Star Cruisers Unite

[cruising kate]

We are paying DOUBLE price for 6 people on the Star Christmas cruise and I am very unhappy about all this sewer smell. I'm calling my TA and asking her to call Princess and read the posts. Maybe the TA's will have more clout if we can get a LOT of them to call. Tell them not to let them get away with saying they are not aware of it.

[chrysalis]

actually, they cut down on the smell when you pay the higher fares during peak times, so your cruise should be just fine (the increased profits permit them to buy better filters on the system)

[wildabouttheworld]

Just off the Star for the Thanksgiving cruise. Sewer smell was hit or miss. Sometimes it made you gag and sometimes it was non existent. It had no particular place either. Sometimes we had to keep our balcony door closed because it was so bad and other days not. I dont get it. I never knew were it would be or where it was coming from. I can tell you though, it did not ruin our cruise. The Star was wonderful.

[nets33]

Just off the Star for the Thanksgiving cruise. Sewer smell was hit or miss. Sometimes it made you gag and sometimes it was non existent. It had no particular place either. Sometimes we had to keep our balcony door closed because it was so bad and other days not. I dont get it. I never knew were it would be or where it was coming from. I can tell you though, it did not ruin our cruise. The Star was wonderful.

I had a great cruise on the Star the week of November 11th... I never encountered the smell so strongly that it made me want to gag. The worst was in one of the elevators, but it was not pervasive in the entire ship.

[johnmik1]

We are paying DOUBLE price for 6 people on the Star Christmas cruise and I am very unhappy about all this sewer smell. I'm calling my TA and asking her to call Princess and read the posts. Maybe the TA's will have more clout if we can get a LOT of them to call. Tell them not to let them get away with saying they are not aware of it.

Why would anyone pay DOUBLE the price unless they each wanted their own cabin?

[cruising kate]

All the fares are double for Christmas week. Only time we could get everyone together.

[brovol]

i was on the star this past week, and will not sail on her again because of the smell, despite believing that the food and service were excellent, and the ship is otherwise in great shape. i am an experienced cruiser, and understand that (with the exception of your romantic first cruise) you cant expect perfection. however, princess should not expect its patrons to ignore the smell of sewage throughout a cruise. we had two balcony cabins on the starboard side, and couldn't use our balconies because the sewage smell was so strong. i believe the smell was most concentrated in the area of our cabin; however, we smelled it in many areas around the ship. for us, sitting out on the balcony, with the smell and sound of the ocean, is the essence of cruising. while i can not claim that the smell literally made me sick, i can say that it robbed me of the cruising experience that i expect, and the one that i paid for.

[ccrain]

If someone would post the appropriate email addresses, I would be happy to add to the pile since we are considering a cruise on the star next year.

[jula]

Based on my recommendation to cruise on the Star, 3 couples are planning to leave this Saturday. After reading about this sewer smell I contacted my travel agent - her report from Princess was, "There is no truth to this statement, there is no problem with the Star. If there was a sewage smell it would be considered a health issue." I personally contacted Princess and again, their reply is, "There is no problem with this ship". I checked with the CDC and found there inspection reports. First one dated 3/16/2006 with a 99 rating and the most recent posting 9/25/2006 with a rating of 94. Below 85 is considered unacceptable. I plan to contact the vessel saniitation program department, and ask if they can arrange a inspection when the ship returns this Saturday. I don't know if this is possible but I am very concerned as this was to be a very special cruise...the last one for one of our couples and am saddened to think it will be spoiled by a sewage smell that they claim does not exist. Anyone have any additional suggestions? They would be most appreciated.

[FredS]

We are paying DOUBLE price for 6 people on the Star Christmas cruise ...

 

You are not paying double the price, you are paying the asking price for that time period from that TA. The prices change with the time of year and holidays. Airlines do this daily. You can fly and find that the person next to you paid double what you paid, that is what they bought the seat at. Double in relation to what? Another time period, another ship? We know there are even price differences between TA's for the same ship, same cruise. And we know that the price may change after we have made final payment for our cruise; it may even go up as certain cabins become fewer, or go down as there is space available.

[KauaiKris]

You are not paying double the price, you are paying the asking price for that time period from that TA. Double in relation to what?

 

How about double the "average" price?

[cruising kate]

I got the price off the internet about 8 months ago ,and all 4 different catagorys I tried were exactly double the price I checked on the 2 previous and 2 after the Christmas cruise. My TA found they had lowered each room about 4 months ago and saved us 800 dollars but they lowered it for everyone.

I am not complaining as we knew that and booked it anyway as we had no other dates. I'm complaining because I want to spend my 7 days on the balcony without sewer smell. At least some of the posts have been somewhat encouraging so we will just hope for the best.

Thanks to all the posters.

[DFD1]

We sail on her January 6. If we had not already made final payment, I would try and change the booking to another ship. We have a baja balcony midship starbord. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm expecting the worst.

 

This is our first Princess cruise after many years sailing with Holland America. It may also be our last.

[cruiseluv]

Based on my recommendation to cruise on the Star, 3 couples are planning to leave this Saturday. After reading about this sewer smell I contacted my travel agent - her report from Princess was, "There is no truth to this statement, there is no problem with the Star. If there was a sewage smell it would be considered a health issue." I personally contacted Princess and again, their reply is, "There is no problem with this ship".

 

If I were a past passenger that had been subjected to the sewage smell I would be outraged over this response. Are we supposed to believe that everyone is lying? I think it is important that everybody in the affected cruises write to Princess' top management. A company like Princess should not be able to get away with something like this.

[stewcrews]

The sewer smell is real and if your balcony is on the starboard side you won't want to sit outside. Also the tendering on the Star is outrageous. We arrived in Princess Cay on time and the captain only lowered 4 tenders. The weather was great no wind, sunny and warm. We went for our tickets as soon as the patter stated and did not get onto a tender until 2 and one half hours later. We lost almost half of our 6 hour day waiting for the few tenders to cycle. After the line was so great about 2:00 PM to return the captain lowered more tenders. We were the only ship at PC and most other Princess ships lower all or most of the tenders.

[Jacqueline]

The CDC checks on things like the cleanliness of the water, food, kitchens and so on.

I don't think a bad smell (while a ship is docked in harbor) is on the list ???Unless there is a failure of a system (ie sewerage).

I know that there are experts out there with the answer.