When boarding a new ship like the Star Princess, it can be tempting to pay for all the add-ons. After all, what’s a cruise without spa treatments, hefty bar tabs, and top-tier dining? But I was determined to make my first trip on the Star Princess all about value.
On this 7 day Western Caribbean itinerary from Fort Lauderdale, my goal was to experience the newest Princess ship while skipping all the extras. This Star Princess review will cover my complete thoughts on the ship and everything that’s included in the standard fare. I booked a casino comp interior cabin and had no drink package, no specialty dining, and no paid excursions. The result was a mix of excellent free dining and enjoyable casino experiences, but also disappointing cleanliness standards and odd design choices.
First Impressions of Star Princess
I’ve read many opinions about the layout and design of the Sphere-class ships. Most of them skew negative, especially from more seasoned Princess cruisers. After my experience on the Star Princess, I don’t agree with the negativity, and I think much of it is overblown. There are some valid criticisms, though, which I’ll touch on below.
First, the layout. Yes, there are some awkward design choices. The location of Guest Services on Deck 6 and the fact that Deck 9 contains both the main buffet and staterooms is odd. There are also a few venues that are tucked away or blocked by others and don’t have direct walk-through access. None of these minor inconveniences will significantly impact your cruise experience.
By contrast, the new spaces added to the Star Princess are excellent. The huge glass sphere located midship brings lots of light into the Piazza and adjacent venues, making everything feel more open. The Dome at the top of the ship is a great climate-controlled space for relaxing or working during the day. The adults-only Sea View Terrace and pool are excellent additions, relieving crowd pressure at the main pool.
As for design, I enjoyed the fresh, modern look of the ship compared to the more traditional stylings of the older Royal-class ships. The fact that the Star Princess is a new, clean ship with limited wear and tear makes a big difference.
The Odd Star Princess Venues
Another lightning rod for complaints on the Star Princess is the venues. Most of the criticism centers on the entertainment spaces being too small for the number of people on the ship. I agree that the spaces are generally undersized, and the ship is sorely missing a space like the Vista Lounge, which was removed from the Sphere-class ships.
It goes without saying that my experience won’t be true of every sailing, but I never had an issue finding a seat at a venue. My cruise was fully booked, and I frequently arrived five minutes before a show, yet I still found a seat. This applied to every event I attended, whether it was a theater production, a candlelight concert in the Dome, or trivia in Princess Live. Note that if you wish to secure the best seats or have a large group, you’ll still need to arrive early. I don’t think you need to show up an hour before showtime to secure a seat, however, despite what some other reviews suggest.
Where I do think Princess dropped the ball is in the design of some of the venues. Who decided there should be obstructed-view seats in both the Princess Arena and Princess Live? It just feels poorly thought out to place large columns in these spaces. Unfortunately, that’s not going to change anytime soon, so you’ll just need to know there’s a chance you might get stuck with one of these seats.
The Reality of Star Princess Staterooms
I had an interior stateroom located mid-aft on Deck 11. The location was incredible and it felt close and walkable to everything. I typically try to avoid the elevators as much as possible, so being center ship is a great benefit because it minimizes the time I spend walking up and down stairs or trekking from forward to aft.
Fair warning to anyone used to interior staterooms on Royal-class ships: on the Star Princess, they’re about 20–30 sq. ft. smaller. It doesn’t sound like much, but I definitely noticed the room felt a bit cramped. It wasn’t a huge deal for me since I was traveling solo, but if you have more than one person in an interior cabin, you might be feeling the squeeze.
The room layout is straightforward and functional. The old open closets are gone, replaced with a big built-in wardrobe in the hall with doors, shelves, and drawers that can be fully closed. The bathroom was definitely on the small side, but I appreciated the glass-enclosed shower, even though the water pressure was quite weak.
The bed and pillows were excellent and super comfortable, and the A/C was ice cold, which made for some excellent nights of sleep. The ship was also whisper quiet, by far the quietest Princess ship I’ve ever been on. I didn’t hear or feel a single engine vibration during the entire cruise.
One unfortunate, continued issue for Princess is the room cleanliness standard during guest turnover. On a brand-new ship, you’d expect the room to be sparkling, but I found hairs in the bathroom, stains on the side of the toilet, and dirt and hair on the carpet. I don’t understand how basic cleanliness like this gets overlooked, especially between guests.
To my room steward’s credit, he took immediate action to clean the areas I pointed out, but the room should never have been approved for new guests in that condition. Perhaps it’s just my terrible luck because I had similar problems on the Majestic Princess and the Enchanted Princess. A room inspection is now first on my list for every Princess cruise.
Star Princess Food Options
On this cruise, I took advantage of every free dining option available to me, from room service breakfast to late-night visits to the International Café. In my opinion, specialty dining isn’t necessary on Princess because the quality and variety of the included food offerings are usually very good.
One major change is that The Eatery, the main Princess buffet, is now located on Deck 9. At first walkthrough, the buffet space on the Star Princess feels small compared to other Princess ships. What cruisers might not realize is that the Americana Diner, located behind The Eatery, is also open and available as a buffet for breakfast and lunch. There were several mornings when I saw people lined up 10 deep at the omelet station in The Eatery, while there was no line for omelets at the Americana Diner.
The promenade deck outside The Eatery features a grill, pizza station, and plenty of extra seating. If The Eatery feels too crowded, head to either the Americana Diner or the promenade for some relief. One highlight in The Eatery that I hadn’t seen before is the cook-to-order pasta station. You can pick your pasta and sauce and have your dish prepared right in front of you. This is a great addition, and I visited several times during my cruise.
The Star Princess has three main dining rooms: Sanctuary, Aurora, and Celestial. Sanctuary is reserved for guests in the Sanctuary collection, Aurora has traditional dining with set seating times, and Celestial offers anytime walk-in dining. I ate in the Celestial dining room three times for dinner and was very pleased with the food and service. All my dishes were served quickly and tasted good.
It’s important to remember that you’ll almost never get the same cooked-to-order feel as a land-based restaurant in a cruise ship dining room. If you take the ship’s dining tour, you’ll see that these are massive catering operations, more akin to serving a wedding or a large corporate event. That said, with properly calibrated expectations, I’ve found the food on Princess to be consistently excellent in both quality and taste. And if you aren’t happy with your order, you can always get something else.
Another dining highlight for me was the pizza and tacos available at the Lido eateries on the pool deck. If you can snag a slice from a freshly made pie, I’d argue it’s the best pizza you can find at sea. The tacos were also excellent, and I often found myself heading to the Lido deck for a second dinner after I’d already finished my main meal.
Star Princess Casino
The casino on the Star Princess is the largest I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship. The main casino features table games and a wide variety of slot machines, but it does allow smoking. The smaller non-smoking casino has slots and a few video poker machines. Overall, I enjoyed the high ceilings and open feel of the space. It felt noticeably less congested around the table games compared to Royal-class casinos.
One standard feature Princess still inexplicably fails to provide is a full-service bar in the main casino. Why this was overlooked on their brand-new ships is baffling. On the Star Princess, they tried to fix this by staffing a drink cart in both the smoking and non-smoking casinos during peak play times. The cart serves beer, wine, a limited selection of mixed cocktails, and other non-alcoholic beverages.
A nice feature is that if you have the Princess “Drinks On Us” benefit, unlocked at 1,500 points, you can order a complimentary drink at the cart instead of waiting for a cocktail server. As an added bonus for craps players, the cart sits right next to the craps table, so you can order a drink without losing your spot.
As is usual for me, I only played craps on this cruise. The table minimum was $15 and it was packed every night. Some players would show up close to an hour before the table opened to secure a preferred spot. This is the reality of playing craps on Princess. It’s an incredibly popular game and there’s a consistent set of regulars who I see on almost every cruise. I find it curious that Princess hasn’t added a second craps table on ships like the Star. There is clearly a strong demand for the game but most casual players won’t ever get a chance to play if there’s only one table.
Surprisingly, both the dealers and the managers on my trip seemed slightly overwhelmed by the action. It’s not uncommon to encounter a few newer dealers who are still learning, but some of the mistakes were somewhat shocking for what should be a flagship casino. My ratings were good, but other players at the table seemed to be rated poorly for the average size of their bets. I know at least one player who repeatedly asked to have his play reviewed in order to fix his rating. I heard that Star Princess is using RFID in the chips to rate bet sizes, but I was unable to confirm this. Either way, it’s important to always check your ratings while playing and make sure you’re getting proper credit for the wagers you make.
While I didn’t play slots, I heard some players grumbling about the lack of variety of machines on the Star Princess. I noticed that Huff N’ Puff seemed to dominate the floor. I counted at least 24 machines that featured the game, and there could have been more. The Huff N’ Puff machines didn’t seem particularly popular either, so hopefully Princess listens to player feedback and brings in some different machines.
Other Star Princess Features Worth Noting
There are a few hidden gems when it comes to quiet outdoor areas on the Star Princess. The first is the upstairs seating area above the sports court on the top deck. I went there multiple times and rarely saw more than a handful of people. It’s breezy and shaded, which makes it a comfortable place to relax.
As mentioned earlier, the Sea View Terrace is also a great spot to escape the crowds, especially during port days or later in the evening. If you’re looking for a quiet and comfortable space to work during sea days, the Crown Grill is open as a quiet reading and game lounge.
While I didn’t dine there, I did walk through the Love by Britto specialty restaurant. It’s located on Deck 17 aft and has amazing sweeping views of the ship’s wake. From a scenic perspective, it’s probably the most impressive dining venue on the ship.
The gym is nicely appointed but suffers from being too small for the ship’s capacity. I’d avoid peak times if you need space for a decent workout. Late nights and afternoons on port days seemed to be the least crowded.
Star Princess Review: Final Thoughts
Despite a few shortcomings, the Star Princess is currently my favorite ship in the Princess fleet. I love sailing on a new ship and don’t have any issues with the layout changes made on the Sphere-class. While some venues suffer from some inexplicably poor design choices, I never found them too crowded or unusable. It’s unfortunate that the ship’s biggest weaknesses aren’t easy or possible to fix, but if you set your expectations properly, you can overlook or work around most of them. I’m already looking forward to my next sailing on the Star Princess.
Strengths:
- Beautiful new ship
- Excellent food and service
- Lots of usable outdoor spaces
Areas for improvement:
- Better room cleanliness standards
- A second craps table in the casino
- Remove obstructed view seats in venues
