November 1, 2019
Princess Cruise Lines ~ Club Class Mini-Suite ~ Star Princess
Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles, CA ~ 330p – 800a
Back in the early 1980s, I won a 2-night cruise between Miami and Nassau aboard a 500’ long ship called the S.S. Dolphin. In most respects it was similar to a cruise on today’s bigger ships but given the smaller size of the Dolphin and the brevity of the cruise itself, everything was a bit scaled down. Add to that the fact that I’d won rather than paid for this cruise, the result being that I was assigned what appeared to be a refurbished broom closet for a room. It was located way down in the bowels of the boat, directly underneath the dance floor on the level above. Of course those weekend cruises to Nassau were party cruises and so until about 2:00am or so it sounded like a musical cattle stampede directly above me. But hey - I was 20 something and excited about it all, so overall I had a good time. I even won the ping pong tournament while we were in port at Nassau.
Well that was almost 40 years ago and the main difference these days is that after nearly 7 million miles of traveling by whatever means I’ve come to appreciate not just the travel experience but a
quality travel experience to boot. We’re not talking about “
being there” so much as “
getting there”. Whereas 40 years ago that inside broom closet of a room was perfectly acceptable to me, these days I’d want a balcony equipped room at the minimum. To be honest, the idea of all those fancy restaurants, onboard activities and shows offered on today’s modern day cruise ships didn’t really appeal to me all that much. Mainly, I pictured myself with a nice large room with plenty of natural light from the double doors leading out to the balcony where I could settle down on the chaise lounge with a good book and a cold bottle of beer. Or two.
As you may recall from my opening preamble, I had booked myself a Club Class Mini-Suite which was not just a larger, balcony equipped mini-suite but also included special dining options such as anytime dining with an enhanced menu that included items not available to non-Club Class passengers. Also included were perks such as priority boarding and disembarkation as well as nightly canapés and wine splits delivered to your cabin upon request. No doubt about it – on this cruise I’d be traveling in style!
Following a nicely cooked and presented Greek Omelet in the hotel restaurant, I gathered my gear and caught the hotel shuttle back over to the airport. Princess had instructed us to meet between 10:30am and 1:00pm at the baggage claim in either the International or Domestic terminal. A small kiosk had been set up down at the far end of baggage claim in the Domestic terminal and about six people had gathered there by the time I arrived. Shortly thereafter we were instructed to follow a Princess rep outside where a chartered bus was waiting to drive us down to the Canada Place Cruise Terminal.
Canada Place is the home of the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel and Vancouver's World Trade Centre. It also serves as the main cruise ship passenger terminal for the region. The five 90 foot high white sails atop Canada Place are made of Teflon coated fiberglass and make Canada Place one of Canada’s most recognizable landmarks.
It wasn’t like you’d recognize it from the perspective of our arrival though. Our bus was driven into a large subterranean parking area underneath the building. It was all concrete and artificial lighting. As we disembarked, we collected our bags and were directed into a large central waiting area that had been divided into alphabetized seating areas of about 100 people each. I was directed to section G where I sat and waited for about 10 minutes before we were instructed to head into another large room for customs inspection. As a Global Entry member, I was disappointed to see that there were no kiosks available to expedite our passage through customs. Despite the long lines though, we moved along fairly smoothly and from the time I stepped off the bus to the time I cleared customs was only about 25 minutes.
One of the perks I most recognized and valued from my 5.6 million miles of flying was priority boarding. Unfortunately, it didn’t kick in until the final TSA style security checkpoint. I had been led to believe that our onboard baggage would be searched for alcohol (We were allowed one bottle of wine – no spirits allowed) and perhaps that was done surreptitiously via the x-ray machine at the checkpoint. Regardless, my bag was never nicked for further inspection and shortly thereafter I stopped at an airline style check-in counter where I was officially checked-in for the cruise and was presented with my room key and an information packet containing everything from information about the ship to a listing of that day’s planned activities. Then, I was free to board.
The Star Princess carries 2600 passengers and, given the discounted nature of this repositioning cruise – not to mention the weekend schedule down to LA – I’d like to think we were sold out – or very close to it. Throughout the boarding process the directions given were clear as was the signage on where we needed to go. The lines flowed smoothly and although I wish my Club Class pre-boarding benefits had commenced upon arrival starting with customs, overall I was impressed with the process.
* * * _ _ * * *
Boarding a ship the size of the Star Princess is a very impressive experience. A double deck Airbus A380 is 238 feet long and 80 feet tall. The Star Princess is 951 feet long, has 17 decks and is listed at 201 feet tall. If you subtract a draft of 26’, we’re talking 175’ tall above the waterline. The gangway hugs the ship so as you zig-zag your way up the walkway to the entrance, you get an excellent perspective on the sheer size of this behemoth. A link to a fact sheet about the ship can be found
HERE. I paused to take a picture…
Boarding the Star Princess
The entrance was on level 7 – the Promenade Deck. Do any of you remember what it was like to walk aboard a widebody jet for the first time? In my case, after years of stepping aboard narrow tubes with 3-3 seating, the impact of stepping aboard a 747 was awe inspiring – like walking into a house. The effect was very similar when stepping aboard the Star Princess. The ship is 133’ wide and if you didn’t know better you could just a easily be stepping into a large and grand hotel lobby. Even more impressive was the view down into the ship’s atrium into an area known as the Piazza. My little Canon SX-160 didn’t offer a wide enough angle to fully appreciate the grandeur of this area, so I am employing a couple of photos from other sources.
Star Princess Piazza
Photo credit to Robert W. Bone
Star Princess Piazza
Photo credit to Princess Cruises
Elevators were everywhere – there were 14 of them on the Promenade Deck - and thank goodness for that! I mean, at any given time we’re talking hundreds of people desiring to move about the various levels of this gigantic ship. In fact, in the interests of familiarizing you with the sheer size of my home for the next three days, now would be a good time to present some pictures of the ship and its deck plans.
Star Princess
Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises
Star Princess Deck Layout
Photo credit to Princess Cruises
Star Princess Deck Plan
Photo credit to Princess Cruises
This is far and away the largest ship I have ever been on. But hey – get a load of this: As large as this ship is, consider for a moment that in terms of crew and passengers carried, it is
less than half the size of the world’s largest cruise ship – Royal Caribbean’s
Symphony of the Seas which measures 1,184 in length and is able to accommodate 5,518 passengers at double occupancy up to a maximum capacity of 6,680 passengers, as well as a 2,200-person crew. Most of the towns I’ve lived in are smaller than that – including length!
Right! On to the accommodations! My mini-suite was located two levels up on the Dolphin Deck. I headed for a nearby bank of elevators where about twenty people were waiting. One elevator opened to my right and quickly filled to capacity – about a dozen people. No worries – the next one became available seconds later and swiftly transported me to Level 9.
If you look at the ship’s schematic pictured above, you’ll note that the Dolphin Deck is longitudinally speaking right in the middle of the ship. My suite – D501 – was located almost exactly right in the middle of the ship. This was intentional and you’ll notice on the schematic that all of the pink shaded mini-suites are clustered in this area. The reason for this is that much like a fulcrum point on a see-saw there’s a lot less up and down movement in the center of the ship. For other room types such as balcony equipped rooms located all along the length of the ship, you’ll pay a premium to have a room situated in the middle of the ship. Rooms closer to the bow or stern will cost considerably less. In terms of location, I feel like I got about as good a room and location as I could have gotten.
My room key was in the form of a credit card that served multiple purposes. Not only did it grant me access to my room but it was also my primary form of identification onboard the ship. Scanning it allowed me access to the special dining area for Club Class Mini-Suite guests and it also served as my billing card for any non-included extras such as alcoholic drinks. Sorry to any detail freaks out there, but I just couldn’t bring myself to provide you with a picture of the room key. I practically convulse at the mere thought of even doing so. You’ll just have to envision a pale blue credit card in your minds!
So then, I’d had a good impression of what to expect of my suite based upon online pictures on the Princess website, but there’s nothing like seeing the real thing right there in front of you. Any of you who’ve had the pleasure of flying in a First Class suite aboard Singapore or an apartment aboard Etihad’s A380s know of what I speak. The initial visual impact is stunning.
As I opened the door to my suite and stepped inside, in my mind I heard a harp glissando and a chorus from the heavens. Awesome!
Listen in!
Star Princess – Mini-Suite
Star Princess – Mini-Suite
Oh yeah! This’ll definitely do. This suite is far and away the most spacious accommodation I’ve ever had on any form of transport conveyance. On that note, it’s worth noting that space is hugely important to me. The standard argument for booking smaller windowless money-saving inside staterooms on cruise ships is that what with all the restaurants and activities aboard, you’ll not be spending much time in your room anyway. I’m sure that’s true for some. For me however, you’ve got to go back to what was originally most important to me when booking this cruise – I wanted a balcony. While I think it’s great to have all the restaurants, shows and other activities available onboard, I’m more interested in a relaxing three day cruise down the west coast; sitting on that balcony with a good book and an even better beer while watching the coast go by. Accordingly, I booked this cruise more as a luxurious conveyance rather than a cruise experience.
Setting down my roll-a-board bag and daypack, I took a few moments to inspect my new surroundings. Let’s start with that balcony! But wait – first we’ve got to pass through a small sitting room furnished with a sofa-bed, chair and table. Pleasant artwork adorned the walls. Two 42” flat screen televisions were mounted in the suite – one facing the bed and one facing the sofa in the sitting room. On the table in the sitting room were two welcome bottles of wine – complements of my Club Class reservation.
Star Princess – Mini-Suite Sitting Room
Club Class Welcome Wine Bottles
A double sliding door opened onto a small 6’ x 10’ balcony. The size seemed acceptable when I read about it in advance of the trip, but the reality of this balcony was that of a somewhat bland cubicle walled off with molded white plastic and metal partitions on both sides. To the right and left of me were another 30-40 nearly identical balconies. Above me was another deck of balconied rooms and full suites. On the balcony directly above me, an excited family from India with four kids was making a lot f noise. While I commiserated with their excitement, I prayed they wouldn’t be carrying on late into the evening. Also on the balcony were two chairs capable of reclining into chaise lounges with the addition of a separate footrest. A small table was also available for books and beer.
My Balcony
Back inside my suite, I completed my tour with an inspection of the walk-in closet and the impressive bathroom which included a tub and shower combo and a sink with a large counter and mirror. I kid you not when I say this bathroom was only slightly smaller than the inside room I had been assigned on my first cruise 37 years earlier. Picture a single bed where the tub is with a bedside table and a narrow credenza along the left hand side wall. The bathroom consisted of a tiny walk-in shower, a sink and toilet. I also took this time to check out the toiletries, all-inclusive as part of the Club Class experience. The products provided were from Princess Cruises’ Lotus Spa line and included the usual things like lotion, shampoo/conditioner and a eucalyptus body wash. Other nice touches included a plush terry cloth robe and slippers, the two aforementioned bottles of wine and two large bottles of Aquafina water. These I placed in the in-room fridge. I’ve often spoken of my fondness for good beer but ice cold water just might be my favorite drink of all!
The Bathroom
Still, those humble accommodations were waaay better than the roughest accommodations I have ever had on a boat. That honor goes to the cargo ship I rode back in 1994 on a four day trip down the Chilean coast from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. I and about 20 others were assigned beds on triple tiered bunks located in a poorly lit hold way down in the bowels of the boat. Still, I had no complaints. Back then I was so excited to just be going somewhere by whatever conveyance that I just rolled with it. In fact, sshhh – don’t tell anyone! but back then I also flew more often in Economy Class on international flights!
A knock on the door turned out to be my room steward Fernando, who stopped by to introduce himself and explain some of the things he’d be available for to make the cruise more enjoyable. Before he left I handed him my form filled out to request the complimentary hors d’oeuvres plate, to be delivered to my suite at 5:00pm.
* * * _ _ * * *
Departure time for this cruise was scheduled for 3:00pm. Boarding was available from noon onward and because I had gotten off to an early start this morning, by the time I’d gotten settled in my suite it was 1:00pm. Luncheon was being served in the Horizon Court Restaurant, located on the Lido Deck – four levels above me. None of the other restaurants would open until we’d set sail.
Right – let’s go check out some lunch! It was a short walk down a narrow hallway from my suite to what was essentially an elevator lobby. Six elevators were located there, but only four of them ascended to the Lido Deck. Had I wanted to go up to the Sun or Sports Deck, I would have had to have walked down to the far end of the ship where a different bank of elevators accessed the highest levels of the ship.
The Lido Deck is mostly an entertainment deck. Although there are a few rooms located up towards the stern, the Lido Deck’s most prominent features are the Neptune’s Reef and Calypso Reef pools, the Horizon Court restaurant, the Trident Grill, the Prego Pizzeria and the Mermaid’s Tail Bar. Being as the Horizon Court was the only restaurant open, as you might imagine it was packed. The restaurant is essentially a giant buffet. It normally opens at 5:00am and over the next 19 hours offers a continental breakfast, a full breakfast, lunch, light snacks and dinner followed by more light meals and snacks until closing at midnight. There are numerous service islands that at this time of day offered a wide variety of hot dishes – some of them ethnically inspired – to an impressive salad bar, a cold-cut sandwich station and a dessert table. There was even an omelet station for those so inclined.
The Horizon Court Restaurant
Photo courtesy of CruiseDeckPlans.com
The photo above shows only a small portion of this huge restaurant. I mentioned earlier that the restaurant was packed and on that note, I should acknowledge that because this was a discounted repositioning cruise sailing from Friday to Monday, it was extremely popular with families. Kids were everywhere – their parents evidently having taken them out of school for a long weekend. Additionally, because Vancouver has a very large Asian population, Asians were also very well represented on board.
As I made my way through the tables to the food islands, I saw very few open tables and those that I did see were quickly taken with hungry diners bearing trays of food. Continuing on to the food service area, I put together a plate of something hot – I can’t recall what it was – along with a salad and waited until a table became available. There was no point in waiting for the table to be bussed. The staff were doing their best to keep up but given the inordinately large number of diners, tasks like bussing tables and refreshing beverages could simply not be done in a timely manner.
I grabbed a recently vacated two-topper and pushed the used plates and silverware as far off to one side as I could. At a larger table beside me sat a family of five who stood out because of the horrendous dining manners of the kids, who appeared to range in age from about 4-8 years old . They ate like wolves, chewing with their mouths open and using their hands on food better eaten with utensils. When they did resort to a knife or fork, they clearly had never been taught how to properly hold them. Their parents were only marginally better in this regard and seemed not the least put out by their children’s poor etiquette in such a public setting. It was really amazing if only by virtue of how extremely bad their manners were.
Still, it’s a different world these days. In recent years I have seen quite a few people in their twenties and thirties who don’t know how to hold silverware – in polite company at least. Granted, some foods such as messy barbecue you can’t help but get a little scrappy with but seeing someone sawing away at their prime rib with a ham fisted grip on their knife does tend to raise eyebrows a bit. I don’t have kids, but I’d like to think that by the time they were 8 years old they’d be well schooled in dining etiquette. Either way - I’ve got bigger things to be bothered by, so these messy kids at the table beside me were not so much annoying as they were mildly entertaining in an off-kilter kind of way.
After lunch, I took a stroll around the Lido Deck, checking out the location of the Trident Grill and the Pizzeria, both of which were currently closed as we were still in port. The Mermaid’s Tail Bar was open and so I stopped briefly to check out the prices. I seem to recall once hearing that because many cruises pass through international waters, the prices for wine and spirits are based up duty-free pricing. That certainly wasn’t the case at the Mermaid’s Tail. Mixed drinks ran $8-12 dollars and beers $6-9. Anybody planning an alcohol fueled party cruise had better come with money to burn.
The Mermaid’s Tail Bar
Overview of the Neptune Pool on the Lido Deck as seen from the Sports Deck
Photo credited to Robert W. Bone
Returning to my suite, I noticed that I had a phone message waiting via the flashing light on the in-room telephone. It was from fellow FlyerTalker
fti who was also on this cruise. John is someone I’ve known for about ten years now – first as a visitor to Denali National Park and more recently as a fellow employee. He loves Alaska and Denali in particular and although he lives in Minnesota, he used to come up to Alaska at least once a summer, often times more than once. A few years ago he decided to get a job in the park. To my company’s great discredit, our HR department never got back to John in a timely manner and he ended up taking a front desk position with a local hotel. These days he’s a tour conductor/expediter with a large Alaska tour operator which has him traveling around the state with busloads of America’s most tenacious travelers. It’s a real shame we didn’t snag him for the job the really wanted – working in sales at the Denali Bus Depot. John has not only walked the entire 92 mile park road, but he’s also hiked and camped extensively through the park and of course has spent a lot of time riding our buses. He would have been perfect for it and probably would have been running the place by now.
Anyway, earlier in the summer when John heard that I was looking into booking this cruise, he checked his own schedule and saw that he could take advantage of the low prices and join me for the ride. He’d booked a balcony room not far from mine and so I made arrangements to meet up with him prior to dinner. I’d have joined him for dinner but since he wasn’t booked as a Club Class reservation he’d have to eat in a different dining room. Prior to the trip, we did make reservations to eat at the Crown Grill, one of three premium dining rooms available on board for which we had to pay an additional $29.00. More on that later.
Prior to departure, all passengers were required to attend a drill providing information about how to deal with emergencies onboard the ship. This was mandatory and attendance was verified via our room key cards. Those who did not attend would be searched out later and made to attend a make-up session. My section was scheduled to meet in the Explorer’s Lounge. We were instructed on where our life preservers were located, what the emergency bells would sound like and where our muster or gathering points were located. These were determined by your location on the ship. Aside from that Costa Cruises ship that ran aground a few years ago in the Mediterranean, I haven’t heard of many evacuations of large cruise ships. Still, with over 3500 passengers and crew aboard, understanding of the process and cooperation from the passengers would go a long way toward a successful evacuation. I thought they did a good job with the presentation.
Returning back to my room, I was greeted by the sound of loud pounding and what sounded like a power drill coming from somewhere above me. Ah well – better to repair problems while we’re in port than later at sea. I decided that now might be a good time to check out one of those bottles of wine. I had put the white wine in the refrigerator when I’d first arrived and by now it had cooled off nicely.
Welcome Aboard
A couple of blasts from the ship’s horn indicated that departure was imminent. I headed out to my balcony to watch the action. Looking to my left and right, I noticed a fair number of my fellow shipmates had also come out to capture the moment. This is really one of the most exciting parts of the journey with the sound of the horn and the slight shudder of the ship as the captain powered up the engines and we slowly pulled away from Canada Place.
So Long, Vancouver
I decided to take advantage of my balcony with a copy of Jennifer Ackerman’s superb book “The Genius of Birds”. I heard her speak on an Australian radio documentary while down in Tasmania a couple of years ago. I purchased her book shortly after returning home but only now have I gotten around to reading it. I’m always buying books and at any given time have no shortage of good reading material.
It was a nice afternoon – sunny with temperatures in the low sixties – warm for Vancouver in November. As things would turn out, this would be the nicest afternoon on the ship with regard to weather. The next two days at sea were nice enough in terms of sunshine but the temperatures were significantly cooler with highs most days getting no warmer than the upper 40s.
Meanwhile, a glass of wine was all well and good but I don’t usually drink much white wine and this time of day I’m usually more in the mood for a beer. Surveying the room service menu, I took advantage of a special deal entitling me to five beers for the price of four. With three days ahead of me, that sounded like a good start. A call to Room Service was made and 20 minutes later I was in possession of five nicely chilled Dos Equis. My account was billed $29. That’s an expensive five-pack especially given that I can buy a sixer of Dos Equis back home for about $8.99. Still, we’re talking restaurant pricing here, so I suppose $5.80 a beer isn’t too bad.
It was about 5:00pm when the hors d’oeuvres were delivered. It was a pretty small plate – there were only four tiny tidbits – but one of them contained pate de fois gras so I was pleased. I made a note to myself to try and find a tin of that when I got home. John arrived at 5:30 and we spent some time catching up before heading off to dinner. John had to eat at a pre-assigned time whereas my Club Class entitled me to anytime dining. It would have been nice to join John for dinner but I was excited to check out my Club Class benefits, one of which was an expanded menu with more selections.
At 7:30pm I made my way down to the Portofino Dining Room on level 6. Club Class passengers enter the dining room through a separate entrance. The service is advertised as featuring expedited seating with no wait time and, after showing my card at the door, that is exactly what happened. Dining is advertised as being in “an exclusive area of the main dining room” and that too is for the most part true, although roping off our area with a felt rope from the “hoi polloi” in the rest of the dining room didn’t feel especially exclusive to me.
Portofino Dining Room
Dining room staff quickly presented a menu and took beverage orders. I’ll have a beer please. Yes, Dos Equis will be fine, thanks. My server appeared shortly thereafter, introduced herself and launched into a description of tonight’s special. While listening to her, I couldn’t help but get the sense that this was very much a scripted performance that she’d performed waaay too many times. I thought she sounded almost robotic. Throughout the meal she said all the right things but I couldn’t help but question her sincerity when on a couple of occasions she had turned away and was off to her next task while finishing whatever it was she was saying to me as she was walking away.
Well alright then, let’s have a look at that menu, eh?
Still Life with Menu
Club Class Menu – Princess Favorites
Club Class Menu – Starters, Soups & Salad
Club Class Menu – Main Courses
This looked very nice, however I later found out from John that the “enhanced dining” essentially translated into the inclusion of the Hawaiian themed choices, marked with the red globe logo. Still, I was pleased with the overall number and variety of choices as well as the quality of the table settings. The glasses were spotless, the silverware was nicely weighty and the silver service such as the bread plate and butter dish positively gleamed. Oh – and the rolls were very good as well.
I started with a shrimp cocktail, served in a silver bowl on crushed ice with a deliciously tangy sauce. I followed that up with a Caesar Salad and then a prime rib with extra horseradish. The prime rib was not cut very thick – I’d estimate perhaps 3/8ths of an inch at best – but it was otherwise moist and reasonably flavorful.
Caesar Salad
Prime Rib
After dinner, I took a stroll around the ship and checked out some of the lounges and activity areas. Up on the Lido Deck I discovered an ice cream shop, so an ice cream cone became my dessert for the night. I thought about walking a lap around the top of the ship on the smaller Sport Deck at the very top of the ship but the night time temperatures had plummeted and with the breeze resulting from our movement if not the overall conditions, the ambient temperature was unpleasantly cold. I ended up retreating to the Piazza where three violinists were making beautiful music for a small but appreciative crowd.
It was about 10:00pm by the time I returned to my suite. This is a really nice room and indeed a pleasure to hang out in. To be honest, I’m really not all that interested in getting involved in all the many activities available on board the cruise. I think it’s great that they’re offered and to that end I give a tip of the hat to Princess Cruises and its staff for doing a fantastic job in this regard. That said, I’m really just looking for a nice comfortable and relaxing three day cruise down the coast to LA. To that end, this suite is perfect. It’s comfortable, spacious and quiet. As for the balcony – given the cold November temperatures while out at sea, I hardly spent any time at all out there. It was a bit of a shame really, but being as I am a big fan of natural light I was appreciative of the large sliding glass doors and the amount of good clean daylight they allowed in throughout the day.
The one downside to my suite was the bed. It was bowed in the middle as if a steady succession of 300lb people had slept many nights on it. You could clearly see the sag in the mattress and as might be expected, I did not sleep very well on it. On my last night aboard I took the table from the sitting area and used it to extend the bed a bit from a sideways perspective. Then I put my pillow on the table and, positioning myself sideways on the mattress, thus eliminated the dip in the middle and as a result got a better sleep.