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Joining its sister Sun Princess® as our next ship, Star Princess® was designed to bring you to the world, and the world to you.
Having been on 12 or 13 cruises now, I’m hardly a frequent cruiser but neither am I a newbie. My relationship with cruising has been love-hate from the start. Obviously more love than hate or I wouldn’t keep doing it, and I can honestly say the same about my stays at all-inclusive resorts. I’ve cruised with NCL, Royal Caribbean, MSC, and Princess. I’ve found each ship uniquely beautiful, and I’ve had minor grievances with each, too. This is to say I don’t have a favorite, but there were none that I disliked in general. The brand new Star Princess is bright and shiny-new. Nothing creaks or groans, nothing is scratched up or dented yet. The furnishings are tasteful and clean. The food was excellent all around (as expected), and the service was top notch (also as expected). Some of the new high tech features like the pre-assigned elevator system and medallions for room access (and other services) are a big improvement. It’s really great how your cabin door handle illuminates green and unlocks when you approach. These improvements solve a lot of problems with crowds gathering in elevator bays, long(er) lines forming at bars and the gangway, and lost room cards. Excursions were well done–organized, efficient, a good use of time, and with clear instructions. It’s amazing how Princess manages to get thousands of people off the ship quickly, directed to their excursion groups, and back onboard without incident. They have a great system. Overall the staff was engaged and attentive. It didn’t feel like anyone was just going through the motions or pretending to enjoy their job. It is unlike me to remember the cruise director’s name, much less to mention it in a review. Previous cruise directors have ranged from tolerable to super annoying for me, and they trended toward the latter. I don’t remember any of them. Dan Looney was different. He was somewhat corny, as is part of the job description, but his personality and presence sincerely contributed to the persona of the ship and the overall experience. He was a real human being who shared some of his life story with the passengers. He was open, funny, friendly, and extremely talented. His show was one of the real (and totally unexpected) highlights of this cruise for me, and his singing brought me to tears (in a good way). Now onto the not-so-great stuff. I’ve already said that the ship was beautiful, but I can also say that it lacked some of the wow factor I was expecting. The early promotional videos I watched influenced me to choose this ship over others because it was brand new and looked spectacular. However, I think a lot of the images shown in promos are of the specialty dining venues and areas that only the guests paying for top tier access get to see. MSC Meraviglia and Royal’s Allure of the Seas are memorable for their wow factor. This ship simply was not. The Star is massive and impressive in its architecture, and the back area of the Aurora dining room offered a beautiful view. A lot of what gets added with the mega ships, though, is floors of cabins, not common areas that can be enjoyed by passengers paying for a less-than-top-tier experience. This goes to show that bigger isn’t always better. It means bigger crowds but not a lot added in terms of common/public areas compared to smaller ships. I sailed previously on the Star Princess II, for example, and I loved the Skywalkers observation lounge. It was the best feature of that ship, its panoramic views being something I’ve talked about ever since. I was disappointed that instead of being improved upon (the Dome offers no comparison), it was completely done away with. I was also disappointed that the baked Alaska parade in the MDR on the second formal night was done away with. It was much better, in my opinion, than the staff appreciation parade in the piazza the next day, which was hard to see and poorly attended. The new baked Alaska, made in individual servings, was basically an ice cream sundae. It wasn’t awful—just something that had been a highlight for me on previous Princess cruises. Having said that, the overall food quality in the MDR was excellent. A couple of the choices Princess made for this ship were “interesting” for me, though not really a problem. One was that there was no big theater with big productions like on other ships I’ve seen. The theater does feature some cool new technology, and the shows on cruises are never a big draw for me, but I found it a bit odd that a ship this size wouldn’t have a big theater with a featured headline show. The other thing I found interesting was the photo area. It’s tucked away in a corner and open at odd times. We figured out how to access our photos in the app, but they were tiny and hard to see with the digital watermarks. We did discover that photos could be accessed in some of the large monitors by the elevators (in addition to on the computers in the photo area), but it wasn’t clear how to get to them from some of the various screen layouts. On previous cruises (across all lines I’ve traveled with), traffic patterns were such that guests had to walk through the photo areas, and photos were printed and displayed each day. It was almost impossible not to stop to look at your photos, and doing so inspired us to buy them on more than one cruise (something we hadn’t planned to do in advance). On this ship, we were forced to walk through the smoky casino multiple times instead. These decisions were likely driven by Princess’ knowledge about how to make money from passengers. More cabin fares and money tossed into slot machines is apparently much more profitable than big theater shows and photography sales. The following list of grievances falls under the heading of minor irritations: (1) The traffic pattern around the specialty coffee area created a major bottleneck at times; (2) The buffet was very crowded with too few tables and people pushing and shoving (not unlike any other mega cruise ship); (3) The scrambled eggs were consistently half raw and runny (which is also a thing on MSC ships—why????); (4) We were bothered on several occasions by noise from people dragging their chairs across balconies. I know deck furniture needs to be heavy so it doesn’t blow overboard, but attaching some simple plastic glides to the bottom of it would reduce the dragging noise dramatically; (5) The front area of the ship ahead of the dome was poorly designed for Alaska cruises. It was odd to me that some glass panels were used (I am assuming as wind breaks) but that the area wasn’t able to be closed to allow it to be enjoyed in less-than-warm weather. I understand that this ship spends its winters in the Caribbean, but I wondered why a retractable roof wasn’t used (like it is on the MSC ships I’ve enjoyed) to allow for this area to be enjoyed in both warm and cold climates; and finally (6) There was sometimes a lack of clear information and wayfinding signage. Some examples included how to use the elevators, how to use the app, and disembarkation as it related to checked baggage. We tried to enroll in the port valet program, as encouraged by the cruise line. However, the airline rejected the request (as we were later told “happens all the time”) but this was not made clear to us. We were given the wrong baggage tags and had to visit the customer service counter to figure out what happened and work out a new plan. We ended up on the bus back to the Seattle airport with some people who filled out the port valet form and assumed mistakenly that their luggage would be transferred to the airport when in fact it was still sitting at the cruise terminal. I can see how this could easily happen. Overall, this was a wonderful cruise. I would definitely sail with Princess again and would certainly recommend this ship and itinerary to others who are considering an Alaska cruise.
From the moment you step aboard, we want you to feel welcomed and right at home. And with attentive service from a friendly staff that knows what hospitality means, you’ll find your Princess® ship truly is your home away from home.
Photos, floor plan diagrams, amenities, and furnishings represent typical arrangements and may vary by ship and stateroom.
Entertainment Goes Next-Level
