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Norwegian
Star
Alaska Reposition - Seattle to Vancouver, B.C.

Heber M. Ball

Age: 54
Occupation: Federal
Number of Cruises: 7
Sailing Date: September 18th, 2005

This was a group of five couples for the Sep.18, 2005 Norwegian Star repo - 7 day Seattle to Vancouver, B.C.

Embarkation well done - efficient and friendly. We were aboard ship at 11:20 AM. Auto dispensers of hand disinfectant was first thing noticed and were all over the ship.... good idea.

The crew was very friendly and more than helpful at all times. Cabins are smallish - appx. 170 sq. ft., but adequate. All verandas are fully covered and private, (unlike those of larger Princess ships.) Larger bathrooms with separate toilet stall w/ sliding door. Large shower w/ removable head. Duvets for beds. Small 19" TV's with two movie channels, CNN, ship bridge cam, etc. Promo channels shows well produced.

Stage shows above average - good costuming, lighting and sound. Showroom seats with minimal leg room and seats are tilted slightly forward for your discomfort. Cruise director was a dignified, middle aged English gent - he knew his business.

Ship layout complicated - room for 10 restaurants makes for a maze. It takes days rather than hours to get the layout of the ship. Promenade full wrap around but is narrow to thin in spots due to inner restaurants protruding out. Very large atrium which simply gives that appearance of huge space and actually takes away from guest space, (study Millie Class Celebrity ships to see what I mean.)

Top notch spa and exercise areas. Not well attended by staff other than for spa treatments but + for style and layout. I work out and used the facilities three times. Exercise is one level directly above spa and aft. Best of cable weight machines... more than enough tread mills, bikes, etc., all with LCD monitors with all TV channels. Free access to men and women's spa areas..... clean spacious locker rooms, sauna, steam rooms, showers/sinks. Central co-ed 40' lap pool, (well heated,) large dual jacuzzis, one with inserted metal bars for reclining. Cushioned deck chairs in rear with beautiful view aft. Never crowded - fine with me.

First time I have worn blue jeans around deck. Very casual attire by most guests. Dining rules: no blue jeans, shorts, sandals after 5:00 PM in all restaurants. Resort casual required. Other than that, get comfy.

Restaurants: buffet was better than average in quality, variety and service. Buffet staff socialized with each other way too much but this didn't seem to affect service. Very short wait times to be seated. Some restaurants request reservations. We went to The Endless Summer, (TexMex,) one night. Party of six and had no problem getting a table. Versailles Restaurant is very elegant, (SoHo and Versailles - no extra, no reservations required.) We ate at The Versailles twice. First night at sea was formal.... I'd say 30% of passengers went formal/semi. Interesting to see dress variety all at once in the restaurant. Ate at Gatsby's Steakhouse, (deck 11 midship.) $20 cover and worth it. Italian restaurant is actually conversion of port side of buffet after 5:00 PM. They have shades that roll down over the buffet lines - really does give Italian feel to area. Portions here were small, (as they were in most restaurants on board,) but ordering extra was no problem. I ordered spaghetti and meat balls. I got four tiny meat balls in center of plate...... ordered room service later. Room service very basic - sandwiches, oriental soup, pizza, no beverages, chocolate mouse. Time from order to delivery - appx. 15 minutes.

Breakfast room service - continental. Phone notification of breakfast delivery one to two minutes prior. I'd go to the buffet and load up a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruits, coffee and juice.... take it back to the stateroom. RCI and Princess offer more but Celebrity is tops... full breakfast can be ordered interactively via TV on the night prior. Not so on The Star. Place your order sheet to the outside doorknob no later than 3:00 AM.

Drink of the Day was appx. $4.20 PP. The help always pushed to have drink in souvenir glass, (double the price.) I'd have to say no, no, no, regular 8 oz. glass !
Speaking of push - as it is with all standard and premium lines, push push push the ads for the art gallery, the jewelry, the photos, etc., all adds laid neatly on your bed at turndown time. There was no piping of ads to individual rooms, thank goodness !

First day at sea was wet and wild. I noticed in my three A.M. dreams that I was on a roller coaster. Once in awhile this huge explosion as we bottomed out. 6:00 AM we went to the veranda to view huge 20' swells we were plowing through at an angle at reduced speed. Back to bed to get horizontal until noon when things calmed down. Smoother seas for the rest of the voyage. Not quite as bad as my 2001 mention of The Enchantment experience but bad, very bad nonetheless. These rough seas made us one hour late for Juneau but all shore excursions went ahead without cancellations.

I had to mess with the photo crew on the pier at Juneau. You know, they take your pic and then post and charge onboard.... so I had Pat stand with the guy in the moose outfit and I started snapping. They actually tried to block my shots so I would snap their pic and put out my hand, offering a $5 sale. They finally saw some humor in my smart a** antics and stopped blocking - actually posed for us in some shots.

Ports:
Juneau - Light rain all day and cool temps. My wife, Pat, wanted to pan for gold. Fun but wet and cold for us. Others went to the local glacier and enjoyed it.

Skagway - Partly cloudy and cool - train to White Pass is nice. You can sign up for bus tour of White Pass - costs 1/2 the amount of the train. The highway runs on the other side of the valley. Train leaves from dockside.

Glacier Bay - we were allowed into Johns Hopkins Inlet - awesome. Mostly cloudy and cool. The National Park service restricts access to Johns Hopkins Inlet due to the fluctuating population of sea lions. If the sea lions are too numerous you may be re-routed to another area. Johns Hopkins inlet is the best with that gorgeous view of Mt. Fairweather and Mt. Quincy Adams in the
background.

Ketchikan - Light to moderate rain and cool - not much here unless you book advanced to fish. My nephew tried to charter a boat but nothing was available. There was a lumberjack show on the southside of town. We walked by and heard big cheers and yelling - good time to be had.

Inside Passage - beautiful but not the highlight of any Alaska voyage.

Vancouver post cruise - stayed at The Sheraton Wall Centre. Very nice room. I told them I smoked and, as they had no smoking rooms left, we were given a balcony @ no extra charge. Took the 4 1/2 hour city tour. Had an awesome steak dinner seven walking blocks from the hotel at The Hamilton Street Grill in Yaletown. Highly recommended. Spendy but the best meal of the entire vacation.

Tipping:

Ten dollars PP PD charged to onboard bill. I brought my wad of $2 bills for tipping but brought most home. Trouble with drink orders - the bill you sign clearly shows a modest built in tip, with a space for additional tip. The wait staff would see me skip that line - I'm sure they would react inwardly. I would rather tip from my pocket but the help is looking for an amount on the bill before them. My thought was 'fine', no tip then, and kept my $2's in my pocket. No pressure in restaurants regarding tipping - pretty much finish and leave.

Overall:

If you freestyle, do it on a newer NCL ship that is designed for it. They still have older ships in the fleet offering less room. I'd do NCL again and might take The Star to the Mex Riv next year.

Webshots: Images from the cruise. Many good shots of Holland America, RCI and NCL ships we met along the way:

First album is from Seattle to The Inside Passage. Second album is the post cruise stay of Mike and Pat in Vancouver, B.C. Links:

Norwegian Star - first album: http://community.webshots.com/album/462325642uShLUm
Norwegian Star - 2nd album: http://community.webshots.com/album/462394480cQNtWb

Using the slideshow is a good way to view the photos. You can adjust the time on picture from two seconds upward.

Heber M. Ball

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