KarenCL

I am beyond frustrated, too! After numerous calls to the off-shore call center in the Philippines, I finally sent an email to Customer Relations at Princess, who, in turn, got in touch with someone from Barclays. She was able to get my points cashed in for statement credits, since the app kept showing that there were no qualified purchases....which was totally incorrect. So, now I have the statement credit...but NO STATEMENT! I received the email from Barclays informing me that my statement was ready on 2/4/2017. However, when I try to pull it up on the app or the Barclay's website, it only shows by statement from 1/4/17, which has been paid in full. My payments show up, and a balance shows up on my account, but there is no statement to go with it. I'm beginning to think that Barclay's is run by monkeys and not humans! No one from the call center can help me. When I ask to speak to someone in the US, I am put on hold for an incredible amount of time and my call is not answered ever. I believe my days of using the card are coming to an end, too. I have put in another call to Princess to let them know the situation. If they are promoting this card, they need to know the frustrations we are having with it. I am just trying to pay my bill, for goodness sakes!!!! It shouldn't be this difficult!!!!

We also like the flexibility of the top sheet and we also pack a light blanket because we both get too warm using the duvet. I will be anxious to see if the new bedding is an improvement!

Thanks for the great suggestions. We eat more often in the specialty restaurants than we do in the MDR. Love the ambiance and great service we always receive. Can't wait to try SHARE in March!

I love the aft suites on Emerald and Dolphin Decks. You have full coverage, which is especially nice in Alaska if the weather is rainy or misty. Plus you have the wake view, which is panoramic and so nice in Alaska when going thru Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay. Another advantage is that no one really walks by your cabin, so it is very quiet. There might be a metal support on your balcony, but it has never presented a problem for us. Great choice!

I'm glad to hear that other people had a good experience in the Crab Shack. We were really disappointed on our visit there on the Star in April. We love King crab and were really looking forward to this meal. We each received one tiny (and I mean "snow crab size") leg with the boiled shrimp. We barely had enough crab for a forkfull each and ask the waiter if we could get more. Obviously, this was a problem that required management to make a decision. About 30 minutes later, we each received one more tiny leg. By that time, we were ready to move on. We mainly eat in the specialty restaurants on board the ships, rather than the MDR, so we were excited to have another choice. Maybe on the next cruise, we will take a peek at the meals being served to see if it merits another try. I am encouraged by the reviews of others. Maybe it was just an off day when we were there. Service was very slow ( a lot of rumblings of frustration with many of the diners) throughout the restaurant (and we were on a Norovirus red alert -- which could account for some of the issues). Thanks for sharing your

experience.

We were on the Star, April 4th cruise just before yours & the by the 2nd day the Captain (he was great) announced that there was about 40 cases of the virus. He put into place the Red Alert right away to prevent more, but by the next day it had doubled to over 80 cases. Then it went to over 100 cases. Then it seemed to slow down. We still had a great cruise. We don't go to the buffet, much , only to get more of a variety of cookies to bring back to our room :D so It really did not effect us. And since there was so much written on these CC boards about the Noro, I brought my own anti-bacterial hand soap for our cabin, & Clorox bleach wipes. We did use them.. We were prepared thanks to all on these boards & that made us feel really good. Plus I never washed my hands so much in my whole life.

 

We loved the cruise & that captain. Forgot his name, but he was from Canada. We actually understood everything he said (no accent). He did a great job of keeping us informed. I asked a crew member if the cruise before ours had the virus, he said no.

Capt. Is Todd McBain...we were on your cruise, too. He was amazing!!

In the dining rooms, you had to ask for salt and the steward would bring over the shaker and salt the food for you. Salt packets were given if requested at the Trident Grill.

In the dining rooms, you had to ask for salt and the steward would bring over the shaker and salt the food for you. Salt packets were given if requested at the Trident Grill.

We just disemarked the Star Princess after a 15 day cruise. Shortly into the cruise, we were advised by the Captain that there had been a few reported cases of Noro. He quickly instituted high level cleaning and appropriate changes in the dining experiences. Birex solutions were used frequently on all countertops and passengers no longer handled food or condiments in any of the dining facilities. We reached the reportable 2% level, but it was contained to a maximum of 2.7%. Captain McBain reported to us at 5PM daily on the progress and consistently commended both crew and passengers for following the protocol. We never witnessed any complaints by the crew for the additional workload. I brought my own salt shaker along "just in case," as I use a lot of salt of my food and didn't want to be at the mercy of a crew member shaking it on my food! Two thirds of the way thru the cruise, the CDC guidelines would have allowed the ship to go back to normal operations, but it was the Captain's decision to keep us on the high level disinfection protocol as a precaution. It really was not a problem and no one seemed to complain. I'd rather deal with a little inconvenience than be sick on my vacation.

We just returned from 15 days on Star Princess. Specialty restaurants were nearly empty every night, so we had no problems booking them each day. If you are willing to chance it, you can view each night's menu by the dining rooms, and if they are not appealing to you, walk to the Crown Grill or Sabatinis and ask for a table. We dined in both multiple times during the cruise and each night was wonderful!

Vista suites are our favorites! Nice view of the wake, no one running past your cabin (at least on Grand class), full covered balcony...worth it!!

Bring an extension cord. Some appliance plugs are difficult to connect due to the location of the outlet. The extension cord give you more latitude!!

Such a helpful review! Your photo is so beautiful! We are probably going to try this on our upcoming cruise. Thanks so much!

Thanks to all for your input. I guess I will be finding out pros and cons in a few weeks. It's been about 4 years since our last cruise on Star.

At the rate they are going on the Sapphire it may be after the Asian market. :eek:

They have been installing for quite a few weeks now.

 

Sorry....

I took your question as does the Star have the system in place and working.

 

It will be quite an endeavor if they attempt to put the same systme as the Royal on all the ships.

No problem...I'll be finding out the status of Star in a couple of weeks from now. I just hope that Princess gives consistent care to the older ships in the fleet. Stateroom furnishings, esp in suites and mini suites, need to be refurbished on several of the ships. We are paying the same fare on the older ships as on the newer ships for the most part, so the proper thing to do is to make them as comparable as possible. Those of us who sail out of the west coast generally end up with the older ships. We are very loyal to Princess, so fingers crossed that the necessary upgrades continue throughout the fleet. Thanks for your thoughts!!!!

I don't believe any ship has this added.

I had seen a post where Princess is upgrading the system on Sapphire and I was just wondering if it would be fleet-wide. Maybe they are just doing the Sapphire in preparation for the Asian deployments. It certainly would be nice to have this interactive system on all the Princess ships.

I'm wondering if the Star had its TV system upgraded similar to Royal where you can choose what you want to watch and when you watch it. This would be a vast improvement on our upcoming cruise.