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Awesome first time cruise by
Tony K from Renton, WA Sailing date: Oct 2008Pros: Staff very friendly, the shows were amazing, tons of different activities, and the weather Cons: Spending money on drinks, but who does like spending money on it. Very clean ship, extremely big, only problem was swimming pool a little small, but still tons of fun. Ship Quality
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Mazatlan, MexicoTequilia tasting was fun, but a little long and not as interesting as i hoped it would be.
Puerto Vallarta, MexicoDon't Miss: By far the outadventure ziplines. Just amazing. The guides, the environment, the experience just supberb. Cabo San Lucas, MexicoDon't Miss: Snorkling was fantastic- clear water, friendly guides, and tons of fish to see.  9 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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  Extra money for everthing by
David C from Rosemount Mn Sailing date: Mar 2009Pros: Not much at all, I have taken about a dozen cruises. THIS WAS BAD Cons: The service was bad. Nobody smiled Do not go on this one ,chose a friendly ship. Ship Quality
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7 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Worth a balcony for alaska cruise by
Tim B. and Alice B. from Orting, WA Sailing date: Sep 2010Pros: glaciers, specialty restaurants Cons: bathroom layout, excursion prices First time cruise for me and my wife. Scenery for alaska was great. Getting a balcony was worth it for taking pictures. Specialty restaurants was the way to go for avoiding crowds. Bathroom layout was uncomfortable to use. Choke points at elevators was a pain. Dinner excursions for crab were overpriced and underwhelming. Lower priced excursions were more fun and worth it. Saving money by taking the last cruise of the season had its drawbacks of bad weather and closed stores in the ports. Ship QualityNot enough elevators at choke points outside of main theater and main lobby. Dining/Food
Stateroom QualityBalcony room had wasted space with sofa. Should have been used to make the bathroom toilet area bigger. Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & ActivitiesMusic shows were okay. Comedy show was lousy.
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Juneau, AlaskaGlacier was good, but trip to gardens was a waste of time and money.
Don't Miss: Mendenhall glacier Ketchikan, AlaskaCity tour okay. Chef's table way overpriced and you'll leave still hungry.
Skagway, AlaskaYukon train was great. Brothel tour was okay.
Don't Miss: Yukon train Prince Rupert, British ColumbiaSealife discovery/crab boat tour was worth it for the eagles, but not for the crab dinner. Description makes it sound like there's a nice bar on board, but all you can get is one beer or a wine cooler.
Don't Miss: eagle pictures on sealife/crab boat tour. 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Awesome Cruise! by
Mark P from Vancouver, WA Sailing date: Mar 2009Pros: Food was great!, Shows were great! Excursion group and setups were awesome and they were very flexible to work with! Cons: Drinks.. High cost for water & Cokes and especially the Adult drinks. Recommend going with the Bucket of Beer as you means of drink. The Crew was Awesome, the Food was amazing. We hit every restaurant (I think?) over the seven days. The onboard entertainment & Shows was surprisingly very good! Their onboard Excursion group do a great job in showing what is available, signing you up for it AND taking care of any problems that might occur! They were great! Did I mention the food was Awesome! Two negative item was the drinks. They have overly priced their bottled water @ $5 a bottle and cokes @ $2 a can, alcoholic drinks are $9+. I would recommend the Bucket O Beer (6) at ~$19 (depending on brand). You can take the unopened ones back to your fringe in your room. The 2nd overly priced item was the Internet. I needed to check on one item during the week; a $5 one-time sign up charge with 18 minutes of on-line time cost me about $25. These were minor annoyances though! Wonder time Great Job NCL! Ship Quality
Dining/FoodDid I mention the Food was Awesome! Stateroom QualityI was impressed with the room size and quality. I had an Outboard stateroom with a window... Nice Ship Staff QualityThey were all Awesome! Entertainment & ActivitiesExcellent Entertainment
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Mazatlan, MexicoCliff divers were Intresting to watch and the Papantla Flyers !
Puerto Vallarta, MexicoGreat town for shopping! Also some excellent "All Inclusive" Resorts to attend for the day!
Cabo San Lucas, MexicoNice time. Due to the time mismatch we missed our excursion, but NCL refunded the cost.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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A Christmas To Remember! :) by
Dennis L. from Milwaukee, WI Sailing date: Dec 2011Pros: Free Style Dining Cons: Chocolate Buffet and Desserts in general were below expectation Overall, the ship met expectations! Compared to the NCL Star, that was next to us in port, full of rust, etc... the Star looked "fantastic" from th outside. Once on board, it was "Grand". Ship QualityEverything was clean, neat and we were impressed with the emphisis placed on "hand sanitizing" by the staff! Bathrooms were always tidy. Dining/FoodWe were concerned reading all the reviews up until now...that the food was "blah". We are "middle class" and the massive amount of food offered our family of 4 (with 2 teenagers) everything we could possibly want, whenever we wanted it. The food was always presented in a clean, tidy setting. It was flavorful, abundant and there were always multiple choices. Again, Freestyle..you could eat whenever, whatever, however (no dress code)! :) The only negatives were the types of desserts and the fact the soft serve machine was always busy, it pumped slow. Add another machine or ask yourself why aren't cruise passengers eating more of the desserts you offer! No chocolate, tapioca or rice puddings??? Stateroom QualityOur room was clean, located mid-ship, mid level and our service was very good. Plenty of towels, always turned down properly. Ship Staff QualityAll the staff seemed very nice, friendly and helpfull. No issues during the entire trip! Entertainment & ActivitiesWent to all the shows and they were terrific. Not Vegas quality, but close as you could get for a cruise ship. Nice mix...singing, dancing, magic, comedy. Great job NCL! Children's ProgramsOur teens were disappointed when the teen center was vandalized by some teens. I hope video was pulled and the appropriate parties punished to the fullest extent. A few have to ruin it for everyone! Our kids enjoyed the air hockey, foosball, etc... 5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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NCL Panama Canal Cruise by
A Traveler from Los Angeles, CA. Sailing date: Nov 2010Pros: The Service on board was great. Staff excellent. Food Good. Port of Call were great. Cons: Boring at night. No ambience for fun after dinner and show. Ship was good, however maybe some upgrades will make it even better. TV's are old, newer Technology will be a plus. Free style cruising was great. Ship QualityA more open lay out would have been better. Too much walking to access the places you wanted to go to. Not a good flow to access places on ship. Dining/FoodMain free restaurants had excellent food and excellent service. Stateroom QualityStateroom was a decent size, bathroom was OK. Was kept clean. Some update would be nice. TV to old. Ship Staff QualityStaff was the best. Entertainment & ActivitiesEntertainment was good. Nothing to do after 10:00 p.m. other than go to the Casino.
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Acapulco, Mexico
Cartagena, Colombia
Key West, Florida
Huatulco, Mexico
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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a little disappointing by
Kim M. from Tucson, Az Sailing date: Mar 2009Pros: express departure- the ports were quite nice- the childrens play area at the pool Cons: room steward was mediocre-having to pay sooo much for soda- lemonade only for children. We had previously only cruised with Royal Caribbean- so we expected something similar. The food was definitely not as good. The buffet was quite mediocre. Although it was supposed to be freestyle dining - we had to wait over an hour for the Versailles dining room, because they seated a party of 60- rather than taking people who were waiting in line. The room steward seemed annoyed by his job. Traveling with two small children, one of the things they look forward to are the towel animals- we only saw one the entire trip. We loved our server named Heidi, (from Aqua) she was extremely helpful and considerate to our party. Ship Quality
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Stateroom Qualitynice sized bathrooms- the steward brought in a roll away to accomodate my 3 year old. That was very nice! Ship Staff QualityFor the most part that stewards and the wait staff seemed lacking in efficientcy this voyage. Entertainment & Activities
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Mazatlan, Mexicothe pulminya drivers were hilarious- they have no sense of right of way while driving- I wasn't sure we were going to make it to the beach in one piece.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Perfect mix of activity and relaxation. by
Jared from Columbu, Ohio, USA Sailing date: Aug 2007Pros: A very wide variety of offerings. The ship offers things from coffee and ice cream bars to martini bars, to sushi bars, 24-hr food, movie theater, etc. It was basically everything we would do on a vacation, combined on one ship. This cruise had the perfect mix of activities and relaxation. There were numerous things going on at once so you always had a choice of activities. Or, if you prefer, there are plenty of places to relax and do nothing. The freestyle dining is great, but restaurants book up quickly. We loved the selection of bars - there was always a free seat somewhere. Great entertainment options too. Dining/FoodThe freestyle dining options were excellent. We loved having our choice of restaurants.
Stateroom QualityRoom was small, bed was small, but it's a cruise and that's expected.
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Entertainment: Our personal favorite was the Second City group. They were excellent. Much funnier than expected.
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Cruise Inside Passage, AlaskaDay at sea.
The first day was a day at sea. It was great to sit back and relax and explore the ship.
Juneau, AlaskaJuneau.
In Juneau we went whale watching and saw the Mendenhall Glacier. Both were absolutely amazing. It was a great day for photography - both weather and scenery were beautiful.
Don't Miss: Whale watching is a must. I came home with about 400 pictures from this day alone. I would also recommend the Mendenhall Glacier excursion. It's amazing to see a glacier up close, with the mountains b Ketchikan, AlaskaKetchikan.
The weather was great and the sightseeing was awesome.
Don't Miss: There are a lot of "touristy" shops. We went to the "red light" district, which was pretty neat. It's built right on top of a river and you can watch the salmon swimming. The "Married Man's Trail" was Cruise Sawyer GlacierThe best part of the entire trip!!
I can't express enough how amazing this was. You cruise through the Tracy Arm Fjord to Sawyer Glacier. The clouds hang very low and there is a fine mist in the air. The water is actually a blue-green similar to the Caribbean. There are icebergs in various sizes throughout the whole area. The mountains are snow-capped and there are waterfalls everywhere. I felt like I was on a different planet in some sci-fi movie. So amazing!!
Don't Miss: The scenery. You can't miss it. We just stood on the upper deck of the ship the entire time (with Irish coffees - it is chilly out) and watched the mountains. The fjords are amazing with the waterfall 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Very responsive for singles taking a rel by
Charlene from Boston, MA Sailing date: May 2007Pros: The best features I think are the many different activies and places to go and for entertainment. I had a very relaxing,enjoyable and educational tour. On or off the ship people were always friendly and welcoming. I would go on another NCL vacation at any time. I liked the free style because we were not on any ones schedule but our own basically. Entertainment & Activities
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Juneau, AlaskaJuneau was nice. Lots of places to shop for. People were friendly and informative.The towns were not what I expected. They were poorer than I imagined.
Juneau was clean. Suprised me to see crossing guards instead of street lights. But, the shopping and excursions were worth it.
Don't Miss: Do the salmon bake. It was the most deliscous thing we could have. Ketchikan, AlaskaI was pleased with all port except St Ruperts in Canada. Our excursion was cancelled because of engine problems and we got there late. Almost everything was closed.
Over all my experience was a good one. I would do it again, because there is so much I still want to see and do in Alaska.
Don't Miss: Try not to miss seeing the whales and bald eagles. 5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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A tie with other cruise lines by
A Traveler from San Francisco, CA Sailing date: Feb 2010Pros: The theater and entertainers were top notch. Enjoyed them immensely. The shower and the bathroom were a nice size. Cons: The staff for the Market Cafe buffet seemed like a staff in training. Slow to respond, it may have been a language barrier. We enjoyed the cruise on the Norwegian Star to the Mexican Riviera. The entertainment was excellent. The tour to Todos Santos had an excellent guide named Marco. The food in the dining rooms was very good. The bathrooms in the cabins were a good size. The furniture in the cabins was not built-in, poor quality, and awkward. The Atrium area was attractive and comfortable. The cleanliness was satisfactory. 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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