Winter weather was a real drag for my family and I this year. There were certainly other places that had worse conditions than us – but as we headed into March, one of the things that pulled me through the cold and never-disappearing snow piles was the decreasing counter in the Princess app for our sailing on Star Princess.
With our last cruise less than 70 days prior, and the near-identical configuration of Sun and Star Princesses, I expected a very familiar experience with only a few small tweaks. Two of the three scheduled ports (Amber Cove and Princess Cays) were also repeats from previous sailings, so this trip was shaping up to be pleasant but anything but novel.
Unfortunately, Star Princess made widespread news for a norovirus outbreak on the previous 7-day sailing, which resulted in a delayed embarkation in Port Everglades for us. Most importantly, nobody in our party became ill during our week. The first two days had a rocky start: not from sea conditions, but from a service angle, with notable cabin cleaning oversights and drawn-out dining. By day 4, the onboard experience dramatically improved, and it was “smooth sailing” from then onward. We had some great meals and surprise cocktails that brought things back to the usual standards I have for Princess.
I still think Sun and Star Princesses are pretty much a toss-up, with some parts of the Star experience (self-serve buffet, larger O’Malleys, many soft-serve stations) being a refined vision that I’m sure will be corrected during Sun’s first dry dock. I’d give the edge to Star but not at any significant price premium over Sun. I wouldn’t hesitate to book Sun again if it had a better itinerary, sail dates, or cabin availability than Star Princess.
Booking and planning
Cruise selection
There’s a specific week preference with the kids’ March Break, and we currently like Princess ships with certain cabin configurations. Sun Princess was out of the running as she was leaving North America in early March for a 14-day transatlantic repositioning, then sailing out of Europe for the summer season. Other vessels in the fleet had mini-suite pricing premiums, were in far-flung locales, or didn’t quite line up on the dates.
Star Princess, though, was available. She moved to Seattle for Alaskan itineraries mid-April but was still doing Caribbean cruises before then – mostly 7-day and a couple 8-day options. Pricing for March dates was much better than the December holidays, with the total cost for a 7-night Oceanview O3 cabin coming in at $4890 CAD for four people with two Plus packages, and a $100US onboard credit. As a point of comparison, the pricey New Year’s Eve week on Sun Princess was closer to $7500 with the same cabin type and package.
Our cabin 5507 was booked before our noisy Oceanview experience in 5511 on Sun Princess, and one of the first things I did when that happened in December was to look for alternate rooms on Star. There was a 4-person balcony cabin available for the March sailing, but the price increase was substantial, and we’d also give up some interior space as a trade-off. Although 5507 is only two units away from 5511, we also weren’t going to be in precisely the same cabin – so whatever might have been directly underneath us last time may not be a recurring problem. And it was a different ship, so while the structure is the same, it’s also possible the source of the noise in areas below had been modified or moved.
I also didn’t bother to bid for upgrade on this sailing: generically assigned balcony cabins could be in a worse spot for noise, especially those just one deck up but right under the Piazza. Mini-suites are all generally well-positioned but had a minimum bid of $725 CAD for guests 1 and 2. For the extra $1450 or more, I’d rather save the money now and adjust cabin type on future, longer sailings if there’s a similar noise problem again.
Touching briefly on the changes from Sun Princess, I found a Star Princess fact sheet (mirrored PDF) that notes specific capacity increases for venues: 20 more seats in Love by Britto (74 total) and 32 more seats in O’Malley’s (96-person capacity.)
Flights
I booked the return flight first, since it was the same Porter/Air Transat route between FLL/YUL/YYZ that I’d picked for our January 2025 trip home, at what I consider a decent price of $1188.24 CAD on a fully refundable fare for 4. It took some time to find a well-priced outbound trip to Florida, and sadly Porter’s options didn’t align. I initially bought a refundable 6am Delta flight to FLL with a stop in LGA. I wasn’t totally happy with it due to the likelihood of winter weather that could cause delays in both Toronto and New York, but the non-stop options on that date were at a premium.
As the date got closer, I checked into the LGA lounge situation and was displeased to find out that Delta flies into Terminal C. The Delta-specific lounge charges $50US per guest for Amex Platinum cardholders. The American Express Centurion lounge (with up to two guests free per card) is in Terminal B. While there is now a pedestrian walkway between terminals B and C at LGA, you’d have to exit the secure area to get to it. Plus, TSA might not let you in to Terminal B without a boarding pass for an airline that actually flies from Terminal B.
I reviewed a few more options and decided to refund the Delta flight and book WestJet, non-stop from YYZ to FLL, for a price increase over the Delta flight of about $420 CAD. I did take the standard non-refundable WestJet fare (Econo, not EconoBasic) but figured the prices probably wouldn’t get much lower. I was content with the actual flight itself as it’s been one we’ve used before, but WestJet is now one of the weaker offerings in the Canadian market: no complimentary beer or wine, possibility of cramped seating, and uncertain availability of full, included WiFi.
With just over a month to go, I received a change notice for the Air Transat/Porter flight home, and initially it looked like a minor schedule adjustment (departing at 11:40am rather than 11:45am). Signing in to the Porter website, I was pleased to discover that we had been moved to a Porter-operated, non-stop flight back to Toronto instead of having a layover in Montreal. Included seat selection and first checked bag from our Freedom rate were now effective, so I snagged some “stretch” seats for the four of us. At the time we got moved, the same non-stop, Porter-delivered flight was listed for nearly $5K CAD to buy in a nonrefundable version, so I feel we made out very well.
The Porter change may have been a pre-emptive effect of Air Transat winding down their service to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando for spring and summer 2026. It’s disappointing that we’ll have one fewer airline option to the Florida cruise ports, but I suppose business is business.
Hotel, food, transportation
There was a premium on hotels in the Fort Lauderdale area on this weekend, and it didn’t seem to match any significant convention, holiday, or event I could find. I’d started with a booking at avid hotel Ft Lauderdale Airport – Cruise due to high pricing everywhere, even though the location didn’t seem to have many walkable amenities, and the airport shuttle was allegedly only available at certain scheduled times. I then switched to a room hold at the Holiday Inn on State Road 84, where we’d stayed in August 2025 and really enjoyed. Over the months I repriced it a few times – but it was still going to cost over $350US for the night with fees and tax.
Hilton then ended up having a sale in early November 2025, so I made a booking at the Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport North Cruise Port where we’ve stayed a few times before. It was about $100US cheaper than the Holiday Inn. The airport shuttle appeared to be back in operation, although I was curious if it would now be in a vehicle with functional seatbelts. The early November Hilton sale ended up being better than the Black Friday offering later in the month – many pre-Black Friday sales now seem to offer better value than those the day of.
With the Hampton Inn secured, both Mini Pita and Old Heidelberg were in reach for food options again, although the Aldi in the Miracle Mile plaza replacing the Winn-Dixie seemed to be behind schedule and was still marked as temporarily closed on Google. Old Heidelberg was worth a 6pm reservation and the short walk over.
A change for this sailing was our decision to not book All Stars or another port shuttle. We decided that a taxi, Uber, or Lyft would be reasonable for the distance to Port Everglades, and certainly less expensive for four people. It would also be a more flexible option in terms of timing. Rideshare vehicles must use a more circuitous route around Terminal 2, but our van last time also circled the area before drop-off – so I’m not certain this would add any time on cruise day.
Ports and excursions
While the ports on this trip weren’t a significant consideration (just that the embarkation port wasn’t too difficult to get to or come home from), we had:
- Princess Cays again! Using the onboard and $100US shareholder credit, I locked in a private bungalow rental. Total pricing was $254.95 so effectively $55US out of pocket. The public Princess link was broken while writing this, but there’s an archived page that describes the amenities. I thought it would be nice to have a place out of the sun to relax, and the kids might get some use out of the included floats.
- Amber Cove is a repeat port from our Carnival Celebration cruise, where I briefly noted that it was a nice pool day. Unfortunately based on the ship schedule, it looked like we’d be porting with Carnival Mardi Gras, which would put close to 10,000 guests in the port at the same time if everyone went shoreside.
Since Star Princess was scheduled to be in Amber Cove for an hour longer than the Carnival ship, a possible approach would be to go late afternoon, and hopefully the Mardi Gras crowds will have started to return to ship. I didn’t explicitly book anything here, but figured we’d go hang out in the pool for a bit, maybe buy one off-ship beer, and head back for a meal. - Grand Turk seems to come up with recommendations for either Margaritaville or Jack’s Shack. Jack’s has changed ownership recently but still has high ratings in the past month for their jerk chicken and experience. It looked to be about a 10-minute walk away, so I figured if we did want a beach day Jack’s might be a good option.
Pre-cruise
Somewhat surprisingly, we received medallions for this sailing, delivered by Canada Post. I think it was because I went back into the app at about 45 days before the cruise and made sure the “contact information” fields were firmly set and saved on each individual guest profile. This was also the earliest I’ve seen them show up – 23 days pre-sailing, which made me wonder if the battery would last for the cruise duration. They were also delivered at no charge, which will be the last Princess cruise for us where that perk is in effect.
Unlike the other Medallions we’ve received, these have much a lighter (almost white) colour to their outer ring. This seems to match the “brighter” Star-specific branding as compared to Sun Princess or other ships.
Princess also offered an “up to 40%” discount off spa services in the days before sailing. It wasn’t applicable to thermal suite purchases, and 40% was on embarkation day only (30% on port days; 25% on sea days between 6-10pm.) An embarkation day manicure/pedicure combo suited Kayla, though, so one was reserved.
This cruise was also the last one we have booked with the pre-July 2025 Plus package. All our others have been rebooked since then for better base pricing, and have taken on the newer, generally more limited benefits. As of January 2026, the Princess mobile app can distinguish between the two versions of the package, so I expect the difference will be handled automatically by the POS systems onboard.
We’ve revised our packing list down to fewer items. Given the more casual nature of a single-week cruise outside of a major holiday, and reviewing what we wore last time, everyone limited their wardrobe to less dressy options.
The last change before departure was an email from our travel agent early Thursday morning, which noted a gastrointestinal illness on the previous sailing. This delayed check-in time to 12:30pm (which usually starts at 10:30 to 11am in Port Everglades), with the ship departing shortly after 4pm – an hour’s delay from original sail time.
Travel day
Another early morning and clear drive to the Viscount garage at Pearson Airport, and we were able to get into the T3 Plaza Premium lounge. There was a virtual queue, of course. I did select the option from the check-in website to have a takeaway breakfast if the lounge was too full, but we chose to wait and were admitted entry within ten minutes. If you take them up on breakfast-to-go, you can’t come in and stay.
Like the Marriott property from December, I also received a welcome email from the Hampton with some suggestions about the area amenities. Luckily there were no emails about a cancelled reservation this time! WestJet was perfectly serviceable and the flight operated within the expected timeframe.
Luggage took a while to emerge at FLL, and the hotel shuttle pickup area was the busiest I’ve seen it – there was a huge amount of traffic, and it didn’t help that cruise ship buses were loading and unloading in the same vicinity. It was about 45 minutes from arriving at curbside pickup to shuttle arrival. Not quite the longest we’ve waited but made more challenging with kids and a very crowded section of sidewalk.
In a win for the Hampton Inn, they’ve moved to a shuttle bus (arranged by MTM Shuttles) with proper seats and seatbelts rather than the generic white Transit/Sprinter van, but you need to look closely for the address on the side. The specific “Ft. Lauderdale Airport North Cruise Port” wording makes no appearance, and there are three Hampton Inns in the Fort Lauderdale area with complimentary shuttle service.
A mild inconvenience on our shuttle run: there were too many people waiting for pickup and not enough seats by the time we got to the terminal 3 area, and Kayla and I were asked to have our kids sit on our laps. I wasn’t a fan of this request. I get why, since the people at the last pickup spot would probably have been waiting another hour for the shuttle to return – but there was still standing room, I’m now being inconvenienced and made uncomfortable, and everyone is less safe. At least it was a short ride from that point. The intense traffic from the airport died down once we were off the property.
Once at the hotel, we dropped our bags off in the giant pile by the check-in desk and headed over to Mini Pita, where a decent lunch was had.
We walked around the rest of the plaza, checked out the “5 and Below” store, and headed back to the hotel. At 3:05pm (standard check-in was 4pm) I got a push notice that my digital key was ready, so we went to the front desk to get physical keys for the room and collect our luggage from the various places it had been stashed behind the front desk.
I wasn’t aware that you could share digital keys to other people with the Hilton app, and having physical keys issued apparently deactivates the digital versions. Assuming the digital + sharing option works, we’ll probably stick to digital next time and avoid a few more minutes at the front desk at peak timing.
The kids wanted a few minutes in the pool while Kayla went for a nap, but it was raining out and slightly cold, so we didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. It was then time for a shower and the short journey over to Old Heidelberg. One of our kids absolutely can’t get enough of their split-pea soup, which is only on special some nights – and we lucked in. I will say the server we had seemed somewhat inattentive, and they were out of goulash so I had to pick an alternate dinner, but the food and beer still held up.
Embarkation day
There was no sleeping in for the kids, so Kayla went down and got a couple breakfast plates around 7:30 and I followed. After some screen time, we went down for a second helping of food and then a visit to the pool in the sunnier weather. Standard check-out at the hotel is 11am, but with gold Hilton status through American Express we were able to stay until noon (although I’m sure the cleaning staff would have preferred we depart earlier as they came by around 11:20 to see if we were ready to leave.)
At noon in the lobby, we compared Uber and Lyft for XL-sized vehicles, and with a 10% promotion Lyft was slightly cheaper for a total of $21.57 USD to Terminal 2. The driver arrived promptly – although the traffic pattern between Terminal 2, the conference centre, and parking garage added a slight delay to our arrival.
Arriving exactly at 12:30pm, we dropped our bags off with a porter and then began the task of finding the end of the line to get inside the terminal. In addition to wrapping around the covered area, people were then queuing along the sidewalk, looping back and forth between the crew entrance and main entrance in the taxi drop-off area. There were also very few port personnel providing directions and from our position, Kayla ended up having to direct multiple people to the end of the ever-growing line.
After alternating through covered and uncovered areas, we arrived in the standard covered area closest to the terminal at 1:18pm. From there, it was another 20 minutes to get into the building, through security and into the Green Lane, and we were on the ship by 1:55pm – with a total time of 85 minutes to embark. I expect the Blue Lane would have added another 20 minutes to the endeavour, so we were very glad that our Medallions were in-hand and functional.
Once onboard, we located some food and were informed that cabins would be ready around 4pm, but that we could drop our luggage off around 3. We took note of the condition of the room: it didn’t look like anything had yet been cleaned, with just some rumpled bedding.
After dropping by Firefly Park on Deck 6 to register the children (apparently, I’d neglected to do this online before sailing), bypassing the hell that was the Guest Services line, we went out back to Wake View to give the kids some time in the water before dinner.
I’ll cut off the chronological narrative shortly and move to my usual categories, but even with the delay I don’t think it was the worst embarkation we’ve experienced. (That goes to NCL Breakaway out of Manhattan in 2016; while it was in a covered terminal building, the situation was completely chaotic.) I also don’t know that I’d want to do anything different in this situation like arriving later to try and avoid the queue. Just before we entered the building at 1:30, the line was still growing with new arrivals. I’d be more concerned about arriving later than 2pm for a 4pm departure with the risk of potential traffic delays or other impediments on the way in.
I think if this happens again, we’ll stick to arriving for 12:30 but ensure we are well-hydrated, well-stocked with snacks, appropriately sun protected (but certainly not in pants), and with distractions for all. Our kids did exceptionally well having been primed for a wait and listened to the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack on repeat, avoiding substantial complaints.
Cabin (5507, O3 Oceanview)
Good: location, layout, and lack of noise
As a follow-up to our stay in cabin 5511 on Sun Princess, 5507 has the exact same cabin layout: main bed nearest cabin door, couch by the balcony; when lying on the main bed, your feet point aft. We knew we’d like the configuration, but I am pleased to say that a great improvement during our stay on Star Princess was the absence of off-putting rattling, rocking, spinning, or thumping noises at night.
The upstairs neighbours with a cove balcony still dragged their deck chairs occasionally, but you’d probably have that below any balcony cabin. I would highly recommend this specific stateroom, and we will be staying in similarly-located rooms on future Sphere-class sailings.
Not great: cleanliness
However, there was a significant negative that was not related to cabin location. [I posted a substantial chunk of this section to CruiseCritic; this is the same content with some minor editing.]
Simply put, our cabin was not cleaned well on embarkation day, and it was especially obvious based on the active cleaning and excellent state of the rest of the public areas onboard. While the bedding had been refreshed by the time we returned from dinner, the carpet had not been vacuumed well (crumbs, hair, a Cheerio, various plastic bits still present), the bathroom still had hairs from the previous guest around the sink and shower. There was also what looked like pieces of synthetic, curly, black hair in corners – maybe from a wig or hairpiece. Finally, the main cabin surfaces (desk, side table) all had water/glass rings. That seemed like it was a red flag given the use of Oxivir on surfaces everywhere else on the ship.
I had started a Crew Chat message after dinner to try to make sure someone was aware, but it failed to send twice, so we gave our room steward time to complete his standard evening rotation. Ultimately, we didn’t end up seeing him Day 1 at all. At 10pm when we returned to the cabin it didn’t look like anything had changed. I called the Housekeeping line and someone confirmed they’d come back to vacuum and wipe right away. We dodged up to the International Cafe and returned around 11pm; it looked like maybe a vacuum pass had been done, but the indicative Cheerio under the bed remained and the surfaces were still untouched.
We do know someone had been by, as there was now a used rag and a pile of (clean) bath mats in the cabin by the window. At this point, since the bedding looked OK, Kayla wiped down some surfaces with soap and a washcloth and we all got to sleep, although in a slightly sour mood.
The next day we did run into the steward briefly and politely requested additional cleaning, but I would say that the cleaning service throughout the sailing was just not up to spec based on previous Princess and other cruises. We also ran out of conditioner in the shower mid-trip and it was not proactively addressed – but once we did tell the steward directly, it was refilled during the next service, and bathroom products levels might be an unreasonable check to make every day.
I did not try to escalate further with Guest Services or the housekeeping department. I think it would have been a different situation had the bedding or linens been affected, but we were able to wipe things down ourselves and move on with our lives. Frankly with Crew Chat failing that first day, I didn’t want to wait in the lengthy Sphere-class line on deck 6. Nor did I really feel like potentially causing someone’s job to be at risk over the matter, or worst case, have an aggrieved steward start messing with our stuff later in the week.
We certainly were hyper-aware of cleanliness and perhaps paid more attention to the state of the cabin due to the delayed embarkation, CDC involvement, and health announcements from the captain. Looking back to 2024 I also did point out a need for extra vacuuming even without the impact of an outbreak.
I did give what I felt was an appropriate rating on the post-cruise survey with comments in this category. While I would still feel bad if there are serious repercussions for the steward as a result, the folks that proudly announce online how they bring their own cleaning supplies and spend a good chunk of embarkation day disinfecting their cabins now start to seem a little more reasonable. Unfortunately, the recommended hypochlorous acid wipes aren’t widely available in Canada, which I’d probably consider adding to our travel kit just as a backup.
Other cabin notes
Paperwork and other items seemed to arrive half to a full day later than I’d expect them. I’m not necessarily going to blame our steward on this one, considering the whole delayed start, but our tickets and information to the Princess Cays bungalow meant for Day 2 arrived late in the evening on Day 1. At Princess Cays, bungalows have an optional served lunch, but you need to pre-order it; the late delivery meant we had no opportunity to do that before the 3pm cutoff stated in the notice. While I don’t think we would have paid for the lunch upgrade anyway, it would have been nice to review the written material in time to make that decision.
Similarly, the printed information for the Platinum and Elite cocktail party didn’t make it until Day 2’s evening service, well after the party would have wrapped up. A call to Guest Services, though, did reveal that information (4-6pm in the Cascade Bar area near The Dome), and we did receive the later Captain’s Circle gathering invite the day prior – so had sufficient time to plan to attend.
Our kids also didn’t receive wristbands with muster station (which was frankly appreciated by them – they hate the feel of the plastic) nor was there specific kids programming information available in the bundle of paperwork. We picked up a paper copy of the schedule on Day 1 while registering in Firefly Park and that was sufficient.
Nobody’s Medallions were recognized as being in the cabin for the purposes of the safety video, even though they were showing up properly by proximity in the mobile app. The kids had their tablets, and their individual Princess logins had started working properly a couple weeks before sailing, so everyone got to watch the safety video on their small screens and avoid a next-day compliance letter.
Ship
Since Sun Princess was not that long ago for us, I paid more attention than usual to the changes. Predominantly, the biggest update and improvement was the Eatery area. Star does have self-serve buffet stations versus Sun’s crew-served, but in addition, there are drink stations as well as soft serve ice cream in the walkways as well as leading into Americana Diner. It also seemed better lit in those passages.
The O’Malley’s expansion seemed to help manage the traffic better, although I spent much less time in there than intended due to other bars and friendly staff competing for my attention. There was still a gigantic line on Day 7 at noon for people trying to burn their casual dining credits, so I’m sure the additional 32 seats didn’t mollify everyone.
Deck 8 now featured a smoke-free casino, but we hardly took that route. We also weren’t inconvenienced by the shop rearrangement and axing of the dedicated OceanFront showcases for Medallion accessories; those have been relocated to the combined photo and Future Cruise area, port-side Deck 9 by Alfredo’s. I would also say that cutting through the more forward smoking-permitted casino to and from the Arena was less of an issue, with seemingly effective ventilation and a reduction of active smokers along the main path.
Deck 7 also features the unavoidable Park West art collection on the way to or from the dining room, and there was more promotion for art auctions onboard Star Princess – although I’m sure by now Sun Princess has ramped up on this too. There is a very amateurish-looking “Reserved for Park West” sign that gets placed on a table in the Crown Grill/Wheelhouse Bar space, which also speaks to art sales being an unwelcome afterthought on this class of ship.
As I alluded to with our cabin, the Guest Services line situation has not improved. I did have my Medallion battery die mid-cruise, and I was very lucky to catch a zero-people-ahead line with no Elite interjections and got a quick replacement (it wasn’t a malfunctioning door lock this time, but a legitimate flat Medallion battery.) But with our regular visits to Firefly Park, we had a good idea of the state of the wait, and it is once again a downside of this size of ship and layout.
Capacity wise, this sailing had 4583 guests, and the feel was a little less crowded than Christmas/New Years. Elevators were quick to arrive and there’s a neat enhancement on Star that’s not on Sun: on the inside of the elevator door there’s another LED strip that indicates which floors are next. (The display from the picture below was fully functional; my camera just caught the floor number and “up” animation on a bad frame.)
The Eatery also seemed to have more available seating, although I think we have started to arrive at more off-peak times and so tables weren’t as hard to get. Main dining without reservations, closer to 7pm, continued to have a lineup – our continued strategy of a 5:40 nightly MDR booking meant we always went in right away. On the Captain’s Circle event night where we couldn’t make the usual time, we remarkably were able to reserve a 7:20pm slot in the app after checking a few times throughout the day.
Star Princess also had a much better system for the galley tour than Sun Princess. They allowed people to sit inside the restaurant rather than crowd up on the stairs, calling up sections of tables as capacity permitted. Our kids were thrilled to attend and check out the different foods on display (although most were displayed with the intent to advertise specialty dining.) Unfortunately, even on the high seas, we discovered employees are still subject to generative AI slop in their workplace posters.
There were a couple notable places I didn’t go this sailing. The Wake View pool permitted children all day like Sun Princess, and because it was shallow and lacked a big screen and loud speakers, we favoured it and didn’t even try the main pools on Deck 17. Nor did I spend much time at Wheelhouse Bar; I shifted my evenings up to Cascade, which was open longer and had a good feel with friendly staff and fellow passengers on this voyage.
The streaming Internet performance on this ship was not especially great. We tried to catch up with the Formula 1 race that had happened over the weekend (which we’ve done successfully on other Princess ships) and had lots of mid-stream stalls. I don’t think I was ever unexpectedly logged out of the app, and regular Internet/social media browsing was unimpeded, but this was a pain point given the lofty wording Princess uses to describe their Internet performance.
Main dining experience
This week’s sailing had a standard 7-night Caribbean menu, and for the first few days we got to experience some different table locations in the Celestial dining room, with no re-routing to the Deck 6 Aurora equivalent. Our first night was good despite the earlier chaos of the day, with a particular note that the soup was served at a fabulous temperature.
Unfortunately, the second night put us in a section with no assistant waiter, and both the food and drink service suffered delays as a result. We did have a manager come over and try to expedite the kids’ meals, but I don’t know how effective that was. I also think the adult meals sat for a while just because there was nobody available to bring them over.
I’m certainly not blaming our waiter as this seemed like both a staffing and kitchen issue, but it was close to the two-hour mark without dessert; by that point the kids wanted to go to Firefly Park. With a 5:40 arrival, we tend to be finished our meal including dessert and coffee by 7 to 7:15pm. I know that’s not always practical onboard, and certainly some folks prefer a 2 plus hour experience, but I’m not going for relaxed pacing for ambiance’s sake when eating with children.
Things took a turn for the better on night 4, when we were given a starboard table with Yasa as our waiter and Zimik as the assistant waiter. There was obvious teamwork and coordination, patience and suggestions with our kids’ orders, and my wine and sparkling water were always at a pleasant level. On the way out, we asked at the maitre’d desk if we could be seated in their section for the rest of the nights and were told to just ask at the entrance when we checked in for our reservation. This was successful, even on the one night we were later due to the Captain’s Circle event, so we enjoyed excellent service the remainder of the cruise.
I did try to get the spaghetti aglio olio for dinner as an off-menu item (this was before we locked in our preferred team) but was met with some confusion. That said, spaghetti pomodoro was offered as an alternative and was delicious, and then the rest of the nights had a pasta dish already on the menu that was pleasing to my palate. Night 7 had Spaghetti e Aglio Olio right on the menu as the pasta option, and I was able to add shrimp just like the lunch offering. And Zimik made sure we had copious horseradish, as is our preference, for the same night’s prime rib entree.
The behind-the-scenes culinary team made a few appearances later in the voyage as well, with Chef Renato poking out to have conversations with guests and ask for a 10 on the survey. Night 6 also did feature the Surf and Turf with the proper lobster tail, so at least on our sailing, it wasn’t downgraded to shrimp like some reports have suggested – that still appears to be a European itinerary swap.
We never made it to the MDR for breakfast but did do one sea day lunch service in the Aurora dining room. Certainly, the MDR was much quieter and slower-paced than the Eatery, but once again a little too slow-paced for dining with kids. There are some good appetizer options, and you could probably make a decent light lunch out of a few of them and not even get into entrees: calamari, street tacos, and spring rolls would be my picks.
I think the food held up to our previous experiences, which is to say I found it to be of high quality. Not specific to the Star Princess product, and certainly a first-world problem related to our cruise frequency and destinations, but the Princess 7-night Caribbean menu is starting to grow a little repetitive for me. The Christmas and New Year’s sailings on Sun in 2025 offered a nice change of pace mid-week with alternate menus on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve, so that is another bonus you get with those sailings but not on this one in March.
For 2026 we also have a different cruise line to try before returning to a Princess vessel, so by the time we come around again I’ll be ready to appreciate the selections.
Complimentary and casual dining
Our next-most visited food venue was probably a tie between the Eatery and International Cafe, as we made a few stops at the IC after pickup from the kids’ program. We also used one casual dining credit on Alfredo’s Pizzeria.
The Eatery
So, yes, the Eatery is self-served, and the actual food stations have a slightly different profile to make this possible. Without getting out a measuring tape I’d say they are lower than the counters on Sun Princess, and because of that I don’t know if Princess can reasonably effect a conversion from crew-served on that ship without a serious renovation to the space. You wouldn’t need to dry dock, but that might be the only time the swap could be made with how busy the venue is on a revenue sailing.
We liked the self-serve configuration as we could select the right amount for ourselves and the kids, taste very small amounts of new and different food, and the flow and speed were improved. People generally seemed to respect basic hygiene behaviour around the stations, although many tried to dodge the sinks for hand-washing at the entrances.
The ships also share many of the same food options, including a grab-and-go section, pasta station (spaghetti every day, including one daily special where you could get clams), kid-friendly options, and lots of different vegetables in the salad bar. Kayla also was pleased that there were different sizes of plates and bowls available if you walked around, which made it easier to portion things out and separate your sauces, cold foods, and hot foods.
My kids both enjoyed the chicken nuggets, which were crispy and similar to a McNugget – although the chicken quality was slightly better than Ronald McDonald’s offering, and the adults weren’t phased if we had to finish a couple on the kids’ behalf. The children also wanted to eat plain iceberg lettuce without any other vegetables or salad dressing, so again, it was nice to be able to just serve ourselves without getting a raised eyebrow or “just lettuce?!” incredulous comments from the serving staff.
I touched on this improvement in the introduction, but there are four soft-serve stations inside the Eatery by the improved drink stations – and one of them served strawberry ice cream in addition to the usual chocolate and vanilla flavours! However, that they appear to turn the machines off sometime before 10pm. This is kind of a nuisance given that Coffee and Cones on deck 17 closes at a very early 8pm, and Promenade Dining (an outside venue with soft serve) closes at 9. The Late Snack option in the Eatery is scheduled from 9:30 until 11pm, and it seems a little disingenuous to turn these machines off when one of the things I’m sure many people would make a late snack out of is an ice cream cone.
Because the complimentary youth programming lets out by 10pm, you don’t have an ice cream option afterward if you stay for the full session – so kids must make some hard choices. Anyway, I’ve submitted my survey feedback to that effect and spent some words on it here, so maybe it’ll change by the next time we sail.
With respect to Late Snack, I never picked anything up at that time, but there was a bigger selection than the Sun Princess offerings at the equivalent time of day. During the day, the Red Ginger section skewed more toward Indian food than Asian, and sadly the stir-fry station with choices for vegetable, noodle/rice, and sauce is not on Star Princess. Pre-configured bowls with chicken, noodle, and mixed vegetables are available in its place, which was slightly disappointing but not a deal-breaker. The noodle soup section remains and was equally as good though.
The last thing I’ll touch on about the Eatery is that breakfast service was regularly available until 11:15am, with a full menu including the omelette stations. Looking at historical Princess Patters, this does seem to be a regular schedule at least on the ships we’ve sailed, but I noticed it this time because the variety stayed consistent, right up until the roller blinds were pulled down for lunch prep.
International Cafe
As the backup late-night dessert and snack option, International Cafe continues to score points with our family. The menu is close to Sun Princess with daily specials and slightly more “upscale” food choices than older ships. I still found that the special and popular items ran out quickly in the evening, and there was one night where the (excellent) peanut butter cookies were all out by 10pm – that was disappointing for the younger cruisers in our party. That said, a late-night option that doesn’t require room service or a seated meal like O’Sheehan’s/The Local on Norwegian is still one of the best benefits of Princess.
Having the bar/alcohol service available right beside the International Cafe continues to be a major plus for Sphere class – while I found you could get late drinks on Enchanted in Vista Lounge or the casino bar, neither is really a place you want to take your food.
Alfredo’s Pizzeria
We opted for Alfredo’s on day 3 (sea day 1) and knew that with the full set of passengers onboard, we could expect a wait to get in that was accounted for as part of our lunch plans. Arriving at the restaurant podium by 12:05pm, we were quoted a 40-minute wait for a table for 4, and it was almost exactly that long before our buzzer went off and we were seated at a table. I don’t have any complaints about that wait, since it was well-expected upfront.
However, the rest of the meal was frustrating. After being seated, we waited twenty minutes before a server came over to pour water, and then another few minutes before drink orders were taken. Our server had to input each extra drink into a mobile device, and from the length of time it took, you’d think he was spelling out the full name of the cocktail, letter by letter, in agonizing hunt-and-peck style. Michelob Ultra and Cabernet Sauvignon are not especially uncommon drinks onboard. One of our kids also ordered a virgin mudslide, but it was interpreted as a Mai Tai (thankfully zero proof.)
Then, when drinks did arrive, Kayla’s beer was missing and the waiter had disappeared to parts unknown. We did get his attention after a few minutes and the missing beer showed up quickly then, but already things were not going well from a service perspective.
On the plus side, we could order from the specialty Tony Gemignani section with Princess Plus, and the actual pizzas were tasty when they did arrive. I did overhear another table asking what was wrong and why things were taking so long to come out. The staff member indicated that they could only bake eight pizzas at a time, and if that’s true, I can see how the lunch rush would be taxing for a restaurant with an 88-person capacity.
We skipped dessert because by that point it had already been about an hour and 45 minutes while seated, when realistically it should have been about half that time to complete the meal.
I called this out in the last review too, but with Plus moving to four specialty dining credits per cruise, and with Star/Sun having one fewer casual option than Enchanted/Discovery, the wait to get in is just going to get worse. Compounding the logistics problem, on Star, the other casual dining option at O’Malleys isn’t open for lunch on port days, and even on sea days it only has food from 11:30am to 1pm for the lunch session. Frankly, for pizza, I’m not sure Alfredo’s is worth it versus the thin-crust pizza up at Lido Slice, or the “Detroit-style” option outside on the Promenade.
Bar and drink service
We had a collection of wonderful bartenders and beverage service staff throughout the voyage, with over-and-above service from Joseph in Crooners and Sijo at the Cascade Bar. Joseph made some excellent suggestions, and Kayla and I spent a few low-key evenings at Crooners just hanging out, reading, trying new cocktails, and taking in the slightly muted ambience from the Piazza area. Later in the evenings, Sijo had a seamless refresh on San Benedetto sparkling water and my Jameson and ginger ale.
This sailing had more misattributed drinks to my account than on Sun Princess, to the extent that one night I was at 15 out of 15 drinks allocated before 10pm and couldn’t officially go and get Kayla a boozy coffee from the International Cafe while she was reading in the cabin. Sometimes if you are friendly with a bartender, they will do you a favour and reallocate drinks between passenger accounts when it’s clear that there’s a big imbalance, but unfortunately the International Cafe hadn’t been one of the bars or set of bartenders I’d become familiar with.
Cascade Bar was very interesting as it was dead between 10 and 11pm, but the club/after party started in the Dome around 11:30pm, so there was usually a good hour of conversation with fellow passengers and crew members possible before the untz untz started and people started coming over for shots, shots, shots, everybody. It’s a neat space and I was pleased to see that the fountain/water feature had been repaired early enough in the voyage to enjoy.
My least favourite bar, due to the lineup of people, was once again the Sea View bar. There are a significant number of cruisers that queue for drinks and you wouldn’t necessarily think that an area with 200 seats would result in such a wait.
Entertainment
Kayla and I went to two production shows: Illuminate and Meridian, but missed Viva la Musica (which also plays on Sun Princess.) We didn’t do much in terms of other entertainment onboard, although did enjoy the live music in Crooners.
From the description of Illuminate in the daily program, we didn’t go in with high expectations that it would be much different than the carnival-themed Fiera on Sun Princess. I was really pleased to be wrong on this point; Illuminate didn’t have much of a story but totally made up for it in terms of acrobatics, stage techniques, and what was a noticeably high-budget soundtrack – it seemed like Princess opened the pocketbook on this one. This is a show that I think our children would enjoy as well; sadly, it only runs once on a 7-day sailing. Perhaps we’ll have to book another cruise on Star Princess…
Meridian was unfortunately less impressive, with a reused plot patched together from Titanic as well as a classic “legacy pressure / following in their footsteps” trope. We did enjoy the acting performance and made the comment that the performers did the best they could given the source material – absolutely no offense meant to the cast as they put a lot into it. The whole “Star” theme of the ship also was one beaten into your head by the end of the show.
Youth program
We were thrilled to run into a few staff in Firefly Park that we’ve met on other Princess ships. Ms. Vicki immediately recognized us and once again made the experience for our family a comfortable, stress-free occasion. The kids said the activities were similar but still fun, and said the best event was when they got to run as part of a competition – normally a prohibited activity in the space. They weren’t too put out by the change of monkey bars for some more conventional playground equipment.
I have two minor recommendations for the youth program. The first would be to move the parental-supervision-required Family Festival to an earlier day in the sailing. The event was held in the Piazza on the last day between 1:30 and 3pm. While a fully-supervised session did follow from 4-5pm, having more time that afternoon to pack and organize our belongings without the kids underfoot would have been very helpful.
The next suggestion would also be to better indicate in the activities schedule directly if the program would get to go to Spellbound, and when departure and return is. The event was listed as Wands and Wishes: “Brew magical crafts and join enchanted games in this spellbinding adventure. There may even be a magical surprise in store!” I don’t know if it’s always guaranteed, but in that session, they haul the kids up to Deck 8 and give them a youth-appropriate performance in Spellbound (which I thought was a very neat, premium experience for them to include.)
Having attended the galley tour and not being immediately aware that the trip to Spellbound was on the same morning, we arrived back at Firefly Park around 10:30am to find a sign on the locked door indicating that the group had left. The kids and I meandered the ship for half an hour and then returned slightly after 11; by that time the program had returned, and I was able to sign them in for another highly desired 45 minutes of arts and crafts. The “magic” session is a thing we’ll look out for on Sphere class in the future, but an extra sentence or two in the printed program would have helped us plan slightly better. Or, even better yet, Princess should add the youth program schedule to the mobile app!
Ports
Princess Cays
Being the second day of the cruise and having been out perhaps slightly later that evening than I should have been, I was a little slow getting up in the morning. Our bungalow booking was supposed to include priority water shuttle access, so we arrived at Princess Live at 10:15am. This was about an hour and fifteen minutes after tenders had started operating. We were given tickets with three-digit numbers and prompted to have a seat. General population tickets handed out at Crooners had two-digit “group” numbers that were being called out over the public area PA.
It turns out that Princess Live is also used for Sanctuary and Elite guest staging (full suite guests get an exclusive escort starting at the Signature Lounge on Deck 15) – as the saying goes, when everyone has priority, nobody has priority. I did notice that shore excursions did have a separate assembly area by the Butcher’s Block specialty restaurant but wasn’t sure if it was only “proper” excursions rather than bungalow/daybed/clamshell rentals. Anyway, we did what it said on the paperwork.
It took about 45 minutes, and the venue was nearly full, before a range of ticket numbers were called. Thankfully our family was included in that selection. We were very haphazardly directed down to deck 4, where we then had to wait for another chunk of passengers that were routed from the midship stairs. We did get on the tender, though, and grabbed a few seats near the aft of the boat at our children’s request. This location had an excellent view but was noisy from the motors and smelled strongly of marine fuel, so I’ll be declining that request on future occasions.
While the water shuttle is supposed to take 10 minutes assuming good weather and port traffic conditions, we got to about 750m of the cove used for docking, and then slowed down, circled around, and started to point back towards the Star Princess. For about ten minutes it seemed like we might be getting sent back due to strong waves. Our journey then resumed, but curiously it seemed like we were now attempting to race another tender boat to the island. We lost that competition and slotted in behind them. Total time was at least 30 minutes on the water, which seemed totally unnecessary knowing the distance and having gotten to Princess Cays in much less time only a few months prior.
There was also some slight confusion about where to go for bungalow check-in, but once we found the correct dispatch folks slightly to the right of the main entrance, we were whisked via van down the back service road and brought to pink building number 14.
This bungalow was close (although not offensively) to the restrooms and Bungalow Bar facility and came with four padded and two standard lounge chairs out front. The family really enjoyed the opportunity for shade, both indoor and outside under the umbrella. A nice benefit was that there was a small dining table inside, so we were able to collect our food from the buffet area and return to the bungalow, not needing to elbow for a seat at the picnic tables or contend with flying insects while eating.
We also had some staff come by for drink orders, which once again worked with the Princess Plus package and carried no extra charges. We did observe that not all the cocktails on the menu were available, and the staff at the Bungalow Bar also claimed that both Red Stripe and Kalik weren’t stocked. Later, we trundled by the main Banana Beach Bar on our way back to the ship and saw plenty of Kalik empties, which was somewhat disappointing. You’d figure the bar closest to the most premium on-island rentals would have been better stocked, or at least the staff could suggest checking another bar even if they didn’t have a certain brand. I wonder if there is aggressive tip guarding or bar sales target they’re trying to hit.
Our day wrapped up around 3pm after some time in the swimming area, using the floating mattresses included with the bungalow rental. While there was a theme park-style line to get back on the tender, the ride was much closer to the ten-minute ETA in the Princess Patter, and we returned in plenty of time to take showers and make it to the Platinum/Elite Lounge by 5pm.
Was the bungalow worth it? In my opinion, certainly not at the full retail pricing of $254.95 on this sailing. It may be less expensive on other ships or dates; there seems to be some dynamic pricing tomfoolery as well. With that said, we usually have some amount of onboard credit that can be put toward cruise line excursions, and don’t necessarily want to burn it on material things we’d have to lug home. As a $54.95US purchase out of pocket after spending non-refundable credit, it’d for sure be a repeat.
Amber Cove
As predicted, with two large cruise ships docked, the place was quite busy.
It was difficult to find any available loungers, but we did eventually find a pair together close to the wading entrance to the lazy river. The kids also spent way more time than I’d anticipated at the children’s area with small waterslides. By about 12:30 the crowd had thinned a bit, perhaps due to the need for lunch and the $7 hot dogs that could be had for free back onboard. The pool bar was busy and noisy, with the DJs running a “best dancer” competition that sparked quite a bit of audience participation.
While the water was nice and the kids got to enjoy themselves, I’m less enthused about this port than I was a couple years ago – walking around the lazy river while dodging unsupervised children only held up for half an hour, max. I think it might have been different with some other adults to chat with.
Grand Turk
The initial ambitions of going for a walk down the beach were a little too high for everyone’s interest and energy level, but there was a surprising discovery in the form of the Grand Turk Cruise Center, a well-appointed pool area close to the Margaritaville restaurant. We resolved to come back on a future cruise and rent a poolside cabana.
Day-of rentals were quite pricey – we were quoted $71 for a clamshell by one of the beach vendors, $90/clamshell and $120/daybed by a more official-looking salesperson, $395 for a “mini” cabana and $495 for a larger one. In comparison, I was able to pull the shore excursion details from the ship. The only cabana offering was listed at $189.95, so this is probably a good port to plan in advance and book through the cruise line.
Spa
Neither Kayla nor I went for the thermal suite passes this time, so I don’t have a direct comparison between the areas on the two ships. Kayla did go for a manicure and pedicure based on the good quality of pedicure on Sun Princess, and apart from initially not realizing that nail services are on deck 18, it was another decent experience. The service had been pre-paid online, but it did not include the 18% automatic gratuity – then there was also a prompt for additional gratuity on top of that, which wasn’t clear.
The spa tech did ask if we could put in the survey that the music playlist needs an update – apparently it has not been changed in some time and is starting to get repetitive for the staff. Consider it noted and published here for the world.
Disembarkation and trip home
We took advantage of the Platinum/Elite disembarkation area in the Celestial dining room, which nicely included some light pastries and drinks – a way better option than the zoo that would have been the Eatery/Americana Diner. There were no hassles exiting the ship, with luggage collection or customs, and we chose to take a standard taxi for $25US total ($30 with tip) directly to FLL terminal 3, versus $20/person for the Princess coach that would have stopped at one or two terminals before ours. An Uber might have been cheaper but with an indeterminate wait, so I was happy enough with the cab.
At terminal 3, Porter unfortunately had a similar situation to Air Transat, with no express bag drop line or automated collection system – everyone just stood in line for all operations. The staff were trying to reduce the queue size by telling people who had later flights to exit the line. I don’t think the total wait was more than 30 minutes, and we then passed through security and made our way over to the Aspire lounge – that took probably another 40 minutes to get in. We got crammed into what was really a couch for three at the far back, and I ended up sprawling to another single-person seat just to have a small amount of room to eat and drink. The food was good and I think still worth the hassle.
I really like the Porter aircraft and service, so if we can avoid a checked bag that would probably be the most optimal situation – just go through security at the airport directly with carry-on luggage only, either with kiosk-printed boarding passes or mobile ones.
Retrospective
If Sun Princess is version 1.0, I would probably consider Star Princess to be a v1.1 update in terms of the ship configuration and layout. Of the minor changes, the improved Eatery was the biggest plus given how much it gets used over a cruise. In my view, Star is probably not worth hundreds of dollars over a similarly specced cruise on Sun Princess unless there are other mitigating factors like a better itinerary or dates.
Indeed, in December 2026 both vessels alternate 7-day Western/Eastern Caribbean itineraries; for some cabin types the price difference is negligible (within $8 CAD total when reviewed in early May 2026.) On these late 2026 voyages, Star departs on Saturdays, but Sun departs on a Sunday. We fly in a day early, so Sun Princess’ schedule doesn’t require taking a Friday off work or school. That nudges Sun slightly ahead in my calculations, at least for later this year.
I tried not to let the extra sanitation measures affect my perception of service on Star Princess, since after all, I want a cleaner ship after an outbreak to reduce our own risk of norovirus. At some level it’s impossible to separate the events, because of the outsized impact the extra cleaning measures and schedule changes would have on the crew. All staff would have been more tired, stressed (for themselves, their colleagues, and the work environment) and it’s also fair to say that passengers notice any lapse in service or onboard conditions.
The single week onboard was an adjustment after our last three sailings of 10, 16 and 14 days, and I recognize writing about my feelings on the matter will most certainly make me seem like an entitled jerk. Halfway through the third day on a 7-day cruise, the figurative rat in my brain starts noting that the cruise is half-over! 3.5 is, after all, half of 7, and there’s so much I haven’t done – even though at that point we have four more full days! The 10-day we took on Enchanted Princess last March was wonderful, because the mental evaluation changes: as you get to the afternoon of day 7, you realize you have three more full days and don’t have to pack that evening.
What’s next?
There have been some schedule adjustments to our future cruise plans – yet another reason to pick refundable deposits. Our intended summer cruise on MSC World America unfortunately was the subject of a schedule conflict. On 7-day sailings, MSC still has a 90-day (rather than 120-day) cancellation policy for 100% refund, though, so we were able to cancel for no money out of pocket and are now looking as far out as summer 2028 for potential sailings on World America or World Europa. That is for sure a class of ship I want to try.
Luckily Norwegian Escape still had great availability for 4-pax cabins this summer, and the base fare for sailings of interest had dropped by almost 50% since March 2025. This made a balcony with Free at Sea and gratuities on Escape come out to almost $1300 CAD less than an infinite Oceanview on World America. We were able to lock in another week on Escape to turn it into a true B2B, and swap cabins on the original booking to keep the same room for both legs.
The only shore excursion we’d booked for the intended MSC sailing week was at Paradise Beach, and could be moved to our new date in Cozumel for no charge, performed entirely self-service on their website. Because of the timing of each booking, and a little bit of luck with Amex offers, I was able to get $250 CAD in statement credits per cruise, plus $100US each week in NCL shareholder credit – another thing not offered by MSC.
While I’ve kept up to date with Norwegian in the news and on CruiseCritic, I am still somewhat apprehensive about how the experience will go based on our Bliss sailing three years ago, especially as it relates to the key items like kids programming, service, and food quality.
We’ve kept our holiday 2026, March 2027 and summer 2027 sailings on Sun and Star Princess, although I’ve had to keep a sharp eye on price drops and rebook several times already. We also tentatively had a 10-day holiday 2027 booking on Sun Princess but had to swap that one out; I was pleased to be able to find a 7-day sailing on a Royal-class vessel, Sky Princess, and can already feel the call of the mortadella and cheese sandwich at the International Cafe.