Star princess northbound to Alaska from Vancouver.

We are now back and had an amazing trip. We were a three generation family. Traveled with two 10 year olds amy my parents in their 7Os. You all were so kind with all my questions. If anyone has any I can try and answer. But overall the trip was top notch.

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We'll be on the Star in Oct, going to Hawaii. Can you tell us a little about the ship? Have any pictures? I understand he came out of dry dock in Jan and had a lot of things updated.

We'll be on the Star in Oct, going to Hawaii. Can you tell us a little about the ship? Have any pictures? I understand he came out of dry dock in Jan and had a lot of things updated.

We were just on the Star the 2nd week of May.

While it had just come out of drydock, there were still repairing things on the ship as we sailed. There was a crew laying new carpets on deck 10, some cabins were also getting their carpets replaced. There were some constructions crews on other decks. We had a mini-suite, and while it was a nice cabin, it did have an older decor. A piece of our carpet came loose one day, and some of the trim mouldings on the desk fell off. They were very quick to come and fix the defects.

Good points: The beds were OUTSTANDING, I cannot say enough about how comfortable they were. I had the best sleep in years on these beds (I want one!!!). The TV's were flat screen and in great working order. There were no problems with any of the fixtures, stairs, elevators (tho we only used it once), etc.

Captain Tivo is a hoot, and I really enjoy his "Bye-Bye" after each announcement.

We were just off the Star on Saturday as well. We sailed her back when she was pretty new (pre fire as well) and I was concerned after all these years she’d be looking a bit worn. I was pleasantly surprised at how great she looked. I second the comment on the beds (and pillows) they were exceptional. This ship has great captain and it just flows right on down thru all his crew. In 7 days we never ran into a crew member who wasn’t most pleasant and eager to make our cruise the best. There were 6 in our group, the other 4 new to cruising, they were really impressed. I also thought the food quality was one of the best in my 12 Princess cruises. I’d sail the Star and with Captain Tuvo again anyday.

So happy to hear this since we will be on her this Saturday the 23rd!

I have a question regarding embarkation in Vancouver...did it take longer than at the usual ports? I got an email from Princess yesterday saying that our deck doesn't board until 3:30. We sail at 4:30 so obviously we wouldn't wait that long to board. We are planning to arrive around noon and hopefully it doesn't take too long. Did you do the cruise checkin first and then go through US Customs, or vice versa?

For us it did take a little longer than other ports. How much longer really will depend on how many ships are in port that day since they all use the same terminal. Drop your bags with the porters and then you will head into a reception hall. From there you will be sent in groups to Canadian security (think airports), once through that you will head to US Customs. If you have Global Entry you can save a lot of time there. Only after you clear customs does the line split off into their respective cruise. Because of choke point at US Customs there is almost no line at Princess Check-in

Thank you so much InAlabama! :-)

Two more questions...

1) Did they have Puppies in the Piazza in Skagway, and if so, what time?

2) Do they have the Belgian waffle bar by the pool at breakfast time?

So happy to hear this since we will be on her this Saturday the 23rd!

 

I have a question regarding embarkation in Vancouver...did it take longer than at the usual ports? I got an email from Princess yesterday saying that our deck doesn't board until 3:30. We sail at 4:30 so obviously we wouldn't wait that long to board. We are planning to arrive around noon and hopefully it doesn't take too long. Did you do the cruise checkin first and then go through US Customs, or vice versa?

Vancouver is not your typical port, seems that handling Cruises was an after thought. It felt more like a temporary set-up at a home show.

It did take some time, dropping off our bags, upstairs to get checked in, then back downstairs to US customs (yes, you clear customs before you board), and after that you walked right on. We were on one the Star’s first Vancouver cruise of the season, and the Princess staff was still getting used to the set-up.

We arrived at 11:30 and were on-board by 12:30, and cabins were ready. We are just Ruby so had no special boarding privileges..

You will be OK arriving at Noon.

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Thank you so much InAlabama! :-)

Two more questions...

1) Did they have Puppies in the Piazza in Skagway, and if so, what time?

2) Do they have the Belgian waffle bar by the pool at breakfast time?

Did you say puppies? Yes we had them on the Emerald in Skagway from about 3 to 4 down in the piazza.

Don't know about Belgian waffles we never went up to look at Breakfast.

Thank you so much InAlabama! :-)

Two more questions...

1) Did they have Puppies in the Piazza in Skagway, and if so, what time?

2) Do they have the Belgian waffle bar by the pool at breakfast time?

We sailed northbound on Star on 5/26. They did have puppies from 5:30-6:30, I believe!

They were replacing deck 9 carpets while we were on board.

Currently trying to figure out whether to sail again on Star to Hawaii in Oct or Nov or back to Alaska next summer.

Puppies in the Piazza started at 5pm. There were 4 puppies and they rotated them two at a time to accommodate all those who wanted pics.

The Port of Vancouver is big walking wise compared to other embarkation ports, that’s what takes the time. You drop your bags off to the porter on the main level then go upstairs to Princess check in. Then you go back downstairs for security then US customs. Then you split off for boarding to the correct ship. It’s a lot of ground to cover. My DH has mobility issues and he found it challenging. That being said, we got out of the cab at noon and walked in to our cabin at 12:30. We are both Platinum and have Nexus so we encountered no line up wait except security. The US customs regular line was long and friends we travelled with (no Nexus) said it took over 30 min just for that line. We walked right up and through in a second.

The Port of Vancouver is not my favourite but the sailaway can’t be beat on a nice day.

I got an email from Princess yesterday saying that our deck doesn't board until 3:30.

That is basically a suggestion to help spread out the passengers instead of many trying to check-in around the same time.

You should be able to drop off luggage anytime after 10 AM and check in starting around 11 AM.

Thank you all for the info :-)

My daughters will be happy to know about the puppies (and I'm glad I left that afternoon open).

I think we will aim for 11am to get to Canada Place because it does sound a bit time consuming.

Hi all,

I will answer the questions I can:

I had never been on a princes cruise so I did not know what to expect. That said I though the condition of the ship was outstanding. Everything looked in order. The food was good. Not great, but good. It was what I expected cruise ship food to be. I found the Crown Grill just fine but the pay up Italian to be better. We ate most nights in the MDR. The service there from head waiter Paul was outstanding. We had two with dietary issues and he really went above and beyond.

As for Vancouver Place....we got there around 1:30 or 2. We were on the ship within 30 minutes. No waiting at all. It was like we were they only ones there. So I think we missed the main rush. Which was just fine for us.

We didn't see the puppies in the plaza but in our excursion in Skagaway we went to a mushing summer camp so we cuddled them there.

I agree with the poster about the staff. In 7 days we did not have one bad experience with anyone on the ship. What a great group. Also the beds were amazing. We had bunk beds. We all slept like babies.

Thank you for helping us plan our cruise this August....can you tell me what nights were formal/captain dinners in MDR - deciding what nights to make specialty dining reservations.

Based on prior experience with a Vancouver departure, I now make sure to have a few comfort items in my carry on. We got stuck for hours trying to board on a day that three ships were in. It was so bad, the ship was delayed leaving and we missed the scheduled muster drill requiring a make up drill. It was an early diners missed their tables kind of late. This was after arriving around noon. Not saying it WILL happen, only that it CAN. We've also had super easy boardings which led to a bit of complacency. Just make sure you are prepared with a snack, maybe a small bottle of water and a book or magazine and your patience.

Thank you, that is good to know! We are currently waiting at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport and will head over to the port at noon when we checkout. I will bring snacks and waters just in case.

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For those who didn’t know or didn’t see my other thread, embarkation is delayed today (Saturday June 23rd) because of a norovirus outbreak on the current Star cruise :-(

We are hoping the extra ship cleaning will help and we are going to be extra cautious! Trying to not think about it honestly...

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For those who didn’t know or didn’t see my other thread, embarkation is delayed today (Saturday June 23rd) because of a norovirus outbreak on the current Star cruise :-(

We are hoping the extra ship cleaning will help and we are going to be extra cautious! Trying to not think about it honestly...

 

 

 

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Interestingly on our cruise week of June 9 the ship was having issues with crew being ill, not pax. On the 1st night the piano fellow in Crooners was complaining of a sore throat and drinking hot lemon water, he did do his scheduled shows all week though. The Capri dining room had one rough night on night 5 when they were down a few servers due to illness and had to juggle staff around. Our regular waiter Leo ended up being shifted and an assistant waiter promoted for the night to handle his duties (she did very well BTW). Maybe this is where it all started.

We were on the 9 June northbound cruise from Vancouver. Boarding was very swift - from Uber drop off, handing luggage immediately to the porter, through the various checkpoint, we never stopped moving till were onboard. We were able to go to cabin immediately and out luggage was waiting for us outside.

Whole process, taxi-to-cabin, less than an hour. Our first Princess cruise, so no special accommodations other than TSA Global Entry. Impressive.

I will say you do need to walk some distance as the Canada Place facilities are large.

We did MDR every on board meal but 2 and the dining rooms were fully staffed. Ate twice in the Crown Grill, once for British Pub Lunch, found quality of steaks at dinner disapppointing and not on par with other prime steak houses (eg Ruth Chris, Morton’s, Capital Grill). Room was cleaned or tidied 3x a day.

We saw no indication of any Noro or other widespread medical issues. Public areas seemed fully staffed. No indications of staff illness, if the pianist was ill, well you are bound to have a few ill people out of the 4K or soon the ship. We did the behind the scene tour and the ship’s medical facilities were impressive ... but empty, slow.

First time on a Princess Cruise. Alaska. Vancouver to Seattle. May 2019. Wondering if we made a mistake in choosing the itinerary that includes Tracy Arm Fjord rather than Glacial National Park. Any thoughts?

First time on a Princess Cruise. Alaska. Vancouver to Seattle. May 2019. Wondering if we made a mistake in choosing the itinerary that includes Tracy Arm Fjord rather than Glacial National Park. Any thoughts?

Maybe, Tracy Arm wasn't open due to too much ice on our trip there May 2017, they did another fjord next to Tracy.

If you do find an itinerary that includes Tracy Arm, make sure it's the one where you can book an excursion where you transfer to a tour boat in the fjord that takes you to Juneau to catch up with the ship. Usually those are RT Seattle.

You do need to do both but Glacier Bay is a "don't miss".

Thank you very much!

First time on a Princess Cruise. Alaska. Vancouver to Seattle. May 2019. Wondering if we made a mistake in choosing the itinerary that includes Tracy Arm Fjord rather than Glacial National Park. Any thoughts?

I would switch. Tracy Arm is often not visited by ships in May and June due to ice. They often switch to Endicott Arm.

If you have never been to Alaska -do Glacier Bay. It is never missed and is amazing.

star was excellent, when I went on my first cruise on her 2012 to alaska. she is one of the most beautiful ships I've been on