Princess Star first timers

[hockey1963]

we are thinking of booking the Princess Star out of Vancouver next spring doing a California Coastal cruise. We have never cruised Princess but we've cruised other lines. We would like advice on Princess and if anyone has cruised this route before? We are early fifties if this makes a difference. We are not interested in the spring crowd cruises. thank you.

[Thrak]

we are thinking of booking the Princess Star out of Vancouver next spring doing a California Coastal cruise. We have never cruised Princess but we've cruised other lines. We would like advice on Princess and if anyone has cruised this route before? We are early fifties if this makes a difference. We are not interested in the spring crowd cruises. thank you.

 

 

There is a thread HERE regarding a recent California Coastal on Star. Granted, it left out of SF rather than Vancouver but it will give you info on the ship and probably part of the itinerary. I have sailed on Star a couple of times and had very good voyages on her.

[RickEk]

we are thinking of booking the Princess Star out of Vancouver next spring doing a California Coastal cruise. We have never cruised Princess but we've cruised other lines. We would like advice on Princess and if anyone has cruised this route before? We are early fifties if this makes a difference. We are not interested in the spring crowd cruises. thank you.

 

I believe that the October 2015 cruises are the first time that Princess is doing roundtrip coastal cruises out of Vancouver so no one has sailed this route before. On the plus side, you won't have to go to Ensenada... :)

 

And, btw, the ship's name is Star Princess. Princess ship names aren't like Celebrity or Carnival or NCL where they've recently tacked on the corporate name ahead of the actual name of the ship. Nitpicky I know, but as a former proofreader, stuff like that makes me crazy... :p

[shredie]

I like the sound of that itinerary.

[sept10dsm]

I believe that the October 2015 cruises are the first time that Princess is doing roundtrip coastal cruises out of Vancouver so no one has sailed this route before. On the plus side, you won't have to go to Ensenada... :)

 

And, btw, the ship's name is Star Princess. Princess ship names aren't like Celebrity or Carnival or NCL where they've recently tacked on the corporate name ahead of the actual name of the ship. Nitpicky I know, but as a former proofreader, stuff like that makes me crazy... :p

Vancouver is a wonderful port to cruise out of!

[Cruisin' Chick]

I believe that the October 2015 cruises are the first time that Princess is doing roundtrip coastal cruises out of Vancouver so no one has sailed this route before. On the plus side, you won't have to go to Ensenada... :)

 

And, btw, the ship's name is Star Princess. Princess ship names aren't like Celebrity or Carnival or NCL where they've recently tacked on the corporate name ahead of the actual name of the ship. Nitpicky I know, but as a former proofreader, stuff like that makes me crazy... :p

 

My first full-time job was proofreading for an ad agency so I understand.

 

I would love this itinerary, too. I hope the OP makes sure to get in at least a day prior to the cruise. If you miss the sailing out of Vancouver, you won't be allowed to board the ship in later port.

 

Edited: I can see the OP is from Canada. If from the Vancouver area, this won't be an issue.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Cruisin' Chick

[Thrak]

I believe that the October 2015 cruises are the first time that Princess is doing roundtrip coastal cruises out of Vancouver so no one has sailed this route before. On the plus side, you won't have to go to Ensenada... :)

 

And, btw, the ship's name is Star Princess. Princess ship names aren't like Celebrity or Carnival or NCL where they've recently tacked on the corporate name ahead of the actual name of the ship.Nitpicky I know, but as a former proofreader, stuff like that makes me crazy... :p

 

Do not EVER try to read the local Chico paper! It makes me totally crazy to see the grammar errors there. They blow it all the time. Improper sentence structure, use of homonyms that make the sentence incorrect, etc. They don't seem to ever actually proof the articles. I actually saw something there the other day that said an agency had established a parameter around a site rather than a perimeter. GAH! :eek:

 

For the OP, I do believe the above info is correct in that this seems to be a new itinerary. It's unusual in that it has an overnight stay in SF. If you intend to visit Alcatraz during that stay I would strongly suggest that you purchase tickets online in advance as you may not be able to get them when you are there on the cruise. It's also fun to walk down and check out the sea lions at Pier 39. There is a web cam located HERE.

 

Catalina is a fun little place but there really isn't much to do there. There are few cars allowed on the island and many residents own golf carts for their transportation needs. You can rent a golf cart and drive around the island or you can board a bus (very inexpensive - maybe $2?) that will take you around the island. We did that and it was fine. We saw as much as we likely would have seen if we had rented a golf cart. Other than that we just wandered around.

 

In LA you will "probably" dock right by the USS Iowa in San Pedro. You can just walk over and take a tour of that ship if it interests you. There is also a pretty good brew pub (San Pedro Brewing Company) that is within walking distance. We went there twice while staying at Crowne Plaza before and after a coastal cruise in February. Good food and good beer. :) (Loved the Imperial Stout!)

Edited April 17, 2015 by Thrak

[skynight]

The Star Princess is a very nicely designed ship. We have been on this ship a total of 90 days and really like the layout. We sailed a CA Coastal. The ports are nice. Don't expect warm weather at sea, it will probably be cool as you sail in the Japan current. The Star has lots of places to dine for no extra charge as well as the Crown Grill & Sabatini's ($25pp surcharge) and the Crab Shack ($20pp surcharge). There is an indoor pool also. In the evening there is lots of live music and dancing in all the various lounges, including late night in Skywalker's.

[librarians@sea]

We did the 10 day California Coastal out of Vancouver last fall. It was the Grand then and the Grand will do it again next week when she gets back from Hawaii on April 21st. We LOVED the ports -- our first Princess cruise and we had a great time.

 

Starting this October, the Star is taking over the run with an improved itinerary (in that there is no stop in Victoria first so no need to go through customs at the first US port, which in our case was SF). The Star will go right down to LA and then work her way up to SF before returning to Vancouver.

 

Anyhoo, we liked it so much we are going again on October 29th as part of a back to back with Hawaii first. I say... "GO!" :D

[Av8tor]

 

I would love this itinerary' date=' too. I hope the OP makes sure to get in at least a day prior to the cruise. If you miss the sailing out of Vancouver, you won't be allowed to board the ship in later port.[/quote']ñ

 

 

Why? Are you sure? If they don't get on in yvr, they should be able to board at any of the us ports and make it a one of way cruise between that port and Vancouver. Does that violate the passenger service vessel act?

[carqueen1]

Excellent cruise and ship! Just back last Sunday! Please read my member review:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

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Why? Are you sure? If they don't get on in yvr, they should be able to board at any of the us ports and make it a one of way cruise between that port and Vancouver. Does that violate the passenger service vessel act?

 

If it's a RT back to Vancouver, then it's probably legal. But one would still have to make sure that the port you plan to embark in has that capability (SF would, but I doubt if a tender port like Santa Barbara would). If it's an one-way (for example, a repo cruise), then you won't be able to board at any port because you're missing the foreign port.

 

But seriously, why risk losing any days of your cruise?

 

Do not EVER try to read the local Chico paper! It makes me totally crazy to see the grammar errors there. They blow it all the time. Improper sentence structure, use of homonyms that make the sentence incorrect, etc. They don't seem to ever actually proof the articles. I actually saw something there the other day that said an agency had established a parameter around a site rather than a perimeter. GAH! :eek:

 

 

The online versions of LA Times and LA Daily News are both poorly edited. Incomplete stories, typos, mistakes. The papers have cut back on copy editors over the years, and it shows. If many of those articles had been turned in to my J-school News and Writing TA, the grades would be pretty low.