Everything feels different on the last day of a cruise; the excitement of the start of the cruise and the relaxation of the bulk of the cruise are memories sat upon and squashed into submission by the subdued sadness that is knowing your time at sea will soon cease to be. This is the day where you’re most likely to meet someone on a cruise ship who’ll say something like “It’s been really nice but I think I’m about ready to go home now” and a swift jab to the throat usually puts a stop to having to hear any more of that nonsense. You’re left to spend this day doing things for the last time. At least, until the next time.
It was another day with blue sky and blue ocean as far as the eye could see but clouds punctuated the view, the temperature had dropped several degrees overnight, and the wind had picked up. The mostly pancake-flat Pacific we’d experienced for the majority of the cruise had some definite motion to it now and there was a bite in the air as we stepped outside to catch the morning view from the balcony.
Breakfast done and trivia done in the morning (dreadful again) but with nothing to thrill us in the Princess Patter beyond that I picked up my camera.
Last day. Last chance to look around the ship. Do you…
No.
And so I took a walk around Star Princess on my own to snap some final photos of the ship, leaving my wife in a seat at Crooners to read. With an “I won’t be long” from me and an eye-roll from her I headed down the steps to start at the bottom of the piazza.
The first thing to catch the eye were the netted balloons all ready for the farewell party and balloon drop event later that evening. This isn’t something we’ve ever attended as its popularity makes the piazza a quite stifling environment during it. Besides, it’s balloons dropping and we’re not children.
It wasn’t particularly busy on the lowest level of the piazza. The shops were trying their best to convince people that their new batches of signs with percentages off and offers would somehow reflect a different price at the till from the previous fourteen days aboard ship and the other signs and offers that had been displayed; a constant trickle of people were snacking at the wonderful International Café; the art gallery was devoid of any art as it had all been bumped into Explorers Lounge for the final art auction of the cruise.
Up one level where, surprisingly, there were not too many people queueing at the passenger services desk. This is usually a magnetic coil on which the iron filings of gratuities-removing passengers are attached on the first and last days on a ship. We were those iron filings once, on our very first cruise, because we listened to advice from seasoned cruisers who turned out to be tightarses. We know better these days. If you can’t afford to pay the daily charges then you shouldn’t be on a cruise. If you’re the cruising equivalent of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal and assume that if you can’t see someone then they didn’t help you out then please announce your stance on as many cruise groups on Facebook as you can and become the hero you think you are.
The top of the piazza is deck seven, the promenade deck and home of most of the more interesting inside venues on a Princess ship. I didn’t venture outside because I knew just how chilly and windy it had felt on the balcony earlier in the day and instead continued taking pictures of Star Princess’s interior spaces for, ooh, I don’t know, maybe the tenth time across our two cruises aboard her. You can never have too many.
The Princess Theatre was either closed for rehearsals or there was a talk going on or I forgot it was there; whatever the reason, I didn’t take photos of it so working back from that point of the deck the first location I hit was the Crown Grill. This is where the British pub lunch is served on sea days and also where Crown Grill speciality dining takes place, the latter because to have it elsewhere would be needlessly confusing. We’d already failed to have a pub lunch due to its popularity and our unwillingness to queue despite being as British as they come and, you’d expect, experts in the art of queueing. We had, however, dined at the Crown Grill on Star Princess one evening and it had been as fabulous as it always is (except for that debacle on Royal Princess which we try not to think about too much). It was interesting, therefore, to see the location during the day, empty except for a group meeting for some sort of crafting get-together, and sporting a feature we’d not been aware of previously – as it’s considered rude to just go wandering around a restaurant when you turn up – in the form of a mock fireplace.
Passing back through the piazza got me closer to the balloons ready and waiting to begin their short descent to the popping frenzy later that day. It wasn’t possible to head into Explorers because the final art auction of the cruise was due to take place in the afternoon. On past cruises we’ve enjoyed the art auctions – on our last Star Princess cruise we bought a plethora of pieces for a really good price – but our experience in Asia aboard Diamond Princess soured what had been a regular activity for us and we have vowed never to do business again with Park West Gallery on any of the ships on which they sell their works. Probably the most disappointing aspect of that whole encounter has been the total lack of response from Princess Cruises regarding the complaints we levelled. Sometimes you just don’t matter in the big picture and all you can do is moan about it online, sigh, and press on.
I don’t want to keep comparing this Star Princess cruise with the one we’d taken three years earlier but coming next to the Wheelhouse Bar presented another example of just how the two cruises had differed. In 2016 Princess had still been running their BOGO drinks promotions (buy one, get another one for a dollar) at select times in select venues, one of those places and times being the Wheelhouse Bar for an hour in the afternoon. This bar had been packed, fun, provided loads of opportunities to mingle and talk to people, had music on that got people up and dancing; it was great. On this 2019 cruise I don’t think we ever saw more than a dozen people in it at any one time. There were often musicians playing in it in the evening who outnumbered the attendees. It was a good place to come for a quiet read if noise from the piazza was making sitting in Crooners annoying but a complete waste of usefulness in my opinion. And it’s such a lovely-looking lounge, too.
A quick poke of the head into Sabatinis (a place we’d dined at twice here and here) and a stroll through the photo gallery without taking any photos (because you’re not allowed to and because I have no desire for any snaps of that annoying redneck couple with whom we shared a table one evening posing next to crew members dressed as conquistadors or penguins or whatever other stereotypical and only occasionally culturally-insensitive costume they’ve been forced to wear at the end of the gangway during port stops). This brought me to the Vista Lounge where the first of two last day bingo sessions was taking place. Bingo is always well-attended throughout a cruise even though I’ve never heard of anyone winning the jackpot until the very last session of the very last day. Some people believe that this is a fix because gambling on ships is not governed by any laws of the land that might demand some element of fairness and random chance but I couldn’t possibly comment on the veracity of that belief as it’s not something I really care about. I also don’t really care for photos of people marking off cards or touching their tablets (not a euphemism; I’m pretty sure I saw electronic devices being used during my split second glance into the lounge) so I simply walked in one door and out the other with barely a moment’s stop for a snapshot or two of the interior space.
Outside the Vista Lounge I took the elevator up to Skywalkers. If you’re not a fan of muttering “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” and traipsing up a few flights of stairs then it’s worth checking the elevator buttons at this point because only two of the elevators here go all the way to deck seventeen and the location of Skywalker’s eponymous Skywalker travelator. We do like the travelator. It’s a crying shame that it’s only present on Star, Golden, and Caribbean Princess, and when the first two are transferred to P&O Australia in the next few years it will only be the latter ship that has this feature remaining in the fleet. We’ve not cruised on Golden or Caribbean and have no plans in place (or time available) to do so prior to Golden’s departure but as we’ve never cruised in Australia we haven’t ruled out maybe seeking out Golden Princess under her new guise and in her new livery when that time comes.
Skywalkers is another place that can be a good spot for a quiet read on a sea day and one that affords the best views. Of course, it was only quieter in terms of volume from its use as a nightclub in the evening. In terms of people there it was almost as busy; another victim of the BOGO eradication price squeeze.
This only really left the swimming pools on the top deck and I decided to keep exposure to the blustery wind as short as possible so made my way as quickly as I could forward, starting with the wake view pool, passing through the covered pool area (Calypso), completing a circuit of the exterior pool (Neptune) beside the Movies Under The Stars screen, and ending at the adults only pool (Lotus) beside the Sanctuary and spa. One foolhardy person was using the exterior swimming pool while the pool we favoured, the adults only one, was netted off on account of its shallowness in choppy sea conditions being something considered dangerous. I imagine the stewards come in and net off the baths in mini-suites and suites during these times too.
That concluded my action-packed solo activity schedule for the last sea day on Star Princess so I rejoined my wife and we commenced with the usual things we do together at this somewhat downbeat time: more reading, more quizzing, a little drinking, and a little eating; and all the while trying to put off packing the cases and clearing the room out ahead of departure.
Another excellent meal in the main dining room came with the customary Baked Alaska parade and almost obligatory dessert option.
The evening concluded with one last stop at Skywalkers and a chance to say goodbye to some of the staff we’d got to know there.
And that’s almost the end of the 2019 South and Central American cruise aboard Star Princess. The morning would see us arrive at Los Angeles where we had a short debark tour arranged of some highlights of the city ahead of a drive to the airport and that will be covered in the final cruise diary post in this travel portfolio.