First Impressions of Star Princess, the Newest Ship from Princess Cruises

I am currently on the first cruise on Star Princess from Port Everglades, a three-day cruise to the Bahamas. The ship has been in service for a month but is now sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the winter 2025-2026 season.

Princess Cruises invited me on board for the christening and this short preview cruise. I am traveling with my wife and five year old son. We plan on experiencing everything this new ship has to offer including the kids club and family options.

After spending a little more than 48 hours on the ship, here are my first impressions of Star Princess.

Ship

Star Princess is the second Sphere class ship from Princess Cruises. While the ship is extremely similar to sister ship Sun Princess, there are a few differences.

The ship has all of the great features as Sun Princess including the Dome, Spellbound, the Arena (new theater) and large Piazza.

New additions to Star Princess include a large enclosed sports court for basketball, pickleball, soccer, cornhole and more.

They also added a non-smoking casino that is completely separate from the main casino that replaces one of the shops on board.

I posted a photo tour of the cruise ship the first day we got on board on our Facebook page. It’s already has over one million views and you can see it below:

Families

As I said previously, I am traveling with my wife and five year old son. He is having the time of his life in Firefly Park. Firefly Park is kids club for children three to seven years old and he loves it so much.

He wants to go every single time it’s open. Even though Princess Cruises doesn’t carry as many kids as other cruise lines, this ship is a great option for families.

I will have a lot more on Firefly Park and other options for kids/families after I get home from my cruise.

Cabin

I am staying in cabin 10116, a deluxe balcony cabin. It’s extremely roomy and has a couch that turns into a bed (where my son sleeps).

It has a large balcony and more power outlets than you could possibly use, and that’s a good thing. There are several (110, USB, USB-C) on each side of the bed and at least 4-6 on the desk. 

Crew

The crew on board have been absolutely fantastic so far. I wasn’t on the ship more than 15 minutes before a crew member came up to me to say hello. He remembered me from when I sailed on Sun Princess last year.

Even when we stopped at Princess Cays, a crew member came up to my son and called him by name to say hello. It’s the little things like that which mean so much.

The crew really is the star of Star Princess, and that goes for Firefly Park too!

Ocean Medallion

Here is one advantage that Princess Cruises has over every other cruise line. I love using the Ocean Medallion over standard cruise cards.

It’s also so handy to look up on the Princess app to see the location on the ship where my family is.

We attended the christening ceremony for Star Princess and put my son in Firefly Park during it. My wife asked me right before it started wondering if they were going to take him to dinner.

I opened up the Princess app, saw he was in the Americana Diner, and knew they took him to dinner. It’s such a great feature for families and comes at no extra charge. Only one other cruise ship (outside of Princess) offers this and you have to pay extra for it.

I will have more on Star Princess after I get home from the cruise. You can follow along on our journey on Cruise Fever’s social media accounts (@CruiseFever on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok).