Norwegian Star - best vantage points on the ship for sightseeing

[wombat57]

My husband and I have just booked a cruise to the Baltics and Norwegian Fjords on the Norwegian Star. We have only ever cruised on HAL ships and once on the Dawn Princess as NCL doesn't offer cruises in Australia/NZ or Asia.

 

This itinerary in northern Europe and the sailing date suited us perfectly so we are excited about giving NCL a go.

 

The HAL ships have a lot of accessible outdoor areas which are great for sightseeing - an open area on the bow, a large aft deck and promenade deck plus a lounge/bar with huge picture windows which extends right across the front of the ship just below the bridge.

 

The Norwegian Star looks like it is much more 'closed in' ship with lots and lots of indoor restaurants and bars but less accessible outdoor areas. That's just my impression from the deck plans so I'd love to hear from those of you who are familiar with the ship.

 

It's not a deal breaker but as we will be cruising in such a scenic area I'm interested to know the best areas on the ship for sightseeing.

[PorkChopKid]

My wife and I are amateur photographers and find unobstructed views from NCL's "Jewel Class" ships to be a problem. A lot of the deck space is blocked with the glass slats shown in these images which make it difficult to take pictures. IMAGE1 IMAGE2 IMAGE3 There is an area up high (Sun Deck?) where the view is unobstructed but unless you get there early you won't find space at the railing. IMAGE4 These ships have a nice promenade deck which offers some unobstructed view. IMAGE5

Edited April 20, 2014 by PorkChopKid

[wombat57]

Thanks Joe - very useful information and your photos gave me a great idea of what the ship is like (very different to the HAL ships!)

[valleyvillage]

The Star is not a Jewel class ship, it's Dawn class. It does, however, present some similar challenges.

Deck 13 forward has some terrific vistas.

Deck 7 is the promenade, love the aft views.

On deck 12 by the pool, starboard (I think, at least on my last cruises) there is a nice window that actually opens. I love going there first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee to take in the sea air!

Have a wonderful cruise on the Star, she is a favorite ship of ours.

[swedish weave]

When transiting Panama, the front of deck 8 which is normally used by the crew, will be opened to guests for viewing.

 

You may check to see if this is done for the area you will be cruising.

 

As VV said, the aft of deck 7 is open for unobstucted viewing as well as both sides of this deck.

 

The upper deck has the glass panels to break the wind, and many people place their cameras between the panels to take pictures. This area gets congested when cruising the very scenic places. The aft of the upper deck is open and unobstructed.

[PorkChopKid]

The Star is not a Jewel class ship, it's Dawn class. It does, however, present some similar challenges.

Deck 13 forward has some terrific vistas.

Deck 7 is the promenade, love the aft views.

On deck 12 by the pool, starboard (I think, at least on my last cruises) there is a nice window that actually opens. I love going there first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee to take in the sea air!

Have a wonderful cruise on the Star, she is a favorite ship of ours.

I've been on Dawn, Star, Gem, Jewel, and Jade and they all have pretty similar attributes hence the reason I thought they were all in the same "class". Sorry about that. The all the way around promenade deck is great on these ships.

 

Fundamentally we really like cruising NCL but booked Carnival to Alaska because of the unobstructed rail space for taking in the scenery, IMAGE1, especially since we had booked an inside.

[valleyvillage]

PorkChopKid, thanks for the links to your photos! They are gorgeous. Reminds me of the deep meaning of the word amateur: "lover of!"

[bob brown]

Unfortunately, NCL rebuilt the Star (and the Dawn), taking away their beautiful, panoramic view, forward Spinnaker observation lounges, which offered all-weather scenic viewiing in comfort...

The only public, forward-facing indoor space on these two ships is located high up in the 'Star Bar', although being midship, it has a somewhat obstructed forward view, blocked by the radar mast area....:(