Small Ship - What are the Pros & Cons?

[RMM34667]

Looking at Ocean Princess 10/2011 Med. Cruise. I showed my mom only the Itineraries of three cruises and said which one do you like the best? She picked the Princess one (YEAH that is what I wanted) but was surprised to learn the ship carries only 680 passengers. Never sailed small ship but am really ready to book (air fare was so cheap I had to call back and make sure it was round trip). Just wondering what a small ship feels like.

 

Any comments would be appreciated!

[Toto2Kansas]

Lots of pros to the smaller ships. Easy to get around, lines are minimal compared to the larger ships. Tendering or just going ashore is much easier than on the larger ships with so many passengers.

Very intimate atmosphere and you see the same passengers and crew over and over throughout your cruise. Cabins are very nice, and 90% have a small loveseat in them, unlike the larger ships where you only receive one small chair and a desk chair.

 

 

Cons, no anytime dining, only traditonal dining room with two seating times. Smaller shows with a smaller cast, as there is no huge showlounge onboard. (not actually a con IMHO, but some think it is).

Tiny casino (but at least there is one), and even though small, have had a great time there in the past.

 

We love the small ships. But if you need lots of activity or entertained every second, they don't provide as much to do as the larger ships do.

[paul929207]

Like Toto, we loved the small ships, but they are not for everyone. I think you get to know people better because you run into them a second and third time. We take the longer cruises and the Roll Calls tend to be great. On our last cruise, from Cape Town to Dover, we took close to 10 private tours all organized thru the Roll Call.

[recyclelady]

My first cruise on the OLD Crown Princess was one of my favorites. That ship was very small. We were on a 10 day cruise through the Panama Canal. I felt like I knew everyone onboard by the end of the cruise. It was fun and intimate. I still felt like there was plenty to do!

[Dietemann]

My first cruise on the OLD Crown Princess was one of my favorites. That ship was very small. We were on a 10 day cruise through the Panama Canal. I felt like I knew everyone onboard by the end of the cruise. It was fun and intimate. I still felt like there was plenty to do!

We did a 28 day back to back cruise through the Panama Canal on the lovely Royal Princess from Ft. Lauderdale to Ecuador. Never got tired of the small ship, you get to be good friends with all the staff. I learned before booking not to pick a cabin with a connecting door because those do not have the love seat.

I'll miss the Royal when she leaves the fleet next spring.

[Druke I]

I much prefer the small ships!

 

Toto pretty well lays out the major pros and cons.

[sunsetbeachgal]

We just did a Med/Greek Isles cruise on the Ocean Princess in september-it was a very port intensive cruise and our group of 8 all felt as if it was a perfect ship for it.

 

Toto did a great job of summarizing the pros/cons. For all of us, our overwhelming feeling was that it was "easy". No lines to get off or back on the ship (which the large ships are prone to), never any crowding in the buffet (try having breakfast in the buffet on the larger ships when all of the tours leave at the same time in the morning!!), and a great staff. I like Anytime Dining, and missed it as we had late sitting and it is a bit late for me. The entertainment is also not as good as the larger ships, but for us it was good enough.

 

I wish Princess had more small ships or announce plans to build or acquire more.

[RMM34667]

Thank you all for your comments. I am so excited about the ports, and I personally don't think I can go wrong with a Princess Cruise.

[Woobstr112G]

I'm hoping to be able to do a small ship cruise in the future. Just hope they're still around when I'm ready.....;):):)

 

Bob

[Toto2Kansas]

I'm hoping to be able to do a small ship cruise in the future. Just hope they're still around when I'm ready.....;):):)

 

Bob

Bob, don't wait too long, they seem to be dropping like flies! :(

[GFLeeper]

We are small ship fans. We have seen a few fellow passengers on the smaller ships suffer because there were not enough organized activities in which they were interested. On the smaller ships, you occasionally need to be able to entertain yourself.

 

One benefit that was not mentioned; the smaller ships can frequently berth closer to city centers than can their larger siblings. Sometimes this means not tendering because they can dock because of their smaller size and not have to anchor offshore.

 

Give the smaller ship a try. You will either love them or discover a preference for the larger ships.

 

George

[triple7tahoe]

Only one con that I can think of. One friend wanted to get his light colored dinner jacket cleaned and they told him-"We can't do that here because we are a small ship".

Not that important but has made for many jokes about not doing that because "It is a small ship":D

[DeepWaterMariner]

I would much prefer a small ship for a port intensive cruise like the Med. Easier to get ashore and back aboard and the small ship alone will not over crowd the port with tourists. For us, any cruise on Princess is more special if we do it on one of the small ships.

[paul929207]

Bob, don't wait too long, they seem to be dropping like flies! :(

We have only had one (Royal) that has dropped. Hopefully the Ocean and the Pacific will be around for awhile.

[Toto2Kansas]

We have only had one (Royal) that has dropped. Hopefully the Ocean and the Pacific will be around for awhile.

 

But that is 33.333% of the small ships in the fleet Paul. :)

[Pam in CA]

I agree with the others in their description of the smaller ships. But I wanted to add that it's more intimate, personal, and a very different atmosphere from the larger ships. If you're on one of the larger ships, meet someone, and hope to run into them again, you don't. On the small ships, everyone seems to get to know everyone else, both crew and passengers. This makes it fun to walk into a room and see someone familiar, or walk into a lounge and the bar waiter says, "The usual?" I equate it to a local grocery store vs. a supermarket. You'll find many of the same things but not as much variety or choices.

 

It's not for everyone. My BIL didn't like the small ships because the one thing he really loved to do on cruises was to play bridge every sea day. On the Royal, he found there weren't as many players and the bridge wasn't as good.

[Cabunit]

The eight former R-class ships are, in our opinion, the best ships afloat. They fit us perfectly. The pros are what we like and the cons don't bother us. We wish Princess had all of them. We have cruised enough to occasionally recognize a crew member from the past. But only on the small ships have we had crew recognize us from the past.

 

Having said that, the one note to add to this discussion is that they are smaller ships - so in any rough weather they will, by definition, be less stable than the monsters. We're good sailors, so no big deal. If you have to wear a patch to take an escalator then select your itinerary with care.

[paul929207]

I agree with the others in their description of the smaller ships. But I wanted to add that it's more intimate, personal, and a very different atmosphere from the larger ships. If you're on one of the larger ships, meet someone, and hope to run into them again, you don't. On the small ships, everyone seems to get to know everyone else, both crew and passengers. This makes it fun to walk into a room and see someone familiar, or walk into a lounge and the bar waiter says, "The usual?" I equate it to a local grocery store vs. a supermarket. You'll find many of the same things but not as much variety or choices.

 

It's not for everyone. My BIL didn't like the small ships because the one thing he really loved to do on cruises was to play bridge every sea day. On the Royal, he found there weren't as many players and the bridge wasn't as good.

There was a Bridge Director on our last two cruises on the Ocean and we played duplicate every sea day. There will be one on our cruise in the spring. They have joined our Roll Call

[Aruba]

I agree with the others in their description of the smaller ships. But I wanted to add that it's more intimate, personal, and a very different atmosphere from the larger ships. If you're on one of the larger ships, meet someone, and hope to run into them again, you don't. On the small ships, everyone seems to get to know everyone else, both crew and passengers. This makes it fun to walk into a room and see someone familiar, or walk into a lounge and the bar waiter says, "The usual?" I equate it to a local grocery store vs. a supermarket. You'll find many of the same things but not as much variety or choices.

Hi Pam,

Remember a couple of months ago when I had asked you about an Africa cruise? Well I just got back a couple of weeks ago from the 25-day west Africa cruise on Ocean Princess -- it was AWESOME! I wouldn't have wanted to do it on a large ship. Ocean was the perfect size for that itinerary.

Happy Holidays,

Randy

[Pam in CA]

There was a Bridge Director on our last two cruises on the Ocean and we played duplicate every sea day. There will be one on our cruise in the spring. They have joined our Roll Call

His complaint wasn't that there wasn't bridge but that there weren't as many people and thus as much fun for him.

[Pam in CA]

Hi Pam,

Remember a couple of months ago when I had asked you about an Africa cruise? Well I just got back a couple of weeks ago from the 25-day west Africa cruise on Ocean Princess -- it was AWESOME! I wouldn't have wanted to do it on a large ship. Ocean was the perfect size for that itinerary.

Happy Holidays,

Randy

Glad you had a great cruise. :) There are many itineraries that are a MUCH better experience on a small ship than a large one.

[earljr]

There are so many cons about small ships that I cant even remember them all

 

So to refresh my memory DW and have

booked the Royal for the Honolulu to Tahiti

and Tahiti to Fll. (the final cruise of the Royal

for Princes :()

[Toto2Kansas]

There are so many cons about small ships that I cant even remember them all

 

So to refresh my memory DW and have

booked the Royal for the Honolulu to Tahiti

and Tahiti to Fll. (the final cruise of the Royal

for Princes :()

 

Earl (hello to you and Caroyln BTW), yep, might have to make a list this February. Sailing from Hawaii to Tahiti and then around Tahiti for the cruise after that. I just couldn't find many con's to put on my list after last fall, so figured I had better return and have another round of small ship cruising just to make sure I didn't forget anything. :)

[paul929207]

While Earl and Toto are freshing their memories of all the problems on the Royal, we will be on the Ocean for 44 days re-learning the problems there

[cathi]

Gotta add my 2 cents worth - go for the small ship!! We loved them for all the reasons everyone has mentioned so far - you will get to know almost everyone onboard, you are never far from anything, there are no line ups for anything. We've met so many wonderful people on the small ships and done many fabulous shore excursions with all the friends we made on CC. I just wish there were more small ships.

 

Have a ball on your first small ship!

 

Cathi