Star Princess Dec 4th Hawaii - mini review & photos/video

[nf5894]

We did this cruise last year in early december on the Emerald and loved it, so tried it again this time on the Star. Last year we did all Princess excursions on the islands which we thought were extremely expensive, so this time we arranged to do things on our own. Overall we had a great time, but there were a few things that were a little disappointing.

 

I'll start with the good. We drove to L.A. a couple of days before the cruise so we could take the kids to Universal Studios.  Stayed in the Pasadena area and drove down to San Pedro on the 4th Dec which was a very stormy day. Traffic conditions were terrible because of the rain and we saw accidents, but were able to arrive safely at the port by about 11.30. Embarkation was really quick and easy. The sea days out to the islands were fun with lots of activities to do on board. The food was good, in the buffet and the main dining room (Amalfi).

 

In Hilo, we walked to Carlsmith Beach Park and went swimming and snorkelling with huge Hawaiian green sea turtles. In Honolulu we visited Pearl Harbor and the Arizona memorial (had reserved tickets online a few weeks before). Bus #42 only cost about $2 and runs pretty close to the ship. In Kauai we walked 10 minutes to the beach and spent the day there. And finally in Maui we had booked a whale watching trip directly with Pac Whale which turned out to be pretty good (although in the future if we do another whale watching trip we will pay more and choose a smaller boat).  In Ensenada we just took the shuttle into town and met up with Fernando the spray paint artist as we did last year. If you're ever in Ensenada you should go check this guy out - what he does with spray paint is amazing!

 

The staff on board were really great. Cruise Director 'Micca' was probably the best one we have had so far. We also got to visit the bridge and meet the captain. That was very interesting and he seemed to be very nice although Captain Tuvo was our last captain and he is a very hard act to follow! We enjoyed the shows on board, saw 'British Invasion' and 'Born to Dance', along with 3 comedians and an acrobatic act. Dismembarkation was a breeze too - from the time we were called from the Vista Lounge, we were in the car within 30 minutes!

 

Now for the disappointing parts - We were on the Star about 6 months ago in Alaska and on that trip the ship seemed to be in great condtion. This time however, there were a number of places where water was dripping from the ceiling. In a few places there were buckets out to catch the water but we did notice several areas with brown rings on the ceilings and a couple of places with mold on the carpets! We spoke to a few people who said they had drips in their staterooms too. Don't get me wrong, I still really like the Star, it was just a surprise to see. Also Princess didn't give out free drinks tickets at the 'welcome back party' - A pretty minor thing I know but that seemed a little bit cheap! And I know this is not a new thing but the constant bombardment of Effy advertising is really annoying!

 

Also my wife and son took the Ukulele class and last year on the Emerald when the performance was done at the end of the cruise, the ukulele players were up on risers at the back of the stage. This year they were not, so for most of the performance, all you could see was the hula dancers. Again no big deal, but at the end of the performance they have a big group picture taken with the Hawaiian Ambassadors where all of the ukulele players can't be seen - plus they were trying to charge $25 for the picture. And they didn't include the 'Ukulele and Hula' performance on the $40 reflections dvd! No, you had to buy a separate dvd for that, which was another 30 bucks. Finally, we take our kids with us to game shows and comedians unless there's a warning in the patter about adult content - for example the 'Marriage Match' gameshow. Now as a rule we have usually found that with the comedians, if you go to the early evening show then it's generally ok, maybe pg13 but nothing too bad! where as in their late show they tend to get a little more adult. That wasn't the case this time for one of the comedians. We had the kids with us at the early show and there was no warning in the patter, but the show was extremely R rated. I understand that there weren't that many kids on board but it shouldn't be that difficult to include a warning in the patter or even at the start of the show!

 

Nothing really major in the disappointments, just a few surprises! Overall we had a really good time and would do this cruise again. Definitely glad that we arranged our own excursions this time though and will do that again in the future. If anyone is interested you can check out the pictures / video. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZXUO2pq_7Y

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXLAuEaZIhg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrXu8IplTQ

 

[riffatsea]

Thanks for your review! Doing the same cruise this coming December.

Hope we have as much fun as you guys had on your cruise!!

[wallyj]

I was on the Star Dec 4 sailing too. I am Elite but was traveling with my friend who is Ruby,  this cruise was his 5th so he is now Platinum. I will assume you are also Gold/Ruby as those are the only welcome back parties that at the end a drink voucher is given. You failed to indicate at this party, drinks were supplied at the party by waiters on trays. Yes , they are watered down and unlike the Platinum and Elite party, you were not allowed to order anything NOT on the tray, unless you were willing to pay for it.

 

They did not 'raffle' any prizes like 'elite benefits for the cruise' or a boutiques voucher or coffee pkg as I have seen in the past. No paper invites were made as the party was listed in the patter. Was told these 'raffle' prizes now only given at the 'blue' first time with Princess event.

 

I asked the circle host about the party afterwards and she said Princess was reviewing the program and because the feedback has been poor, may just eliminate a Gold/Ruby welcome back party.

[ColoradoMom!!]

Thank you for your review !

 

I watched all your videos as well.  We leave in a few weeks on the same cruise!

 

I have 2 quick questions.  In Kauai, where were you able to rent those kayaks?

Also, how do you locate the spray paint artist in Ensenada?

 

Thanks!

[nf5894]

1 hour ago, wallyj said:

I was on the Star Dec 4 sailing too. I am Elite but was traveling with my friend who is Ruby,  this cruise was his 5th so he is now Platinum. I will assume you are also Gold/Ruby as those are the only welcome back parties that at the end a drink voucher is given. You failed to indicate at this party, drinks were supplied at the party by waiters on trays. Yes , they are watered down and unlike the Platinum and Elite party, you were not allowed to order anything NOT on the tray, unless you were willing to pay for it.

 

They did not 'raffle' any prizes like 'elite benefits for the cruise' or a boutiques voucher or coffee pkg as I have seen in the past. No paper invites were made as the party was listed in the patter. Was told these 'raffle' prizes now only given at the 'blue' first time with Princess event.

 

I asked the circle host about the party afterwards and she said Princess was reviewing the program and because the feedback has been poor, may just eliminate a Gold/Ruby welcome back party.

 

Thanks for reminding me - I forgot about the fact that they didn't raffle any prizes at that party. Also, I did see waiters around but had no idea they were giving away free drinks. We certainly didn't get any nor were we offered any! No big deal as I'm not a big drinker anyway but it would have been nice to have known!

 

[cr8tiv1]

The fruit punch drink (non-alcoholic) is very good.

[nf5894]

48 minutes ago, ColoradoMom!! said:

Thank you for your review !

 

I watched all your videos as well.  We leave in a few weeks on the same cruise!

 

I have 2 quick questions.  In Kauai, where were you able to rent those kayaks?

Also, how do you locate the spray paint artist in Ensenada?

 

Thanks!

 

The beach in Kauai has a shop front right there where you can hire chairs/umbrellas, surf boards, 1 and 2 seater kayaks and even full surfing lessons. I thought they were reasonably priced too, I think it was $20 an hour for the kayaks or $40 for all day.

 

The shuttle from the port takes you to downtown Ensenada. I think it was $4 per person for a round trip. Where they drop you off is a small courtyard with a few traders. If you just tell the guys at the port who run the shuttle you want to go see Fernando the Spray Painter, they'll make sure you go on the right shuttle. Most of the shuttles go there anyway but they said sometimes they go to McDonalds instead. Fernando is from Tijuana but he travels down to Ensenada any day a cruise ship is in port. I promise you'll be glad if you go to see him - what he does is amazing.

 

If you need any more info about anything, let me know.

[wallyj]

24 minutes ago, nf5894 said:

 

Thanks for reminding me - I forgot about the fact that they didn't raffle any prizes at that party. Also, I did see waiters around but had no idea they were giving away free drinks. We certainly didn't get any nor were we offered any! No big deal as I'm not a big drinker anyway but it would have been nice to have known!

 

I would like to say your group was visible and it  was nice to see you guys getting involved in the various activities, some cruise to just relax, but getting involved amps up the enjoyment level in my experience. 

 

Yes, the Gold/Ruby party was a new format, as traditionally at the end you were handed a drink voucher, sorry you did not get a drink or two from the captain. Even a soft drink is a nice change from plain water.

 

Not sure what they will do in the future as the circle host said Princess may cancel this event for Gold/Ruby.

[ram1977]

We do this cruise in a few weeks so was happy to see this post. Your videos are fun and you have some great photos. We also have a whale watching trip booked thru pacwhale. You say that if you did a whale watching trip like this again you'd want to do it on a smaller ship. what is the reason for this? as it looks like you had some really fantastic whale photos too.

[nf5894]

17 hours ago, ram1977 said:

We do this cruise in a few weeks so was happy to see this post. Your videos are fun and you have some great photos. We also have a whale watching trip booked thru pacwhale. You say that if you did a whale watching trip like this again you'd want to do it on a smaller ship. what is the reason for this? as it looks like you had some really fantastic whale photos too.

 

Yes we did manage to get some good photos on the whale watching trip but I just felt there were too many people on board, and when a whale was spotted everyone rushed to that side of the boat. It was ok for myself but the kids were unable to see much. It was still a good trip I just think next time we'll go on a smaller boat (or at least one with less people).

[funcrusier]

Thanks for the short review. It is helpful as we are doing the same cruise on Feb27. 
if possible could you let us know what evenings are formal nights. 
We know there are 3 but wanting to make some specialty restaurant reservations. 
 

Thanks

[AF-1]

Thanks for a nice review.  I agree with you about your cruise director Micca.  He was amazing on our cruise

[nf5894]

19 hours ago, funcrusier said:

Thanks for the short review. It is helpful as we are doing the same cruise on Feb27. 
if possible could you let us know what evenings are formal nights. 
We know there are 3 but wanting to make some specialty restaurant reservations. 
 

Thanks

 

Formal nights were the 2nd night, the first full sea day after leaving the islands and the night before Ensenada.

[ColoradoMom!!]

Sorry for another question  (Quoting Columbo - "just one more thing....")

 

Any surprises on the "all aboard" times?

 

This is what is listed on our itinerary :

 

HILO - 9 -6pm

Honolulu 7 - 11pm

Kauai 8 - 5pm

Maui 7 - 6pm

 

I have heard that the tenders back to the ship in Maui have really long lines toward the end of the day.

[nf5894]

16 hours ago, ColoradoMom!! said:

Sorry for another question  (Quoting Columbo - "just one more thing....")

 

Any surprises on the "all aboard" times?

 

This is what is listed on our itinerary :

 

HILO - 9 -6pm

Honolulu 7 - 11pm

Kauai 8 - 5pm

Maui 7 - 6pm

 

I have heard that the tenders back to the ship in Maui have really long lines toward the end of the day.

 

We pretty much left on time everywhere except Maui. The captain said there was a tour that was late getting back and we had to wait for them (so it must have been a Princess tour). I think we were about 2 hours late leaving on that day.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

2 minutes ago, nf5894 said:

 

We pretty much left on time everywhere except Maui. The captain said there was a tour that was late getting back and we had to wait for them (so it must have been a Princess tour). I think we were about 2 hours late leaving on that day.

 

Thanks!  I just wanted to make sure it wasn't earlier than posted 🙂

[Huck]

Do you know if the had the Crab Shack set up in the Horizon Court a few nights? Also did the do the Pub lunches in the bar? Thank you

[MixerDave]

8 hours ago, Huck said:

Do you know if the had the Crab Shack set up in the Horizon Court a few nights? Also did the do the Pub lunches in the bar? Thank you

They did not set it up in Horizon Court, but they offered it 1 night, utilizing the Crown Grill.  Horizon Court on the Star is not very big.  

[nf5894]

11 hours ago, Huck said:

Do you know if the had the Crab Shack set up in the Horizon Court a few nights? Also did the do the Pub lunches in the bar? Thank you

 I didn't see anything about the Crab Shack at all but MixerDave said it was offered once. I remember seeing the pub lunches offered when we were on the Star back in May but don't think I saw it on this cruise. Although I wasn't particularly looking for it so I could be wrong.

[wallyj]

12 hours ago, Huck said:

Do you know if the had the Crab Shack set up in the Horizon Court a few nights? Also did the do the Pub lunches in the bar? Thank you

Hi, I was on this sailing, there was one traditional Pub lunch in Crown Grill with Fish/Chips, they had 2 additional 'Lunches' on different days in the Crown Grill with a 'Hawaiian comfort food theme' and the other was 'Mexican fiesta' these did not have fish/chips on the menu.

[bestdogever]

Wallyj,

 

I know Princess usually charges for the Pub lunch, but was there a charge for the Hawaiian and Mexican theme lunches in the Crown Grill?  If so, was it worth attending in your opinion?

 

Thanks.

 

[katisdale]

There was no charge - nor reservations - for any of the three pub lunches on the 12/19/2019 Hawaii cruise on the Star. Also, I have never been charged for going to a pub lunch on Princess.

[bestdogever]

Thanks Katisdale. We remember a cruise on Ruby where there was a charge for the pub lunch, but maybe I am confused as to what it actually was.  We are so looking forward to this cruise to Hawaii.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[Colo Cruiser]

21 minutes ago, bestdogever said:

Thanks Katisdale. We remember a cruise on Ruby where there was a charge for the pub lunch, but maybe I am confused as to what it actually was.  We are so looking forward to this cruise to Hawaii.

I think you are confusing this with something else.

There is never a charge for the Pub Lunch.  😉