MOAGC4 - Star Princess, May 10 Alaska Cruise Trip Report

I have finally gotten a trip report together for our recent Alaska group
cruise, complete with pictures. You can read the report at

http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_w...s-and-reviews/

or http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

It was a great cruise and like all cruises, had it share of plusses and
minuses... but I finally got to see whales in the ocean and for me, that
alone was worth the trip.

Regards,


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

"George Leppla" wrote in message
...
I have finally gotten a trip report together for our recent Alaska group
cruise, complete with pictures. You can read the report at

http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_w...s-and-reviews/

or http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/


I liked your comment about how some aspects of the ship weren't suited for
cold weather. We were on Constellation when we went to both Norway and
Quebec. While the Norway sailing was in the summer, and reasonably warm,
the Quebec sailing was in the fall, so it was cold out on many days. The
AquaSpa area on the ship is very nice, but also very small. If you got up
early you could get a lounge chair for the day. But there were at most 2
dozen lounge chairs there. On cool days, anyone in a lounge chair by the
main pool deck was wrapped in like 4 blankets. The ship seemed unsuited for
cold weather sailing. Perhaps the HAL ships are best designed for cold
weather sailing with the covering over the main pool area.

What was your overall feeling now that you've taken a colder weather
sailing? To me the feeling is very different than a Caribbean sailing. And
I think the first thing that comes to mind is that the brutal Caribbean heat
doesn't become the limiter of how much you can do in a given day... like
after a day in the heat and sun, in the Caribbean I'm exhausted, but in
cooler areas, I still have energy.

--Tom

In article , Tom K
wrote:

I liked your comment about how some aspects of the ship weren't suited for
cold weather.

Since Star Princess is a sister to the Grand Princess it should have a
large indoor pool.

Perhaps the HAL ships are best designed for cold
weather sailing with the covering over the main pool area.

Some Grand Class Princess ships have covered pools. I don't know about
Diamond and Sapphire Princess if they maintained the covered pool area
on those. Island and Coral Princess have covered pools.

--
Charles

Hi, George,

It is wonderful to hear how much you enjoyed discovering Alaska (and
Seattle). Thanks for sharing everything, and your pix are great!

It is fabulous that you had such good weather + a lot of whale and
other sealife activity during your Juneau adventure with Orca
Enterprises. I had never thought about early season ice preventing
ships from getting close enough to allow pax to observe the glaciers
calving--interesting point to remember when people are wondering which
month to go. Another interesting booking point is the service during
those first few cruises of the season when crew members have just been
assigned to their summer ships and are learning to work together.
Silly me, I guess I had assumed that the ship and crew would
reposition together.

Was this Becca's first time, too? Where's her always-insightful report
(hint, hint)?!

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

(George*Leppla) wrote:

I have finally gotten a trip report together for
our recent Alaska group cruise, complete with
pictures. You can read the report at

http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/
articles-and-reviews/

or
http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

It was a great cruise and like all cruises, had it
share of plusses and minuses... but I finally
got to see whales in the ocean and for me,
that alone was worth the trip.

Regards,

Thanks for the report. It was a very enjoyable read.

Whatever happened to Lori Cunningham? When I first discovered this
group, she was one of the most informative posters here. Unfortunately,
she was harassed (like Ray has been for a long time), and seemed to just
disappear. I hope she is doing well.

Isn't there a covered pool on the Star Princess? My wife and I both
remember there being on on our 2007 Baltic cruise.

"Tom K" wrote

What was your overall feeling now that you've taken a colder weather
sailing? To me the feeling is very different than a Caribbean sailing.
And I think the first thing that comes to mind is that the brutal
Caribbean heat doesn't become the limiter of how much you can do in a
given day... like after a day in the heat and sun, in the Caribbean I'm
exhausted, but in cooler areas, I still have energy.

I am a "warm weather" cruiser. I want beaches, palm trees, warm water and
foo-foo drinks with large hunks of fruit and small umbrellas.

I loved the Alaska cruise because of the things I saw and the places I got
to visit and doing it on a cruise ship is a good way for me to travel (as
opposed to a land vacation). Like I said, I am looking forward to going
back some day, but for most of my vacations, I prefer the Caribbean... or
maybe some day Hawaii, Tahiti, etc.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

"Charles" wrote in message
d...
In article , Tom K
wrote:

I liked your comment about how some aspects of the ship weren't suited
for
cold weather.

Since Star Princess is a sister to the Grand Princess it should have a
large indoor pool.


It does... but with the large doors (oin two levels) constantly opening and
closing and the outside temperature never getting out of the 50's, it wasn't
quite comfortable enough there to have breakfast or lunch. Still, some
people ended up out there, eating their eggs while wearing coats, scarves
and gloves.

On ships that do not have the expanded buffet area like the Caribbean
Princess... they need to open an additional buffet in one of the dining
rooms to handle the larger number of people who can't eat outside because of
the colder weather.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

"D Ball" wrote

Another interesting booking point is the service during
those first few cruises of the season when crew members have just been
assigned to their summer ships and are learning to work together.
Silly me, I guess I had assumed that the ship and crew would
reposition together.

This morning I heard from a customer who had been on the Star Princess
repositioning cruise from South America to San Francisco the week before we
boarded. He mentioned that the service on his cruise was excellent, partly
due to the longevity of the crew and partly due to the fact that there were
only 1600 passengers on board.

Was this Becca's first time, too? Where's her always-insightful report
(hint, hint)?!

Yep... it was her first Alaska cruise. I'm sure she will get to adding some
comments.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

"Jeff Gersten" wrote


Thanks for the report. It was a very enjoyable read.

Whatever happened to Lori Cunningham? When I first discovered this
group, she was one of the most informative posters here. Unfortunately,
she was harassed (like Ray has been for a long time), and seemed to just
disappear. I hope she is doing well.

Lori and alive and well. This is the 4th group cruise that she and I have
worked on together. The next if the Oasis, Oct 16, 2010 and between us we
have over 150 people booked already.

Lori doesn't hang out here much any more. She has a lower tolerance for BS
than I do. vbg


Isn't there a covered pool on the Star Princess? My wife and I both
remember there being on on our 2007 Baltic cruise.

Yep, but as I mentioned in another post, with the large number of outsid3e
doors constantly opening and closing (and the inherrent "wind tunnel
effect", it isn't warm enough out there to use it for brekfast or lunch.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

George Leppla wrote:

"D Ball" wrote

Another interesting booking point is the service during
those first few cruises of the season when crew members have just been
assigned to their summer ships and are learning to work together.
Silly me, I guess I had assumed that the ship and crew would
reposition together.

This morning I heard from a customer who had been on the Star Princess
repositioning cruise from South America to San Francisco the week before
we boarded. He mentioned that the service on his cruise was excellent,
partly due to the longevity of the crew and partly due to the fact that
there were only 1600 passengers on board.

Was this Becca's first time, too? Where's her always-insightful report
(hint, hint)?!

Yep... it was her first Alaska cruise. I'm sure she will get to adding
some comments.



The question on my mind is whether you led a group out to meet Dennis?
That would have been a ball.

--
Nonny
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties
than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to
control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by
deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks
will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up
homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’

Thomas Jefferson, 1802