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What's the best way to get from Orlando to the port and approx costs.

Every time we have gone on DCL, we fly into Orlando the day before, rent a car and do a one way rental with drop off in Port Canaveral. The cost is roughly $50 one way plus gas. Takes about an hour to drive. Usually drop family off at ship and drop car off myself then take car rental shuttle to ship.

I have cruised on other cruise lines this will be my first with Norwegian. I know other cruise lines have and do things first timers are not aware of, like Disney doesn't advertise the Mickey ice cream for room service or big cookies! Is there anything that the Norwegian Star does that is special or I should look into? Love to surprise family members with things that are fun and special.:rolleyes:

Bringing kids and what ages? There is a cool kids (like age 9 or so and under) pool on the aft.

Popcorn in one of the bars maybe, WII in the atrium at times. Other than that, I can't think of much that would be a surprise.

Thank you!

Your best bet is to book an aft or forward room then. Note that there are very few true forward facing balconies on the BA but there are quite a few aft. There again though, if the ship pulls in forward and you are in an aft, you still won't get a good view of the island.

Also, as far as comparing DCL and NCL, we generally try to approach them separately and don't compare.

How about a pic of the elusive platinum key card. Who's got one to share.

 

 

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There was another thread from a year or more ago and probably last posted 6-9 months ago that someone posted a variety of their key cards including suite and platinum colored cards. I say suite and platinum color because I've seen the higher end suites get a darker brown card in lieu of the platinum color one.

Hi Everyone,

Unlike many of you on the board I am quite unexperienced when it comes to cruising. I took my first cruise to Alaska in NCL pearl and fell in love with cruising. We stayed in the haven 2 bedroom stateroom that i loved and my only issue was that the balcony was tiny. I loved having a butler, my husband loved the entertainment and the variety of restaurants in the ship, while my kids loved the kids club and were there all day.

This year we have decided to take another cruise but this time we want to try pride of America. I know it is an older ship but will we have a similar positive experience? We are looking at getting an owners suite for my husband and I and a penthouse suite for the kids. We plan to do a lot of sitting on the balcony so are the sizes of the balcony different? There are 4 kinds of penthouse suites so i am finding deciding on a category hard. What is the difference between category SH and SF? We want a quiet deck so we are thinking of deck 13.

Unfortunately the search function isn't working as there were a couple posters who had some information about those rooms since there was a makeover and addition of rooms including those on 13 that finished in the Fall of 2013. You will want to be very careful at finding current, accurate info about your intended rooms and don't take what the NCL reps tell you as gospel.

Someone who sailed one of the first sailings had some pictures of the balcony. I don't recall their name though.

Most of the wind should be blocked while seated. There were 5 chairs as I recall from the pic including two loungers, one small square table and one larger round table.

Sun - well probably at times depending on direction of ship and where the sun will be.

So sorry for not seeing this sooner..... My oldest broke her foot at school and my mind had me sidetracked.....

 

Anywho, it is 100% okay if anyone wants to email me for pics : )

Sorry to hear that - hope they get well soon.

The Great Outdoors serves food on and off throughout the day. There is the breakfast but later in the day it has a selection of hamburgers, pizza, fries, etc. When we were on it they were kind of the shoulder restaurant when the buffet was closed for the meals after breakfast.

The kids club is a bit different on the Sun. It is in the very front of the ship and actually has some good views, but not as fancy as the newer ships. When our kids were on there were only 50 kids so they combined activities quite a bit.

We were in 12002 in Alaska. I'd pick the DOS for the TA for the views. As said, go up one or two decks and you can have the huge public balcony area.

We had IIRC 3 fogged windows between bedroom and living room.

Read through real quick - did you pre book Cirque for the first night and did you get a discount?

Robin,

 

I love that shot!! That is really cool. She is pretty huge! I actually got goosebumps when I caught sight of her for the first time while we were in the cab. Silly, right? Well, just as an FYI, even though I think I do cover it later on--if you want to eat in the Manhattan room--get there early. There were about 4400 people on our sailing and the line later on in the evening for Manhattan would get insanely long! We went early (5:30 ish) and didn't have to wait. We were lucky enough to go there on a night when Burn the floor was performing-- they danced right next to our table! I will say with that restaurant being in the aft of the ship, be prepared for some vibrations when she pulls out of port-- you will feel it.

I made a point to allow myself to not overplan anything-- I didn't make any reservations ahead of time--we just went with the flow, did things when we wanted and never had any issues doing or seeing anything we liked. I am the type who usually has most everything planned and decided this time I would do whatever. It was terrific. This ship is amazing. Was everything perfect? No, but what small things that needed attention, when we mentioned them were corrected. I don't sweat the small stuff. For such a large ship with so many people on board, it really only ever felt crowded during the safety drill and when the ship would pull into port and everyone was trying to get off at the same time. We had no issues finding a good spot for watching the fireworks (they last about 5-6 minutes) but we did not attempt to get into spice for that. I took a video of the fireworks that I really need to attach the link, so hopefully I will figure out how to do that soon!

Would you be able to post the summary sheet for the week? I've asked the past couple weeks from those who have returned and not seen it yet.

TIA.

All I can tell you is that they no longer have the soft serve chocolate chip cookie dough on Castaway Cay anymore.

Thanks I saw that . I sure hope the information is wrong. Ruth is our least favorite concierge..:(

We are on the week after you. Hope all goes well.

Got an email from Adrian, he says Ruth and Kadek will be on board. I have never met Ruth and Kadek is very nice.

Both are going to be on? How does that work - is one the assistant?

There should be quite a few more people to chime in who have actually done the canal on the Star recently as NCL has increased the sailings the last couple years. They were only doing it in the spring and fall as they did a repo when the Star was sailing Alaska but they added the winter routes so there have been quite a few more people able to do this trip.

Wife and I are interested a Norwegian Star Panama cruise in November 14-30th. Sailing from Miami to Cartagena through Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Mexico, Baja Peninsular and disembark at Los Angeles. We need advice if that's the right timing for that cruise and thoughts on Norwegian Star. We are not too keen on mega cruises, and we love Central America region but never been cruised at the Pacific Coast. Thanks

Been on the Star twice. Overall not the newest or biggest ship in the NCL fleet but we liked it well enough. It had a remake a couple years back where they moved the front facing large lounge and replaced it with rooms (mostly suites). That could be a downside for a longer cruise unless you have one of those new rooms. From what I've seen they also let you go up by the crew only pool area during portions of the crossing through the canal.

The only thing I recall the couple times I've sailed up from the canal to LA is very rough seas.

Sounds like I am in for a surprise....hope its a pleasant one..:D

Someone who just got back says Adrian is going on vacation until mid-April and Ruth will be on.

Adrian Bica is the current concierge, but he's leaving in a few days for vacation. He'll be back in mid-April. He told us that Ruth will be taking over in his absence, but wasnt 100% sure a few weeks ago.

 

Robin

Is that a good thing or bad thing? I remember reading some reviews where thoughts were mixed - seemed she either likes you or doesn't and that is the treatment people were getting.

Thanks, Mom x4,

 

When I suggested the Pirate Museum to the boys, they went nuts! We are going to do that and then head back to the ship.

 

Thank you to everyone for your ideas. It is greatly appreciated.

 

Brian

I'd second the pirate museum. It is basically a few blocks up from the dock. Our kids loved it when we went when they were younger. You could then swing over to Junkanoo beach. It is past the straw market a few blocks and there are a few vendors there for food and drinks. Not the best beach in the world but it was free and you'll have great views of the ships.

The Dailies I saw will give an indication as to whether for kids or not.

Thanks. I kind of figured the room would be the same. At least we'll be closer to the elevators.

Are you going on 3/23? Sign up on the roll call if you haven't already - there is a M&G planned for 3/24.

I've been on the Star twice (not a TA) but Alaska and a Pacific Coast repo. I don't recall many enrichment activities like in the old days other than the bars.

Js- email me at mccutie_26@ yahoo dot com and I will send you pics or I can friend request you on FB so you can see the pics. I did post one pic on NCLs FB page a few days ago but that is nothing compared to the trillion pics I took ; )

 

I think I have some from the lounge/ bar area and the restaurant. I know I have cabin pics of 16106.

 

Oh for some reason my files won't upload here : (

Is it alright if I send you an email for the pics? Going in just over a month.

Thank you everyone for the responses so far. To answer this question, there are four kids 6, 9, 10 and 11.

For those ages Epic or Getaway will give them the most with Jewel a distant third (based on the ships listed in the first post) as you probably already know. Unless the price difference is huge, for four kids I'd go for the newer ships.

Cruised 2/9/2014 - 2/16/2014 --- Beautiful ship -- enjoyed everything we did. From eating to shows -- Rock of Ages (free) - Cirque Dreams 39.99 charge so worth it. Make reservation when you decide the day you want to go.

We arrived at 10:30 on the ship at 11:15 ( we were in The Haven ).

Theses are just suggestions -- give yourself a little extra time to go from here to there and you will not have any problems -- there are only to banks of elevators again a little extra time --

Any questions I will try to answer.

Glad you had a great time. Would you be able to post the summary sheet for the week - the one page that shows the highlights of the show times?

We're on the Breakaway in mid March. Staying in the Haven on deck 15 - category S5. Cabin description says it has a king size bed. Has anyone requested bed switched to two singles? This would be same as the way "queen" bed can be separated. King bed is probably one mattress, so they may have to remove it and bring in two singles.

 

 

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Not sure but as an FYI if you hadn't seen, 6 out of the 7 S5 on deck 15 sleep 3 so there is another bed (pull out).