Norwegian Star Cruise Ship Review

Back in November me and Luke headed on our very first Norwegian Cruise. And for me it was my first ever cruise. So following on from my first impressions of a cruise, I thought I’d talk about the actual ship we were on and do a Norwegian Star cruise ship review.

The Star is a reasonably old ship, first built in 2001. But it was recently refurbished back in 2018 so it doesn’t feel its age when you’re on board. It’s among the smaller ships in the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet with a maximum guest capacity of 2,348.

Before I go into my review of the Norwegian Star cruise ship I will caveat that we like to relax quite a lot on our holidays as opposed to always be doing things. And being an older ship you don’t have all the big things like waterslides, go-kart tracks and comedy bars. But this didn’t stop us having an amazing time.

Norwegian Star cruise ship layout

There are 14 decks on the Star ship, although there’s only a few floors you’ll likely to move between.

What’s on the main floors

On Deck 6 you have the casino, the two main complimentary dining rooms, two speciality restaurants and a few bars. We only headed to this floor in the evenings, but it did house our favourite bar (more on that later).

Deck 7 was another of the main decks with the main guest services/ excursions/ photo areas, shops, theatre, a large lounge, two speciality restaurants, a complimentary restaurant, and a few more bars. This is one of the only decks without staterooms so you can walk from one end of the ship to the other quite easily. So for us this was a good central walkway deck for us, especially as you access the theatre from here.

There was just one thing on deck 8, the pub and grill. This was our favourite spot for breakfast so we used to go there quite a bit in the mornings, plus it’s open 24/7. Deck 11 houses the spa which we did visit one day.

Then the other main deck is deck 12 with the buffet restaurant open all day alongside the pool, hot tubs, fitness centre, library, arcade, bars and more. We spent a lot of time on this deck in the outdoor relaxing spaces.

The top two decks had a selection of speciality dining restaurants, some bars, and activities such as the golf driving nets and basketball/ volleyball court.

How we navigated the layout

Having just a few decks that we actually moved between made it very easy, especially as during the day it was mainly just three decks to choose between.

From the outside the ship looks massive and it is. But I found the layout and moving around it far easier than I expected it to be. I didn’t get knackered walking around the ship (which I thought I would). And once you got used to aft and forward and worked out where the lifts went it was pretty easy.

Norwegian Star cruise ship entertainment and things to do

As I mentioned earlier we like to relax on our holidays so we didn’t make the most of all of the activities on offer. But if you are then there’s always something going on from quizzes and game shows to craft events and music.

During the day we didn’t do any organised activities and spent most of the time relaxing, reading and enjoying the sunshine. We did use the golf driving nets and played shuffleboard for some fun. We also made the most of the quieter times and used the hot tubs in the adults only area as they looked right over the front of the ship. Then the rest of the time we were eating or drinking.

We did head to the spa one day on our trip to have a couples massage and spend some time relaxing. The spa area itself isn’t massive, but it was so quiet when we were in there. I’m not sure if it’s like that all of the time, but we had a lovely time in the various pools/ Jacuzzis etc.

Evening entertainment

But in the evening we did a bit more around the ship. There are shows every night at the theatre and for some of the bigger ones they’re on twice to give people options. We saw a magician and contortionist, a comedian/ juggler twice, two broadway style shows and an acrobatics show.

There were always things going on in the Bliss Lounge (including an evening club), but we only headed there once for some cabaret which was incredible.

But the thing I loved most was the few spots around the ship where there was pretty much always live music playing. We watched a lot of music in Gatsby’s Champagne Bar which was our favourite evening spot. There was a musician called Andy who would come and sing and play guitar and he was so good. A personal favourite of mine was his Michael Buble set.

Norwegian Star cruise ship food

For me one of the biggest parts of going on a cruise was the food. Being able to eat when ever I wanted and pretty much whatever I wanted was a dream. Now this post is already quite long so I’m going to skip through the options pretty quickly.

Breakfast spots

There are three options for breakfast, all of which are free.

Our favourite was O’Sheehans pub which had great cooked breakfasts, pancakes and french toast in particular. The main dining room opened for a fancier feeling sit down meal with everything you’d expect. I had a lovely Eggs Benedict here.

And then the Garden Cafe Buffet is open for an epic breakfast spread. You can get pretty much anything you can think of here including an omelette bar where you can get a custom freshly made omelette or any eggs you want.

Norwegian Star cruise ship lunch spots

The buffet is open throughout the day so you can get anything you want for lunch here. And it’s one of the best buffets I’ve ever had, the food is amazing. So don’t be put off with it being a buffet. Plus you can get dessert and snacks throughout the day. We ended up getting soft serve ice cream from here most days when we wanted something sweet.

You can also head back to O’Sheehans for their main menu food; some of my personal favourites were the fish finger sandwich and the pretzel bites. Then topsiders is an outdoor mini buffet that has burgers, hot dogs and salads. And next door to it is an ice cream bar.

Complimentary dinner spots

There are five complimentary dinner locations, although two of them serve the same menu. So really four options.

O’Sheehans is open all day so serves the same menu for lunch and dinner. But they also do a daily special so you can keep your eyes open for this. The Garden Cafe buffet is open for dinner and was particularly great in the evening, and generally quiet (at least when we went).

Both the main dining rooms (Aqua & Versailles) are open in the evening, but they both serve the same menu. The menu changes slightly each night and they will have specials to change things up. We had some lovely dinners in these dining rooms and they felt pretty fancy for complimentary dining.

Then there’s also a complimentary Asian restaurant called Ginza, but we didn’t eat here during our trip.

Norwegian Star cruise ship speciality dining

The package we chose gave us each four speciality dining meals which was a great amount to spread across our cruise. We didn’t try La Cucina (Italian), Le Bistro (French) or the Sushi so I can’t comment on those but we tried three spots.

Moderno Churrascaria is their Brazilian Steakhouse which was so good. As you’d expect they kept coming around with different meats and everything we ate was amazing. This is a set price if you want to go there to eat. The Teppanyaki restaurant is also a set price and this was an incredible experience. The food was amazing, but it was the show that the chefs put on which really made it stand out.

Then finally we went to Cagney’s Steakhouse twice on the trip which is an a la carte restaurant. We had a dining pass so got a starter, main, 2 sides and dessert included and it was another stunning meal. I’m so glad we picked this as our repeat visit, the prime rib that I had both times was incredible.

Our room on the Norwegian Star cruise ship

We originally booked an Oceanview room with a picture window. For my first ever cruise I didn’t fancy being in an inside cabin, but we couldn’t justify the price of a balcony. But Norwegian do allow you to bid on other rooms closer to the time (if they’re available). And we ended up getting a balcony room on the ninth floor for a very good price.

I was really impressed with the size of the room as I had expected it to be small. The bathroom was a good size for a ship with a decent sized shower. And the room itself was a good size with a sofa bed and desk on one side of the bed, and a dressing table and wardrobes on the other side. And there was way more storage than I had expected to which was a pleasant surprise.

Is there anything else you’d like to know about the Norwegian Star cruise ship?

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