Norwegian Star

Norwegian Star was not meant to be a Norwegian ship. Meyer Werft was building her for Star Cruises as SuperStar Libra when Star Cruises’ takeover of Norwegian Cruise Line completed in 2001, and she was reassigned, renamed and christened in Miami on 17 November that year. She entered service two days later, twenty-five years ago, and she is now the oldest ship Norwegian operates.

The ship the Jewel class came from

She and Norwegian Dawn form the Dawn class, and the four Jewel-class ships that followed between 2005 and 2007 are near-identical enlargements of the same design: 965 feet, a 106-foot Panamax beam, around 2,350 guests. If you have sailed a Jewel-class ship you know the shape of this one. The differences are of detail and of vintage; she is four to six years older, she carries fewer passengers, and her tonnage is a little under theirs at 91,740.

Freestyle Cruising was largely worked out on this hull. No fixed dining times, no assigned tables, no formal nights, and a large spread of restaurants for the size, a decision that looked eccentric in 2001 and is now how nearly the whole industry operates.

Her 2018 refit at Barcelona, part of the Norwegian Edge program, is the last significant guest-facing work she has had. It put USB power and new carpet, headboards and furniture into all 1,174 staterooms, added the Sky High Bar in place of the Bier Garten, added the adults-only Spice H2O, and turned the Spinnaker Lounge into the Bliss Ultra Lounge; moving Spinnaker itself into what had been the observation lounge. There is a version of the room forward with good glass, but this is not a purpose-built viewing ship in the way Norwegian Bliss is.

The Haven aboard her is the early kind: a small keycard courtyard with a pool, hot tub and sun deck, butler and concierge service, and two very large garden villas. No private restaurant, no private bar.

The azipods

It has to be said plainly, because it has affected real passengers. She is driven by two ABB Azipod units of 19,500 kW, and they have been the least reliable thing about her. A thrust bearing failure in April 2004 held her to eighteen knots. Azipod trouble in April 2015 took her out of service for two weeks and canceled a Panama Canal repositioning cruise outright. There were further failures in December 2016 leaving Singapore, in January 2017 between Singapore and Bali, and in February 2017 off Victoria, which ended with her under tow into Melbourne.

Norwegian has spent money on the problem. The three-week drydock at Damen Shiprepair Brest in October 2024 dismantled both azipods and fitted new components, serviced all three bow thrusters, replaced one 80-ton stabilizer outright and did hull and valve work. It was an entirely technical dock. Nothing was added for passengers, which is why the most recent refit listed above is still the one from 2018.

Where she actually sails

She has the most interesting schedule of any older ship in the fleet, because she is sent where long itineraries make sense. Her summers run from Southampton on British Isles circuits (Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dublin, Belfast, Liverpool, Cork), and on Northern Europe voyages toward Copenhagen and the Baltic. Winters put her on the Mexican Riviera out of San Diego. Between those she works transatlantics through Lisbon and Barcelona and picks up South American and West African calls on the repositioning legs. Trips run six to sixteen nights and the median is eleven, which is roughly twice the fleet norm.

Who she suits

People who choose a cruise by its port list. Eleven nights around the British Isles on a 2,348-guest ship gets you into harbors and onto berths that a modern 5,000-guest vessel cannot use, and the ship deliberately keeps out of the way: no waterslides, no go-karts, no ropes course, nothing that competes with the destination. Long voyages also suit her dining spread, which is wide enough to survive two weeks.

She does not suit families with young children, and she does not suit anyone who wants a new ship; she is twenty-five years old, the cabins are 2001 cabins, and the public rooms carry a 2018 refresh over a 2001 layout. Her propulsion record is the honest reason to hesitate: it has improved and the 2024 dock addressed it, but a ship with this history is one to insure properly and to book with a day’s slack at either end.