Star Princess 2025

[nasa1974]

@dides I just want to say thank you for all the posts and pictures you put in the Sun Princess thread.

Thanks again.

 

nasa1974 

aka Marty

[dides]

7 minutes ago, nasa1974 said:

@dides I just want to say thank you for all the posts and pictures you put in the Sun Princess thread.

Thanks again.

 

nasa1974 

aka Marty

Thanks Marty - what a ride eh? 😀  I'm just the librarian mainly - will keep chipping in on the new threads where it can help others

 

Edited March 9 by dides

[paradiselivin1]

19 hours ago, Prometheus1 said:

Booked on the 16 day TA on Star in 2025

Sailing along with you on Deck 12 in a cabana mini suite. Looked interesting and thought we'd give it a try.

[castlegetaway]

On 2/29/2024 at 7:24 PM, vwlmember said:

My wife and I are booked on the September 30th cruise in a D1 Premium Deluxe Balcony on deck 15. Cannot wait! 578 days and counting down!

We are also booked on this cruise! We will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. Very exciting!

[nasa1974]

1 hour ago, castlegetaway said:

We are also booked on this cruise! We will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. Very exciting!

Congratulations and welcome aboard.

[voljeep]

17 hours ago, dides said:

Thanks Marty - what a ride eh? 😀  I'm just the librarian mainly - will keep chipping in on the new threads where it can help others

 

maybe dides (deleted)

[nasa1974]

@dides Your information being posted on the Sun thread is amazing and well appreciated. I've been trying to find any information on the buildup of the Star and have found nothing. Probably not looking at the right sites. Any clue on where to look?

Thanks nasa1974

Marty

[dides]

5 minutes ago, nasa1974 said:

@dides Your information being posted on the Sun thread is amazing and well appreciated. I've been trying to find any information on the buildup of the Star and have found nothing. Probably not looking at the right sites. Any clue on where to look?

Hey Marty,  just regular trawling of the usual media sites - insta, FB, X, Google News and using the search on Il Piccolo, It's bound to be quiet for the early build stages and Sun is getting a lot of the coverage at the moment. 

[nasa1974]

26 minutes ago, dides said:

Hey Marty,  just regular trawling of the usual media sites - insta, FB, X, Google News and using the search on Il Piccolo, It's bound to be quiet for the early build stages and Sun is getting a lot of the coverage at the moment. 

Thanks. Not part of X but I think I got the rest covered. 🙂

[dides]

Posting this on the Star Princess build thread following the updates from those passengers who have been notified of changes directly. While nine inaugural sailings have now been cancelled and the new inaugural is now October 4 2025, this states the ship delivery date will be September 26, 2025 (a slot for a shakedown cruise maybe?).

 

The official press release:

 

MONFALCONE, Italy, (April 19, 2024) – Princess Cruises and ship builder Fincantieri today announced the mutual decision to postpone the delivery of the next Sphere Class ship, Star Princess.

Following a comprehensive review of the remaining construction milestones, both parties have elected to adjust the ship's delivery date from July 29, 2025 to September 26, 2025, which will result in the cancellation of the nine inaugural sailings.

“Despite our collective dedication and relentless pursuit to deliver the ship in late July, it has become evident that additional time is required to ensure the Star Princess is delivered to the highest standards expected by our guests,” said John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises.

The new inaugural sailings of Star Princess will sail roundtrip from Barcelona and include an 11-day Mediterranean voyage on October 4, 2025, and a 7-day Mediterranean voyage on October 15, 2025, that precede a 14-day transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale on October 22, 2025 for the ship’s first Caribbean season. These three new cruises will open for sale on April 30, 2024.

Guests who are booked on any of the impacted voyages will be given three options: book any Princess cruise worldwide, including aboard the new Star, sister ship Sun Princess, or any other Princess ship.

Guests who elect to rebook will receive future cruise- and onboard-credits depending on the cruise they select.  Guests will also have the option to cancel and receive a full refund of the cruise fare.

Princess will protect travel agent commissions on all bookings that have been paid in full.

Star Princess is the second in the new Sphere Class of ships for Princess. Sister ship Sun Princess, built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, debuted in February and is hailed as the next level Love Boat featuring the iconic and elegant structural lines Princess is known for, while delivering an evolution of the brand with new eye-catching architectural spectacles like The Dome, the cruise industry’s first geodesic feature on the top deck, and The Sphere, the suspended glass Sphere Piazza at the center of the cruise ship.

 

 

Edited April 19 by dides

[dog]

Email received for the October 20/25 TA.

[paradiselivin1]

We received ours earlier, too. Conflicted about keeping the TA in place or opting for something else. If it leaves from Barcelona, we'll probably hit the same ports as we did on our last TA from there. Was looking for something a bit different on a new ship..

[CatMom72]

1 hour ago, dides said:

Posting this on the Star Princess build thread following the updates from those passengers who have been notified of changes directly. While nine inaugural sailings have now been cancelled and the new inaugural is now October 4 2025, this states the ship delivery date will be September 26, 2025 (a slot for a shakedown cruise maybe?).

 

The official press release:

 

MONFALCONE, Italy, (April 19, 2024) – Princess Cruises and ship builder Fincantieri today announced the mutual decision to postpone the delivery of the next Sphere Class ship, Star Princess.

Following a comprehensive review of the remaining construction milestones, both parties have elected to adjust the ship's delivery date from July 29, 2025 to September 26, 2025, which will result in the cancellation of the nine inaugural sailings.

“Despite our collective dedication and relentless pursuit to deliver the ship in late July, it has become evident that additional time is required to ensure the Star Princess is delivered to the highest standards expected by our guests,” said John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises.

The new inaugural sailings of Star Princess will sail roundtrip from Barcelona and include an 11-day Mediterranean voyage on October 4, 2025, and a 7-day Mediterranean voyage on October 15, 2025, that precede a 14-day transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale on October 22, 2025 for the ship’s first Caribbean season. These three new cruises will open for sale on April 30, 2024.

Guests who are booked on any of the impacted voyages will be given three options: book any Princess cruise worldwide, including aboard the new Star, sister ship Sun Princess, or any other Princess ship.

Guests who elect to rebook will receive future cruise- and onboard-credits depending on the cruise they select.  Guests will also have the option to cancel and receive a full refund of the cruise fare.

Princess will protect travel agent commissions on all bookings that have been paid in full.

Star Princess is the second in the new Sphere Class of ships for Princess. Sister ship Sun Princess, built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, debuted in February and is hailed as the next level Love Boat featuring the iconic and elegant structural lines Princess is known for, while delivering an evolution of the brand with new eye-catching architectural spectacles like The Dome, the cruise industry’s first geodesic feature on the top deck, and The Sphere, the suspended glass Sphere Piazza at the center of the cruise ship.

 

 

At least they are notifying passengers well in advance this time.

[eastcoastcruiser]

4 hours ago, CatMom72 said:

At least they are notifying passengers well in advance this time.

We got that same email today for the October 2025 TA- had booked a Reserve Mini suite and planned travel in the UK and Paris before boarding in Southampton for some new ports we had not done before. Also very undecided what to do at this point.😟 

[CruznMooses]

Okay this is bizarre... Earlier this week the DW and I made the decision to book the Trans Atlantic cruise and cancel the first 19 day inaugural cruise. After seeing what happened to the Sun I was worried that the same thing might happen to the Star....Well low and behold Princess did it for us a few days later....Heck at the way things are going the TA cruise could end up being the first cruise anyways.... well at least we locked in the cruise at a really great price...will be really curious when they release the cruise on the 30th what a new booking will cost?

[LACruiser88]

6 hours ago, CatMom72 said:

At least they are notifying passengers well in advance this time.

Amen!!!

[nasa1974]

6 hours ago, dides said:

Posting this on the Star Princess build thread following the updates from those passengers who have been notified of changes directly. While nine inaugural sailings have now been cancelled and the new inaugural is now October 4 2025, this states the ship delivery date will be September 26, 2025 (a slot for a shakedown cruise maybe?).

 

The official press release:

 

MONFALCONE, Italy, (April 19, 2024) – Princess Cruises and ship builder Fincantieri today announced the mutual decision to postpone the delivery of the next Sphere Class ship, Star Princess.

Following a comprehensive review of the remaining construction milestones, both parties have elected to adjust the ship's delivery date from July 29, 2025 to September 26, 2025, which will result in the cancellation of the nine inaugural sailings.

“Despite our collective dedication and relentless pursuit to deliver the ship in late July, it has become evident that additional time is required to ensure the Star Princess is delivered to the highest standards expected by our guests,” said John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises.

The new inaugural sailings of Star Princess will sail roundtrip from Barcelona and include an 11-day Mediterranean voyage on October 4, 2025, and a 7-day Mediterranean voyage on October 15, 2025, that precede a 14-day transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale on October 22, 2025 for the ship’s first Caribbean season. These three new cruises will open for sale on April 30, 2024.

Guests who are booked on any of the impacted voyages will be given three options: book any Princess cruise worldwide, including aboard the new Star, sister ship Sun Princess, or any other Princess ship.

Guests who elect to rebook will receive future cruise- and onboard-credits depending on the cruise they select.  Guests will also have the option to cancel and receive a full refund of the cruise fare.

Princess will protect travel agent commissions on all bookings that have been paid in full.

Star Princess is the second in the new Sphere Class of ships for Princess. Sister ship Sun Princess, built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, debuted in February and is hailed as the next level Love Boat featuring the iconic and elegant structural lines Princess is known for, while delivering an evolution of the brand with new eye-catching architectural spectacles like The Dome, the cruise industry’s first geodesic feature on the top deck, and The Sphere, the suspended glass Sphere Piazza at the center of the cruise ship.

 

 

Thank you. I just saw this and was going to post.

[nasa1974]

I'm booked on the Star out of Ft. Lauderdale for a 5/7 b2b on 11/10/25. 

[JoieNsk]

We received cancellation email today about 10 nights Mediterranean out of Barcelona on October 1st 2025.

 

The wording of the email upper on this thread is nicer than the one we received.

 

"Dear Valued Princess Guest,

We are writing to share an important update regarding the delivery and launch of our second spectacular Sphere Class ship, Star Princess.

Princess Cruises, in collaboration with shipbuilder Fincantieri, has made the difficult decision to postpone the delivery of Star Princess until Fall 2025. Following a thorough evaluation of the remaining construction milestones, both parties have determined it is necessary to adjust the ship’s delivery date from late July 2025 to late September 2025. Unfortunately, this will result in the cancellation of the multiple inaugural sailings originally planned, including yours.

While this decision was not taken lightly, we believe it is essential to ensure that Star Princess’ delivery upholds the impeccable standards expected by our esteemed guests.

The new inaugural sailings of Star Princess will sail roundtrip from Barcelona and include an 11-day Mediterranean voyage on October 4, 2025, and a 7-day Mediterranean voyage on October 15, 2025, that precede a 14-day transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale on October 22, 2025, for the ship’s first Caribbean season. These three new cruises will open for sale on April 30, 2024. We understand the inconvenience this may cause and extend our sincerest apologies. In recognition of this, we have automatically turned all funds paid to date into a refundable Future Cruise Credit (FCC) and will add a $100 per stateroom onboard credit (non-refundable) to your account. This FCC and bonus OBC can be applied when rebooking any Princess cruise sailing by November 30, 2025, when booked by November 30, 2024. Alternatively, if you would like to forgo the bonus OBC and simply cancel your booking for a full refund, please complete this form by May 6. If you do not complete the form by May 6, you will retain your FCC and Onboard Credit. Star Princess represents the next generation of cruise ships within the Sphere Class – following in the footsteps of her sister ship, Sun Princess, which debuted in February. Mirroring Sun Princess, Star Princess will shine with exciting new features, such as The Dome, the cruise industry’s first geodesic feature on the top deck; and The Sphere, the captivating, suspended glass Sphere Piazza at the heart of the ship – all while retaining the timeless elegance Princess is renowned for. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time of adjustment. Our commitment to delivering exceptional experiences remains unwavering, and we eagerly anticipate welcoming you aboard Star Princess as we embark on this remarkable journey together."

Edited April 20 by JoieNsk

[JoieNsk]

Really??? 🤣

 

As I didn't want to deal with all that "for your convenience" FCC crap from the email, I found another sailing kind of around the same time frame, with reasonable enough price, so I can rebook before they took our money and put it into that extremely convenient for them FCC with limited dates and limited expiration. 

 

I mean reasonable as we had an amazing fare booked, and there is nothing comparable to that now, so the deal is lost for sure. I had to chose smaller room for shorter cruise, as the rooms and the nice prices are gone by now. 

 

I had half of the cruise paid already, with both Amex offers and gift cards. So I had to skip the refund option.

 

I called our big box travel agency we have the cruise booked with, and it seems like they had no idea the cruise was cancelled. Their agent called Princess to rebook for me, and appeared that they already cancelled and transferred the money into FCC, without even asking us if we wanted this option. Not even that - the Princess agent was telling the other agent, that the FCC was less than the money we actually paid. But she didn't know why. The travel agency agent made a wild guess that they substructed the taxes, and they were going to refund the taxes. Basically nobody knew for sure where our $220 went. 

 

Appeared to be, they weren't gone anywhere, as in the end all the money we paid got transferred to the new itinerary. So - as usually - it's a mess, and nobody knows nothing.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20 by JoieNsk

[JoieNsk]

The new cruise we booked is not on Star. I don't care about inaugural or not inaugural.

 

I want the cruise to happen.

 

And I don't think it is safe to book any inaugural cruise on the new ship - from the "actually happening" perspective. 

 

The new cruise is on the Sun, and she is already sailing. So at least the ship exists 🤣 So the itinerary might keep staying as existing one too. At least it is more likely than any itinerary on the newer ship.

 

And yes, compared to people who got cancelled a week before the cruise - like it happened this year - we are much better off.

 

But still - the "for your convenience" crap from the email - they must think that their customers are not very smart, for sure. That kind of bothers me, really.

 

When we got Holland America cruise cancelled - we got our money back + additional FCC in the amount we already paid towards the cruise! Not $100 per a cabin. That was a deal.

 

I guess Princess must be doing so well now, that they don't care if people book with them or not. So they don't even make an effort. This is our first time on Princess. So I don't know if they always do business in this interesting way? 

[akaCruiser]

I'm disappointed that Star Princess is being delayed, but I'm glad that this will mean that when (if you can rebook) you board the Star Princess it will be fully functional and all services and activities will be available for the passengers (as compared to Sun Princess and only partial availability of some venues and shows when she started sailing).

 

When I read the cancellation email, there was a couple of things which I thought that Princess could have done better. Firstly, the offer of OBC of $100 was not really a meaningful amount also the time in which you need to apply to a booking was a bit short time wise. The other thing was that for my booking the Princess Plus was discounted by 20% which I will not have for a future booking. I really was hoping that in place, Princess could either honor the discount for any future bookings and/or provide a discount of 20% for a future booking.

 

I really wish that I could contact Princess and get them to up their cancellation offers a bit more, as I was really looking forward on sailing on the Star in August 2025.

[cltnccruisers]

18 hours ago, JoieNsk said:

We received cancellation email today about 10 nights Mediterranean out of Barcelona on October 1st 2025.

 

The wording of the email upper on this thread is nicer than the one we received.

 

"Dear Valued Princess Guest,

We are writing to share an important update regarding the delivery and launch of our second spectacular Sphere Class ship, Star Princess.

Princess Cruises, in collaboration with shipbuilder Fincantieri, has made the difficult decision to postpone the delivery of Star Princess until Fall 2025. Following a thorough evaluation of the remaining construction milestones, both parties have determined it is necessary to adjust the ship’s delivery date from late July 2025 to late September 2025. Unfortunately, this will result in the cancellation of the multiple inaugural sailings originally planned, including yours.

While this decision was not taken lightly, we believe it is essential to ensure that Star Princess’ delivery upholds the impeccable standards expected by our esteemed guests.

The new inaugural sailings of Star Princess will sail roundtrip from Barcelona and include an 11-day Mediterranean voyage on October 4, 2025, and a 7-day Mediterranean voyage on October 15, 2025, that precede a 14-day transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale on October 22, 2025, for the ship’s first Caribbean season. These three new cruises will open for sale on April 30, 2024. We understand the inconvenience this may cause and extend our sincerest apologies. In recognition of this, we have automatically turned all funds paid to date into a refundable Future Cruise Credit (FCC) and will add a $100 per stateroom onboard credit (non-refundable) to your account. This FCC and bonus OBC can be applied when rebooking any Princess cruise sailing by November 30, 2025, when booked by November 30, 2024. Alternatively, if you would like to forgo the bonus OBC and simply cancel your booking for a full refund, please complete this form by May 6. If you do not complete the form by May 6, you will retain your FCC and Onboard Credit. Star Princess represents the next generation of cruise ships within the Sphere Class – following in the footsteps of her sister ship, Sun Princess, which debuted in February. Mirroring Sun Princess, Star Princess will shine with exciting new features, such as The Dome, the cruise industry’s first geodesic feature on the top deck; and The Sphere, the captivating, suspended glass Sphere Piazza at the heart of the ship – all while retaining the timeless elegance Princess is renowned for. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time of adjustment. Our commitment to delivering exceptional experiences remains unwavering, and we eagerly anticipate welcoming you aboard Star Princess as we embark on this remarkable journey together."

They are proud of Star's sister ship?  That's almost funny.

[dides]

There was another announcement today amongst the Sun Princess christening excitement and Sanctuary Collection press release:

 

Star Princess to sail to Alaska

Also announced today was future plans for Star Princess, Princess’ second ship in its sphere class which recently has her first sailing delayed from 29 July 2025 to 26 September 2025.

Veering away from the news of delays however was Vicki Johnson, the head of communications at Princess Cruises, who unveiled the news that Star Princess will sail to Alaska in 2026 after a debut summer in the Mediterranean and a season in the Caribbean.

 

[memoak]

New SF hips as Keats have production issues. This could have been predicted long ago. Never ever book the first few months of a new ship due to delays and shake down issues once sailing