We are frequent cruisers who recently returned from our first Norwegian free style cruise on the STAR. The ship was well appointed in the style that we like and admire without much of the glitz we have seen on other newer ships. The STAR is easy to get around with plenty of well-located elevators. We were mid ships in cabin 9162 with easy access to an elevator and a few doors from the Internet Café which had convenient stairs down to decks 8 and 7 where most of the activities, information desk, shore activities desk, etc. and several of the restaurants were located. The overall food quality, taste and preparation are very good. The free style dining experience has some drawbacks and we continue to prefer the old style of a main dining room sharing our meals with others at a large table. When we used the main dining rooms (there are two) for any meals and asked to share a table, we were always seated at a foursome and never had anyone join us. Since we were seated at varying serving stations it was not possible to establish a relationship with any of the server’s which as traditional cruisers was missed. If you go as a couple plan on eating each meal together whether in the main or specialty dining rooms. Free style dining appears to promote use of the specialty restaurants as well as open seating at varying times in the main dining rooms, tips are billed daily at a fixed rate for all meal services. This arrangement did not affect the quality of service in our mind, which in all venues was excellent. However, in addition there was a VAT tax (they called it service charge) added to almost all purchases aboard ship, which we found objectionable. We took the dine around plan which we would recommend that allowed us to easily book all the specialty restaurants at convenient times for us (7:00-7:30PM) so we had time to catch the late show. We would recommend that you book the restaurants on-line prior to sailing or early on day one as they fill up fast; and once filled up goodbye free style as you will be dining in the main room or buffet nightly. Oh, free style is not free as each specialty restaurant has a charge per person. Free style dressing was certainly in vogue, as anything appeared to be acceptable; a few guests showed up for dinner dressed as homeless. The shows were typical cruise fare and done well while the cruise director did not impress. We selected this cruise and flew across country because it included many sea days which we like and the Pacific is full of sea life to view and enjoy. The Mexican ports were not new to us. We find Cabo a good place to walk around and explore. We took a tour in Mazatlan to a local beach which although pricey was enjoyable. We stayed on board at the last port to enjoy the quiet and sun. The dates we chose coincided with CA spring break and we had over 800 children on board. The STAR staff did a great job in keeping these kids of all ages entertained. Overall a very good cruise experience that I would strongly recommend.