Norwegian Star Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,583 reviews

Alaska With A Teenager

Review for Alaska Cruise on Norwegian Star
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First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Aug 2008
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
Traveled with children

Background Information We were originally planning to sail with a different cruise line. I had recently completed a certification class with the other line (I'm a travel agent) and had picked out an Alaska itinerary that would coincide with my husband's birthday. It was a last minute decision (four weeks before sailing). I was having trouble finding a flight home that wouldn't require us to spend the night in port. So my husband decided to "help". He got online and realized we could save $1500 in airfare if we left out of Seattle. The trouble is, the other cruise line didn't go to Seattle, but NCL did, so we booked it and I immediately lost my attention span for anything but our vacation! It was not our first cruise, but would be my first time to Alaska and my first experience with NCL.

Hotel Info We flew into Seattle a day early to help relax and get into "vacation mode" before the cruise. I chose the Embassy Suites for a lot of reasons... The first being they have an airport shuttle service. The shuttle driver also made some recommendations on local restaurants that he would shuttle us to. We took his advice and went to Claim Jumper for a great dinner. On the way back we asked the driver what the best way to get to Pier 66 would be. He said for $45, a few dollars more than a taxi, we could take a Town Car. We loved the idea and he arranged the whole thing for us. I love the two-room suite floor plan that Embassy Suites uses. If we had been staying longer, the microwave, fridge and living room area would make it much more comfortable. Also, the business center had computers with internet access that allowed us to slowly withdraw from our computer addiction. (We went cold turkey and left the laptop at home). I purposely picked a hotel with an indoor pool, knowing that it would probably be too cold in Alaska to swim, so the hotel pool was a great option. There is a nice breakfast buffet included with the stay that was perfect for us the morning we checked out to board the ship. It included hot and cold entrees and an omelet bar. Travel To Port of Embarkation Our Town Car service arrived 10 minutes early. We received a call from the front desk letting us know it had arrived. The driver had obviously made this trip a lot. He was familiar with the Pier, the ships and their destinations. For a few dollars more than the price of a taxi, it was worth every penny.

Embarkation Our paperwork said we could board after 11:30am, but I was wanting to get on board as early as possible so I could get some photos of the ship without a lot of people in them. We arrived at Pier 66 at 10am and it was packed! It turns out all those people had just gotten off the ship. By 10:30 they were mostly gone. One of the port employees explained that all the doors have numbers over them, and that we could do an early bag check in front of doors 5 & 6 and then get in line for embarkation at door 18. There were about 10 people in line in front of us, and we were all swapping cruise stories, so time flew by. The doors soon opened and we moved pretty quickly towards the security screening area. As we walked through the line we were handed a small square of paper with a number on it (ours was #3). We also had to sign a statement saying we hadn't had any symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea in the past two days. The line moved quickly through security then we went upstairs where we registered our credit card, were photographed for security and received our cabin keys. The staff member explained that our 13-year-old son would be able to charge on our account with no restrictions, so we "may need to have a talk with him". (And we did. We didn't have any problems in this area but appreciated the warning). At 11:30 an announcement was made that people holding numbers 1 through 3 could begin boarding. We were early enough that our stateroom wasn't ready yet, but exploring and taking pictures occupied us for quite a while. After 12 o'clock, we went to Versailles for lunch and then went out on deck to find that the Blue Angels were in Seattle for Seafair weekend and they kept us entertained until the announcement was made that our cabin was ready. Boarding went very smoothly for us. The NCL staff members at the pier were all very friendly and helpful. Including the staff member handing out the "Freestyle Daily" (the schedule of events and activities). He was in a wheelchair (I'm guessing because of Cerebral Palsy). That right there spoke volumes to me about the company I was cruising with.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Inside

Cabin IB

Great inside location, surrounded on all sides, above and below with other cabins. Deck 9 was pretty convenient to our favorite activities and restaurants.

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