Random Thoughts - Star California Coastal 3/14/15 to 3/21/15

[partybarbie]

Just off the Star Princess California Coastal Cruise and I wanted to share some "Random Thoughts" with my fellow Cruise Critics. Please keep in mind that these comments may or may not apply to your cruise. ;)

 

Embarkation Thoughts

 

The new terminal at Pier 27 in San Francisco made it incredibly easy board the Star. We dropped off our luggage with the porters, tipping $8.00 for two bags. The porter told us thank you and to enjoy our cruise. There was no request for a bigger tip and our luggage arrived all safe and sound in our cabin by 2:30 pm. I believe our ship left port around 5:00 pm, so pretty much on time.

 

Staggered boarding was in effect, so if you don't have priority boarding, I wouldn't arrive early. At least this pier has plenty of indoor seating for those that do have to wait. We arrived at 12:30 pm and used our priority boarding so that we didn't have to wait at all.

 

We dropped off our carry-on luggage and picked up the Princess Patter to see if any of the dining rooms were open for lunch. Much to our dismay, none of the dining rooms were showing open. Unwilling to give up, and after being told by three different crew members to go to the Horizon Court, we found that the Portofino Dining room, Deck 6, was indeed open from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm. We had a lovely lunch, including a souffle for dessert, so don't miss out on going to the dining room if you board before 1:30 pm.

 

Drink and Wine Policy Thoughts

 

Warning! The "Random Thoughts" here may be controversial.;) I actually had two bottles of wine in my carry-on bag and my aunt had one bottle in hers. We were directed to the wine check station and produced two of the three bottles of wine to be checked. The third bottle was taken on board without paying the corkage. I later took the third bottle down to the dining room and paid the corkage when it was opened. We did not try to smuggle any hard liquor on, as the mini-bar in our cabin was sufficient for the week.

 

We did avail ourselves of the "2 for 1" specials in the Wheelhouse Bar from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm daily. I bought a couple of the mini Korbel bottles "to go" and had some lovely mimosas on the balcony with my complimentary room service orange juice.:D

 

In Santa Barbara, I went to a couple of the wine and beer tasting rooms by the pier. I purchased one bottle of wine and a 6-pack of micro-brews and was allowed to take those to my cabin without being asked to check them. My stepmother brought on a bottle of tequila from Ensenada, and she wasn't asked to check her bottle either.

 

Formal Nights and Smart Casual Thoughts

 

It was very apparent on this cruise that "Smart Casual" was a secret code word for holey, faded t-shirts and shorts, while "Formal Night" was a secret code for the same faded t-shirts and "hoochie" skirts. I would say that only about 50% of passengers observed the dress code, less than on any other cruise that I have ever been on. It was pretty much a "free for all". I don't know if the shorts people were allowed in the dining room, but the hoochie skirts were.

 

Most Traveled Thoughts

 

I took my aunt to the Most Traveled Passenger Party, which on this cruise was a cocktail party. It was pretty nice, with a good selection of appetizers and desserts, but not as nice as the luncheons. For anyone that's interested, the cut-off to attend the party was 333 days. The Most Traveled Passengers had about 780 days, and the third most had about 560. There was a little over 200 Elite Passengers, almost 10% of the ship.

 

Our Cabin Thoughts

 

We had an aft balcony stateroom, A735. We loved the proximity to the aft pool, the Horizon Court, the Vista Lounge, and Skywalkers. There was some vibration during docking, but not too bad. Unfortunately, in the stateroom next to ours, our neighbor spent the majority of the day talking on her cell phone, often on speaker mode. The only day she was quiet was in Ensenada because she didn't have an international plan. How do I know this? She was on the the phone with her tech support for a half hour, on loud speaker. :rolleyes: If you go on a cruise and have a balcony, please "don't be that person that talks non-stop, all day, on their cell phone".

 

Well that's it.:) We had a good time and if anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them. This is a great casual cruise for a quick get away and I would highly recommend it.

Edited March 22, 2015 by partybarbie

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.. :)

 

Hoochie skirts....oh yay. :rolleyes:

[partybarbie]

Thanks for your review.. :)

 

Hoochie skirts....oh yay. :rolleyes:

 

I know! ;) I have nothing against short skirts, but when the wearers are teenagers and the skirt barely covers their butt cheeks? I just don't know what the parents are thinking.:rolleyes:

[Elequieu]

Like your new pic, Party Barbie.

[partybarbie]

Like your new pic, Party Barbie.

 

Thank you. :) That's me and Mr. Dos Equis "Don't Call me Ken" at a good friend's wedding last year.

[timetravler]

Thanks for your review. I will very soon be doing the California Coastal but from LA. Great tip about the 2 for 1 in the wheelhouse. We buy drugs in Ensenada. NO, not those kind of drugs, but like cortisone cream and amoxicillin. Might get some tequila also. Thanks again

[partybarbie]

Thanks for your review. I will very soon be doing the California Coastal but from LA. Great tip about the 2 for 1 in the wheelhouse. We buy drugs in Ensenada. NO, not those kind of drugs, but like cortisone cream and amoxicillin. Might get some tequila also. Thanks again

 

LOL, yes, I forgot to mention that we also went to the "Pharmacia". Amoxicillin was packaged 500 mg, 60 caps, for $9.95. I also bought some water pills for $7.00. Other specials were ****** and 800 mg Ibuprofen. I did have to show my pills to the Mexican port official, but the ones I bought are legal to bring back home. The narcotic pills like Vicodin are not, plus they wanted $4.00 per pill.

[WAussieSFO]

Glad to hear you found the Portofino dining room open. We were doing a BVE that day as a lead up to our cruise on 4/19 and also enjoyed our lunch there.

[partybarbie]

Glad to hear you found the Portofino dining room open. We were doing a BVE that day as a lead up to our cruise on 4/19 and also enjoyed our lunch there.

 

My aunt, Martha, will be on that same cruise with you. I so wanted to go, but wasn't able to. :( I can't wait to hear about it. Your ports sound like so much fun.

[TLC535]

Thanks for the "Random Thoughts" ;) I am assuming the ship is in good condition and you saw no issues ? (besides questionable choice of wardrobe) :rolleyes:;)

Looking forward to boarding her in 38 days for Hawaii :D

 

Do you happen to recall the movies shown on MUTS ?

Edited March 23, 2015 by TLC535

[partybarbie]

Thanks for the "Random Thoughts" ;) I am assuming the ship is in good condition and you saw no issues ? (besides questionable choice of wardrobe) :rolleyes:;)

Looking forward to boarding her in 38 days for Hawaii :D

 

Do you happen to recall the movies shown on MUTS ?

 

I'll start with the movies (since that's the easy question). The evening MUTS movies were "The Best of Me", "The Imitation Game", "The Theory of Everything", "The Hobbitt: Battle of the Five Armies", and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1". Unlike some of the ships, there were still some of blankets available for use at the movies.

 

I saw a little rust on some of the balconies, but not too bad. The atrium has new carpeting and it looks really nice and fresh. Our cabin was clean and our steward had robes for us and wine glasses. He told me that they don't put the pool towels in the cabins anymore, but there was a huge stack of clean ones by the pool.

 

We had anytime dining and never had to wait for a table for four of us. On three nights we had to share an eight top table, but on four nights we had our own table for four. We normally went to the Capri dining room on Deck 5 between 5:30 pm and 6:00 pm (my aunt likes to eat early). When my husband goes with me, we prefer the Portofino dining room on Deck 6. They will open between 7:30 pm and 7:45 pm for anytime dining. I think the service is better and the dining room isn't as crowded.

 

Hope this helps.:)

[TLC535]

Thanks for the info...glad you enjoyed your cruise :)

[caribill]

He told me that they don't put the pool towels in the cabins anymore, but there was a huge stack of clean ones by the pool.

 

 

Now that is a significant change. I wonder if it is also on other ships?

[RickEk]

Now that is a significant change. I wonder if it is also on other ships?

 

It was that way on Star Princess last summer in Alaska. Also on Crown Princess a couple of months ago...

[caribill]

It was that way on Star Princess last summer in Alaska. Also on Crown Princess a couple of months ago...

 

They were in our cabin on the Emerald in November and the Royal in December.

[partybarbie]

Now that is a significant change. I wonder if it is also on other ships?

 

The last time I was on the Star was in June of 2014, and the towels were there. I was on the Island in September and November of 2014, and the towels were still in the cabins.

 

What I ended up doing was, as I left the pool, I threw my used towel in the bin and took a clean one from the stack right next to the used towel bin. This way I always had a clean one in my cabin. It wasn't much of an issue on this cruise because even thought the weather was warm, around 70 F, that's not beach weather to me and I didn't plan on taking a towel off the ship. In the Caribbean, where one might be more inclined to go to the beach and need a towel, it would be kind of a pain to have to go to the pool to get one before leaving the ship.

[partybarbie]

One thing that I forgot to mention was the total lack of drink upsells. I was offered the wine tasting twice and that was it. No one tried to sell me a soda sticker, a coffee card, the ultimate drink package, a wine package, etc. In fact if one wanted a drink, one had to flag down a server. After hearing so many people complain about hard sells on the drinks, I was prepared to be bombarded, but it was quite the opposite.:cool:

[WarEagle76]

Now that is a significant change. I wonder if it is also on other ships?

 

There were none in our cabin on the Grand to Hawaii last month but they always had sufficient supplies in all of the pool and hot tub areas.

[caribill]

There were none in our cabin on the Grand to Hawaii last month but they always had sufficient supplies in all of the pool and hot tub areas.

 

I can see where it is a $$$ saver to Princess if they do not have to launder the unused towels (assuming they did do this) from the cabins every turnaround day, but it does make it more inconvenient for passengers who take the towels for shore use.

 

I wonder if Princess Cays will now have towels if there are none in the cabins to take. Or will they expect 2000 passengers to go the the pool deck on deck 14/15/16 to get them on their way to deck 5 to get tender tickets to Princess Cays?

[carqueen1]

So not knowing your route, where did you have to go thru customs?

[partybarbie]

So not knowing your route, where did you have to go thru customs?

 

We were roundtrip out of San Francisco, so the customs forms were collected at Pier 27, upon our disembarkation.

[Marjorie O]

I really enjoyed your post. Any ideas on ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated. My bff and I are in a balcony room on Lido deck.

[partybarbie]

I really enjoyed your post. Any ideas on ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated. My bff and I are in a balcony room on Lido deck.

 

If you are going to try a specialty restaurant like Sabatini's or the Crown Grill, I would make a reservation for either the first or the last night. Those are my least favorite menu nights.

 

There were always plenty of lounge chairs by the pool, so I never made it to the Sanctuary. If you want to try it, I would recommend a 1/2 day in the afternoon so that you can get the afternoon tea service. The cost for a 1/2 day is $20.00.

 

Don't miss the "British Invasion" show in the Princess Theater. I think that is one of the best production shows on this particular cruise.

 

If you are in to wine or beer tastings, Santa Barbara is the place to do that. We went to a tasting room for Kunin Wines, http://www.kuninwines.com/#!contact/c24vq It's a very easy walk from the ship. There's a great restaurant right next store that had the best cerviche and raw oysters. On the other side is another tasting room where we had the beer. There's also a really nice beach right next to the ship.

 

In Long Beach, we docked next to the Queen Mary. Right now they have a exhibit featuring Princess Diana. It's no charge for cruise ship passengers to board the Queen Mary, but it costs a little extra for the Princess Diana exhibit.

 

In San Diego, you can walk from the ship right into the downtown Gaslamp area. We chose to take a Princess tour to the San Diego Safari Park. We had about 6 and 1/2 hours there, plenty of time to see everything.

 

In Ensenada, there's a shuttle bus that will take you downtown for $3.00 roundtrip. The same company that runs the shuttle offers a 1/2 day tour for $15.00 per person. I've also heard that the winery tour offered by Princess is a good deal and that they give you a bottle of wine to take back with you.

 

Hope this helps with planning your trip. :)

[carqueen1]

We were roundtrip out of San Francisco, so the customs forms were collected at Pier 27, upon our disembarkation.

 

Thank you. We too are RT San Francisco on April 5th, but we have had an itinerary change due to port congestion, so we go straight from SF to Ensenada so that means Customs will be at Long Beach and on the last couple of coastal cruises for us our experiences with Long Beach Customs has been a complete CLUSTER....thru not fault of Princess........

[partybarbie]

Thank you. We too are RT San Francisco on April 5th, but we have had an itinerary change due to port congestion, so we go straight from SF to Ensenada so that means Customs will be at Long Beach and on the last couple of coastal cruises for us our experiences with Long Beach Customs has been a complete CLUSTER....thru not fault of Princess........

 

Oh dear, I can see where that would be a problem. We were lucky that Ensenada was our last port. Hopefully you will clear customs quickly.