Norwegian Star Review
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First, I want to write that I follow reviews on Cruise Critic very carefully and was very concerned when I started reading all the October reviews on the Norwegian Star's arrival in Tampa and the first few cruises out of there before ours started. Thank god we saw nothing that others complained about! The average cruise is around $1000 for the week per person. That's $142 per day! You can't rent a decent hotel anymore for less than $200 a day. To get 3 good meals a day, great shows, a resort-like experience and oh yah - get to move around the world and see different ports - that is a BARGAIN. I think a lot of people who complain on these reviews are expecting $1000 a day experiences for $142 a day. We got what we paid for and MUCH MUCH more on our recent cruise on the Norwegian Star.
To begin, we booked our cruise back in March of this year. Since it was for our 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to splurge and get a mini-suite. In July, my parents, who have never cruised, asked if it would be imposing if they could join us (in their own cabin). Of course we were overjoyed to include them. Two weeks before our cruise, NCL contacted us to tell us they had two Penthouse cabins left at the bow of the ship and that we could upgrade to them for an additional small cost - we both jumped at the chance! It turned out to be great that we had my parent next to us and even better that our balcony railing got low enough near the bow that we could climb across easily to their balcony if we wanted (not recommended for small children :))
We flew from Boston to Tampa on Saturday before the cruise on Jet Blue - it was a great flight and the airports were quiet. We arrived 30 min early. There was a big air show going on in Tampa that day - so that was nice. We took a $25 cab ride right downtown to the Marriot Waterside. With a great ocean view, we had a nice vantage point to watch the ship sail in the next morning. For dinner, we walked over to Columbia's Cuban restaurant at the History Center which was awesome. I highly recommend the table-side Mojito pitcher's. The mix them right in front of you.
Cabin Review
Penthouse with Large Balcony
Although this seems wordy and may indicate that we didn't enjoy our cabin - that is not the case. I will give Cabin 9500 five stars. However, I could see how some things about our cabin might annoy people - so I will share the MINOR negatives. Cabin 9500, being so far forward, was quite uncomfortable to sleep in one night when it was rough since we were close to the bow slamming into the waves. We were over the Stardust theater and could hear all the shows very loud. It wasn't a problem for us - but it could be for someone who turns in before 10:30pm when the last show ends. Being far forward, it was a long walk to get anywhere. Also, it was up close to the bow deck where the crew goes to sit in their hot tubs. One evening, I was enjoying myself on our balcony and 3 girls and 1 guy (all crew members) I recognized from the Excursion Desk were in it. I don't think they realized that their voices carried over the noise of the spa motor. They were talking quite inappropriately and even acknowledged my presence and noted me at one point saying, "shh - it's one of those fuckin guests" and they all looked at me. I almost called for an officer to come talk to them about their voices carrying, but an officer showed up just then. I thought he was going to talk to them - but instead he took pictures of them. Anyway - if that was my most major complaint - then we did great.