Pacific Princess compared to Oceania Nautica?

We are considering a 16 day voyage on the Pacific Princess in summer 2019. We seek feedback from those familiar with her and with the Oceania Nautica, which we sailed in summer 2018. This was our first long cruise on a smaller ship and it was a delight.

We understand these are both the "R Class" vessels, formerly with the Renaissance Line, so largely (or at least originally) laid out the same in terms of most cabin arrangements, etc. But I can imagine that many changes have evolved over the years, and I don't want to sail with Princess and be disappointed that their ship is missing some feature that we appreciated about the Nautica.

What are the differences?

Hi K,

We have sailed on both.

We enjoyed both.

We give the edge to Nautica, especially since it has been reported that the pizza on Princess is no longer as good as it was. :)

Ira

We are considering a 16 day voyage on the Pacific Princess in summer 2019. We seek feedback from those familiar with her and with the Oceania Nautica, which we sailed in summer 2018. This was our first long cruise on a smaller ship and it was a delight.

We understand these are both the "R Class" vessels, formerly with the Renaissance Line, so largely (or at least originally) laid out the same in terms of most cabin arrangements, etc. But I can imagine that many changes have evolved over the years, and I don't want to sail with Princess and be disappointed that their ship is missing some feature that we appreciated about the Nautica.

What are the differences?

There is a large difference between the 2 ships......Oceania purchased the sister ship of the Pacific Princess (Ocean Princess) 2 years ago and

Let us know which particular features you appreciated on Nautica and we can let you know if they are available or how they compare to the Pacific Princess.

The layout is near identical.

Pacific Princess only has set time for dining in MDR. The pool deck furniture on O is much better than on Princess. Princess has less staff. O has a lot more options at the grill for lunch and has some food at the grill area for a quick or late breakfast that Princess does not do. On O buffet food is served by staff while on Princess it is mostly self serve.

What did we like on Nautica? Of course the food and service were incomparable, so I will try to stick more to the facility side:

*a well-appointed library on Deck 10.....

*the forward-located bar/lounge on Deck 10 with the expansive views, tea served every day there, a small coffee/tea station just inside the door there that was open 24/7....

*the open air grill just outside the buffet on Deck 9, near the pool, with generous hours, great salad bar, lots of grill choices.....

*two specialty restaurants on Deck 10 aft that don't cost extra--as long as you can snag a reservation....which are available at 7:30 am daily...

*no areas on the ship reserved exclusively for special people (a small spa area is available for suite passengers all the time or for anyone paying a $30 daily fee....)

*open air dining area for buffet patrons, at the very aft end of Deck 9 -- we ate most of our meals there!

What did we like on Nautica? Of course the food and service were incomparable, so I will try to stick more to the facility side:

*a well-appointed library on Deck 10.....Library in same place on both ships

*the forward-located bar/lounge on Deck 10 with the expansive views, tea served every day there, a small coffee/tea station just inside the door there that was open 24/7....Lounge in same place but no daily tea served like on Oceania

*the open air grill just outside the buffet on Deck 9, near the pool, with generous hours, great salad bar, lots of grill choices.....Grill on Deck 9 but does not have choices/salad bar or ice cream/smoothie bar

*two specialty restaurants on Deck 10 aft that don't cost extra--as long as you can snag a reservation....which are available at 7:30 am daily...2 specialty restaurants but charge. All cabins on Oceania are guaranteed at least one reservation at each specialty restaurant (number of reservations is dependent upon length of cruise and type of cabin). Additional reservations are available at 7:30AM daily.

*no areas on the ship reserved exclusively for special people (a small spa area is available for suite passengers all the time or for anyone paying a $30 daily fee....) same

*open air dining area for buffet patrons, at the very aft end of Deck 9 -- we ate most of our meals there!

Only water (glass), coffee, tea and lemonade (juice during breakfast) are available free of charge on Princess. On Oceania all non-alcoholic drinks (bottles water, smoothies, milkshakes, mochas, lattes, cappuccinos, etc.) are free.

On Princess, you have photographers taking pictures all the time and lots of "sales" .

There is a large difference between the 2 ships......Oceania purchased the sister ship of the Pacific Princess (Ocean Princess) 2 years ago and

 

 

Oceania spent $40 million to turn it into Sirena (sister ship of Nautica). The ship was pretty much gutted and rebuilt to Oceania standards.

Let us know which particular features you appreciated on Nautica and we can let you know if they are available or how they compare to the Pacific Princess.

This is incorrect. I have been on both before and after. The ship was not gutted. She remains largely the same. Decor/bedding etc and branding were changed out.

Ocean Princess was in excellent shape when she went over to Oceania to be renamed Sirena.

IMO Oceania is over hyped.

This is incorrect. I have been on both before and after. The ship was not gutted. She remains largely the same. Decor/bedding etc and branding were changed out.

Ocean Princess was in excellent shape when she went over to Oceania to be renamed Sirena.

IMO Oceania is over hyped.

The fact that Oceania spent $40 million retrofitting the Ocean Princess is not incorrect.....they made more changes than bedding and décor.

Since the thread starter has been on Oceania and was asking the differences if he went on the Pacific Princess, he has made up his own mind concerning if the over hype of Oceania is true or not.

Thank goodness there are lots of choices in the cruising industry that everyone can find a ship/line that meets their personal needs.

Hi K,

 

 

We have sailed on both.

 

 

We enjoyed both.

 

 

We give the edge to Nautica, especially since it has been reported that the pizza on Princess is no longer as good as it was. :)

 

 

Ira

Rules The Day

What did we like on Nautica? Of course the food and service were incomparable, so I will try to stick more to the facility side:

*a well-appointed library on Deck 10.....

*the forward-located bar/lounge on Deck 10 with the expansive views, tea served every day there, a small coffee/tea station just inside the door there that was open 24/7....

*the open air grill just outside the buffet on Deck 9, near the pool, with generous hours, great salad bar, lots of grill choices.....

*two specialty restaurants on Deck 10 aft that don't cost extra--as long as you can snag a reservation....which are available at 7:30 am daily...

*no areas on the ship reserved exclusively for special people (a small spa area is available for suite passengers all the time or for anyone paying a $30 daily fee....)

*open air dining area for buffet patrons, at the very aft end of Deck 9 -- we ate most of our meals there!

"...two specialty restaurants on Deck 10 aft that don't cost extra--as long as you can snag a reservation." Is this on the Pacific Princess? Never heard of this.

The free specialty rest. are on Oceania.

Reference: "...two specialty restaurants on Deck 10 aft that don't cost extra--as long as you can snag a reservation."

Yes, this was part of a list of the things I liked about Oceania that I might miss if I sailed on the "same" physical ship, with modifications a la Princess. (someone had asked what those favorite things were were).

It sounds like Princess does have the two specialty restaurants (Sabatini's and a Steakhouse) but passengers ALWAYS have to pay quite a bit extra to eat there?

Reply for Pacific Princess- no outdoor terrace for dining like Terrace.

OP here: This is probably the most discouraging thing I have read about the PP so far! What does Princess do with the outdoor area aft of the Panorama Buffet on Deck 9? Does it not have tables and chairs for outdoor dining? (as does the Nautica) The self-serve isn't the issue -- I can always run and fetch myself another something or another, but forgoing the outside dining option would make me sad, day after day, since we would be sailing in the middle of the summer when eating outside should be possible on many days.

The fact that Oceania spent $40 million retrofitting the Ocean Princess is not incorrect.....they made more changes than bedding and décor.

Since the thread starter has been on Oceania and was asking the differences if he went on the Pacific Princess, he has made up his own mind concerning if the over hype of Oceania is true or not.

Thank goodness there are lots of choices in the cruising industry that everyone can find a ship/line that meets their personal needs.

Ocean Princess was not gutted. ;)

We liked on Oceania: *open air dining area for buffet patrons, at the very aft end of Deck 9 -- we ate most of our meals there!

Reply for Pacific Princess- no outdoor terrace for dining like Terrace.

OP here: This is probably the most discouraging thing I have read about the PP so far! What does Princess do with the outdoor area aft of the Panorama Buffet on Deck 9? Does it not have tables and chairs for outdoor dining? (as does the Nautica) The self-serve isn't the issue -- I can always run and fetch myself another something or another, but forgoing the outside dining option would make me sad, day after day, since we would be sailing in the middle of the summer when eating outside should be possible on many days.

There certainly is an outdoor area for eating outside the buffet. I have eaten there many days. You go back into the buffet to get food. Drinks may be brought to you.

There certainly is an outdoor area for eating outside the buffet. I have eaten there many days. You go back into the buffet to get food. Drinks may be brought to you.

I agree. Not sure where that came from. :o

It sounds like Princess does have the two specialty restaurants (Sabatini's and a Steakhouse) but passengers ALWAYS have to pay quite a bit extra to eat there?

a) Yes there are these two restaurants, but only one of them is open each evening.

b) The fee is $29/person. Not sure if you consider that "quite a bit extra."

By the way, although afternoon tea is not served in the deck 10 forward lounge, each afternoon there is an hour long afternoon tea in the Club Restaurant on deck 5.

And, at least in the past, there has been an ice cream hour each afternoon in the buffet where you can pick from several flavors of ship-made ice cream and, if you wish, make a sundae with the toppings available.

Great comparison. Thanks

Doing our first cruise on Pacific Princess in December and really looking forward to it. Smallest ship up to now for us has 2000 passengers and wondering how we will like such a small one.

I agree. Not sure where that came from. :o

Yes, we can confirm this from our experiences on a Pacific Princess cruise to Scotland/Iceland/Norway in September 2016. There is a pleasant, sheltered area aft. We also found that the staff would offer to carry your laden plates to a table outdoors for you. We found the service on PP very good, certainly more personal and attentive than on the larger ships, though we thought the service on those was pretty good too!

Doing our first cruise on Pacific Princess in December and really looking forward to it. Smallest ship up to now for us has 2000 passengers and wondering how we will like such a small one.

We are on the Dec.22 cruise. Small ships are not for everyone.

Maybe the post about the Terrace was referring to the grill on O that provided the choice of grilled steaks, lobsters, etc each night and not the seating area. Many people rate that nightly dining option very highly.

This is related but not an exact answer to your question. We have done a lot of cruises on Azamara which also has R class shiops. We just did a cruise on the Pacific Princess. The Pacific Princess was a totally different experience in a negative sense as compared to the Azamara ship. It was partly small but significant differences in ship layout. There were big differences in the level of service and the friendliness of the Princess as compared to the Azamara crews. There were really significant differences in the way Princess charged for as compared with what we got for free on Azamara.

I realize that the cost of the Princess cruise was less than what it would be if Azamara did it and we did pick the Princess cruise because it went to ports that we wanted to visit. However, I do think that you will be very disappointed with your Princess cruise when you are used to Oceania cruises unless you are doing the Princess cruise mainly because of the itinerary.

DON

Caribill has pointed out:

"a) Yes there are these two restaurants, but only one of them is open each evening."

Now I find myself wondering what happens with the restaurant space on the night it is closed? Is it used for main dining room overflow, or does it just sit empty?

One thing that puzzles me about the Pacific Princess is the scheduling for the main dining room -- evidently there is a need for two formal dinner seatings, and I found that already (>9 months out) there is a waitlist for the earlier one! Can't help wondering why this scheduling is necessary....with the same restaurant space on Oceania Nautica the main dining room was free choice/unscheduled every night for everyone, and seemed to accommodate all with only minimal waits for those who showed up when it first opened. But then both of Nautica's specialty restaurants were open and filled every night, reserved ahead, so that's an additional 30 tables to accommodate diners.

Sits empty although I have heard one may be used for club class dining.