Star questions

[casey95]

We are taking our first cruise and will be on the Star 01/08/05. We have a couple questions...

 

-We will be in a BA balcony room. Is there a safe and will it hold a lap top computer?

-I've heard that people have to push the beds together to make a queen size bed. Is this true?

-When is it best to go to the pier the day of the cruise?

-What time can we expect to be off the cruise on the last day?

-Should we take Pesos with us or will US dollars be okay?

-What kind of selection is there for room service?

-What beverages are included and is the water on the ship safe to drink?

 

Thanks!

[CaribBeantown]

We are taking our first cruise and will be on the Star 01/08/05. We have a couple questions...

 

-We will be in a BA balcony room. Is there a safe and will it hold a lap top computer?

-I've heard that people have to push the beds together to make a queen size bed. Is this true?

-When is it best to go to the pier the day of the cruise?

-What time can we expect to be off the cruise on the last day?

-Should we take Pesos with us or will US dollars be okay?

-What kind of selection is there for room service?

-What beverages are included and is the water on the ship safe to drink?

 

Thanks!

 

I sailed on the Star to Alaska this past summer. Yes, you do have a safe. No, it is not big enough to hold a lap top, at least your average sized lap top, knowing they do come in all different sizes these days. Yes, the beds have to be pushed together to make a queen-sized bed but that is done by the room stewards and can be pre-arranged by calling NCL ahead of time and letting them know. If you used a travel agent to book, they should be willing to make that phone call for you. I only used room service for early morning coffee and pastries. When we felt like eating in the room we would just go to the buffet and make a plate of what we wanted and carried it back. Coffee, tea, juices, lemonade and iced tea are included. The tap water is drinkable but strong chlorine taste in my opinion. Best bet is to carry on a case of sealed bottled water. I say "sealed" because if it looks as if it has been open you may be asked to open the bottles to check for alcohol being snuck on. Bottled water on the ship goes for $2.50 for a small bottle and $3.50 for the large bottle. I really can't answer your question about the Pesos but American dollars are widely accepted in most tourism areas.

[SweetEmi]

Casey: You are going to have a great time!! No need to bring any pesos. I never used them and never had any given to me in change. They will gladly take your American dollars (at least unless it keeps devaluing I suppose??)

 

I'm sure your lap top will be safe in your room. The safe is big enough for essentials like money, passports, jewelry, and maybe cameras but that's it.

 

The beds can be pushed together but unless you ask, I think they'll keep making them up as 2 separate beds because that's what they did on our first Star cruise. We found we had more room in the room (we had an inside that time) with them pushed together but since we were 2 women, they kept them made up separately.

 

I would say get to the pier about 11 or 11:30. We had a short wait before they started opening up the check in lines but had chairs and water and juice for us while we waited.

 

If you want to carry your own luggage off, you can arrange that ahead of time and leave very early, I think about 7:30 or so. Otherwise, if you have an early flight you can arrange to leave earlier or you wait until the color of your floor is called. However, you do have to go through customs first and sometimes (especially if another ship is in the harbour) it can be a slow process and delay you. Everyone is off by about 10:30 though.

 

Room service is great in the morning, I do it all the time. You can get pastries, coffee, tea, toast, fresh fruit, basic Continental breakfast type stuff. If you want things like peanut butter, honey, herbal tea, etc. write it on the menu and you'll get it. I've heard the pizza, chicken ceasar salad, and sandwiches are great. I ordered them the first cruise but was too stuffed to actually eat them. You can also get a great hamburger at the Blue Lagoon or fish and chips even in a To Go container and bring them back to the room if you want.

 

I get a soda card first thing and all my sodas all week are then "free" but you can get coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. any time of day or night at Blue Lagoon. At breakfast you can get juice, milk, coffee etc. Not absolutely sure what "comes" with your lunches and dinners in the restaurants.

 

Have a great time!!

Emi

[realestatemomma]

I just got back from my first cruise...on the Star...December 31st. We had the Christmas cruise. We had the same type room you are getting. Our beds were already together as a queen when we got there. I found the beds to be very comfortable and didn't want to get up in the mornings. No, the safe is not big enough for a laptop but we had cameras and other electronics laying around the room the whole time and never had a problem with theft. Be sure and bring an extension cord with you if you want to have more than one thing plugged in at a time in the 110 V outlet. I needed one for my blow dryer and curling iron to be on at the same time. We got to the pier around 12 pm and had to wait a couple hours before we could start boarding because they had a mandatory immigration check for the crew that they have done every three months. It was pretty uncomfortable sitting in the port on the floor for that long...we didn't get drinks or anything offered to us. Once you check in you will be given a group number and that is how you will board. We happened to be in group 8 and it took about an hour before we could start boarding. I saw group numbers as high as 20. When we returned to LA the last day we were off of the ship by 9:30...we were on the 10th deck in rooms 10062 & 10066. As far as getting pesos, my husband said if we were to do that again he would definitely get pesos to pay. We were "taken" a few times. Some places said it was 17 to 1 US dollars and then we would see it was 8.5 or 9 to 1. It does vary but usually doesn't go above 11 so watch that. The room service food is not good. I was so sea sick the last day of the cruise and wanted some soup and got the ramen soup...it was tasteless and pretty gross overall so I didn't eat it. My husband went up to the Market Cafe and got some bland foods for me there. Everyone in my group that travelled together was not fond of the food at the Market Cafe. It was like cafeteria food. The specialty restaurants were pretty good. We ate at Cagneys 2 times and it was probably the best. We ate in Aqua for Christmas dinner and a couple other times and Versailles for breakfast a lot. Be sure and reserve the restaurants as quickly as you can. We never got the eat at La Trattoria (the Italian restaurant) because it was always booked up. By the way, La Tattoria is just part of the market cafe that is shut down during dinner time and turned into the Italian Restaurant by tablecloths and chair covers and grape and vine covered trellis's. Our favorite place on the ship was the Spinnaker lounge. It's on deck 12 to the front of the ship. We spent countless hours there relaxing and drinking and playing Bingo. The lounge outside of Cagneys is nice too...It's the Star Bar....we hid from the kids there alot. The water on the ship is safe...I drank a lot of it. But I also got several bottles of Evian water too. Be sure to get a soda pass. We hit the Carousel lounge right away and got passes for the kids....they put a Sprite sticker on the kids room cards and they just showed that whenever they wanted a soda. Have a wonderful trip and if you have any other questions I'd be happy to help!!

[hannahsdad]

Everyone else has covered the safe/laptop (no way), arrival (not too early so your wait won't seem as long) and pesos issue(averages 10 to 1 and I never changed my dollars once and found they prefer dollars and made better deals to get them)... so I'll give you a brief idea of the roomservice menu as I recall the items:

 

Pizza - cheese, peperoni, vegi

Ham Sandwich

Roast beef Sandwich

Caesar Salad with chicken

Hot Dog

Chinese Noodle Soup

Grill Cheese Sandwich

Chocolate Mousse

Cookies

Coffee and tea and milk

 

I am sure there is more but that's a start...

 

To be honest make the trip to the Blue Lagoon and try their burger...it is the best one you will ever eat...especially with extra fried onions...just my opinion.

 

Have a great time...Clint will be your Cruise Director...please say Hi to him from Hannah's Dad... he'll understand and you will make a quick friend...

[sweetiepie9339]

Just a few additions:

They have Roast Beef of Rye

Ham and Cheese on White

Turkey on Wheat

But the grilled cheese was indeed just a cheese sandwhich.... not melted or grilled.

The buffet food was always good... espically if you forgot about the main line and hit the ones on the side near the windows. This is where the fresh stuff is... ie waffles and omlets made to order, tacos/burittos/nacos made to order, fresh sandwhich made to order, fresh stir fry made to order... ect. Often we got the buffet and then took it to our room to eat on the balcony and watch for sea life.

[casey95]

Thank you to all who answered my questions!