Star Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The Star Ship was late. The check in process was a mess. 

No one advised us that someone is checking in our luggage, so we had to drag the through a long check in kine which took almost an hour.

I am diabetic and informed the reception that I was tired and getting hypoglycemic She said,I had to wait in line like everybody else. However, she did find me a a small bottle of juice. It helped but the fatigue from standing and hauling out my luggage was taking its toll.

The Portofino dining was so crowded and so the service was really below par. The waiters did their best under the circumstances. However, the staff that were wearing the white uniforms were less than cordial and I did not feel the usual welcomeing attitude.  My server, a Thai boy named Samay on table 159 was so impressive and always wore a smile even under that awful situation. She never stopped smiling.  That was a bright spot for me. . 

Exiting the ship was horrible. We were not even asked about our flight time out of Vancouver. Passengers were all jamming the exit way from all sides. No one called out the numbers in the order of priority. 

The ship arrived at two but we did not get out of the ship until 3 PM. We had tp practically rush tho the airport. 

I am a Ruby member and I know this is just an aberration. 

I am not rating this cruise based on the Nirovirus.  We were disappointed mostly by the food on lido and the dining room.  This is our 2nd cruise on Princess.  And our 18th cruise total varied on different cruise lines.  The lido food was like cafeteria food, very disappointing.  The dining room was better but not much of a selection.  I think the ports that we visited, we should be there longer, we cruise for 15 days total and think we should stay later in the evening.  Our room was nice and clean and our steward was one of the best.  We stayed on E103 deck 8.  I will never stay in the upper forward of the ship again.   It was so noisy, considering we had rough seas for a few days on the starting of the trip.  It was so loud, had to get up and buy ear plugs.

There were 7 of us traveling together and we all agreed that we were disappointed with this cruise as compared to other cruises. Our friends had problems with their toilet most of the time and were told to use the toilet down the hall. Shocked they were treated that way and only compensated with $100 credit.... Crew were not as nice. Maitredee was rude to several of our party on several occasions and to other passengers we talked with. Dissapointed with food. Pool activities were cancelled since they didn't try very hard to get people involved. No poolside buffet or chocolate or dessert night???? Very strange cruise....

The days at sea were all cool and gloomy. No sun. everyone was cooped up on the ship and then the Neuro Virus hit. :( This is probably one of the top worst cruised out of 30 I have taken!  I am 60 years old and I was the youngster on the cruise. Need to learn to walk slowly behind people walking with walkers.

As Platinum members of Princess' Loyalty program, we have come to know and appreciate the company's ability to provide quality service.  This ship is tired, constant plumbing problems and a really bad smell; the crew was lackadaisical. We loved the itinerary and haven't given up on Princess, but when it comes to the ship's overall management, we rate this at the bottom.

The cruise was amazing and more then I expected. I could write forever about our excursion but it would take forever. The only problem we encountered was the first night of rough waters, but after it was clear sailing. We were involved with the many events on the ship and clearly had enough to do. I have recommend this cruise to our friends and look forward to the future cruises. Since getting back home I put on several pounds which I have to work on and that's with working out everyday on the ship. If I tried to write anything bad about our experience I could not as all the personnel on the ship were exciting and made the trip enjoyable.

very good cruise: nice ship; good food; good entertainment; nice cabin; good staff; overall very comfortable and pleasant.

drawbacks: a lot of time at sea and fairly short times available for shore sight-seeing.

Thus: best for just cruising, not visiting Mexico. If planning to get off the ship at ports do it first thing to maximize time and not run too short on shore.

after 13 cruises with Princess this 10 day trip to Mexico was nothing but great, beautiful ship, great food & entertainment.Food was tops in every area. The service in the dining room was top notch

Never disappointed in anything

Impressed with the staff. All were helpful and friendly. Went out of their way to help with my disabled father. We have cruised with many other cruise lines and have only experienced this level of service when we have cruised with Crystal cruises. 

Did not know what to expect even though I heard positive things from other people.  I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise, the food was excellent in abundance...never hungry, the staff was very friendly and most helpful when lost.  Everything ran like a dream very well executed from the excursions to meals to entertainment.  Even though I did not do most of the excursions there was enough to on the ship for entertainment.  The complaint I do have was that the pillows on our bed were too soft, would have preferred something more firm, and also no top sheets were used.  The maps or directions of faucalities could have been more clearer, some were quite confusing.   Other than that I would gladly go on another cruise

We enjoyed the cruise because it was easy in all aspects.  The stops were great because you didn't really need to buy shore excursions except possibly in LA.  The staff on the ship was very accommodating and the shows were excellent.  The food was good and the boat was very steady.  The weather was fantastic as well.  Ensenada is much clean than before.  Great value especially if you live in the Bay Area since you can get the boat without airfare which is a real plus.  It's a great alternative to the Mexican Riviera if you want a different experience.

Pros:1. Good itinerary in Hawaii. 2. Good food with an exception of soups. Ramen soup is good though. 3. Mostly good shows. 4. Great Assistant Cruise Director John, 5. Some excellent people in the waiting and cooking staff: Jr Waitress Elizaveta Agarok, Asst. Cook Nico in International Cafe (this cafe is a great idea), Jr. Waitress Julia in the nearby bar, Jeffrey and some other guys in Horizon. All of them are genuinely friendly and very helpful. 6, Excellent crew show - like practically all shows ran by John. 7. Excellent show by Uber Rossi and some others. 8. Excellent morning exercise by the pool given by this young girl from Cruise Dir staff. 9. Good overall cleanness,

Cons: 1. Unfriendly and not accommodating stateroom steward Manuel, his cleaning job way below mediocre. 2. Virtually no supervision of Asst waiters in Horizon so the good ones work hard and the bad ones barely do anything. 3. Some performing guests mediocre or below, the hypnotist being the worst,. 4. Very bad soups - all of them taste the same. Could you actually cook them rather then just throw these soup cubes in the boiling water? 5. Why do you include Ensenada in the itinerary? There is nothing to see or watch there; total waste of time. 6. Most of the people in the Customer Service need some more experience. But this, I guess, will be coming. They are good guys and girls.

Our first time ever....very impressed with all the restaurants, Princess Theater, beautiful pools and hot tubs.

Just a pity that the Captain of the Ship only has "dinner" with the Elite Passengers.  Never saw him once!!

Otherwise the customer service was excellent and very friendly!!!!! Highly recommended by us

The cruise staff was very good, excellent wait staff, good shows, delicious food, beautiful scenery.  Wasn't able to stop at Kauai due to strong winds, but that's Mother Nature.  Otherwise all the shore excursions to Oahu, Hilo and Maui are just wonderful.  .  Can't ask for more,  Go.

We had a wonderful time on the cruise. Princess does a great job with the food especially. The ship was clean and modern and the crew was competent and friendly. The lectures were really great especially Dr. Sidney.

 The veal chop I had in Sabatini's was one of the best I have ever had.

Southern Baja has interesting ports: much history of 16th and 17th Century colonialism, early missions, the starting point for the California Camino Real - and -- Hotel California!  This itinerary  has a nice balance between ports and sea days.

Star Princess and its sister ships in this class are comfortable to sail on.  They are a good size and the choices in dining arrangements allow for all preferences.  We favor a set dining schedule with the same waiter and table mates (Not possible on NCL), but many others prefer the flexible seating options.  The theater and other venues were comfortable and seldom crowded.  The casino, however, has been scaled back with much of the floor space wasted when it could be used to accommodate more of the most popular slot machines.

All ships in this class share the same configuration problems. We have two main complaints: Although many venues and attractions are on Deck 6, you cannot get from one end of the ship to the other on that deck.  You must go up to Deck 7 to get through. Our second complaint is that entering and exiting Princess Theater requires you to climb up and down stairs -- very awkward for elderly or mobility restricted passengers.

As to Star Princess herself, she is in need of refurbishment.  Last re-done in 2011, she is showing signs of wear. Every chair I sat on in the Horizon food court was wobbly and the Princess Theater seat trays were unwieldy and not level,

This cruise aboard the Star Princess was phenomenal.  The staff and crew work hard to make this a great experience for everyone onboard.  The accommodations were very nice, the meals were superb, and the activities were very enjoyable.

The entertainment was OK, but not spectacular.  The first comedian, A.J. Jamal, was fantastic.  Not only was he hilarious, but his humor was clean and family-friendly. The second comedian had some very off-color humor that was totally inappropriate for the youth in the audience.

We really enjoyed the ports of call.  At Cabo San Lucas, we went to a very nice beach resort for swimming, sunning, and lunch.  Loreto is a very nice town - the people are warm and friendly.  We went to the San Javier Mission, which was a very nice tour.  In La Paz on Sunday, we decided to go to Church.  It was a great experience.  My Spanish, while not great, was serviceable enough that I could help my wife know what was being talked about in the sermons.  Again, the people were very warm and friendly.  And our tour in Puerto Vallarta was to the mining town of San Sebastian - very fun and educational.

The ship needs to improve disembarkation in Puerto Vallarta.  Because the tours met on the pier, many people almost missed their tours because everyone was crowding the gangways.  Perhaps they need to designate one gangway solely for those with tour tickets.

There was no previous advertising of tours in San Francisco - we didn't find out about them until several days into the cruise.  Had we known about them before the cruise, we would have saved ourselves much time and effort, and we wouldn't have wasted time trying to find something to do while we waited for our flight home.

But overall, this was a great cruise.

I don't know about you, but often my wife and I wish we could just drop what we were doing and book a cruise to just get away and relax making time to be together without the interruptions of everyday life.  That is just what we did!  Booking our cruise at the last minute with Cheap Cruise was the best thing we could have done. They provided the best price, took care of all the details, and kept in touch with us right up until we boarded our ship.  Our agent, Steve was fantastik, so helpful in every way possible.

10 days was the perfect amount of time and we our sea days were wonderful.  Sailing out of San Francisco was fun, especially since we set sail right at Sunset.  by the time we cleared the harbor we got pictures of the sun setting as we went under the Golden Gate Bridge.  By the time we got clear of the Golden Gate and started our cruise heading South we enjoyed the beautiful lights of San Francisco at night.  What timing.!  

We met so many unusual and fun people on our trip including  a personal advisor to the President of France.

We loved watching movies under the stars at night on the big screen.  It was cozy laying on the deck lounges converted with nice wool blankets and pillows.  sometimes it was hard to keep our attention on the movie because the Moon was full and the sky was so clear it looked like you cold reach out and touch it.  Romance, relaxation and rest was perfect! The ship "Princess Star" was extremely clean and the food was very good.  The shows were good, great live entertainment.  If you ever get the chance to just drop and book a cruise you might find that you will save a lot of money, plus the impulsiveness can be exciting just in and of itself.  It is like cutting school lol.  Life is all about memories and we sure made some good ones on this trip.

Bill and Cheri 

Maybe I should preface my review by mentioning that our last three cruises were with Oceania and Seabourn, where we had some of our best cruising experiences ever.  The Star Princess Princess is no Marina, Regatta, or Odyssey.

Many people go on a cruise because they want to eat well.  There are several restaurants on the Princess that offer good food.  But you have to be prepared to pay for it.  One of the specialty restaurants has a cover charge of $25 a person.  The free dining rooms offer both traditional seating and anytime dining.  We chose the latter and had no time finding seats, although we never went at peak times.  The food was often too salty and contained a lot of creams.  We asked for salt-free food and were accommodated.  The selection and quality, in our opinion, were mediocre.  We don't like desserts too much but others praised the quality and selection.

The staff, with very few exceptions, was outstanding, always eager to help and very polite.

The ship made a very clean impression.  Our cabin, a mini-suite, was made up promptly, and it was always spotless.  The butler couldn't have been better.  He secured a smaller pillow for both of us, brought us an extra duvet over, and also helped with all kinds of little things.

Although we were on a vacation, we still had to have reliable internet.  If you need this feature, forget it.  It wasn't cheap either.  79 cents a minute, if you don't buy a plan.  200 minutes for $100.  It took me one hour once to download a single email. Almost two hours to download an attachment..  When I complained, I was given some extra minutes.  But it was very frustrating and annoying.  I would call this part of our cruise disastrous.

We went to two of the big shows (held daily) in the Princess Theater.  We were not enthused and, therefore, skipped the others.  The guitarist, who played in various lounges, was exceptionally good.  I would rate him world class.  We listened to him whenever we had a chance.  The violinists and pianists were quite presentable as well.  Some of the game shows were o.k., one was outright trashy.  Don't take your kids to them!

We are quite interested in art and went to several seminars and art auctions.  The fellow who was in charge made several racial remarks we didn't appreciate at all.  He constantly talked about his Jewish friends and slighted the Arabs.  We felt that he tried to emotionalize his presentations thereby getting his audience to buy more.  His support staff was outright pushy.  Be careful and watch what you are buying.  If you don't know anything about art, you might want to go to your hometown art dealer rather than this guy. 

The ship stopped in four ports   We selected two excursions (La Paz and Loreto) and explored Puerto Vallarta on our own.  The walking tour of Loreto was mediocre (first Mission in California), La Paz, likewise, did not have much to offer either (second Mission).  Puerto Vallarta has excellent shipping, seems to be quite safe if you like to go on your own.  We bought some sting ray purses at the Rolling Stones store, which made for some wonderful presents.  We also bought a whole bunch of Mexican plates and bowls, which we like a lot.  The follow we bought them from, was exceptionally friendly and even took us back to the ship.  He refused to accept a tip.

There are so-called liquor plans that you can buy.  One of them cost $49 a day per person.  We opted to pay as we went.  Wine is not cheap and about the same as in a decent restaurant back home.  We you like good wine, you pay for it.

Considering that there were some 3000 passengers on board, embarkation and disembarkation went quite smoothly.  Expect about half an hour to one hour waiting in line. 

Would we go on another cruise on the Star Princess?  I am not sure.  If we can afford it, we will rather sail on the Marina, the Regatta, or the Odyssey.

The food was especially varied and delicious.  I had difficulty deciding what to order sometimes and ended up with two entrees or two desserts with the waitstaff urging us on to indulge ourselves since we were on vacation.  The waiters were very helpful and accommodating going the extra mile to serve us.