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Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Star Cruise Review
Alaska

Elizabeth
Age: 13
Occupation: Student
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: June 30th, 2007

Before Cruising, I would have loved reading a review by a kid, so I thought I would write one. Overall, our cruise experience was wonderful. All of the staff was polite and willing to help. I thought the food was good and the shows were excellent.

Embarkation: Embarkation for us was very easy. After having our car parked and our luggage taken away by the parking personnel, we walked into the cruise terminal. After walking up into the main check in area, we went through a series of line dividers until we checked in with an agent. They gave us our room keys and took a security picture. I thought that was a good idea on their part. After waiting about 15 minutes for our number to be called, we walked through security and onto the ship. We waited about an hour and were let into our room.

Cabin: We had a Mini-Suite, and it was worth every penny. You walk in the door and there is another door to the side that leads to the bathroom. Also in that little “hall,” there is a small desk and two drawers. In the main area of the room there is a bed with a small nightstand on either side. It is next to a closet with shelves and many hangers. On the other side of the bed there is a sofa that can be converted into a bed. Across from that is a set of cabinets and a small table and chairs. Above the table is a small TV, which showed cruise shows that had been taped, a few network channels while in port, and 2 movie channels. There was also a ship information channel and a bow cam. There was a refrigerator and a safe in 2 of the cabinets. A large curtain could be pulled out to separate the two halves of the room, which was very nice at night.

We had eight suitcases, and wondered how we would fit them all in the room.  What we would up doing was storing many of them under the bed, and taking a few sets of clothes and putting them in a drawer or cabinet, adding some every few days. Utilize all the space in your cabin. My brother wound up storing his clothes on top of the safe. 

I had a friend who was in an inside cabin. I went in once. There were two twin beds, a bed that pulled off the wall on top of another bed, and a bed that pulled out from under another. She and her family complained often that it was very small. Once again, go for a mini-suite, or at least a balcony room. It is worth the extra bit.

Restaurants: We did not eat in all of the restaurants, but the ones we did eat in were very good!

Market Café

We ate in here most of the time. It was a buffet, and was very good. I thought their breakfast was the best. They had omelets, French toast, eggs, potatoes and other food. During lunch and dinner, there was a sandwich station and a pasta and pizza station. They also had a “Kid’s Café” section that had mini tables and a mini buffet, which served hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and cookies. My brother ate from there a lot and was very happy.


Blue Lagoon

This is the only place that was not as great. It was ok, but not as good for some reason. We wound up wandering back to the Market Café. However, it was nice to be able to stop by and get a plate of fries for a snack while the Market Café was closed, which my brother, my friend and I did once.


Aqua Main Restaurant

We ate in Aqua once and were very impressed. We had a great waitress. All the food, (that we got, anyway) was very good, and had great portion sizes. It is a five-course meal, you basically read off what you want from each section.


Versailles Main Restaurant

This was very good too. We ate here once. We got in line a half an hour before it opened, and got seats in the back by the large windows. The food was also good here and we had another great waitress. The menu is the same as Aqua’s. The restaurant is very nice. (By the way, don’t make the same mistake I did and pronounce it “Ver-salls.” This was very embarrassing. It is actually pronounced “Ver-sai”!!!)


The Teppanyaki Room

Do this!! It was so much fun! Twelve people sit around two large grills while two chefs cook the food. I, who love oriental food, loved it and thought my Chicken Yakisoba was delicious. My poor brother, who is not as big a fan, mostly was there for the show. They were nice enough to give him some plain rice, though. We had a great chef, who tried to get us to catch egg for the rice in our mouths. (Only one lady actually succeeded, mine landed on my eye. Oh well.) He also joked around, calling the butter “peanut butter” and the sauce “Diet Coke!” This was a great experience, which I think is a must-do!


Cagney’s Steakhouse

This was another must-do! The food was fantastic, and we had another great waitress! (Hmm, maybe they are all great.) My parents got filet, and loved it. I got salmon and a crab leg. They have got to be either the best or some of the best I have ever had! They also had really good sorbet, which is what I had for dessert.



The Grill

My parents got barbeque chicken here and said it was pretty good. This is basically an out door buffet with your average grill food.

Chocoholic Buffet

OK, this isn’t a restaurant, but I wanted to write something on it. It was AMAZING, with chocolate and ice sculptures everywhere! They had everything from chocolate covered apples to chocolate centerpieces you could take! It was a lot of fun! It starts a bit late, but I think it is worth it!


Other Public Places: Once again, these are places that we actually went to. I passed by the others, and they looked nice too.


Spinnaker Lounge

This has got to be one of the coolest places on the ship. Windows were everywhere! We saw several whales while waiting for a show to start. There were many cool shows here. They also held bingo games. (There was a lot of bingo.) You could order a drink or a soda here, which was nice while waiting for the shows to start.


Topsiders Bar

My friend and I ordered soda from here once and took it out to the observation deck. They were very nice here and gave us cups of ice and straws to put our sodas in. (By the way, I am pretty sure you can order soda from any of the bars.)


Splash Down Kid’s Pool

My brother went here once and decided to go to the big pool instead. However all the young children seemed to be enjoying themselves. The pool had 2 smaller slides, one really small slide, a small swimming area, and a hot tub. (Probably cooler than the regular ones, but I don’t know.)


The Oasis Pool

This was a well-designed area, with 4 hot tubs and 2 swimming areas. There were also two slides. Strangely, the pool water tasted very salty. Later, we were told that the pool water was, most likely, filtered seawater! That explains the taste. Clever, but kind of nasty if you like to swim underwater.


Barong Spa

My parents went to the spa once. They enjoyed it and said it was very nice.


Stardust Theater

The theater was beautiful! All the seats had decent views, except maybe some balcony seats. The shows were all great! The seats were very comfortable. They also had an isle running horizontally through the middle of the theater, which I thought made movement a little easier.


Cinema

I went in here once; it was a decent enough size. It had a projector to show the movies. All but the back row was stadium seating.


The Galleria Shops

This store was very nice if you forgot anything. It sold clothes, accessories, souvenirs, jewelry, watches, and other things. I noticed that things here were a little more expensive than on shore. They had a nice selection of watches and jewelry, though.


Starlight Chapel

This was a very nice little chapel, right next to Spinnaker lounge, although you can’t hear much of the noise in the Chapel. They held a few services here, which I thought was nice.


Shuffles Card Room

I came here several times to play games. It has a nice atmosphere, with good views. However, a few of the games are missing pieces. Don’t be afraid to ask though, some boys asked where other sets of a game could be found and were given a brand new one to use!


Planet Kids

My brother went to the kid programs a few times and had a lot of fun! The staff was fun and nice. There was a central room, a nursery for the 2-5 year olds and a jungle gym…complete with a ball pit!


Teen Club

I went here a few times. Although it was not very well attended, it was still a nice set up. There was a room for the 10-12 year old group in the back, a room of computers with games, a room with seats and a foosball table and a dancing/disco room.


Video Zone

I thought games here were very expensive, ($1.00 a game!) but there was a wide selection.


I loved this cruise. I would go on an NCL cruise again in a second! It was a great vacation!






 

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