LIVE from the STAR

[cruzinchris]

...thanks, chris. i guess you have to go on a caribbean cruise to get the seafood buffet, correct?

 

Ships that have Cafe Caribe include the Caribbean Princess, Crown, Emerald, and soon-to-debut Ruby Princess. I'm not sure whether they offer the sailaway seafood buffet (or another during a particular sailing) when they're not in the Caribbean. Hopefully, someone will answer your question.

Chris

[vickie_bernie]

Ships that have Cafe Caribe include the Caribbean Princess, Crown, Emerald, and soon-to-debut Ruby Princess. I'm not sure whether they offer the sailaway seafood buffet (or another during a particular sailing) when they're not in the Caribbean. Hopefully, someone will answer your question.

Chris

 

well I have my fingers crossed that they will have one -- note that on the Emerald last Jan they served the seafood buffet in the Horizon court for both sailings and the Cafe Caribe wasn't even open. Sailing on the Grand in January this coming year and hopefully they will have one -- dreaming of seafood.

[bdwyer]

The Star Bridgecam on the Princess website is focused on the new MUTS screen right now.

[cruiser boo]

Dona: is there free lemonade in the HC during the day??

thank you

[Corvette]

Does the spa have someone that can do refills? Going to be on for 14 days.

[SFParrtHd]

The internet has been down for a few days. No, I am NOT going to say that the STAR is not what it should be due to this!! I always expect it to be down at some points.

 

Had dinner at the Crown Grill the other night and it was very nice. Steaks were excellent, as was the service. They had a small fire there yesterday, apparently just a grease fire. But he Capt came over to "assure" us all it was under control.

 

I have not seen any lemonade at the HC. No water/ice tea at the tender dock in "Z", but they did have it in Cabo.

 

MUTS is now on and they are going to show the football game tonight. Woohoo :D

 

Larry - food is OK, have had better on other cruises - I think they are still trying out the new menus. They don't even have the next evening's menus printed until late at night. I am sure for your cruise they will be up to speed. No large wine glasses in the dining room but did see some in Vines.

 

DeRon, my "westie" friend - International Cafe and Vines are on Plaza Deck 5 - I am not sure what they moved around as we have not been on the Star before - I am sure someone can answer that for you. The IC is not as big as they had planned and there is NO GELATO. :mad: The blue plastic was only replaced in the suites, still have them in the rest of the cabins. I didn't think the mattress was all that hard - but that is after 2 egg crates and 7 pillows :D :p

 

Sorry if I missed any other questions. Oh the nails. As a "retired" nail tech, you should be able to go for 14 days without a refill. I am sure someone can do you fills if you need them, but not sure of the price or of the quality of the work. DS had a "haircut" and went back 2 times for them to fix it - all it was was a buzz cut and they missed several places.

 

Well, ciao for now. Will check in when we return - everyone leaving on the 21st have a great cruise - we warmed up the ship and crew for you :D Dona

[crusdiva]

Dona,

Thanks for posting. I love hearing all the news. I'm so happy that the Crown Grille is up and running. Take care of her for me.;)

[LARGIN]

Thanks Dona for the info... All is well here.. Left message for doggie girl and will call again tonight.. BTW, you have mail. :D:D

[DeRon]

Dona - Thanks for the info! We wished we were there!

[mii]

Thanks again Dona for the information. I am sure glad that you have "warmed" up the ship for us. We are looking very much forward to throwing you off of the ship and me to get on.:D :D

 

Marilyn

[Sea Hag]

Thanks Dona for the info about the internet connection! That's a big help to me. :)

[emileg]

..Had dinner at the Crown Grill the other night and it was very nice. Steaks were excellent, as was the service. They had a small fire there yesterday, apparently just a grease fire. But he Capt came over to "assure" us all it was under control.... :D Dona

Thanks, Dona for the update. Just one clarification question. I realize this was your first time on the Star, but is the Crown Grill the former Sterling Steakhouse on Promenade Deck 7 or did they in fact move it to Fiesta Deck 6? Thanks. Emile

[LARGIN]

Thanks, Dona for the update. Just one clarification question. I realize this was your first time on the Star, but is the Crown Grill the former Sterling Steakhouse on Promenade Deck 7 or did they in fact move it to Fiesta Deck 6? Thanks. Emile

 

It is the former Sterlings on deck 7.. Rumor is they will complete moving the Casino and Crown Grill to deck 6 in January..

[vickie_bernie]

Thanks for posting and if the staff is warmed up after this cruise they will be on fire for ours Nov 10.

 

thanks again

[Travelrd]

dear dona,

since they have upgraded to flat screen tv's in the rooms, have they also put dvd players in the rooms?

 

let me add my thanks to all the others who appreciate all you've written to answer questions and concerns that people have had regarding the "new" star.

 

i'm looking forward to the nov 10th cruise with much anticipation for a fabulous experience on board this beautiful ship.

 

thanks again.

[California Native]

Dona...

thanks for the info on the internet...this is the 1st I've heard of the Mexico run being down a couple of days in a row..hmmm sounds ship related instead satellite related.

I'm traveling with my mom on the Oct. 21st sailing, so DH and I set up IM "date nights".

I will remind him that he might be stood up! :D

Either that or I will have to break out my Sprint cell phone at 2.95 a minute!

K.

[SFParrtHd]

We are back home now and wondering where the Horizon Court is, we can't seem to find it :D Westie Girls are happy to see us but sad no presents this time.

 

All in all we had a nice time. More importantly, DS and DDIL enjoyed their first cruise. Aside from the crew being a bit "off" as I said earlier, it was enjoyable. Disembarkation went very smoothly - the Wheel House & Sabatini's was used for Elite/Plat but they were very crowded, so we just hung around outside of the Wheelhouse. Once they called your numbers we got off very fast, found our bags and a porter and were on our way. The Embarcadero wasn't as bad as it usually is, so they managed that well.

 

MUTS was officially on the last day - 65 degrees durning the day and a lot colder at night. We went outside just to see it at night and there were a few people there who had taken all the bedding off of the beds and made themselves comfortable on the lounge chairs. They were the ones always carrying their buckets of beer around the ship, so go figure. Indiana Jones was the movie.

 

Larry is right - I told him the Crown Grill was still on Deck 7 - it was not moved. The rumor is that they will do a one week dry dock in January to move the Casino and the other plans they had. That was just a crew rumor, so not sure if it is correct or not.

 

Although they put the flat screens in all of the staterooms, only the suites have DVD players, the same as before.

 

They had problems with the internet a lot during the cruise and it could have been just something they were working on. I do remember a few times coming back from Cabo that we did lose the sattelite. They had planned on putting the wireless access in the staterooms, but ran out of time. Not sure if they will do this in the future, but sure would be nice.

 

SANDYTOES - regarding the "scattering of ashes" I contacted Princess who put me in touch with the Maritime Dept for Princess. They send me a fax with the specifics (biodegradeable urns/bags, no wires on the flowers, etc). Once on board, Passenger Services Manager contacted us with the time and place. It was handled extremely well.

 

Now back to reality and unpacking and the Jimmy Buffett concert tonight.

Dona

[Ahhh]

Where did they put all these new things like International Café and Vines? What did they get rid of to make the room? They moved the guest services and shore excursion desks. If you get hold of a set of the new deck plans, and compare it to the old ones, you'll see. The Future Cruise and Captain's Circle desks got moved to deck 7 along with Shore Excursions. They are all located on the Port Side, past the wedding chapel, as you head to the front of the ship. Guest Services Desk is on deck 6, in front of the Casino.

 

Is MUTS at the main pool? Yes. Though is was too cold to really enjoy MUTS by the time they got it up and running, it is up for the most part. They are still doing minor adjustments and painting to it. I am not sure I like MUTS as it really detracted from the sunrise in SF this morning with a screen advertising Princess, instead of a blackened screen. I never saw the roof open on the Solarium, which is a shame as I think it would cut down on the noise level in there.

 

What other changes have they made to the atrium? Is is too crowded now? It's not too crowded.

 

They did not move the Casino and Crown Grille (the old Tequillas). It's too bad they were not able to. The "steak house restaurant" space on this ship appears to be an after-thought, so the new one would have been (and will be) a huge improvement, I am sure. I wanted to eat there, as I liked the menu, but could not get past the (lack of) atmosphere. It was obviously a cocktail lounge of some sort in another life and has never gotten rid of that image. It will be interesting to see when they will find the time to move the two venues and add the 7 new cabins. David

[crusdiva]

They did not move the Casino and Crown Grille (the old Tequillas). It's too bad they were not able to. The "steak house restaurant" space on this ship appears to be an after-thought, so the new one would have been (and will be) a huge improvement, I am sure. I wanted to eat there, as I liked the menu, but could not get past the (lack of) atmosphere. It was obviously a cocktail lounge of some sort in another life and has never gotten rid of that image. It will be interesting to see when they will find the time to move the two venues and add the 7 new cabins. David

David,

Thanks for the info. Just so no one is confused that area has always been a restaurant - Tequila's/Sterling Steakhouse, but it never did have much atmosphere. ;) That's why we were all so excited to hear it would become the Crown Grille.:D

[Ahhh]

David,

Just so no one is confused that area has always been a restaurant - Tequila's/Sterling Steakhouse, but it never did have much atmosphere.

I'd be curious to see the ORIGINAL deck plans. It feels like it was may have been a restaurant for a number of years but has the feeling that it was not originally designed as such (dance floor still there, no intimacy, awkward seating arangements, passenger walkway that runs thru the middle to the Main Theater - although this was not used as such). I will look forward to it's new incarnation as cabins and see the new restaurant on deck 6. Thank for the info. David

[crusdiva]

I'd be curious to see the ORIGINAL deck plans. It feels like it was may have been a restaurant for a number of years but has the feeling that it was not originally designed as such (dance floor still there, no intimacy, awkward seating arangements, passenger walkway that runs thru the middle to the Main Theater - although this was not used as such). I will look forward to it's new incarnation as cabins and see the new restaurant on deck 6. Thank for the info. David

.

No, David thank you - I can't get enough info on the Star.

Your "feel" for the area is correct. It was exactly as you have described it - at one time they had a Tex/Mex theme and a band played on that dance floor.

Now you know why the Crown Grille was so anticipated. :)

[emileg]

Thank you so much Dona and David for the confirmation that the Crown Grill is still on deck 7. The restaurant is in its third incarnation.

 

Concerning a possible one week dry dock in January to complete the relocation of the Crown Grill and the casino, I can see from the Princess website that they are still taking bookings for all scheduled voyages December through February. However, I didn't check beyond February.

 

http://www.princess.com/find/index.jsp?resType=C

 

- Emile

[Colo Cruiser]

I'd be curious to see the ORIGINAL deck plans. It feels like it was may have been a restaurant for a number of years but has the feeling that it was not originally designed as such (dance floor still there, no intimacy, awkward seating arangements, passenger walkway that runs thru the middle to the Main Theater - although this was not used as such). I will look forward to it's new incarnation as cabins and see the new restaurant on deck 6. Thank for the info. David

 

 

We were on the Inaugural of the Star and that space was built as a Mexican restaurant and stayed that way for a couple of years, then it was changed to the Sterling type steakhouse and now to the Crown Grill. ;)

 

The same location seemed to work much better on the Grand, we loved it.

[cruzinchris]

I'd be curious to see the ORIGINAL deck plans. It feels like it was may have been a restaurant for a number of years but has the feeling that it was not originally designed as such (dance floor still there, no intimacy, awkward seating arangements, passenger walkway that runs thru the middle to the Main Theater - although this was not used as such). I will look forward to it's new incarnation as cabins and see the new restaurant on deck 6. Thank for the info. David

 

When DH and I were on the Star recently (9/14-21), doors leading to Princess Theatre were closed during dining hours so there could be no cut-through traffic ;)

Chris

[cruzinchris]

We were on the Inaugural of the Star and that space was built as a Mexican restaurant and stayed that way for a couple of years, then it was changed to the Sterling type steakhouse and now to the Crown Grill. ;)

 

DH and I sailed on Princess for the first time on the Star - March 16, 2002 from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera. We haven't cruised on another line since :) Were you on that voyage? But for the sailing from the shipyard, we understood that this was the "maiden voyage" of the Star Princess.

Chris