Princess Commodore Level Acheived

Learning is so important if you expect to do things right. I have dedicated this year to learning as much as I can about cruising. I want to learn about all the cruise lines and where they go, I want to know what the ships look like, how the crews treat their guests, who has the best food, best itinerary's, the list goes on.

If I had the time and money I would be on a different cruise every month. I am still trying to convince my Dad to hire me as a personal travel companion for my Mom since he doesn't like to cruise. He hasn't offered me the job.....yet.


So if I can't cruise every month then it is going to be lot of online classes, ship inspections and maybe 2-3 cruises this year. I have completed the Royal Caribbean WOW program and Commodore level with Princess Academy! My next one will be NCL University. I also spend countless hours reading travel magazines (both hard copy and e-mail), I scour brochures and read my cruise books. It is amazing how much there is to learn.

Visiting the Star Princess

I was able to visit the Star Princess when she was in San Francisco on 4/27/09. This is one of the perks of being a Travel Agent. I knew for about 2 months that I would be going and I was really excited. I love being on the ship(s) regardless if I am going somewhere or not but of course I always prefer to be "going".

I had to be at Pier 35 at 10:30am to check in. Once checked in we waited some more, until around 11:30am. Once onboard I (and some other agents I was with) went straight to the staterooms. This was all self toured so we could go pretty much anywhere we wanted. The Grand Suite was really nice. What I found funny was the Penthouse was a lot smaller then some of the Suites. The inside staterooms were larger than I thought they would be, though I would never be able to stay in an inside room, I need some kind of window and natural light.

Once we toured the rooms we went to the spa and pool areas. All very nice. I like the lap pool and the indoor pool areas. The view from the top deck was incredible. What a beautiful City to be docked in. They really should have more ships coming through this City.



We had lunch in the main dining room, being served by Princess staff, who were all very gracious having to serve a group of TA's while new passengers were boarding. I am sure they had plenty of other things they could be doing.

After lunch we only had about 15 minutes left and had to find our way off the ship. I was tempted to just stow-away and sleep on a lounge chair. Hey, whats one more person! Well no such luck on staying on the ship they made me leave. Tom met me out in front of Pier 35 and we were off to the Waterbar. It is one of my new favorite places. Great food, drinks and view! What a wonderful day it was!

Tanja & Tom

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesare Pavese