Star Princess Western Review (1/29-2/05)

[dwHokie]

Just returned from a 7-day Western Caribbean on the Star Princess, 1/29 to 2/05. After all the great information I gathered from CC, I feel compelled to write my own review! Bear with me here…this will be long...

My wife and I are in our late 20's and this was our first cruise. We traveled with my sister, her husband, my parents and my grandparents, who have all cruised multiple times in the past. Embarkation was incredibly smooth. We arrived at the terminal at 11:15 and instead of receiving a #5 boarding card as others around us were, we got a #1 as our grandmother was in a wheelchair. We were on the ship by 11:45, one of the first aboard. Having never cruised before, I must say I was impressed by the sheer size of the Star. Beautiful ship in good condition. Our room was an inside cabin on Baha deck, pretty far forward, B240. I had no problems at all in the room, as we were only there to shower and sleep. The bed was comfortable to me and there was tons of closet space in the room. The room included an electronic programmable safe, a refrigerator, TV and a desk with chair. The bathroom was, of course, very small, but manageable. I was honestly expecting the room to be smaller than it was. All depends on how you look at it.

Food:

Good to very good a few times in my opinion, though not spectacular. We had the anytime dining plan and had no issues getting a table for 8 between 6:15 and 7 each night plus one night where we ate later at 8:30 or so. We never waited. I will say it began to get busy around 7 or 7:30 where we saw people issued pagers to wait for a table. We ate in the Capri dining room the first 2 nights, then switched to the Portofino dining room the rest of the cruise. Alberto and his assistant were very good one night in Portofino, but then we found Avalino and stayed with him the final 3 nights. He remembered our preferences by the 2nd night and was pretty witty with a good sense of humor. The meals that stood out in my mind as excellent were the veal chop and the lobster tails. The scallops were also very good on the final night. You certainly never went hungry at dinner (Bread, appetizer, soup, salad, main course, dessert). I will say they overcooked my pork tenderloin one night (I think they actually swapped mine with my fathers) and refused one request for ice cream that was on the menu the night before, without even checking if they had any. Breakfast and lunch in the Horizon court were okay, nothing special. If you want good eggs or an omelet, have them make them for you fresh, either by request in Horizon, or many days at the omelet station which was set up where the grill is by the Neptune pool. We had a sit-down breakfast and lunch in Portofino on a few occasions which were very good. Do not miss the pizza for lunch or afternoon snack, it's one of the best things onboard!

Entertainment:

In my opinion, one of the best parts of the cruise. We saw a show or two every night. The first night wasn't much more than a tease with a little comedy and once dance number, so don't let that deter you. The second night's "Dance" and the late night comedian (David Deeble) were both good. "Live Wire" on the third night was a husband and wife playing the electric guitar and electric violin -- excellent, upbeat show, not to be missed. The comedian on the fourth night was okay - John Ferrintino. We skipped the hypnotist the fifth night, but some of the gang went and said he was funny. We did see their broadway show "Give My Regards" that night, which was a compilation of numbers from different shows including Oklahoma, Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Mis, West Side Story and many more. One of the last numbers was "One Day More" from Les Mis and blew me away. I've seen the Broadway version several times, and they nailed this song. One of the last shows was "Cinematastic," several song and dance numbers from various movies. Again, a pretty good show. Considering all the entertainment was included, I was pretty impressed with the variety and quality. The nightclub never picked up until after 11 or midnight and even then was never really that great (music selection not the best to dance to). I spent an hour or two each night in the casino (open when ship is sailing, closed around 2am each night) and did pretty well. They have blackjack, Caribbean stud, 3 card poker, roulette and craps. One of the guys I played Carribbean stud with all week hit a royal flush and won $65,000 late in the cruise. There were always things to do during the day as well if you stayed on board, including ice carvings, bingo, ping pong tournaments, mixology classes, wine tastings (we did two during the cruise), port of call shopping seminars, belly flop contests and sail away parties. Don't miss the Carribean beach party either, it was hopping. Don’t really understand all the negative reviews I read about cruise director Neil Roberts. The main complaint was he lacked energy. Maybe he had a lot of caffeine in preparation for our cruise, but this guy definitely didn’t lack energy. He was the MC for just about every show or significant event on board and was pretty funny, talking a mile a minute. I don’t get the lack of energy comments…

Service:

Another strong point here. There were always waiters around the pools to take your drink orders as well as the theaters and their response time was not bad. We found the service in the dining rooms pretty good (see the food section above) and we absolutely loved our room steward Gabriel. The guy was like a ghost. Leave your room for breakfast, no matter what time it was and your room was made up. Leave in the evening after getting ready for dinner and your bed was turned down with the comforter left folded in a different neat design each evening with chocolates on the pillow. He was also quick to respond to our request for wine glasses in our room and always greeted you with smile and kind words if passed in the hallway.

Ports of call:

Cozumel:

We anchored offshore around 7:30 in the morning, sharing Cozumel with only the Costa Magica. This was the only port where I really noticed the tendering process as slow, probably because we were using the huge tenders that Coz provides. We were in line for tender tickets around 8:30 and onshore around 10. My wife, sister and brother in law decided to visit Paradise Beach from research done on CC. $12 cab for the 4 of us, maybe 3-5 miles from the port. The beach was deserted when we arrived, but filled by early afternoon. Service was good directly to your lounge chairs and I thought the food was good as well (try the burrito supreme). They also came around offering free shots of tequila (not strong, mixed with sprite, it tasted like). Our bill with lunch and several beers was only ~$50 for the 4 of us. They also offered a water trampoline, floating climbing wall, kayaks, snorkels, etc for $8. There is also a new 2 hour snorkel excursion that leaves from PB around 12:30pm, traveling to Palancar and Columbia reefs for only $35. Would like to have taken advantage, but didn't want to cut it close getting back to the ship with the tender situation. We returned to port for a little shopping before heading back to the Star. No significant wait tendering back a few hours before the Star was due to depart.

Grand Cayman:

Although there were 4 other large ships in port on Wednesday, we really had zero issues tendering with the Star tenders. We arrived in port early (~11:15 am instead of noon) and had planned on getting in line for tender tickets @ 11:30. Fortunately, my brother in law was there early and we were on one of the first tenders over. We wanted to snorkel, so we hung a right at the dock and walked about 5 minutes to Eden Rock dive shop where you can rent gear for the day for $12. Great snorkeling there. Huge tarpon as soon as you get in the water as well as many parrot fish and smaller tiger fish. Highly recommend swimming a few hundred yards offshore if you can make it (towards the white buoys) as there is a reef offshore. There we saw barracuda, grouper, puffers, angel fish, and many, many small colorful fish. Believe it or not, there weren't that many people in the water (compared to some of the pictures I'd seen online) and especially not out at the reef. For lunch we walked about 10 minutes in the opposite direction from the port to Hammerheads, which is a great relaxed seafood/sandwich place right on the water. Great views of all the cruise ships in port. Try the jerk chicken wrap. Headed back to the ship around 5 with no wait for the tender.

Montego Bay, Jamaica:

Some tend to look down on Jamaica, but we love it there, having honeymooned at an

all-inclusive in Negril. The people at the resorts and established excursions are some of the nicest you will meet. Yes, if you stray from the beaten path people will approach you with drugs, etc. But if you stay at a resort or on a ship excursion or at a well known establishment, Jamaica is a beautiful place to visit. We chose the horseback ride 'N swim ship excursion. About a 30 minute drive from the port along the water, the excursion was through Chukka Blue at their 700+ acre farm. Not terribly exciting, just walking single file on the horse for 1.5 hours. Probably not worth the $100pp. The unique part was getting to ride the horse at the end along the beach and then through the water as they actually swam with you on their back. Very different experience. I headed back to the ship for lunch while the others went to Margaritaville. There is a small bit of shopping available at the cruise terminal. It was so much more convenient being able to dock and not use the tenders. Just walk right on/off the ship.

Princess Cays, Bahamas:

Arrived around 8am and there was absolutely no wait for tenders at 8:30am, just walked right on. One of the first tenders onshore, we were able to grab one of the thatched roof palapas rather than rent one of the (small) plastic fold-up cabanas (only half-way cover 2 lounge chairs). Spent the day relaxing on the beach, with lounge side bar service from the on-board staff, who also came on shore. There were snorkeling and shopping in the area as well. Also provided was a barbeque lunch of hamburgers, bratwurst, fruit, slaw, beans, salad, etc. Nice relaxing day. No issues getting back on a tender a little after 1 (ship sailed at 3pm).

Weather:

Had to include this because it was PERFECT. It was like cruising on a lake until after Jamaica and even then we only hit a few patches of moderate seas. Weather was partly cloudy to sunny every day with temperatures in the low 80s. It didn't rain until after dark on the last night heading back to Ft. Lauderdale. We were a bit apprehensive as the previous few cruises had all missed either Grand Cayman or Princess Cays. No problem here mon!

Disembarkation:

Very easy process. We were in the middle of the pack in terms of the order to get off. We had breakfast at 7 and hung around by the pool on deck until our color was called at 9am. We were through customs, with our baggage, waiting for our ride outside by 9:10. No joke.

In summary, we may be rookies, but we would choose Princess again because of the value we received for our money. Not sure how you could beat all the food, entertainment and ports of call for what we paid for an inside stateroom. We also

enjoyed the age demographic on board...not too old, but not spring break going crazy young. A nice mixture. Combine that with the beautiful Star and the weather we had and it was a vacation to remember.

Be happy to answer any questions.

-Dan

[mjsable]

Great review Dan.

My wife and I are on the Star starting this Sunday and I can't wait. Thanks for all of the info!!

[Coolmama_1]

Great review. We were on the Star earlier in January and also enjoyed Livewire!

[Bookbug53]

Thank-you for all the great info. Will be on the Star the 26th for our first Princess cruise. Just one question....the thatched palapas at Princess Cays, is this something you rent or are they simply a first come, first served type thing?

[unforgettable]

I was on the 1/8 Star Princess sailing and our group of 6 had a wonderful time! Since this was my first Princess cruise, I didn't know what to expect but now I find I can't stop raving about the experience! It was terrific!

[LARGIN]

Great review.. Thanks

[dwHokie]

The thatched palapas were free and first come, first serve. They weren't huge, just like oversized umbrellas with a small table around the base. But I thought they were just as good as the cabanas you could rent. I'll try to attach a picture below...you can see the blue folded down cabanas in the background.

 

-Dan

[js10]

Dan,

What a great review for a "rookie"! It sounds like cruising with your parents didn't slow you down a bit. By the way, who is the attractive lady in the sunglasses standing under the palapa?

John

[sunshine426]

Thanks for the great review!! Getting me very excited for our March 19 cruise.

[vancruiser69]

Very well written and informative review, and now I'm even more excited for my Feb.19 Star sailing. I'm glad to hear you got Princess Cays and Grand Cayman, my fingers are crossed.

[vancruiser69]

Question regarding tendering, if the Star is supposed to be docking in Grand Cayman at 7:00 on Feb.23, at what time would the first tenders leave and how long would it take to get there from the ship? I am thinking about booking a 8:00 private excursion but want to make sure I can make it.

[dwHokie]

Had to include a few of my favorites...the colorful one is sunrise on the first sea day...get up early!

[dwHokie]

We didn't have issues tendering in Grand Cayman, but I will say that was the one port where there was clearly a rush for tender tickets. Star arrived 45 minutes early (11:15 instead of noon), we had tender tickets by 11:20, were on the tender by 11:30 and ashore probably a little before noon. Since we arrived around noon, we were the last of the ships there and had to anchor a good 1/2 mile offshore, so it did take a bit to get to the dock. If you are willing to get in line early (30-45 minutes prior to arrival...maybe not so early if you're arriving in the morning?) for tender tickets, you should be able to get ashore within an hour of dropping anchor. Keep in mind as well our experience may not be accurate since we surprised people by arriving so early and probably avoided some of the tender lines from folks not being prepared.

 

-Dan

[MBarb]

I was referred by your parents to check out your review, because I'm in my early 20s and was worried what the atmosphere would be like for my age group. Your review was excellent and has got me very excited for my cruise on the Star leaving feb 26

 

Thanks,

Michelle

[Breeze64]

:) Great Review! We were on the same cruise, and couldnt agree more with your comments. We were a group of 4 in our mid and late 40s, as well as two teenagers traveling with us. We all had a wonderful time, great weather (except for that storm we encountered as we traveled through the Bahama straits Sat night!) Glad that we were able to stop at Grand Cayman, great food, fun excursions. We would definitely do Princess again! Only complaint that I have is that the coffee is terrible on the ship...Im a coffee snob! LOL!:cool:

[aring75]

Really enjoyed reading your review, thanks!

 

 

So...are you hooked on cruising yet? :p

[aring75]

Wow! dwHokie that sunrise picture is phenomenal!! Definitely worth getting up early for.

[belfast]

This is my first time using this message board. sounded like you had a great time. We will be sailing next January (my son is getting married on board). Are they strict as to how many bottles of wine that are brought on board. Should we put the wine in our backpacks or in the luggage. It's for our own personal consumption is our cabin. Also do you know if anyone brought on liquor for their room?

Looking forward to a reply

 

 

Just returned from a 7-day Western Caribbean on the Star Princess, 1/29 to 2/05. After all the great information I gathered from CC, I feel compelled to write my own review! Bear with me here…this will be long...

 

My wife and I are in our late 20's and this was our first cruise. We traveled with my sister, her husband, my parents and my grandparents, who have all cruised multiple times in the past. Embarkation was incredibly smooth. We arrived at the terminal at 11:15 and instead of receiving a #5 boarding card as others around us were, we got a #1 as our grandmother was in a wheelchair. We were on the ship by 11:45, one of the first aboard. Having never cruised before, I must say I was impressed by the sheer size of the Star. Beautiful ship in good condition. Our room was an inside cabin on Baha deck, pretty far forward, B240. I had no problems at all in the room, as we were only there to shower and sleep. The bed was comfortable to me and there was tons of closet space in the room. The room included an electronic programmable safe, a refrigerator, TV and a desk with chair. The bathroom was, of course, very small, but manageable. I was honestly expecting the room to be smaller than it was. All depends on how you look at it.

 

Food:

 

Good to very good a few times in my opinion, though not spectacular. We had the anytime dining plan and had no issues getting a table for 8 between 6:15 and 7 each night plus one night where we ate later at 8:30 or so. We never waited. I will say it began to get busy around 7 or 7:30 where we saw people issued pagers to wait for a table. We ate in the Capri dining room the first 2 nights, then switched to the Portofino dining room the rest of the cruise. Alberto and his assistant were very good one night in Portofino, but then we found Avalino and stayed with him the final 3 nights. He remembered our preferences by the 2nd night and was pretty witty with a good sense of humor. The meals that stood out in my mind as excellent were the veal chop and the lobster tails. The scallops were also very good on the final night. You certainly never went hungry at dinner (Bread, appetizer, soup, salad, main course, dessert). I will say they overcooked my pork tenderloin one night (I think they actually swapped mine with my fathers) and refused one request for ice cream that was on the menu the night before, without even checking if they had any. Breakfast and lunch in the Horizon court were okay, nothing special. If you want good eggs or an omelet, have them make them for you fresh, either by request in Horizon, or many days at the omelet station which was set up where the grill is by the Neptune pool. We had a sit-down breakfast and lunch in Portofino on a few occasions which were very good. Do not miss the pizza for lunch or afternoon snack, it's one of the best things onboard!

 

Entertainment:

 

In my opinion, one of the best parts of the cruise. We saw a show or two every night. The first night wasn't much more than a tease with a little comedy and once dance number, so don't let that deter you. The second night's "Dance" and the late night comedian (David Deeble) were both good. "Live Wire" on the third night was a husband and wife playing the electric guitar and electric violin -- excellent, upbeat show, not to be missed. The comedian on the fourth night was okay - John Ferrintino. We skipped the hypnotist the fifth night, but some of the gang went and said he was funny. We did see their broadway show "Give My Regards" that night, which was a compilation of numbers from different shows including Oklahoma, Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Mis, West Side Story and many more. One of the last numbers was "One Day More" from Les Mis and blew me away. I've seen the Broadway version several times, and they nailed this song.

One of the last shows was "Cinematastic," several song and dance numbers from various movies. Again, a pretty good show. Considering all the entertainment was included, I was pretty impressed with the variety and quality. The nightclub never picked up until after 11 or midnight and even then was never really that great (music selection not the best to dance to). I spent an hour or two each night in the casino (open when ship is sailing, closed around 2am each night) and did pretty well. They have blackjack, Caribbean stud, 3 card poker, roulette and craps. One of the guys I played Carribbean stud with all week hit a royal flush and won $65,000 late in the cruise. There were always things to do during the day as well if you stayed on board, including

ice carvings, bingo, ping pong tournaments, mixology classes, wine tastings (we did two during the cruise), port of call shopping seminars, belly flop contests and sail away parties. Don't miss the Carribean beach party either, it was hopping. Don’t really understand all the negative reviews I read about cruise director Neil Roberts. The main complaint was he lacked energy. Maybe he had a lot of caffeine in preparation for our cruise, but this guy definitely didn’t lack energy. He was the MC for just about every show or significant event on board and was pretty funny, talking a mile a minute. I don’t get the lack of energy comments…

 

Service:

 

Another strong point here. There were always waiters around the pools to take your drink orders as well as the theaters and their response time was not bad. We found the service in the dining rooms pretty good (see the food section above) and we absolutely loved our room steward Gabriel. The guy was like a ghost. Leave your room for breakfast, no matter what time it was and your room was made up. Leave in the evening after getting ready for dinner and your bed was turned down with the comforter left folded in a different neat design each evening with chocolates on the pillow. He was also quick to respond to our request for wine glasses in our room and always greeted you with smile and kind words if passed in the hallway.

 

Ports of call:

 

Cozumel:

 

We anchored offshore around 7:30 in the morning, sharing Cozumel with only the Costa Magica. This was the only port where I really noticed the tendering process as slow, probably because we were using the huge tenders that Coz provides. We were in line for tender tickets around 8:30 and onshore around 10. My wife, sister and brother in law decided to visit Paradise Beach from research done on CC. $12 cab for the 4 of us, maybe 3-5 miles from the port. The beach was deserted when we arrived, but filled by early afternoon. Service was good directly to your lounge chairs and I thought the food was good as well (try the burrito supreme). They also came around offering free shots of tequila (not strong, mixed with sprite, it tasted like). Our bill with lunch and several beers was only ~$50 for the 4 of us. They also offered a water trampoline, floating climbing wall, kayaks, snorkels, etc for $8. There is also a new 2 hour snorkel excursion that leaves from PB around 12:30pm, traveling to Palancar and Columbia reefs for only $35. Would like to have taken advantage, but didn't want to cut it close getting back to the ship with the tender situation. We returned to port for a little shopping before heading back to the Star. No significant wait tendering back a few hours before the Star was due to depart.

 

Grand Cayman:

 

Although there were 4 other large ships in port on Wednesday, we really had zero issues

tendering with the Star tenders. We arrived in port early (~11:15 am instead of noon) and

had planned on getting in line for tender tickets @ 11:30. Fortunately, my brother in law was there early and we were on one of the first tenders over. We wanted to snorkel, so we hung a right at the dock and walked about 5 minutes to Eden Rock dive shop where you can rent gear for the day for $12. Great snorkeling there. Huge tarpon as soon as you get in the water as well as many parrot fish and smaller tiger fish. Highly recommend swimming a few hundred yards offshore if you can make it (towards the white buoys) as there is a reef offshore. There we saw barracuda, grouper, puffers, angel fish, and many, many small colorful fish. Believe it or not, there weren't that many people in the water (compared to some of the pictures I'd seen online) and especially not out at the reef. For lunch we walked about 10 minutes in the opposite direction from the port to Hammerheads, which is a great relaxed seafood/sandwich place right on the water. Great views of all the cruise ships in port. Try the jerk chicken wrap. Headed back to the ship around 5 with no wait for the tender.

 

Montego Bay, Jamaica:

 

Some tend to look down on Jamaica, but we love it there, having honeymooned at an

all-inclusive in Negril. The people at the resorts and established excursions are some of the nicest you will meet. Yes, if you stray from the beaten path people will approach you with drugs, etc. But if you stay at a resort or on a ship excursion or at a well known establishment, Jamaica is a beautiful place to visit. We chose the horseback ride 'N swim ship excursion. About a 30 minute drive from the port along the water, the excursion was through Chukka Blue at their 700+ acre farm. Not terribly exciting, just walking single file on the horse for 1.5 hours. Probably not worth the $100pp. The unique part was getting to ride the horse at the end along the beach and then through the water as they actually swam with you on their back. Very different experience. I headed back to the ship for lunch while the others went to Margaritaville. There is a small bit of shopping available at the cruise terminal. It was so much more convenient being able to dock and not use the tenders. Just walk right on/off the ship.

 

Princess Cays, Bahamas:

 

Arrived around 8am and there was absolutely no wait for tenders at 8:30am, just walked right on. One of the first tenders onshore, we were able to grab one of the thatched roof palapas rather than rent one of the (small) plastic fold-up cabanas (only half-way cover 2 lounge chairs). Spent the day relaxing on the beach, with lounge side bar service from the on-board staff, who also came on shore. There were snorkeling and shopping in the area as well. Also provided was a barbeque lunch of hamburgers, bratwurst, fruit, slaw, beans, salad, etc. Nice relaxing day. No issues getting back on a tender a little after 1 (ship sailed at 3pm).

 

Weather:

 

Had to include this because it was PERFECT. It was like cruising on a lake until after Jamaica and even then we only hit a few patches of moderate seas. Weather was partly cloudy to sunny every day with temperatures in the low 80s. It didn't rain until after dark on the last night heading back to Ft. Lauderdale. We were a bit apprehensive as the previous few cruises had all missed either Grand Cayman or Princess Cays. No problem here mon!

 

Disembarkation:

 

Very easy process. We were in the middle of the pack in terms of the order to get off. We had breakfast at 7 and hung around by the pool on deck until our color was called at 9am. We were through customs, with our baggage, waiting for our ride outside by 9:10. No joke.

 

In summary, we may be rookies, but we would choose Princess again because of the value we received for our money. Not sure how you could beat all the food, entertainment and ports of call for what we paid for an inside stateroom. We also

enjoyed the age demographic on board...not too old, but not spring break going crazy young. A nice mixture. Combine that with the beautiful Star and the weather we had and it was a vacation to remember.

 

Be happy to answer any questions.

 

-Dan

[dwHokie]

Yes, I think we are already hooked. I'm already starting to plan where I'd like to cruise next! The neat thing about a cruise is you can plan it so far in advance...I'm thinking Eastern/Southern Caribbean next...

 

In terms of the wine/liquor...we brought 5 bottles on, plus an 18-pack of beer with absolutely no issues. I had the wine all in our carry-ons, but I braved putting the beer in my checked luggage at the port (just packed around it real well). No issues...there is an x-ray machine you go through, but I did not see anyone stopped and alcohol removed.

 

-Dan

[cruise fairy]

Great review! We leave on 3/12....I'm really excited about the shows....sounds great.

[steelers_clan]

Thanks for all the info. We are sailing 4/2. Cant wait for much needed vacation. We are going with 9 of us. Should be great. We are in cabin A745. Inside room. Last cruise we were never in room so we decided on cheapest. :D

 

Hope we have same weather that you did. Would hate to miss any ports.