukon. There are beautiful lakes. Take you p[assport with you if you go on any kind of tour to the Yukon or birth certificate and ID. You will be driving to the border station. Our documents were checked on the bus by a customs agent. We made around 7 stops going there. and 6 stops going back. We went to a caribou crossing camp for lunch. We had BBQ chicken, cole slaw and beans and homeade doughnuts. It was very tasty. This is also a dog sled camp. Those that were going dogsledding on wheels were taken to the dogsled site. After this the rest of us were taken to emerald lake. It is beautiful. When we got back form the lake we could just walk around the area until those doing the dogsleds were done. We went to the dogsled area and watched some of the sledding.We got to pet all the dogs including puppies and could hold the puppies if we wanted. We also took a museum tour while at the camp. There is also a gift shop. Our young guide was very knowlegable abnd friendly. We learned a lot about what happened during the gold rush. Many men didn't get past 8 miles before meeting ther death. Skagway looks like an old time town.

 

Glacier Bay: We arrived around 6:00am. We had another beautiful day. We picked the park rangers up at 8:15am. We had breakfast at the buffet. They had three rangers on board. One did commentary over the PA. One was on deck to answer any questions we might have had. And one had exhibits and literature in the spinnaker. One gave a presentation in the cinema that day. It is an incredible place!! I felt like I was on the edge of the earth. We didn't get to see much calving. Maybe it will be better for you future cruisers. We had tweo small calving. It is thrillibg to hear the sound of ice brekaing off form the glaciier. The captain turned the ship around for all to see.

 

Ketchikan: We did some shopping after our ships tour of Misty Fjords. We went to Creek St. It was cute, but very crowded. We looked around some, then left.

 

Misty Fjords. We boarded a big catamaran that had two decks. There was a naturalist on board. They sereved us pastries. Then later we had chili or chowder, bagels with cream cheese and a drink. They let you sample somw smoked king salmon. I personally do not care for it! Misty Fjords was beautiful!! We saw waterfalls that went from the top of the cliffs to the water. We saw writing on some of the cliffs. We were taken to an big eagles nest with a baby eagle in it. They do not get white heads until they are five years old. We also got a close uo of seals on the rocks and swimming in the water. They looked so cute with thier heads bobbing up and down in the water. There was an outside deck on the boat and one just indise the pilots area up front on the second or first floor. There was some indinans there that modeled their tribla costumes for us. They also showed a film. They provided binoculars for us.

 

Victoria: At the end of the dock there was a builing we had to go in. We had to show our documents here. We had a ships tour scheduled. It was a city highlights tour. We saw some interesting houses. Victoria looked like a fantasy town. We saw wide streets in areas with little Victrian lights. The Mc Donalds in town has a big crystal chadelier in it that cost a few million. The houses had a tiny Buchart Gardens look. You can buy a basic three bedroom house for only 250.000 dollars there. We would like to return to Victoria some day when we longer amount of time there. We had to go back through the building on our way back to the ship and show our documents again. There is two gift shops at the docks. We left Victoria at midnight. Also the buses for all the tours are lined up in the parking lot by the pier with the tours name on them.

[lesharona]

I read each of your segments with great interest since we will be on the

Star in 3 weeks and 2 days. I found all your segments except 2, did that

one somehow get buried already?

[alonzo14]

lesharona: Keep going back and you will find them. They are there but pushed back. Thanks. I hope it helps.