Regal Princess??

[spongerob]

Thanks, Doug, that was an interesting read. We were booked for Regal Princess once, but Princess changed things around and substituted Royal Princess in her place a few years ago. It was quite a treat to sail aboard Royal Princess when she was without a doubt the flagship of the Princess fleet. I'm hoping we can recapture some of those feelings when we finally get to experience Regal Princess next fall.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I'm hoping we can recapture some of those feelings when we finally get to experience Regal Princess next fall.

Well, you'll get the feeling of a mid-sized ship, but probably not that of a "flagship" as I don't think Princess has really had one since ROYAL PRINCESS departed, and if they did I don't think REGAL would be it.

 

That said, I'm not really "up" on Princess these days - the direction they've gone in the past decade or so isn't really my direction. The ships are too big, the product is too casual and mass-market... It's just not me.

 

I guess the "old Princess" can probably still be found on REGAL and the two R ships, and I'd certainly not hesitate to go on one if they happened to be going in the right place at the right time, but the others, the new big ones, just don't do it for me. I did GRAND in the Med in 2000... It was a great cruise - great itinerary, great food, great service - but the ship didn't do much for me. Her size was pretty impressive in 2000 when there were only a few post-Panamax ships around, but she was too big and I couldn't warm to her decor or layout either. My conclusion was that I still liked Princess as much as ever, but would stick to the more human-sized ships. Of course, I didn't expect them to get rid of their older ships so quickly and replace them with GRAND clones! When I took that cruise, they still had PACIFIC PRINCESS (I), ISLAND PRINCESS (I), SKY PRINCESS, ROYAL PRINCESS, CROWN PRINCESS (I), and REGAL PRINCESS, and any of those would've suited me fine. Alas, they started dropping like flies and of those six, now only one is left (with the two R ships brought in as partial compensation). I haven't been on Princess since; so far there hasn't been a compelling enough reason to take one of the new ships, and none of the older ones have been in the right place at the right time. (I always wanted to do the British Isles/Western Europe itinerary on ROYAL PRINCESS, and got very, very close. We were finally ready to book it for 2002, and don't you know, they didn't offer it that year! So we booked a similar itinerary on the much less desirable RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS. And then it got cancelled because of 9/11. The best-laid plans...)

 

I might add that as Princess ships have gotten bigger and their product more mainstream, my tastes, I guess as a reaction to the homogenization of the industry, have gone straight in the other direction. I'm not usually a reactionary person, the big mass-market lines are very rapidly losing their appeal (the ones that had appeal to begin with). I think HAL are just hanging on by their nails - or maybe their steamer chairs and maritime artwork ;) - and the rest are pretty much a lost cause now as far as I'm concerned...

[spongerob]

Thanks again, Doug. We've had some great cruises on Grand-class ships, in fact, the first time we were on Golden Princess was just about perfect in all areas. We've had some less than stellar cruises, too.

 

I understand your comments, and probably would share your feelings if we were at the stage in life where longer and more exotic cruises could easily be managed. Such is the life of a wage slave...sigh. I can only hope that when all we've got left to choose from are Mall Of The Americas With Theme Park And Food Court Of The Seas-style ships, I'll have my own boat and sail where I wish.

[dougnewmanatsea]

We've had some great cruises on Grand-class ships

Don't get me wrong, our cruise on GRAND was fantastic - the ship herself just didn't really do anything for me.

 

I understand your comments, and probably would share your feelings if we were at the stage in life where longer and more exotic cruises could easily be managed.

You can avoid big, mass-market ships without doing long and exotic cruises... It may take a little work, but it can be done :) ...