Star Princess transferring to P&O Australia...

[Hazelnut1106]

I am sorry to see the Star go. It was one of my favorite Princess ships.

 

As for Holland America I liked the few cruises we took with them but if I remember correctly there are no self service laundries onboard which makes me disinclined to take a cruise longer than 7-10 days with them.

[ChrisB123]

This scares me just a little bit. Obviously The Star is getting to be an old lady....just like me. :D Is it going to P&O due to "problems," just like me? Everyone says it's a beautiful ship, so what's wrong with it? I know it recently went through dry dock (face lift?) or what else would the problem be?

[CruiseAdict218]

This scares me just a little bit. Obviously The Star is getting to be an old lady....just like me. :D Is it going to P&O due to "problems," just like me? Everyone says it's a beautiful ship, so what's wrong with it? I know it recently went through dry dock (face lift?) or what else would the problem be?

 

Not so much the Star Princess but rather the Pacific Jewel, Carnival Corp wants to push out aging ships across the board. Pacific Jewel also lacks balconies where as the Star Princess offers a vast amount of them. Sun or Sea will probably replace Pacific Dawn around 2022 when we see Royal #6 join the fleet a head of LNG #1.

[RDC1]

Seems pretty clear now that princess is going in the direction of all large ships. Wonder what will happen when they decide to scrap Pacific Princess' date=' will they get similar replacement for her?[/quote']

The future of the Pacific Princess is going to depend upon the world cruises and the unique (more expensive) cruises she does.

 

At some point I would expect them to try the Coral on some of those type cruises and if the ticket sales are good, the Pacific will go and the World cruises would be taken over by the Coral.

[satxdiver]

Princess has quite a few ships to be built in the next 5 years and so the older ships must go evidently to a sister P&O Australia. We will be on the Star next year for the first time but have been on the other grand class ships many times. Personally I will shed no tears on any grand class ship leaving the Princess fleet as they are old. The new ships are much nicer even though they may have more pax. While Princess may be getting bigger ships, they are nothing like the gargantuan of the seas.

 

HAL is certainly an alternative with their small ships that also are getting larger but not nearly as large as Princess. We sailed on a HAL ship over a decade ago and were entirely too young for the median age so maybe in 10 more years we will be old enough.

 

HAL dining schedule:

early seating 3:30 pm

late seating 5:00 pm

midnight buffet 7:30 pm

lights out 9:00 pm

:rolleyes::rolleyes:;p;p

[By The Bay]

Your loss is our gain here in OZ. It is unfortunate that the Golden and now Star are going to P&O Australia and not replace Sea and Sun at Princess in OZ.

[ceilidh1]

This makes me sad!

Star is my favorite Princess ship!

[riclop]

I just read a press release on P&O Australia's page on Facebook that in addition to Golden Princess, Star Princess will also be transferred to P&O in late 2021.

 

It seems as more new tonnage becomes available, Princess is starting to dump the older ships...

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPOCruises%2Fposts%2F10156277432221187%3A0&width=500" width="500" height="572" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media">

Good out with the old and in with the new.

[kenexx]

Your loss is our gain here in OZ. It is unfortunate that the Golden and now Star are going to P&O Australia and not replace Sea and Sun at Princess in OZ.

 

I agree. Much rather see them here under the Princess brand and not P&O.

[caribill]

Obviously Princess knows that they can sell more cruise with larger ships running them more efficiently.

 

To me the problem with the larger ships is not the on board experience. It is the on shore experience.

 

The larger ships have a limited number of ports they can go to. If they go to a "popular" port such as all the Alaska ports, Cozumel, St. Thomas, etc., then the port is basically overrun with the passengers from all the large ships, even if you were at that port in a small ship.

 

If the larger ship goes to a smaller port, the tourist infrastructure is not large enough for all on the ship to have a worthwhile experience on land.

[MarkBearSF]

HAL dining schedule:

early seating 3:30 pm

late seating 5:00 pm

midnight buffet 7:30 pm

lights out 9:00 pm

:rolleyes::rolleyes:;p;p

 

Sixty may be the new thirty,

But 9:00 is the new midnight!

 

- Mark

[Cruiserkenn]

Thanks, all, for the HAL comparison info. I really chuckled over the 9pm lights out comment! I can kind of believe it, though, as I involuntarily passed out this early on a port intensive Europe cruise. Who knew!

[Micahs Grandad]

To me the problem with the larger ships is not the on board experience. It is the on shore experience.

 

The larger ships have a limited number of ports they can go to. If they go to a "popular" port such as all the Alaska ports, Cozumel, St. Thomas, etc., then the port is basically overrun with the passengers from all the large ships, even if you were at that port in a small ship.

 

If the larger ship goes to a smaller port, the tourist infrastructure is not large enough for all on the ship to have a worthwhile experience on land.

 

Very true. Just back from Royal Princess in British Isles. Some of the smaller ports were over run and that is just with one ship in port. Very nice cruise but if we ever did it again would do it on a smaller ship.

[Coral]

I also prefer the smaller ships.

 

It will be sad to see the Star leave. P&O likes newer ships - let's give them newer ships.

[Wehwalt]

Princess has quite a few ships to be built in the next 5 years and so the older ships must go evidently to a sister P&O Australia. We will be on the Star next year for the first time but have been on the other grand class ships many times. Personally I will shed no tears on any grand class ship leaving the Princess fleet as they are old. The new ships are much nicer even though they may have more pax. While Princess may be getting bigger ships, they are nothing like the gargantuan of the seas.

 

HAL is certainly an alternative with their small ships that also are getting larger but not nearly as large as Princess. We sailed on a HAL ship over a decade ago and were entirely too young for the median age so maybe in 10 more years we will be old enough.

 

HAL dining schedule:

early seating 3:30 pm

late seating 5:00 pm

midnight buffet 7:30 pm

lights out 9:00 pm

:rolleyes::rolleyes:;p;p

 

And everyone's awake and talking to each other over juice and coffee in the Lido at 3 am.

[floridalover5623]

And everyone's awake and talking to each other over juice and coffee in the Lido at 3 am.

You must have seen me. :DLOL

[trvlwrld]

just off HAL Zaandam last month...entertainment was really lacking-speakers need some updating, but the food was really the low point-almost everyone we talked to was very disappointed in the quality of the food! the service was great and also liked the smaller size of the ship as well as a great itinerary in Alaska, but we will definitely not try HAL again—-back to Princess!

[CruisinMaterial]

A fond memory of the Star Princess....

 

 

I met some awesome people who I still talk to this very day back in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma was barreling down on Florida and Tropical Storm Alpha was coming up the Bahamas Straits. The Captain was told by the port officials that the port could close at any time and if he didn't get out, we would ride out the hurricane there. Crazy as it sounds I flew down the day prior and scored a hotel pretty cheap as most people were fleeing Florida. The ship pulled in super early at 4AM and the disembarkation started at 6AM with tagged guests getting the boot by 8AM and the rest getting off by 9AM. The embarkation started at 11AM with check in opening at 9AM. The ship had to get out of dodge by 1PM they said... well it was later bumped back but when we had muster drill, suddenly the ship took off. We stranded over 500 guests at FLL to ride out the storm or try and get to the next destination and out of harm's way. Some caught up with us when we eventually ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico some 2.5 days later. Others were not so fortunate. The people who were dumped off at the airport likely got out of harm's way. A group of us have been trying for years to reunion on her but alas this won't be happening now.

 

 

May the Star Princess find new life in Oz with her P&O moniker and perhaps I will sail on her once more on a return trip to Oz.

 

 

It was very interesting to find out the Golden Princess was also going. It would make sense for the Grand to leave as well. All three sisters reunited in Oz!

[RDC1]

just off HAL Zaandam last month...entertainment was really lacking-speakers need some updating, but the food was really the low point-almost everyone we talked to was very disappointed in the quality of the food! the service was great and also liked the smaller size of the ship as well as a great itinerary in Alaska, but we will definitely not try HAL again—-back to Princess!

 

We were recently on the Noordam from Sydney to Honolulu. We found the entertainment to be as good as Princess with some pluses with areas that are not offered on Princess such as Lincoln Center. While we prefer dining on Princess, the issue was not the food quality, but the selection. (I am not a big fan of lamb and it was wide spread in the menu. Probably due to just completing the Australian/New Zealand cruise season). Once we got adjusted it was fine.

 

The speakers and local programs were better then we have seen on Princess lately. Including bringing on board 4 Polynesians to do entertainment, hold classes and do cultural presentations for the last 8 days of the cruise.

 

 

The overall experience with the 16 days (our first on HAL in 8 years, mostly on Princess, with some on Celebrity and Royal) was good enough that we booked a 51 day cruise next year, Along with 48 days on Princess.

[EastBay Cruisers]

May the Star Princess find new life in Oz with her P&O moniker and perhaps I will sail on her once more on a return trip to Oz.

 

It was very interesting to find out the Golden Princess was also going. It would make sense for the Grand to leave as well. All three sisters reunited in Oz!

 

 

Agreed, that would make a lot of sense. P. and O will refurbish them and make them "like new" again. JMO -- EBC

[Wehwalt]

You must have seen me. :DLOL

 

Just my experience on the Holland segments I did in March and April! No matter how early I went up to get some coffee or juice, there were, often tables full of people.

[caribill]

We sailed on a HAL ship over a decade ago and were entirely too young for the median age so maybe in 10 more years we will be old enough.

 

HAL dining schedule:

early seating 3:30 pm

late seating 5:00 pm

midnight buffet 7:30 pm

lights out 9:00 pm

:rolleyes::rolleyes:;p;p

 

Questions passengers ask each other:

RCCL: Do you remember where you were on 9/11?

Celebrity: Do you remember when man landed on the moon?

Princess: Do you remember where you were when JFK was shot?

Holland America: Do you remember what you had for lunch?

[floridalover5623]

Just my experience on the Holland segments I did in March and April! No matter how early I went up to get some coffee or juice, there were, often tables full of people.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if they had been up all night partying of just got our of bed but their age usually gives it away. ;)