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Live From the Star Princess Hawaii R/T November 4, 2018


Woobstr112G
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Good evening from the Star Princess as we make our way from Los Angeles and begin our journey towards Hilo. Seas at the moment are a little rough but nothing to worry about.  Our sail away was on time and uneventful. I had a number of roll call members to my cabin for a sail away party.  It was great to meet people in person that I had got to know on the roll call thread over the past 15+ months.  

 

A couple of initial observations about the Star Princess.  I am very impressed with how the ship looks for being 16 years old.  Everything is clean and so far the crew members I have interacted with have been very friendly.  I did have an issue when I called the dine line in an attempt to change our free specialty dining room to tomorrow.  A quick visit to passenger services took care of it and we were able to change our reservation to tomorrow.  

 

The much talked about dining times on the Star Princess are 1700 and 1915 for traditional in the Amalfi dining room.  ATD in the Capri dining room is between 1700-2100.  ATD in the Portofino dining room is between 1900-2100.  It looks like there is also an early traditional seating at 1700.  Lunch is also served in this dining room between 1200-1330.

 

Unfortunately the much talked about expanded drink menus, new wine menus, and expanded beer menus have not made it to the Star Princess.  I also discovered that all of the wines I pre ordered (the usual ones listed on the Princess website) were not available (they were out of stock).  It was a minor annoyance as I like the wines I ordered.  Substitutions were offered and accepted because I need the wine for my sail away party.  The substitutions were acceptable.

 

Tomorrow is our Meet & Greet at Skywalker’s.  I am looking forward to this.

This is getting a little long, so I will post the ship’s officers and entertainment offerings in a subsequent post.  

 

Hope all are well…..

 

Bob

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Just off the STAR this morning and the embarkation was so quick.  We came down the elevators to Vista Lounge right after breakfast only to find that our "color/#" had already been called.  Could see lots of walk-offs while enjoying breakfast.  Almost no line at all during customs.  In all our cruises, embarkation had never happened so fast.

 

The entire cruise was amazing-good weather, food, entertainment, etc.  .  Just to have Captain Tuvo on board is a real treat.  His wife and son were along since son had fall school break.  For Halloween, Capt. and wife were dressed as pirates.  Marcus the cruise director has a great personality. 

 

Bon Voyage, Bob and Holli!  I  followed your thread when you were on the Panama cruise and looked forward to your being with us but know you changed to the 4th.  Bye-Bye

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Bob,  I was on the Star right after the last dry dock.  I don't think they did everything they wanted to, but it looked pretty nice.  I believe they improved the internet (we think we saw a router in our room) and the Horizon Court got a nice facelift.

 

We also had dinner in the new Sabattini's - if you go, I'd be interested in your opinion.

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I’m having some problems figuring out how to type offline in word and then copy/paste to CC.  When I do this, It copies my text as a “png” image while putting it on my reply to the Live From thread.  I’m trying Apple Notes, which is a pain, to see if this will work.  Any input on how to do this a different way would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ship’s Officers:

Michele Tuvo - Captain

Marco Cataldi - Staff Captain

Raffaele Pollio - Chief Engineer

Daniele Cafiso - Hotel General Manager

Coetzee Van der Merwe - Senior Doctor

Bernie Fuentes - Entertainment Director

Marcus Juanta - Cruise Director

Roque Poblador - Entertainment Director

Deirdre Doyle - Customer Services Director

Rafaele Vallone - Staff Engineer Officer

Vito Rosso - Staff Electro-Technical Officer

Mario Propato - Matire d’Hotel

Gaetano Batavia - Executive Chef

Monico Reyes Jr. Executive Housekeeper

 

The entertainment options are too numerous to  list.  Suffice to say they had the usual musical offerings in Crooners and the Wheelhouse Bar.  The Piazza played host to a Dixeland Jazz show by the show band and also a Motown revue.  Comedian Richie Minervini performed in the Princess Theater at 2100.  MUTS showed some NFL games and a Billy Joel concert.  I will be scanning and posting all of the patters to my Flickr page at the end of the cruise.

 

Bob

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6 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Bob,  I was on the Star right after the last dry dock.  I don't think they did everything they wanted to, but it looked pretty nice.  I believe they improved the internet (we think we saw a router in our room) and the Horizon Court got a nice facelift.

 

We also had dinner in the new Sabattini's - if you go, I'd be interested in your opinion.

Abby;

 

The internet is, at least for now, surprisingly good.  I get a great signal in my cabin without having to open the cabin door.  As far as the internet offerings go, there were the usual old pricing options.  On embarkation day (yesterday), they offered extra minutes for a fee.  I choose an extra 200 minutes, to go along with my 250 of platinum minutes, for $40.00.  I also pre-purchased an internet package before we boarded.

 

Holli and I plan to try Sabatinis later in the cruise or dinner.  The new design and the menu look tempting.  Later on today, I plan to avail myself of breakfast there.  The posted hours (sea days) are between 0700-0900.  I'm not sure yet what the port day hours are.  Tonight we are going to try the CG for our free dinner which I rescheduled from yesterday.

 

Bob

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One more thing before off to the IC for another Americano; I was able to get a ship's DVD player hooked in my suite for Holli.  It is actually the same brand/model as the one I brought with me.  The crew member, who installed it, told me he was going to try and get an HDMI cable so I could hook mine up to the second television in the living room.....🙂🙂🙂

 

Bob

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1 hour ago, sterling2 said:

Curious who the Hawaiian ambassadors are. Thanks for taking us along. I enjoy your posts.

I’ll find out and let you know a little later today.  I don’t believe they were listed in the patters.  I will double check though.....:classic_smile::classic_smile::classic_smile:

 

Bob

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On 10/31/2018 at 4:35 PM, Woobstr112G said:

We are doing Princess excursions in Hilo & Honolulu.  In Kauai, I booked a private flying excursion in an open cockpit bi-plane.  In Maui, I hope to meet up with a former coworker who retired and now lives there.....:classic_smile::classic_smile::classic_smile:

 

Bob

Which excursion in Honolulu did you book thru Princess? Thanks for doing this!

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4 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

I’m having some problems figuring out how to type offline in word and then copy/paste to CC.  When I do this, It copies my text as a “png” image while putting it on my reply to the Live From thread.  I’m trying Apple Notes, which is a pain, to see if this will work.  Any input on how to do this a different way would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Bob

What kind of computer are you using?  I'm manaaging a google doc roll call on Celebrity and I paste into the thread all the time.  I'm on a Mac and using text edit or text wrangler to compose.  IIRC, i tried Word early on and it didn't work well at all.

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21 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

What kind of computer are you using?  I'm manaaging a google doc roll call on Celebrity and I paste into the thread all the time.  I'm on a Mac and using text edit or text wrangler to compose.  IIRC, i tried Word early on and it didn't work well at all.

Macbook Pro.....

 

Bob

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5 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

I’m having some problems figuring out how to type offline in word and then copy/paste to CC.  When I do this, It copies my text as a “png” image while putting it on my reply to the Live From thread.  I’m trying Apple Notes, which is a pain, to see if this will work.  Any input on how to do this a different way would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ship’s Officers:

Michele Tuvo - Captain

Marco Cataldi - Staff Captain

Raffaele Pollio - Chief Engineer

Daniele Cafiso - Hotel General Manager

Coetzee Van der Merwe - Senior Doctor

Bernie Fuentes - Entertainment Director

Marcus Juanta - Cruise Director

Roque Poblador - Entertainment Director

Deirdre Doyle - Customer Services Director

Rafaele Vallone - Staff Engineer Officer

Vito Rosso - Staff Electro-Technical Officer

Mario Propato - Matire d’Hotel

Gaetano Batavia - Executive Chef

Monico Reyes Jr. Executive Housekeeper

 

The entertainment options are too numerous to  list.  Suffice to say they had the usual musical offerings in Crooners and the Wheelhouse Bar.  The Piazza played host to a Dixeland Jazz show by the show band and also a Motown revue.  Comedian Richie Minervini performed in the Princess Theater at 2100.  MUTS showed some NFL games and a Billy Joel concert.  I will be scanning and posting all of the patters to my Flickr page at the end of the cruise.

 

Bob

Thanks for bringing us along. The Star, and this itinerary, turned out to be our favorite cruise. I think, in many ways, Captain Tuvo enhanced the experience tremendously. I hope you enjoy his style as much as we did. His anecdotes can be quite funny as well as informative. We learned to stop for his daily updates. :classic_biggrin: I'm sure he'll see you at the M&G. Have fun. I'm looking forward to reliving this cruise through you. Happy Cruising.

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Good afternoon from the Star Princess.  This is our first full sea day of four as we journey towards Hilo Hawaii.  At 1100, we had our Meet & Greet in Skywalker's.  It was nice to put faces to fellow roll call members that I had gotten to know in cyber space. The gathering was well attended and a number of ship's officers showed up including Captain Tuvo.  I had never previously sailed with him and I must say, he is simply a very open and amazing Captain.  He stayed for about 30 minutes and answered all questions asked.  I asked him if he was going to be taking command of the Sky when it launches next year.  He told me he wioll be coming onboard when we dock in Portugal.  It will be great to have him in command as we begin our crossing of the Atlantic.

 

Later on tonight, Holli and I will be dining at the Crown Grill.  I am looking forward to it.


That's all for now, more later.....

 

Bob

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We are enjoying your updates and look forward to more. We are working on 50 plus Princess cruises (not many by some standards) and are booked on the Sky for the Caribbean on Dec 4-18th. Maybe we will have the pleasure of sailing with you in future.

 

John & Claire

(the Other John)

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22 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

I’m having some problems figuring out how to type offline in word and then copy/paste to CC.  When I do this, It copies my text as a “png” image while putting it on my reply to the Live From thread.  I’m trying Apple Notes, which is a pain, to see if this will work.  Any input on how to do this a different way would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hey Bob...

 

I had posted some suggestions thinking you were using your iPad, but noticed in one of your other posts that you have your MacBook Pro with you.  In that case, try using TextEdit for composing and pasting into CC.  It's an Apple app and should already be in your Applications folder.

 

I don't use Word anymore, but I wonder if saving your document as a text file then copying the text might work for you.  

Edited by -Lew-
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45025454774_6db7159a54.jpg.2f270a64a1c60e535846b1c137b5cf30.jpg

 

A very good morning (0605 local) as we begin our second full sea day, of four, heading across the Pacific Ocean to Hilo Hawaii.  Seas are just a little above glass and the temps are probably in the high 60's.  Last night Holli & I went to the Crown Grill to enjoy our free dinner.  Holli had the fillet and I had the Porterhouse.  Both were cooked exactly to order and were delicious.  Service was also over the top.  We had planned on doing a little browsing in the shops but they were already closed when we finished dinner.

 

Tonight is our first formal night.  I will be trying on my rental tux a littlel ater to make sure it fits.  Holli has a hair appointment later this afternoon.  WE both still enjoy the traditional ways of formal night and enjoy getting dressed up.  We plan on trying the MDR (CC ATD) so I'm looking forward to experiencing CC for the first time as we have always been late seating traditional diners.  One other word about late seating traditional, with the changing dining times, it would seem impossible to attend the shows (1900 or 2100). The only way I could see is to HC it or tell your waiter you want to eat quick.

 

Show tonight in the theater is "British Invasion."

 

More later & I hope all are well.....🙂🙂🙂

 

Bob

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4 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

Hey Bob...

 

I had posted some suggestions thinking you were using your iPad, but noticed in one of your other posts that you have your MacBook Pro with you.  In that case, try using TextEdit for composing and pasting into CC.  It's an Apple app and should already be in your Applications folder.

 

I don't use Word anymore, but I wonder if saving your document as a text file then copying the text might work for you.  

Lew;

 

Thanks for the suggestion.  Sounds like it might do the trick.  I'll check it out......🙂🙂🙂

 

Bob

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6 minutes ago, Woobstr112G said:

45025454774_6db7159a54.jpg.2f270a64a1c60e535846b1c137b5cf30.jpg

 

A very good morning (0605 local) as we begin our second full sea day, of four, heading across the Pacific Ocean to Hilo Hawaii.  Seas are just a little above glass and the temps are probably in the high 60's.  Last night Holli & I went to the Crown Grill to enjoy our free dinner.  Holli had the fillet and I had the Porterhouse.  Both were cooked exactly to order and were delicious.  Service was also over the top.  We had planned on doing a little browsing in the shops but they were already closed when we finished dinner.

 

Tonight is our first formal night.  I will be trying on my rental tux a littlel ater to make sure it fits.  Holli has a hair appointment later this afternoon.  WE both still enjoy the traditional ways of formal night and enjoy getting dressed up.  We plan on trying the MDR (CC ATD) so I'm looking forward to experiencing CC for the first time as we have always been late seating traditional diners.  One other word about late seating traditional, with the changing dining times, it would seem impossible to attend the shows (1900 or 2100). The only way I could see is to HC it or tell your waiter you want to eat quick.

 

Show tonight in the theater is "British Invasion."

 

More later & I hope all are well.....🙂🙂🙂

 

Bob

Glad your enjoying your cruise.

 

Would have thought they would adjust the time of the shows based on new dining times but guess one dept does not talk to the other. Would think 8 pm and 10 pm would make more sense.

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