Norwegian Cruise Line - Star Review

EMBARKATION - Getting on the ship was easy but disorganized. Passengers are required to fill our a short health questionnaire. NCL seems really serious about confining the norovirus and keeping their passengers safe and healthy. They even squirt down your hands with sanitizer before you get onboard. At the gangway, crew members greeted everyone with a complimentary glass of champagne or a mimosa. There was no assistance in finding your cabin.

CABIN - Our balcony cabin was on the small side and never felt very clean. It was more cramped than other ships I've sailed on. The bathroom was especially tight. The shower is set up like a standard walk-in shower and was roomy, but the toilet has its own little separate area with a sliding door. This doorway makes access very, very tight. In fact, if you are a large person, I would recommend booking a handicapped accessible room because if you were too plump or tall, there is no way you could fit through that door to get to the toilet. I'm not the skinniest person in the world, but I'm not the largest either, and I have bruises on my shoulders, arms and legs from hitting that door that closed off the toilet. You could only walk through the door sideways because the sliding door isn't wide enough to accommodate standard shoulders.

The room had a bright, fun nautical inspired theme with anchor prints and carpet. The shower had a squirt pump attached to the wall with Elemis spa shampoo and body wash (no conditioner or bar soap, bring your own). There was only 1 electrical outlet in the cabin!

SHIP - This ship is very large and is showing its age, but it doesn't look that old. The grand atrium isn't that grand - it is pretty bland. The ship doesn't have the "wow" factor of other "sparkly" and "flashy" cruise ships I've been on, but there is so much to do onboard that it doesn't really matter. Activities were never lacking and there was always something fun going on.

The main showroom is large but is very poorly laid out! There is movie theater style stadium seating - so if you sit for a show, you are trapped and can't leave without disturbing everyone in your row. The seating on the sides is limited, and the upper seating on the side of the theater has weird glass partitions so you have to crane your neck and lean forward to see the performers on the stage - unless you want to look through glass!

FREESTYLE - We love freestyle cruising! It is made for people like us! We heard many on board complaining about it, but we LOVED it. Not having a set dinner time was the best, because we could enjoy our day and eat in the evening at our leisure. We never had to rush, and you don't have to sit with strangers for a painfully slow 2 hour plus meal. It made for a lovely, relaxing vacation. Most passengers would line up to eat at 5:00. If you are willing to eat a bit later, you'll fare better with the crowds. In the two main free dining rooms, Versailles and Aqua, we never had a wait - we would go eat around 8:30 - 9:30 and often we were only one of a few tables in the restaurants. The specialty restaurants are the same too - we usually ate after 8:00 and never had a problem getting a reservation. The later, the better. Good food is a major part of any vacation for us, and we enjoyed the food onboard the Star.

FOOD - I did not go hungry on this cruise! I am a very tough customer when it comes to cruise line food, and I can honestly say that the food on the Star was some of the best I've ever had on any major cruise line. Everything from the buffet to the steakhouse served really good food! We had the opportunity to dine in all of the specialty restaurants, the best of which was Le Bistro. If you have a balcony cabin or suite, you can make reservations 2 day in advance.

If you're willing to eat after 7:30 pm, you should be able to get your desired reservation. The cover charge goes directly on your onboard account. The servers were happy to let us order multiple appetizers, desserts, sides, entrees, etc. if we asked - with no additional fee. Even if the portions were on the small side, they would gladly bring as much as you wanted 'til you were stuffed.

LE BISTRO

The atmosphere is great - like a small bistro that reminded me of restaurants in the Napa Valley wine country. French art prints adorn the walls and the lighting is dim. The $15 per person surcharge is fair and the food / service was excellent. The restaurant has a very well stocked wine cellar.

The service here was the best we had anywhere on the entire ship. The escargot appetizer here was fantastic, as was the fresh salmon and scallops. Don't miss the chocolate fondue dessert, served in a half hollowed-out pineapple with fresh pineapple, bananas, strawberries and small profiteroles for dipping. Crepes can be made to order tableside. This was by far the best dining venue on the entire ship!

ENDLESS SUMMER

By far the worst restaurant onboard. The Mexican food was just gross and not very good. Think of it as a really bad Applebee's. For the $10 per person cover charge, you do get one complimentary margarita, so that takes the "sting" out of how bad the food is. The quesadilla was okay but the chicken used was of a very poor quality. I was really upset that we paid $20 for such awful food and sloppy service.

CAGNEY'S

Great atmosphere, but food was just so/so. I wasn't impressed. The service was good, but the pacing of the nearly 3 hour meal was much too slow. We had our appetizers and salads, and our steaks didn't show up until 45 minutes later! The food just wasn't memorable. The cover charge of $20 per person is too expensive for what you get. Cagney's is just not worth it - don't waste your money.The steaks were cooked correctly, but tasted like what you'd expect at any major US chain restaurant. I did enjoy the freshly baked rolls and the molten chocolate cake for dessert - it was fantastic and the best dessert I had during the entire cruise.

GINZA

If you like sushi, you'd be in heaven here - all you can eat for $15. The Asian fusion portion of the restaurant was very good. The shrimp salad had 3 huge shrimp wrapped in wonton wrappers and served on a small bed of Asian slaw with ginger dressing. The noodle and rice dishes weren't the best, but the main entrees were all tasty. Most of the food here is deep fried. Skip the pedestrian desserts here.

SOHO ROOM

We ate here for the special jazz brunch for $15 per person. There was a small buffet set up with lots of gourmet cheeses, quiche lorraine, roast beef asparagus wraps, smoked salmon, pancakes, a small salad bar, hot apple crumb and a great selection of breads and pastries (the chocolate filled croissants were to die for)! There was also a made to order caesar salad station with huge slices of chicken breast or shrimp! There was also a menu where you could order all sorts of breakfast foods (omelettes, waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, grilled salmon, steak tenderloin with shrimp, etc.). The food was fantastic and it was a great value, the mood was hip and cool as the onboard jazz quartet played smooth jazz.

VERSAILLES / AQUA

These are the two main free dining rooms on board and they both served the same dinner menu so you could choose either venue. Versailles was the designated "dress up" restaurant, so jeans and shorts were not allowed. Aqua was casual with an "anything goes" vibe. We found the service in Aqua to be a bit better and faster than that in Versailles. At Aqua, we were able to eat in an hour or less every time; fabulous if you were trying to catch a show or other activity.

Both dining rooms have a fun atmosphere - Versailles has more of a formal French chateau look while Aqua has a sleek, modern art feel, complete with a lighted ceiling of stars that "twinkle" during your meal. The food was always very good in both dining rooms, but the broiled fresh salmon and the cheese tortellini (available every night) were real standouts. I ordered the tortellini as an appetizer at every meal we had here. I was also pleased with the larger portion sizes. The food not only had a pretty presentation, but there was actually enough to fill you up!

MARKET CAFE BUFFET

I never like cruise ship buffets, but this one was different. First off, it is absolutely huge with an endless variety of choices. I liked the food that I ate here, but my husband hated it. He is a real meat and potatoes guy, and I love fresh vegetables, fish, and ethnic foods. I think the foods I liked to eat on the buffet were just better prepared than the things he eats. Every day for lunch they had my favorites - roasted chicken, green beans, cabbage, fresh cut pineapple and broccoli with cheese sauce. All of these were very good! There was also a made to order pasta station, made to order caesar salad station, roast beef, pizza, cold cuts for sandwiches, hand dipped ice cream, and many ethnic choices (Indian, Mexican, etc.).

There were plenty of vegetarian choices (fresh fruits, pastries and breads, tons of vegetables, potatoes, pastas), and a special miniature kid's buffet. There was also a large selection of breads and rolls. The breads and pastries on board were FANTASTIC. It had some of the best breads I've ever eaten anywhere! The buffet was not so good at breakfast - the food just wasn't well prepared and I'd dare call it "disgusting." But at lunch and dinner, it was great! The eating area is set up with long rows of tables so you have to pack in with other people "family style." On the downside, the place never felt too clean and the floors are extremely sticky, and sometimes the stench was a little unappetizing. The staffers were working like mad to keep things tidy, but with the large flow of customers, it was hard to keep up. Overall, the food was pretty good and I was very pleasantly surprised. This is a glowing review coming from somebody like me!

BLUE LAGOON

This is the ship's 24 hour free eatery, a quick service snack bar. It serves up comfort food like chicken wings, fried chicken tenders, fish and chips, tomato soup, hot dogs, spinach dip, strawberry shortcake and the like. The menu is limited, but the food was pretty good.

ROOM SERVICE

Hands down, the Star had the very best room service I have ever had onboard any major cruise line! I've cruise Celebrity, Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Carnival and none of their room service food compares to NCL! The macaroni and cheese was fantastic, and so was the BLT sandwich and the individual pizzas. The room service breakfast menu was severely lacking with only pastries and cold cereals (no hot food) available.

SERVICE - Service was hit or miss. We found the employees to be either super friendly or very surly - I'd say the mix was an even 50 / 50. I don't know if this is a result of freestyle cruising or what, but several of our waiters and our surly cabin steward seemed to really hate their jobs!

Our cabin steward was the worst steward we have ever had on any of our many cruise vacations. He was unfriendly and unaccommodating in all respects. If we kindly asked for an extra pillow, we had to ask several more times before he'd bring it. And certain days, we'd have fresh towels and others he wouldn't bother to exchange them (even when they were on the floor and we had specifically asked for them)! On Monday, we got 2 washcloths but no hand towels. On Tuesday, we'd get one washcloth and one hand towel. On Wednesday, we'd get 2 hand towels but no washcloths. It was strange.

Our shower soap / shampoo dispenser went empty 2 days before he bothered to refill it (and only halfway at that)! And the cabin never felt clean! I think he vacuumed our floor once during the entire trip. It was just gross. And on the last night before we disembarked, he had already started to put out stuff for the new guests! Sorry, but I am still on vacation and this is still our cabin for the next night! I know what you are thinking - "oh, these people must be jerks." That is not true! We are friendly to a fault! I am always cheerful and was so friendly and congenial to this man but he treated us like dirt.

The service in the free dining rooms was okay, but I have to admit that I did miss the personal service you get from traditional cruise ship dining with the same waiter every night. Freestyle Cruising is a real trade off in that respect. The service was very good in all of the specialty restaurants with the exception of Endless Summer. The bar servers were bordering on stalkers! As soon as you entered a public lounge or bar, several would start following you to your seats, each trying to beat the other to take your order! It was very intrusive and I felt like the waiters were fighting over my automatic 15% gratuity! One night in the Spinnaker Lounge, we had THREE waiters trying to stalk us to take our orders! They were literally falling all over each other to be the first to our table! And in the main showroom, you'd have a line of waiters follow you to your seat!

ENTERTAINMENT - We only stopped by briefly to a few of the production shows and we were disappointed. It was a bit less-than-stellar cruise ship fare. The theater layout was horrible. The bars had good entertainment. The Second City comedy troupe was also on board and performed 3 shows that were painfully unfunny. This must've been the "D-List" Second City players.

There were lots of fun and different activities on board. There was a murder mystery dinner, lots of poolside events, parties, trivia games and contests. There were also several really fun wine tastings, martini tastings, sangria tastings, beer tastings, etc. The casino was lively, large and spacious with a good variety of slots and table games. It was very smoky, though! The bars onboard were well laid out and comfortable, and the specialty drink menus were fantastic!

BOTTOM LINE - Freestyle Cruising has its trade-offs, but I feel like it was designed for people like us (30s professional couple, no kids). I wouldn't rule out other cruise lines, but it will be very hard to go back to traditional cruising after this experience. If you plan to eat at the specialty restaurants, estimate an additional $400 - $500 for this. We had all those specialty dinners, several drinks, bought some souvenirs, and including our service charges, our extra cruise bill was under $600 for two people.

The service may be spotty, but the experience is fantastic - in fact, this is the most relaxing vacation we have ever taken because we were allowed to do things on OUR schedule! If you are a foodie (and love eating at different types of restaurants), if you love to "do your own thing" on vacation, if you love relaxing and taking it easy, if you love privacy, and if you love having a variety of onboard activities, this ship is for you! If you are traveling in a large group or if you prefer traditional cruise dining, activities and schedules then this ship is not for you.