Norwegian Star Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This is my family's 3rd cruise and the 1st cruise for the friends who traveled with us. Our previous cruises where in the Bahamas on the Disney Dream and the Western Caribbean on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas. Let me preface by saying that our first priority when choosing a cruise is it needs to have a youth program (we have a 5 yr old daughter who is a social butterfly and loves being able to go to her own "club"), second is price and third is ports of call. Disney was very nice and we loved it, but that was a gift from a relative and since then has been WAY out of our price range. The Allure was an amazing ship, and we also loved that voyage. The deciding factor for this cruise was that it left from a west coast port (close to our home in Seattle) and it was going someplace warm with beaches.
Embarkation - We arrived at the port at 11:45, and we were checked in by 12:00. We were informed that there was an unexpected inspection/drill that would delay our embarkation, so we didn't get on the boat until 2:30ish. There was juice and water available during the wait, and vending machines were stocked. No complaints from us.
The Ship - She may be showing her age a bit, but the crew work very hard to keep things ship shape. We didn't notice any major need for attention. It kind of feels like an old school Vegas resort...not garish, still comfortable but ready for an update.
Cabin Review
Cabin - we decided to try something new and decided on an inside stateroom this time, instead of one with a balcony. We wanted to know if we would feel the loss...and I am happy to report that we didn't. The cabin was actually larger than we had imagined. The bathroom was bigger than the one on the Allure so that was a plus, and storage was more than ample for a family of 3. It didn't feel like I was in a cave and the room steward was very attentive. The money we saved paid for the 2 excursions we took. This cabin was directly under the casino. I did not notice noise, but there were a couple of times when I noticed a slight smoke smell. It could of been my imagination, but after mentioning it to Anoop, I noticed that he did use a room freshener at turn down.