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Chris Davis

Age: 45
Occupation: Government employee
Number of Cruises: 8
Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Line
Name of Ship: Norwegian Star
Sailing Date: June 22nd, 2003
Itinerary: Oahu, Hawaii, Fanning Island, Maui, Kauai

My wife and I have been on several cruises. We booked our cruise on the Norwegian Star because we wanted to do a cruise in Hawaii and we were intrigued about seeing Fanning Island. We are also Latitudes members, having sailed with Norwegian before. I had read many reviews and found that there were about as many different opinions about this ship as there were reviews. We did enjoy this cruise, but it is not one that we would do again.

Embarkation:
Embarkation on the Star was a breeze, especially being Latitudes members. We arrived at the Aloha Tower at about 12:30 P.M.. There were porters waiting outside the terminal, ready to take our checked luggage onboard. Make sure you have your NCL tags attached to your luggage. There was a short line when we got inside the terminal, but we went straight to an NCL representative at the Latitudes counter.

At check-in, they look at your documents, take a digital photograph of you, and take your credit card information for your onboard account. You are issued an ID card that looks like a credit card. It has your name, ship name, and the date you will be disembarking. Along with your photo ID, you use this ID card to leave the ship and re board again. Each time you go on or off the ship, a crew member swipes your ID card on a laptop computer terminal. It shows the crew member your picture and logs you in or out. A very efficient way to keep track of the passengers.

One thing we noted when we entered the terminal was the presence of a sign stating that you are not allowed to bring your own alcohol onboard. Any unopened alcohol purchased on the ship, or alcohol purchased on shore, is held for you and returned to you when you disembark at the end of the cruise. This rule, however, did not keep us from bringing our own liquor with us.

We had a bottle of champagne we wanted to drink as we sailed. We also prefer to mix one cocktail a night in our stateroom. I had some liquor I packaged in small club soda bottles and the bottle of champagne packed in my locked, checked suitcase. The suitcase was delivered to our stateroom, still locked and still containing our alcohol. NCL apparently doesn't worry too much about alcohol that is "smuggled" onboard. We placed the champagne in the refrigerator in our stateroom and ended up drinking it the night we sailed for Fanning Island. Our cabin steward didn't seem to mind that it was there.

Since the ship doesn't sail from Honolulu until 8:00 P.M., we had plenty of time to shop at the shopping center next to the cruise ship terminal. Be aware that, even though it is easy to get off the ship after checking in, it is not so easy to get back onboard if you choose a time when a lot of other passengers are just checking in. We decided to get back onboard at about 3:30 P.M.. There was a long line outside the terminal. We had to stand in line with all the other passengers because there is only the one line into the terminal. Once we got inside the terminal, we bypassed check-in and went back onboard.

Onboard prior to sailing:
NCL tells you that you must be onboard before 7:30 P.M. for the 8:00 P.M. sailing. There is a mandatory life boat drill held on board at 5:00 P.M.. I read another review that suggested not being on board at 5:00 P.M., so as to avoid the drill. We noted that several passengers were being paged while we were at sea the following day for the make-up life boat drill. The life boat drill was not that bad, and would be helpful in case there was a real emergency. At about 4:45 P.M., my wife and I carried our life vests to our designated life boat station. Once there, we put on the life vests. You stand there for about a half hour and then you're done.

Ports of call and excursions:
Our cruise was right on schedule, except for our arrival at the port on Maui. We were about an hour late docking, but we left on time. This resulted in one hour less to explore Maui.

The itinerary for this cruise was very nice. We enjoyed each port of call. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery and learned a lot from the tour guides. I would especially like to go back and spend more time exploring Kauai.

The major disadvantage of the ship's itinerary is the short amount of available time. What should probably be a 10-day cruise is being squeezed into seven days. There simply isn't enough time to explore each island in the six to eight hours that you are there. Fanning Island was the only port where the amount of time spent there was just right. We spent three hours ashore, which allowed us to see what we wanted to see. If you stay on the ship and don't take any excursions, you'd probably find that seven days is about right.

We had excursions booked at each of the ports, except Fanning Island. We felt rushed on each of these excursions, because the tour guides were always talking about needing to get back to the ship at a certain time. This was especially frustrating when we took the tour that drove around the northwest coast of Maui.

The Maui tour started in Kahalui, where the ship was docked. We drove around the northwest side to Lahaina, arriving at about 7:00 P.M.. The last shuttle back to the ship was scheduled to depart Lahaina at 8:00 P.M.. We ran through shops for about 25 minutes and caught the 7:30 P.M. shuttle. We had hoped to eat dinner in Lahaina, but this was not possible because the ship was one hour late arriving at Maui.

Freestyle cruising:
This was our first cruise experience with Freestyle cruising. Both my wife and I decided we would prefer something other than Freestyle on the next cruise. On the Norwegian Star, your tips are automatic. On your shipboard account, you are charged $10 per day per person. All bar bills include a 15% gratuity.

NCL describes this format as much easier on passengers, as you don't have to scramble for cash for tips at the end of the cruise. I think there are other, easier ways to give tips. Royal Caribbean lets you give vouchers to the people you want to tip, which are charged to your shipboard account. I don't like being forced to tip.

We had one waiter on two of the nights and he was the only restaurant worker that I believed was deserving of a tip. In fact, you are offered the chance to tip more on several occasions. This waiter was the only person we tipped, in addition to the automatic amounts. Service at other times was good, but not excellent.

One aspect of Freestyle cruising that made us feel rushed was determining where to eat each night. There are no set seating times. Some of the restaurants require reservations, and some have cover charges. We found the food was good at Versailles and Aqua, which didn't require reservations. These two restaurants usually opened for dinner at 5:30 or 6:00 P.M.. We got there early and did not have to wait long for a table.

Making reservations proved to be an interesting experience. You can only make reservations on the day or the day before you want to eat. We got reservations for Le Bistro one night. Very good food, but I'm not sure the $12.50 per person cover charge was worth it. We wanted to try Endless Summer, but found that it was booked each day we tried to make reservations. When you're on a cruise, you should not have to be concerned with running down to the Grand Atrium first thing in the morning to make reservations for the next day's dinner, before packing up and heading out for an excursion that leaves at about the same time. We found ourselves laughing because, even though we could not get reservations at Endless Summer, we almost always saw empty tables when we walked by at dinner time. We did not try to get in without a reservation, but talked to other passengers who tried without a reservation and were refused.

The night we got back from Maui at about 8:45 P.M., we did not have time to eat in Lahaina and did not have a reservation onboard. We tried to get some fish & chips at the Red Lion Pub, but they only serve fish & chips for two hours, from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M.. We checked out the Blue Lagoon Cafe and found two seats at one table. However, as we were preparing to sit, another passenger stopped us and said that she was saving the seats for someone in her family. We noticed there was a lot of that "saving" going on. Probably because there really isn't enough space to provide service in all restaurants to the 2,480 passengers we had on our sailing.

We missed dining with other couples on board, as is usually the case on a cruise. Since there is no assigned seating with Freestyle cruising, you walk to the host or hostess, tell them how many in your party and they take you to a table. More than once we asked to be seated with at least one other couple. We got several funny looks from the hosts/hostesses. We were asked on two occasions if we would care to sit with another couple. Only once did we actually get to sit with others.

We also did not get to know the restaurant staff as you would with assigned seating. We had the same waiter only twice during the cruise. He did an excellent job, which is probably why we remember him so well. I really missed being greeted by a waiter or waitress who knew our names, got to know our likes and dislikes, and a wine steward who knew what kind of wine we like. It felt like we were just going to a restaurant each night.

I think you get the point. We didn't like Freestyle cruising.

The ship:
The Norwegian Star is a beautiful ship. It is also a huge ship. After being on it for a week, I was still taking wrong turns to find things I'd seen before. The three banks of elevators were slow to respond and usually busy. We got a lot of exercise climbing stairs. Except for the Polynesian decorations in the stairwells, and the few Polynesian shows, the ship lacks the feeling of being in Hawaii and Polynesia.

I've noted that other reviews described the accommodations as small. I would tend to agree. We had a mini suite on Deck 11, which had its own balcony. The balcony was small, with partitions separating your balcony from your neighbor's balcony. The partition on one side of our balcony kept swinging open. I had to prop a chair against it to keep it closed. The small size of the balcony gave the feeling of limited privacy.

The stateroom was nicely decorated with lots of wood. The bathroom has a combination tub and shower. We had asked for one bed and got two twin beds made up separately and then pushed together. We've been on other ships that made the two beds into one, which I would have preferred.

I liked the information wheel outside the cabin door. It has the choice of "Welcome,” "Make up cabin,” "Turn down cabin,” and "Do not disturb.” You simply set it to what is appropriate. This was much better than something hanging on the door handle.

For the most part, our cabin stewards did very well. We could never really tell who was our cabin steward because there are so many of them working in the same area. I like to use ice during the day. There was always a bucket of ice in the refrigerator after the cabin was made up in the morning. Apparently that ice was meant to last all day because we never got any more than the one bucket a day. I really noticed this on the days sailing to and from Fanning Island, when I didn’t feel like trying to find someone to get more.

We had seas that were calm to 5 feet during the trip to and from Fanning Island. The ship must travel at a fast pace in order to make the trip in the available time. This results in some additional motion felt by the passengers. I would imagine that the motion is even greater when the seas are more unsettled. I read one review about the Star that stated the ship doesn't have stabilizers. The ship does indeed have stabilizers. However, when the sea gets rough, any ship will move around, especially when it is the size of the Norwegian Star and is traveling at 24 knots.

The 1,000+ crew members meant that you were more likely to get service if you wanted it. Rarely did I see tables in the Market Cafe with dirty dishes on them for long. The negative side of this many crew members is that it was not often that we saw the same person twice.

Entertainment:
As cruise ship entertainment goes, I considered the entertainment on the Norwegian Star to be average. We enjoyed the gentleman who sang in the Spinnaker Lounge before the Polynesian shows we saw. The Polynesian shows featured a troupe of entertainers who did dances from different parts of Polynesia. Their shows were good, but I have seen better shows in Hawaii and Tahiti. We watched one show in the Stardust Theater, which was a Las Vegas-style song and dance show. It was not quite up to par with what you would see in Las Vegas. I had hoped to see the Chinese acrobats, but we missed them because they performed on the night we were at Maui. This was very poor scheduling on NCL's part. Why scheduled a show that is unique to the ship at a time when many of the passengers are returning from shore?

Disembarking:
This is where NCL gets a gold star from me. We received our colored luggage tags the night before disembarking, as with any other cruise line. However, NCL allows you to wait in your stateroom until your color is called. They also do not call a lot of colors all at once. Our color was called at 8:45 A.M. and we were off the ship in 15 minutes. I've been on other cruise ships that tell all the passengers to vacate their staterooms by 8:00 A.M., requiring everyone to wait in a public area of the ship. Then you must stand in long lines to get off the ship because several luggage tag colors were called at the same time. Not so with NCL.

NCL offers a service to store your luggage at the terminal if you want to spend some extra time there, before going to your next destination. If you have a late flight going home on the day you disembark, there are excursions available on Oahu that you can schedule.

We were scheduled to stay overnight in Honolulu after we disembarked. Our flight the following day was a late one. I hadn't considered that you can reserve a day room at many hotels. In retrospect, I would probably have reserved a day room on the day we disembarked and then caught the late flight that evening.

Summary:
My wife and I are glad we took this cruise. Being able to visit Fanning Island was worth the whole trip. However, we would probably not book again with NCL if they only offer Freestyle cruising. We would also be more careful considering things like the length of time for the itinerary and the total number of passengers on the ship. A more leisurely cruise makes you feel refreshed at the end. Unfortunately, we felt more tired at the end of this cruise than we did at the beginning.

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