Patters -Star 15 day L.A. to Hawaii

[RotaryMike]

Has anyone scanned patters from this season's Star 15 day Hawaii trips that they might be willing to post and share.   Boarding the Star on 2/12. Thanks.

[ColoradoMom!!]

Mike,

We were on the Star LA to Hawaii on Jan. 13 - 28, last month.

 

I have the patters, but with 4 pages each for 15 days, I don't have the time to scan them all, I am sorry.

 I'd be happy to answer what questions you may have.

 

We had a wonderful cruise, and found the crew to be very friendly.  I had read about the leaks/drips here and there, and it is true that being on a ship for 15 days, you do notice these things.  But overall, no major issues for us.  We were in a Caribe balcony near the front - C231.

Edited February 10, 2020 by ColoradoMom!!

[XBGuy]

Mike, I was on the same cruise with ColoradoMom.  I will vouch for her report that it was a great cruise, and every crewmember we met was outstanding.

 

I am unable to provide the Patters as you requested. but I will try to summarize some things from memory.

 

• The regular trivia, bingo, art auction and karaoke activities were available with their usual frequency.
• Elua, the Hawaiian Ambassadors who are widely favored here on Cruise Critic, were on board.  They hosted various activities on each sea day--port lectures, hula class, ukulele class, lei-making classes.  {On the last sea day, the hula and ukulele classes put on a show at the Princess Theater.)  They also gave musical performances, mostly, in the Piazza, but I recall at least one performance in one of the lounges.  I have to say that these people are very hard working.  I would see them setting up for the lea-making class as I would be heading to breakfast in the morning.  The lei-making class would last several hours, and, then, they had to pick up and carry off their stuff.  In the afternoons they would give the hula and ukulele classes.  Then, in the evenings, they gave one or two musical performances.
• Also performing regularly in the Pizza was a very good pianist.  She had a Chinese or Korean name, but I learned that she was from Malaysia.  She mostly performed pop music from, say, the 1960s through the 1980s.  Again, she was a very good pianist, but I was just not crazy about her repertoire.
• On the other hand, I, very much, enjoyed the Amethyst trio.  Mostly, classical music.  I caught several of their performances.
• I think there was a Voice of the Ocean competition.
• There was a Passenger Pop Choir, and they, actually, sang some different songs.  They did wrap with "Sweet Caroline," though.
• Something I never encountered on a Pricess ship was a Passenger Flash Dance.  They seemed to enjoy it, but in the only one that I saw I was happy that they were one and done.
• We don't do either MUTS or the evening Princess Theater productions and I paid no attention to them. 
• One of the musicians, I think his name is A.J. something, gave a series of lectures on the first few sea days.  I attended one of them, and it was pretty interesting.
• I'm pretty sure there was an Escape Room.
• There were various crew presentations
  • Towel animals by the cabin stewards
  • Vegetable and Ice carving by the galley staff
  • The Maitre d'/Executive Chef culinary demonstration followed by the galley tour
  • The Maitre d' and Grape Vine wine tastings by the headwaiters
• There was a party band called Pinnacle, and I heard from multiple sources that they were pretty good.
• There were comedians, but I have no report on them.

We enjoy wine and, not surprisingly, spent a lot of time in Vines.  If you are a wine guy, here is a tip.  Around the seating area there are racks with, not surprisingly, bottles of wine.  It is a very attractive display.  On about the third day I took a closer look at these wines and was quite surprised to find some bottles that are not on the standard Vines wine list.  I asked the bartender, Martin, if those wines were available, and found that they were.  These are wines left over from their previous wine list.  I will tell you that the three bottles of Chappellet 2013 Napa Valley Merlot are no longer available.  They were great.  😉  However, I did leave six or seven Seghesio 2014 Old Vine Zinfandel.  It is almost as good as the Chappellet.

 

My wife reported that the Sushi served in Vines was very good, and I can equally vouch for the Tapas.  They actually changed from day to day.  I have been on cruises where it is the same every day.

 

Finally, regarding Vines, they did offer multiple sessions of the Silverado wine blending exercise, but there were none of the Stammtisch events that I enjoy.

 

I can give multiple thumbs up for both Sabatini's and Crown Grill.  We had excellent experiences in both venues.  A big shout out to headwaiters David (Sabatini's) and John (Crown Grill).  I find that too often, the headwaiter in the specialty restaurants want to just "mail it in."  The staff detects this, and, not surprisingly, they figure, "If he does't care, why should I?"  David and John are hospitality professions, and they insist that their staff perform to the same level.

 

I can't say that I recall any Hawaiian-themed menu items anywhere on the ship.  I did get my Poke fix in Honolulu and Kauai.  Also, though (and thankfully), we were never offered Spam.

 

Additionally, I will report that we had very good see conditions the entire cruise--much to the disappointment of my foul-weather cruiser wife.  We hit one or two little squalls that did nothing more than dampen the open decks.

 

 

[RotaryMike]

thanx for the info. we've never been to Hawaii or cruised the pacific.  hopefully we'll have fairly calm seas.  did you see any whales?  did you see much ship traffic during the crossings ?  Mike in CT 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Mike,

 

Yes, the whales were active in Maui!  We brought our binoculars and were able to see some off our balcony as around the time we were scheduled to leave.

 

I didn't spot any other ships while we were out at sea.  Seas were a bit choppy on our first day out, but not too bad otherwise.

 

XBGuy gave a great recap! We caught a few of the shows, and enjoyed them. I enjoyed the music trivia too.

[idahospud]

Does the Star have the on demand tv system or is the old standard few channels?

[Mikey0368]

That's really helpful, thanks folks. We're on the Emerald sailing in April and presumably it'll be much the same.

 

Can you remember which nights were formal?

[2theship]

Be sure to check out the enrichment lectures, both on the way over and on the way back - they are exceptional! On your Honolulu stop, one of the options will be a luau in the evening. We chose not to do that for a variety of reasons and spent the night onboard. The performers in the theatre that night were students of a hula school. We were entertained by highly skilled dancers down to adorable little ones who were a delight to watch. It was a memorable evening.

[XBGuy]

14 hours ago, idahospud said:

Does the Star have the on demand tv system or is the old standard few channels?

 

No On Demand.

 

 

6 hours ago, Mikey0368 said:

That's really helpful, thanks folks. We're on the Emerald sailing in April and presumably it'll be much the same.

 

Can you remember which nights were formal?

 

• Second Sea Day out of Los Angeles
• First Sea Day after the islands
• Last Sea Day before Ensenada

[Mikey0368]

Thanks. That works well for us as the second day is our wedding anniversary.