Cutting back on itineraries?

[Cruise Junky]

Princess used to be known for their stellar itineraries...what has happened? Comparing a Sydney/Singapore itinerary between Princess and RCL and there is no comparison.

 

Princess...

 

Singapore

Bali

Darwin

Sydney

 

RCL...

 

Sydney

Brisbane

Arlie Beach

Cairns

Port Douglas

Darwin

Singapore

 

And RCL is $500 cheaper. Is this an anomoly or is Princess really degrading their itineraries that much?

[GUT2407]

Only time will tell.

[Go-Bucks!]

I've been enjoying the itineraries on Celebrity although I still enjoy the Princess cruise experience more. I think Princess used to have the best port calls, but Celebrity has improved alot. :p

[Cruise Junky]

I've been enjoying the itineraries on Celebrity although I still enjoy the Princess cruise experience more. I think Princess used to have the best port calls, but Celebrity has improved alot. :p

 

Yeah we found that too it was kind of a no brainer for our med cruise next year. Nothing came close to the Celebrity itinerary. Disappointing for a Princess fan.

[OzKiwiJJ]

And RCL is $500 cheaper. Is this an anomoly or is Princess really degrading their itineraries that much?

 

You might pay less for your cabin on RCL but drinks prices are ridiculously high - so high that the only exconomical way is to buy the drinks packages. Of course, if you're happy just drinking water and the free soft drink and tea/coffee offerings then RCL is a good deal.

 

It looks like that one is a quick repositioning cruise, Diamond returning to Sydney from Asia for the Australian summer season.

Edited June 20, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[Cruise Junky]

You might pay less for your cabin on RCL but drinks prices are ridiculously high - so high that the only exconomical way is to buy the drinks packages. Of course, if you're happy just drinking water and the free soft drink and tea/coffee offerings then RCL is a good deal.

 

Were all Princess Sydney - Singapore itineraries like that? Or was it a one-off repositioning cruise?

 

After cruising with a drink package and loving it we would likely do that again. The advantage to RCL is I can buy it after the port heavy beginning. On Princess I would gave to buy it for the entire cruise

 

For the itinerary question, they're both repositioning cruises. I just checked Diamond. I'll check out others.

 

Update...just checked...this seems to be the only Princess cruise doing that route. They seem to have more Perth to Singapore which were not interested in.

 

Celebrity has two which also leave Princess in the dust

Sat Oct 8 Sydney, Australia 6:30pm

Sun Oct 9 At Sea

Mon Oct 10 Brisbane, Australia 8:00am 5:00pm

Tue Oct 11 At Sea

Wed Oct 12 Airlie Beach, Australia 8:00am 5:00pm

Thu Oct 13 Cairns, Australia 9:00am 5:00pm

Fri Oct 14 At Sea

Sat Oct 15 At Sea

Sun Oct 16 Darwin, Australia 8:00am 8:00pm

Mon Oct 17 At Sea

Tue Oct 18 At Sea

Wed Oct 19 Benoa, Bali 8:00am 5:00pm

Thu Oct 20 At Sea

Fri Oct 21 At Sea

Sat Oct 22 Singapore 8:00am

Edited June 20, 2015 by Cruise Junky

[cb at sea]

There is no "free" soft drink (soda) on RCI...!

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Princess has cut WAY back on the number 3 and 4-night California coastals for 2016/2017. I guess they just weren't making the numbers they had hoped for. Too bad, as they work out great for us schedule-wise :(.

Edited June 20, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[icat2000]

How many days were the itineraries for Princess ? 12 days

 

I did a Sydney to Singapore repo with Princess this year and it was 19 days stopping in Brisbane, airlie beach, darwin, bali, nga trang, hcmc, singapore.

 

This is the 2016 verison

 

Ships: Diamond Princess

Ports: Sydney, Australia | Melbourne, Australia | Adelaide, Australia | Fremantle, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Singapore

 

I'm doing a 12 night Princess cruise it goes from Perth to singapore stops at which is part of the 19 day verison.

 

Ships: Diamond Princess

Ports: Fremantle, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Singapore

 

Others options

Ships: Sun Princess 12 nights

Ports: Fremantle, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia | Penang, Malaysia | Langkawi, Malaysia | Phuket, Thailand | Singapore

 

Ships: Sun Princess 14 nights

Ports: Singapore | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Sihanoukville, Cambodia | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ko Samui, Thailand | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Fremantle, Australia

 

 

So for my mind Princess offers does offer variety up to Asia. They also run more of them throughout the year. Celebrity and RCL are really only at repo time.

Edited June 20, 2015 by icat2000

[shredie]

Princess has cut WAY back on the number 3 and 4-night California coastals for 2016/2017. I guess they just weren't making the numbers they had hoped for. Too bad, as they work out great for us schedule-wise :(.

 

I agree. They are great for Californians.

[Cruise Junky]

How many days were the itineraries for Princess ? 12 days

 

I did a Sydney to Singapore repo with Princess this year and it was 19 days stopping in Brisbane, airlie beach, darwin, bali, nga trang, hcmc, singapore.

 

This is the 2016 verison

 

Ships: Diamond Princess

Ports: Sydney, Australia | Melbourne, Australia | Adelaide, Australia | Fremantle, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Singapore

 

I'm doing a 12 night Princess cruise it goes from Perth to singapore stops at which is part of the 19 day verison.

 

Ships: Diamond Princess

Ports: Fremantle, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Singapore

 

Others options

Ships: Sun Princess 12 nights

Ports: Fremantle, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia | Penang, Malaysia | Langkawi, Malaysia | Phuket, Thailand | Singapore

 

Ships: Sun Princess 14 nights

Ports: Singapore | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Sihanoukville, Cambodia | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ko Samui, Thailand | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Fremantle, Australia

 

 

So for my mind Princess offers does offer variety up to Asia. They also run more of them throughout the year. Celebrity and RCL are really only at repo time.

 

But as I mentioned above, I'm not interested in Perth itineraries. I specifically want Sydney to Singapore with Queensland ports and the one that you did last year doesn't seem to be available going forward except in the stripped down version that I posted

Edited June 20, 2015 by Cruise Junky

[icat2000]

Also the Golden Princess is doing a couple of nice repo to and from Asia

 

Ships: Golden Princess 23 nights, leaving 6 April 2016

Ports: Sydney, Australia | Brisbane, Australia | Darwin, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Singapore | Ko Samui, Thailand | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Nha Trang, Vietnam | Hong Kong, China

 

Ships: Golden Princess 25 nights, leaving 17 October 2016

Ports: Beijing (Tianjin), China | Osaka, Japan | Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan | Hong Kong, China | Nha Trang, Vietnam | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Darwin, Australia | Brisbane, Australia | Sydney, Australia

 

 

So plenty of variety in itineraries.

[icat2000]

But as I mentioned above, I'm not interested in Perth itineraries. I specifically want Sydney to Singapore with Queensland ports and the one that you did last year doesn't seem to be available going forward except in the stripped down version that I posted

Well it was this year cruise. They decided to do it the other way in 2016. I guess to offer a bit of *cough* variety. :D

Edited June 20, 2015 by icat2000

[Cruise Junky]

Also the Golden Princess is doing a couple of nice repo to and from Asia

 

Ships: Golden Princess 23 nights, leaving 6 April 2016

Ports: Sydney, Australia | Brisbane, Australia | Darwin, Australia | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Singapore | Ko Samui, Thailand | Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Nha Trang, Vietnam | Hong Kong, China

 

Ships: Golden Princess 25 nights, leaving 17 October 2016

Ports: Beijing (Tianjin), China | Osaka, Japan | Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan | Hong Kong, China | Nha Trang, Vietnam | Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam | Bali (Benoa), Indonesia | Darwin, Australia | Brisbane, Australia | Sydney, Australia

 

 

So plenty of variety in itineraries.

 

Unfortunately way too long for people that still work. So maybe that has become Princess's target market. Only make interesting itineraries for the retired.

[icat2000]

Unfortunately way too long for people that still work. So maybe that has become Princess's target market. Only make interesting itineraries for the retired.

No not necessarily. Australians and NZ have much more annual leave per year. In Australia, you get 4 weeks annual leave. Plus you might have access to long service leave to use too.

 

Maybe they just catering more to the closer markets. My 19 day cruise there were plenty of working people on it. Plus it went over the Easter break which helps cut down on the leave days required too.

Edited June 20, 2015 by icat2000

[Cruise Junky]

No not necessary. Australians and NZ have much more annual leave per year. Maybe they just catering more to the closer markets.

 

True. Definitely not for the working North American demographic. It's just disappointing that they're still doing the itinerary but have made it so dull.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Unfortunately way too long for people that still work. So maybe that has become Princess's target market. Only make interesting itineraries for the retired.

 

I thought that was HAL's domain ;).

[icat2000]

True. Definitely not for the working North American demographic. It's just disappointing that they're still doing the itinerary but have made it so dull.

 

Well its cause they just wanting to get the ship back to OZ as quickly as possible cause their is moolah to make in OZ. That is one cruise. There are plenty of other options and variety and I don't agree that Princess has gotten dull with their itineraries, they just don't suit what you want to do because you seem to be restricted by time?

Edited June 20, 2015 by icat2000

[Cruise Junky]

Well its cause they just wanting to get the ship back to OZ as quickly as possible cause their is moolah to make in OZ. That is one cruise. There are plenty of other options, they just don't suit what you want to do because you seem to be restricted by time?

 

But it's only 2 days difference between the Princess and the RCL cruise so those are going to be some very slow moving sea days ;)

[icat2000]

But it's only 2 days difference between the Princess and the RCL cruise so those are going to be some very slow moving sea days ;)

Can be rough going up around Australia at that time of year. However, it was a mill pond when I went. I was praying for a some bigger waves. I didn't get my wish though.

Edited June 20, 2015 by icat2000

[OzKiwiJJ]

True. Definitely not for the working North American demographic. It's just disappointing that they're still doing the itinerary but have made it so dull.

 

It's one itinerary out of how many? They probably have their reasons for doing it that way,

 

Maybe they're catering for people who like sea days more than port days. ;)

[OzKiwiJJ]

There is no "free" soft drink (soda) on RCI...!

 

Maybe not fizzy soft drinks (soda) but there was iced tea and a sugarless flavoured still drink, as well as hot water, tea bags of various types, hot chocolate sachets, and coffee available all the time on Rhapsody of the Seas near the Park Cafe.

[Cruise Junky]

It's one itinerary out of how many? They probably have their reasons for doing it that way,

 

Maybe they're catering for people who like sea days more than port days. ;)

 

But that goes back to my original question...is this a pattern or is this a one off. I cancelled my FCCs this year as there was nothing appealing. There are some great longer itineraries but we can't swing that and so many now seem to be filled with sea days. Princess always rocked in the itinerary department but it seems to be changing.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Cruise Junky

[icat2000]

But that goes back to my original question...is this a pattern or is this a one off. I cancelled my FCCs this year as there was nothing appealing. There are some great longer itineraries but we can't swing that and so many now seem to be filled with sea days. Princess always rocked in the itinerary department but it seems to be changing.

I think its more of a case that nothing fits your particular needs. That is a bit different, than throwing out a blanket statement that Princess itineraries have gotten a little stale.

 

From my perspective there is plenty of variety to and from Asia out of Australia offering variety of lengths ranging from 12, 14 up to 25 nights. I think that cruise you refer to they do once a year. Its nice to have options.

[OzKiwiJJ]

But that goes back to my original question...is this a pattern or is this a one off. I cancelled my FCCs this year as there was nothing appealing. There are some great longer itineraries but we can't swing that and so many now seem to be filled with sea days. Princess always rocked in the itinerary department but it seems to be changing.

 

It might be a pattern ... of one cruise per year.

 

Personally it would suit me fine, I love sea days. In fact I'd be even happier if they omitted Bali as then I wouldn't have to pay a US $35 visa fee for a place I don't really want to go ashore at. ;)