Star Princess 2017 Drydock Thoughts

The Star will head to drydock in Victoria from 12/2/2017 to 12/15/2017 which is a 13 day drydock.  

The average length of drydock for an original Grand class ship for routine maintenance is 10-11 days which would indicate the potential for slightly greater scope of work for the Star.  The Caribbean Princess recently emerged from a 12 day drydock with a variety of improved venues including - the Grand has some of these as well:

• revamped kids area (Camp Discovery)
• new MUTS screen (it was the first screen in the fleet)
• The Horizon Court re-constructed as the "World Fresh Marketplace"
• Cafe Caribe rethemed into 2 evening "specialty-lite" restaurants
• Planks BBQ with $12 surcharge at night - during the day it remained a complimentary buffet
• Steamers Seafood with $12-$22 surcharge at night - during the day it remained complimentary buffet featuring specialty egg dishes and ramen bowls.
• Trident Grill was renamed to the "Salty Dog Grill" with new burgers, street tacos, loaded fries, and hot dogs
• Pizzeria renamed "Slice" and featured an expanded menu including pizzas focaccia, and calzones
• Blackbeards Bar renamed "Mix" with a few new beverages
• Scoops was renamed to "Coffee and Cones" which still offers complimentary soft serve and ala cart priced specialties
• "Wake View Lounge" which is nothing more than a small, informal area with a few small tables and chairs in the back of Steamers and Planks that features some nautical theme decorations.  This seems more like an area that just wouldn't fit any buffet seating and is such an afterthought that it doesn't show up on the deck plans.  
• Pictures here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2488730
• Improved Sabatinis
• hull art
• more interconnecting rooms

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Back to the Star...

Since the Caribbean is based on the Grand class, we can analyze each addition above and hypothesize what will be added on the Star.  As an additional note, we'll evaluate whether the Star will add other features that have been rolled out on ships in the past few years such as:

• Alfredo's Pizzeria (Sapphire, Grand, and Royal Class)
• SHARE restaurant (Emerald and Ruby)
• Fiesta deck window suites (Golden, Grand, Caribbean)
• The One5 (Grand)
• Salty Dog Gastropub (Crown, Emerald, Ruby)
• Sun Deck cabins (Golden)
• Leaves tea lounge (Grand)

Analysis

In the Princess world of Grand class ships and their derivatives, its important to realize that the original Grand class spawned really 3 sub classes, however there exists a hierarchy in those 3 subclasses as well as the order of the ships.  For instance, the Golden and Grand were very similar at their origination, although the Grand had some different decorative themes, both ships are similar in their spa layouts (saunas located outdoors just forward of the Lotus pool and skywalkers layout (utilizing multiple step ups and step downs).  With that in mind, the Star has many structural similarities with the Caribbean; skywalkers is generally 1 level and both ships have the thermal suite which relocates the saunas aft of the lotus pool.  Both ships also place the children's area aft on the Sun Deck which is different than the Grand and Golden.  

All that being said, below is my assessment.

VENUE	LIKELY?	RATIONALE
Camp Discovery (kids area)	ü	Added to Grand and Caribbean, no reason why it wouldn’t be added to Star.
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.
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.
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.
Salty Dog Grill	K	Seems reasonable to add, however not added to Grand
Slice Pizzeria	K	Seems reasonable to add, however not added to Grand
Mix bar concept	ü	Seems straightforward to adjust.
Coffee and Cones	ü	Added to the Grand also
Wake View Lounge	K	This will hinge on whether Planks and Steamers is added.
Improved Sabatinis	ü	Given the location is the same as on the Caribbean, this seems to be very likely – and timely.
Hull Art	ü	All ships have been getting this.
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.
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.
SHARE	û	Only exists on Emerald and Ruby and family style dining on a cruise ship appears to be a flop.
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.
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.
Salty Dog Gastropub	û	The Wheelhouse bar on the Star is too small to host this type of venue.
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.
Leaves Tea Lounge	û	Doesn’t seem to be a big hit on the Grand and hasn’t shown up on any newbuilds.

I'll find out what changes on the Star shortly after drydock and provide an update at that time.  Any thoughts on the above?  Please let us know using the comments below.