Star review 1/02 review

[Stranger1]

I've tried everything I can think of, including sending it from work with a higher bandwidth, breaking it up in to very small segments, etc. Nothing works. Anyway, If this messgage goes, I'll try to append to it for my Star Princess 1/02/05 review.

[Stranger1]

Well, this is my 8th attempt at this...somehow; it's not been saved after being submitted...oh well, here goes.

We had an outstanding time on our first Princess cruise. I would recommend the Star princess to everyone.

Here's a not so brief synopsis:

Dining room food was excellent. Our server, Samona from Romania, was top notch. I did feel that her assistant was a little below par, but she made up for it by picking up the slack.

Specialty restaurants (Sabatinis and Tequila’s steakhouse) were both good but not better than the dining room, hence not worth the extra money to me. For example, I had Veal in both the dining room and Sabatini's and the one in the dining room was more tender and had a better sauce. The steaks in Tequila’s were excellent, but not any better than the dining room...although you did get to choose the cut of meat in Tequila’s.

[Stranger1]

Hamburgers and Pizza in the pool area were very very good. Quite a surprise to me, as the burgers and pizza on RCCL taste like hockey pucks and cardboard.

Dining room service, bar service, Room Service, and general ship board service were all EXCELLENT and first rate. After being on Celebrity, RCCL and now Princess, I would have to rate Princess as tops for service...bar none.

Vow renewal ceremony was just outstanding. The Captain performed the ceremony and he was a very gracious gentleman. The package came with a framed formal picture of our choice, additional pictures of the ceremony that could be purchased, champagne in the cabin, a nice certificate, and flowers. On Celebrity and RCCL, they either didn't have a ceremony, or someone other than the Captain would perform it. Thumbs up to Princess on this one and thanks to Host Chris for suggesting this.

We didn’t see any of the shows…they were either full by the time we got there or just didn’t mesh with out schedules. I heard great things about the comedian “Sarge”. He actually missed the ship and arrived late, but the reviews that I heard from everyone were great.

[Stranger1]

Chairs around the pool were at a premium, as usual, but there were plenty of places to sit on deck during the sea days. The chairhogs were out in force on both sea days.

Ports of call were great. Cozumel, we used the ships tour for Tulum and Xel-Ha snorkel. As others have said, this is a lot to do in one day. I would pick one or the other, but both are great although there wasn't much time at Xel-Ha. Jamaica was great. We used Peat Taylor as our guide and he and his son O’Neal were outstanding. Climbing the Dunn’s river falls was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. The fern gulley and general tour of the island was also outstanding. In Costa Maya, we took a taxi in to town and had chips/salsa and quesadillas at Tapas...OUTSTANDING and highly recommended. Alan was our server and was very funny and very informative about the town and surrounding area.

In Grand Cayman, we walked over to the Eden Rock dive shop and snorkeled right off the shore...nice fish, great time, but the current was a bit rough due to the number of tenders in the area. Regardless, I'd recommend this also. Be aware that there is no beach in this area, just a very rocky (like volcanic rock) area that leads into the water.

Debarkation was very smooth. We had an 11am flight from Ft.Lauderdale to LAX so were given Red 5 tags. They were called out in groups of 2 or 3, so basically we were the second group off the ship. We were called at 8:28, and were sitting at the terminal

[Stranger1]

waiting for the plane by 9:15. (They had organized our bags very well, we grabbed a porter quickly, and jumped in to a cab…very very smooth).

Now for the bad, and it’s not really bad. We had balcony cabin B636, and although the balcony was larger than the D1 balcony on the Serenade, the room itself was quite a bit smaller. I suspected this when we booked, so it wasn’t a deal breaker, but next time I think we’ll opt for a larger room (but that’s just us). Also, there seemed to always be a line to purchase photographs, and I think they could have done a little better job considering how many people worked there. Last but not least, Embarkation was a bit chaotic. Not so bad that we had to wait a real long time, but a bit confusing. Again, not a deal breaker and certainly not bad enough to make us wonder how the cruise would be.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about going on the Star in the future. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Mike.

[Stranger1]

Yeee Haaa, I beat the system!!

[joanne1]

8 times is a little frustrating!! Thanks for all of your effort - enjoyed reading about your trip and it sounds like you had a great time.

[mafig]

Thank you for your review and for your persistance!

 

I'm glad you had a good time. We are going on this cruise on Jan. 23, and I have to admit I was getting a little nervous back in November. When we first booked our cruise last June, the Star consistantly got excellent reviews. Then when she came to the Caribbean, alot of the reviews were pretty mediocre. Now they seem to be getting to be good again. Needless to say, we're relieved and looking forward to writing another excellent review when we return.:)

[jennymcc]

Mike, thanks for your review (and your persistence)! Glad you had a great cruise. We are on the Star in less than 3 weeks and love to read about her!! Can't wait!!!

[Stranger1]

One thing I didn't mention, and is not related to Princess, was that we had a nightmare of a travel experience to and from the ship. We were on the Redeye out of lax on New Year's day eve...the latest we have ever left for a cruise, and it was 2 hrs late due to a missing crew member. Some rule about how many attendants have to be on the flight, but they were fairly close to canceling it, meaning we would have missed the cruise. They were able to find an off duty flight attendant who was willing to come in at the last minute...never again on the redeye!

On the way back, we were an hour late due to the "cleaning crew" not showing up at the gate. That hour led to a series of nightmares at LAX including sitting on an active taxi strip for well over 2 hrs. Then we stopped 15 feet from the gate because they couldn't find the right person to lead the plane in. Then, it took 3 hours to get our bags (also add pouring rain). With all of this, I still can't get over how great a cruise it was...so that should tell you that it really was great!

[Robenno]

Thanks for your review that was very helpful. I am new to this posting so I am not sure if this is correct. I also am going on the star on Jan 23 to the Eastern Carribean. Looking for other that might be going. You can email me also directly at welostweight@aol.com Has anyone taken the Speedy Taxis from Tortola to Virgin Gorda? wondering how safe this is and if anyone else has done this instead of using the excursions on the Ship? Any help would be great.

Robin

[purplegs]

Thanks for the great review!

 

Robin- Come join us on the Roll call board for the 23rd. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=44504&page=12&pp=25

 

Lisa and David

[sailing lady]

Robenna,

Used Speedy's 2 years ago and it worked out OK. The fare should include your taxi ride to the Baths once on Virgin Gorda and back. Be sure you have tickets for both ways. One couple with us did not have the ticket for taxi return trip to ferry and driver would not take them.

The ferry didn't show at the posted time and we had to wait for next time on the return trip. This made alot of passengers angry. Overall it worked well - just a caution about the taxi tickets.

Have fun!! The Baths are a wonderful experience.

[coiran]

Great review - we will be on the Star for the Eastern and Western starting Feb 6 - our kids and grandkids are joining us on the 13th for the Western sail - Our single son is doing the Princess Newwaves Scuba certification on the ship - Our Son-in-law and wife will be scubaing - Grandma and I will be beaching and snorkeling with the grandkids.

[PINEVIEW01]

Thanks for the great review!

Lisa and David

Will be looking forward to seeing you on the Star 1/16 Lisa.

 

I would also like to thank you, Stranger1, for taken so much time and efforts to get this review to us .

[joanne1]

coiran - I see that you are doing a back to back - could you please let me know how the change over goes and times. We will be on a b2b in March and my husband and a friend would like to get off fairly early and head to a golf course in FFL. Myself - the girls would like to do a little shopping, so we are not in as much of a hurry to get off. Can you find out for us if we can go our separate ways and do the check in or if we have to wait until 9:30 - 10:00 and then do immigration together. Any adivse would be appreciated.

 

THANKS !!

[coiran]

We have done a B/B before - you do not have to go through the checkin line for the second leg - you can stay on the ship or leave and come back - we did not have to go through immigration on the turnaround day even though we left the ship - You will get new cards aboard the ship.