What is a Maiden Voyage ?

[sidari]

No doubt many of you have been there and done that, booked a Maiden Voyage only to find in fact that it is not what it says it is!

 

Of our two previous sailings with Princess on the Ruby we booked the first as the Maiden Voyage from Fort Lauderdale only to find that two cruises had been added prior to the one we booked so our sailing was no longer the Maiden cruise.

 

As with other lines Princess no doubt do this on a regular basis with their New ships as they have now done with the Majestic Princess on the 31 st March 2017 which they have called the "Maiden Majestic Preview" which was supposed to be a four night cruise for the usual media and travel agency guests, however Princess have now opened this up to the general fare paying public.

 

I found a possible definition of a "Maiden Voyage" which is described as being the following :

"Perhaps the best description of a true maiden voyage is the first revenue-producing voyage of a new ship – that is, the first cruise for which tickets are sold to the general public.

 

So this being the case and the fact that there will be "fare paying passengers onboard" does this so called shake down cruise constitute the Maiden voyage ?

 

Interested to hear your thoughts on this ... :)

[pablo222]

Interested to hear your thoughts on this ... :)

 

Well, the cruise line wants the ship finished, and to start producing

revenue as soon as possible.

 

So, they pick a delivery date, and schedule the first cruise.

 

There are 3 possible outcomes:

 

1) everything is on time, and first cruise is actual first cruise

 

2) ship is delivered early, so they squeeze in a pre-first cruise

 

3) ship is delivered late, so people who schedule the first cruise

have their sailing cancelled, and are out of luck.

 

Seems like '3' is the outcome the cruiseline should try and avoid.

 

Additionally, there have been plenty of reports of things not completed,

and work continuing through the first cruise(s).

[Essiesmom]

Why do you schedule a 'maiden voyage'? to be first on the ship? But wasn't the Ruby built in Italy, and had a summer season in the Med. before reaching FLL? I have not done a 'maiden' voyage, but I did an inaugural cruise, first revenue producing voyage on the Star Princess in 2002. She had sailed deadhead from Italy across the Indian Ocean, finishing things up and training crew, before embarking from Singapore. EM

[sidari]

We did not schedule the cruise, it came up on an offer two weeks ago! From memory Ruby went direct to FLL and on the two day sailing after the christening there was a serious water leak due to a failed water supply pipe. Video was on youtube taken by a guy called Steve Read.

The Ruby cruise was booked as my retirement present.

 

Majestic has been built at the same yard as Ruby was, a friend of mine has worked on the construction of both ships.

Edited December 23, 2016 by sidari

[yuccaman]

Yeah, it is a bummer if one books the actual maiden voyage, and then the ship is ready early, leading the line to schedule a preview cruise to obtain the additional revenue days...but it happens almost every time a ship is delivered early.

 

However, you still receive the maiden perks, such as celebrations, souvenir books and other swag goodies, which differ by cruise line and ship. But your bed has been slept in, and the preview cruiser got the first sleep- or maybe not... sometimes the ships also have an unpublished 1-nighter for media/press/travel agents regardless of the existence of a preview cruise for revenue or not.

[Kingofcool1947]

No doubt many of you have been there and done that, booked a Maiden Voyage only to find in fact that it is not what it says it is!

 

Of our two previous sailings with Princess on the Ruby we booked the first as the Maiden Voyage from Fort Lauderdale only to find that two cruises had been added prior to the one we booked so our sailing was no longer the Maiden cruise.

 

As with other lines Princess no doubt do this on a regular basis with their New ships as they have now done with the Majestic Princess on the 31 st March 2017 which they have called the "Maiden Majestic Preview" which was supposed to be a four night cruise for the usual media and travel agency guests, however Princess have now opened this up to the general fare paying public.

 

I found a possible definition of a "Maiden Voyage" which is described as being the following :

"Perhaps the best description of a true maiden voyage is the first revenue-producing voyage of a new ship – that is, the first cruise for which tickets are sold to the general public.

 

So this being the case and the fact that there will be "fare paying passengers onboard" does this so called shake down cruise constitute the Maiden voyage ?

 

Interested to hear your thoughts on this ... :)

 

Isn't that when there are more young single women onboard?

[Hlitner]

Just a related comment that we have learned (through experience) to avoid "Maiden" voyages like the plague. In fact, our own personal rule is to avoid new ships until they have been in service at least 3 months. Why? Because new builds are often not totally finished when they start service (we have been on one cruise where they were still unpacking furniture and laying carpet). But the bigger issue is the crew. It takes weeks (and even months) for a newly formed crew to learn how to work together as a real team. While there is always some degree of excitement being on a new ship, we feel the crew issues outweigh the benefits on most new builds.

 

Hank

[towhee]

We sailed the third inaugural voyage of the Sun Princess way back when. Our cruise was originally supposed to be the inaugural, but Sun arrived early and P&O/Princess was able to schedule two voyages before ours. Even so there were still some hiccups on our cruise. We lost power for a couple of hours one day, they were still working on signage, and the crew was still referring to maps to find their way around. Everyone had a good time and took it in stride and yes, we got all of the goodies that an inaugural sailing implies.

[Credit 00]

I have been on a "maiden voyage" though the definition was used on the basis that it was the first time this ship (maybe princess cruises) had been to the destination. The ship was over 10 years old at the time.

[caribill]

Just a related comment that we have learned (through experience) to avoid "Maiden" voyages like the plague. In fact, our own personal rule is to avoid new ships until they have been in service at least 3 months. Why? Because new builds are often not totally finished when they start service (we have been on one cruise where they were still unpacking furniture and laying carpet). But the bigger issue is the crew. It takes weeks (and even months) for a newly formed crew to learn how to work together as a real team. While there is always some degree of excitement being on a new ship, we feel the crew issues outweigh the benefits on most new builds.

 

 

However if you want to experience the new Majestic Princess, you cannot wait at least 3 months. By then it will be permanently in China only available to be booked by Chinese travel companies that have chartered the ship.

[sidari]

Thanks to those of you who responded ... :D

[Hlitner]

However if you want to experience the new Majestic Princess, you cannot wait at least 3 months. By then it will be permanently in China only available to be booked by Chinese travel companies that have chartered the ship.

 

Oh well, Guess we shall just have to live with that :). Will store that thought right next to the "oops, missed the Maiden voyage of the Titanic" thought.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Hlitner

[timetravel]

After reading these posts, i hope I did a good thing booking the 2 b2b cruises. Have done maiden on other cruise lines, but not Princess. Have a mini-suite on the one out of Trieste, and a club mini-suite out of Rome.