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Princess Cruise Line

MS Star Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: John West
Date of Trip: March 29, 2003
# previous cruises: 2
Itinerary: Mexico-Western

Good value for money. This is not a truly luxury/gourmet kind of cruise, but it is just fine for me. Pleasant ship, good food and service. Casino paid handsomely. My wife and I can tune out the art auction and other "bargain" shopping opportunities. Would do it again.

The interior decor is more like a glitzy hotel than anything nautical, but it is pleasant and generally well done. The only real esthetic complaint I have is some of the murals look rather amateurish. It is a large ship, so you do walk a lot and climb stairs or wait for elevators. But for me the exercise is a plus.

Food was good but hardly gourmet or even terribly interesting. But you don't go hungary. We chose the "traditional" fixed seating in the Amalfi dining room, and ate dinner there every night. The only entre that was memorable was the rack of lamb, which was indeed very good. Our waitress was fine, but the headwaiter was working a bit too hard for tips (which he didn't get). With only one exception, we ate all our breakfasts and lunches at the buffet on the Lido deck. We found the extra cost eating venues (Sabatini's and Tequila's) virtually impossible to get a reservation at (I guess everybody else booked the minute they got on board). We did have one lunch at Tequila's, and found the "Mexican" food rather uninspired. But basically we were happy with the Amalfi dining room, since we had some very pleasant table mates there. The wine list could be better. And I was intrigued that my Johnny Walker Black Label cost less than a glass of rather ordinary chardonnay. Booze prices are about the same as you would find at a good hotel. And the bar bill does at up.

We had a mini-suite, which was very adequate. I like having a place to sit because my major activity on board is reading, and I enjoy my privacy. Storage space was adequate for a seven day cruise, but not generous. The bathroom had a tub/shower, and everything worked well. As an old Navy man I was amazed at the amount of hot water. My only criticism is the bathroom opened into the closet, and the resulting space was a bit tight.

The shows were generally entertaining, but hardly up to London or Broadway standards.

Good casino. We had visited all the Mexican ports of call on previous vacations, so shore visits were minimal. The internet cafe charged $.35 per minute. My wife enjoyed the pool area which could get crowded, but we always seemed to find good place.

Great mix of passengers. Lots of kids as well as old foggies like my wife and me.