This is my review of our wonderful trip to Hawaii and cruise on the NCL Star 04-04-04. We are a 38 and 39 year-old couple and their daughter Kayla age 8, (going on 18).... It was our second cruise - our first was summer 2002 in Alaska on the RCCI Legend of the Seas. This was our third trip to Hawaii, and I thought the cruise was a wonderful new way to see our favorite places and some new ones, too.

Throughout this review, I will probably do a lot of comparisons between the two cruises and cruiselines (NCL vs. RCCI). Many of you will tell me you can't compare - I know!!! I just want to say that I didn't spend the whole week comparing the two....... I am just thinking about it now so that people, like me, who have done a cruise on one might have a better idea of whether they would like the other.... We were in category BD (the cheapest balcony) on the Star, in room 8560. On the whole, all three of us preferred RCCI, but we had a wonderful cruise on the Star.

I just want to say that we had a wonderful trip, but this review has several sharp criticisms of NCL in it. I admit that I didn't think much of NCL compared to our previous cruise, but also compared to a general standard in the tourism industry, but I think it's pretty hard to screw up a cruise in paradise. Also, we just made the most of things and enjoyed it at the time. I think my annoyance and even anger at some of NCLs shortcomings really only ripened after I got home and I starting realizing how poor some elements of NCL really are - they seem to be headed in the wrong direction on many elements of customer service. All the same, it was one of our very best vacations and I hope the NCL lovers of this site will not attack me too ferociously.... Read more