New Princess Sphere class ships?

[FLAlaska]

Just posted that there is a cruise Nov 2023 up on the Princess website for the Sphere. No prices and you cant book but it is there

[Guest ldtr]

On 8/19/2022 at 6:05 PM, Thrak said:

I think going to LNG is probably a good thing but it's sad that the ships just keep getting bigger and bigger. Now places like Bora Bora won't let them visit. I thought the Grand Class was plenty big enough. I don't even mind the larger ones with the Rivera Deck but the Royal Class and now the Sphere Class are just too dang big. We regret that we never sailed on Pacific Princess. Sea Princess was our first ship and we thought she was absolutely huge!

You can always book a cruise on her with Azamara.  

[SiliconCruiser]

On 8/19/2022 at 11:48 PM, dog said:

Not for me. Too large, too many people.

Well it wasn't exactly in those words verbatim, but that was the opinion of the captain of one of the Royal class ships when he announced the plans for the Sphere class ships.

 

[cruisingrob21]

on a TA call today they mentioned there will be more info about the new builds at a meeting later in the month.  I imagine PCL will make it public as well.

 

Much less fanfare than the Royal class for sure.

[Wishing on a star]

That would be great if more info came out.  I would be interested in the deck plans.  Even though I am not looking forward to sailing on the new ship at this point, as I think it will be another behemoth salt-box with yet even more cabins, and less public deck area.  I would be happy (and VERY surprised) to see if this were not the case.

[Westsail32]

They really need to go back to having a Promenade deck outdoors.  Even if you can’t do laps like the Grand class there really needs to be something.  The lack of outdoor experiences on the Royal class have made me decide to completely avoid them (after three cruises).

[cruisingrob21]

17 hours ago, Westsail32 said:

They really need to go back to having a Promenade deck outdoors.  Even if you can’t do laps like the Grand class there really needs to be something.  The lack of outdoor experiences on the Royal class have made me decide to completely avoid them (after three cruises).

I couldn't agree more.

 

I feel like the Royal class ships have basically disconnected nearly completely from the ocean below the Lido deck, and other than the buffet, there are no climate controlled indoor areas on the Lido deck and higher (other than the Majestic).  It's a stark difference to HAL, X, NCL, RCCL. and even some Carnival ships which have maintained the promenade better than Princess has.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:57 AM, Wishing on a star said:

That would be great if more info came out.  I would be interested in the deck plans.  Even though I am not looking forward to sailing on the new ship at this point, as I think it will be another behemoth salt-box with yet even more cabins, and less public deck area.  I would be happy (and VERY surprised) to see if this were not the case.

 

On 9/9/2022 at 8:50 PM, Westsail32 said:

They really need to go back to having a Promenade deck outdoors.  Even if you can’t do laps like the Grand class there really needs to be something.  The lack of outdoor experiences on the Royal class have made me decide to completely avoid them (after three cruises).

Go cruise on the Prima Class from NCL.  The space ratio and public outdoor deck space would fit what you're looking for.  We will be on the Prima for 11 days at Halloween and another 14 in Feb/March.  

But if you put all of your eggs in the PCL basket, you're out of luck.

[Cruise Junky]

Facebook has announced the reveal date.  

You're invited! Fall in love with our next generation of ships at the name reveal for our newest (and biggest) one this Thursday, September 15 at 2:45pm PST!

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Cruise Junky

[Syracusefan44]

There is a Princess event on Facebook and You Tube on Thursday, September 15th @ 5:45 PM to unveil the newest shop. 
 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Syracusefan44

[MileHighAko]

I was surprised to see this earlier. Lots of comments saying please give us smaller ships with a promenade deck.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks…Hopefully they’ll actually provide details this time after promising to disclose them 3 months ago.

[c-boy]

 🤔    I tried doin' that and I got finger cramps

[Bobbiegentry]

1 hour ago, c-boy said:

 🤔    I tried doin' that and I got finger cramps

You romantic, you. 

[ekka49]

6 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

I was surprised to see this earlier. Lots of comments saying please give us smaller ships with a promenade deck.

We will only sail on ships up to 2000 passengers.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

I was surprised to see this earlier. Lots of comments saying please give us smaller ships with a promenade deck.

 

That is not the direction that Princess has been going since the current Royal Princess started sailing in 2013.

[MissP22]

.

[antsp]

It's popcorn time again, will anyone actually be happy 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

8 hours ago, ekka49 said:

We will only sail on ships up to 2000 passengers.

 

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

That is not the direction that Princess has been going since the current Royal Princess started sailing in 2013.

Last new build for Princess with less than 2K pax were the Sun Class ships. Coral and Island were both built at double occupancy of 2000 and Island post retrofit has a double occupancy of 2200.  The overall direction of ship size of >100K GRT and 2500+ passengers has been pretty obvious for Princess since the launch of Grand Princess in 1998. 

[MissP22]

We also like the smaller ships but lets face it, there's more money to be made filling the larger ships. We just accepted it many years ago & today we don't even give it a second thought. 

[suzyed]

31 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

We also like the smaller ships but lets face it, there's more money to be made filling the larger ships. We just accepted it many years ago & today we don't even give it a second thought. 

I like both, I guess.  Just a different cruise experience each time.  

[KeepCalmBearOn]

16 hours ago, MileHighAko said:

I was surprised to see this earlier. Lots of comments saying please give us smaller ships with a promenade deck.

 

Smaller ships mean more expensive, fewer facilities and amenities and fewer dining options.

 

We started pleasure cruising with the Sun Princess in the late 1970's, shifted to Renaissance mostly until they collapsed in the wake of 9-11. We thought we really enjoyed the smaller ships. That was until we tried other lines with things like multiple pools, ice skating rinks, simulated sky-diving, surfing, huge production shows, etc.

 

We still like smaller ships like Oceania, but in small doses. We were on Bliss in November and loved it.

 

Princess had made a move to bigger, because that is what they need to do to stay competitive in their price point.

 

I am looking forward to the presentation/announcement.

[SantaFeFan]

24 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

Smaller ships mean more expensive, fewer facilities and amenities and fewer dining options.

 

We started pleasure cruising with the Sun Princess in the late 1970's, shifted to Renaissance mostly until they collapsed in the wake of 9-11. We thought we really enjoyed the smaller ships. That was until we tried other lines with things like multiple pools, ice skating rinks, simulated sky-diving, surfing, huge production shows, etc.

 

We still like smaller ships like Oceania, but in small doses. We were on Bliss in November and loved it.

 

Princess had made a move to bigger, because that is what they need to do to stay competitive in their price point.

 

I am looking forward to the presentation/announcement.

 

And that is what cruise passengers want and can afford. The smaller ships, 500 to 1000 passengers, tend to be more expensive as they put themselves in the "luxury" niche, whether they are actually luxury or not. 

 

I don't see mainstream cruise lines building smaller ships unless they are for a niche subset of that line, like Celebrity with their Galapagos Expedition Series group of ships.

Edited September 14, 2022 by SantaFeFan

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Carnival was the first to break the 100K GRT threshold with the Destiny in 1996 and followed by Princess with the Grand Princess in 1998.  Royal Caribbean launched Voyager in 1999 surpassing 125K GRT for the first time.  At the time Princess was still an independent operation and NOT part of the Carnival corporation.  The later acquisition of two former Renaissance Cruises ships in 2002 was a strategic move by P&O/Princess to replace the aging original "Love Boats" (Pacific and Island Princess'). 

 

Well before the acquisition by Carnival Corp (2003) Princess was moving into ever larger and larger ships for their newbuild program and focusing more on mainstream/family cruising.  I am excited to see what the Future holds and expect the new Sphere Class ships to be a gentle evolution from the Royal Class class combined with some elements of the newest P&O/Carnival/Costa Vessels.

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

I don't see mainstream cruise lines building smaller ships unless they are for a niche subset of that line, like Celebrity with their Galapagos Expedition Series group of ships.

I don't think you'll find many people looking for the smallest luxury ship to sail on these days. It's a rare breed.