Star Princess Voyage Video for the Post Dry Dock Cruise

With the holidays, we've been a bit behind, but to wrap up our Star Princess reporting, here's a video of our voyage.  Enjoy!

Star Princess - Post Drydock Update and Review - 12/19

Hi Everyone, as promised, here is our post drydock review of the Star Princess....but first, please consider supporting us by clicking a link below.  Note that the price is the same whether you click the link below or go through Amazon directly, we just get a small percentage of the sale to help us continue to devote time to this blog.

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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!

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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

Pictures of the Star, post drydock, 12/16/17

Fresh out of drydock, more photos later.

Large new smart TVs with a variety of functions including Bluetooth speaker capabilities

New lamps with USB charging ports

New large LCD display screens with information and deck plans are in elevator lobbies and public areas

Handwashing stations are at entrances to the Horizon court

 More screens

New exercise equipment

Renovated sabatinnis

Coffee and Cones has not replaced scoops

View of the Bluetooth connection screen on cabin TV's.

 Cabin TV modes include 'live tv', music player, photo voewer, Bluetooth speaker, multi-view.  It seems that not all the modes are active yet and I'll have a full write up later.

Newly upholstered seats in Explorers' Lounge

New ice containers in cabins

New furniture and cutlery holders in the Horizon Court

New tile work around the covered pool

Newly upholstered furniture in Vista Lounge

Close-up of newly upholstered furniture in the Vista Lounge

FINAL PHOTO UPLOADS BELOW

Sabatinis

This appeared to be a new Casino game for roulette - I didn't remember it in April.

New Slots

Craps table had some new bets

More new slots - lots of boxes and old machines were stacked in the corner on the first day and later they were removed.

There are still about 10 Game King video poker machines - 5 with actual seats, the other 5 with stools.  The odds are still as terrible as ever!

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

Hey please support this blog by just checking out some of these fine products.  Did you know that all the walls in a cabin are magnetic?  You can hang just about anything with the magnets pictured below.  And are you missing out on some good tunes as you cruise away?  This bluetooth speaker lets you play ANY AUDIO from your phone, tablet, or laptop via bluetooth with crystal clear sound.

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.