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Norwegian Cruise Line

MS Norwegian Star

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Karyn Richardson
# previous cruises: 4
Date of Trip: February 10, 2002
Itinerary: Hawaii

I liked the ship,but I would NOT recommend this cruise right now because of the Hawaiian itinerary, which was changed at least twice.

I liked the spaciousness of the pool and the afternoon food that was served outside. I thought the slide would attract children, not many this time of year, but it was for adults and they did use it and enjoyed it.

I liked all the small, specialty lounges, such as, Red Lion, Gatsby's, etc. The fish & chips were very good for an afternoon snack at the Red Lion.

The Spinnaker Lounge was large enough to hold all the Bingo player, even on the last day when the jackpot if really big!

The Ginza Dining Room has exceptional food, but I don't want to pay a special fee to eat on the ship.

The Dazzles Lounge was a nice size for music, dancing, and the Art Auctions.

This was Freestyle Dining, which was a first for me. I prefer assigned seating for dinner- gives one a chance to meet new people and one can dress up more often.

I ate at the Aqua at least five times, three for dinner. I received the best food and service. Some of the menus were old menus and some were new. I think there should have been all new menus with new food choices.

The Versailles was very lovely; however, on the night of the Captain's Dinner, we had to put our name of a waiting list and wait for over 30 minutes. The hostess was extremely rude, not just to us, and the waiter we had was inadequate. The waiter poured red wine into my husband's white wine glass, he didn't know how to delegate to his assistant waiter, and he forgot our coffee. I never went back after this.

The Market Cafe buffet was good with quite a bit of variety. There were many lines, which didn't cause congestion. Very good for cafeteria style dining.

Ice cream was only served daily from 2-5 at the aft of the ship. The line was always long and slow and I refused to wait. I paid for Haagen-Daus ice cream which I threw away because they ran out of the kind I wanted, $3.00 wasted!

The Blue Lagoon is open 24 hours. The fried rice, noodles, soups, and burgers are good, but service was slow. If you don't mind waiting, it is worth it!

The cabin had lovely wood veneer, which we liked. The bed was EXTREMELY comfortable. I slept during the very rough parts of the voyage. Mid-ship is a good place to avoid lots of motion.

I was very impressed with the bathroom. The toilet was separate from the shower and the sink area. This was the largest bathroom I've ever had on a cruise. The shower is definitely big enough for a full size person. I like the adjustable shower head, which allowed one to stand still and just take the head off, this would avoid alot of movement.

The closets were a nice size. I do suggest you take your own plastic hangers, definitely not enough.

There was plenty of drawer space. We had a total of six drawers, which were large enough for all our things and the new things we purchased.

The cabin was very quiet. We never heard the neighbors on either side of us.

I would rate the cruise staff an 8/10. The women were very enthusiastic and had more energy at the end of the cruise as they did at the beginning.

The evening shows were good. We attended almost all of them.

Bingo was available daily, sometimes twice a day if at sea. That was a lot of fun and the prices to play aren't too bad. They have either paper or electronic boards, which are the way to go!

The Art Auction had fabulous pieces, but the art auction was always at the same time of Bingo. I went to Bingo and my husband went to the auction. The art was 50-85% off the normal galleries. We purchased eleven pieces of wonderful art!

My husband went to the 24-hour health club almost every day. He said it was spacious and had plenty of machines. His only complaint was there was no free water and there was no staff to sell any to you if you wanted it.

The itinerary changed at least twice, which was inconvenient because we had golf reservations on certain islands.

We ported at Hilo. We walked the 2-3 miles into town since it was such a nice day and caught a free shuttle back to the ship. We didn't have much time at Hilo, about six hours. This was a very short trip into town and not that exciting.

Kauai was our last stop. We were told we could use the Marriott beach, but when we got there, we were told we could only lay on the sand, on our towels, but not there lounge chairs, which were for their guests only. We could rent their lounge chairs for $25.00- we chose to go back to the ship and use the ones we had already paid for!

Maui was a 45 minute drive into town, in traffic, when the shopping was good. I purchased most of my gifts then.

Overall, I would rate the excursions a 3/10.

I met some really nice passengers. There were a couple of couples a would invite to my house for dinner. I like this time of the year because there was not a lot of children on board, mostly small babies that were very well behaved.

Even though this is Freestyle Dining, one can join other couples at tables if there is room or if you are a single for breakfast, lunch, etc.