Just back Star Princess part 2 food/dining

Well lets just start out with a discussion about food and eating aboard the Star this summer. We were encouraged by our travel agent to try the anytime dining. For us it was not a good plan. The first day was embarkation and only the horizon buffet, the pizza and hamburger grills were open. We took one look at the crowds and the offerings (bleak in our opinion) at the buffet and had grilled chicken sandwiches for our first lunch. It was then we tried to no avail to get a hold of the dining rooms and make our reservations for our anytime dining. This was tricky. The dining rooms didn't answer their phones and when we did speak to the lone woman who made the reservations she was frankly rude, curt and uncooperative. My husband was not pleased. The LAST thing we wanted on our cruise was to wait in line for a dinner table. So my spouse went to see the matre'd and give a little cash to ease the pain. We also spoke to the purser's office about the little attitude problem of the lady on the phone and controlling the reservations. The purser's office took our complaint quite seriously. Next thing you know we had a sweet little table for two by the window every night in the Capri dining room. Magic happened. We had the BEST waiters in the place, Joel took such good care of us, and made us laugh, and most importantly gently guided us to the best of each night's menu choices. My advice is asking your waiter for suggestions each night. They know the score.

For breakfast most mornings we took our coffee freshly brewed by my husband in our room. We just had room service bring a fresh pot of hot water every morning. Tip: be sure and try the hot chocolate in the morning. It is wonderful and tastes great mixed with coffee. The orange juice from room service is not the good stuff found in the Portifino dining room at breakfast. Any day we could we had a nice waiter served full breakfast in the Portifino which is the only venue other than the dreaded Horizon buffet open for breakfast. Surprisingly it was very quiet at breakfast and at lunch, as most people seemed to like grazing at the buffet. I think there were even a lot of people who never at anywhere other than the Horizon buffet...and they can have it. The only thing it was good for was at about 4 to 5pm we would go and collect the makings for sandwiches which we then took with us on some of our jaunts and tours. (Don’t worry I will cover tours and sight seeing in my next installment). The best way to deal with picnic supplies seemed to be to make sandwiches in our room the night before and keep them in the frig until we left each morning. It was lovely to have a picnic at Pompeii. No one ever cared whether we carried food on or off the boat. No one ever said anything about the booze we brought on initially either, as we were very discrete.

I did end up buying a soda card. It was 30 dollars but I did get my money's worth. I had soda at every lunch, drinks constantly mostly soda water with lime at the pool, and got the soda water to mix with our scotch for our room every night. It was very convenient and I loved that we did it from the very first meal. They also gave you an insulated tumbler for your 30 dollars which was useful by the pool.

Now the details about eating. The first night we at a Sterling/Tequilla Steakhouse. They were only taking reservations for the specialty restaurants for the first night. My recommendation is to go for it the first night. Everyone we spoke to say the food the first night is not good. We had the best steaks in the schizophrenic Tequilas/sterling. It is nearly empty the first night. Our steaks were great. I had the rib eye and my husband the 22 oz porterhouse and yes they do give you a doggie bag. Hmmm where is that darn dog? We did talk to a couple that was disappointed in the steaks but we were pleased. When I say schizophrenic space I mean that the atmosphere still retains some of its former Tequilas-ness such as the outfits the wait staff wear and the decor plus guacamole is offered along with some spicy corn muffins but otherwise it is a steak house. The other schizo quality is that there is a band for some reason and it has a dance floor and bar, which is stupid in my never humble opinion. There are almost no windows in the restaurant except those overlooking the kitchen. It very badly needs a redo. The space is very poorly laid out and not really very inviting. I think a lot of people do not want to spend the 15 dollars extra per person for the place by its looks. The steaks were on the level of most of our city's steak places.

We never did get to Sabatini's but everyone who did raved about it. It was 20 dollars per person extra. We had reservations but later found out we would have missed lobster night AND THAT CAN NOT HAPPEN.

We really loved the French night, which takes place in Monte Carlo. We skipped Greek night because we don't care for Greek cuisine and went again to Sterling/Tequilas (in hind sight that was the night we should have done Sabatini ok one mistake allowed).

My recommendations in dining in review:

-Avoid the Horizon unless you are an all you can eat fan and like that sort of thing

-Order soufflé when offered

-Try the escargot

-Try the French onion soup.

-Try the oriental stir-fry at lunch

-Ask for the freshly squeezed orange juice at breakfast

-Work out in the gym whenever possible.

-Expect to return to weight watchers when you get home.

-Bring a wad of zip lock bags for picnics and a million other uses on the trip.

-There is actually a secret location for freshly brewed coffee on the Star. It is located in the bar on deck 5. Ask the bar tender and it is free and not the stuff made with coffee extract. It is drinkable but I loved my starbucks. (see part one for details)

Excellent, as was part 1!

A question on the soda cards. My husband was reading part 2 over my shoulder and asked: do we need a soda card each, or can we (DH, son and me) share one? I had assumed we'd have one each, but thought that as a newbie I ought to ask the question...???

Vivienne

"Next thing you know we had a sweet little table for two by the window every night in the Capri dining room." ijkh Was this the PC or the Traditional Dining room? Do you remember what the table number was?

"No one ever cared whether we carried food on or off the boat." Have wondered about this after seeing it suggested on this board. Did they not have the notice in the "Patter" that you were not allowed to do this?

Question about our table number I believe the table was number 64 in the Capri also known as "the honeymoon table". We loved it. We loved our waiters Joel and Paolo but they are in a different dining room every cruise.

Second question about taking food from the ship. No one said anything about this. No signs, nothing in the patter. I believe in discretion regarding matters of this sort. A quiet picnic just the two of you with food you've already paid for seems like the ideal plan.

When we were on the ship we always had formal lunch in the Portifino dining room. I forgot to mention I did do afternoon tea one day and loved the experience.

SORRY

We loved our waiters Joel and Paolo but they are in a different dining room every cruise.

Maybe they'll rotate back when we get on board.

Thanks :)