My husband and I took the repositioning cruise on the Star.  We previously took the NCL Dawn and I've been on over 10 cruises.  This was my second cruise to Alaska and third time to Alaska.  We had a great time on the cruise.We booked this particular cruise because it came with a large shipboard credit and the prices were reasonable enough that we could splurge and get a "Romance Suite."  A few weeks before we left, I ordered the Honeymoon/Anniversary package from NCL for $75. This includes a bottle of champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries (that were so ripe and delicious!), canapes delivered one night, a honeymoon/anniversary "cake and champagne" party with a free 5x7 photo, and cover charge for dinner for two at Le Bistro restaurant with a bottle of wine.GETTING THERE & EMBARKATIONWe took the Blue Van from LAX to the pier, which I reserved independently.  This worked quite well and was about $15 pp one way.Embarkation was so easy.  Our reservation said to get to the pier two hours before sailing, and we arrived just then.  There was a very long line still waiting to get checked in.  Thankfully we were in a suite and had a separate check-in area.  There was no one in the line.  The concierge, Belkys, met us.  She was very friendly.  We were escorted onto the ship and given champagne after we posed for the obligatory picture.THE SHIPThe ship is like its sister, the Dawn.  Although somewhat older it doesn't show.  It's still very nice, clean, and well-maintained.  The ship had come from Mexico right as the swine flu issue arose, but we were confident that it was OK.  There was antibac everywhere.  THE ROOMWe loved our room.  It was honestly not as large as I thought it would be, but it was very nice.  There was plenty of storage space, a desk, sofa and small table, chair and ottoman, and table and chairs.  The bed was sooooo comfortable!  It had a pillow top.  The linens were nice, as were the pillows.  The curtains were not blackout curtains, so we did get a lot of light in the room.  We had a flatscreen TV and access to a large DVD library.  There was also a vanity area.  The bathroom had a tub/shower on one side, the sink area in the middle, and the toilet on the other side.  While people have been praising this "ingenious" design, it is still not private enough in my opinion for multiple people to use it at once.  The partitions between the sections is a thin plastic that you can still see through. Towels were fluffy and in abundance.  The baths have Elemis toiletries.  There was a dispenser with shampoo, body wash, and hand soap.  There were also bottles with the aforementioned and lotion, conditioner, soap, a loofah, and a shower cap.  We had larger-sized bottles.  I also saw people with smaller bottles.  Toiletries were not replaced.  There was a large balcony with two nice lounge chairs and a table.  We loved having champagne and canapes on the balcony.  We also had a mini-fridge, glassware, and a Lavazza single-serve espresso pod machine that made the most delicious espresso.ALASKAAll in all, I did not feel that our ports (Juneau and Ketchikan) portrayed an accurate representation of Alaska.  This was the biggest disappointment.  My husband was underwhelmed.  On past trips I remember seeing tons of animals and glaciers.  We didn't see much of either.  I think that the regular itinerary for this ship should be better and that ours was poor because it was a repositioning cruise.We went fishing in Ketchikan (great trip!) and took a bus to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.  RESTAURANTSAll in all, we felt that the quality of NCL's food had improved over our last cruise.  Food generally was as good as or better than food that we get at home.  It's not the quality of a celebrity chef or 5-star restaurant but I would say that it's better than anything below that (which in my opinion is very good).  There was always plenty of fresh fruit.  Alcoholic drinks were reasonably priced, we thought.Reservations - We had no problems with reservations, which was unlike our prior NCL cruise where it was hard to get reservations.  I made a reservation for Le Bistro one night in advance.  The concierge made a reservation for Cagney's one night in advance.  We made reservations for Ginza and Endless Summer the same day.  We did not have a reservation for La Trattoria and had no wait.

Ginza - Ginza is the Asian fusion restaurant.  I think the cover charge is $15 pp.  We felt this was worth it.  This was sort of like PF Chang's lettuce wraps, etc.  The meal starts off with edamame.  Food and service were good.  Dessert was the stand-out, with a trio of Asian-flavored creme brulee.

La Trattoria - Half of Market Cafe buffet gets transformed into this restaurant at night.  (We were thoroughly confused one night when we went to eat here and it was missing because it's also the location of the chocolate buffet.)  It had a $10 cover charge.  There were so many yummy things on the menu, it was hard to choose.  Breadsticks, bread, bruschetta, and olives started the meal off.  There's an antipasta tray, soup, calamari, etc.  I had a delicious chevre pizza.    Read more