6/13 NCL Star Review (Long)

[RWKY]

This board has been so helpful to me, it is only appropriate that I try to offer something back in return.

 

We were on the 6/13 NCL Star from Seattle to Alaska. As a bit of background (for point of reference) this was out 16th cruise (6th with NCL – others RCCL, Celebrity, Princess, Disney, and Carnival). Generally I have always considered NCL/RCCL/Princess to be our favorite lines. We are in our late 30’s and took out two son’s (10 & 14) and stayed in 2 inside cabins on Deck 8.

 

This review will be rather long – I will first focus on the reason we cruised – Alaska.

 

We had awesome weather 70’s and sun each day – not normal for Alaska – we were truly blessed. We were there five years ago on the Regal Princess and had clouds and rain each day – what a difference sun makes.

 

We flew into Seattle on the 11th and had 2 great days in Seattle – took in all the normal stuff, Pike Street Market, Mariners Game, Space Needle (overpriced), etc. Lovely town and great time had by all. SAFECO field is very nice and highly recommended by our family.

 

Juneau

We then went to Juneau and had an awesome time. We went to Mendenhall Glacier and did a whale watching trip with Captain Larry – AWESOME. We saw over 20 whales and one was within 5 feet of the boat. We were on the 5:30 tour and felt it was money well spent. This and Glacier Bay were the highlight of the trip.

 

Skagway

We did the train when we were here 5 years ago and took Murray’s advice and rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake – AWESOME. It took us nearly 7 hours round trip because we stopped so often and took over 100 pictures on this day alone. Our car was $50 and the train would have cost almost $400 for our family. Believe me, in this case, saving $ provides a far better experience. This was a great, great trip! The only negative, in my opinion, was our stop at the Cinnamon Cache in Carcross – I had heard so much on this board about it – but must admit – I was very disappointed – average at best. What lovely people all along the way – a day very close to heaven.

 

Glacier Bay

This is truly a gem – I can’t imagine going to Alaska without a stop here. I can’t ever remember being in a place as peaceful and tranquil as Glacier Bay. Regardless of your faith – if you don’t feel close to your Maker here I can’t imagine you ever will. I was on deck from 7:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. without leaving. We saw over 30 whales during this time, many were Orca’s. The glaciers and backdrop of Alaska are majestic here – not to be missed.

 

Ketchikan

Many will probably disagree – but I was not impressed with this stop – too much like a tourist trap to me. I thought Creek Street was unique and pretty – but other than that just OK. Many went fishing from the boat and caught nothing and I generally did not feel it merited a stop. I will say that those that took the tour to the Misty Fjords came back raving about their experience – we should have done this.

 

Victoria

A lovely town – we would have liked to have had a full day there (dock at 6:00 p.m. and left at 12:00 midnight). We went to Butchart Gardens and my wife loved it – for me the sports fan it was just OK. However if you love flowers I am sure this is the spot for you – it is quite beautiful. I would have like ½ day to tour downtown Victoria – it appeared to be a very interesting town – very clean. Next time. Certainly worth a stop.

 

OK – Now the Cruise

As stated earlier, we have been on 6 NCL cruises (2-Norway, 2 Sea, 1 Sky, 1 Sun) and have always held them in high regard. I am sorry to say after this cruise it will take a lot to get me to book with NCL again. We experienced Freestyle before on the Sun and Sky and found it OK, though we do prefer traditional dining.

 

Ship

I loved the ship – well laid out and have many distinct and fun public areas. Fairly easy to navigate, although because of Versailles and Aqua, deck 6/7 can be a little tricky. The ship was clean and appeared to be well maintained. The theatre is the best we have seen on a ship – no bad seat and beautiful. The Versailles dining room is beautiful and one of the best we have seen. Aqua was contempory and in our opinion was ugly and we did not have a meal there. The Market Café is fine – though gets crowded.

 

Cabin

Well appointed and very functional. You won’t be disappointed here. Lot’s of storage, comfortable beds, great bathroom (big – very nice/big shower). One of the nicer cabins we’ve had. We generally get inside cabins because we like the dark – stay up late and sleep late. They are dark like midnight 24 hours a day.

 

Food

For us, NCL’s food has always been on par with any other line – I am sorry to report on the Star it is not. We had a difficult time finding anything of quality to eat unless you paid additional $’s for a specialty restaurant. The best “free†restaurant to eat in, we felt, was Endless Summer. The two main dining room menus were not good and much of the food was way out in left field. What was even worse the quality was probably the worst of any cruise we have been on. I will say that consistently the breakfast was good and we were happy with that. You can see that NCL is taking steps to manage costs through lower quality meat (Lobster and Steak especially) and smaller portions. I had two steaks in the Versailles during the week and feel certain neither were more than 6 oz.

 

The buffet for lunch and dinner was not worth attending. Many items repeated during the weak and were of a very low quality. I love hamburgers – I generally have 1 per day on a cruise – I had one all week this cruise. Not sure what they use – but they were tough, overcooked and awful.

 

Sorry to be so negative about the food – but from our experience I can’t not be – it was pretty bad. The service in general was average at best – the Freestyle I believe has taken away from the attentiveness of the staff and provides a less experience than that of lines with traditional dining. Though if you find Daniel in Endless Summer – he is awesome. All in all – we would rate the food a “Dâ€.

 

Service

Our cabin steward was awesome – great service. Other than this area though, we were disappointed. Felt service was impersonal and not focused around the customer. One quick story – we dock in Victoria at 6 p.m. most get off immediately for Butchart Gardens tours (I heard 500 did this tour from the Star alone). Most return around 10:30 from Victoria yet no restaurants stayed open and the buffet had one line going – we estimated over 300 people were in line when we got in line at 10:30. We were still in line when they closed the line and told everyone to go outside to the Farwell BBQ that opened at 11:00. We were pissed. We then proceed to wait in this line for 45 minutes and after 1:15 minutes finally got food. You would think NCL knows they have over 1000 people off the boat in Victoria all coming back after 10, most of which have not had dinner and will be looking for somewhere to eat.

 

Summary

Thanks to Alaska we had an awesome cruise. I am convinced regardless of the line you use you can almost not coming always from this place with a bad point of view. We were quite disappointed in NCL in some areas, mainly food and service, but for the overall experience we were quite satisfied. If you are on the Star you will have a great time – just don’t expect the caliber of food you are used to on Celebrity/RCCL or Princess – you won’t get it. However, we don’t cruise for the food – we cruise for the itinerary, people and experience. In this case these all were shining stars.

 

Mercury 4/5/03

[12Cruise]

RWKY - Thank you for your very nice review. I enjoyed reading it. We leave for Seattle on Thurs. and are doing pretty much what you did except for the Space Needle...we opted to do a ferry ride on Puget Sound instead. We have Mariners tickets for the 25th...hope they win!!

 

Our highlights will be Capt. Larry, Mendenhall Glacier and Glacier Bay as well. That is why we picked this cruise and this particular ship.

 

Thanks for posting your review so quickly and glad you've made it home safely. I see you are just up the road from me. We are in B. G.

 

Have a great day!

 

12Cruise

 

Norwegian Star 06-27-04

 

 

[Jeannette]

Thanks for the thorough review! Looks like we will be looking for somewhere other than the ship for somthing to eat in Victoria. :-)

 

NCL Star 8/8/2004

NCL Norway 2002

Carnival Triumph 2000

[Anitapoint]

RWKY thank you so much for posting the review. We will be sailing Sunday the 27th. How was disembarking. We have returning flights at 11:30 AM and am a little concerned as to making it.

 

Glad you had a good trip and returned home safely.

[TheDivineMsM]

You are so right about the food. When l sailed The Star the first time in Oct. '02..it was quite good. When I returned in June '03..it was barely edible (even LeBistro). Guess they must have changed chefs. Too bad they are still onboard.

 

Dream on 9/22/04

[Cruizer_J]

Thank you for your review. We were on the 5/30 sailing and were interested to read your comments. Glad that you had a great Alaska experience!

[alonzo14]

Thank you for your review. Food is such a subjective thing. I have heard some good things about the food on the Star and some bad. I will try to take this with a grain of salt. I have been on RCCL ships with very good food and some with average to mediocer. However as you say we go for Alaska. I'm almnost afraid to ask,but how were the shows if you saw any of them. How was embarkation and the diembark? I have heard good things about the CD on this ship. Thanks.

[RWKY]

The shows were generally very good - we have always felt the Jean Ann Ryan company does the best of any other company at sea - no different here. Though the male vocalists on this cruise, except for 1 were not that good. Jane Powell is AWESOME - not to be missed. The magiciian show on Friday is great as well. Entertainment got an A in our book.

 

Leaving the ship was a breeze - no problems - you will be fine for the 11:30 flight.

 

Don't let my comments about the food scare you away -for the price it was still a great experience - just don't expect great food - you won't get it.

 

Mercury 4/5/03

[alonzo14]

RWKY: I'm a little confused. Was Jane Powell on this cruise too? I have heard reviews of BOTH to Spirit and the Star having her on the ship. Does she do both? Also, when did you get to Juneau? Did you tender? I'm glad your whalewatch was great. I hope ours is too. We have the Captain Larry at 5:30 also.

[RWKY]

Not sure when Jane came on our ship - but she did 2 shows - one on Wed. night and one on Sat afternoon - both were GREAT.

 

We did tender for 2 hours in Juneau (arrived at noon) and docked about 2:30 after teh Spirit left - no big deal really. If you have the 5:30 Captian Larry I would go ahead for $10 and have them take you to Mendenhall - it is worth the $10. If you do this you should probably catch the 3:30 glacier shuttle which will put you back just in time for the 5:30 whale tour - this is awesome - we saw at least 20 whales on our tour - one literally 2 feet from the boat in a partial breech....

 

Mercury 4/5/03

[didan]

Thanks so much for the review. Really enjoyed reading it.

[crewsin250]

RWKY thanks for your reveiw sounds like they are getting some of the bugs worked out on arriving on time and disembarking the ship at ports and Seattle. Paul

[RWKY]

Our only delay was leaving Seattle - the rest was all on schedule.

[tommui987]

We were on the same cruise as RWKY - Seattle to Seattle on June 13-20th.

 

I would just add that the food served in the main restaurants (Versailles and Acqua) wasn't bad though nothing to write home about.

 

Embarkation at Seattle was horrible and debarkation at Victoria was bad = should have let the tour people out first - as it was the gangplank area was so crowded that people from the upper decks could not get off the elevators.

 

Tours were delayed so they got back around 10:40PM and NCL, in its wisdom, closed up the dining areas at 11:00PM!

 

NCL did leave the barbeque on the swiming pool area open - but it took at least an hour or so before the people in line got fed.

 

Tip for Stagway - sign up for the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve raft trip. Quiet and peaceful floating down the river. Our guide, Oliver, is terrific and that, together with his tour of Haines, is not to be missed!

 

All in all, other than the stuff mentioned above, I would pretty well agree with RWKY's review.