Don't make these Starcruiser Mistakes 

They definitely need to make it clearer on the Datapad which missions are specific to the Starcruiser. I wanted to do the bare minimum in Batuu and experience more of the Halcyon. Despite this, I found myself wasting time running around Batuu like a chicken with my head cut off scanning stuff and solving puzzles that didn’t advance the Starcruiser story. I also wish they’d introduce some push messages to nudge you towards certain interactions depending on your personal preferences. It might not be as “natural” of an experience, but I had no idea I needed to be in a certain place at a certain time.

DUDE, if they did candid photos and that gallery came with the CSL portrait experience, I would 100% be willing to do it. (Saying this as someone who isn't willing to pay the current portrait experience price.)

I unfortunately couldn't listen to this one live and I didn't hear it mentioned so for future reference we are the 'Sanitation' crew. Love you guys!

WE REGRET NOTHING!!! LOL, seriously though, we only wish we had bought more stuff, and/or drank more. We bought the gold stem glasses, but they are more delicate than the ones you get from the lounge, so we wish we had ordered the Dagobah Vimlet a few more times.

I regret supporting the sequel trilogy because it's mid.

Deliberately being spoiler free . . . . . . During the Summer of 2022, the Disney Starcruiser Reservations Department informed me that I was “only the second party ever”, at that point, to have stayed for four consecutive nights - back-to-back reservations - on the Starcruiser. . . . . . Just a few experiences . . . Within the first hour, while standing mid-flight on a set of stairs, I had an approximately five-minute, unhurried one-on-one conversation with one of the Characters. Later, this Character manipulated events, appropriate to Character and both of our story arcs, to have me ‘disengage’ from an activity that I had accidentally stumbled upon! Well done! . . . I introduced myself to one actor by my first name only. . . A mere ‘couple of hours’ later on Day One, in a ‘public arena’ this character referred to me as “Mr.” and my last name. Well done! . . . At another point, I was the only one in the room “to get up and abandon their dinner”, leaving the room behind, in order to ‘help a character in need’ - it was worth the ‘loss of the meat’ given that, ultimately, I received an unsolicited hug! . . . Near the end of the second story, I was in the Atrium ‘on task’ and a Character on the closed bridge knew that I was outside the glass - this could have occurred only if someone had cued the Actor through their earpiece! Well done! . . . . . . Overall, before visiting, I recognized that some of the actors and crew could be the same across cruises. Consequently, I created a ‘four-day, two-cruise-backstory-arc’ for myself with two ‘singularly distinct costumes’ -- that would help the actors in their interactions with me. Then, having previously studied the ‘story arc slides’ that Disney had presented at the Gaming Conference, I preplanned very deliberate choices, not just within differing story arcs, but within overall approaches towards experiences so that I would enjoy two broadly varied cruises. A few ‘repetitive quick tips’ that you have heard before: 1) While I was able to ‘reach the appropriate end goal’, do not underestimate that you have to “fight for the Jedi Path”! 2) For me, the Day Two Sublight Lounge Alcohol Tasting was worth it. 3) Before arriving on the Starcruiser, understand the ‘basic structural conceit of professional improv’: “and yes”. 4) Wear one consistent costume per cruise. Four costumes changes on Day One will not help the Characters and Passenger Services Members to learn who you are. 5) Wear comfortable shoes. Yes, really: as offered in the published video above, break your shoes in before arrival. 6) Read all “incoming messages” on the Datapad carefully: Do the appropriate missions on Batuu in order to ‘raise your familiarity’ with appropriately selected characters - it will potentially ‘pay-off’ during the second evening on the Starcruiser. 7) Interact with “SK” immediately upon seeing him. Do not wait; or, you will lose all opportunity. 8) Decide before you go . . . are you planning to “record the Starcruiser” with your camera, or are you planning to “experience the Starcruiser with the Characters” - you will be hard pressed to have the time to be able to do both. 9) One of the characters is really ‘a bit of a red-herring’ -- ‘fun to interact with’; but, s/he will lead to ‘limited familiarity/story advancement’ . . . . . . And “yes”, it was worth the money. . . . Why? . . . In 1949, Norman Mcleran released the 7 minute animated short, “Begone Dull Care”. The title is most appropriate; for, when viewed in a darkened room on a large screen, the experience ‘washes over the viewer’; and, for a time, ‘all the dull cares of your life may fall away’. Some would say that the Disney Corporation does an inadequate job in expressing that the Halcyon Galactic Starcruiser offers the same quality of experience. Should you choose it to be, the Starcruiser is more than merely “immersive”; for a time, ‘all the dull cares of your life may fall away’. www.nfb.ca/film/begone_dull_care/ All the best.

Did you get the email from my mother

Y'know I've burned though dozens & dozens of videos about Starcruiser planning and this is legitimately one of the more interesting videos I've seen. No one else I've seen for example has mentioned the "Spirits of Adventure" thing... or the "should you have drinks during dinner?" thing. That's rly some quality inside advice. Y'all could double down on this crowdsourcing approach cuz this was awesome!

Definitely no regrets… I had an absolute blast! Can’t wait to go back in May 2023!!!

More great insights for those of us who haven't gone yet. Question maybe for Steven, I am planning to go as a Jedi, and I plan to pack two very similar tunics just in case one gets dirty (or sweaty). Should I arrive in costume, and if I have one that I like slightly more should I wear it day 1, or day 2, or switch when I get back from batuu?

I'm planning on wearing scrub bottoms for most of my time there, because they're loose and breathe

Totally agree on the photos. I regret not filming more but at the same time I don't regret it because I wanted to enjoy the experience. I wish there were candids. There is one cast photo I would have loved to have and it was no longer an option after the fianle. I was so bummed.

Lots of fun ‼️ Going to have the family watch / listen to this spoiler-free recommendation episode

You guys are the best. So enjoying watching you, and your videos are alway full of interesting information. I went last month, and I know your videos were very helpful. (I had the absolute best time, btw; any regrets were far surpassed by the overall awe-inspiring experience it was.) Thanks again!

Steven’s shirt is EVERYTHING.

I'm an introvert, but made it a point to consider the adventure like an RPG, with the crew being quest-givers. I also broke the ice by offering them a business card. It's like a built-in conversation starter (and then I could shift to asking about, say, restricted systems, which ended up putting me on the path I was on). I will say I do not think I could have done it 15 years ago, when I had a proper medical diagnosis and the right medication. I do wonder if I was lucky enough to be on a voyage where there were not loads of younglings as well as a fair number of adults who didn't come to play (my biggest surprise was being at the Captain's Table and learning I was the only passenger who didn't reside on Earth; I had figured people who signed up for that came to play, but I was wrong). I can't recall any cruise ship I've been on that had candid photographers. They do have platoons of them deployed for staged sessions, as in the dining room during formal nights. Many also had cruise videos for sale, though I haven't seen one offered since the restart. Admittedly, some of the clips they showed (generally in the theater during the final night before the show) made me wonder if I was on the same cruise (I'm not really a party person, but I'll admit seeing people dancing at the silent disco is far more interesting than events I go to, like trivia). Ships do have photo galleries. The real issues are probably immersion, technical limitations, and perhaps drawing the line at making everything an extra-fee opportunity. Take the dojo. There are two issues i can think of that present a problem. The first is immersion. Putting a photographer at the front of it is distracting to the experience. The second is the realities of photography. The dojo has the twin problems of being low light and a situation where the subjects are in motion. It's probably further compounded with the lightsaber being a large glow-stick. The way around it is to have the images re-created (staged), but that is already done in the CSL or memory maker stuff.

It seems to me that the biggest regret is going.

Oh how we fumbled on asking for selfies in-universe..."Can we scan you?" "Can we have a holo selfie?" LOL

Love your Star Cruiser vlogs. I'm taking my 14 year old son in June 2023 for our first voyage.

The cheese plate with drinks in sublight was perfect for the late night fun 🥰

"I only have pictures of my food." Yup, that was me xD

Bright suns

We went Oct 3 - 5 and had a blast! I did a lot of non-spoiler "how to" videos leading up to it. We got in a day early (check!), we did it early in the vacation (check!), had a rest day for when we got off (check!), then did Hollywood Studios and Galaxy's Edge to do the Bounty Hunt, Oga's, Batuu shopping. We did costumes that kept the theming going (great advice and YES, break in the shoes!). And absolutely hang out in the Atruim! Stormtroopers talking on the balcony to each other was hilarious and there were only about 10 of us there. My one regret was too much research for myself - although it is a double-edged sword. I avoided spoilers for Smuggler's Run and Rise (Yay! going into those without expectations was so fun and added so much as this was our first time ever). However, I did have more spoilers for the Starcruiser. Double edged because without that, I wouldn't have some exclusive merch, would not have prompted a person in our party to ask someone if they could help out, etc. And my second regret is not getting the training tunic because they don't have my size in the online shop, but did have it on board.

Do RU-vidrs still speak positively of this hotel because they are afraid of Disney cutting them off? Overwhelming majority of the community thought this was bad, and the current availability of the hotel proves that Chapek is full of crap.