REVIEW: Star Northbound to Alaska with Kids in a family suite

Just off the Star Princess (June 23-June 30) - yes the one right after the Noro scare - and ready to give a review of the good, the bad and a little ugly. I'll go day by day and answer any questions as best I can. These boards are incredibly helpful to me so my only goal is to be helpful to someone else - especially someone who has kids (since there isn't a lot of info about kids and princess). Warning - I don't post pictures - there are enough of those out there. I also don't have the patters or menus but I'm happy to answer questions. I did however save the kids club schedule which I will post once I unearth them from the luggage!

A bit about us - we are a family of 4 (early 40s and 2 boys - 11 and 7) and are well traveled and well cruised but this was our first Princess cruise. We've cruised on long and short itineraries with most of the major lines. We chose our cruise for itinerary, price and activities and aren't loyal to a line. For this trip, we also took my parents who are in their early 70s as a 50th anniversary celebration.

We booked about 15 months out and had all flights, hotels and rental cars booked 9 months out with no issues with availability. We took a chance and booked a family suite for this trip. I had read mixed reviews on this room category and knew I was taking a chance. I think it worked out beautifully but I'll go into more detail later on that.

Day 1 - Vancouver

After a long day of flying and several hours of delays we finally arrived in Vancouver - 2 nights before the cruise. I wanted to have a full day to enjoy Vancouver. We opted to stay at the Hampton Inn across from BC Place. We were using Hilton points and this was my best value for the money since Hampton Inns offer a free breakfast and Hilton properties do not. Hotel was great. Clean, friendly and I actually liked the location. We were a 15 min walk from Gastown and a 10 min walk to Yaletown and right next to all sorts of restaurants. And a 10 min walk to the ferries. We dropped all our luggage and decided we needed some fresh air and set off for Gastown.

Thanks to TripAdvisor, my husband had a few places in mind when we set out but when we arrived at the Local, it was packed at 5:30 and outside and in a prime people watching spot. That's where we opted on a whim to eat. The weather was glorious. The food and service was excellent and they had one of the best beer's I've ever tasted. Fried chicken ramen for the hubs and fish tacos for me. Not another kid in site but they didn't have a problem serving my kids - and we make sure ours are well behaved.

What we wore - I'll try to include this on my reviews as this seems to be the biggest question that anyone asks...We weren't fashionable - we were still in our travel clothes. Knit pants and a 3/4 length knit shirt for me. Shorts and short sleeves for the hubby and boys and a hoodie. Kids got a little chilly.

Normally I would end here but Princess had a surprise for us waiting when we got back to the hotel. There was NORO on the trip before ours so we now had delayed embarkation so they could thoroughly clean the ship. Oh Goodie! Though, I'd much rather be on a super clean ship and Vancouver isn't exactly the worst place in the world to be stuck for a few extra hours. But they only sent an email which I just happened to check because I was waiting to hear about something else back home. No text - even though I had given them my number. And we ran into others who had no clue about the delay.

After a quick trip to my parents room to calm any fears they might have, we started changing our next day's plans to take advantage of all the extra time we had.

Up next - Grouse Mountain!

Great Start!

Eager to hear about the FS. They make it difficult to get one online (okay, you can't get one online) and that has always deterred me.

Eager to hear about the FS. They make it difficult to get one online (okay, you can't get one online) and that has always deterred me.

I, too, am eager to hear about the family suite. I have always wanted to try one, but not being able to either book OR see pricing online has always put me off. Can't wait to hear how it was - if not too nosey, was the pricing comparable to booking two cabins or was it as outrageous as most other suites?

I’ll go into more detail later but the price was cheaper than putting 4 people into 1 balcony and 2 people into another balcony. Granted I booked 15 months out so I didn’t get a good last minute sale or deal but I was trying to fly 6 people on airline points so booking early was crucial to getting low mileage awards. And it came with full suite benefits (or at least as many as I could get out of the room steward but more on that later).

My TA was also able to add the

Sip and sale promo to the fare about 6 months after booking. We opted for OBC (which I didn’t even know was an option) rather than the free beverages. This turned out to be a fantastic option!

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I’ll go into more detail later but the price was cheaper than putting 4 people into 1 balcony and 2 people into another balcony. Granted I booked 15 months out so I didn’t get a good last minute sale or deal but I was trying to fly 6 people on airline points so booking early was crucial to getting low mileage awards. And it came with full suite benefits (or at least as many as I could get out of the room steward but more on that later).

 

My TA was also able to add the

Sip and sale promo to the fare about 6 months after booking. We opted for OBC (which I didn’t even know was an option) rather than the free beverages. This turned out to be a fantastic option!

 

 

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Excellent! Thank you!

We were upgraded for free from 2 inside rooms to a family suite on the Star on our very first Princess Cruise. This was in 2009. My husband and I were in our 50s and our kids were 17 and 14. Can't comment on price since we didn't pay family suite fare, but the amenities were nice -- all the same suite amenities. A family suite is basically a mininsuite that has a large extra living room area that connects to an interior room. So you have 2 bathrooms which is very nice for 4 people. The mini suite has 2 TV's and the other room one tv. The balcony is quite large but very windy.

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Excited to hear more, thanks for taking the time!

Thanks for the review.

Vancouver

Original plans had us going to Granville Island and Stanley park but with the new late boarding we basically had an extra day so we put that off a day. The grandparents went on a 13 hour excursion to Victoria and the gardens which they reported back was excellent and they highly recommended (but we knew the kids would never go for that). A little bit of searching and we decided on Grouse Mountain. There is a free shuttle that runs from Canada Place starting at 9 and since we were on East Coast time, we had no problems getting there early for that. There is also a free shuttle from the Hampton to anywhere but you have to meet the driver at 7 am in the hotel lobby to get a spot in line to "schedule" your trip for the day. Oh well. Cab it is. But good to know for the cruise terminal the next day.

Grouse Mountain was a fantastic way to spend 1/2 a day. We went to most of the animal presentations. Thoroughly enjoyed the lumberjack show. And rested a bit in their theater. It was nearly empty when we arrived but packed with people when we left. The weather however caught us off guard. We had jeans, short sleeve shirts and hoodies and at times were freezing. It was low to mid 50s up there with heavy fog. There were still large patches of snow to explore which was mesmerizing to my kids. We opted not to take the ski lift to the top because you could barely see the ski lift.

Back down the mountain to Vancouver and we were tired. The thought crossed our minds just to see a movie. We knew the kids didn't have much left in them and neither did we but we misread the movie options and they weren't playing what we wanted to see. So we enjoyed a walk back to the hotel and some rest there. But first a trip to Costco.

I had it in my mind that with the Costco across the street from the hotel it would be an easy stop to pick up some wine for the cruise but they don't sell wine there!?!? No!!!!! So I'm off on an excursion to find wine. I head to a wine shop about 3 blocks from the hotel and am stunned at the prices. Even with the exchange rate I just can't make myself spend $35 on a bottle of Kendall Jackson Chard that I can get for $9.99 at home - and nothing there was under $25. If I'm going to spend $35 on wine, I decide I'd rather avoid the hassle of having to carry it on and just buy it on the ship for a few bucks more.

Dinner is a quick walk to Yaletown which is hopping to eat at a little greek place that was excellent. Restaurant prices were decent and wine by the glass is about average especially when you factor in the exchange rate.

The next morning we again wake early and repack and leave all our luggage with the hotel and go ahead and check out. We walk about 10 minutes for the ferry which is a trip in itself. Those were fun to ride! We hop over to Granville Island. The kids know that sometimes they must do "our" activities just as we do theirs. My hubby takes them over to the children's market as the rest of us wander through all the buildings. A GREAT way to spend a Saturday morning. We grab lunch at an overpriced but tasty restaurant on the water - though I would have been happy to grab and go from the market (less so from the GPs). There are a few hidden playgrounds we find and a really cool outdoor waterslide and splash park but its too cold. We are in jeans and short sleeves but have our light jackets close at hand and pop them off and on depending on the sun.

Back at the hotel at 1:15 for our 2 pm shuttle (check in doesn't start until 2) but he's early and tells us he's already been there with a load of people and they are checking people in and there is no line. So of course we jump on the bus!!!

One quick note: Yes, I could have walked to Canada place or taken the train but the one place I don't skimp with kids in tow is in transport so we took at cab from the airport and if we hadn't made the shuttle, we would have opted for a cab. My kids carry their own bags but that still would have been a nightmare. AND a long walk.

Next up: Embarkation!

Looking forward to the rest! We were on the same cruise :-)

100% agree on your thoughts on wine prices! I’ve lived in Vancouver 12 years now and still get sticker shock whenever I go to the liquor store!

Thanks for the heads up on no wine at Costco. That is where we would have headed.

Thanks for this thread, looking forward to reading the rest! We are going on our first Alaska cruise on Princess in August, with two boys ages 12 and 7--similar to yours. I would be interested to know if you found that they are strict with separating the kids into the various age groups at the Kids Club? Our 7 year old is running on 17 and wouldn't be caught dead in a kids club with kids younger than 7. He's used to playing with his older brother and older kids--would they let him move up to the older group (he'll be 8 in a few months).

Since you asked, I'll jump ahead....our 7 year old is 2 months shy of 8 and typically plays with older kids. When we walked into the room, it looked like a preschool and my 7 year old was like - no way - not for me. My husband very politely asked if he could be moved to the 8-10 group and explained the situation. Their response was, they typically don't like to do that BUT he could come on the first day to the 3-7 year olds and they would watch how he interacted and they would make the decision then. I thought this was completely fair.

For the first time ever at a kids club, he did NOT want to go and when and if they go is always up to our kids. We asked him to go for 30 minutes just to check it out and we would come and get him if he didn't like it. After 30 minutes we went back to check and he said to come back at the end of the session. Yeah for me!

At the end of the session, the leader said he was welcome to move up to the 8-10 year old group but funny enough, by that point he preferred to stay in the 3-7 group. Apparently since he was the most mature, they used him as the "example" when playing a game and he would often go first since he understood directions best. He thrived on this attention. And had already made a couple of friends. So he stayed in the younger group all week and had a pretty good time.

Thanks so much, gives me hope! I just want him to have fun no matter which group he ends up in. He's really into nature and animals and from what I've gathered Princess has a good kids program that includes stuff like that--can't wait to read the rest of your trip report, loving it!

EMBARCATION

I've cruised a few times when a ship has been delayed and know that chaos typically ensues. Those delays have often resulted in me standing for hours in long lines. So I prepared everyone accordingly. We took snacks and bottled water. We were ready.

From the time we arrived at the pier to the time we were on the ship was 20 minutes. We actually felt rushed and could have used a moment to catch our breath. They told us at check in that our rooms were running a little late and would be ready at 3. It was 2:30. No problem.

They sent everyone up to Lido and since we had already had a great lunch, we found a spot at the back of the ship at the pool and parked ourselves at a table. We could have checked our carry on bags at the Vista Lounge but we only had backpacks. Every 30 minutes they came on to tell us that they weren't ready yet. Now I'd much rather be waiting on a ship at a table with chocolate chip cookies and a drink than waiting in a long line to board the ship but there was a lot of confusion as to what was open. Apparently the kids club WAS open for registration. We learned that just as they were closing. But no restaurants were open to secure reservations. And nothing else seemed to be happening. So we just stayed parked and let the kids play on ipods.

Finally around 5 - we were allowed to go to our rooms and muster was at 5:30 I think?

First things first - I knew we were entitled to a specialty dinner since we were in a suite and I'm glad I knew that. There was no card with a reservation. No phone call. And about 800 pieces of paper in our mailbox and scattered in the room. It took until day 2 to read through everything. We called the Dine line, they picked up immediately and we asked for 6:30 Crown Grill reservations for 6. No problem.

So muster, sail away (gorgeous) then on to dinner (still in our sneakers because we'd been in our rooms for about 30 minutes at this point).

The Crown Grill was excellent from my viewpoint and disappointing to the grandparents. The ribeye was melt in your mouth perfect. The filet was overcooked and the grandparents don't like to make a fuss and send things back and truth be told - this was a long dinner at the end of a long day. Another 10 minutes (seriously) might have done us all in.

All the sides were served family style except for the baked potatoes.

Here's what surprised me. I have a tree nut allergy. I had noted it on my cruise planner and when we sat down I made mention of it to the waiter. As he dropped off the bread, he said. You should be good. I don't think there are any nuts but I don't know. REALLY? I expected a little more knowledge.

Now, I've taken it upon myself to learn all the different ways restaurants incorporate nuts - I avoid anything gluten free since it often includes nut flour and knew that a plain roll would be fine. But when my husband surprised me with a special dessert for a birthday surprise and the waiter dropped it off - I asked if there was any nuts in it because often chocolate is combined with almonds or Nutella and he said - I don't know and walked away. Finally came back and said I was good. I've been on other ships where once I've said I have an allergy once, I never have to mention it again. Not so.

But overall, I was disappointed in all the princess desserts - Every night every single one of their featured chocolate desserts had nuts in it. And usually another of the desserts had nuts too. A girl can only eat so much mousse and flan and ice cream.

After dinner it was over to guest services to get some issues with our cards sorted out. And thus we found one of the BEST suite perks for us this week - the short line for suite guests. This would come in handy since we had to visit guest services at least 13 times over the course of the week and not for petty issues - we are pretty laid back people. In all my previous cruises I had only ever been to guest services twice.

Cards weren't sorted out. We were told they would all be fine by noon the next day as soon as the system reset. At 3 pm, we went back. It took until the end of day 3 for my dad to have a working room key. That's unacceptable.

Up next: The Family suite room!

Thanks for all the details. Sorry about the nuts. Looking forward to reading more....

Yes I agree, it was nuts galore in most of the desserts and I don't like them. The best dessert I found was the Grandma's Chocolate Cake. No nuts and the best tasting cake of the cruise for chocolate lovers. Future cruisers, if you see that cake in the buffet, grab two or three and put one in your cabin fridge.

The Family Suite

That elusive room that few know about, even fewer have stayed in and nearly no one has ever written about. I'll give my best description but am happy to answer questions.

First off cost- as I've already said, cost wasn't an issue because it was the same as splitting 6 people into 2 balcony rooms (I'm not ready to put the kids across the hall in an inside yet and I'm certainly not putting them into their own balcony) so we usually cram into 1 when we cruise.

When you walk into the main bedroom the bathroom is on the right with a large closet (no doors) across from it and a floor to ceiling cabinet with shelves and safe. This was our changing area. It didn't have a door but as long as no one came past the master bed, then you had some privacy. The bathroom had an extended counter and tub and they had shampoo/conditioner and shower gel attached to the wall. We had 1 bar of soap for the bathroom which was our sink soap. No soap or toiletries were ever replaced.

Master had a room with two nightstands with two drawers each and a shelf and a lamp with a USB in it. These were bright lamps and not little reading lamps. I couldn't have a lamp on to read at night without illuminating the den where the kids were. We also had a vanity with 3 drawers. A makeup mirror and across from that was a TV (1 of 3) and shelf with the fridge under it.

Then it opened (not at all privately) to a living area that eventually had 2 couches that unfolded into sleepers (really just room for 1 kid each - maybe two small toddlers could fit on 1). Two very uncomfortable chairs and a small coffee table. There was also a nightstand next to one couch with a lamp with USB. To give you an idea on privacy - I could lay in my bed and see my son in his bed with a straight line of site. You can't really hang a sheet from the ceiling as the vanity extends out like a bar.

At the furthest end of the room there was a cabinet that extended the width of the room with two large cabinets with shelves and a TV on top. We had plenty of storage. And never even used one of these cabinets.

You then could open a locking door that entered the 2nd bedroom. But with that door open, the main TV was blocked. The grandparents took the second bedroom (for the privacy of it) and had everything that an inside room would have. And there were bunk beds in that room with a little nook with a reading light and small shelf for each bed. Two single closets and they also had their own entrance from the hallway. They also had plenty of room for storage and had way more luggage than we did.

The rooms were soundproof. They got up early, had room service and turned on a TV and hair dryer and we never heard them nor them us.

The balcony was bigger and all 6 of us could stand out there comfortably. A lot of people have complained that it was windy. It was windy but I didn't feel that it was substantially windier than any other balcony we've used. Now it was cold but we were in Alaska. You aren't going to sit out there and read a book like if you are in the Caribbean. There were two loungers that had padding and a table and 2 chairs (I think the photos show 4). I actually wish we didn't have the "enhanced loungers with padding" because when it rained, it took forever for the cushions to dry. Did we use the balcony - yes. It was excellent for Glacier Bay and College Fjord. Sailaway was also nice as well as many other times during the week. We went up to 15 to view a little but the railings were crammed with people and you could hardly hear any commentary. It was nice to turn on the commentary and pop in and out as the captain pointed out things along the way. Would I get a balcony again in Alaska - you bet! Did I lay out and read a book - once or twice for short periods of time under my blankets in my ski jacket.

One con to the room - when the sofa beds were extended in the living room, it was impossible for the people in the inside cabin to get to the balcony without going into the hallway and coming into the main door. Even then - it required quite a maneuver to slip through a 4 inch gap between the beds (they were perpendicular). A full size teenage boy would be fine on couch #1 but would have a hard time getting out of couch #2. A 7 year old was just fine on couch #2.

Another con was the room steward - this was his only suite and he had never been in that room before. So when we arrived and there was only 1 sofa bed and I brought it to his attention that there should be 2, he was totally confused. He didn't seem to understand why we needed it when there were 4 bunk beds in the inside room. I'm not sticking my parents with the kids all week. He eventually brought a rollaway which was a pain to have during the day. That's not why we booked the room. We also brought it to the attention of guest services who brushed us off with "we will look into it". That was their response to most things. Only after we reached Ketchikan and I called my travel agent and she used her contacts were we finally able to get a supervisor in the room who agreed that we were not getting what we paid for and he would get us a couch ASAP. So on day 3, we finally got what we paid for - a couch and bed for son #2.

Most of the big "suite perks" were a huge bonus but we didn't get a lot of the little ones. I'll detail the good parts later but what we didn't get was a pillow menu, there was no DVD player or on-demand movies (there was a movie channel that played G or PG kids movies during the day - Petter Rabbit - and PG13 movies at night - Black Panther, Justice League), enhanced turndown meant all lights out and 4 chocolates tossed somewhere and fresh towels, no daily bottled water but I had bought some prior to the cruise, no ice service, no umbrella and laundry service definitely wasn't "same day" though if I sent it out the night before, it came back the next night at turndown. Could I have made a fuss over these small things and probably gotten them all - yes. But we had bigger fish to fry and you sometimes just have to let the small things go to get the big things done (like a bed for my son).

We had 6 in this room set up. It could have slept 8. I think that would have been entirely too many unless they were small children.

Also - if you've ever stayed in the family suite on Celebrity - this doesn't even come close to that room. We have stayed in it and it was by far the best room we have ever had. So if you are thinking that Princess' version is going to be similar. It's not. But Princess does come with full suite perks and celebrity doesn't so you have to factor that in.

Next up: Sea Day #1

Loving this info! Thank you for taking the time to post. I travel with my kids (7 and 11) so this is so valuable!

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed review of the FS. I read it while toggling back and forth to the FS photo/diagram on the Princess website, and got so much more out of the picture with your wonderful narrative tour.

I would be traveling in a group of 4 (not 6 or 8) so I think i could overlook a lot of the downsides you mentioned -- but not the performance of the steward. I am guessing that you did not try asking for ice, daily water, and decent turn-down. But you shouldn't have to ask him to do his job. It sounds like he was poorly trained for suite service, too bad.

The couch fiasco would have sent me spinning. I do not work with a TA, and your story makes me wonder if i should change that practice. Really glad you were able to get that resolved. The lack of privacy was not evident to me from the website photos until I read your review, that's a real problem for me, too. Why can't they see how valuable a curtain is in ANY cabin with a separate seating area???

But the most curious part of your story to me is the 2d BR. I had not appreciated that it really is an inside room, so thanks for that eye-opener. But the diagram on the website indicates it has 2T beds, not 2 sets of bunk beds. Bunk beds are great for kids, but I would be traveling with adults and have no use for bunk beds. Are they really stand-alone bunks, and not the kind that drop down from the ceiling? Can the beds in the 2d BR not be pushed together to form a Q as in other inside cabins?

No - for the inside it’s two twins that have bunks that come from the ceiling so it easily sleeps 2 adults and the bunks can stay in the ceiling but the beds don’t push together. And for the kids this worked well. Often in the afternoon, we would let the kids lay on the grandparents bed and rest with tv and we would close the door and have afternoon tea in the living area. The person getting the master definitely gets the better end of the deal and should buy the other a bottle of wine.

If you have another set of adults, you want to make sure they knock before they come into the main room. I know we couldn’t lock the door between rooms from our side.

As for the steward - the family suite is their only suite so perhaps they aren’t trained. I could have made a fuss but we had even bigger issues to deal with that I’ll detail later. I will say my TA has always been helpful but when things went south and I couldn’t get guest services to help she was invaluable.

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One thing I forgot to mention - since we had 2 adults in each room we got two minibars for this suite. Grandparents swapped theirs for a bottle of wine but they wouldn’t leave a wine opener - told them to call room service to have them open it. Ha! I always travel with one.

We traded ours for 2 coffee cards which aren’t cards but they put it on our account. 1 card for me and 1 for my husband but it could have gone to anyone in the room. Each room was considered separate.

That also meant we had 4 mini bottles of champagne (which were generous at 2 glasses each) as we had sail away. And two plates of canapés and 2 plates of chocolate covered strawberries and 2 fruit bowls.

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No - for the inside it’s two twins that have bunks that come from the ceiling so it easily sleeps 2 adults and the bunks can stay in the ceiling but the beds don’t push together. And for the kids this worked well. Often in the afternoon, we would let the kids lay on the grandparents bed and rest with tv and we would close the door and have afternoon tea in the living area. The person getting the master definitely gets the better end of the deal and should buy the other a bottle of wine.

 

If you have another set of adults, you want to make sure they knock before they come into the main room. I know we couldn’t lock the door between rooms from our side.

 

As for the steward - the family suite is their only suite so perhaps they aren’t trained. I could have made a fuss but we had even bigger issues to deal with that I’ll detail later. I will say my TA has always been helpful but when things went south and I couldn’t get guest services to help she was invaluable.

 

 

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From your description, it sounds as if it's not really a "suite" just connecting inside and mini-suite? Does this mean there is no wet bar, tub with jets, daily fruit/canapes, etc? I wonder if Princess sells these as regular rooms in the event it doesn't get booked as a family suite? If so, this may explain why the steward didn't provide "suite" service - no excuse, but maybe he never had it as a "suite" before?

I am so happy to read your review - I have been going back and forth over getting one of these for the longest time. Now I think I might be disappointed as I was expecting a real suite as opposed to just two rooms!