Princess to Add 19th Ship to Fleet

[shredie]

Well, that's not going to happen... I guess you can afford Seabourn or Silversea, von voyage!

 

Counting the pennies...:) If a market for the smaller vessels appears, then Princess will build some more. Guess we have to see what the market does with these big girls.

[rdsqrl]

Sure which ones do you want Sea, Sun or Dawn Princess?

All of 'em! They're great ships: good layout, roomy, big wide promenade deck, lots of oceanview cabins. Verdi's/La Scala/Cafe Corniche! I thoroughly enjoyed cruising on that class and would be thrilled to sail them again anytime, anywhere.

[billco]

All of 'em! They're great ships: good layout, roomy, big wide promenade deck, lots of oceanview cabins. Verdi's/La Scala/Cafe Corniche! I thoroughly enjoyed cruising on that class and would be thrilled to sail them again anytime, anywhere.

Cafe Corniche is sort of like the forerunner of Alfredos.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I think the biggest problem, at least for me, is the way those of us who are not fond of the design are seemingly vilified from time to time and made to think that our opinions do not count simply because we do not like the ship...

 

This has really been the most unfortunate reality of the Royal Princess...the need for "ALL POSITIVE!!! ONLY THE POSITIVE!!!" The "your opinion doesn't count because you haven't been on it but mine does (but I haven't been on it either)" posters (and they know who they are).

 

The Royal Princess is not a perfect ship. Even I, who pretty much like the ship, can point out 10 faults. Honestly, when someone gives a review without acknowledging even one of the negatives (elevators immediately spring to mind" I kind of disregard the whole review. But I don't villefy them for feeling that way.

 

For me, it's much the same as when people cruise on another line and can't say a single good thing about it. Really? So all those people who enjoy that cruise line are wrong? I give much more respect to the opinions of people who can say "this was good, this was bad, and, on balance; it is (or isn't) the right fit for me".

[dmwnc1959]

Dave, I am already thinking of cruising on the new build. I am hoping that Princess paid some attention to what we have told them. :)

 

I truly would not expect any significant changes in this new ship that would require large structural or safety changes. Don't expect a promenade deck or aft pool any different than what's on Regal Princess. I agree with RickEK that they'll open up the mid ship stair column to passenger traffic. SeaWalk won't go away, but the fountains should: a pool area similar to what Britannia has (with a smaller decorative artsy fountain) would be a smart move. Don't expect The Retreat with its Cabanas to change either.

 

And I'm not sure if changing the size of the elevators is possible without structurally changing those areas around the elevator shafts. The decor, and layout/placement of the public spaces will be the same, but the opportunity exists to replace Princess Live! with a different venue (Explorer's Lounge) to make the new ship have someone that the other sisters don't.

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Dave;

 

I think what was inferred was not that the layouts are different, it's what Princess did to the layouts when they built the Royal class......

 

Bob

 

 

Hi Bob,

 

I'm having a readers version of 'writers block'. Or I'm thick headed. ;)

 

I'm not getting what you're trying to say. If the interior layout of the public spaces, and the majority of the public spaces themselves, are similar to the Grand-class as I've pointed out, is it the decor you're eluding to? Or something else? As Denzil Washington said, 'explain it t to me like I'm a four year old".

 

:D

Edited August 5, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[Tuscan]

Hi Brian!

 

You are indeed correct. :D

 

So maybe we can then expect Royal-3 to be based at a new overseas location and bring the Sapphire Princess back with no problems. Fingers crossed.

 

One can only hope!

[Tuscan]

I don't think she'd admit publicly that the ships aren't successful. She'd be out of a job pretty quick. And while one would think that if the ships were not successful, they would not continue to build them, but we don't know what agreement has been made between Carnival Corp and the shipyard.

 

I would be happy to see these ships go to the Australian/Asian market if we can have Diamond, Sapphire and the Sun Class back.

 

Maybe Jan Swartz needs to go to bed at night and think about this. Saving face for bad decisions will not save her career. Ditch the bad ships (Royal Class) and bring the good ones back. The people will come!

[Loonbeam]

From everything I have been able to gather, Royal and Regal have been matching or exceeding revenue per day/pax numbers of most if not all of the other ships of Princess on a fairly regular basis (of course, that is tricky because of different itineraries to get an apples to apples comparison - the med is usually higher than the caribbean, for example). Being newer, they also operate under a lower cost per pax structure than most of the other ships. You do have to allow for a certain amount of new ship boost in there I suppose, which will fade.

 

This means....

 

Royal and Regal are making more money right now, in general, than the other ships in the Princess fleet.

 

...

 

That is ALL that Princess cares about. Period. They are not going to spend the money to design a new class of ship at this point. There are not going to spend 3/4 of a billion dollars on something that won't make them money. They are not going to do a radical structural change.

 

It doesn't matter if CC readers or Princess die-hards like them or don't.

 

They. Make. Money.

 

Thus there will be more of that class because the expense of class design is already done.

 

Pointing out where improvements can be made without significantly redesigning the ship is helpful. Wishing they would go back to a lesser profitable ship design because you like the way things used to be is not. Existing pools can be improved. Mid-ship stairs can be fixed. Maybe even the promenade (I think part of the barriers may be structural however). But they are not going to be able to change elevator size much (programming can be done on any ship at any time). Balconies are not likely to change nor any other change that requires modifying the superstructure (except to deal with the soot issue).

 

The Coral and Island are my two favorite cruise ships in the world. Hands down. There will never be anything like them built for the mass market again, because the numbers do not work any more. Am I happy about that? Nope. Can I change that? Nope.

 

This is the reality of business. When Princess is done with Royal Class, the next ships almost certainly will be bigger (but not Oasis sized) as the numbers have clearly shown that in today's market megaships are the ones that bring in the bucks.

[RickEk]

Maybe Jan Swartz needs to go to bed at night and think about this. Saving face for bad decisions will not save her career. Ditch the bad ships (Royal Class) and bring the good ones back. The people will come!

 

Puh-leeze, if there's someone to blame, it'd be Buckelew... the Royal-class was conceived of over 5 years ago... Swartz inherited them...

[Ethel5]

Well, that's not going to happen... I guess you can afford Seabourn or Silversea, von voyage!

 

Yeah, I know it's not going to happen. I was expressing my thoughts on what ships I would like to see. Sorry, but you don't control what people think.:rolleyes:

[caribill]

Hi Bob,

 

I'm having a readers version of 'writers block'. Or I'm thick headed. ;)

 

I'm not getting what you're trying to say. If the interior layout of the public spaces, and the majority of the public spaces themselves, are similar to the Grand-class as I've pointed out, is it the decor you're eluding to? Or something else? As Denzil Washington said, 'explain it t to me like I'm a four year old".

 

:D

 

Example: Princess Live with its fixed seating vs. the Explorers Lounge it replaced.

[dmwnc1959]

Example: Princess Live with its fixed seating vs. the Explorers Lounge it replaced.

 

 

That's unfortunately the nature of that venue, although I do recall reading that some of the chairs were suppose to be movable to create an 'In The Round' type of performance experience.

 

With this new class of ships there was a desire to do something 'different' from the Grand-class, something that would stand out and offer a multi-purpose venue that would allow a variety of entertainment. As hubofhockey mentioned "Princess Live is better suited for performances and Explorers is better suited for bands playing and singing hits with passengers enjoying a cocktail and dancing." Maybe they wanted to attract a new generation of Princess Cruises clientele that would appreciate that instead a darkened atmosphere with lounge singers. But I did see that the Explorer's Club (a rather large venue) was more often completely empty, used for staging large Art Auctions, or a place for trivia contests more than I saw it actually used for cocktail drinking and dancing.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

And I'm not sure if changing the size of the elevators is possible without structurally changing those areas around the elevator shafts. The decor, and layout/placement of the public spaces will be the same, but the opportunity exists to replace Princess Live! with a different venue (Explorer's Lounge) to make the new ship have someone that the other sisters don't.

 

:D

 

Aside from all the other negatives that have been talked about on the new ships the major one that really bothers me as well as many others is the independent operation of the elevator banks located side by side. Linking them together during the day when it's most crowded would alleviate most of the slow service problems not to say anything about operational costs. As most of us know, Princess runs all their double banked elevators in this fashion on their ships but the delays are more pronounced when there is no staircase to reduce the use. Is this really so hard to fix or is there a hidden reason that I don't comprehend?

[Mom33]

From everything I have been able to gather, Royal and Regal have been matching or exceeding revenue per day/pax numbers of most if not all of the other ships of Princess on a fairly regular basis (of course, that is tricky because of different itineraries to get an apples to apples comparison - the med is usually higher than the caribbean, for example). Being newer, they also operate under a lower cost per pax structure than most of the other ships. You do have to allow for a certain amount of new ship boost in there I suppose, which will fade.

 

This means....

 

Royal and Regal are making more money right now, in general, than the other ships in the Princess fleet.

...

 

That is ALL that Princess cares about. Period. They are not going to spend the money to design a new class of ship at this point. There are not going to spend 3/4 of a billion dollars on something that won't make them money. They are not going to do a radical structural change.

 

It doesn't matter if CC readers or Princess die-hards like them or don't.

 

They. Make. Money.

Thus there will be more of that class because the expense of class design is already done.

 

Pointing out where improvements can be made without significantly redesigning the ship is helpful. Wishing they would go back to a lesser profitable ship design because you like the way things used to be is not. Existing pools can be improved. Mid-ship stairs can be fixed. Maybe even the promenade (I think part of the barriers may be structural however). But they are not going to be able to change elevator size much (programming can be done on any ship at any time). Balconies are not likely to change nor any other change that requires modifying the superstructure (except to deal with the soot issue).

 

The Coral and Island are my two favorite cruise ships in the world. Hands down. There will never be anything like them built for the mass market again, because the numbers do not work any more. Am I happy about that? Nope. Can I change that? Nope.

 

This is the reality of business. When Princess is done with Royal Class, the next ships almost certainly will be bigger (but not Oasis sized) as the numbers have clearly shown that in today's market megaships are the ones that bring in the bucks.

 

Thank you Loonbeam.This is one of the most sensible posts on this thread.:D

 

People that cruised and enjoyed their cruise are called "cheerleaders." They were even told by the ships detractors,that they should rate the ship low because it didn't have features they wanted. Imagine being told to write your review their way! If you don't, then your review doesn't

matter? My review is about my personal experience on the ship and I have the right to state these experiences without someone coming along and suggesting I shouldn't be believed.

 

The people that dislike the ship, said it would fail, it was a huge mistake and should be "sent down under" are not happy now because the ship didn't fail.

If you want a different ship, then tell Princess about it, but don't call those of us that like or enjoyed the ship names like "cheerleaders" if we fail to agree on the ship.

 

Everyone's opinions matter. :)

[Coral]

 

Everyone's opinions matter. :)

 

I agree. That is why you should be respectful to people who disagree with you.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Coral

[Mom33]

I agree. That is why you should be respectful to people who disagree with you.

 

That goes both ways.

[pablo222]

Everyone's opinions matter. :)

 

I disagree with you. And, apparently cruise critic does too,

as they allow me to block certain posters and their opinions.

[Cruise Junky]

While I'm not disagreeing with Loonbeam that they're making money. We'll never know how much more money they could have made if they hadn't striped away some of the things that loyal Princess cruisers love forcing then to sail elsewhere or at a great discount in Royal and Regal.

[TorontoTL]

It is possible that Princess is aware that many Princess loyals miss many aspects of the Grand class ships that are absent on the Royal class and that this is OK with them. Princess may be OK with leaving out these features as it helps keep their older ships full and use the newer ships to attract a new group of cruisers who aren't familiar with the Grand class.

[Cruise Junky]

It is possible that Princess is aware that many Princess loyals miss many aspects of the Grand class ships that are absent on the Royal class and that this is OK with them. Princess may be OK with leaving out these features as it helps keep their older ships full and use the newer ships to attract a new group of cruisers who aren't familiar with the Grand class.

 

Possibly. But I'm not sure it makes good business sense to alienate anyone. And in our case, we didn't go to a grand class, we went to Celebrity.

[IECalCruiser]

The Royal class will always divide Princess loyalists, partly because (except for the Coral and Island) since 1999, the Grand class was the only type of ship Princess built and there are nine of them.

 

I doubt we will see a significant change with the third ship built for Princess. The third Royal class ship is actually P&O's Britannia. She is launching on 2015 and changes could have been made based upon feedback from the Royal. She still has no center staircase above the Promenade deck, she has the same number of pools as the Regal and the area around the main pool area is the same size with the same potential shade issues, she has a Princess Live like venue called The Studio, she does not appear to have a covered walk around Promenade deck and it is not a full Promenade deck and her balconies are probably the same size. She doesn't have the SeaWalk/Skyview Bar bump out so the are very few larger balconies available. She does have a forward lounge on Lifo deck called the Crows nest and the would be a nice addition.

 

The Oasis/Allure are a different class from all other cruise ships and comparisons should not be made to the Royal. Proper comparisons are between the Royal/Regal and the Grand class ships sailing the Caribbean itineraries. Loonbeam has posted some info, but we really don't know how well they are doing compared to the rest of the Princess fleet or to similar ships from the competition.

 

People have a choice of other Princess ships and other cruise lines. It is much too early to be discussing the Princess new build until any real information is available so I am going to stop following this thread.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Edited August 5, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[Wehwalt]

Possibly. But I'm not sure it makes good business sense to alienate anyone. And in our case, we didn't go to a grand class, we went to Celebrity.

 

Since not everyone can be satisfied with how they build their next ship, they follow the money. I'm prefer the small ships; I have spent 153 of my 188 nights on Princess on the Pacific (77 nights) or Ocean (76). I don't expect them to cater to me with a third small ship what would certainly cost several hundred million dollars.

[Loonbeam]

Because I don't want them to be fired for talking out of school, I can't attribute this directly, so feel free to consider it hearsay if you would like. I am still trying to track down specific numbers, though I do not expect to be successful.

 

"The two new ships have been doing very well. Most months they are two of the top 3 performers financially. They are also doing very well in attracting new cruisers, who quite honestly make us more money."

 

It's the second part of that that is really of interest in terms of new builds.

[azdmelani]

From everything I have been able to gather, Royal and Regal have been matching or exceeding revenue per day/pax numbers of most if not all of the other ships of Princess on a fairly regular basis (of course, that is tricky because of different itineraries to get an apples to apples comparison - the med is usually higher than the caribbean, for example). Being newer, they also operate under a lower cost per pax structure than most of the other ships. You do have to allow for a certain amount of new ship boost in there I suppose, which will fade.

 

This means....

 

Royal and Regal are making more money right now, in general, than the other ships in the Princess fleet.

 

...

 

That is ALL that Princess cares about. Period. They are not going to spend the money to design a new class of ship at this point. There are not going to spend 3/4 of a billion dollars on something that won't make them money. They are not going to do a radical structural change.

 

It doesn't matter if CC readers or Princess die-hards like them or don't.

 

They. Make. Money.

 

Thus there will be more of that class because the expense of class design is already done.

 

Pointing out where improvements can be made without significantly redesigning the ship is helpful. Wishing they would go back to a lesser profitable ship design because you like the way things used to be is not. Existing pools can be improved. Mid-ship stairs can be fixed. Maybe even the promenade (I think part of the barriers may be structural however). But they are not going to be able to change elevator size much (programming can be done on any ship at any time). Balconies are not likely to change nor any other change that requires modifying the superstructure (except to deal with the soot issue).

 

The Coral and Island are my two favorite cruise ships in the world. Hands down. There will never be anything like them built for the mass market again, because the numbers do not work any more. Am I happy about that? Nope. Can I change that? Nope.

 

This is the reality of business. When Princess is done with Royal Class, the next ships almost certainly will be bigger (but not Oasis sized) as the numbers have clearly shown that in today's market megaships are the ones that bring in the bucks.

 

Very well said.