Embarkation - we parked at 55 Francisco which is very handy to Pier 27. We walked the couple of blocks with our luggage no problem. I have to admit we were a little nervous about the issue with the longshoreman, however, they were very helpful and friendly. Saw absolutely no problems there. The line moved from one area to another pretty quickly and didn't take long before we were on the ship and able to go to our room. Shortly after our luggage arrived. We were also pleased that the ship departed pretty much on time so we were able to enjoy going through the city and under the bridge.
About Star Princess - we thought the ship was beautiful. I have read that it needed updated but from what we saw the carpet was new and freshly painted. Very clean.
Service - I had read that service was one of Princesses strong points. We have been on Carnival, NCL, and now Princess and there were friendly staff workers but I felt a lot of them were just putting their time in. We went to two different bars for drinks, one of them we finally left without drink Another time the gal just looked at us like we were disturbing her before she helped (two different times). Our steward did a good job just didn't seem to be a people person.
Really liked our cabin. Only complaint is the comfy bed didn't have a top sheet only a down comforter. We slept way to warm. I took a blanket from MUTS so did better after that.