Star Princess Review 8/2-8/9

[Gator83]

Hi Everyone,
I went to Alaska on the Star Princess Aug 2-9. This was my second trip on the Star. The ship was in good shape and was kept very clean. We arrived at Pier 91 in Seattle at 11:00am (via cab $15 w/tip from downtown hotel) and had no wait to check in and only a very short wait to actually get on the ship. It was the quickest I ever got on a ship and the staterooms were available immediately. I had no problems taking a taxi to the pier…no traffic at all. Disembarkation was very smooth too and I had no problem getting a shuttle to the airport (used Shuttle Express for $16 each). I disembarked around 8:30am.
Here are my thoughts on likes and things that could have been better:
FOOD:
The dining room food was good but the service was just average. Our waiter in the Amalfi dining room (Felix) was not particularly friendly until the last day when he asked us to give him an excellent on the survey of which I did not do. The assistant waiter was a bit better (Rico). Rico did keep us supplied with ice tea, which I have had problems getting refills on other cruises.
The buffet was not as good as on my other Princess trips. A lot of the food just did not look that appetizing to me and the selection is far, far less than on HAL. I am thinking that they reconfigured the buffet when it went into to dry dock because it seemed much smaller and there was not room for all the people that were trying to get the food. It was definitely a pain to use the buffet. The pineapple was excellent like usual, the rolls are to die for, and I got to have smoked salmon every day. The pizza was good as usual but the service was poor ; the one time we got pizza out on deck the crew member seemed like we were bothering him by asking for a slice. He was starting to prepare another pizza and his response was “I’m baking” so we had to wait until he had finished. Tthe lemonade in the Horizon Court was very good and I am glad they added it. Now, the International Café coffee area….the service was AWFUL. The crew members were grouchy, looked mad all the time, never said hello, thank you, or anything else. They definitely looked like they didn’t want to be there. I made sure that Princess knew about this. If they worked for me they would be fired. The service was also very slow and they need more help. The pastry guy at the Int’l café was friendly.
Chef’s Table: I just cannot say enough about this experience. It was definitely worth the $75 cost and the people at our table were so nice to meet and spend time with. The food and wine was great. It is just a wonderful experience. Chef Remo was great!
Room Steward: My room steward was fine and I never need anything special so he just needs to make the bed and give me fresh towels, which he did. The few times I saw him in the hall he said hello and was pleasant.
CD and Staff: Our CD was Lee Childers and he is a fine CD. There were many activities on the ship so he did his job nicely with arranging all the activities. I loved his #1 assistant, Julie. She is just so funny and friendly. I did not like his other assistant, Eric, as I thought he was arrogant and made some rude comments at times. I think others liked him but we did not and would really never want to see him as a CD in the future.
Service on the ship: I was just not impressed with the service, especially compared to HAL. I did not think most of the crew was that friendly but they at least they were not grouchy (other than the guy serving coffee in the Int’l café).
Excursions: Misty Fjords boat ride in Ketchikan with Alaska Adventures. On this tour we saw lots of eagles, harbor seals,and birds but no whales. L. The trip was good but due to hazy conditions due to fires in Fairbanks, the scenery was not as great as it could have been. We stopped at a float plane dock to let others fly back over the fjords and to get others that had just taken the floatplane over the fjords. The seaplane flight I did in 2005 was much better but the boat ride was good. Whale watch with Orca Enterprises in Juneau was great. We got to see humpbacks and orcas. We got to see humpbacks bubble feeding . This is the 2nd time I have gone with Captain Larry and it is a great tour. The Glacier Point Wilderness Safari in Skagway was really great. We actually got to walk up to a glacier and touch it, which is not done most of the time according to our guide. The catamaran ride was also very hazy too so scenery wasn’t as good as it could have been, the 15 minute all-terrain vehicle (school bus) ride to a pavilion in the forest and then the short walk to the canoes were all enjoyable. At the pavilion we donned life jackets and heavy rubber boots before getting into the canoes. The canoes held 10 people and were motorized and very little paddling was involved. Davidson Glacier was absolutely spectacular but the hike to it involved walking a distance over all kinds of rocks, stones, and pebbles and was not that enjoyable to me. However, being right next to the Glacier was unbelievable. This was a great tour to take in Skagway. Butchart Gardens in Victoria was very lovely and it was nice to see some city sites on the ride back to the ship.
Shows: All the singing and dancing shows were very good (I’ve seen some where the singers are not so great) even though I had seen them a few years ago I enjoyed them again. The illusionist, Alexander, was very good as was the Crew Talent Show. Some of the crew can really sing very well.
Other things:
The naturalist (Kathy Slamp) was very good and I enjoyed all her presentations and her talks from the bridge. She is very knowledgeable and definitely likes to share her knowledge with others.
There were more kids on this trip than ever before but they were no problem at all that I saw. I did encounter some rude passengers that cut in line and ran into you but most people were very well behaved and friendly.
There did seem to be more selling of drink cards then I have encountered in the past but other than that I didn’t get harassed too much about buying things. I did want to look at a piece of ammolite jewelry and the staff in the store just stood there on two occasions and never bothered to ask if I needed help, so I bought it on shore instead.
There was a lack of cleaning the tables out by the pool area after people had finished eating but that was the only real cleanliness issue I saw.
The sea day to Ketchikan was cold and windy but sunny and the sea day back from Skagway was overcast, foggy, windy and cold.
The Star Princess is not one of my favorite ships for the following reasons: I have never received anything but average service on the Star and have not thought that the crew was as friendly as on the Coral and on HAL. I do not like the layout/configuration of the ship. I do not like that you have to go through the smoky casino to get to either end of the ship, don’t like the route you have to take to get to the Amalfi dining room and the fact that some elevators go some places and others go other places is a pain. If I can avoid taking the Star again I will.
I just love going to Alaska and love cruising and will definitely do both again. I do think I prefer HAL over Princess and will stick with them for a while (even though I have been on Princess more) but I am sure I will go on Princess again at some point.
Please feel free to ask questions!

[karatemom2]

Thank you so much for your detailed review. I enjoyed reading it!

It is nice that you took time to point out the following. So often we hear only the negatives, when your experience is likely the norm. It is nice that you included this observation in your review.

Originally Posted by Gator83

There were more kids on this trip than ever before but they were no problem at all that I saw. I did encounter some rude passengers that cut in line and ran into you but most people were very well behaved and friendly.

[sackman]

Can you compare/contrast the Star to other Grand class ships? Each ship was built just a little differently, and I'm curious as to what you felt was better and what was worse.

[Gator83]

Originally Posted by sackman

Can you compare/contrast the Star to other Grand class ships? Each ship was built just a little differently, and I'm curious as to what you felt was better and what was worse.

I think that the Coral is much easier to get around. On the Coral you don't have to go through the casino to get from one aft to forward, the Star just seems more chopped up in the way it was built regarding getting to the different public rooms, the mini golf course is in a very out of the way spot on the Star and it really isn't a good course at all, the traditional dining room on the Star is in a very out of the way spot.

[TracieABD]

Thanks for the great and detailed review. Overall, it sounds like you had a great cruise.

[mrrobby]

Did your ship go to Tracy Arm? Last week we passed the Star in Tracy Arm.We were on the Golden. If you did go, how far did you get to ? Did you see the glaciers there? Thanks.

[Gator83]

Originally Posted by mrrobby

Did your ship go to Tracy Arm? Last week we passed the Star in Tracy Arm.We were on the Golden. If you did go, how far did you get to ? Did you see the glaciers there? Thanks.

Yes, we did go to Tracy Arm but we did not get up next to it. They did tell us that our ship got the closest anyone had gotten this season. We did see the glaciers but not up close.

[Gator83]

Hi again,

I wanted to comment on how people were dressed in the dining room. It was the most casual of all my cruises. I actually did see some people in shorts and t-shirts for dinner and was suprised at that. Some of the young boys and teenagers did not look so great; I'm not sure why their parents let them look like that in the dining room. Most people did have on the proper attire and I even saw a few tuxedos on formal night.

The new Vines area is very nice but I did not buy anything there.

There were some performers during the day in the new Piazza area and that was very nice.

I did not see too much of saving seats in the Princess theater and I never had a problem getting a seat but most shows were full with some people standing.

Sail-a-way was sort of uneventful. I was on the back of the ship and don't know if they played any music or not as I didn't hear any.

I was amazed that the pools were always filled, mostly with kids.

[mii]

We were on the golden which is a sister to the Star and our sailaway was the same. No music as we found out later Seattle has an noise abatement thingy so no loud music.

marilyn

[firefly4423]

thanks for sharing!

[sherryf]

Originally Posted by mii

We were on the golden which is a sister to the Star and our sailaway was the same. No music as we found out later Seattle has an noise abatement thingy so no loud music.

I was on the Star 2 weeks ago, and there was music during sailaway. Not particularly loud music, but there was music.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Thanks for the review.

[DisneyScrapper]

I was on the Star July 12th and have to agree with some of your comments. The food in the Horizon was just so-so compared to the 2 prev Alaskan Cruises I've been on (Coral and the Golden). I also found Eric to be a rude SOB, but really like all the other staff. We did not have any problems with the International Cafe staff or the pizza staff, always friendly even let me take there pictures.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....

Bob

[Musicman1]

Some high (and low) lights for us.

First of all, can someone please explain the logic of the Horizon Court set-up? The layout makes absolutely no sense and people enter from all directions. On top of that, to repeat what others have said, the food is mediocre. The food in the dining room was better but not impressive. Yes, finding the Amalfi dinig room can be a challenge. Sabatinis was very good. Pizza was good. We did not encounter any unpleasant staff.

Shore excursions- 1) Skagway- DUCK Tour was OK. 2) Juneau- Land & Sea Photo Safari was very good. We saw Orcas and Humpbacks but didn't get very close to them. 3) Ketchikan- Yukon Jeep excursion was good. Despite what some others have said, part of this tour definitely is "off road". You are not going up the mountain in your Ford Taurus. 4) Victoria- Butchart Gardens was beautiful.

Day 1- Arrive Seattle. Unfortunately, one of my pieces of luggage had other plans. So, no t-shirts, jeans, shoes (other than my sneakers), or sweatsirts. Luckily, I packed my socks and underwear in my garment bag and other essentials in my carry-on. 4 maragritas later, no luggage, no problem. Also, thanks to Jessy in guest services for arranging for dress shoes for formal night. My luggage did show up in Skagway.

This was our second trip to Alaska. The first trip was four years ago on the Serenade of the Seas. All things considered, we prefer Royal Caribbean. We have cruised each line twice.

[Musicman1]

I meant to say my luggage showed up in Ketchikan, which was our first port. Sorry about that.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the reviews.