|
The most outstanding feature of this cruise was the room D123 or in caps D!@#. There was invasive noise from the theatre two decks below. They don't tell you there is a crew stairwell behind the back and side walls of the room that is a perfect sound conduit for the LOUD bass and drums accompanying every rehearsal and show from 5:30PM until 12:00 midnight. The passenger services people ignored our complaints from 5:30 on the embarkation day until we were finally offered another room on the FIFTH day of the cruise, when they finally confessed that the room had a noise problem and offered us another room.
This ship must have a deaf sound technician in the theatre. We left early because of the excessive decibel levels for both musicals. Imagine our joy at having the same sound level in our room.
The next noticeable feature of the Star was the inescapable cigarette and cigar smoke. The the lower level of the theatre is inundated with smoke from the cigar bar which is immediately outside the entrance of the lower theatre level which always had the door open allowing a stiff dose of smoke to lay low over a couple of hundred seats. Either the ventilation was defective or the design of the ship is defective. Regardless, it smelled. We made sure we never sat in the lower level seats after the first experience. Tobacco smoke was also noticeable in many other areas of the ship including stale tobacco smell in the room. Princess allows smoking in staterooms and it was obvious.
Then there is MUTS or movies under the stars. Sounds good on paper, but becomes another feature that cannot be "escaped completely". The movies were on day and night making sure the area was always full of noise from the speakers. This turns out to be a feature to some and an irritation to others such as us. Princess missed the boat on MUTS.
Cruising at Tracy Arm never got within visible range of the glacier, even though a similar size Princess ship was returning from a passage beyond where the Star aborted the viewing run. Quite a let down. In Victoria we were presented with a similar experience, where the ship didn't dock because of "high winds". We sat out in the harbor and watched a Holland America ship of similar size pass by us and dock an hour later.
The Star was substandard compared to every other Princess cruise we have been on. We will not be sailing on the Star again.
Seattle Pier 91 is new for us. Less convenient the pier 66. Also, parking has gone up by $7 a day in two years. Signage for finding the freeway is poor at best. Make sure you get Google or Map-quest printouts before hand.
|
