First I know this is coming REALLY late but the holiday's really kept me busy.This was our annual mother daughter trip. We have been on the Spirit prior to this and loved the beautiful ship. The Star did not disappoint! Although not as regal as the Spirit, the Star is a wonderful home away from home. The crew is amazing, but will get into that a little later. Also, should mention the day before we cruised we were offered an upgrade from a handicapped balcony to a family suite which we did and were blown away with the "suite life"!

We decided to drive in from Dallas/Ft. Worth the night before and stayed at Super 8 New orleans. You should definitely check them out if you are wanting to park. They have great room rates and allow you to keep your car in a secured parking area for the duration of the cruise. We went on a walking ghost/vampire tour with voodoo tours (don't quote me on the name) and was a nice way to see N.O.!

Embarkation: This was super easy! We arrived at around 9:30am and had to wait for the check in process due to us being so early! My mom is disabled and walks with a cane so we went to the handicap check in area and waited. We had a few friends from cruise critic that were boarding with us and were allowed to stay with us through the whole boarding process. Once we had our key cards they took our WHOLE group into the VIP room for the suite guests. Now this might not seem like much but to the others that were boarding with us it was just awesome to be treated so well even if they did not have a suite. We waited for about 15 min in the lounge and met Patrick our concierge (more on him later). Then we were literally one of the first people on the ship! Loved that they have a person to keep your bags for you while you are eating or browsing the ship if you have carry ons (look for them by the main door to the right). Read more