Explorer vs. Star Princess

[petittarte]

Help! Me, my husband and a few friends are trying to decide between the January 9, 2005 sailings of the Explorer and Star. We are in are mid thirties to early forties. My husband and I have only been on 1 cruise and that was the Sea Princess back in December 2000. The food was great, the service was great, the entertainment was good, but most of the passengers were quite a bit older than us. We had a great time.

My friends have never been on Princess, but just got back from Voyager and found both the food and service to be lacking, but overall had a decent time.

The prices for both ships are pretty much the same and they are both sailing the eastern caribbean. While I really want to try RCCL, after some of the comments I've been reading on these boards lately, I'm a little hesitant.

Can I get some honest opinions?


Please forgive any spelling errors, but I'm lost with out spell check!

Jodi

[hr80126]

Jodi, Sailed on Star last August in Alaska. I thought it was superb. The balcony rooms on Caribe Deck are huge. We had happy hour there every day. We also were allowed to bring wine on board. I thought that was cool. We also liked the anytime dining. We would plan our day and then decided when we wanted to eat. Never more than a few minutes wait. Table size varies and the four of us where at a table for four only once. But we enjoyed meeting the people. The ship is outstanding. In fact we are back on the star in September for a 12 day Med cruise. Rich

9/13 Star Princess
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[depwa45]

Hi Jodi.
We have not been on the Star, but we were on the Grand a couple of years ago, and they are sister ships. We have also been on the Sea Princess as well. Last month we took our first RCL ship, which was the Explorer. We thought they were both equal, except for the food. We thought that Princess had better dinning room choices. Service wise, entertainment, ship decorations, we thought that both lines were pretty much on par with each other. Good luck!

03/13/04- Explorer!!
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Carnival Triumph January 2003
Sea Princess September 2002
Grand Princess January 2002
Inspiration June 1996