One week removed from my round trip cruise aboard the new
Nova Star cruise ferry, I had a great adventure aboard with great food, fantastic customer service and smooth ride. Although this trip had little open deck space on the sides of the ship and only towards the stern (I seen more outside deck space in photos from the maiden voyage during my travels on the interwebs), there is still fantastic views to take in while departing and out to sea (and this being the shoulder season and not the busy summer season and quite possibly a safety/security issue, I was understanding of this). There's two restaurants aboard, the buffet (offered on both sailings from Portland and Yarmouth), a A La Carte restaurant (offered on the Portland-Yarmouth sailings only), a piano bar, a pub open for most of the round trip crossing, art gallery, gift shop, children's play area, casino, small bar at the stern and a theater/conference center on deck 7. Cabins are located on deck 8 with a small promenade and Lido deck. Deck 9 houses the spa, reserved recliner seating and small bar within reserved seating. The Nova Star is a very comfortable vessel and I highly recommend sailing aboard if your planing to travel to Nova Scotia from New England or vice versa for a relaxing way to get there.
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Although outside decks are mostly confined to the stern, there is still breathtaking and spectacular views of the Gulf of Maine to be had!
The food in the buffet is delicious and I always went for seconds.
The Tidemark Gallery, featuring 2 local artists from Nova Scotia and 2 local artists from Maine each month
Spectacular view from the piano bar at the bow.
The buffet line
Category A ocean view cabin. Very comfortable beds and slept comfortably! The porthole is covered by the blinds.
Night view of outside observation deck from deck 9.
Heading towards Yarmouth the next morning.
I had a great time aboard the Nova Star and I really do hope she keeps sailing for many more years to come. A big shout out to Captain Peter Thompson and crew of the Nova Star for making my trip a relaxing and enjoyable experience and I look forward to come back aboard in the future.
