What will Princess do?

[GUT2407]

Following on from another thread.

 

We know Dawn is off to P&O.

 

Seems pretty common knowledge Sun is going to follow, Princess rep was making no secret of it on the phone the other day. Logic says Sea will go too.

 

What will we get.

 

Currently looks like most likely Diamond Emerald and Golden, but will that be the answer and if do will it be year round for all three.

 

What think ye.

[awesome girl]

When the sun class ships go it will be the end of us cruising, we sailed

on the Diamond last year as you know, Gut, but we found it too big

and we won't go to P&O.:(

[GUT2407]

When the sun class ships go it will be the end of us cruising, we sailed

on the Diamond last year as you know, Gut, but we found it too big

and we won't go to P&O.:(

 

I'm not a huge fan of big ships, especially here in Aus/NZ, I'd love to see some around the 1000 PAX mark.

[The_Big_M]

I don't know about them going in the near future.

 

And by the time they do, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a more equivalent sized replacement. I can't see them switching to 3 larger ships.

[OzKiwiJJ]

At the moment they don't have any Sun class equivalent-sized replacements and I can't see them building any new ones, although that size is ideal for our part of the world.

 

I must say I enjoyed Golden much more than I expected to (apart from the ridiculously small bathrooms). She never felt crowded. There were just on 2,500 passengers on the cruise we went on.

[happysnapper]

Have been on Dawn & Sea Princes however last trip was circ Australia on the Diamond. We didn't feel it was too big, never felt crowded and was very easy to get around. Only time it was crowded was when there was something on in the Atrium, however that's a problem on most ships. Having said all that we cruised the Med & Greek Islands on the Grand and it was hell...northern hemisphere school holidays. Fights in and around the pool, buffet, laundry and getting on and off buses. Will never ever venture out in school holidays again no matter what size the ship and will stick with mainly Australian passengers. At least we know how to queue.

[Aussieflyer]

I'm not a huge fan of big ships, especially here in Aus/NZ, I'd love to see some around the 1000 PAX mark.

 

The problem with the small ships is pricing as they can't compete on the economies of scale. As a result a small ship that offers at least one good specialty restaurant, a choice of bars and lounges, indoor and outdoor pool, high quality entertainment will be more expensive per person than larger ones. I agree that the smaller ships would be great as they can get into smaller and more interesting ports but I don't think the general cruising public is prepared to pay a premium for this.

[NSWP]

Following on from another thread.

 

We know Dawn is off to P&O.

 

Seems pretty common knowledge Sun is going to follow, Princess rep was making no secret of it on the phone the other day. Logic says Sea will go too.

 

What will we get.

 

Currently looks like most likely Diamond Emerald and Golden, but will that be the answer and if do will it be year round for all three.

 

What think ye.

My tip Mr GUT, is Oriana from P&O UK in 3 years or so. She is ageing, I was on her last year and one of the officers mentioned 'Australia.' Perhaps. But don't hold me to it.

[NSWP]

The problem with the small ships is pricing as they can't compete on the economies of scale. As a result a small ship that offers at least one good specialty restaurant, a choice of bars and lounges, indoor and outdoor pool, high quality entertainment will be more expensive per person than larger ones. I agree that the smaller ships would be great as they can get into smaller and more interesting ports but I don't think the general cruising public is prepared to pay a premium for this.

Exactly, look at the Pacific Princess prices, 25% more than for the larger ships doing same itineraries. She carries around 650 pax. Nice ship, been on her twice, but too expensive these days. She has been operating from Dover, England and pretty pricy for Med/Canary Island cruises, compared to the larger ships.

Edited June 15, 2016 by NSWP

[GUT2407]

Have been on Dawn & Sea Princes however last trip was circ Australia on the Diamond. We didn't feel it was too big, never felt crowded and was very easy to get around. Only time it was crowded was when there was something on in the Atrium, however that's a problem on most ships. Having said all that we cruised the Med & Greek Islands on the Grand and it was hell...northern hemisphere school holidays. Fights in and around the pool, buffet, laundry and getting on and off buses. Will never ever venture out in school holidays again no matter what size the ship and will stick with mainly Australian passengers. At least we know how to queue.

 

I also thought tendering was an issue a couple of times and a few ports felt a bit overrun with visitors, mainly Port Douglas, Busselton and Picton.

 

On the ship the size was fine.

 

Also if they used more tenders and they did increase the number later in the cruise, and perhaps had more access spots for the tenders it would have alleviated the problem.

[GUT2407]

My tip Mr GUT, is Oriana from P&O UK in 3 years or so. She is ageing, I was on her last year and one of the officers mentioned 'Australia.' Perhaps. But don't hold me to it.

 

Interesting thought Les.

[Aussieflyer]

Exactly, look at the Pacific Princess prices, 25% more than for the larger ships doing same itineraries. She carries around 650 pax. Nice ship, been on her twice, but too expensive these days. She has been operating from Dover, England and pretty pricy for Med/Canary Island cruises, compared to the larger ships.

I would think that the smaller ship would work well in the Med as there are a lot of interesting ports that it would be able to get that the bigger ones can't. We were on Azamara (same size and I think class) and were able to dock at the old ports in many areas as well as Sete in France. The big ones would have been out in the boondocks!

[mrs and mrs]

When the sun class ships go it will be the end of us cruising, we sailed

on the Diamond last year as you know, Gut, but we found it too big

and we won't go to P&O.:(

 

Totally agree,wouldnt sail PandNo,in a pink fit.Golden is going to be very interesting come October.

 

As for the Oriana,it was built in 1995,same year as the Sun,in fact its one of the oldest ships still floating around.:eek:

[Guest012]

My tip Mr GUT, is Oriana from P&O UK in 3 years or so. She is ageing, I was on her last year and one of the officers mentioned 'Australia.' Perhaps. But don't hold me to it.

 

 

Rumour couple of months back has her being sold off to Fred Olsen :D:D

[dotty52]

I love the Grand class ships ,Golden ,Star and Grand sailed on the Regal(3,500 pax) and thought it might be too big and crowded but this was not the case ,so well set out ,only thing I dont like about the new ships being built they are cutting out oceanview cabins ,we ended up sailing in an inside wasnt too bad but we save $2,000.00 each by not going to a balcony

[Witchymob]

Rumour couple of months back has her being sold off to Fred Olsen :D:D

 

I think there have been rumours about Oriana moving to Australia for years. A great pool deck and lots of passenger space inside, never feels crowded, standard cabins mostly window, balconies only for suites and mini suites. If it came here to Princess would book immediately, but not if was P&O Australia. Unless P&O Australia improve vastly no matter what ships they have it will still be a sub-standard product. If P&O Australia can have ships the size of Eden and Aria why not Princess. Get to be alongside at more ports in Australia and Asia and not so much tendering which I hate.

[MicCanberra]

Following on from another thread.

 

We know Dawn is off to P&O.

 

Seems pretty common knowledge Sun is going to follow, Princess rep was making no secret of it on the phone the other day. Logic says Sea will go too.

 

What will we get.

 

Currently looks like most likely Diamond Emerald and Golden, but will that be the answer and if do will it be year round for all three.

 

What think ye.

 

P&O will also be getting a new ship. Perhaps carnival is weaning us off princess and enforcing P&O which are desperately trying to fill the void and market themselves as an comparable line.

[GUT2407]

P&O will also be getting a new ship. Perhaps carnival is weaning us off princess and enforcing P&O which are desperately trying to fill the void and market themselves as an comparable line.

 

If they did that, and unless P&O lifted their game a long way, we'd be booking a lot more Celebrity cruises.

[MicCanberra]

If they did that, and unless P&O lifted their game a long way, we'd be booking a lot more Celebrity cruises.

 

They are a better cruise line in my opinion

[GUT2407]

They are a better cruise line in my opinion

 

We give Princess a slight edge, but perhaps that's because we sailed with them first, but Celebrity aren't far behind. A few things Celebrity, in our opinion, do better than Princess.

[mrs and mrs]

If they did that, and unless P&O lifted their game a long way, we'd be booking a lot more Celebrity cruises.

 

Does that mean we will all have to go over to the Celebrity Threads.It will be like breaking up the family.:eek::eek:

Might just nip over and have a look at the neighborhood.

[MicCanberra]

Does that mean we will all have to go over to the Celebrity Threads.It will be like breaking up the family.:eek::eek:

Might just nip over and have a look at the neighborhood.

 

Just don't mention the gratuities.:p

[gbenjo]

I don't know about them going in the near future.

 

And by the time they do, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a more equivalent sized replacement. I can't see them switching to 3 larger ships.

 

RCCL have basically replaced the smaller ship(s) Rhapsody with larger one which makes sense from their point of view ..bigger ship, more pax, more money so they might go down the same path.

 

One problem though could be that the "Sun" ships fit under the Harbour Bridge whereas the Grand do not, so could create problems with berthing availability at the OPT and under utilization of White (Elephant ) Bay.

[GUT2407]

RCCL have basically replaced the smaller ship(s) Rhapsody with larger one which makes sense from their point of view ..bigger ship, more pax, more money so they might go down the same path.

 

One problem though could be that the "Sun" ships fit under the Harbour Bridge whereas the Grand do not, so could create problems with berthing availability at the OPT and under utilization of White (Elephant ) Bay.

 

I see that as a Big Ticket issue gbenjo, all ships that can't get to white bay, opt can't handle them all. What do they do?

 

will they maintain white bay if fewer and fewer ships can use it.

[MicCanberra]

I see that as a Big Ticket issue gbenjo, all ships that can't get to white bay, opt can't handle them all. What do they do?

 

will they maintain white bay if fewer and fewer ships can use it.

 

Perhaps we need ships that fold down (some ships have/ had fold down parts) so that they can fit under the bridge..