Review: Star Princess 12/28/05 - 11-day Southern Caribbean Medley

[aclay]

Great review John. I was on the same sailing and could not have summarized better myself. As for dining, I have to agree with Alex. It could be though that Pietro (dining room Maitre d') always had special dishes for us (not on the menu) and they were to dye for! I also spend a fair amount of hours in Skywalkers. It did not get really hopping until around 1am

 

Alex, I'm surprised I never saw you on this cruise.....I was at the gym EVERY day between 5 and 6:30pm or so. Perhaps next time

 

Hi Rolando

glad we're not the only ones who really enjoyed the food. Part of it maybe that IMHO the menu does not change very much either between ships or over time, so from our seven previous Princess cruises in the last 3 years we have now learnt exactly what we like on the menus as compared to what we find 'soso' e.g. we hardly ever ate in the Horizon, except for occasional plates full of salad for lunch to accompany a couple of slices of the delicious Pepperoni Pizza - yummy!! Some evenings in the main dining room there would be a clash of our favorites on the menu (e.g. lobster and lamb chops or some nice fish dishes and Beef Wellington e.t.c), so we'd order one as the appetizer, one as the main, one as a side dish e.t.c We were in heaven. Although we were waitlisted for 2nd seating for six months, we hooked up with two wonderful cruise critic ladies who were Princess elite (one of which was on her 45th Princess cruise - 2nd most travelled Princess passenger onboard apparently) and they stirlingly arranged for us to share a fixed 8pm reservation in the Portofino with their favorite waiter / asst waiter whom they knew from their previous cruises. They sure looked after us well and the rapport was excellent (we have come to find the table and waiter rapport an essential part of the dining/cruise experience- nowadays we would always go with his option)...

The bistro (which hardly anyone used according to the Supervisor up there), was also good food and service whenever we felt like having a 'Spanish Supper', Lamb chops used to be on the fixed menu up there, shame they don't have it any more, although I'm sure if we arranged it in advance it would be doable..

As for breakfasts we would always head for the main dining room, as unfortunately we were refused a hot breakfast on room service which is a shame- we used to love waking up to that to kickstart us early on a busy port day...

As for the gym Rolando- I'm sure we would recognize you then, our daily time varied but we would remember the regulars I'm sure...

cheers

Alex

[Coolmama_1]

Great review! We were on the Star the following week and also really enjoyed LiveWire! They were awesome entertainers!

[hugger]

want for breakfast on the menu card? We have always been able to write in pretty much whatever we wanted on the card put it on the door and have it delivered in the morning.

From what I'm reading here sounds like the Star doesn't allow this???

We were just on the Coral a few weeks ago and were able to do this.

HOPE we can on the Star in April

[aclay]

want for breakfast on the menu card? We have always been able to write in pretty much whatever we wanted on the card put it on the door and have it delivered in the morning.

From what I'm reading here sounds like the Star doesn't allow this???

We were just on the Coral a few weeks ago and were able to do this.

HOPE we can on the Star in April

 

Hugger, in our six previous cruises (including on the Star in March 2003) we did exactly what you said- write on the card what we want with charming smiley faces and 'please, please, please e.t.c) As I posted before this always worked or they would call us to say that Eggs Benedict was not available until after 9am would we be OK to wait until then and they would bring it..

We were told flatly 'no' by the Room Service guy so we took our complaint straight to the Purser's Desk, we were particularly disgrunbtled because this was out first inside cabin and we thought we were being 'discriminated' against as the lowest cabin category -particularly as the cabin across the hall was the Princess Cays Suite with a different 'hot breakfast' menu hanging on it's door each night!! ;-((. At the PD we were told that until now we had been 'lucky' on previous cruises to be able to get it, and it must be at the discretion of the ship/ kitchen, but as a rule only suite's get a hot breakfast 'since they are paying extra for the cruise' we were told.

Hope you have better luck, you'll need to turn the charm and tearful requests up to the max ;-))

[hugger]

I am so disappointed that they are no longer allowing you to write in your hot breakfast aboard the Star. We have always done this on the past 7-8 Princess cruises - have always had a mini suite (one time a balcony cabin). However, this shouldn't make any difference as you say the full suites are the only one's that are getting it now.

We have always enjoyed our breakfast out on the balcony - DH will be particularly upset by this as he likes his omlets and pancakes in the morning.

[aclay]

I am so disappointed that they are no longer allowing you to write in your hot breakfast aboard the Star. We have always done this on the past 7-8 Princess cruises - have always had a mini suite (one time a balcony cabin). However, this shouldn't make any difference as you say the full suites are the only one's that are getting it now.

We have always enjoyed our breakfast out on the balcony - DH will be particularly upset by this as he likes his omlets and pancakes in the morning.

Exactly our sentiments. Our next cruise is in May on the Golden - a VERY port intensive itinerary / early starts and perfect for hot room service breakfasts. We will again (unless the upgrade fairy waves her wand) have an inside cabin.

If only we knew who we should speak to on board to try and arrange a hot room service breakfast. Would it be the Maitre'D (don't think so) or restaurant supervisor? Or just try and forewarn room service when we board, or call room service straight after boarding and ask to speak to the manager may be best I guess..? If we have a set time for delivery maybe they can work around it. It is such a shame since all other eating options on board seem sooo flexible- yet not in this case.. (Or maybe the Golden has a friendly regime (they did last time we were on her in Nov 2004;-)))

[aclay]

Hey guys

don't mean to stir up a hornets nest after an otherwise great cruise...BUT.. have read on the review of the Star cruise after ours (7 day W.Caribbean) that they did not make Princess Cays due to rough seas as well and many passengers were credited $15 to make up for it. I've checked our bill, we didn't get it, although I have seen a 20 dollar wine credit on the last night which I can't account for..(?!) End result is that $30 is not worth writing a snotty letter to Princess for us anyway, but you may want to check your bills and also consider claiming similar compensation in similar future circumstances.

Cheers

Alex

[rolando]

Alex

 

We got the $15 credit per person as well

Rolando

[LoneStar72]

We got the $15 credit per person without asking, and refunds for the PC shore "excursions" we'd booked online (Cabana rental, Banana boat ride) -- the Port Tax credit showed up that morning, as well as the Cabana rental refund, and the Banana boat ride showed up by that evening.

 

John

[aclay]

We got the $15 credit per person without asking, and refunds for the PC shore "excursions" we'd booked online (Cabana rental, Banana boat ride) -- the Port Tax credit showed up that morning, as well as the Cabana rental refund, and the Banana boat ride showed up by that evening.

 

John

How much was the port tax credit? I think we will be writing a letter out of principal...

[2ndsailing]

Hey guys

don't mean to stir up a hornets nest after an otherwise great cruise...BUT.. have read on the review of the Star cruise after ours (7 day W.Caribbean) that they did not make Princess Cays due to rough seas as well and many passengers were credited $15 to make up for it. I've checked our bill, we didn't get it, although I have seen a 20 dollar wine credit on the last night which I can't account for..(?!) End result is that $30 is not worth writing a snotty letter to Princess for us anyway, but you may want to check your bills and also consider claiming similar compensation in similar future circumstances.

Cheers

Alex

 

Hi Alex

 

We had two cabins (are teenagers were next door) We got a $60 credit for the 4 of us. We didn't ask for it, it was on our account that was placed under our door.

[unforgettable]

Rolando.....I read your posting with great interest.

 

I'm just back from the Star Princess 1/8 Sailing and my group, too, benefitted from special dishes that Pietro made for us. Since 4 out of 6 members of our group are Italian, he went out of his way preparing some fabulous pasta plates that were not on the menu. As a matter of fact, he provided each of us with a copy of some of his favorite recipes as a parting gift on the last night.

 

Kimberly

[LoneStar72]

How much was the port tax credit? I think we will be writing a letter out of principal...

How much was the $15/person credit? ;) Who was the George Washington Bridge named after? Who is buried in Grant's tomb? When was the War of 1812? <just kidding>.

 

I just checked my final on-board account statement, and the credit we got for missing Princess Cays was $15/person. It didn't say that the amount was "port tax", but I assume that's what it was -- PC is in the Bahamas, and I don't know of a port in the Caribbean that doesn't charge some kind of "port tax" fee for each passenger arriving on a cruise ship. I just guessed that the refund on my statement was because they charged that fee as a part of the cost of the cruise, and then didn't actually have to remit that amount to the government in the Bahamas.

 

I'd think it would be worth writing a letter in your case if you didn't get the credit -- $30 return on the cost of a stamp sounds OK to me :D

 

John

[aclay]

Thanks John- perhaps I should have made myself clearer - I was presuming a port tax refund was in ADDITION to the $15 compensation, but it appears you meant the same thing. I think you're right, I'll write a letter and they can credit our onboard accounts for our next cruise in May..

Cheers all

Alex

[LoneStar72]

In case anybody's still subscribed to this thread, CC finally published my review of this cruise: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=15081

 

I don't know what good it does to have reviews posted on CC that are, at a minimum, 5 weeks old... I'm glad I posted the review here immediately after the cruise, so someone could possibly get some good out of it...

 

John