Quick Overview of the Ship and Itinerary

The Star Princess—the third Grand-class ship—made her inaugural voyage 11 months ago. We found her to appear “like new” in the common areas, with the usual fresh paint crews and brass polishers in force on a daily basis. The Star is more than 3 football fields long and carries an average 2,600 pax in 1,300 cabins, of which more than 700 have private balconies. This sailing was sold out.

Like her sisters, the Star’s exterior is distinguished by the signature UFO-like glass “pod” suspended 150-feet over the stern. It houses an observation lounge by day and disco by night and is reached via moving sidewalk—the kids think this is so cool; the adults are pretty much in awe, too. The interior of the ship is fairly traditional in design and understated in décor. The art isn’t memorable, and the atrium is not a showcase of grandeur and glitz—it’s a smallish, circular area only 5-6 stories high with no remarkable architectural or design feature. But, I’m not complaining. The Star’s a good-looking ship, and I like the way the common areas feel familiar—I realize they are identical, or similar, in name and design to the dining rooms and lounges we so enjoyed last summer on the Dawn Princess.

Per the “Log of the Cruise” Princess supplied the last day, the Mexican Riviera itinerary from LA to Puerto Vallarta and then back north via Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas covers a total of 2,307 nautical miles (that’s about 2,650 statute miles—roughly the distance from LA to Philadelphia—a lot farther than I had imagined!). The Star cruised at an average speed of 20 knots during the long haul from the US to Mexico and back, dropping to 15 knots while transiting between Mexican port cities.

The Mexico maps at this site are terrific--there are regional and city maps with enough detail to aid planning.
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