TBfrPH

Thank you very much, @Globaler, for posting about your experience. You have confirmed for me that I don't want to go anywhere near the new Sphere class ships.  The issues related to the brand/identity crisis that you and others have mentioned are exactly why I will stick to the pre-Royal class ship as long as I can, before they all get "upgraded" to be like the new mega ships. When that happens, it would pain me to bid adieu to Princess.

The race to the bottom has already begun based on my recent experience on the Crown, evidenced in the continued corner-cutting in food and live music entertainment, amped-up nickling and diming and constant sales pitch, and changes being made in the daily programming to appeal to families and a younger client profile.  For reasons that boggle my mind (but surely are rooted in millions of dollars' worth of focus-group data), Princess appears to be trying to become Royal Caribbean.  It will never get there because its ships are not big enough to have water slides, climbing rocks, laser tags, and roller coasters.  (The Sun is big but nowhere near RC's newest.)  But in trying, it is destroying all the things that has attracted its current core customers.  Some will say that brands that don't evolve would die.  True, perhaps.  Brands that implement misguided "improvements" and pretend to be what they are not also end up hurting or killing themselves.  I'm thinking Betamax, "New" Coke, and Harley Davidson perfume.

6 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

'... where they will end up.'   That might not be too difficult to foresee, when one looks at the direction they have been headed.

Absent an awakening by the geniuses in the corporate boardroom, my prediction is nowhere that I would like to be.  It is all very sad, because I have so enjoyed what Princess has been.

@cruiseaholic777 You took 10 Princess cruises, so you must have enjoyed much of what Princess does.  If your last Princess cruise was some time ago, then please know that things may be different now. 

We have cruised mainly with Princess over the past five years because of its terrific live music program.  We have seen Princess' other entertainment (theater shows and game shows) multiple times, so they are no longer the main draw. We never really cared for the food, but we go with our expectations in check.  We don't need/like to be coddled, so good service to us simply means that we're not getting the attitude from staff.  All of the above benchmarks have gradually been deteriorating in our opinion, especially over the past year. Music bands have been downsized from quartets to duos.  Live music during the day has been replaced with "family games" and street performers.  The food is now no better than mid-grade hotel convention fare (yes, on some nights you can still get a well-executed dish with some refinement, but those are the exceptions). Some college cafeterias are probably serving better food than the Princess buffet.  On our most recent cruise on the Crown Princess last month, the wait staff at the buffet all looked like they just had an argument with their spouses.  Getting two glasses of water was a real chore. But if you wanted to upgrade your drink package there would be someone to do it for you immediately with a smile.

Princess is going after a younger customer base and people with families (i.e. kids).  So it's trying to be like the mega ships of RCL, instead of sticking to what sets it apart.  It is building bigger ships with more cabins, replacing music lounge space with slot machines, eliminating amenities that don't generate alcohol or gambling revenues.  The new Sun Princess is Exihibit A, and I get the feeling that soon the other ships will be "refreshed" to be the same. 

Overall Princess is engaging in a race to the bottom with the other mass market lines, but you may still find enough of its old self to satisfy for now.  I remind myself often that it is still a vacation. One just needs to manage expectations a little more than before.  

4 hours ago, Sdancer said:

... Someone who is not a dancer just came back from cruising on Serenity.

He had remembered 2-person "band" still being there (not a good news!) but was not sure if it was the only band for dancing. 

 

 

 

I'm not at all familiar with Crystal, so don't know if this applies. What has happened on mass-market lines like Princess is that the traditional bands (like a quartet) that play for ballroom dancing are gone, replaced by duos.  They are cheaper, and they play to a backup track for listening and dancing.   The cruise lines have also resorted to pre-recorded music for a "ballroom hour."  Sometimes the house band that typically plays for the ship's production shows would play jazz or ballroom sessions for guests in various venues on days that they do not rehearse or have a show.  So they are doing double duty, and of course that saves money.  There is still a party band, which consists of 4 or 5 musicians, that will play rock-n-roll and music that appeals to people who dance at clubs and bars.  We do our best to this type of music and can still have fun, but it is certainly not ballroom.

Crystal may in fact still hold fast against this new wave that is sweeping the cruising industry.  I hope so.  

1 hour ago, Keith1010 said:

...While for the most part entertainment is very similar to how it was before the reduction passenger capacity took place some adjustments were made and this is one of them having a duo rather than what it was before.

 

This is happening across all cruise lines, including ones who are building bigger and bigger vessels with higher and higher passenger counts.  Princess Cruises started axing their quartets and trios just right before the pandemic.  They also started "updating" their ships to remove non-revenue-generating venues like music lounges and dance clubs in favor of bar spaces and slot machines.

On 2/6/2024 at 6:57 PM, Sdancer said:

...I have booked a short summer cruise on Serenity in 2024 as a test.

@Sdancer  Please consider posting your impressions on the live music and dancing opportunities. We are strongly considering trying Crystal for the first time.  Our cruise experience has mostly been on Princess, where we have truly enjoyed the breadth of live music and venues for dancing on the older/smaller-than-mega ships.  There are signs that Princess is forsaking what makes them stand out for us, in order to be more like other mass-market lines that we would rather avoid.  So we are looking for alternatives.  Alas, based on we have learned from others, entertainment on the upscale lines are very sedate, and live music for dancing is really lacking.  Crystal appears to offer some hope, and we'd like to learn more.  Thank you.

23 hours ago, History&Wine said:

My answers apply to the Serenity, but are probably true for both ships. 

...  Dancing is most every night in the Palm Court from 5:30 to 6:15 accompanied by ambassador hosts.  Dancing returns there after 8 pr so...not sure how long.  There is often dancing in the Cove with the hosts on special occasions such as white night. 

...

Entertainment is generally quite good but I must say I miss the quartets Crystal had in the Cove years ago.  

Thank you for this.  The Stardust Club has what appears to be a nice dance floor, reminding me of the Explorer's Lounge on the older Princess ships.  Does dancing by guests go on there, or only for the ship's performers in a show?

I got to be on first name basis with two band members who perform on ships.  They tell me that  ships now tend to hire duos and sometimes trios, but no longer quartets and larger.  Must be a symptom of the cost-cutting disease, at least very much so on the mass market lines, but perhaps also infecting upper end lines like Crystal.  I  fondly remember the Sunset Quartet and Los Diamantes mariachi band from a Princess cruise just three years ago.  I miss them!

7 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

...We are shortly embarking on a Crystal Alaska cruise...

 

@kool kruiser  Please consider posting about your experience (on the Crystal Board, I guess).  We would be very interested in seeing a sample daily program from a port and sea day. Thank you.

7 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

... We are not taking any ship tours so we expect our on board account to be a fat zero, as we do not use the spa or shops and everything else is included...

Oh yeah, that's the way you do it 🙂

6 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

Pool Area

 

     On Crystal the pool area is luxury times ten ...

 

Entertainment

 

     Crystal entertainment is some of the best we have ever experienced – anywhere...

 

@RLK33853  Thanks again for posting your experience.

Regarding Crystal's pool, how does the size compare to mass-market ships' pools?  Is one able to actually swim, or just wade around with a drink?

What about live music outside of the production showroom/theater?  Does Crystal offer much live music entertainment throughout the day in venues conducive to dancing?  Did you see many people dancing?

@TRLD  Your experience is less than encouraging for someone like me, who is searching for viable options to Princess.  You appear to confirm what many others have said about the "Finest Cuisine at Sea"... that it's more hype than substance.  That's unfortunate because these days the mass market lines like Princess are setting a very low bar as a result of cost cutting and engaging in what appears to be a race to the bottom.

We are not shy about engaging with musicians and making requests.  They often oblige and appreciate that someone is paying attention to what they play.  I've sampled a few daily programs from Oceania, and they suggest that the musicians only start to play at tea time, no earlier.  Is that true in your experience?

17 hours ago, memoak said:

As long as Princess has ships without water parks or restricted deck areas we will stick with them

On this point, have you checked out the Sun Princess?  The future is here.  It may only be a matter of time that the older Princess ships will be "updated" to be the same.

5 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

@TBfrPH What is missing from your more recent cruises? Is it because the piazza area has taken over the ship making all venues noisy? Is because there aren’t enough quiet areas? 
 

Travelling outside school holidays would avoid families wouldn’t it or do schools have different holidays and basically school holidays fill all summer? 

It is not that anything was missing.  It's the slow whittling away of things that sets Princess apart for us.  Live music is a great example.  On the Sapphire Princess last year to Mexico, we had 4 fabulous bands of different genres, plus the exceptional house band, taking turns playing in the piazza and the various lounges throughout the day on every sea day, starting around lunch.  That was an awesome cruise.  On the Crown last month, there were no live music on the first few sea days until dinner time.  Instead, there were "family" games, street performers, and such.  I noted this on a comment card; and perhaps it was a coincidence, but a couple of live music sessions showed up on sea day programs later in the cruise.  That made the cruise much more enjoyable for us, and we were grateful.  At the same time we miss the previous experience to which we had grown accustomed, and fear that it's a thing of the past.  

Noise during the day at various venues doesn't really bother us.  We don't look forward to the company of other people's kids, but we can still have a good time notwithstanding.

@RLK33853 thank you for posting your experience on the higher-end options.  We have been tempted for years to try them.  But the more we have researched, the less motivated we became.  Your posts pretty much confirmed what has been holding us back.  We don't mind paying more, just not paying more for things that we don't need/want/enjoy (like free liquor, wifi, and extreme coddling), and in return not getting enough of what matters to us (like live music entertainment). 

Sadly, Princess' initiative to attract younger cruisers and more families is beginning to kill off activities that we have enjoyed on their older ships.  Royal Caribbean and Celebrity started this some years ago (also HAL to a lesser extent), and we left them for Princess.  Princess is now trying to become RC and X. We see the writings on the proverbial wall with the reports about the Sun Princess and our trip last month on the Crown. So our days with Princess are also numbered, yet without a clear, suitable alternative 😞

21 hours ago, Tsunami2 said:

We love waltz dancing and looking for  a cruise on the Pacific coast round trip from Vancouver.   Took cruise this spring to Alaska again on Koningsdam and disappointed at only bouncy bouncy to rock and BB King.   Looked spastic.

I hear Coral Sea is good?  Any comments?

We have not been on the Coral Princess yet, but from what we can find on the web, there could be a decent number of dancing opportunities.  It has the Wheelhouse Bar, Explorer's Lounge, and Universe Lounge.  We're looking forward to sail on her in January 2025.  

Unfortunately dancing on nearly all mass-market cruise ships will very soon be reduced to  "bouncy bouncy/spastic."  They take up much less room that could otherwise be dedicated to revenue generation through liquor sales.  I believe it was Celebrity who introduced silent disco, and now Princess has apparently copied that on the new sphere class Sun Princess, which appears to have done away with all meaningful dance spaces except for the Piazza, where one can spaz wearing a headphone streaming music of one's choice. 

Aside from Coral, the older Princess ships that still have Club Fusion are your best bet for being able to do an honest waltz.  Even on these ships, the daily program has begun to shift away from live music for dancing to "family" activities like street performers and games (paper airplanes, pin the tail on the donkey, water pong, etc.).  I am seeing a very conscious effort to be more like Royal Caribbean- or at least compete with it-  to attract younger cruisers with kids.  Ballroom dancing does not fit in that initiative.  Enjoy what's left of it while you can.  It's all going away soon.

3 hours ago, kahuna21 said:

In our experience of three cruises on Marina, the shows were at 9:30 PM, and from  8:00 or 8:30 to 9:30 PM, there was no/nada music anywhere on the ship. That was a real downer for us early diners who have 1 to 1.5 hours to spend between dinner and a show with nothing happening. 

We will learn from you.  Sounds like late dinner is the way to go. 

Thank you, @pinotlover, for this helpful clarification.

Read an old post that the house band plays dancing(?) music for about 30 minutes before each nightly show in the theater.  Would recent sailors please confirm if that is still true, especially on the Riviera?  We're booked to sail her to Alaska next year.  Thank you.

We are contemplating this inside cabin on the Riviera.  It is at the end of a block and has an adjacent cabin on one side and crew area on the other side.  Saw a very old post complaining about noise and vibrations from the abutting space that is not a cabin.  We would appreciate hearing experiences from others who have sailed in this or similar cabin on Rivera or Marina.  Thank you very much.

Thank you, @Cruise Raider, for the trip report to preview all that we have to look forward to in a few weeks.

Do you recall the music bands who played in the piazza and the lounges?  Are these people still around-

Party Band The Echoes

Souvenir Duo (2 Ukrainian gentlemen)

Domino Duo (Husband/Wife-?- team)

Who was the pianist on your B2B?

We are interested to know if Plus 2 Duo and party band Echoes are still playing aboard the Crown Princess.  If you are currently on her, please check out live music venues or Patter listing and share what you see.  Thank you for your time.  

5 hours ago, edq said:

...  We are taking the BART from the airport to our hotel the day before the cruise but I think the BART station (Embarcadero) looks like it about a 30 minute walk from the ship which we could do but maybe shouldn’t take the time to do as we want to get to the airport as quickly as possible...

You do not have to walk to BART.  You're walking off the ship independently, so I assume that your bags are of manageable sizes.  You have the option of taking the "F" trolley car which takes you to the Embarcadero BART station on Market Street.  There is a platform to board the trolley on the main road on either side of Pier 27.  The trolley ride costs $3 pp and is about 10-15 mins depending on the signal lights.  The trolleys run separately from car traffic, so congestion is not an issue. If you leave the ship by 8 am, you should have no trouble getting to the airport in time for a noon flight.  Uber may be much more convenient; but if surge pricing is in effect, you might consider doing trolley/BART.

5 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

I see a dance floor!

Is live music being offered for dancing in the evening?

@SuzieQ521, if you are willing and able, that would be super terrific.  Thank you so much.  The itinerary is not the same, but we'll get a pretty good idea of what to expect. 

Have a wonderful time. Thanks again.  

Hello.  If you are currently on the Crown Princess, please consider posting a sea-day patter.  We're booked to sail on her to Hawaii soon and would appreciate getting an idea about music acts that are playing in the piazza and various lounges.  Thank you in advance for sharing the information🙏 🙏.

20 hours ago, rojaan19 said:

Entertainment on board is about to change !  Nobody knows just how much, as yet,  so your question can't really be answered.  We are all waiting  for a review of the new  entertainers 🤩 

Thanks for the heads-up.   I must have missed the posts talking about that.  Is this a planned overhaul of the program that is, hopefully, based on customer feedback?  Or is this just a product of the new post-Covid era of cruising?

@Lauranne, thank you for your post about your epic adventure. 

We are itching to sign up for a similar sailing next year.  We are new to SS so have a follow-up question for you about entertainment aboard.  We understand that entertainment is not the point of this itinerary. Still it would be terrific to have something to do during the day in between the expeditions and evenings before/after dinner.  You did mention music in one single entry, but not much else.  

Was live music available onboard nightly?  How about lounge or cabaret acts (production shows are probably out of the question)?  What options did you have to pass the time during the day while waiting for your time to go on an expedition?

Thanks again for sharing your experience.