Have you done Northstar? Opinions, please.

[DaniDanielle]

Wouldn’t pay for it.  We did it a few times for free, the views are great.

[cruiselvr04]

Free yes.  Pay no.  
 

Now IFly I might pay.  It was great.  We have one here in Dallas. It’s about $100 but of course you fly longer. 

[Tree_skier]

I've done the free one twice and would do it again in a heart beat.  I haven't done the pay version yet but likely will at some point in the future.  Its a fun experience and give you really neat views.

 

 

You definitely get much better and higher views that just looking out over a high deck. This is Willemstad Curacao. 

 

 

[crzndeb]

I just did both on the Ovation in Australia/ NZ. I used OBC for the pay, and thought it was worth it. I probably wouldn’t do pay again, but that could change, depending on location.

These pics were the free.

 

[Weluv2cruise2gether]

We did free and pay. We enjoyed both. Free just goes up in air while in a port. We had awesome views of the whole island at Coco Cay. The paid time goes out over the sides of the ship. We enjoyed both and got some amazing pictures, especially when out over the side. I definitely would do the free time in port again. Not sure if I would pay again since it would be basically the same type of pictures but I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it either.

[ajtaylor29]

We've done it twice (Odyssey and Anthem), but times free and with reserved times without much wait at all.

I enjoyed it, it's a cool view from up there, but if i was paying i might skip it....

I agree with someone else's comment that you might luck in to it by walking by when there's a lull....or once on board check the app again and more spots might open up. Try to be there when it opens for the day and the lines are short.

[Another_Critic]

I did "pay" on both Quantum and Anthem before it was pay. 🙂

 

It used to be free for long rides over the side and there were no reservations.  The waiting lines did get long at times.

[loman]

One and done for me too , i did the free one several years ago.

Took a few pics , looked at them and then deleted them, nobody else wants to see them anyway.🙂

[taglovestocruise]

19 hours ago, mlbcruiser said:

I realize the Northstar ride is very popular on

certain Royal Caribbean ships that have it. Is it really”all that”?  It seems to me that most of the time you wouldn’t see a whole lot more at the highest level than you would see from the highest deck. I am especially thinking of when the ship is at sea (assuming it operates at sea) or particularly as the ship cruises through the inside passage in Alaska.

 

Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems like where the ship is at the moment you do it would have a huge bearing on what you could really see from being up higher than the top deck of the ship.   

The current price to do it is $19 per person. So $96 for a family of five.
 

Did you think it was really fun? Mildly fun? So -  so? 
 

 

 

On Ovation last Sep.  Free and pay version were totally booked for the week by the middle of day two.  Same for I FLY.  Book them as soon as you can. Lines for the bumper cars were very long a hour or so before start times.  

[mlbcruiser]

Well, I sure hope my daughter’s family, at least, manages to get to do these things. Thanks for the tip about the bumper cars as well! Probably certain times of the year are worse than others, but the bookings I think have been pretty heavy for most types of travel for the summer. Some friends we met on a cruise several years back did an inaugural cruise on the quantum. They got to do the rides free as well. Then for a time I think they went up to $15. At least Ifly was $15. If I understand it right, the bumper cars are Only available at certain times of the day. Some people may think you have to pay for the flow rider because low rider lessons, and so forth are showing as bookable. For stuff I can’t imagine it would be warm enough to do that unless you had an a wetsuit,  I did it once, but our ship was about to leave Saint Martin, and it was much warmer than it will be in Alaska for sure.

[jerseyjjs]

Been on Anthem 4 times and wasn't interested at all.....now they're charging pax for it???

[mlbcruiser]

Have been charging for sometime, but also offering these things free when the ship is in port. I will definitely take the advice of taglovestocruise and try to book fast!

 

I think that is really, really annoying. Is that when you use the app, it appears that there are several open slots for both Kansas City, Missouri Northstar and Ifly. However, when you try to book them, they are full. Same thing that happened two nights ago. On the.com site you know immediately that they are full when you check them since they say sold out.. RCI’s IT people reallyneed to work on the app issues. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by mlbcruiser

[Another_Critic]

51 minutes ago, mlbcruiser said:

Some people may think you have to pay for the flow rider because low rider lessons, and so forth are showing as bookable. For stuff I can’t imagine it would be warm enough to do that unless you had an a wetsuit,  I did it once, but our ship was about to leave Saint Martin, and it was much warmer than it will be in Alaska for sure.

Went on the waterslides on Voyager in Akureyki, Iceland last September.

 

 

 

Also, people were doing the Flowrider leaving Prins Christian Sund in Greenland.

 

[mlbcruiser]

I can’t get the pictures to show. Just a little? In the center of where there should be a photo I believe. Anyway, brrrrrr!

Edited June 17, 2023 by mlbcruiser

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Don't bother if it is, or very recently has been, raining. There are no wipers fitted and you cannot see a thing.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[mlbcruiser]

Good point, cublet!  I’m the only other Alaskan cruise my DH, and I have been on, it was at least misting most of the time. We didn’t really hit sunny weather, except when we rode a train up a mountain in one of the ports, and after our cruise we did a four night princess land tour. Pouring buckets between the ship and the train and for a while while on the train. It was also raining moderately when we got to our first nights hotel, one of the princess lodges. There after we had great weather on all the other days that was maybe around the third week of May. Thanks for the tip!

[John&LaLa]

On 6/16/2023 at 12:46 AM, Ret MP said:

Unfortunately, we haven't made it on one of those yet.  We've cruised on the Anthum to Bermuda and it was broken.  We cruised on the Ovation and they said it was broken.  I actually think it wasn't broken on Ovation, the ship was seriously understaffed and I think they just didn't want to staff it.  That's my SWAG!  But, I'm looking forward to it one day.  I think it would be a good opportunity for some good photography.  

 

Everything had a blue tint and reflections. Plus, it gets really hot in there

Edited June 17, 2023 by John&LaLa

[steveru621]

I think it's better in port, more to see and it's free.  I don't think I'll pay for it.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

We did it when it was free on Anthem. I certainly would not pay for it.

 

After the first 30 secords of being high thats about it really you look around the view take some pics and thats it. 

 

I think its a waste of money and space on the ship tbh, hence why no-one else copying it. 

 

But if you can get it free then why not go and enjoy it. 

[sdrocks]

We've done it several times, only on port days.  It's fine but nothing I would pay for.  Never had the

opportunity to do it at sea.  Would do it if it was free just for comparison.

[gavvy]

I did the free one at Coco cay. After 5 min I was done. The glass is curved so hard to get good pics with no reflection and after a few min of seeing the same thing I was done  

Gald I did it but it's a one and done.  .at see I can imagine the view is worse.  Just sea. Not worth paying for

[gavvy]

Also found out the weight limit has nothing do with the north star..it's for the harness and rigging if they need to get you down if it gets stuck 

Something I really wish I hadn't learned from the crew 2 min before I was due to go up

[gmerick]

Did you climb to the top of a farm silo?  (North Star is twice as high). Would you pay admission to the top of the Eifel Tower or  Empire State Building? (North Star costs the same).  I'd do the North Star at night to watch the Northern Lights as long as the Captain promised to turn out all the ship's lights.  Otherwise, a big MEH.

[sailor05]

I rode it when it was free. I wouldn't pay a dollar to do it again. You go high, big deal. Nothing to see when at sea other than what you can already see from the top floors of the ship. 

[BecciBoo]

Just do it you won't be sorry!  Much better than just going up and down over the deck docked!  Much more exciting when moving through the ocean, certainly worth the extra.

Edited June 17, 2023 by BecciBoo