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CRUISING HAWAII ON THE NORWEGIAN STAR
By Paula Hughes Court
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The Norwegian Star, a $400 million supership, is the largest cruise ship ever to set sail in Hawaii, accommodating 2,200 passengers, and 1,100 crew members. Built for the specific purpose of freestyle cruising, the ship has 10 restaurants and 14 bars. The 7-day Hawaii itinerary includes stops in Hilo, Hawaii, Kahuliu, Maui, Nawiliwili, Kauai and Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati. “Freestyle Cruising” is the theme on the Norwegian Star and it’s all about choices. The concept works like this. For meals, instead of two main dining rooms with an assigned seating time, you can now choose from a selection of ten restaurants open from 5:30 p.m. to midnight. Choose Spanish tapas one night, gourmet French the next. Eat whenever, wherever, and the best part-with whomever you choose.
The choices aren’t limited to dining. Norwegian has eliminated the mandatory formal dinners and personal attire is left up to each passenger’s discretion with resort casual being the preferred attire. Another change introduced to smooth the way for passengers is pre-paid tips. No more scrambling around for cash the last night to divvy up among room stewards and restaurant servers. And if you wish to tip more or less, simply contact the Front Desk to make any appropriate adjustments.
Since this was our first cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines, we were curious about how well the freestyle concept would work. After a seven-day Hawaiian cruise aboard the Norwegian Star, I’m happy to say it’s a resounding success.
SPIRIT OF HAWAII
Norwegian Cruise Lines advertises this cruise as a “Taste of Hawaii” and that’s exactly what it is. Know this beforehand so you won’t be disappointed. The actual time spent in port on the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui and Kauai is shorter than most people would prefer. But after all, this is Hawaii. You could spend a lifetime here and never get your fill.
The Norwegian Star makes up for this by extending the Hawaii theme onto the ship. Hawaiian music plays continuously and the superb Hawaii Ambassador instructor offers a variety of Hawaii theme classes, such as hula dancing, flower and nut lei making, and palm frond weaving. There are performances by the famous Matangi Polynesian Dancers in the Stardust Theater and lectures on Hawaiian history. A sculpture of Ne Ne Geese, the bird of Hawaii, flies high above the atrium.
THE SHIP
The Norwegian Star is a beautiful ship, tastefully decorated in primary colors of blue, green and red. Our tour guide, Jessica Shonwise, let us in on a secret. If you're ever confused as to where you are on the ship, simply look down at the carpet. Red carpet means you're in the middle of the ship, green is aft and blue is forward. The Norwegian Star has 11 passenger decks, numbered from 4 to 14. DINING
The Norwegian Star offers an impressive selection of ten top-quality restaurants to choose from. I highly recommend trying out the specialty restaurants. Yes, there’s a modest service charge of $10-12.50 per person, but it’s well worth it for a five-star meal. My attitude is-why not spend an extra $125 per couple for the week and enjoy the very best?
According to the upper level staff, Le Bistro and Soho Room are their favorites. Followed by Ginza, Teppanyaki and Endless Summer (no fee, but reservations only). All of the specialty restaurants require reservations. The most difficult restaurants to reserve are Le Bistro, which only seats 66, and Endless Summer. Reservations can only be made for the same day or the next day, so plan ahead. On the first night, the specialty restaurants are empty so this is a good opportunity. Also, service charges are sometimes reduced on the first night since everyone is at the sail-away party. Occasionally, the specialty restaurants open for lunch. Check the Freestyle Daily for times. For a good deal, try Ginza’s $10 all-you-can-eat sushi lunch.
Our first night we dined at Ginza and discovered an exotic fusion of Thai/Japanese/Chinese flavors along with an impressive selection of sake and sushi. Ginza features an a la carte section, and a sushi and tempura bar. Don’t miss the house special, Peking Duck, and the Banana Pancakes for dessert. The service charge for Ginza is $10 per person. We found the servers to be both gracious and gorgeous in their traditional sarongs.
Monday night found us at The SoHo Room, the favorite of Hotel Director, James Deering. SoHo features high-end Pacific Rim cuisine in a stylish atmosphere with colorful pop-art. SoHo’s specialty is live lobster. Other menu items include Szechwan encrusted Beef, Tuna Tartare, Rack of Lamb, Filet Mignon and Stir-fried Lobster. The broiled lobster with drawn butter was the best I’ve ever eaten.
Tuesday night, we dined at the Hawaiian themed Endless Summer overlooking the Grand Atrium. Endless Summer features true Hawaiian specialties such as Lomilomi Salmon, Bar-B-Que Ribs, and Pineapple Cream Pie. There’s not a service charge, but reservations are required.
Not to be missed is the Wednesday afternoon chocolate buffet in Versailles. We returned from Fanning Island to find a huge buffet set up with every kind of chocolate dessert imaginable. Since most of the tables were already taken we filled a plate and took it back to our balcony where we could view our departure from Fanning Island.
One hint about the chocolate buffet: Don’t book an early dinner reservation for Wednesday night because the chocolate will ruin your appetite. Unfortunately, we had already booked a 5:00 reservation at the fun and entertaining Teppanyaki Room. Teppanyaki won the vote as the hands-down favorite among the kids in our group. The personable, knife-wielding chefs charmed and amazed the children with egg and butter tosses. The kids laughed when they caught the eggs in their hats, and roared even louder when they missed and the egg landed on the floor. Teppanyaki features Filet Mignon, scallops, shrimp and vegetables grilled Benihana style in full view of the diners. The menu in the Teppanyaki Room is a la carte. Most entrees run $10-$12 for an enormous amount of food. This restaurant offers three seatings a night, with the first starting early at 5:00.
We dined only one night at Versailles, a formal dining room offering the traditional six-course dining experience, and found the food to be good, though not on the gourmet level of the specialty restaurants. Some of the other guests raved about a few of the menu items, Macadamia Crusted Chicken, Beef Wellington and Seafood Bisque.
For our final dinner, we chose Le Bistro, a fabulous five-star restaurant serving nouvelle cuisine and French classics. The quality of the food rivals any land-based restaurant. We ordered Sauteed Foie Gras Appetizer, French Onion Soup and Filet Mignon with béarnaise sauce. Though stuffed, we managed to make room for dessert-crème brulee and chocolate fondue.
We didn’t make it to La Trattoria, a casual Italian restaurant serving pizza, pasta and other Italian specialties, Las Ramblas Tapas Bar & Restaurant, which serves authentic hot and cold Spanish tapas, or the Blue Lagoon, a 24-hour food court style eatery featuring hamburgers, pot pies, wok dishes and from what I’ve heard, great fish and chips.
For breakfast, my husband enjoyed Versailles every morning, while my daughter and I ate at the kid-friendly Market Café where action stations serve made-to-order omelets and waffles. For lunch, the 130-yard-long Market Café buffet offered a huge selection of fruit, ethnic dishes, pasta, salads and desserts. A separate buffet held a good variety of vegetarian choices. Kids even have their own section with a child-size buffet, chairs and tables. I was impressed by the quality of food served at the Grill by the Oasis Pool. Unlike most standard poolside barbeques of hotdogs and burgers, The Grill also served ribs, lamb, and bratwurst.
ENTERTAINMENT:
On Norwegian Star there's top-notch entertainment for everyone. The amazing comedy and illusions of Charles Bach, sensational singing and piano playing by Roger Carr, comedy of Kermet Apio, the authentic Matangi Polynesian Dancers, China Stars Acrobat Company, and several Andrew Lloyd Webber's shows featuring the Jean Ann Ryan Company. This is not to mention the first-run films playing in the cinema, theme nights, and the hilarious Not-so-Newlywed Game with Cruise Director, Patti Honacki. CABINS:
We loved our room, a 284 sq. foot, spacious mini-suite on Deck 11. The room was furnished with two lower beds which could be made into a king, dressing table, bathroom with bathtub and shower doors, and balcony. The couch made into a comfortable full-size bed. Outside the door is a neat disk you can turn for “make up cabin”, “do not disturb” or “turn down cabin”
PORTS
As with all cruises, plan to be back onboard 30 minutes to an hour prior to departure. We sailed away exactly on time at every port.
Honolulu, Oahu-Prior to the cruise, we spent two nights at the gorgeous Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort on Waikiki Beach. It was the perfect antidote for a 12 hour flight with a seven year old. The resort offers something for everyone. White, sandy beaches, snorkeling, pools, and watersports. Even warm-weather penguins.
Hilo, Hawaii (The Big Island)-Because we were traveling with a child we opted to rent a car in most ports. Most economical cars sell out six weeks in advance so book early for the best rate. We rented a car from Hertz ($36) and drove up to the truly amazing Volcanoes National Park. I highly recommend this trip for first time visitors. It’s a unique sight you’ll never see again, steam vents and miles of hardened lava flows.
Fanning Island-Republic of Kiribati-This stop is always the cause of much discussion among passengers. Some people absolutely hate Fanning Island. While others, like myself, thought it was well worth the two sea days to get there and back, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many passengers try to compare the tiny atoll with privately owned islands in the Caribbean and find it lacking. Not enough facilities, they say. The water’s murky. Too many flies. The beach is too crowded, etc. What they don’t understand is that Norwegian Cruise Lines doesn’t own this island. The residents do. And they don’t want more facilities built or the beach dredged. And I can’t blame them.
Here’s the way to make the most of the Fanning Island visit. Book the Napali Beach excursion for $20, which includes a free t-shirt. The tenders will take you to a private beach with hammocks, floats and bar service (though no restrooms). Once you get there, don’t expect a man-made resort. Yes, it’s beautiful, but the main attraction of Fanning Island is the sweet, gracious people who live there, especially the children.
Before going on this cruise, I researched the island on the internet and learned that the children could use many things. School supplies, books (they’re trying to start a library with donated books) clothes, and of course, fun toys. My 7-year-old daughter, Claudia and I went shopping and brought along about 150 small toy animals to hand out to the children. To say this was the highlight of our cruise is an understatement. The children’s faces lit up when they saw the gifts and they couldn’t wait to share them with their friends and parents.
The children graciously thanked us by bestowing many hand-made gifts on my daughter- turtles made out of shells, several necklaces, bracelets, a grass skirt, and hair barrettes. Our only regret was that we didn’t bring more things. My daughter kept asking on the tender back to the ship, “When can we come back, so we can bring more stuff?”
On a practical note, Norwegian does a great job of making people as comfortable as possible on an island that doesn’t have electricity, telephones or running water. They set up a barbeque on the beach for lunch and provide clean restroom facilities on the main beach. Afterwards, they pack everything back up and load it onto the ship.
Kahuliu-Maui-This stop is a heartbreaker because it’s so short. The ship docks at 1 p.m. Unfortunately, what nobody realizes is that everyone on the ship must clear immigration before you can disembark. This process starts early in the morning and shouldn’t be a problem, but there are always those one or two people who hold up the entire ship by not complying. It was more like 2:20 before we could leave the ship. Again, we opted to rent a car and headed straight to the Sheraton on Kannapali Beach. After swimming, we changed and headed to the luau at the Sheraton that we had booked through the ship as a shore excursion. The food was good and the location couldn’t be beat for watching the sunset. The locals perform a ceremony atop Black Rock and dive into the water at sunset. After a quick stop in Lahaina, we hurried back to turn in the rental car and almost missed the ship.
Nawiliwili-Kauai-Kauai embodies everything that Hawaii is supposed to be. Lush vegetation, clear blue water and rainbows. We picked our car up at Hertz ($55) and drove to Poipu Beach. The clear, gentle water provides a safe environment for snorkeling at all skill levels. We spotted several species of fish, turtles and eels just a few yards offshore. The best place to snorkel is to the right of where the sandbar separates the water.
DEBARKATION
Norwegian Star consistently ranks high for their embarkation and debarkation procedures and I can see why. We took advantage of another feature of freestyle cruising, the choice to stay onboard the ship and enjoy our room until 10:00 a.m. Our luggage was waiting for us when we finally left the ship. We enjoyed our cruise immensely and hoped to do it again soon.
FUTURE OF NORWEGIAN STAR
The Norwegian star will continue the Hawaiian itinerary until May 2004 when she will move to Vancouver for a new summer Alaskan itinerary. She will be outfitted with a new casino and will begin cruising out of Seattle in May. In September 2004 she will begin Mexican Riviera cruises out of Los Angeles.
The Norwegian star will be replaced in Hawaii by the new US Flag ship-Pride of America which will begin service in Hawaii in July 2004.
For more information contact Norwegian Cruise Lines at www.ncl.com.
Paula Hughes Court is a travel writer specializing in upscale family travel and cruises
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