I think the title says it all: there were some great views and ports with equally not-so-great service and food on the NCL Star to Alaska. I'll start at the beginning with embarkation.

Embarkation: Line after line after line. I have never had to wait in so many lines in my life. First you have to wait in line to drop your luggage off then you have to wait in another line to go through security and lastly a line to check-in and get your room card. It took about 1 ½ hours to get through all the lines. Once on board it was time to eat!

The Food: The food, for the most part, was mediocre. Most of the food in the Market Cafe and in the two main dining rooms was cold and tasted old. Breakfast was horrible! It was the same food every day. Bland, frozen pancakes and waffles, potatoes so dry you practically choke on them and cold muffins. I don't think I ate a single thing in the cafe that was actually hot. Room service breakfast wasn't too bad, although you couldn't get anything hot; only cereal and fruit. The variety of food at lunch was better, but again most of it was cold. We ate dinner in two specialty restaurants: Teppanyaki and La Cucina. It is worth the extra fee to visit the specialty restaurants. The food is a lot better, it's served hot, and the service is better. The food in the main dining rooms was ok but the service was terrible. The highlight of the food was the chocolate buffet. It was excellent!!! Read more