Headed home from our 9 days in Central Florida. Our Starcruiser trip was scheduled on days 3-5 - my family of 5 loved it (kids ages 17, 14, and 8) and agreed that it was a solid 8.5/10 on the scale of things we’ve ever done. Here’s random assortment of thoughts I had. (Photos in the post following)
Thoughts/Ramblings:
1. Make sure your costume/clothes have pockets or come with some sort of costume inspired bag. Both myself the 8 year old constantly had to figure out where to put our datapads when not needed. Our costumes consisted of robes off Etsy, clothing we already owned and supplemental pieces off
Amazon.
2. Wear an Inspired Batuu outfit - we got tees that matched our outfit/costume and shorts. It’s too hot to wear a full getup. On the flip side wearing full gear onboard is fine as the temperature was comfortable for layers.
3. Be an early riser on Batuu if possible. Our data pad said 8:20am but nobody was checking so we got on right before 8am - we stood standby for Rise and Smugglers with 20ish min waits and enjoyed them again later when the lines were ridiculous with our passes.
4. Do the jobs and scans on Batuu - these unlocked several cool missions that were pivotal to the storyline onboard later that night. On one such mission that was invite only - had only 30ish people - and it was AMAzing!
5. This may go without saying but with one room and one shower - we staggered evening showers and stayed out of the stateroom until the people before us were done. This also helped the little guy fall asleep with less interruptions - though since it was past 10PM most nights that wasn’t a problem.
6. Ladies - no bench in the shower - shave prior to arrival…the shower pressure was off the charts and I felt the towels to be more plush then those of our deluxe resort.
7. Don’t overpack - we used one packing cube per person - and a toiletry & shoe suitcase. Everything fit well and we never felt crowded with 5 in our regular room. I’d rather spend money elsewhere because we were hardly there. We did have our own vehicle and were able to leave the rest of the trip luggage in it.
8. Worth it? Yes? I wouldn’t go if you can’t afford it but if you can save for it - do it. You just can’t get the cast member sort interaction anywhere else. It was phenomenal -especially if you were just roaming around and someone asked you for help
9. 1000% buy the photo package. We had ours at 2pm on Batuu day and it was perfect to come back early and eat lunch and get changed back into costumes.
10. Charge your devices during meals! You really don’t need them then and it was great to get a slight screen break. Consider a charging station pictured below - ours held our 5 iPhones.
11. We slept in - ate breakfast later and didn’t leave until the very end, 10AM. If you don’t have plans that next day go for it.
12. We personally preferred the tees and pins at the Pop-up shop after you left. I spent more money on souvenirs there then onboard.
There are slight dislikes.
1. My son has peanut and tree nut allergies. For the price I had hoped they’d accommodate with desserts better. The food for meals was easily chosen and brought from the kitchen with their allergy protocol. My survey strongly suggested carrying prepackaged Enjoy Life or other products onboard for people that take cross contamination seriously. He didn’t get to enjoy the dessert party either. It didn’t ruin our trip but I was slightly sad for him. (We always pack allergy treats so he didn’t go completely without). Along those same lines, I was not a fan of the nut trail mix in the afternoons in the atrium. And every single wrapped treat had a nut warning. Though CMs are constantly cleaning after people in the atrium and I wouldn’t be surprised if they vacuumed the upholstery each night to keep things spotless. My son is not contact/dust reactive.
2. We felt there was about 2-3 hours of downtime on Day 2 before dinner - couldn’t really find anything to do after running around for a full day. A problem, not necessarily, but it felt odd.
3. Don’t push the room droid button until you can all hear it - we couldn’t get it to repeat things or messages when one child did that without all of us present.
