NCL Star Alaska review 5/17/08-5/24/08

[TXRED10]

This is a review of the Star Alaska cruise from 5/17/2008-5/24/2008

 

We booked this vacation in January and stayed in Seattle one day prior and two days after the cruise.

 

Prior to cruise:

Flew in on Friday, 5/16 and stayed at Vintage Park Hotel in downtown Seattle. This hotel is fabulous and highly recommended! Just awesome!!!

First connecting flight that morning was cancelled that left at 5:00am but caught next one to connect us through Houston to Seattle by 3:00pm. (supposed to be there at 11:30!:( ) But whatta you do??

We had arranged for a driver to take us to the hotel through DriverforHire. Great price and great service.

Checked in and went to free wine tasting the hotel offers every evening.

Very nice!

Met up with family members and ate at Anthony's at Pier 66.

The food was great!! Highly recommend dungeness crab and baked halibut......OMG!!! The best seafood I think I've ever tasted!!

 

Bon Voyage!!

We got up early and explored Pike Place Market which was so neat!

I couldn't wait to do some shopping after the cruise!!

Back to hotel for driver to take us to pier, again through Driverfor Hire.

Only $15 for 4 of us. Great idea, very easy!

Arrived at Pier around 12:00 and was through embarkation process and up to our room in less than 20 minutes! This process has gotten better, very smooth.

We booked a mini-suite on deck 11 forward, port side. The cabin was very roomy and has a nice big balcony! Glad we spent the extra $$ since we were going to Alaska. Also, the bathroom had more room than the normal balcony cabins and had a nice separate toilet room and seperate shower with bathtub.

We have been on the Star before 3 years ago to Alaska. We knew we like the ship and kinda remembered our way around.

You could see the changes with the new Freestyle 2.0 with the complimentary champagne when you board and also robes in the room along with nice bedding.

 

The weather in Seattle was awesome! In the 80's Friday and Saturday with no rain! You could see Mt.Rainier beautifully! Even saw passengers in their swimsuits when we left Seattle. That all changed in about 30 minutes after we started heading north! Got that cold weather we all came for!!

 

Ship details:

We did make reservations for some specialty restaurants we knew we like and had no problem getting in. The dining room also was enjoyable but got old if you had to eat there every evening.

 

I won't go into too much detail, way too long. The Star has a nice layout and lots of choiced for bars and restaurants. We liked going up to Spinnaker Lounge daily for some drinks and look out all the windows that face forward. In the evenings going to the Champagne bar or Star bar was nice for a pre-dinner cocktail.

All the staff we talked to or had waiting on us were very nice and helpful, never rude.

Best specialty restaurants in my opinion were Cagney's and Bistro.

Worth the extra charge and nice atmosphere.

We were not impressed with the buffet as I knew I wouldn't like much anyhow. (Hate any type of buffet) But going into it I wasn't let down b/c I knew it wasn't anything great. Seems like around breakfast and lunch the ship staff and food couldn't handle the amount of passengers wanting to eat. No cups for drinks, much of breakfast food emtpy?? After one day of that I avoided the area all together.

 

Alaska:

Of course Alaska is beautiful and the weather we had was just great!

We didn't make it into Sawyer Glacier b/c of ice blocking our entry.

Took us to Dawes glacier but you don't get too close and saw no calving.

Did see lots of ice in water. Kinda disappointing not to see Sawyer Glacier but that's just how it goes sometimes.

Went whale watching in Juneau and on White Pass Train in Skagway.

Had a wonderful time on both and recommend both these excursions!

 

The week went by way too fast as usual! We really enjoyed the ship and the ports. (Prince Rupert a little boring though)

Did the self-embarkation and were off by 8:00am.

 

Post Cruise:

Had a rental car booked for 2 days picking up at Pier 66 and dropping off at airport.

Checked in at Hotel Vintage Park again for 2 nights and our room was ready already at 9:00am. Perfect!

Since the weather was again beautiful in Seattle we headed for Mt.Rainer.

This was wonderful and our first time to see Mt.Rainier and explore Seattle.

We just loved Seattle and I could have stayed another week!!!

 

To sum it up we love NCL and the freestyle cruising.

We had a wonderful time and will choose NCL again and again.

The Star is a very nice ship and the itinerary for Alaska is great!

We are easy going folks and travel with a good attitude.

Had a great time and hope all of you going in the future will too!

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[retiredonthesea]

I like your attitude---I'am sure others will complain about not getting into see Sawyer Glacier. Your comments on the food was fair, if one place doesn't suit you, just find another. It's enjoyable to read a review that has pros & cons done in a respectable manner. Good job!:) Glad you had a good time, goes to show what a positive outlook will do for ones cruise.

 

Retiredonthesea

[Shollow]

Thank you for the review. I'll be on the Star this weekend. I really appreciate the information and look forward to having a wonderful cruise. Cagney's and Le Bistro were our favorites on the last cruise we took on the Star, too.

[mypleasure]

Thank You for the review. It was very balanced and informative.

 

I am on the Star 6/21 and looking forward to it.

 

mog

[arpie05]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I liked Prince Rupert. I thought it was a quaint little Canadian town - just what I was expecting. I liked that. I did the Ultimate Yukon Exursion and Railway - waste of money. The train ride itself was fine but the 1 1/2 at the Caribou Crossing trading Post was way too much time and I would not recommend this place to my enemy. food was fine but not worth the money just for some homemade donuts.

I was also extremely upset that I was not given any information about the trails being closed due to snow in Skagway - the Tram. We'd planned on hiking for a couple of hours. WASTE!

I never found the buffets to have a shortage of glasses - maybe one line to be short of plates but the next line had the same food and plates. The buffet was too noisey so we only went there for a quick breakfast before daily shore leave.

 

Not sure how you got off the ship by 8:00. We lined up at 7:15 for express debarkation at 7:45 and the line didn't even move before 8:10 - we were right in front of the Java Cafe entrance so we were toward the front - It was 8:30 when we got off.

 

Don't take too many warm clothes! I didn't need my coat except for the hours we spent watching for the glacier. A jacket and a umbrella would have been fine.