Star Review 6/19/05-6/26/05 Part I

[bluedevil72]

First of all let me say this was our second cruise on NCL, the first being the Pride of Aloha last summer, so we were a little concerned about this one. This one was terrific though, nothing like POA's first few cruises last summer.

Seattle--Embarkation--We got to SeaTac about 9:30 and had our luggage by 10:00. I had reserved a ride to the Pier via Seattle TownCars. I gave them a call when we got our luggage and they were there within five minutes. There are numbers on the exit doors at SeaTac so it's pretty easy to be found. The ride was $35 plus tip. It took about twenty minutes to get to Pier 66, and when we got there, there were plenty of NCL reps to tell us what we needed to do. We found a porter to take our luggage and we walked less than 100' to get to the cruise terminal. We were about 50th in line at 10:30 at the bottom of the escalator, with registration due to begin about 11:00. The escalator started moving about 10:45 though and we went up to the second level to registration. Again there were plenty of people to give directions. We are latitudes members so we got in that line, but it really wouldn't have made any difference, because all the lines were moving quickly. They were giving out numbers for boarding groups, and we were told to get one in the Latitudes line, but they didn't have any so we hunted down someone else and we got #5. That really didn't matter either, as we waited less than thirty minutes to board. Pictures are taken when you register so the long lines for pictures I have seen on other cruises weren't here on this one. The thirty minutes we were waiting in the lobby we never saw lines that were very long. All in all, best embarkation we've been through.

Stewards--Our room stewards were very good, the type you see in the hall and always had a smile on their face, plus a warm greeting. They were always in and out of room before we knew it. By the way, our luggage was at our room before we sailed at 4:00.

Restaurants--We ate in the Versailles Restaurant twice, (one of the main restaurants) and thought the food was very good. The service we received was only average compared to others we've had, but others said their's was good, so it's just the luck of the draw. We ate two other dinners at Endless Summer (Tex-Mex) and LaTrattoria, both of which have no cover charge. They were both excellent, with great service. LaTrattoria was our best meal of the week. We ate at the Blue Lagoon several times, and were pleased with the food here as well. The service left a little to be desired, but the restaurant is in a major walkway area, so that probably has a lot to do with it.

We ate all breakfasts and some other meals at The Market Cafe (the buffet). After eating the food in the buffet on the POA last summer, this was pretty good for buffet food. There were several things we didn't like, but there was always something that we did. We love eating on cruise ships but Alaska and the excursions are the main event for us, so meals were scheduled around that.

We didn't use the casino, kid's areas, spa, workout area, etc. , so can't help with those. We did use the Promenade Deck which goes all the way around the ship as our walking area. One thing I did like about the casino though; we weren't always going through it like we seem to do on other ships. There are four entrances to the Stardust Theatre, (I think), and the casino is entered near one of those entrances. So you have to be going there to get there.

Entertainment--Just like the POA last summer, we thought the entertainment was excellent. The Jean Ann Ryan Group was good again. They did three shows, with the last one, Cirque Pacifica or something like that, being my least favorite of the three. The juggler-comedian was very entertaining. Jane Powell, who opened for Ray Charles in the past, was also very good. Bud Andersen, another comedian, did several shows in the Spinnaker Lounge, and he was good as well.

General Info--The Spinnaker Lounge is great for whale viewing, It has 180 degrees of viewing, and is in the forward part of the ship. I did spend alot of time on top though, especially in Glacier Bay, and they have blankets in the towel bins the morning of Glacier Bay. You can get tender tickets the night before Juneau, and we were off the ship within 15 minutes even though we had an independent tour with Captain Larry. Get off early in K-can. We had an independent tour with Island Wings, so would have been off early anyway, but at 6:45 in the morning there were very few people in town. In fact we got great pictures of Creek St. with no one else around. Later in the day, with four cruise ships in town, it gets rather crowded.

Most Excitement on the Trip--I haven't seen anyone else address this, but on Thursday night we were watching the obligatory Newlywed Game in the Spinnaker Lounge, which again is the very front of the ship, and the ship seemed to just stop and shake for a couple of seconds. My wife and dozens of others got up to see what happened, and the folks that looked out the windows on the right side saw a whale right by the ship that dove right after they first saw it. As far as I know we never got official word on what happened, but the whale was definitely there. It was very foggy,and the captain was blowing the horn about every couple of minutes. I know whales have great hearing, but that had to be what we hit.

Debarkation--Smooth. We had a Seattle tour, so we met our group in the Stardust, got out right on time and found our luggage with no problem at all. Again, there were plenty of porters to help with the luggage. My BIL and his family were on the crew with us and they did not have a tour. They stayed a little while longer, and also had no problems getting off in good shape.

I know this is long and there have been other great reviews on this exact sailing, but I thought I'd put my two cents worth in. Again, we had a great time and a great cruise. This was our second trip to Alaska and I don't think you can have a bad time in Alaska. If you have any specific questions, I'll be glad to try and answer them. More about excursions later...

[bayareamama]

Thank you for taking the time to post a trip report. Enjoyed reading it. Would love to hear about your excursions too.

[bluedevil72]

I'm going to post the excursion review on the Alaska board. I really didn't realize I had posted the first one on the NCL board until it was too late.

[brunolvr]

I'm going to post the excursion review on the Alaska board. I really didn't realize I had posted the first one on the NCL board until it was too late.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your pictures. Are you going to be posting them anywhere? Thanks for your informative review - you covered everything really well!