Norwegian Star Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,583 reviews

Captain Matias Anderssen - a real hoot!

Review for Europe Cruise on Norwegian Star
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donner70
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2016
Cabin: Balcony

My husband and I decided we would fly to Europe and do a big cruise to see as much a possible since it would likely be the only time.

Our holiday actually started on Aug 12 where we flew to London for a few days then to Budapest where we took an eight day river cruise. We cruised from there to Nuremberg then took a bus to Prague for a few days, then flew again to Hamburg for another couple of days. We arrived by bus to Copenhagen to take the three back to back cruises with Norwegian on the "Star".

We actually arrived a day early and our hotel could not accommodate us for the one extra night so stayed right by the train station at the hotel Mercur. This was a nice place, close to everything and breakfast was included for a reasonable price.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BB

Very good but can't remember for sure our stateroom number but it was on the 9th deck.

Cabin steward for first nine days was excellent - Marlin Watts. We had her on another cruise a few years ago and she recognized us.

Our next one was Emil and he was good - always smiling.

Cabin #9098 on Brilliance of the Sea steward was Leezroy who was also good and very friendly.

Port Reviews

Bergen

We again took the Hop On bus that was not at the dock but a few blocks away. We visited their fish market that consisted of some outdoor tents lined up next to each other. The restaurant beside it also had counters of fish and cheese for sale. Very expensive.

We stopped at a bar to do emails and have a drink. When converting the bill to Canadian dollars, it was around $30 - yikes this was for one each of wine & beer. When we got home the Mastercard said it was $35.78. Beware!!

Alesund

There wasn't much to choose from for excursions. The ship offered 3.5 & 8 hr ones and they were quite expensive. Actually none of the tours are cheap but you don't want to take the chance of missing the ship.

They have an observatory at the top of a hill that has stairs all the way or you can take a bus or a tour to go up. We didn't realize at the time but just took pictures of it.

We only walked around the town which was quiet since it was a Saturday morning. There were a lot of the shops not open so found a restaurant for coffee and to do emails. They have their own currency - NOK so had to charge them.

Greenock (Glasgow)

Our ship docked in Greenock which is a container port. The tours offered were to quite a few for castles, Glasgow or to Edinburgh We opted for the latter. Our bus trip was about 2 hrs and was dropping us off to do our own touring. what an eye opener - busy, busy!! We took the Hop On with a live guide which was so much better than having the earphones. We did not get off to visit any of the sights since it was so busy.

The Royal Mile was jammed with people and it wasn't tourist season anymore being Saturday Sept 24th. Lots of pictures taken and lots of action around the castle & restaurants. We stopped to share fish & chips along with a beer & wine. Good thing we shared as it was huge and on a platter. The weather our whole trip was fantastic.

Oslo

**Our ship went back to Copenhagen to start the second part of our trip. If you get off the ship, be prepared to wait in the lineup for security along with the new passengers.

Oslo - what a lovely city!!

We did the Hop On again and did the circuit which is 90 min. We wanted to get off at the Vigeland Sculpture Park but there was a big lineup waiting to get on but they didn't as we were full. We carried on and went to the Viking museum which we decided we better not get off for fear of having to wait a long time for a bus that would stop. There is a lot to see and unfortunately, we missed it.

Brugge (Bruges)

We were going to walk around the town of Zeebrugge. This is where we docked but were told to take the train to Brugge as there was more to see. We teamed up with a couple, Chirs & Luzia from Gig Harbour for our twenty minute train ride. Unfortunately it started to rain so parted company and walked some of the ancient streets where we then ducked into a restaurant to have a coffee. The rain had eased by the time we left so walked a few more streets where more shopping is but decided to walk back towards the station where there was an information centre to do emails.

We met up with Chris again so got to chat more. Saw them on the ship a few times also and have exchanged email addresses.

Stockholm

When we arrived in Stockholm they had Hop On/Off buses available. When we followed the lines on the street, it took us to the back of the ship to the water boats that were part of the Hop On. We needed to find a bank so after a few stops we got off and walked. This was apparently part of the Old Town. Really quaint and no cars.

We caught the Hop On and got off at the Vasa museum where they have the 1628 war ship that sank on it's maiden voyage from Stockholm. It actually never got to leave the harbour. It was 130 SEK each ($19.00 aprox)

We didn't realize that the ABBA museum was so close by and didn't want to back track so unfortunately missed it.

Nice city and wouldn't hesitate to go back.

Helsinki

Hop On/Hop Off bus tour.

Very nice clean city.

Took lots of pictures but difficult to remember it.

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