Hey please support this blog by just checking out some of these fine products sold by Amazon. Did you know that all the walls in a cabin are magnetic? You can hang just about anything with the magnets pictured below.
- Strongman Magnetic Hooks
- Beach Towel clips for pool loungers
- Monster Outlets To Go - 3 outlets, 2 USB
- Cell phone / tablet solar charging pack with flashlight - up to 5 fresh charges!
Back to the Star...
So taking a look at the list shown in a previous blog post compared to what was observed, the drydock was woefully scope limited. There is a silver lining here however, its apparent that Ocean Medallion will make its way to the star along with some of the technological updates which includes sensors in cabins, smart tv's in cabins, and a variety of large display information screens throughout the ship.
PHOTOS: http://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/pictures-of-star-post-drydock-121617.html
VENUE
|
LIKELY?
|
RATIONALE
|
INCORPORATED?
|
Camp Discovery (kids area)
|
ü
|
Added to Grand and Caribbean, no reason why it wouldn’t be
added to Star.
|
YES
|
New MUTS screen
|
ü
|
MUTS on the star was added later so the system is better than
what was on the Caribbean. However, since both ships got the upgrade,
its likely the Star will as well.
|
NO
|
World Fresh Marketplace
|
K
|
The Star has the improved Horizon Court which maximized seating
and added desert bar. The Grand did not receive the marketplace but had
a drydock nearly 5 months before the Caribbean.
|
NO
|
Planks BBQ and Steamers
|
K
|
The Star lacks an aft buffet area (Café Caribe on the
Caribbean) so major work would be required indoors as well as outdoors.
However, given the ability to upcharge passengers, this can’t be completely
ruled out.
|
NO
|
Salty Dog Grill
|
K
|
Seems reasonable to add, however not added to Grand
|
NO
|
Slice Pizzeria
|
K
|
Seems reasonable to add, however not added to Grand
|
NO
|
Mix bar concept
|
ü
|
Seems straightforward to adjust.
|
NO
|
Coffee and Cones
|
ü
|
Added to the Grand also
|
NO
|
Wake View Lounge
|
K
|
This will hinge on whether Planks and Steamers is added.
|
NO
|
Improved Sabatinis
|
ü
|
Given the location is the same as on the Caribbean, this seems
to be very likely – and timely.
|
YES
|
Hull Art
|
ü
|
All ships have been getting this.
|
YES
|
Interconnecting Rooms
|
ü
|
The Caribbean added 56 connections between cabins, given the
similar design era as the Star its safe to assume that the design changes
should be similar to those required on the Caribbean and this could be
included.
|
NO
|
Alfredo’s Pizzeria
|
û
|
While present on the Grand from an earlier drydock, this has
only been added to 1 other existing ship, the Sapphire. Based on the
limited roll-out, it seems unlikely this would show up on the Star. It
deserves to be noted that before the late 2011 drydock, the Star was
advertised to include Alfredo’s.
|
NO
|
SHARE
|
û
|
Only exists on Emerald and Ruby and family style dining on a
cruise ship appears to be a flop.
|
NO
|
Fiesta Deck Window Suites
|
û
|
The Star has the Casino in this location that was relocated
here in 2011, unlikely they will move it again.
|
NO
|
One5
|
û
|
Skywalkers serves this purpose – although it can be argued
that the One5 has better patronage on the Grand than Skywalkers does on the
Golden, Star, or Caribbean. An upgrade of Skywalkers is certainly
warranted.
|
NO
|
Salty Dog Gastropub
|
û
|
The Wheelhouse bar on the Star is too small to host this type
of venue.
|
NO
|
Sun Deck Cabins
|
û
|
The Golden is the only ship with these, partly due to the kids
area being on Sun deck just aft of the spa.
|
NO
|
Leaves Tea Lounge
|
û
|
Doesn’t seem to be a big hit on the Grand and hasn’t shown up
on any newbuilds.
|
NO
|
Ship Review:
The Star definitely was showing off the new Ocean Medallion related technology as well as a lot of brand new carpeting and upholstery. Here's a venue by venue breakdown of the condition and updates:
- Cabins
- As far as we can tell, all cabins received new smart TV's
- These TV's appear to have an extra HDMI port, but no apparent way to access that mode
- The TVs have multiple modes
- 'Live TV' which currently shows the assortment of channels 22-48 or so that were previously available
- Photo/Video mode which we assume will show pictures tied to the Ocean Medallion technology in the future, but currently only have a few sample photos. There is a USB port in the back of the TV which can be connected to a phone and I was able to view photos from my phone, on the TV. Since every phone is different, the workflow to make this happen beyond plugging in the USB is difficult to describe, but it is possible.
- Music mode which seems to work similar to the photo/video mode with the ability to import music from devices.
- Bluetooth audio is a nice mode that allows the user to use a bluetooth media device to broadcast music to the TV speakers. This is a pretty simple setup but the pairing can be challenging given the how many TV's are in close proximity with very similar, and cryptic names.
- Multi-view is probably set to provide a service in the future; I couldn't find any way to make this a useful feature.
- Lamps have been replaced with new ones with similar "arm" features. The workmanship of our lamps wasn't the best; they wobbled and flickered. They do include a USB port in the base for nightstand charging.
- New knobs on drawer pulls in the cabin
- New carpeting
- New BEDS. Although they were very comfortable, my bed seemed to tilt to one side.
- Specific to our cabin was a light switch that was loose and would turn lights off or on when the door closed. There was also some fiberglass cracks in the shower. It's disappointing some of these shortcomings weren't fixed.
- Plaza Deck
- Some new carpeting
- Fiesta Deck
- Entrance to the "Club Class" area of the dining room has a sign
- Some store adjustments
- Casino has many new games and carpeting.
- New slots
- New table games
- Still a lot of "empty space" particularly near the aft starboard side of the casino.
- New carpeting
- Promenade Deck
- New carpeting throughout
- New chair upholstery in Explorer's Lounge, Wheelhouse Bar, and Vista Lounge.
- Explorers lounge features a lot of "vinyl" whereas the Vista lounge and Wheelhouse Bar feature a thicker berber-esque patterned material on chairs and couches. Strangely, it seems as those most of the cushioning in the lounges was not replaced.
- Some new automated doors to the outer deck near midship.
- Sabatinis has been re-themed with new carpeting, menu, and style.
- Lido Deck
- Several hottubs have new drain covers that will hopefully stay in place better
- New tile-work around the covered pool splash wall.
- New tables and chairs in the Horizon Court
- New cutlery holders in the Horizon Court - this is a fantastic improvement as it allows crew to basically fill up the containers rather than provide settings constantly.
- Sun Deck
- Updated childrens/kids/teens clubs - same as the Caribbean Princess
- Updated exercise equipment
PHOTOS:
http://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/pictures-of-star-post-drydock-121617.html
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