Star Princess Post Dry Dock - December 16 - 19

[timtrek]

Hi All

 

Just back today from the 3 day Pacific Coastal on the Star Princes, Vancouver to L.A. It was a great cruise with my wife and two adult adult sons. We ran into friends from other cruises and made many more new friends. The staff was exceptional and I cannot think of one instance where a staff member was not happy and smiling. At the muster drill (yes - we had to take our vests) it was announced that 80 new members of the crew had just come aboard.

 

Over all the Star was in great shape post dry dock. Almost all public hallways and places had new carpet, there were what appeared to be new or fully refurbished tables and chairs in the Horizon Court, the casino was completely refurbished and smelled as if there had never been a cigarette smoked in there (did not last long), Sabatini's was refurbished and the new livery was on the bow. Some things were not changed at all - Sundaes was still the same, not coffee and cones, and the Trident Grill and Pergo were still the same with the same menus. I had hoped the the dry dock would have brought some more of the changes recently done to the CB, but that did not happen. I did not look at the kid's areas, but was told they were redone, too. I will discuss the above later and include pictures.

 

Some of the other big changes appear to have been in preparation for ***** in the future. There were technicians all over the ship doing various things but they never got in the way. Unfortunately the internet was same old SLOW internet. Princess @ sea was working. I did not see any doors with ***** locks, just the same old key card locks.

 

The sensors were all over the ship including in our cabin and bathroom.

 

20171219_064455 by timtrek, on Flickr

 

20171219_064428 by timtrek, on Flickr

 

One of the sensors was not completly in the ceiling in our room so I snapped a picture prior to tightening it into place.

 

 

 

Large LG Televisions had been installed and new remotes were in the room, but the on demand programming was not working yet, just the same old TV. I was able to sync my phone to the TV and play music via Bluetooth.

 

 

 

The areas outside all the elevators now have LARGE advertising monitors and some slightly smaller Deck Map monitors. None were interractive but I did see one on the Lido Deck aft being adjusted so they are touch screens.

 

 

Sorry about the dark picture -

 

 

This was a very short cruise, but if anyone would like any information from the Patters let me know. I will continue on with some general obsevations and pictures in the following posts. Anyone else that was on the cruise please feel free to add your experiences.

[easyboy]

Do you now have the new Princess bed?

 

 

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[Clarea]

Interesting report, thank-you.

[ar1950]

Thanks for posting the pictures. Fun to see some of the changes. BTW, a lot of the carpets were already done on our Hawaii cruise last month. Also, surprised and a bit disappointed about the Internet speed. On our cruise it seemed much faster than we had experienced in the recent past. Not blazing fast mind you, but, noticeably better than we had previously seen.

[timtrek]

Continuing on:

 

The ship appeared freshly painted everywhere. I never got a picture of the new livery due to the Star backing into position at the dock.

 

 

There was a cute Moose watching the Star as she backed in.

 

 

The Christmass decorations were still being put up during the entire three days but the company that was doing it did a great job. Here is the Piazza after they were done.

 

 

I have not been on the Star in about 4 years, but it did look to me like all the artwork in the Stairwells and around the ship had been changed out. Here is an example:

 

 

I walked down the mid-ship stairwell and saw that all the hallway carpets were now the same color and pattern on both the Port and Starboard sides. Only on deck 14 was the red stripe still there, and that was becasue the carpet had not been replced yet.

 

I was very excited as the Casino was completly redone with new carpet and was sparkling clean. We were also treated to a no smoking night the first evening, so it wasnt till day two that the smoke returned.

 

 

 

 

We ate all three nights in Club Class and had excellent service by Natalia.

 

Coming up - pictures of Sabatini's

[timtrek]

Do you now have the new Princess bed?

 

 

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Yes, we did have the new beds. It was possibly one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on. Everyone that I spoke to also had rave reviews regarding the beds.

[timtrek]

Interesting report, thank-you.

 

Thanks Bob - more to come :D:D

[timtrek]

Thanks for posting the pictures. Fun to see some of the changes. BTW, a lot of the carpets were already done on our Hawaii cruise last month. Also, surprised and a bit disappointed about the Internet speed. On our cruise it seemed much faster than we had experienced in the recent past. Not blazing fast mind you, but, noticeably better than we had previously seen.

 

Maybe it was the work being done, but the speed of the internet (at least for my family and I and a few friends I spoke to) was the worst I have experienced. I did notice that the coverage was much better pretty much anywhere I was on the ship, but it was pointless to do anything more that just a quick check of email. At least the infrastructure looks good for when the new and improved internet is put in.

[easyboy]

Yes, we did have the new beds. It was possibly one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on. Everyone that I spoke to also had rave reviews regarding the beds.

 

 

Good to know! We also experienced them before and liked them, including the pillows.

 

 

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[UpcountryTravelers]

Did they have Happy Hours?

[timtrek]

Continuing on:

 

We were lucky to be offered a very reasonable up-sell to a suite, so we ate breakfast in Sabatini's. What a wonderful way to start the day. The staff told me that the restaurant had been totally refurbished and was serving the new menu.

 

 

 

 

We never ate at Horizion Court but here is the new look:

 

 

The buffet was very clean and I noticed that there were now sinks with soap and towel dispensers at each entrance. I hope people use them. The sanitizer dispensers were still at the entrance to the actual buffet lines.

 

The crew was great.

 

Gary Golding was the Cruise Director but he was not out in public very much. His "Cruise Staff" was tremendous and the "Family Feud" gameshow was one of the most hilarious times I have ever had on board any ship. I can not say enough about Nathan from Austrialia and Dave from Canada. Maria from Argentina was great at Trivia.

 

My only real "complaint" was the piano player at Crooners. Normally our evenings start and finish at Crooners and we look forward to the "piano man" type entertainment. This cruise there was an "entertainer" that also played piano. It was about 10 minutes of banter that, to some, may have been funny, but I do not recall any laughter in the bar. Then there would be a song played, followed by some more mind numbing banter. The gentleman had a Scottish accent and spoke very quietly. This was the first cruise I have been on when Crooners was not filled to capacity every evening. Many people walked out shortly after sitting down. I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

 

Well, that is about all I have, but any questions that I can answer I will. Once again Princess did a great job and I am looking forward to our upcoming cruise in April. Cant wait to see another one of these sunrises!

 

[timtrek]

Did they have Happy Hours?

 

We did not have any happy hours during the cruise, but I was told that they would be would be done on the following Hawaii cruise.

[ar1950]

Continuing on:

.......................................................

I have not been on the Star in about 4 years, but it did look to me like all the artwork in the Stairwells and around the ship had been changed out. Here is an example:

 

 

..............................

 

I believe that you are correct about that art work. I was up and down the central stair case several times and don't recall seeing those pictures.

[Jasperdo]

 

You are right about the Horizon Court Buffet. Both the chairs and tables are different. I like the new look. Here's what they looked like before:

[ar1950]

You are right about the Horizon Court Buffet. Both the chairs and tables are different. I like the new look. Here's what they looked like before:

 

You're right about the new look. Much nicer. I'm just wondering how comfortable the new chairs are compared to the old ones. Maybe a ploy so people don't linger and make it hard to get a table during the more crowded times?

[Keith1010]

Appreciate the report and the photos.

 

Happy Holidays.

 

Keith

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks for all the pictures. I too thought the internet wasn't any better than before.

 

I liked the look of the Horizon Court, but our friends thought it was less comfortable.

 

We had dinner in Sabatini's, and thought it was good, but way too much food. It's concept is similar to Share, but the portions are bigger.

 

I do wonder why they took out the red/blue carpeting, considering they replaced it with the same design. I didn't think the Star had the red/blue carpet thing, but it's been a while since I've been on the Star, so I may not remember correctly.

 

And I was very impressed with the quality of the picture on the TV. I do wish they'd have pushed the on demand fleetwide.

 

Thanks for posting and we really enjoyed meeting you.

[rocklinmom]

Thank you for these pictures! Great to see since we will be on her in June.

[WAussieSFO]

We were also on this cruise. My apologies if this mentioned and I missed it.

 

One of the changes that will hopefully happen fleet wide is the new lamps in the cabins which have USB connections on them. My husband also loved the new televisions which were on arms which could be pulled out to connect your own devices much more easily.

 

Even though it was just 3 short days we had a great time and met some really nice people.

[rocky1]

Great report! Thank you for posting. We are looking forward to our Hawaii trip on the Star coming up soon, so the information is especially helpful.:D

[runnerodb83]

Blog link to more info...the blogger posted pictures on a post a few days back.

 

http://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/star-princess-post-drydock-update-and.html?m=1

[hughesthedaddy]

Hi timtrek

Thank you for taking the time to add pictures and info. It's really helpful. I was wondering if I could please see your patters, thank you.

[4x4bob]

timtrek

Thanks for your report with photo's. We will be on the Star in June 2018, so I read with great interest.

 

Bob

[timtrek]

Hi timtrek

Thank you for taking the time to add pictures and info. It's really helpful. I was wondering if I could please see your patters, thank you.

 

Tried posting the patters - wasn't working this morning for some reason. I will try again after work today.

[runnerodb83]

For future reference, here's a video review highlighting the changes and some nice shots while sailing.

http://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/star-princess-voyage-video-for-post-dry.html