My wife and I are both 30 years of age and have careers in Finance. We've traveled on a handful of cruises in the past with Royal Caribbean and Carnival. We've all heard the cliche that "a vacation is what you make of it." With that being said, we had a great time. However, the Norwegian Star left A LOT to be desired. A couple of claims they always make is the following: 1) They are the #1 cruise line in the industry; 2) In terms of service, to anticipate what we what even before we do; 3) That their embarkation and disembarkation streamlined process has changed the industry. These claims, among others, couldn't be farther from the truth.
First, I do want to say that we found their freestyle cruising to be quite a competitive advantage over industry standards and the food to be quite good, obviously in the specialty restaurants in particular where there is an upcharge. The specialty restaurants are as follows: 1) Cagney's Steakhouse $20; 2) Le Bistro $15; 3) The SoHO $15; Ginza $15 which also consists of the Sushi Bar $15 and Teppenyaki $15........all excellent and reservations are required. La Trattoria does not have an upcharge but reservations are required. Both Aqua and Versailles do not require reservations in addition. There is also Endless summer which I think does required a reservation. We did not go here. We enjoyed the flexibility to eat when we wanted and the service is definitely a step up in the specialty restaurants, but you get what you pay for. Cagney's is just incredible and a cut above all other specialty restaurants, but Le Bistro and The SoHo are good also. We thought that the best atmosphere and value for an all inclusive restaurant was Versailles, although the menu is similar to Aqua. There is also finger food places like Blue Lagoon and the buffet called Market Cafe. In other words, plenty of food, plenty of options to chose from.
The final positives include the positive is the positive and helpful attitudes of all staff. Most of them are always willing to help when you approach them, but that's the thing, you must approach them. In addition, the ship is incredible and just beautiful. The only negative about the ship that I will say is that the pool area is not very inviting. Half the pool area is wasted by two waterslides for children that are rarely even used. The children have a play area already, so why waste space for water slides as well. Not very good planning. Also, there is only on side of sloping lounge chairs that slope toward the pool. So it's impossible to get any real good activities going around the pool area b/c you can't see the pool area except for the one section of lounge chairs. Again, not very good planning. But all in all, the ship is beautifully laid out.