The "No Promises" Live From- Star Princess- January 30, 2013. 'Round the Horn

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy the remainder!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

So glad you finally won a trivia match!

[rdsqrl]

Yay for your trivia win!!!!

 

I hear culinary school doesn't require a dissertation . . . just sayin'

 

Enjoy the rest of the cruise; have a safe trip home. Be sure to pack well your valuables (by which I mean the chip clip and the lanyard, of course).

[RNGALNG]

Yay for your trivia win!!!!

 

I hear culinary school doesn't require a dissertation . . . just sayin'

 

Enjoy the rest of the cruise; have a safe trip home. Be sure to pack well your valuables (by which I mean the chip clip and the lanyard, of course).

 

I think they should be put in the carry-on bags! I wouldn't trust them going through the bagging areas! (We too won a few times on one of our cruises. One just feels so wonderful when they have junk. . umm. . .trophies to bring home!)

 

Safe travels home and thanks for taking us along! I have enjoyed your trip!

[TLC535]

Thanks for the VERY entertaining "Live" Tracie Lynn....have safe travels home & look forward to some pics ;):)

[Colo Cruiser]

Have a safe trip home.

[KayakOtter]

Thanks for all the blog posts Tracie :)

I'm not sure we ever got on the same trivia team but I think I checked your answer sheet a couple times. ;) I was on the winning team only one time on a port day when there were only 2 teams, got a nice Princess water bottle :D One trivia we got a runner-up prize of a Princess keychain/flashlight.

Trivia was fun even though I had different team members almost every time.

 

Thanks again,

Erik :-)

[TracieABD]

Hi all-

Last sea day... <insert super frowny face here>...

I got up nice and early to enjoy a leisurely breakfast in the MDR. I asked for and received my daily fruit plate and grapefruit halves. I also ordered the ham and cheese omelet. Only I asked for a small version. Sure enough I received a teeny tiny omelet!!!! Yay! I love that Princess will work with you to accommodate your needs.

I attended early trivia. The cost for this was I had to forgo the Morning Sudoku Challenge and the galley tour (with 300 of my closest friends). We lost. But we had lots of fun and took pictures and laughed. I think that the Smarty Pants won this one. No surprises there.

I returned to my cabin and began the most dreaded of all cruise activities... packing. Yuck. I really believe that based on Newtonian Physics with the TracieABD Corollary-- That not only is matter neither created or destroyed, on a cruise ship, matter expands. I swear, without buying a ton of souvenirs, we had so much more stuff to going home than arriving. How does that happen. Must be the salt in the air that makes the contents of my luggage swell.

I had lunch in the MDR. They did a repeat of Chicken Korma. I decided to ignore Einstein (see post #61), and try it again. Not a great plan... Oh well.

After lunch, I finished packing and headed off to play trivia again. We placed second, which, by the way, means nothing. But we had fun!

My mom and I decided to spend our last night at the Crown Grill. (I actually agonized over this decision a bit, as I know that folks do this to avoid dealing with their wait staff.) The meal at the CG was delicious, but just too much food. I love a bloody steak, and the chef nailed it. Everything was perfect. After dinner, my mom and I sneaked into the MDR to present Napoleon and Denis with our little white envelopes. It was sad to say goodbye to the BEST WAITSTAFF EVER!

My mom went to make a donation to the Princess Fund for Needy Casinos and I met up with my trivia team for one last game. It was a round of multi-media trivia called "Where in the World?". The CD put up a photo of a location, and we had to name the country and the city. We got 40 out of 40---and <drum roll, please...> lost! in the tie-breaker round. Oh well. We had fun.

I attended the Cruise Staff Talent Show, and some of the crew were more talented than a couple of the performers. Ouch, I know. The final skit, title "The Olympics" was quite possibly the grossest and funniest thing I have ever seen. I won't give it away, but I laughed so hard.

Finally, it was our last "go to sleep" on the Star. Very sad. I was a little mad at the captain and crew, as they were making us get off of the lovely Star. Shame on them. :confused:

Disembarkation was a breeze. Our group (privately arraigned tour) met in the Explorer's Lounge at 7:40 am. We were off the ship, cleared customs, and on our next tour bus by 8:50. Not too bad.

We went with a private tour through Valparaiso, Vinadelmar, and Santiago. The first parts of the tour were great, but in Santiago, we just sort of drove around and then they dropped us at our hotel or airport.

We had quite the experience at the Santiago airport with a couple members of the LAN ground crew. My mom requires a wheelchair, so after a long and protracted check in, a man brought around a chair and pushed her to a waiting area right outside of Immigration and TSA. He asked her to get out of the chair and wait there until 8:30 pm. (BTW, it was 6:00 pm). The rub is that there were no seats available for her to sit in. This had me shaking my head, so she and I decided to proceed through Immigration and TSA on foot at a very slow pace. We cleared these, and our gate was right there, so we had a seat. When it was time to board, I asked about the wheelchair and what ensued was unbelievable. The man who dropped her in the holding area said that she could not have a chair or preferred boarding because she walked through TSA. When I stated that she had nowhere to sit for 2.5 hours, he began yelling at me. wow. Finally, after taking his badge number and speaking with his supervisor, we were able to get her on the plane. What a nightmare with an ugly little man. Shame on him. :mad:

The flight home was uneventful. The plane and staff were lovely. The luggage arrived. The ground crew in Miami were FANTASTIC!

All in all, it was a wonderful cruise and experience. We had a great time. The Star was ship-shape, and the staff was the best we ever encountered. I loved this trip and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Thank you for traveling along.

I am home and happy to answer any questions.:)

Tracie-Lynn

[san diego sue]

Thank you Tracie-Lynn,

By following you along, I relived our wonderful time on the Star for our Dec-Jan cruise recently. I totally agree, wonderful staff. I rank this one as

one of our best cruises along side our Asia cruise last year on the Diamond.

Enjoyed your writing style and looked forward to reading every day you posted.

[CruzinNoony]

Thank you, Tracie-Lynn, for taking the time out of your cruise to do a "live from". It sounds like you and your mom had a super time. :)

[DiamondDiva]

Thanks again, Tracie. Would you please post the names/contacts for your private tours? It sounds like they went well and the info would be very helpful for those of us doing this itinerary later.

 

Thanks

[Lynda90]

Thank you so much for taking us along with you on your trip. Very enjoyable, humorous and I think you should write professionally. I read very few "lives" but this was one I wouldn't miss! Looking forward to your next adventure! :p

[captainron]

Hi Tracie

looking forward to your posts. One question: did you see the " wine" police?

Apparently the new luggage tags have the wine policy imprinted on them.

We sail the end of February.

Thanks

Sharon

 

Sharon,

As I sit here looking at my luggage tags, there is absolutely nothing on them pertaining to wine.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[captainron]

Hi all,

It is a sea day here! I love sea days. So tranquil and relaxed and a wonderful departure from the daily grind. We have two sea days in a row and I am just fine with that.

 

Last night, following dinner, my mom and I popped into multi media trivia. The gist is you had to name the famous person whose face had part of the features blocked with a black box. Had my mom and I played officially, we would have placed second. Guess who won??? Ok, no challenge there. Yep, it was the Smarty Pants. What I found most surprising is that they got Rachel McAdams, but missed Kurt Russell. The finished with 29/30 and we had 27/30.

 

I then dragged my mom, kicking a screaming to the comedian. My mom is not a fan, but I considered it a better choice than listening to the bass from The Motor City show in the Vista Lounge. Speaking of which (and once again for the people in the cheap seats) if you are highly sensitive to noise, then Emerald 722 is not the mini suite for you. We are getting a lot of sound bleed through. My mom and I have taken up a whole new form of Name That Tune using only the bass lines of popular songs. By the way, this has done nothing to improve the quality of the performances.

 

Back to the comedian... He was funny. Actually, he was really, really funny. Both my mom and I really enjoyed him and we look forward to seeing him again tomorrow night. I love a good laugh!

 

I would like you to know, I am no longer a total loser!!!! I placed this morning in the Sudoku Challenge! I won <drumroll, please> a magnetic chip clip!!!! It is a major award along the lines of a leg lamp. Just saying. It is prominently displayed on the magnetic walls of our cabin. My mother has asked if she could display it next to my last college diploma. I am not sure i can give up my "major award" so easily...

 

On the back of my recent victory, I went into trivia with the greatest optimism, and guess what?????? We lost. Oh well, back to normal.

 

There is Pub Lunch today. And a $10 T-shirt sale. I might have gotten a T for my husband, who might be reading this blog, so I might have just ruined the surprise. Sorry, Honey.

 

Today, I discovered a new favorite... The goat cheese and artichoke tarts. Super yummy. They will join the Goat Cheese Soufflé and the fontina crepes as all time favorite. Are you sensing a trend with my culinary preferences???? On the other hand, my mom is not loving the cilantro in all of the food. She swears they put cilantro in everything, even her sugar free coffee mousse cake last night. I think she is pulling my leg a bit here.

 

I want to take a minute to talk about the Platinum, Elite, Suite (PES) lounge. For this cruise we have been relegated to Skywalkers, which has been lovely. We have enjoyed a full on mini buffet each evening and of course there is the drink of the day, which I never do. There are between 20 and 50 people each evening, and the dedicated bar staff has been very sweet and attentive. I was most surprised that they maintained the perimeter as we cruised by the Amalia Glacier. This meant that we had lots of opportunities to take a bunch of photos. They even cleaned the windows for the event.

 

The glacier is beautiful. The day was a bit gray, which seems to highlight the blue of the ice. This must be the largest glacier I have seen, as I must confess, even though I have cruised through Alaska twice, I did not see a glacier. Maybe, just maybe, I fell asleep and missed the event not once, but twice.

 

Tonight was Italian Night... Otherwise known as goofy sweater night. We asked our waitstaff if they liked their sweaters...ummmm... Maybe not so much. And some of those waiters could use some Spanx (men, ask your wives). Horizontal stripes are a big no. Even the thinnest waiters look like barber poles or candy canes. The food was good, though.

 

I think that is enough for one day. I am running out of Internet, so I am not sure how much longer I will post. I guess I will post 'til the minutes run out!

 

More later!

TL

 

PS. If you are on the Northeast coast of the US, you are in my mom and my thoughts. We hope that you stay warm and dry. You certainly have had more than your fair share of weather this year. Enough, already.

 

Hi Tracie,

Star has always used Skywalkers for the "PES" lounge for appies. On our 30 day SYD/LAX on Star in 2009 it was in Skywalkers and I believe unless numbers preclude otherwise that Skywalkers is "THE VENUE" for your drink of the day etc etc.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[Dushi]

Hi Tracie-

 

Thanks to Joe's link, I was able to find your blog. I never had the opportunity to read it during the cruise as I was rationing my internet minutes. I was LOL at your witty descriptions and entertaining commentary. It brought back so many fond memories of the vacation.

 

I have thousands of pictures to sort through (we had 5 cameras between our group of 4). I'll send you an e-mail after I find my lanyard and the business card you gave me.

 

Great meeting you!

 

"Pookie"

[TracieABD]

Hi Tracie-

 

Thanks to Joe's link, I was able to find your blog. I never had the opportunity to read it during the cruise as I was rationing my internet minutes. I was LOL at your witty descriptions and entertaining commentary. It brought back so many fond memories of the vacation.

 

I have thousands of pictures to sort through (we had 5 cameras between our group of 4). I'll send you an e-mail after I find my lanyard and the business card you gave me.

 

Great meeting you!

 

"Pookie"

Yay! Pookie!

 

18% of the world's funnest trivia team! Glad you have made your way home.

 

Hope Easter Island was fabulous! Say hi to Henry for me.

 

BTW we received an email from Colin and Jean today!

[cherylandtk]

Tracie,

One paperwork question. Did you get your Argentine Reciprocity *visa* through the online site? If so, any advice or difficulties?

[TracieABD]

Tracie,

One paperwork question. Did you get your Argentine Reciprocity *visa* through the online site? If so, any advice or difficulties?

 

Hey Cheryl,

Yes. I have heard from multiple sources that the website is the ONLY way you can pay your fee now. Our paperwork was checked at 3 airports and at iImmigration in Argentina. When we were getting ready to board the flight to BA from Dallas, the airline checked every single person. If a person had not paid their fee, they were directed to a website to pay it right then and there.

 

I will say, due to the struggles between Argentina and the Falklands, I waited til a week before we sailed to purchase the fee. The response is instantanious. Once your Credit card is accepted, you will have a receipt to print. It was very easy (albeit expensive).

 

Hope this helps!

 

Tracie:)

[partybarbie]

Thank you so much for your candid review. We will be on the Star in April and are very much looking forward to it.

[swedie]

I really enjoyed your "no promises" live. It brought me back to our trip.

We were on this voyage also. I kept trying to look for a mom/daughter team with a wheelchair - I really needed to check out all of your footwear!

Did you really use all 13 pairs of shoes?

 

We too loved all of the staff - they were exceptional!

 

We had a great team at anytime dining in Capri - Romeo and Juan. We were serenaded each evening by Romeo - what a shame he was unable to attend the crew talent show - he was terrific and really enjoyed performing! Other cruisers asked where we ate - we selfishly kept it a secret - we didn't want to miss a night with "our boys". So future cruisers of this trip - ask for them - we asked for table #40 - seating for 2.

 

International Cafe - Every morning after the first - Melvin would see me coming and my coffee was always there for me at the ready (sometimes even when there was a line!). Outstanding, as I do not function well before my morning caffeine fix!

 

Glad you made it home safely albeit for the incident with the wheelchair at the airport! Ridiculous!

 

Wishing you safe journeys on all future travels.

 

swedie, aka Jane.

[compozer]

swede,

Is the capri anytime dining? and is that table close to a window? We love to look for a great team. Glad you had a great cruise.

[cherylandtk]

Hey Cheryl,

Yes. I have heard from multiple sources that the website is the ONLY way you can pay your fee now. Our paperwork was checked at 3 airports and at iImmigration in Argentina. When we were getting ready to board the flight to BA from Dallas, the airline checked every single person. If a person had not paid their fee, they were directed to a website to pay it right then and there.

 

I will say, due to the struggles between Argentina and the Falklands, I waited til a week before we sailed to purchase the fee. The response is instantanious. Once your Credit card is accepted, you will have a receipt to print. It was very easy (albeit expensive).

 

Hope this helps!

 

Tracie:)

Yes it does, thank you!