Skywalker's Nightclub on Star Princess and Summation

Located high above Star Princess undisputedly soars its most prominent feature, Skywalker's Lounge. Skywalker's serves, adequately, by day, as the ships glass enclosed observation lounge; by night, as its heart pounding Disco. Compared to it's predecessor's the horizontal plane of Skywalker's on Star Princess provides a leaner, sleeker appearance, more like a wing spoiler on a race car than of the handle of a grocery cart as it appeared on earlier Grand Class ships.

Access continues to be via a glass-enclosed tube Princess calls the Skywalk. A moving conveyor whisks visitors up to Skywalker's, while gravity takes them back down, perhaps, after spending some time up there, faster than some may wish. (In other words, they WALK back down…or if they have over imbibed, crawl or roll down.) The extreme location at the far aft of the ship continues to exaggerate the ship's motion, although, not to the same degree of the older ships. Princess obviously has paid some attention and strengthened the support structure in such a way that the ride, now, has become acceptable. On Grand Princess, I noted in rough seas, Skywalker's actually tended to become dangerous because of its excessive motion. This does not seem to be the case here.

Seating is in groupings of couches, chairs and benches lining Skywalker's circumference. Smaller table groupings form the interior areas surrounding the dance floor, which, in itself pulses from the myriad of lights buried beneath its thick glass. Continuously changing arrays of ceiling lights keep things lively throughout the night. This really is a superb nighttime venue. Its biggest problem is its location, so far from everything else and so complex to get to that most passengers never even visit.

Star Princess is a positive design evolution of the concept first demonstrated on Grand Princess. The ship remains an adult playground providing vast choices of activities from which to choose throughout the day and night. Here, passengers do not just go to pool deck to lie beside the pool. Rather, they choose from a selection of pools depending on their personal prerogatives at the moment. Dining is not just a matter of dressing at the appropriate time and in the appropriate fashion and heading to the dining room with your assigned tablemates or the cafe without them. Rather, it is a matter of selecting to where you wish to dine, choosing from either of two personal choice dining rooms, a traditional dining room, Italian Tratoria, Mexican restaurant, Lido Buffet, Bistro, Snack or Pizza bar as well as when and with whom. Princess advertises Personal Choice and, on these ships, it is a given fact!

It is in matters of attention to detail that Star Princess deserves to be faulted. For anyone with a cabin located at the extreme forward or aft end of the ship, who is unfortunate enough to take the elevator located at the extreme opposite end, prepare for a long, seemingly unending walk home. The cabin corridors stretch, visibly, from one end of the ship to the other. Good ship design places jug handles or curves along the corridors to block such long views to the extreme of perception. Doing so makes the walks more pleasant and less burdensome. Princess, back in 1984's Royal Princess realized the importance of breaking up the front to back views, but with Star Princess, and the entire Grand Princess Class decided on the side of saving money and chose to ignore it.

Princess also likes to brag about these huge ships providing passengers a small ship feel. While it is true, Star Princess contains no on board area overwhelming for its size or appearance, it's also true that long stretches of small public areas strung along two public decks, without distinguishing features makes for unnecessary confusion on the part of passengers. For a lost passenger this ship most certainly DOES NOT FEEL SMALL!

Overall, Star Princess proves to be an excellent choice for passengers seeking an unstructured cruise experience. She is a floating resort providing vacationers the style of cruise that THEY select! Whether seeking an active or a relaxing vacation, Star Princess fulfills. Who can ask for more?


	Skywalker's Nightclub on Star Princess A PARNAMI Cruise Page Located high above Star Princess undisputedly soars its most prominent feature, Skywalker's Lounge. Skywalker's serves, adequately, by day, as the ships glass enclosed observation lounge; by night, as its heart pounding Disco. Compared to it's predecessor's the horizontal plane of Skywalker's on Star Princess provides a leaner, sleeker appearance, more like a wing spoiler on a race car than of the handle of a grocery cart as it appeared on earlier Grand Class ships. Access continues to be via a glass-enclosed tube Princess calls the Skywalk. A moving conveyor whisks visitors up to Skywalker's, while gravity takes them back down, perhaps, after spending some time up there, faster than some may wish. (In other words, they WALK back down…or if they have over imbibed, crawl or roll down.) The extreme location at the far aft of the ship continues to exaggerate the ship's motion, although, not to the same degree of the older ships. Princess obviously has paid some attention and strengthened the support structure in such a way that the ride, now, has become acceptable. On Grand Princess, I noted in rough seas, Skywalker's actually tended to become dangerous because of its excessive motion. This does not seem to be the case here. Seating is in groupings of couches, chairs and benches lining Skywalker's circumference. Smaller table groupings form the interior areas surrounding the dance floor, which, in itself pulses from the myriad of lights buried beneath its thick glass. Continuously changing arrays of ceiling lights keep things lively throughout the night. This really is a superb nighttime venue. Its biggest problem is its location, so far from everything else and so complex to get to that most passengers never even visit. Skywalkers opens as a Disco each evening after 10 continuing until Late. It is accessible as an observation lounge throughout the day, but, without bar service. Summary Star Princess is a positive design evolution of the concept first demonstrated on Grand Princess. The ship remains an adult playground providing vast choices of activities from which to choose throughout the day and night. Here, passengers do not just go to pool deck to lie beside the pool. Rather, they choose from a selection of pools depending on their personal prerogatives at the moment. Dining is not just a matter of dressing at the appropriate time and in the appropriate fashion and heading to the dining room with your assigned tablemates or the cafe without them. Rather, it is a matter of selecting to where you wish to dine, choosing from either of two personal choice dining rooms, a traditional dining room, Italian Tratoria, Mexican restaurant, Lido Buffet, Bistro, Snack or Pizza bar as well as when and with whom. Princess advertises Personal Choice and, on these ships, it is a given fact! It is in matters of attention to detail that Star Princess deserves to be faulted. For anyone with a cabin located at the extreme forward or aft end of the ship, who is unfortunate enough to take the elevator located at the extreme opposite end, prepare for a long, seemingly unending walk home. The cabin corridors stretch, visibly, from one end of the ship to the other. Good ship design places jug handles or curves along the corridors to block such long views to the extreme of perception. Doing so makes the walks more pleasant and less burdensome. Princess, back in 1984's Royal Princess realized the importance of breaking up the front to back views, but with Star Princess, and the entire Grand Princess Class decided on the side of saving money and chose to ignore it. Princess also likes to brag about these huge ships providing passengers a small ship feel. While it is true, Star Princess contains no on board area overwhelming for its size or appearance, it's also true that long stretches of small public areas strung along two public decks, without distinguishing features makes for unnecessary confusion on the part of passengers. For a lost passenger this ship most certainly DOES NOT FEEL SMALL! Overall, Star Princess proves to be an excellent choice for passengers seeking an unstructured cruise experience. She is a floating resort providing vacationers the style of cruise that THEY select! Whether seeking an active or a relaxing vacation, Star Princess fulfills. Who can ask for more? Copyright © 2003 Mel Litzenberger. All Rights Reserved Reverse Tour: The Oasis Bar and Pool on Star Princess Return to Star Princess: Star Princess E-mail: PARNAMI@aol.com