Star Princess:
Dining Type: Traditional
Dining Room: Amalfi
Seating: First: 5:30 PM
Where to Eat on the Boat (complementary):
For all meals you could eat at the Buffet as it serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The International Café serves light snacks 24/7.
Additionally for a more restaurant setting: For breakfast, you could go to the Portofino Dining Room for a restaurant service breakfast. And for lunch, you could eat at Portofino as well for a restaurant service lunch. For dinner, there was 1 “traditional” dining room on the ship with set times for dinner (Amalfi) and 2 “freestyle” dining room when you could eat whenever you want (Portofino and Capri). I opted for the first seating at 5:30 for “traditional” and was assigned the Amalfi Room.
First Impressions:
For the first day after boarding, I tried the buffet for lunch and hated it. It was literally worse than Hometown Buffet. My friend Noah, who has been on ten cruises, says it was one of the worst cruise buffets he had been to. It truly scared me me, as I was terrified to think how bad dinner would be. So, I made a vow to only eat at the main dining rooms.
Breakfast
Breakfast was served at the Portofino Dining Room everyday. It was like a hotel restaurant quality food. I quite enjoyed it. The over-easy eggs were great and my favorite was the bacon because it was just the right amount of crispy. The papaya was the highlight of the breakfast experience. Never before have I tasted a papaya so sweet!
Lunch
Lunch was served at the Portofino Dining Room everyday except for the day we were at port in Victoria. It was solid, but nothing super special. Picture an upscale Applebee’s for the food quality. I absolutely hated the burger because the patty was so dry! But my friend Noah and my dad liked the burger, which really confused me. Maybe my taste buds were off that day.
Just after lunch there is a tea time daily served in the Portofino Dining Room as well but the offerings were the exact same as the sandwiches served in the café and buffet so it wasn’t really worth it to go to. You might as well have just gone to the buffet if you wanted a 3PM snack.
Dinner
Dinner was served at Amalfi Dining Room. The food was very light, and healthy. The menu changed nightly, but there were selections that were available everyday. I mainly enjoyed the food, with some exceptions. My favorite dish was the linguini with clams (which I don’t have a picture of….I must have ate it too fast). I strongly disliked the Mahi Mahi as it tasted like paper. I have to add that all the meals mainly came with vegetables which was great as it is a goal of mine to (try) eat healthier. Don’t tell my mum I didn’t eat all of the carrots….
Other Dining Options:
There are 2 specialty restaurants on this ship offered to guests the Crown Grill (steakhouse) and Sabatini’s (Italian)which both have a cover charge of $20 per person. I didn’t try any of these establishments as the main dining room was solid in my opinion.
If you don’t want to pay extra cover charges the International café is open 24 hours and always has snacks, and the Prego Pizzeria, Sundaes Ice Cream and Trident Grill all offer no charge food throughout the day. I often got appetizers/late night snacks at the Trident Grill.
Reminder! Teas (hot or iced), Water, Milk, Coffee are all included in the cruise fare.
Entertainment:
There is a bit of entertainment on the boat, but it is somewhat lacking compared to what is on the new bigger ships. The headline shows in the Princess Theatre were lacking, with the magician and stage production. The comedian AJ Jamal was really funny though, and luckily he performed an extra night in the Explorer’s Lounge.
The casino is small and there are a limited number of shops. There is a tiny putting green, and there’s Movies Under the Stars where there’s a movie every night playing outside on top of the pool area.
The Princess Platter outlines all the events for the day, and there’s events such as Zumba Classes, Seminars, Arts and Crafts, Meetups, etc.
The Verdict:
Overall, I thought the main dining room’s food was pretty good, like what a 4 star hotel’s restaurant would serve. With regards to entertainment, I thought it was limited but there’s always something to do to keep you busy.
For a review of the cabin itself, click here to check out my detailed cabin review
For a review of my overall cruise, click here to check out my overall review
Cheers,
Tyler
theresorttraveler
3.5
5