Star Princess Jan 19 Hawaii mini review

[DShock]

Just off the Star Hawaii cruise. Just so you know we are Elite and cruise on Princess 4 times a year.

Boarding in San Pedro was easy and efficient. The Doubletree San Pedro is "tired", meaning old, out dated, and not very nice. Will not stay there again until its updated.Staff there was great.

We were in C748 aft.

Star is in excellent shape and the crew, as always, were amazing.

Cruise was cold, cloudy, rainy, rough seas, and missed port. Will never book another cruise out or LA in January.

Rained at every port in Hawaii but we still had fun. Did helicoptor tour at Kauaii...amazing and worth every penny. Pearl Harbour and Mighty Mo in Honolulu...not to miss. Volcanos National Park on the big island...great tour guide and an amazing tour.

Missed Maui entirely because the captain felt it too windy and rough for tender operations...even though land tours (whale watching, parasailing, Nautilus sub) were all operating as normal. Soooo disappointing to miss Maui. Many passengers called and urged the captain to take us over to Kona but we headed to Ensanada instead...disapointing.

So 5 sea days over (due to huge swells) and 5 days back for three stops in Hawaii. I'll crusie again soon (April) and I'll return to Hawaii but will never do a cruise to Hawaii again. It will be a land trip.

As mentioned we experienced huge swells going...roughest I've been on. Captain said they were 41 foot swells and urged passengers to take seasick meds. Rough night sleeping for sure.

Promenade deck was closed a lot due to rough seas, spray covering deck, and wind.

NOTE: This was an older crowd for sure and I would not recommend this cruise for younger folks, younger defined as 65 and under! And not sure why but I've never ween so many men leave public restrooms without washing their hands in all my days of cruising. Amazingly enough we didn;t have a Noro outbreak!!

Room service was excellent.

Elua was EXCELLENT. Helped made the trip good despite the negatives. Can't imaging Princess not keeping them for every Hawaii cruise.

Naturalist on board...EXCELLENT.

Hawaiian choices on menu were EXCELLENT.

Park West sucks and after first auction never attended again.

Sabitini's and Crown grill EXCELLENT.

Cruise Director...not so good...just OK.

Horizon Court food...mediocre at best...bland, predictable, no enforcement of hand sanitizer use...kind of gross so we only ate there a few times.

MUTS...love it a lot on all ships but weather (cold) prevented use most of the evenings and on some days.

Sanctuary...love it on all ships but because of weather only used twice. Crew staffing the Sanctuary were amazing.

As usual the "sales push" was excessive in my opinion and boarders on annoying. God knows how much paper Princess could save if they didn't push their sales so hard.

Photo crew annoying as always...too pushy. Again so much waste in the photo department and Princess should take a look at this. How many photos are thrown out after each cruise...fleet wide. I'm not a tree hugger but this bothers me.

Disembarkation was well organized, easy and efficient.

 

Over all we enjoyed our trip but it won't go down in our cruising history as on of our best. I'd rate it as one of our least enjoyable. Missing Maui was huge and we feel the Captain was overly concerned over safe operations of tenders due to the age/physical condition of passengers. There were so many that could barely walk on even the modestly rough days. So those that were more than fit to make the trip from ship to shore, even on rougher seas than normal, were penalized because of those that physically were not up to it. Bad decision on his part.

 

Excuse any typos as I wrote this as quickly as I could. I'm not asking for opinions, past experiences, advice so please save your time and posts. Just thought you would like a brief review.

[Carpe_Diem]

Was the Ultimate Ship Tour offered during the voyage?? Always wanted to do it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Pam in CA]

Several years ago, I took a 15-day cruise to HI out of LA. Actually, I've done it several times. Always an older crowd, frequently a port or two are missed. On the cruise I'm referring to, we arrived in Maui on a warm, gorgeous sunny day. Tendered ashore and I took a tour to Haleakala. When I was on top of the mountain, I noticed some black clouds in the distance. Lunch was included and after being dropped off back on the pier at about 3pm, I got in line to tender back to the ship. The weather was overcast and threatening. Boarded the tender and right as we pushed away, the storm hit. It was wild. We spent the next hour and a half in the tender in a wild storm and 20'+ seas. The tender rode up a wave, was suspended for a few seconds and slammed down the other side. Over and over. For an hour and a half. My point is that I'm with the Captain. He (and Princess) have access to the marine forecast and conditions that you and I don't have. Even mild seas can be difficult in a tender. Add wind and waves, and you have a lot of unhappy and uncomfortable people.

[Paula_MacFan]

duplicate post

Edited February 5, 2014 by Paula_MacFan

[Paula_MacFan]

Photo crew annoying as always...too pushy.

 

On our last cruise we took the Ultimate Ship Tour, and visited with some photography staff during the tour. They told us they have quotas to fill and their pay and performance is based upon those numbers. They said the amount of photos people buy had little to no bearing on their compensation. They said they appreciate it if people just simply stop quickly and get the picture snapped and move on. You don't have to buy it.

 

We used to try to by-pass the photo lines when you arrive in port or other 'staged' photo ops. But after this tour we changed our outlook and decided it was just as easy to stop for 2 seconds and let them snap the pic. Then we move on and they get their 'quota'.

[AE_Collector]

I would do a 15 day Hawaii roundtrip as a get away if the price were right but it isn't an effective way to see Hawaii with the number of sea days as compared to port days. Too bad they wouldn't on occasion take one 15 day trip and stretch it out to maybe 20 or 21 days giving many ore port days and an over night or two for those able to do a longer trip.

 

I much prefer the one way cruises that are repositioning as we can cruise to or from Hawaii in conjunction with staying a few days or even a few weeks in addition to the cruise. And living in Vancouver we are more than happy to see Princess doing both a round trip on the Grand and a one way on the Pacific both before and after the Alaska season.

 

Terry

Edited February 5, 2014 by AE_Collector

[KruzPrincess]

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm sorry you missed a port. It happens. I had the worst tender ride back to a ship of all my cruises in Maui. It was a beautiful day and then this storm came out of nowhere. It was horrible. I didn't think we were going to get back to the ship at all. Sometimes you just have to trust the captain's decision. I think Dave Cole is probably still the CD on the Star. I think he's one of the best CD's in the whole Princess fleet. I was on the Star in December and there were a ton of activities every day. Sorry you had bad weather, but it does happen. Hope your next cruise is better.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Cruiserkenn]

Thanks for the great review.

 

Glad you liked Pearl Harbor and Mighty Mo. Fantastic!

 

How many were on your helicopter tour in Kauai?

 

Do you know the name of the naturalist?

 

Aloha and mahalo :)

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thanks for your review.

 

I will second Pam's comments as to tendering in Maui. From and to the ship, seas were rough and, yes, we were suspended several times and landed with big thumps... A lot of passengers got sick... I honestly think the Captain made the right choice... Had you been on that tender, I'm quite sure you would have complained about it and thought the Captain made the wrong decision.

 

Also, as for weather and seas, this can happen at any time of the year... But other times are usually better. That's when research comes in handy.

 

Research or just even asking on these boards about the demographic of this cruise would have better prepared you for this. I'm in my early 50s, have done this cruise four times and always had a great time. Also, how many young or fairly young people do you know can take 14 days off work or school in January?

 

Perhaps a little more research will help you pick a better cruise and I hope the next one is a great one. I'm sorry you were disappointed but weather is hard to predict...

Edited February 5, 2014 by Working 2 Cruise

[marbo40]

what month would you say is the best to go on cruise to hawaii?

[senior lady]

have done the Hawaii cruise in Sept and the end of April. Never missed any ports and the weather was great.

I love the fact that Princess is offering Vancouver to Hawaii and back. I hope that these cruises are sold out so that maybe Princess will offer more.:D

[slc22]

Several years ago, I took a 15-day cruise to HI out of LA. Actually, I've done it several times. Always an older crowd, frequently a port or two are missed. On the cruise I'm referring to, we arrived in Maui on a warm, gorgeous sunny day. Tendered ashore and I took a tour to Haleakala. When I was on top of the mountain, I noticed some black clouds in the distance. Lunch was included and after being dropped off back on the pier at about 3pm, I got in line to tender back to the ship. The weather was overcast and threatening. Boarded the tender and right as we pushed away, the storm hit. It was wild. We spent the next hour and a half in the tender in a wild storm and 20'+ seas. The tender rode up a wave, was suspended for a few seconds and slammed down the other side. Over and over. For an hour and a half. My point is that I'm with the Captain. He (and Princess) have access to the marine forecast and conditions that you and I don't have. Even mild seas can be difficult in a tender. Add wind and waves, and you have a lot of unhappy and uncomfortable people.

 

 

Pam,

Thanks for that info. I can't imagine what it was like to be in that situation! Sharing your experiences always helps us see potentially 'the other side of the story'.

 

Thanks!

Sue

[DougH]

I just returned from the Jan 19 Grand Princess SF-Hawaii. We also had a rough ride both to and from Hawaii but I've been in much worse so it didn't bother me. We had no rain at all and made all ports. The promenade was closed off most days becasue of wind etc and overall it was cooler than I expected. Really too many sea days for my taste but I was just looking for a getaway from the real world so this worked out OK.

 

Captain and CD both great, entertainment just OK (its no where near what it used to be) One of the main lecturers was really good and had full house for most of his talks

[Working 2 Cruise]

what month would you say is the best to go on cruise to hawaii?

 

All 4 of my cruises were in November and March. The one time it got rough was in November 2010... Other than that most of them were a little rough for the first 2 days but not bad at all...

 

It is a great cruise if you're not looking for flash...

[melody hounddog]

So sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise.

 

We were on the Dec 20th sailing on the Star out of LA to Hawaii and had a wonderful time. Flat seas, sun, no rain and didn't miss any ports. I would do this trip again in a heartbeat.

 

I guess it is just a roll of the dice.

Edited February 5, 2014 by melody hounddog

[Elua]

So sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise.

 

We were on the Dec 20th sailing on the Star out of LA to Hawaii and had a wonderful time. Flat seas, sun, no rain and didn't miss any ports. I would do this trip again in a heartbeat.

 

I guess it is just a roll of the dice.

 

Aloha Kakou,

You are exactly correct...we have been doing this run now for almost seven seasons, and we have done October cruises that were like a roller coaster and February ones that are like glass. The sea is always unpredictable, so whenever people ask me what time of year is best, I always tell them, "whatever time works for your schedule".

 

Malama Pono,

Dave

(of Elua)

http://www.facebook.com/eluamusic

 

Ps:

For DShock...mahalo nui for your kind words...I'm glad we could have a small part in the more enjoyable parts of your trip.

[DShock]

Eula...you and your wife MADE this trip for us. The sunshine on an otherwise cold and rainly cruise. You are both very talented and we apprecaited the fact that you mingled with passengers. No offense to some of the Princess dancers/singers, etc but they are often uppity and snooty and not very approachable or friendly. You guys are just the opposite. I hope Princess Cruises knows what they have with you and your wife. I can tell you that this cruise without Elua on it would not have been the same experience.

 

Wishing you nothing but the best going forward and thanks again for your gift of friendship and wonderful talent!!

[Carpe_Diem]

Eula...you and your wife MADE this trip for us. The sunshine on an otherwise cold and rainly cruise. You are both very talented and we apprecaited the fact that you mingled with passengers. No offense to some of the Princess dancers/singers, etc but they are often uppity and snooty and not very approachable or friendly. You guys are just the opposite. I hope Princess Cruises knows what they have with you and your wife. I can tell you that this cruise without Elua on it would not have been the same experience.

 

 

 

Wishing you nothing but the best going forward and thanks again for your gift of friendship and wonderful talent!!

 

 

 

That is awesome. We are booked on the March 5th cruise and the reason we booked was because of them.... We cannot wait to meet them and enjoy the cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[pris993]

Several years ago, I took a 15-day cruise to HI out of LA. Actually, I've done it several times. Always an older crowd, frequently a port or two are missed. On the cruise I'm referring to, we arrived in Maui on a warm, gorgeous sunny day. Tendered ashore and I took a tour to Haleakala. When I was on top of the mountain, I noticed some black clouds in the distance. Lunch was included and after being dropped off back on the pier at about 3pm, I got in line to tender back to the ship. The weather was overcast and threatening. Boarded the tender and right as we pushed away, the storm hit. It was wild. We spent the next hour and a half in the tender in a wild storm and 20'+ seas. The tender rode up a wave, was suspended for a few seconds and slammed down the other side. Over and over. For an hour and a half. My point is that I'm with the Captain. He (and Princess) have access to the marine forecast and conditions that you and I don't have. Even mild seas can be difficult in a tender. Add wind and waves, and you have a lot of unhappy and uncomfortable people.

 

Had similar experiences happen to us in Cabo and Monte Carlo... we were on the early tenders when the weather changed, took us a while to get back, in both cases. It was hours getting passengers back in both cases. On another trip in the Mediterranean, we skipped Monte Carlo and passengers were very annoyed -- they too could not understand how bad it could get and felt the Captain was making an un reasonable decision. We knew like you from experience the weather can change quickly. Happens in the Carribean too.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Anyone who books in January should know that it's normal to have big swells. That's when the best surfing championships are - in January!! Go in late spring or fall if you want the chance of less waves.

[Cruisin Oldies]

It's true that we've had some rough sailing in January and some other times but January is when you'll see the most new baby whales, especially in the seas around Maui. That makes it worth it for us. We seem to always see whales going into and leaving the Big Island, leaving Kau'ai and most of all around the island of Maui. If you're lucky, you'll see a mother come under the baby and push it up out of the water to take it's breath.

 

Cruisin Oldies

[Working 2 Cruise]

DShock, it appears you are looking into the Panama Canal cruise... Please be aware that this cruise, also, skews to an older demographic... And seas can so be rough.. For a younger crowd, I would suggest sailing during Spring Break or holidays, or on a shorter cruise.

 

As for weather and seas, that is always unpredictable. Hopefully you will have smooth seas and fun times on your next sailing.

Edited February 7, 2014 by Working 2 Cruise

[DShock]

Not at all true about January cruising. Seas can be flat or rough...timing is everything!

 

Working to Cruise...we have done the Canal many times...it's our favorite. And while I agree its a "mature" crowd it's not near as "mature" as this Hawaii cruise. We got the PC booked today...for April on the Coral.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Thank you for taking he time to post your thoughts. Missing a port, while a bummer, is a risk we take hen we cruise.....

 

Bob