Norwegian Star Review

Delighted with Suite - A First-Class Cruise

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Star
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savvypueblochick
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jan 2013
Cabin: Family Suite

I am a 39 year old self-labeled "foodie" without children. Thread-count, quality of cutlery, cleanliness of stemware, and variety/novelty of food are of the utmost importance to me. My husband and I travel for fun, we aren't partiers nor do we attend shows. Our idea of a good time is a white sand beach, an umbrella, and the most recent Michael Connelly novel.

Hoping to avoid same-day-arrival-chaos, we flew into NOLA the night before and stayed at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel. A cab from MSY to our hotel was just $33- cheaper than the downtown hotel shuttle at $20/head. While the hotel was old-ish and the elevator creaky, the furnishings were new and the bed linens were crisp and luxurious. Free wi-fi and in-room coffee were also available. This is the most convenient hotel to the Julia Street Terminal, we were only a block away and easily rolled our luggage the following day (1 pm).

This is a cramped terminal, from the get-go we were made to wait in a security queue which took ages to get through (about an hour). The room became uncomfortably hot, but people were generally in good spirits and kept peeling off layers of clothing to keep from overheating. From there we were taken aside and led to a SUITE ONLY check-in line, we were the only ones in line. We were checked in promptly and taken to a VIP lounge where we were met by our concierge who issued our room keys. From that point, a butler escorted us onboard and since our room wasn't ready yet, to Cagney's for lunch. Total time from arrival at terminal to lunch at Cagney's: 1 hr 15 minutes. Not shabby at all.

Cabin Review

Family Suite

Cabin SJ

Our stateroom was handsome, modern, and roomy. The wall of floor to ceiling windows gave a real WOW factor. The room sported a dining room table with four chairs, a sofa, 2 upholstered guest chairs, a coffee table, and queen sized bed. The asian motif was sleek and stylish, the bed linens were of high hotel quality thread count. There were more pillows than I could ever imagine putting to good use! The pod style coffee/tea maker (FREE) was a nice bonus, especially since cruise ships typically have bad coffee (not sure why). We were please to find a filled fruit bowl, a bottle of champagne, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of Aquafina all complimentary. I'm not entirely sure if we received these goodies because of our past-cruise history or because they come standard in a suite (first time).

The bathroom was especially swanky: heavy glass shower (separate from tub), deep albeit narrow soaking tub, high-end hansgrohe fixtures, twin sinks, tile floor, shaving mirror, scale (unused but a nice touch regardless). While maybe not as spacious as my bathroom at home, a rather respectable size indeed.

A real bonus: storage galore. There's a walk-thru closet (on the way to the bathroom) with 4 armoires for hanging-up clothes, drawers along the vanity in the suite, drawers in the bathroom, drawers in the night stands (with some of the cleverest reading lamps I have ever seen!), and more drawers at the foot of the bed.

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