Live from the NCL Star July 23-August 15, 2023. Will I survive 23 days without the beverage package?

[www3traveler]

4 minutes ago, bstreep said:

I guess we are about to find out. We board Norwegian Spirit on Wednesday from Vancouver to Seward, and then 9 days later take Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas.

You will love The Spirit.  If you have any food issues, go find the F&B Mohammad Hasan.  Hasan is a very good at his job and a joy to be around.

[YVRteacher]

It’s so beautiful! The ocean is silver with ripples of blue and the sun is low on the horizon, sending streaks of light across the Greenland Sea. Cruising always gives me a sense of the vastness of the world.

 

I spent the afternoon in a hot tub chatting with a couple from the Netherlands and a mother and daughter from California. The hot tub that used to be nice and hot is now lukewarm. More on this later. It’s so cold! The bartenders at Topsiders are wearing big jackets, hats and wooden face warmers. I have embraced the ridiculous layout of the Star and now traipse through the buffet in my robe and flip flops trailing drips of hot tub water from my bathing suit and just don’t care. If someone gets chicken casserole with a side of hot tub lady then so be it.

 

 

For Dinner with the Officers we met at 6:15. There were 11 guests and 2 staff members, the Group Coordinator (Glenda) and an electrical engineer. We were seated at a long table in a windowless section of Aqua. Service was painfully slow. I enjoyed the people and chatting with Glenda. She is a foodie and her joy in the food was such a delight. Thank goodness for Glenda because the other guy barely spoke. Someone asked him what his job entails and he listed a few things including the hot tubs. I asked him if he could make the hot tubs hotter and he said they are as hot as they can get. I said two days ago they were hot and now they are not. He said they were drained and refilled and it takes two days for them to get hot again. This seems odd to me.

 

Garry had arranged for a chef’s choice meal for me. I was served carrot soup (not to my taste)

Greek salad (perfect!)

and an entree of what they call vegetable fritters. Vegetable fritters is code for fried mashed potatoes. I refused to eat them.

 

 

 

I am absolutely insisting that I am provided with protein at meals. I sent it back and asked for a meal with protein. At 8:05pm when everyone had finished their meals I received a delicious, protein-based entree. Finally.  It took 7 days.

 

For dessert I ordered the Nutella crème brûlée. One word: pitiful. Definitely not a crème brûlée. 

 

 

Now I’m in the cabin watching A Man Called Otto and looking out the window at the gorgeous ocean. I identify with Otto. Yes, I’ve read A Man Called Ove. Loved it!!!

 

 

[ceilidh1]

4 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

 

For dessert I ordered the Nutella crème brûlée. One word: pitiful. Definitely not a crème brûlée. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What on earth is that gray blob on top? It looks like seagull ca-ca. Please tell me it's not meant to be cream?

[YVRteacher]

24 minutes ago, bstreep said:

I guess we are about to find out. We board Norwegian Spirit on Wednesday from Vancouver to Seward, and then 9 days later take Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas.

You are in for an absolute treat on the Spirit! Beautiful ship, amazing people on board, spectacular scenery and the best bartenders ever!

[YVRteacher]

8 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

What on earth is that gray blob on top? It looks like seagull ca-ca. Please tell me it's not meant to be cream?

It was crunchy but I don’t know what it was. Mystery garnish. 

[www3traveler]

58 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

It’s so beautiful! The ocean is silver with ripples of blue and the sun is low on the horizon, sending streaks of light across the Greenland Sea. Cruising always gives me a sense of the vastness of the world.

 

I spent the afternoon in a hot tub chatting with a couple from the Netherlands and a mother and daughter from California. The hot tub that used to be nice and hot is now lukewarm. More on this later. It’s so cold! The bartenders at Topsiders are wearing big jackets, hats and wooden face warmers. I have embraced the ridiculous layout of the Star and now traipse through the buffet in my robe and flip flops trailing drips of hot tub water from my bathing suit and just don’t care. If someone gets chicken casserole with a side of hot tub lady then so be it.

 

 

For Dinner with the Officers we met at 6:15. There were 11 guests and 2 staff members, the Group Coordinator (Glenda) and an electrical engineer. We were seated at a long table in a windowless section of Aqua. Service was painfully slow. I enjoyed the people and chatting with Glenda. She is a foodie and her joy in the food was such a delight. Thank goodness for Glenda because the other guy barely spoke. Someone asked him what his job entails and he listed a few things including the hot tubs. I asked him if he could make the hot tubs hotter and he said they are as hot as they can get. I said two days ago they were hot and now they are not. He said they were drained and refilled and it takes two days for them to get hot again. This seems odd to me.

 

Garry had arranged for a chef’s choice meal for me. I was served carrot soup (not to my taste)

Greek salad (perfect!)

and an entree of what they call vegetable fritters. Vegetable fritters is code for fried mashed potatoes. I refused to eat them.

 

 

 

I am absolutely insisting that I am provided with protein at meals. I sent it back and asked for a meal with protein. At 8:05pm when everyone had finished their meals I received a delicious, protein-based entree. Finally.  It took 7 days.

 

For dessert I ordered the Nutella crème brûlée. One word: pitiful. Definitely not a crème brûlée. 

 

 

Now I’m in the cabin watching A Man Called Otto and looking out the window at the gorgeous ocean. I identify with Otto. Yes, I’ve read A Man Called Ove. Loved it!!!

 

 

The sea looks beautiful.  I hope your day in Longyeaarbyen goes well.

As always, you have my love and prayers.

[Burrata]

@YVRteacher

have you considered getting the Thermal Spa pass for the 2nd part of your journey? My sister and I were on the Star early July of this year. We went everyday, not super fancy but we thought it was an excellent place to relax and stay warm.

[cmph]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

What on earth is that gray blob on top? It looks like seagull ca-ca. Please tell me it's not meant to be cream?

 

56 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

It was crunchy but I don’t know what it was. Mystery garnish. 

My husband says "that looks like a flat, wet souffle" and wants to know why there are coconut flakes lol. We had this on the Dawn a few weeks ago, and it was fine and also definitely did not have coconut flakes or that weird blob. However, they did have some struggles in the creme brulee department, as the raspberry version two of us had in Cagney's were basically mousse. Super weird. 

 

Glad you finally got a good, protein-included entree. They must have googled vegetarian protein sources ha!

[sherylc]

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The port I am most excited about, Longyearbyen, is tomorrow.

 

I had booked a private full day excursion through Hurtigruten. Just received an email that the excursion is cancelled because their boat propeller is cracked.

 

I can’t get internet strong enough to book a private tour and the ones I would have been interested in through NCL are sold out.

 

Big sigh and big hope I can arrange something for this once-in-a-lifetime port.

You might try https://svalbardadventures.com/en/adventures. They have several summer activities so you might get lucky with last minute availability. Good luck!!

[AKR2011]

I am so sorry for what you're dealing with trying to get balanced meals. That is completely unbelievable! It seems like they are trying to make it right, but they also seem to be super inconsistent. This is a long and special cruise and this is unacceptable. I really hope that things start to improve for you. ❤️⚓️

[bluesea777]

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

 

For dessert I ordered the Nutella crème brûlée. One word: pitiful. Definitely not a crème brûlée. 

 

 

 

That's a hard NO for us. We just cannot grasp on hearing how fabulous and delicious Nutella is, so after so many years of hearing about it and seeing so many jars in grocery stores, etc, we decided to try that on crepes, in San Francisco, but I could only eat 1/4 of that. Note: we prefer dark chocolate, so that was why we found Nutella so sickly sweet. 

 

Sorry Nutella lovers.

 

 

[wally4ever]

34 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

That's a hard NO for us. We just cannot grasp on hearing how fabulous and delicious Nutella is, so after so many years of hearing about it and seeing so many jars in grocery stores, etc, we decided to try that on crepes, in San Francisco, but I could only eat 1/4 of that. Note: we prefer dark chocolate, so that was why we found Nutella so sickly sweet. 

 

Sorry Nutella lovers.

 

 

I love Nutella, but more as an accent to a dessert than the starring attraction.  One of my students brought me a tin of Nutella cookies for my birthday, where they basically swapped out chocolate chips for Nutella, and those were the best cookies I've ever had the privilege to eat.  I gave serious consideration to looping with my class just to have those cookies again.

[TrumpyNor]

@YVRteacher Your live review is actually one of the best I have read, as it contains of so much detailed information plus fantastic photos from the various ports! Looking forward to getting on board for the next leg in Tromsø, but must admit that I am now a little worried about the food on board. Luckily we have a total of 6 speciality restaurants on our 11 days cruise, so I am guessing that the other 5 evenings we will just have dinner in the Asian complimentary restaurant or O'Sheehans - so definitely trying to stay away for the MDRs.....

We have done two previous cruises with the Star (12 days and 14 days), and they were both fantastic and the food was perfectly fine everywhere on board, and the service great. But that was back in 2015 and 2019 - so something must have happened since then.... 🤔

[YVRteacher]

11 hours ago, sherylc said:

You might try https://svalbardadventures.com/en/adventures. They have several summer activities so you might get lucky with last minute availability. Good luck!!

Everything is sold out.

[YVRteacher]

12 hours ago, cmph said:

 

My husband says "that looks like a flat, wet souffle" and wants to know why there are coconut flakes lol. We had this on the Dawn a few weeks ago, and it was fine and also definitely did not have coconut flakes or that weird blob. However, they did have some struggles in the creme brulee department, as the raspberry version two of us had in Cagney's were basically mousse. Super weird. 

 

Glad you finally got a good, protein-included entree. They must have googled vegetarian protein sources ha!

There are coconut flakes on the Nutella non-brûlée crème brûlée because the food on this ship sucks. This should not have left the kitchen and it should not have been served.

[YVRteacher]

12 hours ago, Burrata said:

@YVRteacher

have you considered getting the Thermal Spa pass for the 2nd part of your journey? My sister and I were on the Star early July of this year. We went everyday, not super fancy but we thought it was an excellent place to relax and stay warm.

My plan was to get the thermal spa pass for both cruises. However, on the first day when I did the spa tour I sat in one of the thermal loungers it was so poorly designed I knew it would wreck my back. I do not have back or neck issues at all but the moment I got on that lounger I knew there would be issues if I used those things for any period of time. I’ve purchased spa passes on the Bliss, the Jewel and the Spirit and loved all three.

[YVRteacher]

2 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

@YVRteacher Your live review is actually one of the best I have read, as it contains of so much detailed information plus fantastic photos from the various ports! Looking forward to getting on board for the next leg in Tromsø, but must admit that I am now a little worried about the food on board. Luckily we have a total of 6 speciality restaurants on our 11 days cruise, so I am guessing that the other 5 evenings we will just have dinner in the Asian complimentary restaurant or O'Sheehans - so definitely trying to stay away for the MDRs.....

We have done two previous cruises with the Star (12 days and 14 days), and they were both fantastic and the food was perfectly fine everywhere on board, and the service great. But that was back in 2015 and 2019 - so something must have happened since then.... 🤔

Pack snacks!

 

I’m hoping you’ll add to this thread (or start a new thread, whatever you prefer😀) and add your voice. A large part of my struggle is that I’m vegetarian. Others on board would not be experiencing what I am going through. At the Dinner with the Officers last night two people sent back their scallops as they were undercooked. The second batch was also undercooked. However, others at the table enjoyed their food and it was nicely presented.

 

Tonight I have an excursion that includes dinner and I have specialty dining booked for the next few days so will be able to provide insight into Le Bistro, Teppanyaki and Moderno.

 

To give credit to NCL, all of my experiences with tendering have been fine. No line ups. I have not used priority tendering because I haven’t needed to. I’m not looking to get off the Star at 7:00am when we first arrive at the tender ports.

 

Thank you for the kind words about this review! I love to write and to share the photos.

[Fruitpunch76]

Yvonne, may I just ask you if you have already tried the Sushi (vegetarian) at Ginza? 

Because I love California Rolls...☺️

 

Yes, I agree, the loungers at the spa would also break my back but I guess maybe I would just stay in the pool for a while every evening or so but I thought that I prefer to invest the money elsewhere.

 

Oh, and I read in an other thread that someone said the library on the Star was really a nice place...

[Fruitpunch76]

Hi again, Yvonnne, I just wanted to recommend some food to you that maybe is worth a try.

If you have another latitudes coupon left, I would go to Cagneys apart from the fact that you are vegetarian. On every NCL ship I have been on, the best food was at Cagneys.

I reall recommed to you two starters, the Iceberg Wedge and the Beefsteak Tomato, they are amazing! And afterwards I would just order ALL the sides. Especially mushrooms and the grilled asparagus, the truffle fries, the grilled veggies and so on ....sooo yummy👍😉

I can't wait to get there!

 

 

[mugtech]

I have found the vegan meals on Royal Caribbean quite acceptable.  In the MDR they have at least one appetizer,  one main course, and one desert vegan.  Made ordering very easy every night.  Sorry to see you are finding out why so many Star cruises are so cheap.  We started avoiding her since she had the observation lounge replaced, had all those propulsion problems.  Did Not really need more reasons to ignore.

[djasinsk]

Does the garden cafe have a decent salad bar on the star?  For both lunch and dinner?

[YVRteacher]

July 30

Longyearbyen

 

This is the most research I have ever absorbed for a port. It was challenging sorting through information so perhaps this will help future cruisers.

Svalbard is an archipelago comprised of 9 main islands and several smaller islands. Prior to 1925 what is now known as Svalbard was known as Spitsbergen. Spitsbergen is now the name of one of the islands in the Svalbard archipelago. Spitsbergen means pointy mountain in Dutch and Svalbard means “cold shores” in Old Norse. Spitsbergen is the only inhabited island in Svalbard.

Some people go on cruises called chasing the midnight sun; Svalbard is so far north (814 miles from the North Pole) the sun does not set between April 19 through August 23.  

Longyearbyen is the world’s most northerly town with a population over 1000 people.  2400 people live here. There are no native residents as women are not allowed to give birth on the island of Svalbard.  (Pregnant people are required to go to mainland Norway a few weeks before their due date.) People can die here but they can’t be buried because the permafrost does not allow bodies to decompose.  Someone is missing out on an opportunity for postmortem housing.  

It is illegal NOT to carry a gun outside the settlement of Longyearbyen and all tours have a guide with a firearm.  The 300 students that attend university here must learn how to use a gun.

Longyearbyen does not have strict immigration requirements; people from 53 nations reside in this remote town.   There aren’t any generations of families here as people come for a few years then leave. 

 

Just as Skagway was the setting for the Gold Rush, Longyearbyen served the same purpose for the explorers seeking the high Arctic.

If you dislike traffic jams and long commutes, Svalbard may be the place for you as there are only 25 miles of road. Transport is by snowmobile or boat.  There are also more polar bears than people and it is illegal to chase a polar bear.  

If there is a nuclear explosion and the rest of the world is depleted of flora, Svalbard has us covered. The Doomsday vault, also known as the Global Seed Bank is here.  Why they keep stinging nettle seeds is beyond me.  I sat in a patch of that once.  I also sat on a slug but the stinging nettle was worse (for me.  The slug didn’t fare too well at all.)

 

Svalbard is an Arctic desert. It’s so cold and dark (three months with zero sunlight and people wear headlamps to get to work) that trees can’t grow more than 10cm high.  

As if Svalbard isn’t famous enough for the glaciers and polar bears, it is also home to the world’s most northerly piano.  My mom wanted to be a piano player when she was growing up so guess who had to take piano lessons from grade 4-grade 12? 

 

My dad loves cats.  I have photos of him petting cats in more than 40 countries. He calls them all Moggy.  Would he be able to pet a cat in Svalbard?  No. Cats are illegal but someone tried to register one as a fox. Why no cats? To protect the birds.  How many bird sanctuaries are there? 12.

 

Prior to 1990 subsistence in Longyearbyen was related to coal mining. Now tourism and Arctic research have taken over mining as industry leaders. The NCL coal mining excursion is $270 Cdn and the cost to book it privately was $102 Cdn. 

One of the private shore excursions I found is called “mountain scrambling.” This is for lean people with long legs, not short people built like a walrus. 

 

Speaking of walrus, an in-demand excursion in Longyearbyen is walrus viewing.  There are 3000 walrus here.    What do you do for a living? Oh, I count walrus…

The scientific name for walrus is Odobenus Rosmarus.  In Latin? Tooth-walking sea-horse!

I booked my Luxury Walrus Safari through Hurtigruten.  As mentioned it was cancelled because the boat broke. I couldn’t book anything through the ship and I went to two tourist information kiosks today and there are simply no spaces on tours. We are at a port that does not have the capacity to support both a large and a small cruise ship on the same day.

 

There is no shuttle from the port into town so I walked. I would not call this a nice walk. There are no sidewalks, cars are zooming by, the place to walk is mud and it isn’t pretty.

 

 

We are here on a Sunday. Do you know what’s open in Longyearbyen on a Sunday?

Not much! Even the library is closed.

 

It is 2:00pm and I have walked the entire town. Twice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I walked by the sea too.  

 

 

 

 

This is my wildlife experience for the day

 

 

 

 

 

It is very cold here. Not only can you buy cold weather gear for humans, you can also procure an insulated sleeping bag for your phone:

 

I’m at the Svalbard Museum snuggled up on a reindeer pelt (ew ew ew) while resting my head on an indoor log and am using the internet.  Laying on a reindeer pelt is about as comfortable as sleeping on a troll’s beard.  Maybe a little more scratchy. At the museum front desk the guy said the museum was in Norwegian and English but this isn’t quite true. There will be an entire wall of explanations in Norwegian then a one sentence summary in English. I did like the mining display but I’m not one for taxidermy so I skipped that section. I also liked this old sock. More museums should have old socks.

 

 

 

Since we don’t see the Aurora Borealis in summer and we do stay in Longyearbyen until 1:00am I booked an additional special evening excursion through Hurtigruten Svalbard: Arctic Wilderness Evening and Polar Bear Lectures. Now I have 4 hours before that tour begins. Luckily I found a bakery and will head there soon. 

This is what the eggs looked like in the Garden Cafe today. If you are going to use powdered eggs, at least use enough powder so the liquid is absorbed.

I had oatmeal instead and now I’m hungry. The chef walked by and gave me a hug. He said oatmeal wasn’t enough for breakfast. I said I like oatmeal!
 

Found a little snack shop as I walked through Longyearbyen. Did not order this:

 

My evening tour meets in town and it’s too far to walk back to the ship then walk back to the meeting point. My next post will be from the bakery! For sure I’m disappointed I couldn’t do an excursion today. They sounded amazing and I bet people will have great adventures and stories to share. I told myself I had to make the best of today and get out and explore Longyearbyen so that’s exactly what I’m doing. The excitement will increase as the grocery store opens at 3:00pm. Woot woot.

 

I put laundry in over 48 hours ago and haven’t got it back yet. Will my clothes be waiting for me in a wicker basket when I return from my excursion at midnight?

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, Fruitpunch76 said:

Yvonne, may I just ask you if you have already tried the Sushi (vegetarian) at Ginza? 

Because I love California Rolls...☺️

 

Yes, I agree, the loungers at the spa would also break my back but I guess maybe I would just stay in the pool for a while every evening or so but I thought that I prefer to invest the money elsewhere.

 

Oh, and I read in an other thread that someone said the library on the Star was really a nice place...

California Rolls contain imitation crab. 
 

The library is lovely but there are no windows and it is dark. They have a great selection of books!

[Fruitpunch76]

Amazing pics! This place looks like another planet..😄👍

[YVRteacher]

52 minutes ago, Fruitpunch76 said:

Hi again, Yvonnne, I just wanted to recommend some food to you that maybe is worth a try.

If you have another latitudes coupon left, I would go to Cagneys apart from the fact that you are vegetarian. On every NCL ship I have been on, the best food was at Cagneys.

I reall recommed to you two starters, the Iceberg Wedge and the Beefsteak Tomato, they are amazing! And afterwards I would just order ALL the sides. Especially mushrooms and the grilled asparagus, the truffle fries, the grilled veggies and so on ....sooo yummy👍😉

I can't wait to get there!

 

 

Yes, I know what to order from Cagney’s. I’m trying to get protein with my meals. I have had amazing experiences at Cagney’s on other ships.