Star Review Back to Back 14th & 21st March 2004

[ausie]

Review of Our Norwegian Star Back to Back Cruise 14th and 21st March 2004

 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

My name is Bob and my wife’s name is Maria. I am a Computer Programmer and my wife is a Teacher (Special Education). We are both in our 50’s. We live in Melbourne Australia and have three children Stefanie aged 16 and twin boys David & Paul aged 10. Stefanie did not go on the cruise as she chose to go overseas with her school friends last year instead. Neither of us are involved in the Travel Industry.

 

I have had two previous cruises, the first one was on the old Norwegian Star which was a 14 day cruise from Sydney to Darwin via the Pacific Islands in 2000 and the second cruise was on the Pacific Sky another 14 day cruise from Sydney to Sydney visiting Noumea, Vila, Champagne Bay, Lautoka Fiji and Mystery Island in 2002. Maria also cruised a long time ago (before my time).

 

BOOKING THE CRUISE.

We booked our cruise through a travel agent who specialises in cruising called Cruise Consultants. I would strongly recommend booking through a cruise expert as they frequently cruise (lucky devils) so that they can best advise their clients on which are the best cruise options to suit their clients budget and family circumstances. For any Australians contemplating cruising, I highly recommend them. This is the third cruise we have done through them and their service and advice has always been excellent.

 

EMBARKATION

We arrived at the dock at about 11:45 a.m. There was no line up for the luggage collection and only a short line for the embarkation process. Being Non US citizens we had to fill in additional forms which for the 4 of us took a little time to do but believe me by the time we got back to Australia we were very experienced in the completion of these forms. After that we went to the Latitude Counter (there was no one waiting there) and within a few minutes we were issued with our cards and shown to our cabin. I must say that this was by far the easiest and best organized embarkation that we have ever experienced.

 

OUR CABIN

When we first saw our cabin all we could say is “WOWâ€. We had a minisuite (11662). Originally we wanted just a balcony but we could not get one that accommodated 4 people so we ended up with the minisuite. One of the things I loved was the tea and coffee making facilities in the room. We made a lot of use of that during the next fortnight. We brought our own tea and coffee with us. It is so nice to be able to relax with an early morning tea or coffee on the balcony before breakfast. This is something I really missed on our previous cruises. The room was spacious, nicely furnished, the balcony chairs were quite comfortable and the bathroom was really nice. We liked the wood panelling in the cabin.

 

Leaving Honolulu on the Sundays it was really nice to sit on the balcony and admire the scenery as the ship sailed past Waikiki. Also it was nice to watch the ship dock in Hilo, Kahului and Nawiliwili. In particular in Nawiliwili where the entry to the dock is narrow and the waters shallow making it quite a feat to manoeuvre the ship. It was particularly interesting on the 2nd leg as the Staatendam was docked as well and it looked as if we were going to collect the side as the ship was manoeuvring.

 

If you are like us, and enjoy sitting in the cabin with a good book or just enjoying the scenery then a balcony is well worth the extra money. If however you are constantly up and about doing activities and you spend very little time in your cabin then it would be a waste of money. For me, I would find it hard to go back to a typical cabin without a balcony.

 

THE SHIP

Our initial impression of the ship was that it was clean and well laid out and maintained. It took us a few days to fully get our bearings and in the beginning we quite often went to the wrong side of the ship in search of our cabin, until one of the twins pointed out that on our side the cabin doors were red whilst the other side were blue. This made it a lot easier. I felt like a bit of idiot having this fact pointed out by my 10 year old. The Grant Atrium is awesome. A few of our other favourite spots were The Spinnaker Lounge and of course for me the Internet Café. We also had some nice coffee at the Java Café.

 

CRUISE CRITIC MEETINGS

The First Leg

It was pouring down with rain at 6.00 p.m. on the Monday night. The Bier garten is an open venue and was shut because of bad weather. I went up there anyway to see if anybody would turn up and shortly after I got there Nick (Nickwolf) turned up and told me they had moved to the star lounge. Di was already waiting there and soon after the four girls from Australia Jane, Julie, Maryanne and Annette (Aussies4) joined us. We did not see any of the ship’s staff, but is nice to meet the people you have been corresponding with. We met up with Nick & Di a few times during the week and had a pleasant meal with them on the Saturday night.

The Second Leg

The weather was a bit kinder to us this week and Maria and I went to the Bier Garten to be met by Bob & Sandi (VAcruiser). We had met them on the previous day (he recognised me from the cruise critic lanyard I was wearing). Soon we were joined by the Hotel Director – Douglas Hernandez, Cruise Director – Keiron Buffery and Food & Beverage Director – Robert Brand. It was very pleasant and we soon found out that Robert Brand also came from Melbourne in Australia. These Officers were all senior management and they were extremely helpful. We had drinks for about an hour but right throughout the week whenever they saw us they would always say hello. We made arrangements with Bob & Sandi to go to dinner together on the last night. This time we all chose to go to the Le Bistro, which was very pleasant.

 

The only thing that could have been better is if more of the people that corresponded on the CC site turned up for the meeting. It is really nice to meet up with the different people and to start the cruise with some new friends on board.

 

DINING

For Dinner we ate at the Le Bistro three times. We consider this to be the best restaurant and both consider the additional charge to be well worth it. Both the quality of the meals and the service was excellent. We also went to the SOHO which again was quite good but in our opinion not quite as good as the Le Bistro. We also ate at the Ginza which Maria really liked but I did not rate it as high as the other two. But I am not that fond of that type of food.

 

Quite often we would take the kids to either the Blue Lagoon or the Market Café and then take the kids to kids club allowing us to enjoy dinner in peace. We also quite often ate dinner at the Versailles, which we found to be quite good. Sometimes we chose to share a table with other passengers, which was always interesting and other times we chose a table to ourselves.

 

For lunch we usually ate in the Versailles unless we were on a time schedule in which case we used the Market Café.

 

For breakfast we mainly used the Market Café as it was easier with the boys. I quite enjoyed the freshly made omelettes most mornings although some morning I ate at the Versaillis.

 

The Chocoholic Buffet which was held at 11:30 p.m. was well worth seeing. I know it is late but it is one of those things not to be missed. It was one of the few times when long lines were unavoidable.

 

We found the food to be of good to high standards at all times. I have read before that the service was quite often bad with wrong orders being delivered. We did not find this to be the case. Only once did Maria get the wrong dessert and when she pointed it out to the waitress, she was most apologetic and quickly served her with the correct dessert.

 

Only on a few occasions was there a big line-up to get into the Versailles, but what we found is that they would take your name and tell you how long they estimated before you could be seated. They told us approximately a 20 minute wait, so we went and had a drink somewhere and came back in 20 minutes to find our table ready.

 

A couple of tips, One:- speak slowly and clearly as English is not their prime language in most cases and Two:- we found that there is a Menu for all meals for the week for both the Versailles and the Aqua restaurants at the Reception Desk, which may help you decide which restaurants to go to on a particular night.

 

KIDS CLUB

Our boys loved the kids club. The first week there weren’t as many children so they combined the 6-9 and 10-12 year old into one group. The boys didn’t attend every session but the ones they went to they thoroughly enjoyed. They did things like Spy Night, Free Arcade Games, Kids Crew Dinner (this allowed us to attend the formal dinner), Harry Potter Night, Sports Night, Tween Disco and of course the highlight was the T shirt colouring and the pillow fight on the Friday nights. The second week as there were more children they were in the Tween’s Crew (10-12).

 

The Kids Crew Staff were very good with the children and kept them busy at all times. We used the Group Babysitting Once, which attracted a small additional charge, when we went on a helicopter tour, and although they were the only ones there the staff member made sure they were not bored amongst other things she took them out to get ice cream.

 

ENTERTAINMENT AND ON BOARD ACTIVITIES

We went to the Great Adventure Variety Show which wasn’t bad but I thought they were trying to do too many things in limited time. On previous cruises we were used to shows lasting at least two hours.

 

The Comedy Showtime – On the first week we had Chris Alpine who I thought was much better then Kermit Apio.

 

I really enjoyed the Not So Newlywed Game show both times

 

We also listened to Roger Carr and Tod Wells a few times. Both were very good, but our top mark goes to Roger Carr.

 

The Cirque Asia show was fabulous. I went to it both weeks.

 

I also very much enjoyed The Liars Club both weeks.

 

Maria and I both love reading so we made good use of the library. I went through about seven novels during the two weeks. It was very enjoyable sitting on the balcony with a good book.

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS

Hilo

On the first leg we didn’t do much mainly because of heavy rain. We went shopping at Hilo Hatties and then came back to the ship

 

On the second leg we did the Hawaii Volcanoes Deluxe Nature Adventure. This was an NCL tour and worth every cent. We were in a group of 10 and the guide was very knowledgeable. Although it rained at Hilo and we were almost tempted to cancel the excursion, once we got up the mountains it was predominantly fine weather. The guide told us that this was quite often the case. We did not see any red lava, but the sights were unbelievable. I would highly recommend this tour.

 

Fanning Island

We got to Fanning Island on the first leg but not on the second due to engine problems. We chose to do the NAPALI BEACH BREAK which again was organised through NCL and was very good. The beach was beautiful. We had planned to do the normal Fanning Island on the second leg but we never got there.

 

Kahului – Maui (1st Leg)

On the first leg we decided to hire a car. This day proved to be a disaster. Firstly being a Non USA Resident we had to wait until all the USA passengers had been cleared. We were told to be in the Gatsby Bar at 1.45 p.m. however we did not leave the boat until after 3:15 p.m. Then we found that the shuttle for Thrifty Car Rentals had gone and after waiting for another half hour, we decided to share a taxi with Nick & Di. We finally got our hire car about 4:00 p.m. and started to drive towards Hana. What we didn’t know is how windy and narrow the road was. Also we are used to driving on the other side of the road so half way there we decided to turn back as it was too nerve racking.

 

Lahaina – Maui (2nd Leg)

Because we did not go to Fanning Island we had a full day (7:00 am to 11:00 p.m.) at Lahaina in Maui. This is a beautiful place which we thoroughly enjoyed. We spent most of the time shopping and walking through the town.

 

Kahului – Maui (2nd Leg)

 

On the second leg we got there earlier (7:00 a.m.) and also because we had not been to Fanning Island, we did not have to go through the custom procedures of the previous week. This time we took a NCL organized tour the KA’ANAPALI BEACH BREAK which was very enjoyable and this time I got to see the scenery not having to concentrate on my driving. We did not leave Kahului until 6:00 p.m. so that gave us a lot more time to explore Maui

 

Nawiliwili – Kauai

On the first leg we did the HULE’IA RIVER KAYAK ADVENTURE which again was organized by NCL. This was great fun as well as having some of the most beautiful scenery available to us. I, together with one of the twins managed to tip the Kayak over, but we were soon sorted out by the staff. It is really a fun outing.

 

On the 2nd leg we started of doing some shopping and on the way there the shuttle bus driver suggested that we visit the Marriott Hotel complex and look at their internal Botanical Gardens. We did this and found them to be really spectacular and well worth the visit. In the afternoon we placed the twins in child care (kids crew) and did a 55 minute helicopter tour of the island. We booked this some months before though Island Helicopters and although it wasn’t cheap it was a very worthwhile experience which we will not forget in a hurry.

 

DISEMBARKATION

This was an absolute dream. We had a leisurely breakfast after which we returned to our cabin, turned on the TV and waited for our colour to be called. After that we proceeded to the gangway and after only a very short line we were off the ship.

 

POST CRUISE

We spent two days in Honolulu (Waikiki) after the cruise and did the Atlantis Submarine and the Pearl Harbour tour. Both were very worthwhile doing. The twins also got to do some surfing at Waikiki which they loved.

 

SUMMARY

The whole cruise and the ship was beyond our expectations. We did not have any major complaints. We felt that we had the best of both worlds, by visiting Fanning Island and having the additional time on the 2nd week to spend at Maui, without having to sacrifice too many of the sea days which we love.

 

Freestyle cruising – It has its good points and bad points. On the positive side, it is nice to be able to eat when you want and with whom you want. This is particularly important on port days where you may not want to or be able to eat at the given time. On the negative side, you do not get to know your eating companions as well as they are usually different each night. The same goes for the waiters. They do not get to know you likes and dislikes as they would under the fixed sitting. Overall we quite liked and preferred the freestyle.

 

I was a bit dubious at one stage after reading some negative reviews but in the end they helped in the fact that the cruise was better than I had anticipated. I have decided that you cannot possibly please everyone.

 

 

Would I cruise with NCL again – Definitely

 

Would I want to cruise on the Norwegian Star again – Definitely Yes

 

I will be only too happy to answer any questions you may have

 

Bob

 

Until our Back to Back Star Cruise

 

[This message was edited by Host Cecilia on 04-04-04 at 09:16 PM.]

[bambam]

Great write-up Bob, thanks for taking the time to tell us of the adventures - it brings back great memories.

 

You mentioned engine trouble - is that the same issue facing the Star now??

 

BAMnJAM

Carnival Imagingation '96

RCC Majesty '98

Sun Princess '00

NCL Star '04

 

Proud charter member (x2) of the PPS - yeah!!

[dodge9]

Great review, thanks for taking the time to share!

[ausie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bambam:

Great write-up Bob, thanks for taking the time to tell us of the adventures - it brings back great memories.

 

You mentioned engine trouble - is that the same issue facing the Star now??

 

BAMnJAM

Carnival Imagingation '96

RCC Majesty '98

Sun Princess '00

NCL Star '04

 

Proud charter member (x2) of the PPS - yeah!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bamnjam

Yes it is the same issue, I think that it needs dry dock to repair.

 

Bob

 

Until our Back to Back Star Cruise

 

[cruisingfromMN]

Hi ausie, My husband and two kids were on the second week of the Star with you. Our children played togther in Kid's Crew and one day I met you and your boys on the elevator. Small world! I did not know about Cruise Critic prior to our cruise. I actually met a fellow Cruise Critic on the ship and he directed me here which I promptly found upon our return home. I can't wait to use it to help plan our next cruise. Anyway, I just wanted to say "hi".

 

Also, this was our second time on the Star. (first time was March of 2002). We found the Star this time to be less pleasing from our first time on her. We felt the staff to be not attentive, Versailles to have slow service and cold, cold breakfast food. Our room stewards (mini suite 11628)were unknown compared to again our first sailing. Generally speaking, no one seemed festive. Service was unbelievable in March of 2002. This time it was just o.k. Of course too, we were hugely disappointed by the engine trouble. We chose to return to the Star specifically to see Fanning Island again. Le Bistro was incredible! We ate there once on our first trip and twice on this most recent sailing. Well worth the upcharge. SoHo o.k. just not our type of food. We are beginning to plan our next cruise and are trying to decide if it is time to try another cruise line. We have sailed NCL four times but are a bit fearful to schedule it with them again as our experience was just o.k. compared to our previous NCL cruises.

 

Anyway, wished we had known about Cruise Critic in advance and we would have joined you for the CC Meeting. Take care.

[lexusman]

I have to agree with you CruisingfromMN.We went the week of 3/14. We had a good time on the ship, but felt many of the same things you did. We had 2 families with kids that were ages 7, 11 (boy), 11 (girl), and 14. All the kids except the 14 yr old were bored (as were we). The have no excitement at all on this cruise. We did go to Fanning Island and wished we hadn't. The weather was not good, and I'm sorry to say, it was very boring there. Definitely not worth the time (although we do enjoy sea days). I guess part of the problem was the weather was not great most of the week.

But we would have enjoyed an extra day in Maui and also the Big Island.

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean and Disney and had much better service and more excitement. I think part of the problem is that there was an older crowd on the ship (no offense to our senior cruisers please).

I liked Le Bistro also, but also actually enjoyed Soho (the lobster was good). I wrote a review, but they never posted it. I guess the cruise lines that advertise don't like any reviews that aren't perfect (I actually wrote a fairly decent review). Oh well, next year we are probably going on Caribbean Princess (looks great). Take care.

[ausie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by cruisingfromMN:

Hi ausie, My husband and two kids were on the second week of the Star with you. Our children played togther in Kid's Crew and one day I met you and your boys on the elevator. Small world! I did not know about Cruise Critic prior to our cruise. I actually met a fellow Cruise Critic on the ship and he directed me here which I promptly found upon our return home. I can't wait to use it to help plan our next cruise. Anyway, I just wanted to say "hi".

 

Also, this was our second time on the Star. (first time was March of 2002). We found the Star this time to be less pleasing from our first time on her. We felt the staff to be not attentive, Versailles to have slow service and cold, cold breakfast food. Our room stewards (mini suite 11628)were unknown compared to again our first sailing. Generally speaking, no one seemed festive. Service was unbelievable in March of 2002. This time it was just o.k. Of course too, we were hugely disappointed by the engine trouble. We chose to return to the Star specifically to see Fanning Island again. Le Bistro was incredible! We ate there once on our first trip and twice on this most recent sailing. Well worth the upcharge. SoHo o.k. just not our type of food. We are beginning to plan our next cruise and are trying to decide if it is time to try another cruise line. We have sailed NCL four times but are a bit fearful to schedule it with them again as our experience was just o.k. compared to our previous NCL cruises.

 

Anyway, wished we had known about Cruise Critic in advance and we would have joined you for the CC Meeting. Take care.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Hi,

 

I hope that you enjoy Cruise Critic as much as I do. I find it to be a wealth of information and I will certainly be using it for my next cruise. I had quite a few peaple asking me what cruise critic was all about when the saw either the CC lanyard or the CC money bag I was wearing

 

Hope that you enjoy your next cruise better

 

Regards

 

Bob

 

Until our Back to Back Star Cruise