February 22 - March 1, 2003
by Tim Larison, CLIA Master Cruise
Counsellor (MCC)
Family Members: Tim, Anne, Andrew (age 9), and Joshua (age 9) Larison
My family had been to Disney World and on the Disney Cruise before, so
in February of 2003 I decided to take them on a different type of vacation.
We visited Disneyland for 5 days, followed by a 7 night Mexican Riviera
Cruise on Princess. This would be our first Princess cruise, and as
a travel agent I wanted to see how their kids programs compared to
the excellent ones Disney has. Also we were excited to try out a new
ship on a new cruise line with a new itinerary for us!
Rather than give a day by day account of this cruise, I will tell you
about the different parts of our cruise in this report:
Disneyland Portion, Our Stateroom, Recreation And Activities Onboard,
Itinerary and Ports of Call, Cruising With Kids, Dining, Entertainment,
and Embarkation/Disembarkation.
Disneyland Portion
To read about the Disneyland portion of our trip, go to this link:
Tim's
Disneyland trip report
We found this "self made" land and sea vacation an excellent fit. After
spending a few days walking around theme parks it was nice to relax on
a 7 day cruise.
Our Stateroom
While we would have liked to have a verandah or window stateroom on this
cruise, we got an excellent deal on a inside category M stateroom so we
decided to give it a try. This is the first time we had taken a cruise
with an inside stateroom.
Our stateroom was on the Aloha deck - the second highest passenger deck
on the ship (deck 12). We loved this location! We were only one deck
away from the pools and recreation areas, close to the kids club on deck 15,
and midship. The Star Princess had 5 elevators at three different locations
(aft, midship, forward). We found we rarely had to wait very long for
an elevator when it was necessary to go to the lower decks.
Our stateroom was small but functional. We had two single beds below separated
by a center dresser. Above each bed was another bed that came down from
the wall. Our kids loved sleeping in the upper beds. TIP: The upper beds
each had a safety rail to prevent the kids from taking a tumble in the night.
For extra security, we asked our cabin steward for extra pillows and we
wedged the pillow next to the safety railing for more protection. With this
setup we felt secure our kids would not roll out of their beds.
While the sleeping area of the stateroom was small, it did have a large clothes
closet, a good sized bathroom, a desk, and lots of shelf space. We carried
5 suitcases onboard and we were able to fit everything with room to spare.
When we wanted a look outside, we either went up a deck by a nearby staircase,
or we changed to the shipboard channel in our stateroom that had a continuous
view from the bridge. TIP: When you are on the cruise tell your family and
friends back home that they can monitor your sailing through the Princess
web site (http://www.princess.com). There is a bridgecam on many of the
Princess ships that are updated every 30 seconds, with the photo being
displayed live on the internet. My mother enjoyed following our cruise
this way.
TIP: When you checkin to your stateroom you are given a foldup map to
the ship that easily fits into a pocket or a purse. We carried this guide
around with us all week and found it very helpful to navigate this large
ship. Ask your stateroom attendant for additional copies for other members
of your family. Also there are maps of the ship with a "you are here" dot at each elevator.
TIP: When getting off the elevator it was sometime hard to remember which side
our stateroom was on. The staterooms with an even number had a red carpet
in the aisle, the odd numbered side had a blue carpet in the aisle. Using
this info we always remembered which side our stateroom was on.
Recreation and Activities Onboard
The Star Princess is a new ship (built in 2001, first sailing in early 2002)
with many amenities. We particularly liked the large pool area on deck 14 that
had a retractable roof. On our first couple of days at sea sailing out of
LA it was cool outside. The roof in this pool area was closed and allowed
people to swim in relative comfort - safe from the cool temperatures outside.
Also in this area was a large ping pong room where we spent alot of time.
Unlike other ships I have been on where the ping pong tables have been located
outside on a deck, this covered area allowed us to play ping pong without
the wind affecting the game. This area with the retractable roof will come
in handy for those taking the Star Princess in the cool temperatures of Alaska
this May.
In addition to the covered pool, the Star Princess had another large outdoor
pool, a smaller lap pool where you could swim against a current, many hot
tubs, and two small kids pools outside of the children's area. The minimum
depth of the large pools was 5 feet, which made it difficult for our kids to
swim there.
Other recreational activities onboard included a basketball court, a 9 hole
minature golf course, a golf simulator, and a jogging track. You can see
pictures of many of these areas if you click on "pictures" link at the right of this report.
For the non-sports oriented, there was a large casino onboard. The Casino
was open when we were at sea. My wife and I played blackjack here one day
at a $3 minimum table - it was nice to have a couple of lower limit tables
for the casual gambler. There were plenty of slot machines in the casino,
as well as video poker machines and craps tables. Several poker tournaments
were held during the cruise as well.
Other non-sports activities included a game room, where you could play bridge
with other passengers or other games. A well stocked library was onboard
where you could check out two or three books for the voyage. The ship
even had an art gallery and frequent art auctions on the "at sea" days.
The ship had a large internet cafe with over 20 internet terminals. I checked
my email a couple of times each day on the cruise and never had a problem
finding a terminal. On our cruise the charge for the internet was 35 cents
a minute. There was no plan where you could buy unlimited internet access
but I found I spent less on the internet on this cruise than when I bought
unlimited internet access for a 7 night cruise on another cruise line.
TIP: If you plan on checking your email on the ship, before you leave home
set up a yahoo account and forward your email there. I found it quick and
easy to check my yahoo email each day on the ship. TIP2: Onboard they give
you extra incentives for booking your next Princess Cruise. At each internet
terminal you can browse the Princess website free of charge. This helped
us in planning and booking our next cruise before we left the ship.
Overall I was impressed with the wide variety of activities available on
the Star Princess. There was something for everyone.
The Itinerary and Ports Of Call
We really liked the Itinerary on this cruise:
Saturday: leave LA
Sunday: at sea
Monday: at sea
Tuesday: Puerto Vallarta
Wednesday: Mazatlan
Thursday: Cabo San Lucas
Friday: at sea
Saturday: return to LA
The three "at sea" days gave us plenty of time to explore the various features
of this wonderful ship. We liked having two at sea days to start the cruise
so that we had time to relax and learn about the ship. After 2 1/2 days at
sea we were ready to visit some ports, and having ports to visit on 3
consecutive days was a nice break. Finally to finish the cruise we liked
having one final "at sea" day before returning home. I wish all 7 night
cruises were scheduled this way!
I will describe our activities at each of the ports below.
Puerto Vallarta -
At this port we did our longest shore excursion - a 7 1/2 hour journey to
the Hideway at Las Caletas. This was a wonderful secluded cove that
was only accessable by boat. The famous film director, John Huston,
once had a home here.
We took a 45 minute boat ride from the Star Princess to reach the cove.
There were many beach chairs setup on a private beach with a variety of
water sports activities. Sitting on the beach chairs and looking out
over the ocean was very relaxing.
Anne and Josh took the one hour kayak tour. The kayak excursion had a guide
and it was good for first time kayakers like Anne and Josh. Anne also
enjoyed snorkeling here - she reported the water wasn't as clear as when
she had snorkeled in the Caribbean but it was still fun.
For lunch we had a wonderful buffet lunch in a covered area overlooking the
beach and the ocean.
This was an excellent excursion for kids. In addition to the water sports,
they also had some special activites for kids like "feed the deer" and
"make your own pottery".
We really enjoyed our day at the beach here and we would recommend this
tour for future cruisers.
The most popular excursion at Puerto Vallerta that others on our cruise took
was the "Swim With The Dolphins" tour. TIP: The dolphin swim was completely
sold out before our cruise, so if you are interested in this activity be sure to book it ahead of time.
Mazatlan -
At this port we did not see a good shore excursion that our nine year olds
would be interested in. They loved the kids programs so much that they
had no problem staying in the kids club for a few hours while Anne and
I went on the "Mazatlan Highlights and Papantla Flyers" shore excursion.
We found this tour to be very interesting. It started with a city tour
of old town Mazatlan, including a visit to a beautiful old cathedral
in the center of town. Next we saw two cliff divers. Finally we
were treated to a Mexican dance exhibition highlighted by the
Papantla Flyers. The Papantla Flyers climbed a large pole and descended
from the pole upside down as they circled around on a large rope. See
my pictures for a photo of this event.
We were struck by the poverty in old town Mazatlan. We saw children
begging for money on the street and many street vendors hawking their
wares to us tourists. This was in stark contrast to the rich country
club areas we were driven through outside of town.
If we visit Mazatlan in the future we would like to do the Sierra Madre tour
that I heard good things about from other people on our cruise.
We like our shore tour, but we would rate this port as the third best
of the three we visited. This was the only port we encountered aggressive
street vendors and beggars. I will always remember the cliff divers
we saw - who risked their lives diving for us and then begged us for
tips afterwards.
Cabo San Lucas -
We were at this port the shortest (only 6 hours) which was too bad because it
was the most beautiful port we visited. Here we took a whale watching tour
with our boys. For the first hour of the tour we saw no whales but we
weren't too disappointed - the scenery from the boat was breathtaking.
Cabo has many beautiful rock formations. In the last hour of the tour the whales showed up. The kids were thrilled as the whales popped out
of the water all around our boat.
TIP: The whale watching tour was sold out before our cruise - if you are
interested in this excursion be sure to book it ahead of time.
TIP2: If you do the whale watching tour book the SECOND one of the day.
We took the early tour and as I said we did not see any whales the first hour.
We saw lots of whales at the end of our tour, and reports from passengers who
took the second tour said they saw many whales. I think with the later tour
more boats are out so there are more reports of where the whales may be located.
We would like to return to Cabo someday to stay longer. It is in a beautiful
location and from our whale watching boat we could see many nice resorts.
Overall we liked the diversity of shore excursions offered on this cruise.
The three excursions we took were all very different - a day at the beach,
a few hours exploring a city and Mexican Culture, and a two hour whale
watching excursion.
Cruising With Kids
We had been on the Disney Cruise line with our nine year old twins before,
and we weren't sure how they would like a non-Disney cruise. We were
pleasantly surprised - our kids absolutely loved the kids club and we
couldn't keep them away from it!
When we were checking in for the cruise we saw almost all adults in the
waiting area. "Aren't there any kids on this cruise?" Andrew asked. Once
onboard we did find other kids. In fact there were 27 kids from age 3 to
7 on the cruise, and 47 kids from ages 8 to 12.
Compared to a Disney cruise, there are far fewer kids, but on this cruise
our boys got to know the other children better. A Disney Cruise is like going
to a large elementary school, where there are many fun activities but there is
also a large number of other children. This Princess cruise was like
attending a small schoolhouse in the country - fewer kids but more friendly.
Our boys got to know many of the kids well that they had met in the kids club.
When we were on other parts of the ship as a family we would frequently hear
"Hi Andrew and Josh!" as one of their friends from the kids club would
recognize them.
The Princess kids clubs were well organized. Our boys were in the 8 to 12
year old group - the Princess Pirateers. I was impressed with the detailed
organization of the club. On the first night of the cruise we got a handout
telling of all the kids club activites, scheduled by the minute, for the
rest of the cruise. There was a wide range of activities offered - arts
and crafts, games, contests, movies, karoke, scavenger hunts, dancing, etc.
The counselors had a rule that was impressed on the kids the first night -
if there was any activity they did not want to participate in just say so
and they could sit it out. The kids club was far more than a couple of
adults watching the kids play video games the whole time - it was well
thought out with a good variety of events.
The kids club was open from 9 to 12 noon, from 2 pm to 5 pm, and from 7 pm
to 10 pm on most days. On a couple of nights they took the kids to the
buffet for dinner at 6:15 pm - our boys chose eating with their friends on these nights rather than eating with us in the formal dining room. For
days at ports the kids club was available during the day if you preregistered
by 5 pm the night before. After 10 pm you could pay for group babysittingat the kids clubs for $5 per hour per child (open until 1 am).
There is also a separate area for kids ages 3 to 7, and another area for teens.
The teen area was particularly impressive with a huge tv screen and a big
lounge (bigger than the teen area we had seen on the Disney cruise).
A couple of TIPS about the kids clubs:
1. Make sure to register your kids on the first night of the cruise. Even
if you aren't sure how much time your kids will stay in the clubs, you must
be registered for them to participate. After our kids tried the club on
the second day, they were to spend far more time in the clubs than we
anticipated before the cruise.
2. Check to see what nights the kids club will take the children to dinner.
This will give you a chance to make an "adults only" reservation at one
of the speciality restaurants (see "Dining" below) while your children are
eating with the other kids.
For adults on the cruise who want to avoid kids, there were plenty of areas
on the ship where you rarely saw children. The nighttime shows, for example,
are geared more toward adults. Kids can attend but we saw very few.
Overall we were very impressed with the kids club and we would not hesitate
to take our kids on another Princess Cruise. We still love the Disney cruise
and I would rate Disney as the top cruise for kids, but the Princess
Cruise really surprised us at how well they handled their kids programs.
Dining
I can describe the dining in one word: Excellent!
We had the early "traditional" seating time for dinner (6:15 pm). We liked the
traditional seating. Another option on the cruise is "Personal Choice" seating, where you can eat whenever you want between 5 and 10 pm. With our
traditional seating time we had the same waiters every night - we liked that
very much. Our waiters were quite friendly (one from South Africa, one from
Portugal) and they were great with our kids. We never had a wait with our
traditional seating time. With Personal Choice I saw long lines for dinner
on one of the formal nights (everyone wanted to eat at the same time) but on
other nights Personal Choice seemed to have minimal waits as well.
Our "traditional seating" dining room was located on deck 6 - the "Amalfi
Dining Room". This was one of three large dining rooms on the ship. The
food was wonderful all week - there was a good variety of selections and
the quality was very good. The kids menu was limited (hamburger, hot dogs,etc) but that wasn't a problem for our kids - they enjoyed ordering off of
the adult menu each night.
Another dining option available was the 24 hour Horizon Court buffet. We
ate breakfast here a couple of times. The hours were particularly convenient
when we had an early shore tour. On our whale watching day we ate breakfast
in the buffet at 6 am. TIP: If you have time, breakfast and lunch at the
Portifino dining room is almost as good as dinner! The buffet is good for
a quick meal, but for a better meal at breakfast or lunch in a sit down
restaurant try the Portofino.
The Star Princess had two specialty restaurants: Tequilas (a Mexican
Restaurant), and Sabatini's (a Italian Restaurant). Tequilas has a $8 cover
charge per person which includes a free margarita. We ate at Tequilas one
night while our kids were eating with their friends in the kids club - we
loved the food and the quieter atmosphere when compared to the main dining
room. While we didn't get the opportunity to eat at Sabatini's, we heard good
reports about this restaurant as well from other cruisers. TIP: If you want to
eat at Sabatini's, it is good to make reservations shortly after you board.
This restaurant fills up fast. We were able to get reservations at Tequilas
a couple of days into the cruise.
Another food option is a wonderful Haagen Daz ice cream parlor next to one
of the main pools. The ice cream is an additional charge here ($2.80 for two
scoops) but worth it. Also by the pool is an area where you can get pizza,
hamburgers, and hot dogs at no additional charge. Room service is also
available.
The Star Princess charged extra for soft drinks at meals, so if you like soft drinks a "soda card" was a good buy on the first night of the cruise.
This card gave you unlimited sodas for the week. We choose to skip the
soda card and we drank water at most meals.
There were two formal nights on this cruise. We had pictures taken on the
first formal night (Sunday night). The dress code at Tequilas was not quite as strict on formal night - we decided to skip the second formal night and
ate at Tequilas instead.
There was one downside to the excellent food on the Star Princess - I gained
more weight on this cruise than I have on any other cruise I have taken in
the past. Time to get back to Weight Watchers!
Entertainment
The Star Princess had many entertainment options. There were two big
shows each night - one in the large Princess Theatre and another in
the Vista Lounge. There were 5 different comedians on our cruise (the best
one was "Sarge" on the last two nights). Princess has a large cast of
dancers who gave different shows during the week. The production show
"Dance!" was the best one we saw.
In addition to the large shows, there are a few smaller lounges onboard
with bands and dancing. A large disco at the top of the ship ("Skywalkers
Night Club") featured late night dancing and entertainment.
During the day and on some evenings there were first run movies offered in the
Vista Lounge and in the Princess Theatre. In addition there was a movie
channel on our stateroom tv that featured first run movies. We were so
busy with the other entertainment and recreational activities that we never
did make it to a movie on this cruise.
Kids are allowed at the nighttime shows but they really are more for adults
in content. Our kids were happy to spend time in the kids club in the evening.
Embarkation/Disembarkation
We found getting on and off the ship very easy. When we checked in to the
cruise terminal on the first day we were given a number. At boarding time
people were called by number to board the ship - no need to wait in line.
We were given an assigned time to get off the ship (8:15 am) and flexibility
to eat breakfast and return to our stateroom any time before then. The
Princess transfers to the airport after the cruise were quick and efficient.
Summary
We had a great time on our Princess Cruise and we would definitely cruise
with Princess again. In the back of my mind before the cruise I thought
Mexico might not be as good as some of the Caribbean cruises we had taken in
the past - I was pleasantly surprised by the ports we visited and the diverse
shore excursions offered. Most important for us is that our kids had a good
time on the cruise, too, thanks to a well run kids club with lots of activities.
Tim Larison