Star cruise, 7/16-7/23

[coach jim]

This is my first post to this board. I have found this forum a great help in our preparation that I wanted to contribute some of our experiences from our recent cruise to Alaska on the Star.

 

First off, we had a great cruise. To tell you a little about ourselves, my wife and I are both teachers in our mid forties. We travelled with our two sons, 10 and 13, along with my wife's parents, early seventies, very active, and two other couples we are friends with. We have cruised several times in the past, once on RCCL, once on Celebrity, twice on Disney, and once previously on NCL.

 

We travelled on the Dawn two years ago, so I would like to make some direct comparisons. We found the staff of the Star to be extremely polite and helpful, more so than the Dawn. Every request we had was dealt with quickly and on a few occassions, people really went out of their way to assist us. Of particular note was our room steward Roberto and his assistant Santos. While the crew of the Dawn was efficient, they were at times a bit cold. Not so on the Star where we were greeted by a friendly hello and smile every where we went on the ship. While the Star shows some wear and tear in spots, we thought the crew did a great job of keeping the ship in tip top shape.

 

While food is very subjective, I will try to make some basic observations. First, we found the wait staff to be efficient and courteous. We had a different wait staff each meal. We ate four meals in the main dinning rooms, two in pay restaurants (Le Bistro and Teppanyaki). I have read where people had to wait for drinks and water, that was never our experience. One night there was a bit of a language problem with a question my wife had, otherwise service was uniformally well done. As far as the food is concerned, from my experience and that of the people we were with, NCL does meat very well. The beef wellington, rack of lamb, flank steak,and filet mignon were all outstanding. Fish on the other hand was hit or miss. My wife found a few of the fish dishes a bit bland. We usually ate breakfast in the buffet, I am not sure I understand the various complaints. We found more than ample variety for breakfast, and the waffle and omlette stations were great. We also ate breakfast in Versaille twice and found that to be very pleasant on the mornings we were not rushed. Lunch in the buffet covered all the basics, along with the grill by the pool. Our only complaint was the bread for sandwiches was often hard, they could do a better job putting out fresh rolls. We only grabbed dinner in the buffet once, limited variety, but the carving stating was great. The rotisserie chicken was really moist.

 

Entertainment was varied. We found the band "freedom" to be outstanding, in particular if you like classic rock and the blues, and the folk singer who performed in the Star bar was wonderful, a great way to end an active day in Alaska. While our cruise missed out on the magician, we had a juggler who was a lot of fun. He gave a workshop on juggling that our boys really enjoyed. The Chinese acrobats were great, though I wish they had their own performance and were not part of one of the stage productions. We are not fans of big stage productions.

 

The kids program was a tale of two cities. Our 10 year old had a GREAT time and was jumping out of his skin to get to the program each day. The counslers were really good and the program for the TWEENS was varied and creative. Our 13 year did not fare so well. First, as an educator, coach, and parent, I feel very strongly that the age group, 13 to 17 is too big. High School students do not socialize with middle school students. There were several small groups of teens and our 13 year old son felt really out of place and only went once. The program itself seemed to be fun, and many of the teens seemed to go regularly, but again, we felt the age group was too big, socially and developmentaly. He still had a great time and was able to do a lot with us and his grandparents.

 

The exercise room was well equipped and had everything in working order. I want to clarify about what is included. Exercise room, locker room, sauna, steam room, cold plunge and showers are all included. The charge is only for use of the indoor pool. While I feel this $60 charge is a bit excessive, it did not bother anyone in our party. My wife had a not so pleasant experience in the spa. She had a facial, which was great, but then came the sales pitch. My wife was particularly bothered by the approach of the sales pitch, she was told " you need to continue all the work I have started by buying these products". We understand these people are under pressure to sell, but my wife felt this was a bit over the top. It did not detract from the cruise, but my wife did not go back for any other treatments. We did mention this in the comment cards.

 

Well I have rambled on a bit and I am beginning to feel like I am giving one of my lectures. I will write again to comment on the excursions and a few other observations.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

coach jim

[GROOVERS]

Thanks Jim, we sail on her 7/30...:)

[puffy]

overall the cruise is pleasant.

1. Embarkement and Disembarkement was quick and painless, it took 4 of us 20 minutes to get in the ship. We chose freestyle embarkement and left with our bag around 8:30 am. My husband dropped us off on embarkement day in the terminal and took city bus to the pier. It was 3 block walked and costed him 1.25 only.

2. We did not use the kid crew, my daughter was 8 years old, she did not like the kid crew and it had a strange odor inside the room. I did not know it was just me, but the odor was too strong,I could not leave my daughter there.

3. The food overall was average. The formal night they served lobster, but it was overcooked. But the first night the prime rib was very tender. The service in main resturant was very very slow, it took at least 1 to 1 1/2 hr, I knew it was 5 course meals, but it was too slow compared the other ship I tried before. We only tried the lis Bristro, the sea bass was excellent, but the steak was overcooked even we requested medium rare. Buffet had good choice, every morning had smoke salmon, it tasted funny at the last 2 days.

4. The juggular was good, the rest of the show was ok.

5. we rented a car at skaway and drived all the way to whitehead in Canada, it took about 2 hours drive, it was a tourist town, we visited small musem there, just ran out of time to look around.

6.The tram at Juneau was a rip off, $25 for round trip, it was too expansive. But at the top of mountain, if you liked hiking, it might worth the money.

We will like to go back to Alaska someday, but not with Star anymore. Overall the cruise staffs are very friendly. The service in the resturant was hit and miss. The only thing I like most in this cruise is the quick get in and out of the ship fast. The food is very subjective and personally I feel they are not that great overall.

[sweetpea-2]

;) glad you had a great cruise !!!!