Roz326

Art - do you by chance have any menus from the Star or dailies that you can share? Thanks much!

Noel & Marlene - We are excited about that cruise for sure! But just a few minutes ago I also booked on the Star for March! WoW! Lots of luxury travel in our future! Hope to get to know you better through our posts and meet you on board in 355 days!

Well, as you can see by my countdown clock, all has been approved! So excited!!

Thank you both, Art and Mel, for your quick responses! I appreciate your helpfulness. We now just have to get the time off approved and we will be sailing away in March!

Artbcpa - Wow! Lots of info to review and digest! We are currently contemplating this itinerary for March 2017 and have to present final payment by Noon, September 27th. I need to go back and read all your thoughts and check out your pictures but have a question about the excursions - How "demanding" is an excursion that's rated this way? I notice that 5 out of 7 of the included excursions are listed as "d/demanding". This could be the deal breaker for me personally. Thanks in advance. Hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks much CharTray. I appreciate the information.

Wow interesting reading! As most of this is 'old' news now that it's 2016, I'm looking for some updates from more recent cruises. We are currently considering a September 4, 2018 cruise on the Star entitled "In the Wake of the Vikings", Bergen to Montreal. Have things settle down on the ship now that the maiden voyage is over? Any updates on the ship or this itinerary in particular are greatly appreciated.

See ya on board!

Check their website. We are looking at 2018 for this cruise and it is posted for September 4, 2018. Hope this helps!

Camarillo you are a gem! Thanks for all the info. It definitely helps when making a decision about a specific cruise!

Thanks, Dididi, for al that great information!

Thanks so much Camgirl! All good information to file away. How was the food/dining on board? The cabins? The onboard staff? Anything else you can share is very much appreciated.

done this twice, what do you want to know?? well worth doing in my opinion

Well, any tips about sailing with Cunard and this ship specifically and any suggested shore excursions would be helpful. What type of cabin did you choose both times? It seems pricey now, but I really want to do this trip 'right' as I doubt it will be on my agenda again. I just have too many places to see!

Has anyone taken this trip recently? It's a cruise I would love to take in two years and am starting my research now. This seems to have a pretty good itinerary. I have never been on Cunard so all information and tips are helpful.

Thanks much!

Can't wait. Don't have St. Kitts figured out yet but have a plan for everywhere else. I'm printing out our documents now since the last two weeks of school are SO CRAZY!

 

Need a good place in OSJ to eat on Saturday night and I think life will be good (or even better!)

St. Kitts - we decided to take the Grand Island Adventure from Grey's. Seemed reasonable and visits lots of the island. Their reviews are excellent. We only have St. Lucia planned at this time. So much going on here but will try to button down our other excursions over the weekend. We are ready to cruise!

Here's an interesting question - what about time zone changes? Know the clocks and room TV will have the current time, but are there any changes once we leave San Juan? And chance you can pdf the daily newsletters, Glentilly? If yes, thanks a bunch!

Also, last year we found it very helpful to bring a hi-lighter to use for the events we wanted to attend and a magnet or two to attach to the metal cabin walls to hold the newsletters or notes to each other. Only 2 weeks left before cruise time! My pile of things to bring is growing!

Thanks for the review. What time can we start boarding ship in San Juan? We are going on the Fascination in a couple weeks!

 

Thanks!

Elizabeth

We are on the June 5th sailing out of San Juan. Boarding begins at 2:30. We are working on booking various shore excursions (have St. Kitts and St. Lucia nailed down), have all our paperwork printed, some special services ordered (case of bottled water, soda cards and airport shuttle) and are talking what clothes to pack. So looking forward to this cruise!

We are sailing in 19 days. Asked the agent if any ports are tendered and the answer was no. Hope that helps a bit!

thanks for the excellent info and pictures!

One of the reasons that I had kept FTTF even with the priority boarding, was so that our room would be ready and we would have our luggage sooner. It just feels like your truly on vacation once you are no longer lugging around carry on's, and then once you are finally unpacked.

 

Knowing that we had the Grand Suite, we were also just really excited to get into our room!

 

Grand Suite U111

 

Here's a collage of photos that capture the room as a whole - because I failed to take one solid picture.

 

Again, 2 photos put together to show the size and layout of the walk in closet

 

Essentially, when you enter the room - the walk in closet is to your left, the bathroom to your right and then the rest of the room in front of you. The door to the balcony is is straight ahead.

 

Here is a view with my back to the balcony door, and looking towards the left.

 

The restroom - this is advertised as having a jacuzzi/whirlpool tub. The tub is very deep - so much so, that it can be difficult to get in and out of. Don't be thinking you are going to have a romantic bath with anyone - because it is just not that large. The jets did work - so that was a plus.

 

The restroom itself was very small in that just one person could really ever be in there. If my husband was coming in as I was leaving - one of us would have to wait.

 

 

And the balcony - it is hard to show what a great balcony this was, but it was perfect. The view here is in port - but once you set sail, there are no obstructions. To the left, the divider was quite substantial, like it is the last balcony in the row - but it is not. To the right, the divider was almost floor to ceiling, but was different than the other.

 

We spent quite a bit of time on our balcony, and we never heard a peep from our neighbors. It was almost as if the rooms on either side were empty! We brought along a bluetooth speaker and played music and just hung out a lot out there and it really just made the trip that much better. And when our wedding song popped up in the playlist - we even had a nice little dance together out there!

 

Very excited to also be cruising in this same Grand Suite! Anything extra you can tell us or pictures will be greatly appreciated! Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

Would definitely love some suggestions for port excursions. Thanks much!

Oh one more thing! Can you please post the daily newsletters? That will help us see what is happening in advance, like special dress nights, etc. Thanks much in advance!

We are also on the June 5 cruise! I am going for the itinerary, not the ship... I will keep telling myself that!

That was very cool to watch, triptolemus. Glad our trip won't be over in 8 minutes though! ;) I think it would be cool to have an aft cam. Temperatures are showing chilly, cloudy and rainy. But, we will make the best of it! See you all in 5 days! We depart Florida on Friday afternoon; pre-cruise in Seattle then hello Sunday!

Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses! I appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to let me know about your Canada/New England cruises. Definitely sounds like something I 'need' to do! :)

I have wanted to do this cruise for a few years, but life always gets in the way! Thinking about this cruise for October 2016. Has anyone been on it? High points? Low points? Living in Florida now, I do miss the fall season colors. I also know there are lighthouses along the upper NE coast. Right now I haven't picked a cruise line so am looking for opinions of those who have traveled by ship.

Thanks much!