Overview:

People have opined herein that there is no way to have a good time on this boat. I read that criticism with a grain of salt. Your expectations of what kind of cruise you will have will determine what kind of cruise you will have. We had a marvelous time on this boat. We enjoyed ourselves. Although there were glitches and problems, we would recommend this boat, and we believe you will have an excellent time if you remember that “the last of a person’s freedoms is their ability to choose their reaction to a given set of circumstances.” If you choose to kick back, relax, and enjoy yourself, you will enjoy the Norwegian Star.

If “Freestyle Cruising” is for you, then you will enjoy your time on the Norwegian Star and you will want to go with this ship when it moves up to Alaska next year. Even if you aren’t much in favor of freestyle, as we weren’t, you’ll still find plenty to do on this beautiful boat. The staff is by and large attentive and professional. The cruise director and her entertainment minions are professional and entertaining – we did not have a single bad show. The ports come quickly and do not seem to last long enough, but time in Paradise is never long enough. All in all, the Star rates a solid B+, with certain standouts as mentioned below.

Pre-Cruise

NCL allows you to register on line. I booked through a travel agency and then filled out my online registration. When I called NCL to verify that my online registration was complete and received, I was met with “you’ll have to go through your travel agent sir.” When I explained I didn’t actually require any real customer service, but only wanted to verify that they had my information, the NCL customer service rep grudgingly admitted they did. NCL needs to get a clue about telephone courtesy and customer service. NCL should not refuse to provide information to people who booked through agencies. Its rude and unprofessional.

We traveled to Hawaii on frequent flyer airline miles and avoided the entire airline debacle. We arrived on Saturday before the Sunday departure and stayed at the Alana Doubletree Waikiki. This hotel, a block away from the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel has access to all the Hawaiian Village amenities and costs about one third as much. Booking on the internet we paid $116 per night. On Sunday we caught a cab to the dock to check in.

Check In

Okay, the last time I stood in lines this long and this slow moving, I was in a military uniform. Supposedly Latitudes members and suite customers get preferential treatment, but there are only three agents to take their number, and there were lots of them. There were some Latitudes members who arrived before us who checked into the ship after us. Worse, there was no air conditioning in the terminal, and a 45 minute wait in sweltering heat nearly caused my wife to pass out. This was an inauspicious start, and was about to get worse. After waiting so long, the clerk was warm and friendly, processed us quickly, and we had our cards and were on our way to the ship five minutes after reaching the desk.

Boarding

We boarded the Star, took the elevator to the 11th Floor, and out porter escorted us to our room and opened the door. Immediately the lights on the entire ship went out completely. This made the cabin seem exactly like the terminal building: hot, stuffy, and now completely dark (inside cabin). So we left our room and wandered down to the atrium to wait. Within minutes a disembodied voice announced that this was an “annual test” that occurred once a year (imagine that – an annual test occurring once a year) and now that the test was over they would have the electricity back on and the air conditioners back running rather quickly.

This seemed rather comical given the fact that the power went off with people in the elevators and without any warning whatsoever, and stayed off for five minutes. It would seem that a test would be announced to minimize inconvenience and prevent panic. Thus no one believed this cover story, least of all any of us who had any experience in public relations. But we had a good laugh at their expense, and chalked it up to someone’s attempt to prevent a panic by admitting that someone had kicked off a circuit breaker or something.

We went to the room, picked up our life jackets, and went topside for the fire drill. Upon completion we went to the cabin to shower. The only problem was, there was nothing but hot water. In other words, no cold water. You could have steamed a lobster in our shower. Thank God we had no children with us who would have climbed in and turned on the shower.

We called the cabin steward who assured us this was a minor problem on this floor only and that it would be fixed in fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes later I went to the front desk and complained, and they called the plumber. By 7:30 p.m. the problem was finally fixed (after multiple trips up by the plumber) and we showered and went to dinner in Versailles. Okay, we were a little ticked off, but we were on vacation, so we decided that if that was the worst they could throw at us, we were in good shape. It turned out to be the worst we’d have to deal with.

Versailles Dining Room

In Versailles you have the option of sitting by yourself as a couple, or with others. The first night we chose to sit by ourselves, and we had a good meal and went to bed. We ate in the Versailles Dining Room for lunch three times, but on no other dinner occasions. We found the food to be of fair quality and reasonably portioned. The desserts were good. The wait staff was generally good, although we did have one waiter (Paul) who was surly and intemperate at lunch.

Aqua Dining Room

Aqua is closed for lunch and breakfast. We ate two dinner meals there. Both meals were of good quality, with fair portions. The food was almost as good as Princess Cruise Lines, and generally on par with Carnival in terms of quality. However, Carnival and Princess both have better selection and more options for dessert.

Market Café (Breakfast)

We ate breakfast most every day in the Market Café. We had omelets made to order and they were wonderful. The pancakes could have been used for Frisbees ® but other than that, the food was quite good for buffet type food.

Freestyle Dining Rooms

On the Star you have the option of the two main dining rooms (Versailles and Aqua) and two restaurants that are no cover charge (Endless Summer and La Tratoria). The Market Café, Blue Lagoon, and the Grill on Deck 12 are also open at meal times and serve fast food as does the Red Lion Pub. In addition, there are several other restaurants that serve excellent food with a small cover charge. We enjoyed meals in three of the specialty restaurants: two with a cover charge, one without.

Ginza:

There is a cover charge for this restaurant that serves Japanese food. It is wonderful food. We had Sukiyaki, Dim Sum, and Seared Ahi Tuna as well as Sushi. The Dim Sum was wonderful, and the sushi was to die for. The sukiyaki was the best I have ever eaten. I would recommend this place to anyone. It was well worth the cover charge.

But, be forewarned. The Seared Ahi Tuna is served with a wasabi paste that is made with mango. I did not know this. I am allergic to Mango and spent the next two days itching like a mad man. I would suggest they disclose this on the menu.

Teppanyaki:

This is Japanese food cooked to order Benihana of Tokyo style. It too is wonderful, but the room is small, seats but a few, and requires you to make reservations early and long in advance. We got a 9:00 seating, and it was a very late meal. Worse, by then, the room had been occupied and the grill on for several hours. It was like eating in a blast furnace without ventilation. We were too hot to eat and while the food was great, I would recommend being the first on the list and not the last.

Endless Summer:

Best place on the boat. No question. Have the beef ribs Hawaiian style. I had the Mahi Mahi and it was wonderful. The ribs are what my wife had and I was jealous for the next week. The food here is terrific.

The stained glass ceiling of Endless Summer

Entertainment:

Music of the Night: This is a medley of all of Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber’s music and it features Phantom, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and some of his other works. It was wonderful. The Jean Ann Ryan company performs and you will enjoy this presentation.

Comedian: David Naster. I don’t know if he will be on the boat when you are, but he was a terrific comic who made me laugh with clean jokes.

Acrobats: The Chinese Acrobats performed and threw up big ceramic pots that they caught on their heads. How they avoided killing themselves from the concussion is beyond me. They had a girl who put her butt on her head and her feet on the floor in front of her head. Awesome!

Activities: We did not play Bingo, but they gave away serious money ($7,000) and they sold lots of their scratchers tickets. We avoided these. We played Trivia and won twice. You can’t win as much, but you don’t have to buy anything to play either! There is a Karaoke bar with private rooms where you can do your own private show. That is kind of nice for shy people. They originally thought they had the Norwalk virus on my cruise until they realized that I had performed at Karaoke, and we reached an accord whereby I agreed not to do that again if they agreed not to bill me for all the Compazine they had to dispense. Note to Garth Brooks: it wasn’t my fault… no one would sing along.

Ports:

Hilo: We did the Vocanoes National Park Odyssey. It was a good tour that took us to a number of good places, including a bonus stop at Rainbow Falls in Hilo. It was a good tour and we enjoyed it. We have lots of pictures of the Thurston Lava Tube and the Hanamaumau Fire Pit.

Hula dancers greet the boat in Hilo

Hanamaumau Fire Pit in Volcanoes National Park

Rainbow Falls, Hilo, Hawaii

Fanning Island (Republic of Kiribati). The Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Keer uh bas) is part of the Gilbert Islands and is across the date line. You actually sail across the date line and get an 8 day cruise if you want to think about it that way. It takes a solid day to get there and get back, and both going and coming it rained all day. But it was nice the day we were on the island.

Fanning Island Photo Safari: I took the Photo Safari with the ship’s photographer (Marcell Puzsar). It cost $50 and was well worth it. You got a free 36 exposure roll of film, free processing, and a free 8 x 10, which more that made up the cost of the outing. If you were using digital media, you got free printing and a free enlargement. The photographers took you to places others did not see, to shoot things others did not see. I got some pictures of the boat and other things that I know others did not get. This was the single most important part of the cruise for me. It was the single best thing I did for me. I learned some interesting and important tips from the professionals (and I am an experienced amateur who reads the popular photography magazines cover to cover every month). There were some rank amateurs who got even more out of the experience. If you take a camera on this cruise, you owe it to yourself to look up Marcell in the photo lab and set yourself up for this experience because you will not be disappointed. You get a 1 hour lecture (or longer if need be) before you get to the Island, up to 2 hours shooting with the pros on the island, and a critique after the photos are back that lasts another 2 hours or more. For me, this was the most valuable, because there were some other very good amateurs in the bunch who went, and seeing things through their eyes really helped me.

This WWII wreck was something the photographers took us to photograph

We were able to get up close and personal with the flowers on Fanning because of the Photographer’s knowledge of the area.

Maui: We did the Catamaran Sunset Sail through the Pacific Whale Foundation. It was a wonderful trip that featured dinner on the catamaran and a chance to see a Maui sunset without impediment from the land. It was wonderful. We shot some wonderful sunset photos with our digital camera. I would recommend this tour to anyone.

My wife, Ginger, lays out in the trampoline aboard the Catamaran

I doubt you will ever see a prettier sunset than on Maui

Kauai: We did the Mountain Safari Adventure. We had a great guide, and did a terrific tour to Waimea Canyon and on land that few people get to see. It was terrific, but it was too long. Worse, it was seven hours in a 4 x 4 van over roads just barely passable. Imagine being tied up and put in a duffel bag and beaten with a ball bat. That’s how we felt after the tour! But I would not have passed it up for anything. We saw so much, and learned a great deal about the island. Our guide was wonderful, and I recommend this tour for the young and those without back problems. For anyone over 40, be careful.

Waimea Canyon is wonderful

Honolulu: We did the Grand Circle Island Tour, which is what NCL arranges if you have a flight after 7. We were not leaving that day, so we took the tour and then got our bus to take us to the rental counter at the airport when it dropped off all the other passengers for their planes. We saw the famous “blow hole” and ate lunch at Turtle Bay on the North Shore. We saw Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Sandy Beach, Chinaman’s Hat, and the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was a good tour and we enjoyed our trip a great deal.

Just one of many vistas seen on the Grand Circle Island Tour

Cabin Steward: Hapless. This guy couldn’t clean up a water spot. I wound up scrubbing my own toilet one day because this guy just couldn’t get it done. If you leave your room signal on “do not disturb” even if he sees you leave the room he won’t clean it. We were a bit disappointed in the guy, but we figure he might have been new.

Front Desk Staff: A good group of people. Whenever I had a problem, they were able to help me out. They were very capable, and very friendly.

Tips: Buy a soda card. When you get to Fanning Island, your sodas cost $5.95. If you buy a soda card for $25 each to begin the trip, you will pay for your soda card with one day on Fanning Island. You can get them at any bar, and you get unlimited sodas plus a nice insulated drink container to drink them out of. They put a sticker on your room key and you can show that if you don’t have your insulated mug. It’s a good deal.

Disembarkation: A piece of cake due to the fact that we had the tour. No hitches at all.

Freestyle Cruising: My wife and I have concluded that we do not like freestyle. We like the assigned seating and assigned dinner time, and the camaraderie that comes with having table mates that you get to know and like. We like having waiters and dining room staff that get to know you and what you want and what you like. We think that Carnival’s waiters put more effort into making you happy than NCL’s do, principally because Carnival’s waiters know their gratuity is riding on your happiness. The same can be said for Princess. We do not like NCL’s freestyle, while we do like a choice of restaurants, the trade off is not an even one, and we would prefer to cruise on a line that had assigned seating. For future cruises, if we have a choice, it will be with a non-freestyle line.