First time cruisers just back from the Star!

[mexico5]

Hi, we just returned from the Star on Dec. 2. Forgive me if this review if chaotic, so much to say and I might jump around a bit!

 

ABOUT US: We have never cruised. We are a couple in our late 30's, live in a city of a million people, have been to land based resorts(all-inclusives), are lucky enough to travel a few times a year. We have nothing to compare this cruise to so we will probably be comparing somewhat to an all-inclusive or just how we do things in our regular life!

 

CABIN: We stayed in E723 in a mini suite. We loved our cabin and would never consider staying in anything else. Those who were following my questions might remember I got an offer from Princess the day before to switch to a regular balcony cabin with $1000. back. SO glad we kept our room. Lots of room for things, the bed was super comfortable and we slept like babies!

 

FOOD: We chose anytime dining which worked great for us. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table for 2. I brought in my bottle of wine and was not charged a corkage fee. We have many great restaurants where we live and our main entertainment is going out to them quite often! So we thought the food in the dining room was quite good, not gourmet, but no complaints here. The lobster was wonderful in the dining room and my husband loved the desserts and I thought the caesar salad was one of the best I have had. We also tried Sabatinis and it was okay, but I am not a big eater so I think the server was disappointed that I kept passing on half of the things! I have to say that the lobster had SO much garlic and was quite rubbery, but once again, no big deal, we did not cruise for the food.

 

DRINKS: We brought on a few bottles of wine and a little champagne for sailaway. It was so cheap in Ft. Lauderdale compared to Calgary! Thanks for the tips on how good Nobilo is. My husband drank vodka martinis and they were only $6.00, almost half the price as at home. We thought the coffee was fine, but we are not Starbuck coffee addicts by any means.

 

PORTS: Jamaica was our least favorite, but we enjoyed Grand Caymen and Cozumel is always great and super cheap($1.00 Corona) and the Princess Cays was nice and relaxing.

 

SURPRISES: People told us that once you are on a ship you don't feel a thing and you think you are at a hotel. WRONG! We totally felt movement and we always knew we were on a ship. Perhaps it was a rocky cruise, we do not know what is normal. I was happily surprised at the non-smoking areas of the ship. I had expected all the smokers to be walking around everywhere smoking, but it was so great, no smell of smoke at all, except in the casino. Another surprise was the temperature of the ship. It was very comfortable, not super cold and air conditioned like I thought it might be. Could not believe how cheap the drinks were.

 

FORMAL NIGHT: We were glad my husband brought his suit because we loved dressing up and getting our pictures taken!

 

SUMMARY: We liked the cruise ALOT more than we thought we would. We will for sure be on another one! We also love the all-inclusive beach vacation, but now we are going to mix it up a bit. My husband is already talking about our next destination. We LOVED the anytime dining and would not consider anything else so Princess if our ship. For us cruising is alot more expensive than staying at a 5* resort in Mexico, for instance, since our airfare alone was $1800. to get to Ft. Lauderdale, but we thought we got alot more out of the cruise than an all-inclusive. We did not spend that much on drinks either and had no problems having our shipboard credit done in travellers cheques to avoid the extra charges for Canadians in the exchange, etc...

 

Sorry it was so long, any questions and I will try and answer them.

[mexico5]

Hi, another big surprise we had was how roomy the ship was. I had thought with so many passengers that it would feel crowded with long waits for elevators and huge lines, but it was not like that at all.

 

Also, we did not notice a smell on the ship, other than when we docked at Jamaica.

 

Mexico

[DesrtDrmr]

I enjoyed your review, thank you. We loved the Star when we sailed on her, and that's where we first tried Personal Choice dining, which we also loved!

It's too bad your air was so high...........that's how it is for us flying to Puerto Rico from home.........hopefully, you will be able to search ahead of time and find lower rates next time!

[Gator83]

Hi,

 

Glad you had a good time; I will be on the Star on Saturday. Can you tell me which pier you docked at in Jamiaca and if it was close to anything?

 

Thanks

[cruzinchris]

Mexico5,

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your first cruise. You had asked so many good questions and were well-prepared before you sailed :D !

 

Did you participate in shipboard activities? Did you see any shows? Please tell us more about your cruise when you have a chance...:) .

Chris

[mexico5]

Gator,

 

We docked in Ocho Rios, not sure what dock. We booked an excursion to the falls and tubing, which we would not do again, but I am kind of glad we did because Jamaica, in my opinion, is not that "walking around friendly". You can walk to Margaritaville and Island Village. Next time we would book a beach day at an all inclusive. Too bad because visually Jamaica is beautiful, but not for us!

 

Chris,

 

I heard over a speaker that there was a chance to win a bottle of champagne, so I FLEW myself down the staircase to stand in line for that. I also made my husband stand in line and he was the first person to win one!! It was ring toss. We peaked our heads into some of the shows and they were quite good. We had a dance at the disco, only when there were hardly any people in there because we are not dancers by any means. It was 50's and 60's tunes so it was kind of neat. We said we would try to make it back for 80's(our fav tunes) but never did. Basically the first day we walked around to take everything in.

[mexico5]

DesrtDrmr,

 

We actually booked our air about 8 months prior to the cruise! We could fly cheaper and it is alot closer for us to go to San Fran or L.A. but we really wanted the Caribbean, not the Mexican Riviera or Alaska. It was a 5 hour flight to Ft. Lauderdale, but at least it was direct!

[iancal]

We were on the same trip and also flew from Calgary. Not sure if you used Princess air or not-we never do. We flew on AA-fare was $418CAD pp inclusive of all taxes. What we save on air covers the cost of some extra days in FLL or MIA.

[mexico5]

Jancal,

 

Hi, we booked our own air through Westjet. We did not shop around enough I guess. We were mainly concerned with a direct flight. Was it direct with AA? We also stayed at a hotel pre and post the cruise. So you were on the same ship?

 

We stayed at Renaissance Ft. Lauderdale and bought the transfers to and from ship and airport, but next time we would probably just take a cab to and from.

[mexico5]

Jancal,

 

Hi, we booked our own air through Westjet. We did not shop around enough I guess. We were mainly concerned with a direct flight. Was it direct with AA? We also stayed at a hotel pre and post the cruise. So you were on the same ship?

 

We stayed at Renaissance Ft. Lauderdale and bought the transfers to and from ship and airport, but next time we would probably just take a cab to and from.

[KKB]

We were hooked after our first cruise on the Star--so much so that we have booked her again for March! (we were late 30s then, too)

 

Funny, we found our outside cabin to be plenty roomy for the 2 of us. To each his/her own I suppose! (Guess it's a good thing we all like different cabins for the cruise lines' sakes!)

 

Too bad air is so high for you...and to think I was complaining about $350pp!(hey, I like to pay $200-275pp RT ANYWHERE in US)

 

Maybe we will see you again on one!

 

Glad you had a wonderful time! Your review was interestin. I agree w/ you on food...very good in general, but I have had better, but certainly have had worse! Being a Nebraska beef girl, I was surprised how terrific the burgers were out by the pool! And that pizza out there was great, too!

 

Also agree w/ you about the ports...glad I did Dunn's Falls, but will just do a quick trip to Margaritaville & Island Village for next stop. WHERE did you get $1 Coronas in Cozumel??!! (actually we got hooked on Sol in Cozumel)

 

Was the 50s & 60s night in the disco? It was current music their every night when we went. The only night we didn't go was Latin night.

 

You sure got me ready for our next one...only 3 months to go!!!

[rigs32]

I realize these are the Princess boards, BUT Norwegian also offers dining at any time.

[KKB]

I realize these are the Princess boards, BUT Norwegian also offers dining at any time.

 

but I am not sure of the purpose of this post here....:confused:

[iancal]

AA has one stop, Dallas. CO also has one stop-Houston. We book our own hotels and never take transfers. We find it easier to jump in a cab. Never had a problem so far.

[mexico5]

KKB,

 

I am not sure what night we went up to the Disco, but I heard they had the 50's and 60's segment during a certain hour of the night, probably early? Dancing to Frank Sinatra instead of Puff Diddy Dog, or whatever the new names are, was great!

 

Yes, the pizza was great! We are beef country up here so my husband did not think the beef would have compared, but I am sure it would have, but he wanted to try all the seafood, since we are limited here... I do not eat meat and I was amazed with all the seafood in all the areas of the ship.

 

Cozumel, I have been there a few times and have never seen beer so cheap. We even saw cans of Corona! I agree, Sol is as good if not better than Corona. I had Modelo beer. There were a ton of cooler type things, like in 7 Eleven, that had all the beer for $1.00 to go. One place even went further and their sign said 99cents!!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Great review, thanks for sharing, we also love princess and love the anytime dining.

[cherylandtk]

but I am not sure of the purpose of this post here....:confused:

Kris, its because in the first post Mexico5 said they loved the flexibility of Anytime dining so much that they would not consider anything else, and followed on with "so Princess is our ship". Rigs was just pointing out another line with a similar dining option for the OP.:)

[Porkys2]

Thanks for the review. It's always nice to read hings from a cruise newbie's perspective. :) We just had our first cruise (on the Crown) in October... and our impressions of the experience were very similar to yours.

[stewcrews]

Hi, another big surprise we had was how roomy the ship was. I had thought with so many passengers that it would feel crowded with long waits for elevators and huge lines, but it was not like that at all.

 

Also, we did not notice a smell on the ship, other than when we docked at Jamaica.

 

Mexico

 

Great review! Sorry Princess has not fixed the smell yet. I wonder if they are still denying the ship has a sewer smell.

[crusdiva]

Great review! Sorry Princess has not fixed the smell yet. I wonder if they are still denying the ship has a sewer smell.

 

Also, we did not notice a smell on the ship, other than when we docked at Jamaica

 

According to the OP, Jamaica was the ONLY place they noticed a "smell". Perhaps it was related to the port and not the ship.

[mexico5]

We did not notice a smell on the ship at all. I think it was only from the port in Jamaica so that was good. I was somewhat concerned about the posts regarding the smell, but I realized there was nothing I could do about it!

[Sumps68]

Hi, My wife and I are headed for Port everglades this Sat for a round on the Star.

Thanks for your time in sharing your thoughts of the experince you enjoyed.

 

I was wondering how the embarkment/disembarkment went and what time you arrived at the port

 

I was hoping to time it right when there is not a long wait. The email I got from the travel agent states not to arrive until 2PM.

[stewcrews]

According to the OP, Jamaica was the ONLY place they noticed a "smell". Perhaps it was related to the port and not the ship.

 

Oops. Me bad misread message. Possibly the problem we had is gone.

[rigs32]

but I am not sure of the purpose of this post here....:confused:

 

Someone already explained why it was appropriate, but why jump down my throat? I'm not a troll and I happen to be sailing on Princess next month. I often go back and read OPs when something is said that conflicts with my original reading of it.

[Midnight Rain]

We are sailing the Star February 10. (Also from Calgary)

 

How long was your trip to the falls from Ocho Rios?? We are doing the Grotto Caves and Dunns River Falls!

 

Glad to hear you had fun! We are looking forward to the trip!!!

(getting married on board as well)

 

 

melanie