We greatly enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Norwegian Star. The ship is older, but in generally in quite good condition. A balcony room is a little tight for 3 people, but there are minisuites and suites available that would be useful if you need extra space (we booked only 4 weeks prior to sailing, so we were lucky to even get a balcony cabin). Our cabin steward was excellent, as was the front desk staff. We were generally quite impressed with the level of service on the NCL line, and it even compared quite favorably to more expensive lines. Embarkation was very fast and easy, and we were very grateful to be sent to a special family line so we didn't need to wait in the regular long lines.

The NCL Baltic Capitals itinerary is very strong, and we were quite glad we chose this cruise. Departing from Copenhagen is an excellent choice for people with limited vacation time, since the cruises from England and Amsterdam require more sea days.

The price of this cruise seemed to be lower than the other lines we have previously sailed (Princess and HAL) and it seemed quite reasonable that the food was generally not as strong, especially since people can choose to pay more for better food in specialty restaurants. Travelers might also want to bring their own toiletries for this reason. Our one dinner at Versailles was a disaster - it took 30 minutes before our order was taken and the servers cleared my husband's silverware prior to his being served an entree, so he didn't have a fork. It turned out not to be too much of a problem, since when he borrowed my fork we discovered his short ribs were completely inedible so he didn't need any silverware. The food and service at Aqua was better, but below the quality we were used to. Read more