The Star Princess cruise was marvellous, the best of the two cruises we took on this vacation (the other was the Azamara Quest). We have travelled around the world a lot in the past three decades, much of this on cruises. We are an aged couple and my wife has mobility difficulties.

We regularly take cruises in the winter each year to escape the cold. We have taken many cruises on the Princess line before: the results in recent years not always stellar. But the time and the itinerary of this Star Princess voyage (we had never been on the ship before) were right, so we opted for a reasonably priced balcony suite.

The success of the voyage had a lot to do with Hawaii. This was our first visit to the islands and we were impressed with the beauty and charm of the place. The cruise visit four islands, Maui, Hilo, O'ahu (Honolulu), and Kauai. Every one of the islands had much of interest, a lot more than we could see in one day. What we especially liked were the Maui Ocean Center (a fine aquarium), the unusual Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo, and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, full of Hawaiian and Polynesian artefacts and displays. Still the highlight was a helicopter tour we took through the shore excursions in Kauai, pricey yes but amazing. This was very well run by BlueHawaiian, and we had a superb pilot and guide in Greg. He took us on a varied and fascinating hour long trip thru the island, into valleys, down the cliffs, and out along the coast. At the end of the tour you can purchase (roughly $40 US) the video of the trip, an excellent memento. The cruise itself also stopped an Ensenada where we took an excursion to Baja’s wine country, also a success. In addition 4 days at sea going out from LA and 5 days at sea going to Ensenada. Since we enjoy days at sea, this was a plus for us. Read more