Contract Finalized for two New Princess Ships (Merged Threads)

[BruceMuzz]

Not sure how I feel about all the outside cabins having balconies. I wonder if it will make the balconies more affordable, or if you'll be forced into an inside cabin if you prefer (or need) to cruise on more of a budget. DH and I like the OV cabins because they're more economical, but still provide a little natural light. It's the lack of natural light that prevents us from ever booking Inside cabins. But, if the price of the all-balcony outside cabins on these ships is in line with the higher priced balconies on the other ships, chances are we'll be avoiding any sailings on these new ships for a long time!

 

Don't get me wrong... I know this is only two ships. But if this signifies a trend for Princess ships in the future, and it isn't coupled with balconies that are more affordable, then I'm not sure if we'll keep picking Princess as our preffered line well into the future.

 

I have bad news for you. ALL the major mass market lines are moving towards more and more balcony cabins. Why? Because that's what most cruisers tell us they want.

 

You can always choose to cruise on the older ships. The prices are generally lower there anyway.

[spindrift]

Oh Princess Execs, please read your customers. Read the boards like Del Rio does w/Oceania and respond. What a nightmare that you are building the mass market huge ships. HAL, O, all the others have reasonable ships of size and stay booked. You are destroying yourself. We are elite, but our loyalty will not last with what you all seem to think is the "main stream."

 

You already have some "biggies." Build a small size for some of us who would like that. We were the ones who built you up to what you are. If you continue, gald to see that HAL is expanding its loyalty program and O's is great.

 

Princess, you are going to turn yourselves into the "tuna tugs," know commonly as "Carnival." Don't do it.

[RickEk]

Oh Princess Execs, please read your customers. Read the boards like Del Rio does w/Oceania and respond. What a nightmare that you are building the mass market huge ships. HAL, O, all the others have reasonable ships of size and stay booked. You are destroying yourself. We are elite, but our loyalty will not last with what you all seem to think is the "main stream."

 

You already have some "biggies." Build a small size for some of us who would like that. We were the ones who built you up to what you are. If you continue, gald to see that HAL is expanding its loyalty program and O's is great.

 

Princess, you are going to turn yourselves into the "tuna tugs," know commonly as "Carnival." Don't do it.

 

As Bruce said in the post above yours, there's always the smaller ships. The economies of scale dictate that a mass-market line must build larger ships. I wish this wasn't so and that they'd build more ships like the Island/Coral Princesses. Eventually you'll probably see lines like HAL will start building larger ships too... Oceania is still considered a luxury brand and their fleet is significantly smaller than Princess'. They can afford to stay small.

 

And consider this, the new Princess ships will be over 10k tons bigger than Carnival's Dream-class and will hold the same amount of passengers. Space ratios will be better than the Dream's 36 ratio. I, for one, am willing to wait to see what Princess is offering rather than condemn an unknown quantity. :)

[jean s]

I sincerely hope Princess is still in the planning stage of these new ships. I think having more balconies is great but please don't get rid of the promenade deck. This deck is a great part of the whole cruising experience. I and many others love to spend time strolling, walking, relaxing and well...... promenading around the ship. To me and many others it is part of what makes a cruise so enjoyable and relaxing. Princess..please think carefully before doing away with a favorite part of the ship for many cruisers.

[Colo Cruiser]

I sincerely hope Princess is still in the planning stage of these new ships.

 

If they are coming out in 2013/2014 they are probably already planned out.

[CruiseDuck]

Thanks for posting the picture but....... Yikes! What is Princess thinking? The picture looks very similar to the Celebrity Solstice. As a loyal aft cabin passenger I really like the look and privacy of the Princess ships. I have read many complaints about the tiered aft Celebrity balconies. Very unattractive.

 

 

Celebrity Solstice

 

 

I would also prefer a smaller ship but the market seems to be moving toward the 'floating city' ships. Too big for me!

[caribill]

From the position of windows on the hull, it appears the dining rooms may still be separated by a galley.

 

Wonder if there are two dining rooms aft now based on the positions of the windows.

 

Either need bigger dining rooms or an additional one to handle the increased number of passengers.

[kath00]

This is my first time seeing it too. Thanks for the info. Bummer that it's another MEGAship but I supposed I should be happy that it doesn't hold 6000+ passengers :rolleyes:

 

Katherine

[A Sixth?]

This is my first time seeing it too. Thanks for the info. Bummer that it's another MEGAship but I supposed I should be happy that it doesn't hold 6000+ passengers :rolleyes:

 

Katherine

 

 

I actually enjoy the larger ships. maybe not for every cruise, but they have their place IMHO.

 

We've strayed to Celebrity as of late (clean air policy there best in the business) but will be eager to try one of the new princess ships.

 

I too can't wait to see drawings/deck plans.

[scottlad]

No problem!...

btw, the Sea Witch logo is correct... :)

 

The logo is not correct. The sea witch is facing the wrong direction. On all of the ships, the witch faces aft. On the rendering she is facing forward.

[Angsa]

Yeah, the new Princess ship look just like the Celebrity new builds. Anyway it is not really the size of the ship but what it offers with the size. I'd love to see more Asian flavours as I am from over here.

 

Below are some of my suggestions.

 

• Japanese Ramen or Chinese noodle stalls on board will be good.
  
• How about a proper Chinese or Indian restaurant? Dim Sum lunch?
  
• An English Pub with sports on LCD TVs or projection screens?
  
• Golf simulators
  
• No more annoying photo galleries. Let us see our photos in our room on the LCD TV. We will order them if we want them.
  
• Proper high speed internet. I know it is linked by satellite bla bla bla. But I don't believe it cannot be fixed. We are moving to 4G technology now and the cruise industry is still living in a 56k modem world. I think us passengers are not pushing them hard enough to improve.
  
• Glass fronted elevators like they have on RCCL.
  

[schmeed]

The Love Boat...soon will be making another run... :D

[DanJ]

The logo is not correct. The sea witch is facing the wrong direction. On all of the ships, the witch faces aft. On the rendering she is facing forward.

 

It looks like they simply took their stock logo and put it on there. I thought it was correct to, but found a couple pics to show that on the starboard view, as the rendering is, she does face aft. Which makes sense because her hair should be blowing aft with the ship movement, not blowing forward like the rendering.

[vancruisr]

Can anyone read the name on the side of the ship? It looks like it might be "Regal Princess."

 

Previous poster is correct; the logo is wrong here. It's flipped either way so that the seawitch's hair flows aft.

[RickEk]

Yeah, the new Princess ship look just like the Celebrity new builds. Anyway it is not really the size of the ship but what it offers with the size. I'd love to see more Asian flavours as I am from over here.

 

Below are some of my suggestions.

 

• Japanese Ramen or Chinese noodle stalls on board will be good.
  
• How about a proper Chinese or Indian restaurant? Dim Sum lunch?
  
• An English Pub with sports on LCD TVs or projection screens?
  
• Golf simulators
  
• No more annoying photo galleries. Let us see our photos in our room on the LCD TV. We will order them if we want them.
  
• Proper high speed internet. I know it is linked by satellite bla bla bla. But I don't believe it cannot be fixed. We are moving to 4G technology now and the cruise industry is still living in a 56k modem world. I think us passengers are not pushing them hard enough to improve.
  
• Glass fronted elevators like they have on RCCL.
  

 

I like your list, but the Internet problem isn't going to be solved by 4g. That's still a cell technology and there aren't any cell towers at sea. We're pretty much stuck with satellite Internet... no amount of complaining is going to change that...:p

[pinksuit]

Presumably there will be no outside cabins on Plaza, or if there are passengers could end up getting very wet on the balconies!

So what speculation do we have for this deck?

I am assuming that Emerald deck will look very similar to Entertainment deck on X's Solstice class, with low slung lifeboats and a very claustrophobic promenade area.

 

Hey there! Remember us? I was peeping around the board for some info and saw your post. I see that you are planning the East Med soon. We went last year in May on the Solstice.

Write back.

Pinkie

[RickEk]

Can anyone read the name on the side of the ship? It looks like it might be "Regal Princess."

 

Previous poster is correct; the logo is wrong here. It's flipped either way so that the seawitch's hair flows aft.

 

It looks like they simply took their stock logo and put it on there. I thought it was correct to, but found a couple pics to show that on the starboard view, as the rendering is, she does face aft. Which makes sense because her hair should be blowing aft with the ship movement, not blowing forward like the rendering.

 

Yes, true... I looked at their logo on their site and it is oriented like the one on the drawing of the new ship. But then I looked at all my photos and, you are correct, her hair is always blowing aft...

 

Also, it does not say Regal Princess, the word in front of Princess is the hull number... P and then a series of 4 numbers. I can find the exact wording tomorrow...

[caribill]

The logo is not correct. The sea witch is facing the wrong direction. On all of the ships, the witch faces aft. On the rendering she is facing forward.

 

Proof that scottlad is correct shown below

[caribill]

The logo is not correct. The sea witch is facing the wrong direction. On all of the ships, the witch faces aft. On the rendering she is facing forward.

 

Proof that scottlad is correct shown below

[terrierjohn]

Hey there! Remember us? I was peeping around the board for some info and saw your post. I see that you are planning the East Med soon. We went last year in May on the Solstice.

Write back.

Pinkie

Hello Pinkie, of course we remember you. I see you have been quite busy cruising since our Oz/NZ adventure, we have done a Med, Panama and Caribbean since then. Our next Med cruise has all different ports, except Venice, so lots of new places to explore.

[cruisin36]

FYI - the gross tonnage of a ship is calculatedh thus: One ton is equal to 100 cubic feet of cargo space, the cargo being the passengers. This from Capt Tony Yeomans.

 

THe water displacement tonnage for the Ruby is about 55,000 tons.

[TorontoTL]

All very exciting, I find the illustration to be quite a beautiful ship, hopefully it will turn out to be as nice or nicer. I like the idea of the widened promenade deck that the Carnival Dream has, I'm sure that Princess has something similar in mind and that they aren't calling it a promenade deck anymore. Thanks for posting the photo of the illustration Rick.:)

 

I don't mind big ships, as long as they are well designed and aren't too crowded and have good passenger flow. With a 141,000 GRT and 3600 pax it gives a ratio of 39.1, much better than the Ruby and sisters. Not as good as the Diamond though or Coral. But if they do a good job of spreading people out which they did with the Ruby then it should be fine.

[terrierjohn]

 

I don't mind big ships, as long as they are well designed and aren't too crowded and have good passenger flow. With a 141,000 GRT and 3600 pax it gives a ratio of 39.1, much better than the Ruby and sisters.

Passenger space ratio is all very well but we do need to know the critical length and breadth dimensions to know whether it will feel crowded or not.

Celebrity's Solstice class is 122,000 with only 2850 passengers and 6.3 passenger decks, from the picture this new Princess appears to have 7 full passenger decks and, if it does have a full extra deck, this could in fact account for most of the extra tonnage, which may mean it will feel much more crowded than the Solstice ships.

[DanJ]

Passenger space ratio is all very well but we do need to know the critical length and breadth dimensions to know whether it will feel crowded or not.

Celebrity's Solstice class is 122,000 with only 2850 passengers and 6.3 passenger decks, from the picture this new Princess appears to have 7 full passenger decks and, if it does have a full extra deck, this could in fact account for most of the extra tonnage, which may mean it will feel much more crowded than the Solstice ships.

 

The CB and follow-ons are only 4000 tons larger than the Grand class, with an extra deck. I believe the other dimensions are the same. Even widening the Grand out by a few feet to get to the Sapphire added 7000 tons.

 

Not sure what lengthening the ship does with tonnage. In comparing tonnage on the RCI site of the Enchantment after it's 75-ish foot addition with it's Vision class siblings, it only added 7000 tons or so as well, which I'm not sure is correct, especially since the double occupancy is the same. But if you took the CB design, and stretched it 70 or so feet, you would not only gain a couple hundred cabins across all decks, but also that much of a gain in public space down on the entertainment decks, and also up top as well.

[TorontoTL]

Exactly DanJ, well said. Either way, how they design the public spaces is all so important. This ship won't likely be as spacious as the Solstice class ships, but should be better than the Ruby.