Awful, just awful. That is the best way to describe our Easter Week 2002 Mexican Rivera cruise on the new Star Princess. Let me count the ways:<br><br>DINING: <br><br>We choose Personal Choice dining since it seemed like a good turn of a phrase. No one told us that it meant we would not be regimented in terms of when we could have dinner in the dining room or that if we requested to dine at a table for two (which we did every night) that our request would be honored. We had changing menus every night (you know, French Night, Sail- Away Night etc. plus certain menu items like steak and grilled chicken which were always available). If that was not bad enough, the service was very attentive which made things even worse.<br><br>Then there was the Horizon Food Court which was open 24 hours a day with a changing array of light buffet, big-time buffet and from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. what was called “Bistro Dining” where menu items were cooked to order. We ate all our breakfasts, lunches and one dinner (French Night in the main dining room—despite the fact that my father is half-French there is no way I was going to eat in the same room where they were serving snails and people were actually eating them). Imagine sitting 15 stories above the sea while eating your breakfast and watching the sunrise and you get the picture—pure torture. Many people seemed to like the food in the Horizon Food Court as they had enough food piled on their plates to cause the ship to sit low in the water. Coffee and tea was always available which I also disliked since my wife made me climb two decks every morning to get her morning coffee and bring it back to the cabin so she could face the new day. I don’t know why I did it. It is not like me.<br><br>OUR CABIN:<br><br>Our cabin was Baja 602, which was mid-ship with a balcony. There was one deck above us with cabins and four decks below us with cabins. Carol Hill had suggested to me to get a cabin with a balcony on either the Baja Deck or the Caribe Deck (the deck above Baja). This was a mistake—do not listen to Carol. The two decks below Baja had balconies and you could see everything that occurred on those balconies. Those of us with balconies on the Baja and Caribe decks had private decks which no one could peer down on. That was not fair. We paid good money for our Baja location and we should have been equally visible to everyone else. And we would have if Carol had not given me her advice.<br><br>The cabin itself was of adequate size although it could have been bigger but I am not one to complain. The bathroom was compact but had the necessities. One question—why do ships have toilets that sound like they are on a plane. You know---a big “whoosh” when you flush it. Scared the you know what out----well, I won’t go there.<br><br>Our cabin attendant was hopelessly attentive—where do they get these efficient guys? We would go to breakfast and when we got back our cabin would be cleaned. We would go to dinner and the same thing when we got back, the bed would bed turned down and the cabin cleaned yet again. It is hardly worth your trouble to get the cabin dirty if the attendant is going to keep cleaning it. He kept asking us if there was anything further he could do----don’t you just hate people like that?<br><br>THE SHIP ITSELF:<br><br>The Star Princess is the newest “Grand” class Princess ship----the Grand Princess and Golden Princess having preceded it. It is decorated in subdued pastels which my wife found very soothing to the eye. Maybe because she was not the one trekking two decks early every morning to get the coffee. <br><br>There were 600 kids on the ship on our Easter cruise but even I have to admit that they were not all that noticeable. I think it because the Star Princess has special activities for all ages including teen-agers and those activities take place in dedicated areas for kids only—kind of like a jail but the kids never caught on. <br><br>The very first thing we did after we boarded the ship and found our cabin was to go up to the “Lotus Spa” and sign my wife up for a major overhaul. Good thing we did as there was a long line and the various spa treatments were sold out by the evening. My wife loved the facilities and treatments----but then she was not the one paying for them. The gym facility was also extensive and used by many passengers. Although I work out at home, this was a vacation and I got plenty of exercise complaining as well as getting my wife coffee each morning.<br><br>The show rooms and dancing areas were varied and there was a long list of entertainment every night ranging from production shows to individual performers to dance bands. Like personal choice dining, I found this array of entertainment venues distasteful as it meant I had to make a decision every night. <br><br>There was on board a 24 Hour AOL Internet facility that had about 20 PCs linked to the Internet via satellite. You just went in and swiped your cruise card and you could access the Net as well as your email. Since it cost $.50 a minute it paid to be a good typist. I used it to issue orders to my two sons at home several times a day---they said they did not miss me since I gave them more directives while on the sea than I did when I was at home. My office also asked me to stop sending them email so that they could get some work done. That is really ungrateful.<br><br>The ports were Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. The drill was the same for all three ports—we took a tour, we shopped. By the time we got to Cabo, my wife said forget the tour she wanted to do more shopping. Cruise lines should forbid shopping. Of course, if you cannot find that special bauble or T-shirt on shore, the Star Princess has its own array of on-board shops. We visited each of the ship’s shops several times a day which really made my day.<br><br>TIPPING:<br><br>I am not talking about Carol Hill’s tips in this section. I am talking about Princess’s policy of adding the tips to your account automatically for dining room staff and cabin staff. Aha I said! This meant that these service folks would be surly and would ignore the paying customers. I was so disappointed during the course of the week to discover that was not the case at all. The staff was friendly and helpful as if they were all planning to pass out little envelopes on the last night. Something is wrong here but I cannot figure out what it is.<br><br>CONCLUSION:<br><br>There is no point going on. If anyone has any questions, I’ll try to answer them—maybe. This was an awful cruise----AWFULLY GOOD!!<br><br>Gary in CA<br><br> (Now that we are home my wife gets her own coffee!!)<br><br><br>