Norwegian Star Review

No Wow-Factor for the Star, but loved Alaska

Review for Alaska Cruise on Norwegian Star
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Farmington Dentist
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Aug 2011
Cabin: Family Balcony
Traveled with children

We boarded the Norwegian Star on August 6, 2011. My in-laws accompanied us. My father-in-law has always wanted to see Alaska and it was part of his "bucket list."

Our first experience was with the buffet lunch, which is customary when you board. It was good. Then we went to see our cabins. They were smaller than what we had expected. They have some very old 13 inch TV's and 15 channels or so, half of which are cruise ship channels to promote the ports, sell you stuff, etc. The bathroom was okay and was a little bit bigger than what we had experienced previously. After checking our cabin, we went to tour the ship. We are used to amenities on board and this ship is older and does not really have much to do. There was no rock climbing wall, water park, outdoor big screen for movies, sporting events or anything. There were a couple of golf cages, a couple of pools, hot tubs, and there was a water slide which the kids enjoyed once or twice, but the Alaska weather doesn't really lend itself to that. In fact, I never had a bathing suit on during this cruise (and maybe that's a good thing!).

So, let's talk about dining. We did like the ability to go to the dining rooms whenever we wanted. With NCL, you have freestyle cruising. The food was good. Kids loved the steaks. I had some really nice fish plates. The service though was lacking. The waiters seemed to have too many tables to care for and their assistant waiters were good at filling your water glass, but very slow to clear plates, etc. It was not the dining experience that we were used to. The food though was decent. We enjoyed breakfasts out on the back deck (level 12) where we could get fresh waffles and omelettes. Do wear a jacket when eating breakfast outside because it can be a bit chilly. We did not try any of the "specialty" restaurants. We paid $4,000 per cabin for 3 people ($8,000 for the six in our family) and figured that we should get our money's worth for what we had paid for. They did try to up sell the specialty restaurants quite often.

Cabin Review

Family Balcony

Cabin B3

Not bad. A little small. Bathroom was bigger than we've had in the past.

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