Pictures posted of Star Garden Villa 14000

[CarolynB]

Wow what a cabin!

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

Don't want to sound rude, but was this an upsell? I'd LOVE to have that cabin and just wonder what the odds are and how much it would cost if offered...now we have an AB. Congrats and glad you got to have an experience few others in the world ever will.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Thanks for posting the pics!

I trust its FAR better looking when you're actually staying in it! HAHA!

 

I don't want this to sound like "sour grapes" or anything, but I always envisioned those cabins being a LOT more glamourous looking than the pictures let on.

 

The furniture reminds me of my college dorms! :eek:

 

Still, I bet the extra space is wonderful to have.

Do they supply a "Piano Man" for the week???

 

HAHA!

 

:D

[nyflush]

Nice photos thanks for sharing :)

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

Great pictures. I was surprised at how subdued it was because I thought there were lots of wild pinks and other bright colors. We are in 14500 later this month. Do you mind a couple of questions? I have a million, but I'll try to keep it to a few. Did you bring your own computer or is there one in the room? How many people were in the suite? Who was the butler and what was the best thing he did for you? Were you tempted to just stay on the ship and never leave the suite?

Thanks!

Cathy

[CarolynB]

We got the cabin in an upsale on Wed. before sailing on Sat. We were in an AB cabin, the upsale was for $2000. ouch! but worth every dollar. We had 5 in the AB, and had 12 other friends and family members booked with us. There was enough room for everyone to enjoy it.

 

Any of the picture we saw before are about the same as what I took. I took the photos after the nightly turndown since I had not seen many like that. It is hard to envision the cabin until you actually see it. Or that is how I feel.

 

There is a computer in the cabin, internet rates are same for all of the cabins.

 

Our butler was John and he was great. He knew we were traveling with a group and always made sure that when he delivered the nightly "treats" there were enough to go around. It was hard to leave, I wanted to ask our cabin stewart Roberto to come home, but didn't think he would like what I would want to pay him to work full time. Roberto and John worked with us and got a blender for blended drinks and a extention cord so we could have our own music in the garden area. John hadn't shown or told us about how the speaker worked in the garden and we didn't notice the dial on the inside of the cabin until Thursday, or we wouldn't have asked for the extention cord.

 

The hot tub wasn't working completely right, we let them know, hopefully it was fixed for the next passengers.

 

Anca was the concierge, she is one special lady. Ask for anything and she made it happen. On the last night, we wanted reservations for Cagney's, she said it was completely booked. So we asked for reservations for 10 bodies in Versailles, she called back minutes later and we were in Cagney's with 5 comped dinners. At first we felt bad because that meant someone wouldn't get their reservations, but when we were at dinner there were several empty tables. Anca arranged for the limo back to the airport and let a few others in our party of 17 that needed transfers to travel with us. She got all 17 of us VIP disembarkment which was really fast.

 

Everyone that traveled with us and enjoyed the cabin contributed to the tip pool.

 

Oh we didn't need a "Piano Man" the piano played itself, or as my grandson (5) said, it repeated.

 

I didn't get around to taking pictures of the garden area for reasons unknown, if I get pictures of it from anyone I will add them to my webshots.

 

Tell Anca, John and Roberto that the Bustos clan says hello.

 

I ramble, so I hope this made sense.

[Luv4dacruise]

The furniture reminds me of my college dorms! :eek:

 

I think its really funny that you say this, i feel the exact same way any time i see the night stands on the newer NCL ships. They just look so cheap. Had to say it......

 

Happy Cruising!

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

We got the cabin in an upsale on Wed. before sailing on Sat. We were in an AB cabin, the upsale was for $2000. ouch! but worth every dollar. We had 5 in the AB, and had 12 other friends and family members booked with us. There was enough room for everyone to enjoy it.

 

 

$2000 per person or total?...if total, what a STEAL...that would make it around $8000 rather than $20,000! ...hope we get the call! As there are 3 of us, that is the only cabin that we could be upgraded to.

 

Thanks for sharing with us...what great timing to play host to your entire group! You're going to have grateful friends for some time to come I'd think. :)

[CarolynB]

The prices was $2000 total. I hope we all made memories, I doubt if we will ever have an upsale like that again. This was our first Norwegian cruise.

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

CarolynB,

Thanks so much for your response. We will have 6 adults and my 20 month old grand son in the GV. We booked several months ago, and will be traveling with a total of 19 people - so hopefully we will have a happy family hanging out in our GV. Good to know about the computer as now we won't bring ours.

 

A few more questions if you don't mind. Sounds like the butler and concierge did a great job. What do you recommend for a TOTAL tip for each of them? Also, did you ever try to have dinner with everyone in your group, and if so, where would you recommend? We are thinking at least one meal together would be great. How many people (with luggage) fit into the limo back to the airport? And what time was VIP disembarkment? And what about embarkation? Were there any shows that stand out as NOT TO BE MISSED? Did you use the vip seating, and, if yes, was that limited to the 5 people in the GV?

 

It's great getting to hear from someone who just experienced what lies ahead for us!

 

Lastly, what was the very best part about the GV?

 

Thanks for your help!

Cathy

[CarolynB]

We requested a portable crib and high chair for our barely 2 yr old grandson, the crib was set up before night and we didn't find the high chair for a few days. It had been stored in one of the passage ways between the two suites. You might want to request them through your travel agent. There is enough room to have the portable crib up all the time.

 

As for tips...we left the butler $400, room stewart $300 and Anca $300, plus what our family added to the envelope. I did not look at what they were putting in but everyone had $50-$20 bills in their hands. Our adult daughter use Anca alot!

 

We had one dinner together at Versailles. We were seated at two tables, which was fine for us, they were next to each other. This was on Sunday, we made reservations for 6:30 through Anca. The next dinner was for our immediate family (11) for DH's birthday dinner, again at Versailles, same time no problem.

 

We were told the limo would hold 10, to me that would be very tight. There was a van that held the luggage and there was seating in the van. I would say it would hold 4 people depending on the luggage. Disembarkment for us started at 8:45 because of our flight schedule. We were in the limo within 30 minutes. Anca met us in the villa and escorted us though the process. Four people had late flights out of LAX and did one of the LA excursions, they were escorted to the tour bus about 10 minutes before we left the cabin. Just let Anca know what you want and she will arrange it!

 

We only attended 2 shows. I was not impressed with the Rhythms of the Night show, but loved Band on the Run. Don't sit in the VIP seating if there is room elsewhere, the seats aren't set up right to see the whole stage. No one was there monitoring seating when we did try VIP seating.

 

We were able to have key cards made for other members traveling with us so they would have access to the cabin. Sure beat having to go open the door on the deck below to have them come in.

 

Our younger adult women used the private sun deck to get an all over, no line tan! The code was to put a towel over the gate.

 

I think the best part of the GV was there was enough room to get everyone in the cabin, mix drinks and just relax. We ordered strawberries and whipped cream early one evening, the platter was about 10 inches high!

 

I have heard that GV 14500 doesn't have the galley, that there is a bar instead. I loved having the galley, traveling with 2 toddlers is a bit messy, and we liked to be able to clean up a bit after them.

[Bocadude85]

Great pictures I can only hope for a upsell to the villa on my star sailing!

[Billy31]

Looks very similar to the Dawn. I'm curious, on the Star did you have a villa and uppder deck like the Dawn or was it the shared Villa?

 

The Villa's are worth every penny. I cannot wait to book them for next year.

[NYHartChapp]

The prices was $2000 total. I hope we all made memories, I doubt if we will ever have an upsale like that again. This was our first Norwegian cruise.

 

For the five of you?? Wow, that's great.

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

Carolyn,

 

Very valuable information. Thank you so much!

 

One last question (until I think of another one) - Did you receive 6 bottles of liquor and did you get to choose what you wanted? And considering we will have lots of visitors, was there an unlimited supply of sodas and bottled water?

 

Oops - thought of another one - what time did you arrive at the port and was there a wait for boarding?

 

Again, thank you!

[CarolynB]

We did receive our 6 bottles, there is a list the butler will bring. To upgrade to a better quality, you have to pay the difference in price. We had already packed rum rummers, no flames please, and had more than enough for our group.

 

You are supplied with a daily supply of cokes, diet coke, bottled water, club soda, tonic water etc. We did ask John for more cokes one day, and he brought the amount we asked for.

 

We arrived at LAX, took super shuttle to the pier. We arrived before 11 and they were already taking luggage. Embarkment started right away. We were directed to the VIP lines, did what we needed to do, they went to the waiting area and was greeted by Anca. My daughter that is quite vocal asked if our whole group could get on the ship together, she said that would be okay. We had a little wait, then our group boarded first. Anca took us to the elevator and we all went to the Villa. We did not get the embarkation pictures taken so if this is important you might have to ask Anca about it. Everyone waited and started relaxing and exploring at this point until their cabins were ready. We were onboard before noon.

 

If you have transportation booked online cancel the return trip to the airport.

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

Again, thanks - I know you had a great time and at a fabulous price! I appreciate you sharing your experience and hope you get another call from the upsell fairy godmother!

[daldog]

I don't want this to sound like "sour grapes" or anything, but I always envisioned those cabins being a LOT more glamourous looking than the pictures let on.

 

The furniture reminds me of my college dorms! :eek:

 

 

I can tell you, it does look alot more glamourous in person. Carolyn and her family were generous enough to invite some of her fellow roll callees from CC for a tour. The living area is a little "mod" (which isn't really my taste) but it was nice. Nothing ever made me think college dorm for one second - but maybe you went to a nicer school than I did. Mostly we all said "wow" alot. I thought the bedrooms were very nice. Each was differently decorated, really pretty bedspreads (the white is after turndown as she said). Floor to ceiling windows with automated blinds in each room. And even better, the bathrooms and walk-in closets were to die for! And the outside private areas - awesome. We would have paid just for the outside part!

 

Thanks again, Carolyn, for sharing! We really appreciated it and it was fun meeting you!

 

Leslie

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

I can tell you, it does look alot more glamourous in person. Carolyn and her family were generous enough to invite some of her fellow roll callees from CC for a tour. The living area is a little "mod" (which isn't really my taste) but it was nice. Nothing ever made me think college dorm for one second - but maybe you went to a nicer school than I did. Mostly we all said "wow" alot. I thought the bedrooms were very nice. Each was differently decorated, really pretty bedspreads (the white is after turndown as she said). Floor to ceiling windows with automated blinds in each room. And even better, the bathrooms and walk-in closets were to die for! And the outside private areas - awesome. We would have paid just for the outside part!

 

Thanks again, Carolyn, for sharing! We really appreciated it and it was fun meeting you!

 

Leslie

 

How nice of Carolyn to share the experience and how nice of you, Leslie, to give us your thoughts! Our first cruise was an outside room with a window. Over the years, mostly on Royal Caribbean, we moved up to a balcony and then a jr. suite and then a Grand Suite and then an Owner's Suite. Finally we splurged for a Penthouse on Celebrity (that was wonderful) and for a milestone birthday we did the Royal Suite on RCI - and every move up was all about WOW! And we expect to feel the exact same way when we see the Garden Villa and know we get to live in the lap of luxury (and share with our family) for an entire week! For us, it's all about work hard and then go make a memory!

[daldog]

How nice of Carolyn to share the experience ................................... when we see the Garden Villa and know we get to live in the lap of luxury (and share with our family) for an entire week! For us, it's all about work hard and then go make a memory!

 

I know! Carolyn and her family were awesome. I was happy that it was them that got the call. It's fun to see "good guys win".

 

Plus what you just said reminds me of something else - it also made us think about how cool to be able to share it with family. I don't know if it's because she had her's there, or because the space is so big and you just start thinking how you would fill it! This was our first cruise with just the two of us (our previous two we came with a family group) and when we walked onto the outside area, that's the first thing my husband said to me "Oh, your mom would love this, to bring everybody, hang out here with the kids" (my nephews).

 

I have no doubt you'll make wonderful memories up there; it's a definite once-in-a-lifetime kind of place! :)