Norwegian Star

[conderost]

Signed up for April 14, Norwegian Star, never cruised Norwegian Lines, how does it compare to Royal or Celebrity.

[alwalaska]

Signed up for April 14, Norwegian Star, never cruised Norwegian Lines, how does it compare to Royal or Celebrity.

 

We have only been on the Sovereign of the Seas(2007) and the Explorer of the Seas (2009) with Royal and never on Celebrity.

 

There are parts of NCL that I like better than Royal and parts I don't like as well. Strictly from a ship standpoint, I liked our 2 Royal ships better than the Star. My all time favorite ship though was the NCL Star.

 

Our interior cabin was larger than the Sovereign, but smaller than the Explorer. :D

 

I love Freestyle dining. For hubby, having one main dining room that allows shorts is wonderful.

 

Overall, I thought RCCL food was a step up, but I never went hungry on our 3 NCL cruises. We are currently on an NCL kick (completed 3 in a row and a 14 day back to back in planned for next year) but I would happily go back to Royal if the right itinerary and price combination came my way.

 

Lunch buffet better on NCL. Dinner buffet better on Royal.

 

We buy soda cards and are treated MUCH better by the bar staff on NCL. Princess was the worst in this regard.

 

Daily activities (except that I like the scrapbooking classes on Royal) are more varied and more frequent on NCL. This last cruise they were trying out some new activities and they were a lot of fun.

 

Acrobatic shows on NCL are nice, but probably don't quite compare to the ice shows on Royal.

 

Evening entertainment in the lounges are typically better (in my opinion) on NCL. The Star doesn't have a lot of great locations to sit and listen to them, but there are still times when you can just sit and listen to piano, etc.

 

If you have any specific questions, I am happy to try and answer them for you.

[alwalaska]

How could I forget??? The senior officers are everywhere on NCL. They come to the Meet and Greet so make sure you find the roll call for your cruise and get involved. It is great to see them around the ship. They frequently give out their info to CC people as well so you can reach them if anything goes wrong on the ship.

 

The crew on the NCL ships are the best. They are so friendly and happy. One day on the Star we got just average service and we were all bent out of shape saying how awful it was. After a few minutes we laughed and talked about how spoiled we were. Just because the server wasn't SUPER friendly and SUPER helpful, we thought something was drastically wrong.

 

Coming home can be a real shock.

[QuickGold]

I've cruised RCL and DCL before and going to try Norwegian Star this September. Looking forward to seeing the differences.

[conderost]

Looking forward to see your opinion when you get back from your cruise in Sept

[conderost]

My luggage is lightweight, but large, I wonder if a few pieces will fit in the room

[alwalaska]

My luggage is lightweight, but large, I wonder if a few pieces will fit in the room

 

What type of cabin do you have and how many people does it say it sleeps? Ours was a 4 person cabin so there wasn't as much space as usual under the bed since the trundle for the 4th person was stored under one of the two beds.

 

I have lots of pictures of cabins up on FLICKR (click here) (interiors - one with beds together - one apart) and also some pictures from our cabin crawl where we visited other cabins. Unfortunately, they are spread throughout my pictures and not all together yet. Sorry.

 

Cabins are definitely no where near the size I remember from the Wonder. We had a category 8 ocean view on the Wonder.