We are a family of four, with 2 children ages 10 and 14. Let me preface this report by saying that we have lived in Geneva for the last 4 years and have done extensive travel in Europe, seeing an unlimited amount of castles and cathedrals, quaint villages and spectacular scenery. We realize how fortunate we are to have had these experiences so please do not think that we are spoiled (although we are!!). I say this only because if you have not traveled extensively, your experience may be vastly different. And because we are spoiled...that is to say, the impact to us of another church or castle is definitely diminished from when we arrived in Europe. That is not to say that we no longer appreciate these, because we do and our enthusiasm for travel is still unlimited....we adore our trips. Just to say that seeing yet another spectacular church is not like seeing Notre Dame in Paris for the first time (which I still vividly recall) it does not hold the same wonder.

Overall, we loved our experience. We had never been on a cruise before and as I said, we have traveled extensively on our own so I was worried that I would feel restricted and/or rushed by the time tables. While we would have liked more time in certain cities (like Stockholm!) and less in others (like Gdansk), overall, we loved this trip and would definitely

do a cruise again. The Star Princess is a beautiful ship and the staff was just incredible…I cannot say enough about how well we were treated by virtually every staff member. Princess charges a $10/day per person for tips, which for us adds up to $400 for the entire trip in tips (plus they add 15% to all drinks). At first, I was a bit miffed by this charge, although it is discretionary and you can tell them you do not want to pay. However, by the end of the trip, I had no problem forking this over…the amount of work that goes into running such an operation is mind boggling and many of the people you never see. The food was very good and the menus in the Capri and Portofino had enough variety to keep us happy. We ate at the buffet at least one night in order to save time for swimming and hanging out with the kids…the buffet was good as well. We also ate in both Tequilas (best steak I ever had) and Sabatini's (see more below). My only complaint would be the level of family and children entertainment. While the Star Princess has both a child center (for 8-12) and a teen center (for 13-18), neither hit the mark for our kids. The child center was tiny and geared more to the 8 year old than our rambunctious, sports-oriented 11 year old so he spent all of 5 minutes there. Thankfully, they have a basketball court so he spent virtually all of his time there and met lots of friends. The teen center was impressive, but the activities were not…a hot tub party?? For this age group, would not be my first choice of activities. I would like to see more family entertainment as well…shows that we could attend with our children and also, why not allow kids into the nightclub at certain times/days so they could dance with their parents. Read more