The Dome on Star Princess Credit: Seth Kubersky

Everyone in Orlando knows where you can find a magical castle with princesses inside, but did you know that Florida is also home to a Princess with a Magic Castle inside? I was recently invited to board the Star Princess in Fort Lauderdale for the inaugural Caribbean sailing of the 17th and newest ship in Princess Cruises fleet. The launch party was a star-studded affair featuring Matthew and Camila McConaughey — who christened the bow with an oversized bottle of their Pantalones Tequila — musical guest Sheryl Crow and a 500-pound tuna being sashimi’d live on the lido deck. But even the dazzling Sky Elements drone show themed to Alaska (where the new ship will be spending its summers) couldn’t hold me spellbound like the Star Princess’ star attraction, which lies below decks hidden behind a secret door.

According to an onboard media presentation I attended with cruise line president Gus Antorcha, the typical Princess cruiser is over the age of 50, old enough to fondly remember the 1980s heyday of The Love Boat, the show whose legacy lives on through their ships’ horn fanfare and on-demand episodes on stateroom TVs. Those guests, the line says, are interested in a carefree cruise experience that’s “festive [and] upbeat, but not chaotic and less of a party.” As a result, you’ll find an abundance of fine dining options aboard Star Princess — including Makoto Ocean, serving the best uni and toro I’ve tasted at sea — along with lots of opportunities to laze about indoors and out. 

Star Princess Credit: Seth Kubersky

What you won’t find aboard Star Princess is any of the theme park-style attractions we’ve come to expect on new ships from competing cruise lines. Don’t expect roller coasters (like Carnival), water coasters (like Norwegian and Disney) or robotic swing rides (like MSC) adorning Star Princess’ upper decks. In fact, you won’t find so much as a single waterslide, ropes course, zip line, or other outdoor activity more strenuous than pickleball and shuffleboard. Inside, there isn’t a 4D simulator or virtual reality headset in sight; you won’t even stumble across an arcade, excepting the home video game consoles available in the relatively barebones tween and teen clubs. In lieu of those types of adventures, Star Princess is relying on her international cast of 77 entertainers (including 20 musicians) to pack passengers’ days and nights with live entertainment. 

Star Princess boasts three performance venues that rank among the most sophisticated aboard any ship. At the front of the ship, the Dome is a sunbather’s paradise by day and amphitheater at night, hosting romantic candlelight concerts and world-class variety artists. The multi-level Piazza, ringed with couches and framed by massive moving video walls, looks down onto live bands and an acrobatic champagne waterfall ceremony. Finally, the 1,000-seat Princess Arena boasts a flexible design that can adapt from proscenium to keyhole to in-the-round, with a digital backdrop and central revolve that lifts and splits, allowing for dynamic stage transformations. 

Those stage features are put to good use during two new mainstage shows produced for the Arena by U.K.-based Black Skull Creative, best known for their work on pop concerts and Ringling Bros. Meridian resembles an hourlong musical mashup of Titanic and Bridgerton, with pop songs by Rihanna and Ed Sheeran. The triple-threat performers are all excellent, if somewhat misdirected with inconsistent diction and awkward pauses; I far preferred their work in Illuminate, a colorful, plot-free cirque celebration that showed off their skills as acrobats and aerialists, including some truly impressive bungee and lyra choreography.

While many competing cruise lines are building their live productions around intellectual properties that they own (like Disney) or license from Broadway (see Royal Caribbean’s Back to the Future), Princess continues to create original shows for their ships. The reason is “connectivity,” according to Becky Thomson Foley, a trained dancer and former cruise director who has been Princess’ head of global entertainment since May 2024. “We have to design something that we believe will connect with our guests whether they’re 5, 45 or 75 … and I feel that our guests deserve that bespoke connectivity.”

Spellbound on Star Princess Credit: Seth Kubersky

By far the best part of my voyage aboard Star Princess was getting to venture inside Spellbound, its most intimate and exotic entertainment venue. The second-ever outpost (after Sun Princess) of Los Angeles’ exclusive invitation-only Magic Castle, this vaudeville-inspired lounge and performance parlor is a pocket-sized reincarnation of the sprawling original’s immersive spirit, cleverly concealed just steps from the ship’s casino. After experiencing a jaw-dropping Pepper’s Ghost within a box office antechamber, guests in semi-formal attire are ushered into the Speakeasy-era bar, whose walls bulge with both authentic antique artifacts and cutting-edge illusions. 

Some effects and Easter eggs may seem familiar to fans of Disney’s theme parks; listen to the antique phone, make a request of the ghostly pianist, and watch the eyes on the portrait of past Academy of Magical Arts president Neil Patrick Harris. Other exhibits on display — including never-before-seen home movies — pay tribute to The Great Cardini, originator of magicians’ iconic top-hat and tails look, whose great-nephew Randy Pitchford (co-owner of Magic Castle and CEO of Gearbox Software) helped cut the ceremonial ribbon before mentalist Mark Gibson’s mystifying inaugural performance inside the cozy Peacock Theater. 

In an age of digital overstimulation, I could happily spend an entire night soaking up the old-school analog atmosphere inside Spellbound, which is included (along with two handcrafted cocktails) in the $45 cover charge. 

Magic Castle president Erika Larsen, a descendant of its founders who grew up playing in its parking lot, knows the reason I feel that way. 

“We see ‘miracles’ every day,” says Larsen, referring to computer-generated imagery. “When someone picks up an object and does something impossible, and you know it’s real, that it’s not a screen — that changes everything.” 

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This article appears in Nov. 19-25, 2025.

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