Star Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
0 reviews

Falklands and Cape Horn Adventure : great start bad ending!

Review for South America Cruise on Star Princess

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2010
Cabin: Balcony

My wife and I booked this cruise as part of our Ruby Wedding anniversary. We chose Princess Cruises as they had an excellent reputation for service etc. Our balcony cabin was most comfortable and our Mexican Cabin attendant was very helpful. We particularly enjoyed the "anytime dining" and had much fun meeting new passengers every dinner - my wife and I speak fluent Spanish so we had many happy dinners with Argentine, Chilean, Brazilian passengers apart from meeting people from the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. No delays in seating etc : the staff has this well worked out. This was one of the highlights of the cruise. We also used the Horizon Court Restaurant upstairs which was also great. Overall the food on board was first class and certainly better than on our previous cruise on P&O's Arcadia. We did not use any "special restaurants" like Sabatini's as the food in the "normal" restaurants was so good.

On the entertainment side the tango group and dancers were very accomplished and we certainly enjoyed "Skywalkers". However we found the shows in the Princess Theater poor by comparison: certainly far inferior to what was on offer on the Arcadia. Perhaps it is easier on the Arcadia where 95% of the passengers are British.

The ports of call were all very interesting and different and the tender disembarkation's were all very well organised and smooth - even with the inclement weather at Stanley! It was a pity we could not reach Punta Arenas as high winds at Ushuaia delayed our departure. However we had a very scenic cruise along the Beagle Channel which more than compensated. Two days out of Valparaiso the earthquake in Concepcion occurred. We felt nothing as the ship was at sea in deep water. However we followed the terrible events unfolding on our cabin TVs as we were sailing towards Valparaiso. It was then clear to most passengers that Princess Customer Service started breaking down. There was very little communication on board and everything had to be vetted by California. We had our flights/cruise all booked and paid for by Princess and we were therefore told "not to worry". The ship docked at Valparaiso on schedule but all passengers flying out had to stay on board as Santiago Airport was still closed. On midday Tuesday (March 3rd) the ship left dock and anchored in the bay at Valparaiso till Thurs morning. We checked twice on Weds at the Customer Service desk (long queues all the time!) and we told "no problem you are with Princess". After dinner on Weds we were asked to go to the CS Desk and told that we had to book our own flights back to London with Iberia! We were given 5 Chilean telephone numbers but none of these worked as it was then after 9.00 p.m. We then heard that there was a group of British Passengers in the Excursions Office. We were there for about 90 minutes arguing with the Purser who said "Santa Clara (Princess HQ) were doing all they could". Eventually we were given flights back by TAM for the following Tuesday which meant 5 nights in Santiago. We were given telephone numbers of Hotels which we had to book ourselves! When we asked "who is paying" the Purser said "you are but keep receipts".

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BB

Our cabin was A317. Plenty of closet space which separate of bedroom area. Balcony was very spacious although I did not like the balcony flooring - type of rubber/plastic and certainly not decking type of flooring.

Also did not care for the Star Princess design where you look over lower deck cabin balconies rather than straight down onto the sea

For the extra you pay for a balcony cabin it certainly seems worth it

previous reviewnext review

Find a cruise

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.