Star Review 3/21/04 Cruise

I apologize I haven’t posted my review earlier but its been pretty hectic with work and settling into our new home. Thanks to all of you that helped me with all my questions and queries. With all your input I was able to create a really nice and enjoyable vacation for us to remember. Our honeymoon consisted of 16 days of beautiful Hawaiian islands. Although the weather was a bit disappointing, we still had an amazing time and would do it again in a heartbeat. Most of the time it was cloudy. So cloudy that rays weren’t even peaking out. We kept hearing throughout our honeymoon that this was the most rain that Hawaii has seen in over 13 years. YAY, lucky for us... This was our first trip to Hawaii and our first cruise.

We took the early 6am flight out of LGA, NY. I think this was a great way to start off since we arrived in Honolulu around 2:30 pm HI time.

PRE-CRUISE

We stayed at the Halekulani on Waikiki Beach and I can’t say anything negative about this place. Because there ISN’T anything negative to say about it!! We LOVE Halekulani. The service is by far the BEST service we have ever had at any hotel. We did snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, hiked Diamond Head, walked around Waikiki Beach. Due to weather we never went to the North Shore nor Pearl Harbor.

NORWEGIAN STAR CRUISE

This cruise ship will be moved to Alaska very soon. I am not sure if it has already been moved as I have not been on the board since before we left. NCL has the Pride of Aloha that does an overnight stay in two islands. We were thinking of doing this cruise one day.

Embarkation

We arrived to the port around 12:00pm. There were no lines when we got there. We were on the ship in about 20 minutes tops.

Monday-Hilo, Big Island

We were scheduled to do a helicopter tour but due to the rain (CONSTANT), all tours were cancelled. So our day consisted of visiting Wal Mart and Hilo Hatties. Norwegian provided shuttles to and from so that helped. We never made it to the Cruise Critic meeting. My apologies but I completely forgot!!

Tuesday-out at sea

Wednesday-Fanning Island

The water is beautiful. Shortly after we got settled down on the beach with our drinks, the clouds rolled in and it started drizzling. We hung out at the beach anyway...

Thursday-out at sea

I am not sure if it was Thur. Or Friday but NCL offered a $25 (not sure so don’t quote me but the value was worth it) special that if you filled up a laundry service bag all those clothes in it would be washed and pressed for you. We took advantage of this and filled two bags. We received our clothes Saturday night.

Friday-Maui

On our way to Maui, we saw sooo many whales. We visited Iao Needle. It was so lush and beautiful as we hiked. We met up with some friends for dinner this evening and left our rental car with them since we got a cheaper rate booking a car for the week vs. a daily then a 5 day rental. I was concerned with our arrival time to Maui and how much time we had upon arriving to port after reading so many reviews. We arrived around 1:30 or so. We were off the ship by 2:00 approximately and in our car by 2:45. We had plenty of time to see what we wanted to see and time to relax before final call.

Saturday-Kauai

Kauai is absolutely beautiful. We went to Waimea Canyon. There was even a HUGE waterfall coming down!! We got Shave Ice from Jo-Jos. Very good and the price for the amount you get is sooo worth it. We then did the Fern Grotto tour. Which was okay. The boat ride to the actual grotto wasn’t the best since the scenery is alright but when we got to the grotto its really cool.

Norwegian Star

We had a cabin with a balcony on the 10th deck. I would recommend a balcony cabin. Although we heard that it isn’t worth the $$ since you are rarely in your cabin, we used it and were on the balcony more than in the cabin itself. We loved the food. There were so many activities we wanted to do that fell in between others so we missed out on some things. I took a hula class. I also made a lei for my husband. We went to the sushi making class. We liked the nigth shows. We also got henna (sp?) tattoos. We would do another NCL cruise again, however we want to do other cruise lines before going back. The freedom of eating dinner at your leisure is great. There are so many restaurants to choose from there is no way you can eat at all of them. The nightlife wasn’t the best as far as a younger crowd but we weren’t looking to party it up. We got a couple’s massage on the ship and although it was relaxing, we felt they were rushing to get it over with and were yapping away. Really annoying!! I also won a reflexology session during a lottery that I entered. I even got a hair cut by Jennifer who was amazing. My husband got a manicure but he wasn't very pleased. I can’t remember what night was Formal Night but we did have the lobster. We missed out on the Chocolate event as well but it was noted in the Daily. Las Tapas was really good and they have tapas every night. The sangria is pretty good! We found the most chairs to relax on were towards the front of the ship I believe on deck 12. It was alot quieter too. My husband took advantage of the jacuzzi and pool in the spa while I got my hair cut. We loved the Ginza restaurant. Although we had to pay, we felt that it was worth it. We had a great waitress. Overall the service was great at times (the bar staff got to know us) or okay. Every restaurant we went to (La Trattoria, Versailles, Aqua, Ginza) we didn't really have any complaints about. Except that at Versailles our dinner took forever.... We went to Versailles for breakfast twice. The second time, I was uncomfortable b/c we were sitting close to the wait staff station and there was constant movement going on, plates, trays, glasses, people that I was getting dizzy. For a minute I felt like I was in NY and I was not in that mentality and didn't want to get into it either. The food was delicious but we stuck with the buffet breakfast instead. I really liked the breakfast buffet the best. The ready to make omelettes were pretty good.

Sunday-Disembarkation

Everything was very easy and smooth. We took our time getting off even after our number was called. We took advantage of the breakfast before continuing on to our next portion of our trip.

POST-CRUISE MAUI

HYATT

The Hyatt is really nice. The grounds are amazing and all the animals they have. It’s right on the end of the strip in Kaanapali Beach. We did the road to Hana, snorkel tour with Four Winds II, went to the Hyatt Luau and the Old Lahaina Luau (our favorite), sunrise at Halaekala Crater. We also visited Lahaina which was a cute town but one day was plenty for us.

Thank you for your review. We were on the March 21 sailing so I was anxious to read your review. But, I am very confused...we did not make it to Fanning Island due to the propulsion breakdown. Did you get off the Star on March 21 or sail on the 21st? Thanks again!

Thanks for the review and the tips about Star. We are anxiously awaiting our cruise to Alaska with a big bunch of Cruise Critic friends. Cathy

Until our **STAR** search

Seattle to Alaska on NCL Star

June 27, 2004

Fantasy 12/25/03

Inspiration 4/13/03

NCL Majesty 12/27/02

Jubilee 3/23/02

Norwegian Sea 11/23/01

I can't believe I did it again!!! We sailed 3/14/04 and returned on 3/21/04. Sorry about that confusion.