Reading some of the recent reviews and posts here on Cruise Critic, you might think that the Star is a dirty, rusty mobile jail run by irritable prison guards who are paid to make your life miserable and feed you gruel to boot. We just completed our cruise to Alaska on the Norwegian Star (8/9)and, despite some abysmal weather, we had a wonderful time. I guess the old saying that "Opinions are like belly buttons (or substitute another part of the human anatomy) - everybody's got one" is true. So here's our take.

Seattle - we flew from Chicago to SEA-TAC late in the evening two days before the start of the cruise. This was mostly due to the recent increase in air fare and because we wanted at least one full day in town to enjoy one of America's great cities. We stayed at the Sheraton only blocks away from the Pike Place Public Market, and a very short bus or cab ride from the pier. Very nice hotel, fine service and excellent amenities. Probably not the cheapest option available, but we paid with StarPoints (Starwood Preferred Guest rewards program)so that made it very nice. We enjoyed our time in town - do the market place, the aquarium and other sights. One word of warning, Seattle has a lot of homeless and it can be disturbing to younger kids.

Embarkation - The morning of the cruise dawned a little foggy and cooler - shades of what was to come. We had a relaxing morning, packed our things and headed to the pier around 11am. This was a very efficient process and the NCL staff did a great job - very friendly, cheerful and welcoming. We handed over our cruise ticket, showed proof of citizenship, and dropped off our bags. Heading upstairs, we were welcomed, directed to the next available agent and we had our key-cards in hand inside of 10 minutes. A short wait later, they started boarding the ship (about 11:45). They board by number - we were group 9. We had a very short wait, we didn't have to wait in a huge line and were on the ship by noon. Read more