Club Reports: Sail-Away Party & Piazza Debut Party (Star Princess)

This is the brand, spanking new Star Princess cruise ship doing a 7-nt cruise to the western Caribbean from here in Port Everglades. Having just arrived from the manufacturer in Italy, we're here to check it out and compare it to other cruise ships from a "party" perspective. 

Of course, the fun on cruises always begins with the Sail-Away Party on the pool deck and no one has done more Sail-Away parties than us. So here we were on Deck 17 midship for yet another one. Someone has to do these.

The music was delivered by DJ Gilla (BZ). We heard typical cruise party songs such as "Everybody Dance Now", "Push It" and "Baby Got Back". But we also heard a great Deep House version of classic Dance tune "Rhythm of the Night".

One thing we thought was kind of weak was the Cruise Director spent about 10 minutes wandering the crowd to select someone to flip the lever on that Princess Cruises logo. That results in the ship's horn playing the song from the old "Love Boat" television program. The horn-part itself was great but all that time wasted looking for someone kept the party from ever really getting started.

DJ also played "September" and "Fireball", both cruise ship staples.

Good-sized crowd on hand as we headed out into the Atlantic.

About a half hour or so into the party the DJ set ended and live band Asian Soul (RP) came on. First time we've seen a band play at a Sail-Away party. 

Bellini's Cocktail Bar is a feature on most Princess ships. We stopped by the Deck 7 midship venue because it had a great view overlooking the ship's atrium where the next party would happen a few hours later.

Atrium view.

It was an opportunity to meet the ship's Activity Team as they performed a dance number down on the atrium floor.

Unexpectedly, the center section of the floor raised-up during one of their songs!

DJ Gilla was back, providing the tunes.

Atrium ceiling was impressive.

Another good crowd and a good time was had by all.