New Princess Sphere class ships?

[LACruiser88]

6 minutes ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I hope these 4000+ passenger ships are not a trend for Princess and they build at least one smaller ship with a capacity of 1500 passengers or less.

I think that ship has sailed. I do not see Princess building any smaller ships going forward.

[Steelers36]

52 minutes ago, Geoffa30 said:

Would imagine the next one will be either Star or Sea.

Neither of those things are spherical.

[Geoffa30]

26 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Neither of those things are spherical.

 

Going with the retired ships’ name route rather than spherical.

[JimmyVWine]

29 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Neither of those things are spherical.

How is a big ball of burning gas not a sphere?

[Thrak]

Wow. Very small interior cabins.

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[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

How is a big ball of burning gas not a sphere?

 

????  I was responding to a couple of guess for the next Sphere ship name and neither had a spherical shape.  It is convenient that the SUN name was available and also suits the new class of ship.  Does Princess intend to re-use old names going forward, or do they intend to use spherical things to inspire names?  

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

Wow. Very small interior cabins.

=========================

Ouch.

 

@JimmyVWine was posting about shrinking spaces for the masses and here is a prime example.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Steelers36

[Guest ldtr]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

Wow. Very small interior cabins.

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Have to provide more space for the higher classes

[deliver42]

Princess is owned by carnival. Has anyone seen a smaller Carnival ship lately.( new build). The Sun is a luxury version of the Mardi Gras. Same body, but boy, they hit it right out of the park from what I've seen.

[JimmyVWine]

10 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

????  I was responding to a couple of guess for the next Sphere ship name and neither had a spherical shape.

Again, how is a ball of burning gas not a sphere?  The poster to whom you replied suggested the names "Star or Sea" and you said that neither of those things are spherical.  And I'm curious to know why a Star is not a sphere?

[Scottyren]

11 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Ouch.

 

@JimmyVWine was posting about shrinking spaces for the masses and here is a prime example.

Not only small rooms, but odd room layouts too, with the notch for the bed. 

Super disappointed to see the closet no longer separates the sleeping area from the bathroom. That is such a nice layout for the interior rooms.

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, JimmyVWine said:

Again, how is a ball of burning gas not a sphere?  The poster to whom you replied suggested the names "Star or Sea" and you said that neither of those things are spherical.  And I'm curious to know why a Star is not a sphere?

I think he was referring to this: 

[cruising922]

On 9/15/2022 at 11:43 AM, richsea said:

The Retreat Pool on Royal & Regal is head & shoulders better that that of Sky & Enchanted & the cramped pool on Grand class.

I agree 100%. And if none of the pools on the Sphere class ships have steps then they are sending a pretty clear message that they don’t care if their elderly or disabled passengers are able to enjoy them.

[RD64]

5 hours ago, tkiemo said:

Slowing getting back to the times of 1st class passengers and then all others. It was bound to happen.

It is ironic because in the 1970s cruising really took off due to the democratic nature of the one class cruise. Now we are returning to the days of transatlantic crossings and a multi-class system.

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

I think he was referring to this: 

 

So how is it that the Sun qualifies as a sphere?  The Sun is a star.  

[JimmyVWine]

3 minutes ago, RD64 said:

It is ironic because in the 1970s cruising really took off due to the democratic nature of the one class cruise. Now we are returning to the days of transatlantic crossings and a multi-class system.

 

"You're so lucky to be staying in one or "Reserve" level cabins. It would be awful to have to dine with the masses.  And how did you enjoy your reserved bar stool in the Pirates Cove before dinner?" 

 

[LACruiser88]

From NASA:

 

The Sun is a star. There are lots of stars in the universe, but the Sun is the closest one to Earth, and it's the only one in our solar system. It is the center of our solar system.

[HBCcruiser]

6 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

So how is it that the Sun qualifies as a sphere?  The Sun is a star.  

I am referring to the star shape. 

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

I am referring to the star shape. 

Understood.  But I doubt that the naming of a ship will be influenced by the cartoon depiction of the shape of a star when in fact the true celestial shape of a star is spherical.  Seems directly on brand. 

[HBCcruiser]

10 minutes ago, RD64 said:

Now we are returning to the days of transatlantic crossings and a multi-class system.

It comes down to what will make money for the shareholders. As reported earlier in this thread, often the suites with a "ship within a ship" concept on other cruise lines sell out first. 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I hope these 4000+ passenger ships are not a trend for Princess and they build at least one smaller ship with a capacity of 1500 passengers or less.
 

After cruising exclusively with Princess over the past 16 years my wife and I decided to take a look at the itineraries offered by Holland America on the Volendam which has a capacity of 1425 passengers.  We have decided to give them and book a 28 day cruise to the Amazon River.  They also have some fantastic itineraries to French Polynesia, Africa, etc. on this small ship.

 

We love Princess Cruises and hope they don’t become like Royal Caribbean   with a fleet of mega ships. 

We looked at this same cruise, but cannot quite fit it in this year. Oceania has a similar cruise, but it is pretty much all waitlisted.

[Guest ldtr]

22 minutes ago, RD64 said:

It is ironic because in the 1970s cruising really took off due to the democratic nature of the one class cruise. Now we are returning to the days of transatlantic crossings and a multi-class system.

The problem I have seen as lines have moved to ship within a ship route with special dining rooms, is invariably the quality of the MDR takes a hit.  It does so for two reasons  1. They need to differentiate those dining venues from the MDR (unlike the current Princess approach where it is basically the same menu),  So you end up seeing some menu items only showing up in the special dining rooms and some of the higher end items vanishing from the MDR.  2. Ship food budgets and staffing is pretty much fixed.  As a result a larger share per person of those resources with go to the special dining rooms resulting in some impact to both the staffing and food quality.  Saw this on Celebrity when they made this move. Saw it to some degree as well on Royal.

 

I do not have an objection to those that pay more getting more, but I do have an objection when the changes impact the quality and value of what I get for my travel dollar.  

 

Well will continue to book Princess (currently running about 70 days per year), but will change if and when we see changes impacting the quality of the experience. Probably move to more HAL and Oceania.

[JimmyVWine]

11 minutes ago, ldtr said:

So you end up seeing some menu items only showing up in the special dining rooms and some of the higher end items vanishing from the MDR.

If the way that Princess treated wine service after the rollout of "Premier" is any indication, in the exclusive dining venues it will be: "Here is tonight's wine list" whereas in the MDRs it will be: "We have red or white." 

Edited September 16, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[LACruiser88]

10 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Probably move to more HAL and Oceania.

We have the same feeling for the future and are keeping our eye on Oceania and Viking Ocean.

[cruzsnooze]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Not that difficult of a concept.  Take the Sanctuary as an example.  There will be a "Signature"  Now suppose that the 3% (60 cabins, for a total of roughly 120 people) are allocated all of the 80 best loungers described above as part of their special section.  BOOM!  Your ribeye inventory is now affected.  Your usual Sanctuary booker who locks in a space during B2B cruises, and those who scramble up to the Sun Deck on departure day all of a sudden become #121+ in line as there are 120 "virtual" people ahead of them each and every time.  Their days of getting the plum loungers is over.  The very simple and predictable result of increasing demand without increasing supply, and then allocating the existing supply in an inequitable manner.  (Inequitable in terms of "effort to obtain" and past procedure, as opposed to inequitable based on $$$.)  At some point, giving someone a large balcony, and giving them teak furniture, and then on top of that giving them a plum location in the Sanctuary is going to have an impact downstream.  It has to.    

You're assuming the sanctuary hasn't been enlarged to accommodate more passengers. Let's not jump to conclusions until we actually see the ship and read the real time reviews when it starts sailing.

  So much of this thread is sounding like sour grapes because some can afford a more luxurious cruise then others. Everyone has the same opportunity to book into the two upscale categories. Some people eat at Denny's - McDonalds - Mortons, there are choices and we can go where we're comfortable.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by cruzsnooze