Writer Robin Fowler based this independent review on her 8-night Mexican Riviera cruise departing from Los Angeles, California.

From the moment passengers arrive on the pier, it’s apparent that a Norwegian Star cruise will be a festive one. Colorful stars and streamers painted from the bow almost to the middle of the ship, a Norwegian Cruise Line signature, is a modern interpretation of the celebratory tradition of tossing streamers and confetti from railings at the beginning of ocean voyages. And it gets more modern from there. A choice of 10 restaurants, accompanied by Norwegian’s Freestyle Cruising concept that stresses instant gratification, extends resort ambience to new levels. And for 2,240 passengers per cruise, that means they can have what they want, when and where they want it.

Why Norwegian Star?

• Your choice: You’ll be hard-pressed to make it to all 10 of Norwegian Star’s restaurants, but give it your best shot.
• It’s a deal: For all that Norwegian Star brings to the table, cruise fares offer very good value.
• Way to go: Winter itineraries on Mexico’s west coast go all the way to Acapulco, while most cruise ships traveling south from Los Angeles turn around at Puerto Vallarta.

Who should go
Travelers who consider dining a major vacation component will love the choices on Star. Many are health-conscious passengers from the West Coast who are savvy when it comes to restaurants and entertainment and can easily take advantage of the homeports of Los Angeles (for Mexico itineraries) and Seattle (for Alaska cruises). Meeting rooms and activities for all ages lure incentive groups and extended families.

Who shouldn’t go
Passengers who like the traditional cruise experience, with assigned dinner tables and frequent opportunities to show off fancy formal wear, should consider other ships. Similarly, singles traveling alone might find it easier to hook up on ships with assigned tables.

Hits and misses

• Don’t miss: The ship’s three high-energy production shows by the Jean Ann Ryan Company are as good as it gets at sea, showcasing song, dance, choreography, and even acrobatics.
• Best part of the ship: There’s a reason they call it the Grand Atrium. Each level is more stunning than the next. It’s an excellent place to watch comings and goings, with guests wandering to and from bars, restaurants, reception, and the Internet café.
• Best experience: The signature Chocoholic Buffet has more chocolate desserts than you’ll ever see again in one place. The line extends half the length of the ship, and you’ll need to go through the line twice: Once early for photos, and once again later for your share of this wicked caloric extravaganza.
• Best shipboard activity: A seminar on pairing food and wine teaches participants how and why the taste of popular wines changes when served with different foods.
• Needs improvement: The cruise director asks passengers to consider the Stardust Theater the ship’s living room, and some take the invitation to heart, coming and going at will. Latecomers arrive midway through shows and block views while they roam aisles looking for the best available seats. The theater could use ushers to direct them to seats in back where they won’t disturb passengers who bother to arrive on time.
• Activities to skip: You need more than a few silly hats and noise-makers for a good New Year’s Eve party, especially when it’s not New Year’s Eve. Skip this one.

How to meet the captain
“Q&A with the Chiefs” is a scheduled activity that offers a chance to quiz the captain, chief engineer, hotel director, and executive chef on ship’s operations. The captain also makes himself available for portraits on formal night.

Heard on the deck (after the chocoholic buffet): “Can you believe it? Really, there must have been 10,000 calories on that woman’s plate.”

Presentation is sophisticated, menus are delectable and varied, and Norwegian’s Freestyle Cruising concept means you can choose where you dine each night. Star has over a dozen dining options, with cuisines ranging from French to Tex-Mex to Asian (Thai, Japanese, and Chinese) to simple American.

Versailles and Aqua (main dining rooms)
The two main dining rooms share the same menus, with only minor differences in the preparation of some dishes. What’s obviously different is the décor: Versailles has the look of a formal French chateau, while Aqua is contemporary with modern art to contemplate. Breakfast and lunch are served in Versailles, with such favorites as Eggs Sardou or Eggs Benedict on the breakfast menu; and many light selections offered at lunch. Passengers can arrive at the time of their choosing for all meals.

Le Bistro
The most romantic of all six specialty restaurants, Le Bistro serves French and Mediterranean cuisine in a club-like atmosphere. Ask to be seated at a table for two in the wine cellar. Start with escargot in garlic butter, then choice between the sea bass, seared yellow fin tuna, and filet mignon in Béarnaise sauce. Cover charge is $15 per person.

Cagney’s
This 1930s steakhouse, decorated Western-style with photos of famous American gangsters on the walls, is best for beef, but also offers excellent lamb, chicken, and seafood dishes. Start with oysters Rockefeller, then order an Angus steak and finish with the restaurant’s signature New York cheesecake. Cost is $20 per person, plus $5 for a few premium entrées (like oversized steaks and the popular Surf and Turf lobster-and-steak combo).

Ginza
Thai, Japanese, and Chinese dishes include tempura soba (black tiger shrimp cooked tempura-style on buckwheat noodles) and Asian barbecued duck (Peking-style duckling slices). For dessert, try the banana pancakes with coconut ice cream. Cover charge is $12.50 per person. A sushi bar -- with octopus, eels, prawns, tuna, and more -- is open for lunch on sea days and dinner nightly. Sushi prices are $2 per item or $10 for all you can eat. A 12-seat Teppanyaki room serves scallops, shrimp, or filet mignon at à la carte prices. Reservations are not required at the sushi bar, but they are required in the main section of the restaurant and the Teppanyaki room.

Other dining options

• Soho Room: Pacific Rim cuisine includes such specialties as ahi tuna tartare and crawfish tortellini (a specialty -- often prepared at the food seminar). Cover charge is $15 per person.
• Endless Summer: One of Star’s most popular specialty restaurants, Endless Summer serves Tex-Mex dishes like tamales, enchiladas, quesadillas, black bean soup with chorizo, and, for dessert, sopapillas and Mexican chocolate mascarpone cheesecake. Dine just before sunset and ask for a table next to a window. Reservations are required, but there are no dining fees.
• Market Café: Casually garbed passengers can load their plates at the Market Café buffet, adjacent to the Oasis Pool. Some days feature a poolside barbecue lunch with ribs, chicken, and fish, and there’s always a vegetarian buffet from noon to 3 PM. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon and late-night snacks, eats are available continuously from 6 AM to midnight.
• La Trattoria: Pasta, pizza, and seafood are served in this restaurant in a converted section of the Market Café, with tablecloths and chair covers setting it apart from the nightly buffet. There is no charge for dining, but reservations are required.
• Blue Lagoon: This 24-hour eatery offers an odd menu of fish ‘n’ chips, burgers, potato skins, soups, and fast wok dishes. It’s seldom crowded early in the cruise but eventually gains a following.
• The Grill: At the Oasis Pool, steam-table burgers (including veggie burgers) and hot dogs are served from late morning to late afternoon, with deli sandwiches also available during lunch hours. Oddly, the burgers -- the most casual of selections on a casual ship -- seemed drab afterthoughts.
• Java Café: Hot and cold coffee specialties and cookies and pastries are available all day. Coffee drinks require a small fee; sweet treats are free.
• Barong Juice Bar: Favorite snacks include the ice cream cones scooped free in the Barong Juice Bar near the children’s pool area.
• Bier Garten: Pretzels and Bavarian wurst are available in a lovely top-of-ship setting during late afternoon hours (weather permitting).
• Red Lion Pub: Pub snacks are served in the early evening each night.
• Room service: The 24-hour menu includes fruit, salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, and dessert. There's also a children’s menu, and Continental breakfast can be ordered by phone or by hanging a form on your door at night. We found deliveries to be speedy. Available at extra fees are canapés ($16-$30), caviar ($22), shrimp on ice ($29), and other selections.

Best dining

• Dish: Order the firestar tenderloin from Le Bistro, with beef, veal, and pork medallions flambéed in brandy.
• Dessert: Chocolate fondue at Le Bistro ends the meal with guilt-assuaging fresh fruit dipped in warm, rich chocolate sauce for a perfect combination of flavor and texture.
• Restaurant: If you must choose just one specialty restaurants, make it Le Bistro. Meat-and-potato guys can order filet mignon, and gourmands can opt for a more complicated main course. Everyone will come away happy.
• Food seminar: A cooking demonstration in Gatsby’s Champagne Bar features dishes from several of the ship’s restaurants and attracts a standing-room–only crowd. Sit near the front for tasting when the seminar is over; there may not be enough for everyone.

How to…

• Get a table for two: In Versailles and Aqua, simply tell your maître d’ that you don’t want to share. At restaurants that require reservations, you’ll get a table for the number of persons specified in your reservation.
• Celebrate a birthday/anniversary: Celebratory packages are available for sale on the ship. A birthday package that includes cabin decorations (streamers, balloons, and confetti) and a cake delivered to your dinner table costs $30. Honeymoon and romance packages range from $79 to $329 and include such features as dinner for two in Le Bistro, breakfast in bed, and massage treatments. Floral arrangements start at $20.
• Change seating: There is no assigned seating anywhere on the ship.
• Dress for formal night: Dark suits or tuxedos for men and cocktail dresses or evening gowns for women are recommended. But there is only one formal night, and even that is optional, so many women bring dresses that can suffice for both formal and resort casual nights, with just a change of accessories.
• Dress for casual night: Resort casual is generally the rule, and that means slacks with collared shirts for men, and dresses, skirts, or slacks for women. Both formal wear and resort casual attire can be rented onboard.

Tips:

• Soft drink packages for unlimited fountain sodas are $31.50 per person for an eight-night cruise.
• Tips of $10 per person, per day are automatically added to shipboard accounts. Gratuities are also added directly to bar bills.
• You’ll pay a small amount for cappuccinos at bars, but they’re served free in restaurants.
• Passengers are charged $5 if they cancel dining reservations after 5 PM.
• Ask about bargains in the specialty restaurants; you might find a half-price reservation in Ginza or Soho on a slow night.
• If you want the same table or waiter at the same restaurant each night, simply request such to the maître d’hotel.

Standard cabins range from 142 to 284 square feet and are decorated with nautical prints in primary colors (mostly reds, greens, and blues). There’s plenty of storage in warm cherry-stained cabinetry. All rooms have TVs, refrigerators, safes, coffee makers, and hair dryers, and lower twin beds convert to queen-sized beds. In the bathroom, the shower, sink, and toilet are separated by sliding glass doors. Many cabins have private balconies. For a real spluge, book one of two 5,750-square-foot garden villas, each with a living room, dining room, three bedrooms, butler and concierge service, and a limousine to transport you between the ship and the airport.

Cabins for guests with disabilities
Twenty cabins, including some with balconies, are wheelchair accessible.

Tips:

• Calls home from cabins are $5.95 per minute. Cellular phones work on the ship if you have a contract with one of more than 200 networks that have roaming agreements with AT&T Wireless Maritime Service. Charges will appear on your cellular bill when you get home.
• Passengers can sign out beach towels at the gangway for use onshore.
• Midway through the cruise, watch for a laundry special in your cabin: $25 for everything you can stuff into a laundry bag.
• Newspaper printouts (11"x17") can be delivered to your cabin for $3.95 per day. Choices include USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. You can get a free news fix by watching CNN on your in-cabin TV.

Heard on the deck: “Please stay up and party with me!”
Answer: “But mom, I want to go to bed.”

Bars, lounges, and casino
If you have a favorite drink, you’ll likely find a bar specializing in it, whether that’s Gatsby’s Champagne Bar, Pearl Martini Lounge, Java Café, Red Lion Pub, or Sake Bar. There’s even the Havana Club for cigar aficionados. During the week you’ll find a wine tasting ($10), a martini clinic ($5), a tequila seminar (free), and a pub crawl (pay as you go). With so many health-conscious Californians aboard, Norwegian Star is a good ship for nonsmokers, although smoking is allowed in designated areas.

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The sizeable Star Casino houses slots, blackjack, mini-baccarat, roulette, three-card poker, Caribbean stud poker, and craps tables with odds that pay three to five times the bet. Late-night snacks are served each night. Enroll in the Sea Players Club and earn limo service between airport and pier, VIP check-in, reserved seats in the show lounge, spa treatments, and even reduced rates on future cruises.

Swimming pools
Norwegian Star is a little short in the pool department, with only three: One large outdoor pool, one small outdoor pool for junior cruisers, and an indoor lap pool in the spa. The large outdoor Oasis Pool and the Splash Down children’s pool have dual corkscrew slides, while the indoor lap pool is perfect for chilly days at sea. All pools have adjacent hot tubs. In fact, Oasis has four, plus a terraced bank of deck chairs for sunbathing.

Shows
Production shows, all performed in the richly appointed Broadway-style Stardust Theater, are excellent, and passengers should try to catch them all. Two are tributes: Music of the Night, honoring the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber; and It’s Fame, devoted to choreographer Bob Fosse. Cirque Pacific serves up lavish costumes, sets, lighting, and manic choreography in the tradition of Cirque du Soleil. And if principal singer Eric Reid is onboard, don’t miss his one-man show. The talented Reid has performed on Norwegian ships since the early ’90s.

Shore excursions
Some (but not all) shore excursions can be ordered online in advance of your cruise. On the ship you can stand in line or purchase excursions at an automated kiosk that also dispenses tickets.

Weddings and vow renewals
Wedding packages include a ceremony, officiant, recorded music, announcements, cake, wine, photo package, and assistance of a wedding coordinator. On Alaska itineraries, couples can fly in a helicopter to the top of a glacier to exchange vows. The fond memories will last a lifetime (even if the marriage doesn’t)!

Looking for…

• Quietest spot: The library is a well-appointed space with few distractions. But the writing room across the corridor is just as quiet and has sea views and excellent natural light.
• Liveliest spot: Carousel Nightclub fills up fast after dinner, where you’ll hear live Motown until it’s time for karaoke. Only a few too many drinks could buck you off the handsome carousel horses used as bar stools.
• Most popular activity: Call it restaurant angst: Getting the right reservations requires some planning, and many passengers want to dine at a different spot nightly.
• Best views: Spinnaker Lounge on Deck 12 has floor-to-ceiling windows and comfy chairs for sea and port observation. There are also windows to the bridge, with viewing hours from 9 AM to 5 PM. At night, the lounge becomes a dance club.
• Best show: Cirque Pacific, third of three production shows, features amazing performances from members of the Jean Ann Ryan Company and China Star Acrobats. Passengers also are fond of the crew show, where many numbers focus on folkdance and ethnic songs from crew members’ homelands.
• Best drink: Do order the refreshing sangria with chopped bits of fruit in the Endless Summer restaurant. I wish I had one right now.

Tips:

• If you find the ship’s layout confusing, just remember the color of carpeting in the stairwell nearest your cabin. Forward stairwells are blue, midship stairwells are red, and aft stairwells are green.
• At disembarkation, as many as 300 passengers are allowed to sign up for early departure if they carry their own luggage off the ship.
• Passengers who need an infusion of cash can visit an ATM in the casino, but be prepared for high service fees.
• Each cruise passenger is allowed 200 pounds of personal luggage (although airline limitations may differ).

Heard on the deck: “Have you seen the ship’s ATM? We didn’t mean to do it, but we ran through all of our cash today. There were better deals onshore if you paid cash.”

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Spa and salon
Port specials for otherwise expensive treatments can be worth the wait, especially if appointments are a few minutes before the ship sails so as not to limit your time onshore. The best offer on our sailing was a two-for-one sale on such appealing treatments as a massage with hot basalt stones ($135), a seaweed massage and wrap ($171), and even teeth whitening ($199). Share with a friend to get them half price during this special. An even better deal: Use of the saunas, steam rooms, lap pool, and hot tub is free. Indoor deck chairs under floor-to-ceiling windows in the spa solarium can be a good place to relax on a blustery day in Alaska. The hair salon has a full array of trims, sets, coloring, manicures, and pedicures. Be warned that spa and salon personnel can be annoyingly strident in pushing passengers to buy expensive creams and lotions.

Fitness areas
The 24-hour fitness center has aerobics, spinning, and exercise classes as well as weight training equipment, cycles, treadmills, and free weights with television screens at most machines. There’s a juice bar, and free classes include aerobics, cardio, step, stretch, and meditation. Kickboxing is $10, and you can buy a set of three classes in yoga, Pilates, and spinning for $30 (or $70 for unlimited classes and a body composition analysis). You can have your metabolism checked for $30, and personal training is $75 per hour ($191 for three sessions, with a metabolism check thrown in). Other sports facilities include a netted basketball and volleyball court, a golf cage, and a track for walking and jogging.

Heard on the deck (from a wife to her husband): “My masseuse told me I was knotty. I thought she meant, you know, naughty.”
Husband’s response: “You had to pay someone to tell you that?”

Star’s large Galleria shopping area resembles a small department store. The highlight is Columbian Emeralds, selling fine jewelry and watches (other Columbian Emeralds shops are located in the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Mexico). Other items for sale include eveningwear, beachwear, scents, makeup, gifts, and souvenirs. Daily “specials” are spread out on tables in the Grand Atrium. Although prices don’t appear to change from day to day for items on special, they seemed reasonable in general, although we did spot some pieces of Swarovski crystal marked almost twice the recommended published price in Swarovski’s 2005 retail catalog. If you shop ashore at stores that Star employees recommend, you get a 30-day guarantee to repair, replace, or exchange merchandise in event of defect, but be advised that these stores pay a promotional rate to the cruise line. Star also hosts the ubiquitous cruise ship art auctions, but there’s a twist: A sidewalk sale on the last day.

Heard on the deck: “The official currency of Mexico is credit cards.”

Kids Crew and Teens Crew programs are aimed at passengers ages 2-5, 6-9, 10-12, and 13-17. Activities range from pizza making and treasure hunts for youngsters to dance parties for teens. Group babysitting is available on port days from 9 AM to 5 PM, and 10 PM to 1 AM on both port and sea days. There are special children’s menus in the restaurants and a pint-sized buffet in the Market Café with kid-sized tables and chairs. Rocket ships decorate a pool deck aft that is popular with young children and their parents.

Heard on the deck (as a mother watched her teens slide down stairway banisters and spill to the floor): “They are young and dumb but they have hard bodies.”

October through April, Norwegian Star sails 8-night Mexican Riviera itineraries from Los Angeles. May through September, she sails 7-night Alaska cruises departing from Seattle.

• Former name - Royal Majesty
• Type of cruise - Resort-Casual
• Total cabins - 729
• Private balcony cabins - 141
• Decks - 11
• Total crew - 1100
• Ship size - Large
• Passenger capacity - 2240
• Tonnage - 91,000
• Officers nationality - Scandinavian/International
• Registry - Bahamas
• Year entered service - 2001
• Ship length - 965