Sailing Date March 24 2011 to April 3, 2011Just returned from a fabulous 10 day cruise aboard the Star Princess. Let me give you a little background. We are a retired couple living in Florida and we love to cruise. Our first cruise together was in 1987 and this cruise was our 35th cruise. We have experienced many lines-Commodore, NCL, RCCL, Carnival, Costa, MSC, Premier, HAL, Celebrity and Princess. Our cruiseline of choice for the past 4 of our last 5 cruises has been Princess-this being our 8th cruise overall with them. We were on a 7 day cruise last year on the Star and truly enjoyed the ship.This cruise was a celebration of a birthday and also a precursor to our 25th wedding anniversary which is in June. We booked it very last minute - approximately 2.5 weeks out from the sailing date. We booked an inside guarantee and were upgraded ultimately to a balcony cabin on Baja deck starboard side. What a way to start a cruise! It turned out to be a great location - forward - no noise.We use the Cruise Connection bus service in Florida to travel to Port Everglades. As we were leaving on a thursday, we knew that the port would not be crowded - and it wasn't. We arrived about noon and were onboard within 15 minutes and found our cabin, introduced ourselves to our cabin steward Efrem, and found lunch in the Lido. We are very familiar with the layout of this ship and others in her class. We particularly like the Star, Grand, Golden, Diamond and Sapphire since they all hold approximately 2600 passengers and the aft deck on Lido deck is larger than the other Grand class ships. We have sailed on the Grand (twice) Golden (twice) Star(now twice), Crown and Ruby. The ports were very important to us on this cruise-we were to dock in Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St. Thomas and Princess Cays with 3 sea days. We hadn't been to Aruba since 1994 and had never been to Bonaire or Dominica. We started off with two sea days, then docked in Aruba on a Sunday-weren't sure what would be open but 90% of the town was open. The Island Princess was docked forward of us and we were both right in town. We enjoyed a full afternoon of walking and exploring the town. Spent a good bit of time at the Renaissance property - it has everything, marina, restaurants, pool, beach, hotel - all in the middle of Oranjested. Very enjoyable day. Bonaire was next and what a wonderful surprise it was. Again, docked alongside the town of Kralendijk-a very laid back lovely little town. The German ship Aida was in port with us. There was an outdoor market as we got off the ship full of handmade, local offerings-and the shops in town were low key and local - nothing like the other islands who all pretty much have a lot of the same shops. The walk along the water led to beaches and snorkeling areas - water crystal clear and we enjoyed watching the beautiful parrot fish play in the water. Many people had brought their own snorkel gear and were enjoying the water right there. It is a place that we would go back to stay for a week or so-very relaxing and laid back-no traffic to speak of-cute shops, restaurants and understated places to stay.Grenada was next-we got off, walked around for exercise and reboarded the ship-this is not an island that we particularly enjoy - but I understand that the rain forrest is lovely and there are beaches, zip lining and snorkeling there. Since we practically live on a beach, that really isn't a draw for us.Dominica was a bit like Grenada-but again the people who went to the beaches really seemed to enjoy them-we walked around the outside market and some shope-prices were very high here-very easy to walk though-docked right in town.The next day was St. Thomas-since we have been all over that island so many times we usually don't get off the ship when we call there - but we docked at Havensight (usually with Princess we had been at Crown Bay) and we were able to see that the area just adjacent to Havensight had been redeveloped after the hurricane damage and it had been done very nicely. It is still called Yacht Haven but now has docks for very large yachts, a really nice marina facility, very upscale shops in the Galleria and restaurants as well as condos. It is very tasteful. We did walk into Charlotte Amalie-spent a bit of time and then walked back to the ship. We agreed that the Havensight area and now Yacht Haven were much more to our liking for shopping. Over the years we have sampled most of the beaches on St. Thomas and have stayed at the Marriott at Frenchmans Reef and also spent a good bit of time on St. John. All those things are still lovely. A sea day was next and then Princess Cays-on Eluthera Island in the Bahamas-always a lovely place- we got the tender off the ship later in the day and enjoyed the island a bit-it is a beautiful facility there and the tender ride so nice - seas pretty calm.The areas of the ship we most enjoyed were the International Cafe and the Aft Pool deck. Spent a good bit of time in each - we like to be outside whenever possible. The International Cafe in in the Piazza and offers a quick breakfast, lunch offerings and wonderful rolls and sweet things all day long - fresh baked cookies in the afternoon and impromptu entertainment through the day and fabulous coffee drinks both hot and iced. I got a coffee card which entitles you to all the real brewed coffee you want and then you have 15 punches for specialty coffees and we truly enjoyed them. It is a bargain if you are a coffee lover. And the International Cafe is a great place to sit and read and people watch. The Aft Pool deck is large and set up with the Outrigger bar, and lots of tables for eating as well as a large sun deck and of course the pool which is an adult pool. The main pools are midship and one of them has a roof that can be open or closed-both very nice pools and lots of activity going on there all day. There is a forward pool that is adjacent to the Spa and gym area - it is a wave pool and adults only as well. I like to go there first thing in the morning. We always opt for Anytime Dining with Princess and favored the Capri restaurant this time on Plaza Deck. Food was excellent as was the service and we never waited more than 10 minutes for a table for two which we prefer at dinner. We ate in the dining room for most of breakfasts and lunches and shared a table most of the time-met some lovely people and had great conversations. We found the dinner in the Lido excellent as well and ate there twice for dinner and also had a few breakfasts there as well as some lunches - we also took our lunch to our cabin and ate on the balcony a number of times and also enjoyed snacks and a cocktail there as we sailed away each day. Had coffee out there in the am and had breakfast in the International Cafe as well-they have a wonderful Granola and Yogurt as well as breakfast pasteries and an egg and sausage sandwich. The pizza was good and the cheeseburgers good too. As you can tell we enjoyed the food!W are Platinum level with Princess and that allows us free internet time as well as discounted drinks in Skywalkers each evening. There is a cocktail of the day and complimentary Hor'dourves. Also when debarking the ship, there is a separate lounge set up with coffee, juice and rolls for us. A very nice perk since we don't have to find a place to wait to debark. Entertainment was good-we saw some shows, the comedians on board were good and the juggler acts we liked-Frank Castiglione was the Cruise Director, George Casey was a comedian as was Dan Riley-both were funny. Aaron Bonk was a juggler and we thought quite good-offbeat act that was fun. The Doo Wop group Spanx were on board and they are just wonderful-we had seen them on other Princess cruises and they performed in the theater, the Vista lounge and the International Cafe. A bit hit with everyone! Lots of other music and dancing on board-everyone seemed to have a great time. Two formal nights-we opted out of the second one. We were treated the last day to a rehearsal of the Princess singers and dancers in the Internationa Cafe before they went to enjoy Princess Cays-a nice treat as well. I used the gym and did the morning stretch when I got up in time. Got plenty of exercise on the ship and in ports. Other classes were offered for a fee-didn't take those. We don't do tours from the ship so I can't speak to that aspect of the cruise. All in all it was one of our best cruises ever. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me at melindakazmer@yahoo.com. We can thoroughly recommend Princess and The Star!