Is Princess still good value?

[fishin' musician]

I wondered that myself. DW and myself have traveled the world (both in and out of the military). Our "vacations" usually consisted of flying into a city (Geneva, for example), renting a car and staying at a local hotel. Eating on the "economy" and sightseeing. We have always had a great time. The "average" vacation (a week or two, sometimes three) usually cost us around $3 grand.

 

DW has always (1) wanted to cruise and (2) visit Alaska. We plan on doing both in August. So far, we are well above the $3 grand thresh hold. But hey, it ticks off a couple of items on our bucket list. However, that having been stated, It would have been much easier (not to mention cheaper) to have just flown to Alaska, rented a car, made reservations at 3-4 nice hotels and did "our thing" each day.

 

Now, I am not saying that Princess is worth it or not. That's not for me to say, but I WILL say this, with the many changes that Princess seems to be making (Pizza, Water, ridiculous "coffee cards", etc) I would say that this will probably be our last cruise and I only say that because I KNOW I can do it much cheaper. (1) I can watch "movies under the stars in my backyard. (2) We already have a hot tub. (3) I can eat "all you can eat" buffet food in town. (4) I can enjoy 4 star dining anytime - it's nothing really "new".

 

Before you "long time cruisers" rip me apart - don't get me wrong! I'm not unhappy with this "set up" in the least. Actually looking forward to it in a BIG way!! However, the OP questions whether cruise lines (and in particular, Princess) is a "good" value. Again - the answer is always subjective. However, I recall, very fondly, DW asking me to go "sky diving" as she put it. :D

 

In the Army I was a qualified Master Jumper. So the idea of "jumping" was like asking a movie critic if he liked every movie he had ever seen. But, off we went and she "sky dived". She had the time of her life. For me? Another day at the office. She may very well LOVE to cruise and, as a result, we will do it more often. But for me? the "cruise" doesn't seem to be a cost effective way to "see the sights" - but again, that's me. I'm an old Infantryman....we tend to be grumpy... :cool:

 

First, thank you for your service! What my wife and I have discovered is that cruises offer a convenient and reasonably priced means of discovering parts of the world we'd like to further explore. We spent our 30th anniversary on Tortola because of a cruise visit.... no chain hotels or restaurants... it was like a trip back in time. Alaska offers similar opportunities, and to me, cruises are the best way to try it out.

[caribill]

Is Princess still good value?

 

 

It depends what you are comparing it to.

 

Compared to Princess pricing of a couple of years ago, it is not a good value. Pricing for most comparable cruises is up considerably.

 

Compared to the more "upscale cruises", it may still be a good value.

 

The OP used Viking as an example. Viking does receive very high ratings, but there are significant differences compared to what Princess offers. For example, Viking's on board entertainment is nowhere near as varied or extensive as on Princess. They also do not have a casino. They also do not have young children aboard. If the entertainment, the casino, or the ability to travel with young relatives is important to you, then Viking is not a good value. And if alcoholic beverages are not important to you, you are paying for the included drinks on Viking even if you do not want them.

 

 

One feature Viking has is a free shore excursion in every port. However, in most cases that would be of no value to us if it is for ports we have been at before as it is likely we would have already experienced what is on the included Viking tours and we would have to pay for alternative tours.

 

But when it comes to Princess competing with the other cruise lines, Princess does not consider them the main competition. The main competition is land vacations. As long as Princess pricing makes a vacation cost less than a land vacation, Princess sees the opportunity to expand its customer base.

Edited February 9, 2018 by caribill

[OzKiwiJJ]

One thing we like about Princess, and which makes it reasonably good value for us, is the Sanctuary. We often book an inside cabin instead of a balcony, and spend some of the savings on the Sanctuary. We love being right up high above the bow watching the ocean roll past.

 

However even in three years, since we started cruising, I have noticed cutbacks. Still, at the moment, Princess is still reasonable value. Princess also has the advantage (for us) of having been in Australia all year round but this winter (May to August) there are virtually no cruises out of Australia. It looks like it might be the same next winter.

[Geoffa30]

One thing we like about Princess, and which makes it reasonably good value for us, is the Sanctuary. We often book an inside cabin instead of a balcony, and spend some of the savings on the Sanctuary. We love being right up high above the bow watching the ocean roll past.

 

However even in three years, since we started cruising, I have noticed cutbacks. Still, at the moment, Princess is still reasonable value. Princess also has the advantage (for us) of having been in Australia all year round but this winter (May to August) there are virtually no cruises out of Australia. It looks like it might be the same next winter.

 

We started cruising three years ago too :) and have taken around ten over the three years and have a further five booked between now and October 2019. We're hooked! I think the product is probably the same but the prices (along with everything nowadays) has increased substantially.

 

It's also difficult to look past all the additional costs once the cruise fare is paid. We are on the Caribbean Princess in five weeks; our cruise fare for 14 nights was £3,450 in a Caribe balcony. Adding flights (£1,600), gratuities (£280), drinks (say £800 :o), speciality dinners (at least £100 including tips), the Sanctuary for a few days (£180) and perhaps an excursion or two (£200 - we do a lot of stuff on our own but at some ports in the Caribbean we feel safer on an organised tour), the total price is £6,610. As an alternative, Viking (there's that name again) are doing a 14 night cruise New York to Miami via Bermuda and the Caribbean in October 2018, for £6,980 which includes all of the above.

[ABoatNerd]

Take a look at a post on Celebrity thread - a poster provides a detailed analysis on their recent trips on both lines.

 

The poster provides Celebrity the "win" on the product offering - there is no price tag on the analyses so that could influence who is the so called "winner".

 

If you take non financial considerations into play - Celebrity is the best value.

[ksm77]

Princess is still a good value for us. We booked a deal a couple of weeks ago on the Regal for the first week of March a Balcony cat. for $699 per person a week later we got an upsell offer to a mini for $99 per person. This will be our 19th cruise with Princess. We have always felt we get good value with Princess. We have cruised other lines Carnival, HAL, & RCCL this will be our 37th cruise over all. Our favorite is Princess.

 

This why Princess is good for us. We book balcony cabins nothing better than having a glass of wine looking out at the ocean. We enjoy the on board entertainment. Love that I don't even have to make the bed, clean a bathroom, or cook a meal. We do not book any Spa treatments, the extra cost restaurants unless it comes with the booking. We don't gamble. We usually don't book tours through the ship prefer to do our on, or book with other tour providers. We do buy drinks. That is about the only expense we have besides the tips on board.

 

We have cruised in Europe 5 times, all on cruises 14 days or longer. There is no way we could have done those trips for the same cost on land. We pick a city the cruise is leaving from that we would enjoy spending time in. We spend 4 or 5 days there to get more out of the trip.

 

We are retired we do maybe 2 to 3 cruises a year. On our cruise in March, we will drive to port (a 12hr trip) the day before. The total cost for our trip in a mini suite will be less than spending a week on land for us. Only you can decide if it is a good value for you. I am glad everything is not included. If it were it would not be a good value for us.

[Sea Hag]

Princess is a good value for us. My husband hates to fly, so I'm only ever shopping cruises that we can get to with either no flying or minimal flight time. I shop cruises on all lines that work for us under that constraint, and I never find a better overall value than Princess. I'm sure that other people come to other conclusions, but this is what works for us.

[fishin' musician]

Take a look at a post on Celebrity thread - a poster provides a detailed analysis on their recent trips on both lines.

 

The poster provides Celebrity the "win" on the product offering - there is no price tag on the analyses so that could influence who is the so called "winner".

 

If you take non financial considerations into play - Celebrity is the best value.

 

Curious as to how one determines "best value" when there is no financial consideration?

[RandallFlagg]

Well, I believe that it all (pretty much) comes down to personal tastes. I have literally seen posters here who have been on HUNDREDS of Cruises. Obviously, they have found their "niche". I have no problem whatsoever with that. For me and my Wife, I believe it is cost measured against "enjoyment". For example: I remember when our kids were young, we decided to take them to Disney World. Now, we enjoyed the beach - and the kids enjoyed standing in line for 9 hours out of a 12 hour day.

 

Never again - hell no, under NO circumstances would I EVER pit myself through that again....

[paradiselivin1]

To be honest, we get less value every year it seems. I'm still cruising but gone are such things as a NY steak on the anytime menu. Replaced by a burger. Fares are much higher also. I'm not going to list every peave, just want to agree that we're getting less value all the time in my opinion.

 

Agree. Our last cruise on the Caribbean a few months ago, we noticed that there are more and more "specialty" restaurants and the prices of the Grille jumped $5/pp. I've never gotten to some of the daily rates that people have posted on here and for our Med cruise this summer have opted for an inside cabin since it is so port intensive and hope I don't miss our usual balcony. The only upside we have is living in central Florida where we can get to all ports within no more than 3-4 hours excluding JAX.

[WarEagle76]

We were ready to bid Princess goodbye until they initiated, and we experienced, Club Class dining on our last Princess cruise. Since that cruise, we also had the opportunity to sail on Oceania which we enjoyed tremendously. Was it more expensive? Yes. However when you calculate what’s included and depending upon what is important to you when you cruise, it is not as much more per day as many would have you believe. We tend to use a cruise ship as an all inclusive resort to get us to the places we want to go that includes a nice dining experience. The shows, casino, trivia, bingo, art sales etc. are not important to us. What the Oceania experience did for us was opened us up to looking at options other than Princess when planning future cruises. Our next cruise is a 12 day Mediterranean cruise in a few months on Princess that is taking us to a few new ports which we have not visited. During a sale, we were able to book a Club Class mini-suite for the price of a regular mini-suite and also got a nice sized OBC. That worked for us in this case, but for future cruises we will be looking at other alternatives as well and choose the one that best meets our needs, understanding there may be better ones for us based upon how we like to cruise.

[caribbeanboy]

Excellent value if you book the Casino Rate!

[Griller]

IF you are offered the Casino Rate!

 

Not otherwise as good value as it used to be, but more importantly for us Princess have had too many cutbacks for a Princess cruise to be a special experience any more.

 

Off on Windstar next week for not much more cost.

[moki'smommy]

From what I can see, Princess and Celebrity prices come out about the same. I just prices out an Alaska cruise this summer in a balcony cabin. I put in the best "deal" I could get on line-=for Princess, I signed in. For Celebrity, I don't remember my "number" with them and they don't have a "look it up on line" feature. I did use the "over 55" rate which took $300pp off the balcony cabin.

 

What I found was that the cheapest balcony cabin I could get on Celebrity was $300 pp more than Princess, but Celebrity would allow me to choose 2 of their 3 perks--either $300 per cabin off, free unlimited internet, or beverage package. We have no real desire for the beverage package, so taking the $300 per cabin and the internet makes it about equal.

 

BUT then I'd need to factor in to OBC I'd get from Princess--shareholder, future cruise certificate, maybe the TA package bit. I think we'll qualify for free internet after our next Princess cruise, and I'm planning to look at the upcoming sales before we book.

 

That means Princess will come out a little ahead on price, getting as close as I could on "apples to apples."

 

We've only done one Celebrity cruise. There were a couple of features I really liked, but overall I was not overly impressed.

[fishin' musician]

Keep in mind that Celebrity can't go to Glacier Bay.

 

DW and I have enjoyed 2 Windstar cruises on their non-sailing vessels. The capacity of these ships is 212 and they are all suite:Ds. The nice thing is that by the end of the cruise you know practically every person on board... the bad thing is that by the end of the cruise you know practically every person on board...

[Griller]

Keep in mind that Celebrity can't go to Glacier Bay.

 

DW and I have enjoyed 2 Windstar cruises on their non-sailing vessels. The capacity of these ships is 212 and they are all suite:Ds. The nice thing is that by the end of the cruise you know practically every person on board... the bad thing is that by the end of the cruise you know practically every person on board...

 

I'm not sure whether Princess will be allowed to go to Alaska for much longer after the "Magic Pipe" oily water discharge.

 

As far as Windstar is concerned how did you feel about going back to Princess after being on Windstar?

[rdsqrl]

We started cruising three years ago too :) and have taken around ten over the three years and have a further five booked between now and October 2019. We're hooked! I think the product is probably the same but the prices (along with everything nowadays) has increased substantially.

 

It's also difficult to look past all the additional costs once the cruise fare is paid. We are on the Caribbean Princess in five weeks; our cruise fare for 14 nights was £3,450 in a Caribe balcony. Adding flights (£1,600), gratuities (£280), drinks (say £800 :o), speciality dinners (at least £100 including tips), the Sanctuary for a few days (£180) and perhaps an excursion or two (£200 - we do a lot of stuff on our own but at some ports in the Caribbean we feel safer on an organised tour), the total price is £6,610. As an alternative, Viking (there's that name again) are doing a 14 night cruise New York to Miami via Bermuda and the Caribbean in October 2018, for £6,980 which includes all of the above.

You can't really compare a Caribbean cruise in high season to one in low (i.e. hurricane) season. Especially one that leaves from New York, which means probably the first three days are decidedly not Caribbean-style warm weather.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We started cruising three years ago too :) and have taken around ten over the three years and have a further five booked between now and October 2019. We're hooked! I think the product is probably the same but the prices (along with everything nowadays) has increased substantially.

 

It's also difficult to look past all the additional costs once the cruise fare is paid. We are on the Caribbean Princess in five weeks; our cruise fare for 14 nights was £3,450 in a Caribe balcony. Adding flights (£1,600), gratuities (£280), drinks (say £800 :o), speciality dinners (at least £100 including tips), the Sanctuary for a few days (£180) and perhaps an excursion or two (£200 - we do a lot of stuff on our own but at some ports in the Caribbean we feel safer on an organised tour), the total price is £6,610. As an alternative, Viking (there's that name again) are doing a 14 night cruise New York to Miami via Bermuda and the Caribbean in October 2018, for £6,980 which includes all of the above.

 

I've definitely noticed cutbacks in the MDR menus in the three years, particularly the way Princess have subtly changed it from a four course meal to a three course meal by putting appetisers, soups and salads under the one heading. Yes, I know you can order an appetiser and a soup and a salad if you wish, and on our last cruise one guy at our table did just that, but newcomers would tend to just order one of the three then a main. Also there have been reductions in the number of choices on some nights, eg only one hot soup instead of a consomme/broth and a thicker soup, less choice in desserts particularly non-chocolate desserts and, of course, removing the always available steak main and replacing it with a burger.

 

Unfortunately the luxury lines tend to be very expensive in our part of the world, even taking into account the cost of the included extras. Plus those ships have very limited itineraries down under.

 

We also have five cruises booked up until the end of 2019. Not all on Princess, and one is on Crystal so that should be an interesting comparison. ;-)

[OzKiwiJJ]

From what I can see' date=' Princess and Celebrity prices come out about the same. I just prices out an Alaska cruise this summer in a balcony cabin. I put in the best "deal" I could get on line-=for Princess, I signed in. For Celebrity, I don't remember my "number" with them and they don't have a "look it up on line" feature. I did use the "over 55" rate which took $300pp off the balcony cabin.

 

[/quote']

 

Not always in our part of the world. We're currently booked on a 14 night NZ cruise on Celebrity Solstice. The fare includes gratuities and a drinks package, plus some OBC. A similar cruise, one day less, around the same time on Majestic Princess was several hundred AU dollars dearer (for two), and drinks weren't included. We did book the Celebrity cruise while on a previous cruise with them so got a slightly better price for the balcony cabin we booked. The comparison was done a couple of months after booking, when the Majestic itineraries were first released. We decided to stick with our Celebrity booking.

[Reader0108598]

To be honest, we get less value every year it seems. I'm still cruising but gone are such things as a NY steak on the anytime menu. Replaced by a burger. Fares are much higher also. I'm not going to list every peave, just want to agree that we're getting less value all the time in my opinion.

I think the same is true for all cruise lines to an extent though so I don't think it's exclusive to Princess.

 

I will say though, I'm taking a couple of road trips this year instead of more cruises. I just spent a week in Palm Springs much cheaper than taking a cruise.

 

I agree ,we are also looking into land based vacations!

[fishin' musician]

As far as Windstar is concerned how did you feel about going back to Princess after being on Windstar?

 

Apples and oranges. On Windstar the accommodations, food and service are certainly a notch or two above Princess and other mainststream lines, however, we are fine with Princess, HAL, RCL, X, etc... but do look forward to sampling other premium lines.

[RandallFlagg]

I agree ,we are also looking into land based vacations!

 

 

As far as "land based" vacations go - my DW and I usually sit around the living room, (since retirement) and one of us will say - "'Bout time for a road trip?". Last year we (on a whim) hit Yosemite National Park and stayed in two really nice B&Bs.

 

We're traveled all over the Rockies, but too old for skiing. Once, we hit Aspen, and then spent the entire day in Vail - in September, riding up and down the Mountain (they were opening the resort for skiers the next day) on the ski lift, no charge. Had a wonderful time! :D I laughed at the way it worked for us. We stayed in a hotel on the slope for $128 per night. The NEXT night the rate went to $450 per night.

 

Later in the year (again, on a whim) we hit Mount Rushmore - Same thing. Side trip to Wall Drug (pretty unusual) but loads of fun!

 

One thing about retirement that I have grown to absolutely love - is that it only takes a full tank to get you going - without worrying about the "job" - those days are over. :D

[Superfragger]

Keep in mind that Celebrity can't go to Glacier Bay.

 

DW and I have enjoyed 2 Windstar cruises on their non-sailing vessels. The capacity of these ships is 212 and they are all suite:Ds. The nice thing is that by the end of the cruise you know practically every person on board... the bad thing is that by the end of the cruise you know practically every person on board...

 

I feel like you really need to like that small ship feel, but it's definitely cheap for an all-suite experience (3k$ pp).

[RDC1]

I'm not sure whether Princess will be allowed to go to Alaska for much longer after the "Magic Pipe" oily water discharge.

 

As far as Windstar is concerned how did you feel about going back to Princess after being on Windstar?

 

Might be an issue when current contract ends and the bidding process takes place for the next Glacier Bay contract. If it was going to impact current contract it would already have been announced. The current contracts are through 2019.

[Alimariecruisin]

Well, I would say the "quality" of the Princess experience has declined quite a bit in the last 3 years...especially in the dining room. However, I still believe great deals can be found...and I have so much fun doing so!!!