LizSydney

I always do it but I do it through Princess@Sea so there are no queues. I do it because it’s a reduced deposit on a trip I was gonna book anyway. I go on a cruise every 1-2 years.

Thanks for uploading this. The Princess website is now working so the menus are up as they should be:-)

Below is the La Mer menu from our preview cruise review.

We went to Harmony but it was a temporary menu as they hadn't got all the ingredients on board at that stage.

 

Does anyone have a digital copy of the menu for La Mer and Harmony? It's not on the Princess website.

Right, NCL is the same as Carnival in the nickel-and-dime department.

 

 

 

Which means competition for best value will keep the cruise lines trying to entice passengers.

 

 

 

I'd be fine with a cruise which included free alcohol. But will I pay a base fare costing an extra $50 per person a day for it? Nope. Free gratuities are fine, but that's worth what? $12 pp/pd. No more. Free excursions? At ship prices or at the real price you pay at the dock? Free wifi? It's already just $5 a day for the social only plan. And if you need more you are probably missing out on the cruise in favor of stuff you can do any old time.

 

 

 

Nothing in life is free, so I am fine with paying a la carte for most stuff.

I’d disagree with your comment about the net. Sometimes the best thing is simply being out at sea.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Im going on a cruise next week and im going to an island known as mystery islaned in the south pacific ive heard its very small and im very scared at waht would happen if an earthquake/tsunami occur while im on the island im having trouble sleeping thanks in advanced

Are you going on Princess or Carnival or RCCL?

I've done the Sydney to Vanuatu and New Caledonia cruise and honestly you have nothing to worry about. I will say though that when I did mine we couldn't go to Mystery Island because of the weather. What ship are you on? I was on the Emerald and it was absolutely fine.

My dad made a good point the other day, when he and my mom took their first cruise it was more of a once-in-a-lifetime proposition or for well off people. Nowadays, it’s something a middle class family can do once or twice a year or every other year on a normal budget. One on hand it’s good that so many people get to experience the pleasure of cruising but we’re fooling ourselves if we think the 1980s or 90s experience is the same as what we are getting today. We’ve become more relaxed and less formal as a culture so some of those changes are simply keeping with the times. But what worries me the most is the cutbacks are going to affect my favorite aspect of the experience, feeling pampered and recieving great service from smart, interesting people. I hope CCL doesn’t keep cutting back on staff levels and doesn’t try to get cheaper but less friendly employees. I see no reason why emerging economies won’t prosper with our economy going gangbusters due to our President and people. CCL seems to want to keep fares low and I hope that doesn’t affect their ability pay the wages and offer the perks to get quality people to work for them.

There still are luxury cruise lines though - for example you have Seabourn.

At the bottom there is P&O and Carnival.

Princess and Cunard are premium.

The line you choose reflects the experience you want, for example I would never choose P&O or Carnival as they’re low end. I wouldn’t choose RCCL because they’re a floating theme park. NCL and Celebrity are possibilities but I don’t like their itineraries.

Cunard is premium like Princess but a bit too old fashioned for my liking. Princess has the right balance.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Some of these suggestions to unbundle things like the dining room would essentially see cruising return to the horrible days of first, second and third class. Yuck. It would also cost the cruise lines a huge amount on administration of silly fees.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I may be of a minority opinion here, but I think offering the lowest possible base rate and increasing al la carte options are a way to get more potential passengers.

 

Some people may be willing to pay a lower fare and can actually remain frugal on a cruise. Many people who are normally frugal may let loose on a vacation and splurge, but not everyone will.

Yep you would be in the minority. Given cruises are often for 7-14 days it would be absolutely stupid to remove food inclusions.

I’m happy paying for things like coffee, drinks and internet but other things should remain included.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yeah if you've paid for 15 coffees on a card, you've paid for 15 coffees and shouldn't be forced to use them on one cruise. That's just unfair.

Thank you for taking the time to give us your impression of Ruby. I believe she will be heading down under in a couple of years so it's good to hear the pros and cons.

 

BTW I'm another person who didn't particularly like the Royal buffet. I soon learnt how to get reasonably hot food at breakfast but lunch or dinner was a challenge. Nice seating though, it doesn't have quite the cafeteria feel that some other ships do.

Where'd you hear that the Ruby will be coming downunder?

But I would rather pay a lower rate and only get the things I prefer than pay a higher rate and get the things you prefer. "All included" is only a value if you want all that is included.

 

 

 

Carnival has figured out where they think that line lies between you and me.

If it’s not all included then it becomes nothing more than a 2 or 3 star experience. This is why I won’t cruise Carnival or P&O. Princess has the right balance.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

What I see is a few things going on:

 

1) An adjustment to mass market expectation vs traditional cruise expectations. For instance, twice a day cabin service is a very traditional thing. But for most of us, we stayed in hotels for years where we were lucky if a maid came in and made our bed.

 

Most passengers just haven’t come to expect the traditional cruise services, and the line simply isn’t going to continue on its own dime a practice that most customers likely won’t expect.

 

2) The rise of the “micro-transaction” This is having a low base rate, then being nickled and dimed later. The cruise industry is not alone, nor did they start it.

 

It’s impossible to play a video game without being offered a power up or cheat for 99 cents. Anyone fly Spirit or Allegent lately? Those base fares grow quickly when you have the audacity to actually bring on so much as a carry on!

 

Not that I’m defending any of it. But a modern American consumer needs to think a little harder now, and really add the cost of the “micro transactions” to their base rate and figure out the true cost of a product.

Possibly BUT I would rather have everything included and know up front what I'm paying rather than have to pay for heaps of things later.

The whole premise of this is that Princess should conform to what others are doing to be "edgy" or "game changing." Seems actually counter-intuitive to copy what others are doing to be game changing. The bottom line is, there is a variety from many different cruise lines - pick what you like and go on that cruise line. Bellyaching about a particular cruise line not being as good as another one is silly. If you like the other cruise line better, sail on it. Lots of us prefer Princess for what it is - a more traditional cruise experience that doesn't feel like a theme park.

Exactly. I don't want to go on a cruise and be surrounded by kids or feel like I'm at a theme park.

Sun is a lovely ship. She may not be as modern as most of the others but she has the best Crooners bar and you can usually get a seat at the International Cafe (unlike on Golden). She's a nice size for going into the smaller ports, especially Pacific Island ports.

I’m just doing a two day cruise on the Sun to get my fix as it’s been over a year and waiting until September for the longer one is too far away.

The deck plans look great though.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

It's nice enough. Like most cruise ships it has it's good points. We enjoyed our cruise on her. I haven't been on any of the other Grand class ships, just Sun & Dawn (before she went to P&O), and Royal.

I'm kinda worried about going on the Sun because it gets a lot of bad press and isn't as modern as the Emerald or DIamond. I'm definitely doing the right thing doing it before the Majestic though. I'm also considering a smaller ship. I wish Princess has a smaller ship downudner rather than just the large ones. It'd be good to have that choice on a local itinerary.

No, I actually found that Royal felt less crowded than Golden.

What is Golden like? I’ve been on Emerald and Diamond. Is it worth going on before it goes to P&O?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Why should cruise lines cater to their loyal passengers when their ships continue to sail full? We've sailed over 30 times, primarily on RCI, X, and Princess, and they all cut back time and time again, so we have decided to explore continental USA instead, and save $ in the process. We'll forfeit our loyalty points, but who cares???

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

What has Princess cut back on? I know there are fewer bars on the Majestic but I believe those they still have are bigger so it probably works out the same.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I just wish one of the big lines would bring back butler service. we have always been willing to pay for it, but it has gone away. so sad.

What would you expect from butler service? You have a dedicated steward on Princess.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Why don’t you just pack some scales from home?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I think lcpagejr is onto something with the comparison of what cruising used to be like to what it is today. I'm a new cruiser - our first cruise was in 2013. We were absolutely thrilled with every aspect of our cruise. We came on board knowing we would be "nickelled and dimed" to death, and we were okay with that. The food, entertainment, service and condition of the ship seemed superb to us because we had nothing else to compare it to. We're today's cruisers: middle-class, not big spenders, not looking for luxury.

 

 

 

For those who have been cruising since the days of "The Love Boat," they were cruising when cruising was for the elite (much like air travel before the 80s). You dressed up for it, and you expected to be treated like royalty. There's nothing wrong with that, but the cruise industry begin catering to "my" crowd in the late 90s, and now the quality you were once used to has been lowered because the majority of the sailing crowd is okay with that. Compared to our daily life, cruising on NCL IS luxurious! And yes, as long we the sailing public tolerate what is offered and continue to pay for it, that's what we're going to get.

 

 

 

Hopefully the higher-quality cruise lines still meet the expectations of those who prefer a more elite experience. There should be something for everyone.

My first cruise was in 2015 and I completely agree with everything here. Except I cruise Princess.

The individual lines may all be owned by Carnival Corporation (exception RCCL and a few others) but they all have an individual market they target. You still get luxury on ships depending on what line you choose.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Actually the last 2-3 NCL and MSC ships are larger than anything Princess has in its fleet. You may want to look at their newer ships but if you are just looking at the Australian home port market, your options are limited.

 

 

 

Having been on 7 different cruise lines, IMO they are all offering the same basic product and all have more in common than they have for differences. Glad you enjoy Princess but its good to try other lines. Sometimes you are pleasantly surprised, I didn't think I'd like RCL but it was great. And sometimes not, thinking of a recent experience on the Divina :(

There is such a thing as too big. I’m pretty picky. I travel around Australia and NZ, Pacific and plan to do Hawaii next year or the year after.

I’ve looked on the websites of other cruise lines and while I’m sure they’re great for what they are, they aren’t for me. I don’t need silly water slides etc. If I wanted that crap I would go to a theme park. I want a traditional cruise experience with some new things.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Other cruise lines have high speed internet which Princess does not offer on most ships yet. The difference is quite amazing, last RCCL ship i was on had near land-like internet speed. Also on a recent MSC cruise their internet was much faster than on my previous Princess cruise.

 

 

 

Which Carnival ship were you on that you did not like? They have a lot of ships of different design, the newer ones are more sedate than some of the older ones.

I haven’t actually been on Carnival but I have seriously looked at them. Like P&O they look cheap and tacky. RCCL just seems like a floating theme park filled with children. I wouldn’t rule them out but I’m happy with Princess and they have the things I want.

Princess actually targets a different market and has it right.

I can’t comment on MSC or NCL but their ships are too small for my liking.

I’ve found the internet fine on Princess but I’ve never been one to whinge about internet speeds anyway on land or at sea.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Look for repositioning cruises, they have plenty of sea days. We're doing Diamond up to Japan in March. Depart from Sydney, five sea days, Darwin, four sea days, Kota Kinabalu, and then it gets a bit busier with ports but still plenty of sea days. 22 nights and only 7 ports! Bliss!

I’ve got the Majestic booked and I’m planning to do the Sun in April (it’s booked but that one may change). I really want to do the Hawaii/Tahiti one next year in August but I also want to go on the Golden before it goes to P&O in 2020 so I’m planning another short local one as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Ports aren't always the be all and end all of a cruise to some people every time. We enjoy being on the ship more than some ports, especially ports we've been to before. I would be more than happy to have one cruise a year (on Princess) that just went around in circles somewhere warm for a week or so.

Fully agree. On my first cruise I wasn’t sure about sea days but now I think they’re great. Ports are also great but the ship’s always the highlight for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

The idea of cruising is to be on a ship to get to ports of call and enjoy the experience. The ship shouldn't be the destination. Princess opts to have ships with comfort and style to get the passenger to the ports of call. Other cruise lines choose to make their ships floating theme parks and small cities. It's a matter of choice......and yes, we choose to go the route of being on a Princess ship and enjoy what it brings to the voyage to our port of call.

Everyone has their preferences when travelling but for many cruisers the ship IS the destination. I know it is for me but I do enjoy some ports but I’m there for the ship. That’s why I cruise.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums