The NCL Star still shinning

[terrymtex01]

Hey All.. got back late last night from the Star.. Too exhausted this morning (and no coffee yet so you know my brain is not working) to post any thing much, but wanted to let you all know it was a great cruise. As always you know I will be honest when I come back to write more, so there will be the good and the bad.. much much more good than bad for sure.

 

One thing I wanted to post that has been put on CC in the past was that NCL was not giving out the coupon books for Alaska in their Seattle terminal any longer. Not true. They are located inbetween the xray machines you go through and the escalator you take going up to ticketing.

 

Any questions you can think of let me know and I will do my best to answer.

 

The meet and greet was fantastic. I believe everyone showed up that had signed up and it was a great time. It was great meeting everyone.

[Quincella]

Can't wait to read what you have to say! I'm in the middle of debating between the Star to Alaska or the Gem or Dawn to Bermuda next year. With all the hullabaloo over the Star renovations your opinion, having been a longtime fan of that ship, will be particularly meaningful.

 

Honestly, I wish you would say you hated every minute because it would make my vacation decision much easier!!!

[Susie51]

Thank you for posting. I an looking forward to reading more of your review.

[RandyJay]

Also eager to hear your report - we will be on the Star this Sept for our first AK cruise . . . in aft AE 9732 no less. Quick question though - did you see any hint that the "Behind the Scenes" tour got near the bridge? I hear it's pretty much a toss-up these days as to whether the bridge is included (or even the bridge viewing area) in the tour. Just curious as I will be the "techie" of the pair! Thanks!

 

Randy & Laura (just "up the road a piece" from you guys, in Sunny San Antonio)

[mr&mrscruiselover]

Glad you and Doug got home safely. Again, we will say it was such a pleasure meeting you guys. Clay couldn't find Cagney's for breakfast and had to fill his own coffee machine this morning!! He is not a happy camper.

 

Sherri and Clay

[terrymtex01]

Can't wait to read what you have to say! I'm in the middle of debating between the Star to Alaska or the Gem or Dawn to Bermuda next year. With all the hullabaloo over the Star renovations your opinion, having been a longtime fan of that ship, will be particularly meaningful.

 

Honestly, I wish you would say you hated every minute because it would make my vacation decision much easier!!!

 

Honestly I wish I could say that as well... but honestly any negatives I will have to say really have nothing at all to do with the reno's at all. In fact, for us personally, we loved the reno's that we got to take advantage of. We love the shops and we loved Blue Lagoons new locations. Again I can see where the reno's were negatives for folks who book inside cabins, but for us we loved them.

 

Thank you for posting. I an looking forward to reading more of your review.

 

Thank you.. Stil unwinding a little bit, grocery shopping, unpacking and tons of laundry today so it might be tomorrow before I actually start the review.

 

Also eager to hear your report - we will be on the Star this Sept for our first AK cruise . . . in aft AE 9732 no less. Quick question though - did you see any hint that the "Behind the Scenes" tour got near the bridge? I hear it's pretty much a toss-up these days as to whether the bridge is included (or even the bridge viewing area) in the tour. Just curious as I will be the "techie" of the pair! Thanks!

 

Randy & Laura (just "up the road a piece" from you guys, in Sunny San Antonio)

 

We honestly did not do the behind the scenes tour and I know this will be hard for anyone to believe, but I never picked up one Freestyle Daily the entire cruise. Never looked at one.. so I couldn't even confirm they offered it. We did get a tour of the bridge though. We had a letter from the Concierge, Patrick, inviting us to the tour and there were about 20 I would say in the tour. It was interesting and Im glad we did it.

[terrymtex01]

Glad you and Doug got home safely. Again, we will say it was such a pleasure meeting you guys. Clay couldn't find Cagney's for breakfast and had to fill his own coffee machine this morning!! He is not a happy camper.

 

Sherri and Clay

 

Thank you.. Glad you guys made it back safely as well. We sure did enjoy our time with you guys and hope to meet up with you again. I am already trying to work on Doug to get us to book Panama Canal on the Star 2012.

[mom2tcdx2]

Not knowing what the ship was like before the renovations I found the layout, locations of restaurants etc to be very good. There are actually tons of spots to see the sights all along different decks, not sure why people were so insistent it needed to be out in the front where the new suites are located. Spinnakers though with its new location I think still could have used a few windows, perhaps they might consider that at some point in the future.

[GrapevineTx_Cruiser]

Hey All.. got back late last night from the Star.. Too exhausted this morning (and no coffee yet so you know my brain is not working) to post any thing much, but wanted to let you all know it was a great cruise. As always you know I will be honest when I come back to write more, so there will be the good and the bad.. much much more good than bad for sure.

 

One thing I wanted to post that has been put on CC in the past was that NCL was not giving out the coupon books for Alaska in their Seattle terminal any longer. Not true. They are located inbetween the xray machines you go through and the escalator you take going up to ticketing.

 

Any questions you can think of let me know and I will do my best to answer.

 

The meet and greet was fantastic. I believe everyone showed up that had signed up and it was a great time. It was great meeting everyone.

 

Any news on the noise problems in the deck 8 AEs from the relocated lounge? We have a corner AE booked for the Jan. PC cruise.

 

Thanks for any info.

[DMH15]

Hi Terry,

 

I sure hope this review is as much fun as the last one... And the good news is... There are no Dallas Cowboys games on the tv, so you can post, post, post!

 

Welcome home, Terry and Doug. As you can tell, it's now officially Summer in DFW!

[terrymtex01]

Any news on the noise problems in the deck 8 AEs from the relocated lounge? We have a corner AE booked for the Jan. PC cruise.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Clay and Sherry had an AE, but I believe it was on deck 9 and they never mentioned any issues to us. Sorry but I never got to speak with anyone who was in an AE deck 8.

 

Hi Terry,

 

I sure hope this review is as much fun as the last one... And the good news is... There are no Dallas Cowboys games on the tv, so you can post, post, post!

 

Welcome home, Terry and Doug. As you can tell, it's now officially Summer in DFW!

 

You know.. I am not for sure this one will be as zany as the last one . It's hard to be zany when surrounded by the beauty of Alaska. I'm going to do this one, for the boards at least, differently than the last in that I am going to cover arrival and overnight stay in Seattle, embarkation, then the stateroom, then the ship (which will include days at sea), then the ports of call, then disembarkation. I do think some of the things I will post will shock some who know me best on this board though.. 8-)

 

Thanks for the welcome home. and yes.. we could tell it was summer the second we crossed from the plane over into the gangway.. LOL.

[terrymtex01]

Many years ago I used to travel a lot for business, and when I would travel I enjoyed using Southwest Airlines. Back then, with SWA you could only fly from Dallas to states that bordered Texas, and I did not mind flying to LA, OK, or NM and having to get off one plane and check into another plane to reach where I wanted to go because each time I did that I got another travel reward point and after 8 or 16 (I can't remember which) I got a free ticket and I was young and had energy. BOY those were the days.

Not too long ago SWA was allowed to start flying pax from Dallas to anywhere they fly, so for this trip we decided to check their rates for going to Seattle. Since they offered no cost for luggage this made them an attractive carrier to us. Back in the day when I flew them all the time you boarded based on when you checked in at the airport. First checked in, first to board and you got to choose your seat. Well, SWA has joined all airlines in their greed and now it depends on what you pay as to when you board. At least for the first group. They do their boarding passes as A1 - A30 (or 32, not for sure), B1 - B30 (again or 32), and C1 - C30 (or 32). The A group is for those who purchased full fare tickets, or so I understand. Then it starts for the rest of us who bought the cheapest fare. Since we had boarding passes B15 and B16, I wasn't too worried about Doug and I getting a seat next to each other. I should have been worried.

By the time we boarded the plane, there were two rows that had two seats next to each other and they were all the way in the back of the plane. I am not that picky where we sit, but I am picky about us being able to sit next to each other. Lesson learned. We might as well fly airlines where we pay for luggage as to pay the higher rate with SWA just to be able to sit next to each other. Even with this if you are on a flight where pax are staying on the plane where you embark, there is no promise made you will have two seats next to each other. For us, it is worth the extra money and not have to worry about it. When searching air fares for this trip we saw that some airlines even charge extra if you want a window or isle seat. Let's face it, airlines know they have you coming and going (no pun intended) and are going to screw us any way they can to make a buck. As much as I love to travel, I have grown, over the past few years, to hate airlines.

The flight to Seattle was uneventful and those 5+ hours (there was a stop in NM but we did not have to deplane) went by quickly. We shared our row with a very nice guy and enjoyed chatting with him all the way to Seattle. Well, at least while I was awake...LOL.

Once in Seattle we did want all smokers do who have been trapped on a plane for 5+ hours. We rushed to the baggage area so we could step outside and have a smoke. Well, in the two years since we had been to the Seattle airport even that had changed. Now when you want to smoke at the Seattle airport be prepared to walk. The only place you can smoke is an uncovered area all the way at the end of the terminal, right next to where you walk your dog if they are traveling with you. Hmmmm.. doesn't it rain a lot in Seattle? I guess that just shows how we smokers are slowly being pushed out of this world. After a quick smoke we go back to gather our luggage and then take the two escalators up and a sky bridge across to the parking garage where we wanted to hail a taxi. Does anyone else remember when you could just step outside and walk to a taxi stand and get a taxi there? I sure do miss the days they at least tried to make it easy for travelers. Once we got to the place in the parking garage where you hail a taxi, we were almost up to the line when a guy with a stretch limo asked if we were going to take a taxi to downtown and we told him we were. He said he would take us in his limo for $45.00. Well, doing research, we knew that a taxi would only be able $10.00 less so we jumped at it. He loaded our bags in the trunk, made sure we were comfortable in the back and we headed out to the Seattle Waterfront Marriott.

In researching for this trip, many months ago we looked up to see what the rates would be for the Seattle Waterfront Marriott and the Edgewater Hotel. We knew since we only had one night in Seattle this trip we wanted to stay close to the cruise ship terminal and these were our two choices. We found a great deal on the Marriott at like $209.00 for the night and that included two for their breakfast buffet. Of course this rate was for their cheapest room, but so what, we weren't going to get there until the evening and it was only for one night so why not save a few bucks. We get to the hotel and walk to the front desk to check in and we found out we had been upgraded to a water view balcony room. The room was very nice, but typical. It looked very new and clean. Nothing special in the room that you would not see at any other Marriott or hotel in its rating. The balcony was nice and had a very nice view of the bay.

I do believe that all of the hotel rooms in Seattle are non-smoking rooms and that is totally ok with us. We never smoke in a hotel room or a ships stateroom. We don't smoke in our own home, so we figure we are not going to smoke in anyone else's. 8-) Because of that we always book a room either with a balcony or one that is on a lower floor so it is easy to get a smoke when we want it. We knew the cheaper rooms we had booked were all lower floors so we figured no problem. Having that balcony was a very nice perk.

After we got settled into the room for a bit we decided to go have dinner across the street at Anthony's. We have eaten there several times and loved it. We shared an order of Barbequed Shrimp for an appetizer and then Doug had pan seared Halibut and I had the Tempura Shrimp. We both loved what we ordered, with the exception of their "saffron curry mashed potatoes". We just had to order them as a side dish as we were both interested in trying them. Horrible.

Saturday morning we woke up at 6AM to begin this exciting day. As I said breakfast was included so we each took our showers and got dressed and headed down for the buffet. Now with the traveling I have done I have learned that most of the time when you have an included buffet you get what you pay for. I was amazed by this buffet. It was terrific. It had the normal breakfast items you would expect on a buffet - eggs, breakfast meats, breakfast potatoes, cereals of all kinds - both hot and cold, cold cuts, breads of every description for toasting or whatever, etc. And they even had a station where you could order eggs cooked just your way, including omelets, which is what I had. It was one of the best omelets I have ever had. Service was also very good, as they constantly were offering to refill Doug's OJ or milk, my coffee and diet soda (yes, I have said before my heart will stop beating if I don't have my caffeine..lol) .

Back in the room after breakfast we sat and watched TV for a while and then re-packed our stuff we had taken out and called for someone to come help with luggage. We had read online that they would help you all the way to the cruise terminal with your luggage and sure enough they did. Once at the cruise terminal there were still a lot of people getting off the ship and still getting their luggage so we sat and waited for them to start taking luggage. Finally we saw that they were beginning to let you check your luggage and after turning our four pieces into them we went to the entrance to the terminal. Just in these few minutes it was open there were already 200 to 300 folks in line waiting for security to open so we could move through to ticketing. Right as you come in the door there was a young lady there with an NCL uniform on directing folks on where to go to get to the security line. We asked her if they still had the VIP line for suite guest/vips and she said no. So we get in the already long line. Just as we are in the line a couple comes and gets in line behind us. The lady of the couple said "isn't there supposed to be a line for VIP's". I told her there was the last time we cruised out of Seattle but I told her the NCL lady at the door said there wasn't. The lady in line behind me said "Oh this just will not do. I did not pay all of this extra money to be standing in this long line". I loved her immediately. She went and asked the same NCL lady the same thing I had and was told the same answer. Her husband then went to the head of the security line and asked a security person to get someone in charge. When the security person asked what was it concerning and the guy told her, she told him there absolutely was a VIP line and advised him where it was and how to get to it. Just an FYI for those looking for this line it is on the far right of the main security line. It is also the line you go through if you are in a wheel chair or need special assistance.

After about 15 minutes they opened up the security area and we were allowed to go through that and on to ticketing. Once through security, but before you get on the escalator to go up to ticketing is where you will find the Alaska coupon books that have recently been talked about so much here on the boards. I had never heard of them before but recently it was posted that NCL had stopped handing them out in the terminal because they did not want to pay for it. Well, I found out that NCL does not pay to pass them out, the company that publishes them put them there and was just late in getting them there this year. Be sure and get one as there are a lot of good coupons in the book. I saw none for excursions, but there were plenty of good ones for shopping and they are all divided into each port of call. Also with each port of call section is a map showing the shopping areas. We used several of the coupons.

Once we got through security we went up the escalator and asked for the VIP lounge. They took up right up to it and we were checked in right away. The same guy checked us in that had checked us in two years ago. He told us that the Concierge would be in shortly to give us our room keys, etc. They had a small buffet set up in the lounge with coffee, tea, orange juice, cookies, pastries, and sandwiches. You know I had to have a cup of coffee. 8-). As I was having my coffee and Doug and I were sitting there talking a guy walked by and said "With that accent you guys have to be from the South". I said that we were from Dallas and he said "You must be Terry and Doug... I am Clay and this is Sherry from the Meet and Greet thread". Really nice folks and as soon as they checked in they sat next to us and we immediately struck up a friendship. It was so great seeing them throughout the cruise.

Very shortly Patrick, the Concierge came in and handed out keys to everyone who was checked in and when he gave us our keys he introduced us to Henry, our butler. Patrick told us Henry was ready to escort us to our stateroom if we were ready. We said we were and off we went. Henry walked us through security on the ship, took us up in the elevator and to our stateroom, the Van Gough suite. Once inside I was amazed at this suite. I barely got the bag I was carrying down when a lady walked up and introduced us as our Room Stewardess, Ruth and told us that she was there to make sure we had anything for the room we needed, and trust me when I say she lived up to her word. She was simply amazing. Ruth told us she had a few more minutes of work to do, would we mind coming back in five or ten minutes. We asked her if it would be ok if we just waited out on the balcony and she said that was no problem. Again, true to her word, she was done and gone in five minutes. Now we could explore this wonderful suite, numbered 10006.

[Kruisenut]

Terry

Great review so far, looking forward to your thoughts on the Van Gogh suite. We were just in that same suite a couple weeks ago and by far the best suite " All Lines " we have had the pleasure to stay in.

Nice to hear you guys had a great time, on the airline issues we took the advise from some on CC to book the 3 seats in our row in insure we were together and having the empty seat between us allowed for great extra space.

Welcome home.

[mr&mrscruiselover]

Terry,

 

As I have already told you I love your writing style. I can't wait to read your thoughts and observations. I am going to post too but I can safely say it won't be as entertaining as your review.

 

On another subject I have been thinking about pie crust. I ask Clay if he could take pictures of the process that I could send to you with written instructions and he suggested trying to do a little video. If you like, we can try this.

 

Sherri

[Whippets]

Welcome Home Terry and Doug!

 

Sounds like you had a nice cruise, hope the coffee creamers worked out okay since I know you love your coffee like I do.

 

Can't wait to read about the remainder of your cruise.

 

We also stayed in the Marriott Waterfront when we were in Seattle last year for an Alaskan Cruise. Loved having the butler take our luggage across the street for us.

 

Diane

[terrymtex01]

Terry,

 

As I have already told you I love your writing style. I can't wait to read your thoughts and observations. I am going to post too but I can safely say it won't be as entertaining as your review.

 

On another subject I have been thinking about pie crust. I ask Clay if he could take pictures of the process that I could send to you with written instructions and he suggested trying to do a little video. If you like, we can try this.

 

Sherri

 

I would LOVE that. Just last night I told Doug that my new challenge is going to be to learn to make pie crusts. 8-). I would appreciate any help you can give... Look forward to it.

[nanak915]

Terry.......welcome home. I have been waiting to read your review of your cruise to Alaska. You always seem to have a positive outlook and great advice. We will be staying at the Marriott Waterfront pre and post cruise so it is great to hear how the bell hop will help take our luggage to the cruise terminal. We will have to take our own back to the Marriott post cruise but that will be no problem I hope.

 

My main question for now is what type of transportation did you use to get from the airport to the Marriott Waterfront and then back to the airport. We want to use a limo and have been thinking of using the STILA at SeaTac. Since you traveled from SeaTac to the Marriott I would like to know what you used and if you would recommend it. Thanks for any info you can give me.

[nanak915]

Terry,,,,,just went back and saw you posted in your first part of the review about going to the parking garage for a taxi and got a limo there to take you to the Marriott Waterfront. I am assuming you got a taxi upon embarkation to take you back to the airport. Sorry I didn't notice that before I posted my question before.

[terrymtex01]

Terry,,,,,just went back and saw you posted in your first part of the review about going to the parking garage for a taxi and got a limo there to take you to the Marriott Waterfront. I am assuming you got a taxi upon embarkation to take you back to the airport. Sorry I didn't notice that before I posted my question before.

 

We did catch a taxi back to the airport and if possible, reserve a limo. We will from now on. The taxi back to the airport cost almost $40.00 for some reason even though there was no traffic. Another few dollars and we could have had a limo or sedan at the very least. The limo service we used from the airport to the hotel was JG Limousine at 206-920-6000. The driver and I believe the owner is Jaycee..

[terrymtex01]

Coming up - Impressions of the suite, the ship, the restaurants, the crew and the entertainment. 8-). Kind of have a bad headache today.. I think I have not had enough coffee today.. so far only two cups.. trying to fix that, so between that and getting dinner on the table tonight next "installment" might be late tonight.

[mr&mrscruiselover]

We were on deck 9 AFT Rm 9736. The only noise we heard was from above and that was the slamming of the sliding glass door. They had the ceiling torn up in our hall way and we didn't really hear any noise from the workers there either.

 

Sherri and Clay

[GrapevineTx_Cruiser]

We were on deck 9 AFT Rm 9736. The only noise we heard was from above and that was the slamming of the sliding glass door. They had the ceiling torn up in our hall way and we didn't really hear any noise from the workers there either.

 

Sherri and Clay

 

Thanks,

 

We had a deck 8 AE on our 2007 Alaska cruise and loved it. The only noise was the ship's wake. We booked a corner AE for the Jan. PC cruise before the drydock when the deck space below was still the shops. There were early reports of excessive noise from the music/shows below that they supposedly were addressing. Would not enjoy two weeks of sleepless nights.

[fidoprincess]

Thanks so much for posting Terry! We leave for Seattle in 10 day and board the Star on the 12th so it is really fun and informative to read your posts. I hope your headache gets better quickly.

[terrymtex01]

When you first enter the Van Gough suite you are in the entry way. At the very right is a powder room and straight ahead is the living area. In the living area you have two balcony doors going out to a balcony on the Starboard side of the ship. There is a table out there which easily would seat four adults and takes up maybe 1/4 of the balcony space on the side balcony. Once in the living area you would turn to the left to see the rest of the suite area. At that point on your left is a full sized dining room, table and chairs, and on the right is your bar area where the coffee maker is located. It is a Lazzara coffee maker that uses pods. To me it makes some of the best coffee I have ever had. Very smooth. It also has the steam function for your milk which I love because it means the cream does not cool down your coffee. Above the coffee maker is enclosed shelving that has a wide range of glasses. The owners suite comes with a bottle of sparkling wine, three full sized bottles of liquor that you choose from a list provided and all of the mixers you could want. This means that all soda's, bottled water, etc, are at no extra cost to you. We chose to have a bottle of whisky, vodka and coffee liqueur brought to the suite. Below the coffee maker is a cabinet with a mini fridge filled with sodas, etc.

This suite also can connect to the two staterooms on either side and in the living area you will find the connecting doors. Right past the bar and dining room area are huge glass sliding doors that separate the living area with the bedroom area. Inside the bedroom area you have the king size bed that is without a doubt one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on in my life. Nice and soft and so comfy. If you are at the foot of the bed facing the bed is a night stand and lamp and to the left of that is a desk with a laptop computer. To the right of the bed is a night stand with a lamp and past that is a huge glass window overlooking the balcony on the front. Also there is the doorway to the front balcony. Now I have always read debates here on CC about the Forward balconies and if they are usable while at sea, etc. Doug and I both feel it was completely and totally useless for us when the ship was at sea. Honestly, I do not even know how you could get the bulkhead door open with any wind resistance pushing against it. I could barely get it opened when the ship was not moving. The balcony is huge though, I will say that. As reported many times on CC, there are signs everywhere there asking you at night to keep the drapes drawn over the window because the light from your suite interferes with the bridges view. Van Gough is one of my favorites, and his art was displayed throughout the suite. One of my most favorite paintings of his is "lilies" and it is above the headboard of the bed. Above the bed on the ceiling is a huge stain glass lighted area.

Back at the glass doors that separate the bedroom from the living room, once you step past them into the bedroom there is a very comfortable bench on the right and then past that is the entrance to the bathroom. The bathroom for this suite is HUGE for a cruise ship. There is a huge double vanity on the left in the bathroom and then past that a round porthole and past the port hole is a "full size" jetted bathtub with a television mounted above. On the right side of the bathroom is a separate toilet area and a separate shower area. The shower room has four shower heads and I have to tell you that shower ROCKS. There is one main shower head above coming out of the wall, two small ones about waist level on each side of the wall and one kind of in the corner of the shower that is the kind you can take off of the hook and rinse your whole body with. One warning about the shower, however. The main shower head above is not adjustable as far as where the water jets point to in the actual shower space. So you really have to stand very close to the shower controls for the water to be falling over you. If you are taking a shower while at sea and there is a lot of motion, be VERY careful. The ship hit one wave that sent me falling against the shower temperature controls and I knocked them over to VERY hot. Lol. I came out of that shower with a red streak where the water from the main shower head was coming down my back and two little red circles where the smaller waist high shower heads hit my lower back.

The bath towels are to die for. I honestly do not know if these are only in the suites or if all staterooms have them, but they are the biggest fluffiest softest bath sheets ever. I LOVE THEM.

As you are going into the entrance way to the bathroom, on the left is the walk in closet that has two areas to hang clothes, a sit down vanity with a huge mirror and a lighted magnifying mirror, lots of electrical plugs. The walk in closest has two safes and more drawers than we could use. We honestly did not use but maybe 1/5 of the drawers available and we both had two big suitcases full of clothes. Well, truth be told, Doug had a big suitcase and a carry on sized, I had two huge suitcases.

With the exception of our first two cruises together we have always had a suite on the Aft of the ship. The first two cruises we had suites mid-ship, both Port side. Once we had a suite on the Aft we were hooked on the Aft. So it was a struggle for us going into this cruise to not worry we would be miserable being Forward, not Aft. I have to say our worry was for nothing. While we did miss being Aft and will book Aft going forward when possible, we were not miserable. The Van Gough suite is an amazing suite. Honestly it will be hard to go back to our much loved AE/AD suites now, but being Aft will more than make up for the lack of space we will feel.

We also had some concerns about the construction noise reported here on CC since the dry dock where NCL decided to move a lounge located on deck 12 and replace it with suites. My understanding is that construction of these new suites will not be completed until sometime later this year. We did not hear any construction noise except when we were in the suite while in port. I don't know why this was the only time we heard it, but other than those few times, not a sound from above. I do have to say that I am MORE than convinced that this suite is haunted though, and I don't say that lightly. From the very first night I heard the strangest noises from all over that suite. Some of the noises we heard where from when someone would run water in their suite below us or from the bridge above us. I recognized this sound from when we ran water in our own bathroom. That is something they really need to work on. But there were a myriad of sounds all through the night that I know were not "natural". Luckily for me things like that do not bother me, and I actually find it interesting. We were so exhausted most night when we went to bed that as hard as I tried to lay there and listen to the different noises I was asleep before I knew it. The bed and linens were so comfy I couldn't stay awake if I had tried.. and I did.. LOL.

If you are someone who likes to have dinner delivered to the suite this is the suite for you. Doug and I actually enjoy going "out" to dinner when on a cruise so we never had dinner delivered to the room, but there is plenty of room for it if you do. We did have room service bring us a few things late at night a couple of nights but I will talk about that later. If you do not know, you can have dinner brought to your suite from any of the specialty restaurants, with the exception of Teppanyaki, at the normal surcharge. Your Butler will deliver your dinner, set up the table, etc.

In the living room is the same old televisions that the Star has had since we first started sailing her back in 2007. I was disappointed that in the recent dry dock they did not change out the televisions to the new flat screens. These that you currently will find on the Star I have found to be too big and too bulky. There is also a television in the wall that is at the foot of the bed so all in all there are three televisions for this suite. I did find there were some great movies being played. In fact, one of my most favorite memories of this entire cruise is my Beloved sitting with me the last night of the cruise, after we had done all we were going to do for the night, back in our suite, in our comfy bed clothes, watching Mamma Mia. He must really love me to sit through that movie yet again with me. But he did. He sat there and watched the entire movie with me and that is one of the reasons I love him like I do. I wish I could tell you the names of the movies we did watch throughout the cruise, but sadly most of them we started watching after they had begun. I do know one that we watched part of was "The Blind Side" which the part we saw was excellent. There is also a book in the suite which list movies (DVD's) you can get from the Concierge and I have to tell you... thumbs down on the selection. They really need to get some updated new movies listed in that book.

Overall impression of the Van Gough Suite... FABULOUS. I missed being on the Aft and hearing the wake of the ship. In the Forward it is as quiet as can be, really. No propeller noise, very little wave noise, etc. Without a doubt I would book this suite again, but as stated, would probably choose a suite on the Aft if all other things are equal.

[OceanDreaming2]

Thank you Terry for your awesome play-by-play review. We're going on our 4th Star cruise in August (or second to Alaska).

 

You mentioned the coupon books -- do you remember what they consisted of? I'm debating whether I should order one or take my chances they will be in the terminal.

 

I know what you mean about not being able to use the forward balcony. We just had an AB suite on the Spirit and as much as we love the forward suites, we would not book that one again. The bulkhead door was impossible to open and the balcony is a fraction of the size of any other AC suite.

 

I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of your review. Thanks again. :D