Cruiseing for a new line..

[toxicfairy]

Hi all. I've done 7 cruises so far. 1 with HAL ( a little to boring for us) and 6 with Royal Caribbean. We love Royal ...BUT... We were booked on the Liberty out of Galveston that was cancelled last week. After speaking with someone at their executive office I'm just not happy with the way they handled it and am looking to move on from Royal. That said tell me about Princess. We love dressing for dinner and wearing formal attire (gowns , suits) on formal nights . Does Princess lines do that? What is the life on board like? Dh and I are early 50's not into the "party" scene but like to sit at the bar and listen to music and enjoy the things there are to do. Dd's go with us sometimes and are 20 & 25 as of now. Oh we weren't thrilled with Oasis class too big and inpersonable but do love the Freedom class. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help / suggestions.

[Tina G]

Dressing suggestions on Princess are about the same as on Holland. There will be a variety of ages on board, including some kids. Longer cruises will tend to attract an older crowd since they can take the time to do the cruise easily.

 

There are different bars with different styles of music. The production shows are a little better IMHO, but similar on style. Food is OK, with options for extra-cost restaurants. The Lido buffet is not as extensive as HAL, but it served us well. One thing I love is the Princess desserts! HAL can't touch those chocolate masterpieces!

 

Usually the "party 'til we drop" crows doesn't do Princess. I've never really had a problem with any other passengers. The MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) are fun for a different experience. They provide popcorn and blankets for you to sit out and watch a movie.

 

I think you would like Princess.

[tourismtessy]

Princess does have the formal nights for dressing up for dinner and photographers every night for picture taking as well. I feel like Royal Caribbean is more marketed to "active families" and Princess is targeted to "relax and just get away". Hubby and I are in our mid 50's and cruised royal caribbean our first ever cruise but have stayed with Princess now for 8 total cruises. We love the mellow vibe on Princess and the dining is great. We love the buffet as an alternative to the Main Dining Rooms. We opt to not dress up and just dine in the buffet or get pizza or a burger at the grill. We like to pack lighter and have had recent pictures done on a cruise where we were dressed up. They have several bars and lounges with different types of music to listen to so you will have many choices there. I would say most of the passengers on Princess are in their 50's or above. We sail during the school year so not many kids on our cruises. There are multiple pools on the Princess ships too. We love the MUTS (movies under the stars) where they play a nightly movie on the big screen on the deck (providing blankets, popcorn, and warm chocolate chip cookies). One of our favorite areas onboard is in the Piazza near the International Cafe. Here you can get specialty coffee drinks and donuts/pastries in the morning and light lunch and supper as an alternative to the dining room or buffet. You can sit in the Piazza and just people watch or listen to the music usually provided by a piano player. I think you and your Husband will definitely enjoy Princess.

[Colo Cruiser]

Sounds like Princess may be a good fit for you. ;)

[pris993]

We started crusing with RCCL years ago, moved when they started to build new ships. We have cruised the most on Princess, next Celebrity, HAL, Cunard, NCL, Crystal and a few lines no around any more. Based on what you have to say, I would think Princess and Cunard would be good fits.. Princess has is similar to HAL, more night life, Cunard is similar to both, a bit more formal.. pick a cruise itinerary and try them out.

[OCruisers]

For what you want for you & your family Princess could be an excellent choice for you! :)

[Coral]

I think Celebrity could also be a good fit for you.

 

I can honestly say that there are times when there are bad situations (hurricanes, mechanical failure etc..) - some Princess people are not pleased with the corporate office either. I probably would not hold this against a cruise line as events like this puts cruise lines in tailspins. After saying that, I think it is good to try several lines.

[Coffeeluvr05]

Up until this past April, I had only been on Royal Caribbean. I was happy with it and had no real preference when we booked our Europe itinerary on the Caribbean Princess. DH and I are in our mid 40's and we really enjoyed Princess immensely and will stick with Princess as long as we are happy with it. On RC I remember feeling like I could never escape the people and thought that maybe cruise just wasn't for me, until we went on Princess. There were plenty of places that were not crowded and I never had to wait for anything. It felt like cruising SHOULD feel! I'm so glad we had this experience and are booked again for one in November and again next year. I believe the MDR food is better on Princess. If you like dressing up, you will fit in just fine. I think there are always going to be those that dress up/down more than the next person, but I thought everyone was dressed very nicely for the MDR.

 

My favorite lounge at night was the Explorers lounge. Good live music and loved watching people dance. We are more chair dancers. LOL! We just enjoyed the atmosphere and the cocktails. We also really liked Skywalkers during the day. What a relaxing place to be and the view! There was actually a lady who was asleep nearby where we were. It was just a nice place to be away from people, if you like that sort of thing. Also, the Piazza, where there is usually some sort of activity going on and you can just hang out drinking coffee/tea, nibbling on something from the International Cafe. I could really go on and on. We did have club class dining and suite breakfast at Sabatini's so that may have colored our experience a bit. We just loved it.

 

Super happy with Princess and working our way to Elite status one day!

 

P.S. I hope nothing I said was taken as critical of RC, because we had a good time, but it's just not for us...especially the newer mega ships like Oasis and the like.

[skynight]

Here is some information.

The things you mention that you like are on Princess ships. Princess has lots of evening live music at various venues. Depending on the ship they can also have shows in different theaters or lounges. You can dress as formal as you like. Princess still has formal evenings. All shows on Princess are walk in. There are no pre-reservations for shows. Lots of free food at various locations. The International Cafe is open 24/7. Most, but not all ships have the International Cafe. The buffet opens at 5 or 6am and remains open all day and evening until closing around 11pm. From the east coast Princess sails from Ft. Lauderdale, an easy flight from NJ. Princess only sails from Brooklyn in Sept/Oct when they have a few ships do their Canada voyages. DR food is pretty good. No need to eat at the specialty restaurants. Almost all drinks (95%+) on Princess are $10 & under + 15% gratuity. The All Inclusive Beverage Package is $57.45/pp/day, pre-purchase price, must be purchased for the entire cruise, includes all alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages menu prices $10 and under and the prince includes the 15% gratuity. No additional billing for tips as you order drinks. Princess allows any passenger 21 or older to carry on 1 x 750ml bottle of wine without charge. Additional wine can be carried on and is subject to a $15 corkage fee per bottle. This wine is marked and can be used anywhere on the ship. You can carry or bring on as much non-alcoholic beverage as you like, no limit, no restrictions. Princess currently has a 3 for free promo going on for some sailings in 2018 & 2019. Check the Princess web site to see what promo may apply to a cruise you like.

[LoriPhil]

Princess has self-service laundries on each of the cabin-decks, which makes it easier to pack less and leave more room for buying (more) goodies to take back home. We also love that we can go directly to our cabin when we board and drop off our stuff rather than hauling it around, as we have done on other cruiselines.

 

I can't imagine the stress and negative experience you had with the Galveston cruise! I hope you'll use it as an opportunity to give Princess a try - it's always nice to have a comparison, but even better to be planning a new adventure.

[Lucky TGO]

Sounds like Princess may be a good fit for you. ;)

 

I agree with Keith. (y)

Tony

[creel5857]

we have traveled royal carribean, princess and Holland. Royal appears more upbeat with activities than others.....princess and royal seems to have better shows than Hal in our opinion......food is subjective and has been ok for us on all 3 lines....to me the dress up for formal night seems to vary a bit by ship and length of cruise and itinerary but seeing fewer people who really dress up as compared to past years.....

[Host Jazzbeau]

Celebrity is a very nice cruise line, but they have done away with formal nights so I wouldn't recommend it to OP. Princess sounds like the ideal step up.

[geocruiser]

I think that you would love Princess. I would give Regal Princess a try. She is a great ship and the best buffet at sea.

[easyboy]

I think that you would love Princess. I would give Regal Princess a try. She is a great ship and the best buffet at sea.

I agree. And Royal Princess too,.

[Steelers36]

We started crusing with RCCL years ago, moved when they started to build new ships. We have cruised the most on Princess, next Celebrity, HAL, Cunard, NCL, Crystal and a few lines no around any more. Based on what you have to say, I would think Princess and Cunard would be good fits.. Princess has is similar to HAL, more night life, Cunard is similar to both, a bit more formal.. pick a cruise itinerary and try them out.

 

A "bit more"???? I'd say a LOT more. Honestly. Just from reading their rules (which I did read recently).

[KevintheIrishDJ]

Don't forget to buy 100 shares of Carnival stock to get OBC every time you sail.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

We loved Freedom class ships on RC as well. We also loved all the physical activities because we were in our late 30s and either didn't have a kid yet or brought our young kid with us. There is a lot more to do for families and kids. We got tired of the same food though on all three ships we've been on, and took up our friends' offer to try Regal Princess. There are some plusses and minuses to both companies.

 

I think you should go with Royal or Regal Princess if you like great food and big (but not enormous) ship. The buffet on these two ships is by far better than any RC or smaller Princess ships (Caribbean Princess in particular). Regal and Royal Princesses are newer and cleaner. There are fewer physical activities for people to do, but since you are looking to relax and are in your mid-50s, you'd love the laid back atmosphere.

 

Out of curiosity - did RC refund all your money or did they keep it?

[toxicfairy]

Thank you everyone!!

[serene56]

we are carnival cruisers. Saled royal a few times- its just for us.

 

When we took our first Princess cruise a few years back on the caribbean princess I was super worried about reviews talking about how bad the food was and how boring the ship was - and how there is nothing but old people onboard and nothing to do after 10

 

I am so happy that we still went because nothing was what the worry was all about

[keithm]

Hi all. I've done 7 cruises so far. 1 with HAL ( a little to boring for us) and 6 with Royal Caribbean. We love Royal ...BUT... We were booked on the Liberty out of Galveston that was cancelled last week. After speaking with someone at their executive office I'm just not happy with the way they handled it and am looking to move on from Royal. That said tell me about Princess. We love dressing for dinner and wearing formal attire (gowns , suits) on formal nights . Does Princess lines do that? What is the life on board like? Dh and I are early 50's not into the "party" scene but like to sit at the bar and listen to music and enjoy the things there are to do. Dd's go with us sometimes and are 20 & 25 as of now. Oh we weren't thrilled with Oasis class too big and inpersonable but do love the Freedom class. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help / suggestions.

Personally, if you like dressing up properly for dinner, then Cunard would be your best choice. Most lines(Princess included)are starting to "dumb" down the dress codes. There are those on this site who will encourage you to dress down & ignore the dress codes. It's pax like that which make me feel that they won't be happy until everyone dresses like "Onslow"! That diatribe aside, Yes, Princess still encourages you to dress nicely. For how much longer, I can't say. I'd suggest for a ship, you might want to try the Royal class: Royal/Regal/Majestic. These ships have a gorgeous interior. The glass walkway over the sea is really quite nice. Shows are decent, though the theater is surprisingly small for ships this size. There is a tea service daily. Once a cruise they have a more elegant tea. We loved it, but Cunard is still the best in that area. Overall cruises are more laid back than RCCL. That being said, I'd also look at Celebrity as well. Both lines have fewer annoying announcements than RCCL/NCL/Carnival. I think Princess will be a nice overall fit.

Edited September 8, 2017 by keithm
grammar

[keithm]

A "bit more"???? I'd say a LOT more. Honestly. Just from reading their rules (which I did read recently).

That's their "Shtick". Formal dress codes. You'll find their ships to be packed as more pax are getting tired of the slovenly downslide to many cruise lines these days & going to where the dreams of true "Ocean Liner" travel are.

[keithm]

Celebrity is a very nice cruise line, but they have done away with formal nights so I wouldn't recommend it to OP. Princess sounds like the ideal step up.

They may call them "Chic" nights, but on our Jan trip this year, I never saw so many tuxes with the possible exception of Cunard. We've been on the Eclipse 3 times & this past trip pax really seemed to go all out on Chic nights. We do the 14 day cruises, so I can't really speak for shorter trips. That being said, the pax on the Regal were no slouches either when it came to formal nights.

[Host Jazzbeau]

They may call them "Chic" nights, but on our Jan trip this year, I never saw so many tuxes with the possible exception of Cunard. We've been on the Eclipse 3 times & this past trip pax really seemed to go all out on Chic nights. We do the 14 day cruises, so I can't really speak for shorter trips. That being said, the pax on the Regal were no slouches either when it came to formal nights.

 

This is why it seems to me that Celebrity has it right: if you market to a mature demographic, you don't have to worry about people dressing like 'Onslow.' Those who still like to wear black tie will -- and be happy. Those who don't will still dress in at least a somewhat chic manner [golf shirt and non-jean slacks] -- and be happy. A few may push the lower limits, but they will stick out like sore thumbs -- and hopefully notice. But no one will feel obligated to pack a suit that has no other purpose on a trip any more.

[tawlaw1526]

My husband and I are in our mid 50's and in April of 2015, we took our first Princess cruise because we liked the Hawaii Itinerary out of Los Angeles. We had previously sailed 6 times on Carnival in our 20's, then cruised a few times each on NCL and Celebrity. We loved every cruise we ever took. Moved on from Carnival simply because we grew out of it. NCL and Celebrity were both wonderful cruise lines. Then came April 2015 and we boarded the Ruby Princess and set sail for Hawaii, after the first day we knew we were going to be making Princess our only cruise line. Now by the end of November 2017, we will be Elite members with Princess. So Yes, I do recommend PRINCESS CRUISE LINE. I believe you will find everything you are looking for in a cruise line. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!