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Editorial Cruise Ship Wiki's take on Star Princess
Star Princess is the second Sphere class ship for Princess Cruises, delivered by Fincantieri at Monfalcone in September 2025. She is roughly 177,900 gross tons, carries about 4,300 guests at double occupancy, and entered service from Barcelona in October 2025 before crossing to Fort Lauderdale for a Caribbean winter. Through summer 2026 she is in Alaska, on seven day round trips from Seattle. The defining decision was to treat the second hull as a revision rather than a repeat: the casino gained a separate non smoking gaming room, O'Malley's Irish pub took on around 32 more seats, Love by Britto grew by about 20, and the top deck acquired a sports court, jogging track and splash pad.
What she does well is food and drink at scale. The three deck Piazza works as a genuine centre of gravity rather than a corridor, with Alfredo's pizzeria, the International Cafe, Crooner's and Bellini's carrying the everyday work. The paid venues are unusually deep for a contemporary ship: Sabatini's, Crown Grill, The Butcher's Block by Dario, The Catch by Rudi, Makoto Ocean and Love by Britto, plus Umai Hot Pot, which is new to this ship. Spellbound, the speakeasy run with Hollywood's Magic Castle, is priced more accessibly here on a two cocktail basis.
The criticism is consistent. Cruise Critic rates her 4.0 out of 5 and still flags a confusing layout, with major venues buried at the ship's ends; The Eatery buffet undersized for the passenger load, particularly in poor weather; The Dome unclear in purpose, with an indoor pool too small for the numbers; and some of the narrowest cabins on any large ship. Princess did not add seating to the main venues despite feedback on the first hull. Reviewers have found the two main productions competent but derivative. She is new, and published coverage remains thin.
She suits the contemporary premium buyer who wants more polish than Royal Caribbean without Celebrity's price, and who books for the itinerary first. Princess remains popular with older North American travellers, and Alaska and the Caribbean are its home ground. She is a poor fit for anyone wanting a small ship, quiet corners at all hours, or short walks between venues.
Cabins matter more here than usual. Staterooms run from deck 5 to deck 17. Deck 5 sits above the boarding deck and takes gangway noise from early morning. Decks 10 to 15 are the quiet core, sandwiched between other cabin decks. Cruise Critic rates aft cabins from deck 16 upward as quieter because they sit away from the venues, but anything directly beneath the deck 17 Lido pools will take the usual overhead noise, so read the plan rather than trusting the deck number. Aft also means a long walk forward. Note plainly: our per cabin quiet and convenience scores are not yet published for this ship.
Read the deck plan before you book. On this ship it is the difference between a good week and a tiring one.
Sources
This is Cruise Ship Wiki's own editorial summary of published reviews and reference sources. It is not a guest review and does not describe a stay aboard. Member reviews appear separately below.
Photo: Shiphistory62 (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Star Princess is the second ship of Princess Cruises' Sphere class, a sister to Sun Princess and, like her, the product of the line's push toward larger, cleaner-burning vessels. She should not be confused with the earlier Star Princess of 2002, a Grand-class ship that had already left the fleet; the 2025 vessel is an entirely new build sharing the Sphere-class hull and layout. She was ordered from Fincantieri as the follow-on to Sun Princess and represents the second and, for the time being, final unit of the class.
Built at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Italy, Star Princess had her keel laid in December 2023 and was floated out of the building dock on 26 September 2024 at a ceremony where the hull was formally launched. Sea trials followed in 2025, and Fincantieri delivered the finished ship on 26 September 2025. Like her sister she is a dual-fuel vessel capable of running on liquefied natural gas, making her the second LNG-powered cruise ship constructed at Monfalcone, and she was reported to have cost roughly one billion US dollars to build.
Star Princess matches Sun Princess almost exactly in scale, at 177,882 gross tons, 345 metres long and 47.5 metres in beam, with a draught of about 8.6 metres. She spreads across 21 decks, of which 18 are guest-accessible, and offers 2,157 staterooms. Double-occupancy capacity is 4,300 guests, rising to 5,189 at full occupancy, served by around 1,600 crew. She flies the Bermudian flag from her port of registry at Hamilton and carries IMO number 9863120.
Her design carries over the Sphere-class signatures: the reimagined three-deck Piazza that opens forward into the suspended glass Sphere overhanging the sea, the two-deck glass-domed venue known as The Dome that doubles as a sun-splashed pool area and an evening performance space, and the multi-storey Park19 activity zone high on the aft decks. Entertainment centres on the Princess Arena theatre, dining spans the Horizons three-deck main restaurant and specialty rooms such as the Crown Grill, Sabatini's and Makoto Ocean, and the exclusive Sanctuary Collection provides a reserved retreat. As across the fleet, guests use the wearable Ocean Medallion at the heart of Princess MedallionClass to open cabins, make payments and summon service anywhere on board.
Star Princess entered service in the autumn of 2025, beginning with a Mediterranean season before crossing the Atlantic to Florida. Princess had announced actor Matthew McConaughey and his wife, model and entrepreneur Camila Alves McConaughey - co-founders of Pantalones Organic Tequila - as the ship's godparents, and the couple formally christened her on 6 November 2025 at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, using tequila in place of the traditional champagne. Her first Caribbean voyage from Fort Lauderdale followed on 7 November 2025.
After her inaugural Caribbean season the ship repositioned to the U.S. Pacific coast, taking up Alaska sailings via Seattle for the 2026 summer season on round-trip Inside Passage itineraries. She remains in active service alongside her sister as one of the two largest ships in the Princess fleet.
Three things only CruiseShipWiki does
Onboard Highlights
Signature attractions, dining, bars and entertainment aboard Star Princess.
Top attractions
- The Arena
A shapeshifting arena venue that transforms for each unique production and brings theater to a new level. - The Piazza
A light-filled central atrium with panoramic views from a sphere of glass offering ocean views in every direction. - Sanctuary Club
A spa-like relaxation venue exclusively available to Sanctuary Collection guests. - Signature Suite Lounge
An exclusive lounge available to Suite guests for relaxation and socializing.
Specialty dining
- Sanctuary Restaurant
An exclusive gourmet dining venue available to Sanctuary Collection guests. - Three-Level Dining Room
An elegant three-story main dining room featuring multi-course meals with ocean views.
Entertainment
- World Class Theater
A world-class theater venue hosting headline theatrical productions aboard the ship.
Where She Sails
Ports of call on Star Princess itineraries, with a signature highlight at each.
Specifications
| Status | In service |
|---|---|
| Entered service | 2025 |
| Cruise line | Princess Cruises |
| Gross tonnage | 177,882 GT |
| Guests (double occupancy) | 4,300 |
| Guests (maximum) | 5,189 |
| Crew | 1,600 |
| Est. annual guests | ≈ 215,000 / year (estimated) · Stable |
| Length | 345 m (1,132 ft) |
| Beam | 47.5 m (156 ft) moulded |
| Draught | 8.6 m (28 ft) |
| Decks | 21 (18 guest decks) |
| Staterooms | 2,157 |
| Shipyard | Fincantieri, Monfalcone, Italy |
| Build cost | ≈ US$1.00 billion |
| Christened by | Camila Alves McConaughey and Matthew McConaughey |
| Flag | Bermuda |
| Port of registry | Hamilton |
| IMO number | 9863120 |
| Home port | Fort Lauderdale, Florida (seasonal Seattle) |
| Region | Alaska |
Ownership & loyalty
Part of Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL / CUK).
Sister brands: Carnival Cruise Line.
References
Descriptions on Cruise Ship Wiki are original write-ups paraphrased from public sources; facts are compiled from the references below and cross-checked. How we source our information.
- Star Princess (2024), Wikipedia - Construction milestones, specifications, godparents, christening and deployment.
- Camila and Matthew McConaughey Officially Christen Star Princess, Princess Cruises - Official christening details, godparents and Port Everglades ceremony.
- Star Princess, CruiseMapper - Keel/float-out/delivery dates, build cost, IMO, home ports and Alaska/Seattle deployment.