My wife and I joined the Star Princess for a 32 day Andes cruise which started from Buenos Aires and finished in Los Angeles. From the outside the ship looked very impresive but this did not reflect when we got to our cabin on the 11th floor. The cabin it self was ample but the pipework above the balcony had a leak before we arrived and a temporery repair had been carried out and that is how the repair was left. All the joints in the pipework were very rusty and made the balcony look very tatty. When the pipe that had been repaired burst, water had srayed over the two balcony chairs, the table and the floor so that we could not sit in the chairs until they had been cleaned. Why the chairs had not been cleaned after the pipe repair had been completed leaves to be answered, but when I raised the matter with the purser and the cabin steward, all I got was that it would be done and when it was not I was informed that my request to speak to the cabin stewards manager as to why the repair was not being done, was informed that he had spoken to me, which he had NOT. It took two days to have the two balcony chairs and the table cleaned so that we could sit and enjoy our balcony.

In this time the cabin steward had provide us with two large towels to cover the contaminated chairs so that we could sit on them. During the cruise we were informed by Housekeeping that they would be cleaning the balcony which they did but left loose paint from the pipework above all over the balcony floor, chairs and table. When I asked the pursers office why the condition was worse than before the clean i was informed that they would ask the cabin steward to clean up the mess.

The food in the Amalfi dining room was very poor and we questioned every night what standard we would be getting that evening. Dried out salmon, duck that could not be cut or eaten,chicken that was chewey. The dessert menue was repeated over the lenght of the cruise but there were some variations, but very few. Breakfast was no better and you have to question why plastic plates and cups are provided, the plates are 3/4 size. No member of the crew enforced the formal dress code on those nights. Read more