Norwegian Star Review
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We (my husband and I) cruised with the NCL Star to Alaska in July 2011. This was our 5th cruise (2nd Alaskan), the first cruise we've done with NCL. I was a bit skeptical to book based on reviews, but the cruise fit our schedule and how bad could a cruise be right? Our experiences with Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess had all been generally positive and we expected the same from NCL. Basically, NCL ruined our cruising experience for us and we probably won't cruise again for a while. Quite an accomplishment since we LOVED cruising before this.
Embarkation - We arrived at Pier 66 in Seattle at around 12:30. We should have turned around and gone back home the minute we saw the chaos at the pier. This is the first time that I've seen such a horrid line at embarkation (if you can even call it a line) and it was representative of the disorganization that we would experience for the rest of our cruise. People everywhere, NCL agents screaming at everyone (I thought they were supposed to be nice?!), then you finally get in the building to drop off your luggage and about 4 different "lines" become one big mess as everyone tries to drop off their luggage on one belt. Yes, they had 1 single luggage belt. Then you get through that and go through security and another line for check-in. It probably took us over 1 1/2 hours to get on the ship.
And from the minute you get on board, the selling begins. They stand right at the door with menus for all the specialty restaurants and try to get you to make reservations immediately. This is the first cruise I've been on where it feels like there are salespeople everywhere. Yeah, I realize that you have to pay for stuff on any cruise, but they wanted you to pay for EVERYTHING (really, $5 for 24 hour pizza or a surcharge if you dined in the free restaurant after midnight?). I guess "freestyle" cruising means "pay for anything that is actually worth doing". Each day, you would get your itinerary and items marked with an asterisk meant they had an extra charge. About 1/2 of the activities had an asterisk - basically the ones that actually sounded interesting.