{Princess Ships by Class

[trbarton]

I was on a BVE and was given this document that easily shows the Princess Ships by Class. Hope that people find this useful.

 

 

Tom:)

[Pam in CA]

I think the way Princess has grouped them is confusing. IMHO, you have the small ships, Sun class, Coral class, Grand class and now, Royal class. While there are differences between the Grand, Sapphire, Caribbean, etc., they are far more similar than different: an extra deck here, split dining rooms there, etc. Except for the Sapphire and Diamond, they really are the same basic design. The Sapphire and Diamond are the same basic design but have the dining rooms split from two to four (same space with a wall between each side) but what makes them slightly different is that they are the only ones built in Japan and they have a gas turbine engine at the top of the ship. Otherwise, they look and feel like Grand class ships.

[Kentchikan]

Thanks very interesting.

[fishywood]

Agree that Princess should either streamline the number of categories or be more detailed as to what makes each one unique. For example, Diamond and Sapphire differ from the three original Grand Class ships with their wider promenade, lower-profile Skywalker's and larger observation areas up top--designed specifically for sailing in the glaciers in Alaska. Of course that distinction is now moot as those ships will now sail year round in Asia and Australia.

 

(And don't get me started again with Caribbean Princess which even in the case of streamlining categories belongs in its own "raspberry" class having the same design as Grand/Golden/Star while adding 500 additional passengers but no other features of the newer ships--except for deleting the covered pool :mad:)

[Kentchikan]

(And don't get me started again with Caribbean Princess which even in the case of streamlining categories belongs in its own "raspberry" class having the same design as Grand/Golden/Star while adding 500 additional passengers but no other features of the newer ships--except for deleting the covered pool :mad:)

 

Wow that's interesting. Have you sailed on it? Is it a lot more crowded feeling?

[fishywood]

Wow that's interesting. Have you sailed on it? Is it a lot more crowded feeling?

 

Yes and YES. I must add that I was on her when brand new, just before having a massive dry dock (when barely two years old) to add the Piazza and Crown Grill and move the casino from deck 6 to deck 7 in a vain attempt to improve passenger flow. [The casino move was done on Golden and Caribbean but received such negative feedback that plans to do the same on Star were scuttled at the last minute]. But even those upgrades do not change the fact that it is absolutely criminal to put Caribbean in the same class as Crown/Emerald/Ruby which have the open decks, spa, kids/teens rooms, Explorer's, Wheelhouse and Sabatini's all more spacious; the latter two also much better located.

[Pam in CA]

Wow that's interesting. Have you sailed on it? Is it a lot more crowded feeling?

I think it depends on your personal experience, and the weather. I took a Christmas cruise on the Caribbean Princess and it didn't feel any more crowded than most other ships I've been on. I took a Buenos Aires to Santiago cruise on the Golden and because it was freezing cold or rainy a good part of the cruise, felt horribly crowded because you couldn't even use the covered pool area it was so cold. People were staking claim to tables for the day in the HC from breakfast time. By lunch, there were absolutely no tables (or even empty seats) because so many were taken by people playing card games, doing jigsaws or just kibitzing.

[TVanTuyl]

what is the HC?

[Pam in CA]

what is the HC?

An abbreviation for the Horizon Court, the name of the buffet on most (not all) Princess ships.

[Holomoku]

Wow that's interesting. Have you sailed on it? Is it a lot more crowded feeling?

 

I agree with Pam, we did a T/A on her last year and I did not feel that there was any reason to complain. Even with cold weather there was still plenty of room for all and no problems doing anything. It was so much better layed out and organized than the Celebrity Solstice we were on this Spring. I liked it better than the Star we were also on this past Spring. Each to their own.:)

[Alsmez]

Agree that Princess should either streamline the number of categories or be more detailed as to what makes each one unique. For example, Diamond and Sapphire differ from the three original Grand Class ships with their wider promenade, lower-profile Skywalker's and larger observation areas up top--designed specifically for sailing in the glaciers in Alaska. Of course that distinction is now moot as those ships will now sail year round in Asia and Australia.

 

(And don't get me started again with Caribbean Princess which even in the case of streamlining categories belongs in its own "raspberry" class having the same design as Grand/Golden/Star while adding 500 additional passengers but no other features of the newer ships--except for deleting the covered pool :mad:)

 

This chart and the quoted post are actually super helpful - I haven't sailed on Princess yet but have been researching options for a future Alaska trip. I was disappointed to hear that they were moving Sapphire to Asia, as that's the ship we had our eye on. Does anyone know which ship(s) will be replacing Diamond and Sapphire in Alaska, or how long they'll be in Asia?

[Kinkacruiser]

What's a 'BVE' and where did you find this information sheet?

[melody hounddog]

Very helpful. Thanks for posting.

[shellbeachjim]

What's a 'BVE' and where did you find this information sheet?

It's the Bon Voyage Experience. Its description can be found on the Princess FAQ's:

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/prepare.jsp

[RickEk]

This chart and the quoted post are actually super helpful - I haven't sailed on Princess yet but have been researching options for a future Alaska trip. I was disappointed to hear that they were moving Sapphire to Asia, as that's the ship we had our eye on. Does anyone know which ship(s) will be replacing Diamond and Sapphire in Alaska, or how long they'll be in Asia?

 

No one knows yet where the Sapphire will end up. Hopefully back on the West Coast where she belongs.

 

What's a 'BVE' and where did you find this information sheet?

 

BVE stands for Bon Voyage Experience. For a $39 fee you can board the ship, have lunch, tour the ship and buy a FCC. And then disembark before the ship sails.

[IECalCruiser]

Yes and YES. I must add that I was on her when brand new, just before having a massive dry dock (when barely two years old) to add the Piazza and Crown Grill and move the casino from deck 6 to deck 7 in a vain attempt to improve passenger flow. [The casino move was done on Golden and Caribbean but received such negative feedback that plans to do the same on Star were scuttled at the last minute]. But even those upgrades do not change the fact that it is absolutely criminal to put Caribbean in the same class as Crown/Emerald/Ruby which have the open decks, spa, kids/teens rooms, Explorer's, Wheelhouse and Sabatini's all more spacious; the latter two also much better located.

The Star's drydock was before the Caribbean and the Golden and she was supposed to have the Casino moved also. The drydock was in San Francisco and as I understand it there were problems getting some of the workers into the US. The modifications had to be scaled back and only the Plaza deck changes to add an IC and Vines could be completed. The post drydock Golden is one of my favorites. Sailed on the Emerald in June and for a number of reasons I would choose the Golden over the Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

 

Obviously everyone has their own favorite(s) ;)

[J-D]

I concur with fishywood that the Caribbean should not be combined with the Crown, Emerald and Ruby. If nothing else, it has an obviously different profile given the re-location of Skywalker's on the 3 more recent ships.

 

And all 4 of those ships are, because of their extra deck of cabins, notably different from (and more crowded than) the 3 "real" Grand-class ships, and also from the Diamond and Sapphire. The space ratios (GRT divided by # of lower berths) tell the story -- about 43 for the Diamond & Sapphire, 42 for the "real" Grand-class, and under 37 for the four "extra-deck" ships. (For comparison, the Royal's space ratio is 39.6 -- about the same as for the Sun-class.)

 

None of these ships can match the better space ratios on the small R-class ships (45) or the Coral and Island (over 46).

 

Thus, the current Princess ships fall into 8 distinct classes. These are the seven categories shown on "The Princess Fleet" page included in post #1, but with the Caribbean separated into it's own unique category.

 

John