Is princess bilding new small ships?

[donaldsc]

Princess' idea of a small ship is anything under 3000 passengers.  My idea of a small ship is anything under 650 passengers or maybe a bit larger if it is a Viking Ocean ship.

 

DON

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Princess' idea of a small ship is anything under 3000 passengers.  My idea of a small ship is anything under 650 passengers or maybe a bit larger if it is a Viking Ocean ship.

 

DON

I think the former Ocean Princess on which we sailed a British Isles cruise was just under 700. It was small and a very nice experience, especially actually getting to meet and know fellow passengers and even a chance to have long conversations with staff.

[RedIguana]

7 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Princess' idea of a small ship is anything under 3000 passengers.  My idea of a small ship is anything under 650 passengers or maybe a bit larger if it is a Viking Ocean ship.

 

DON

My experience ranges size wise from the Sovereign class (roughly 2000 pax) to the Oasis class (roughly 5500 pax). When traveling with the wife I prefer the 2000-3000 pax ships. The daughter prefers the larger, although she may be taking a liking to the 3000-4000 pax ships now that she has been on a few. The 2000-3000 pax ships can just go to more ports without overloading the port cities than the Oasis and Quantum sizes.

[stevenr597]

There is a chance that the Luxury Lines such as Azamara, Oceania, Silversea, Regent, etc. will continue to specialize with smaller ships.

However, for the mainstream and even near luxury lines like Princess and Celebrity, the economics are to build ever bigger ships.  

Edited June 16, 2023 by stevenr597
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[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, RedIguana said:

My experience ranges size wise from the Sovereign class (roughly 2000 pax) to the Oasis class (roughly 5500 pax). When traveling with the wife I prefer the 2000-3000 pax ships. The daughter prefers the larger, although she may be taking a liking to the 3000-4000 pax ships now that she has been on a few. The 2000-3000 pax ships can just go to more ports without overloading the port cities than the Oasis and Quantum sizes.

I think you probably reflect the majority of cruisers (especially younger folks) who have never cruised on a true small ship 🙂   DW and I still smile about our first time on Seabourn when we cruised on the 450 passenger Sojourn.  We boarded that ship, dropped our stuff in our suite, and headed to their Lido (Colonnade) for lunch.  It is a relatively small venue with a single entrance.  At the entrance, the hostess greeted us by name!    Later in the voyage, when we had become friendly with that hostess, I asked her, "how did you know our names when we first boarded."  She laughed and said that down in the crew area they had posted the pictures of all the passengers and she memorized most of the names!  That is quite a feat, but it has been duplicated on some of our other small ship cruises.

 

Also imagine going to the pool deck and being able to find a comfy lounger (there are enough on most small ships).  And later in the cruise I was woken from a nap when a deck waitress was standing over me with my favorite drink (I had not even ordered that drink) saying, "I thought you might want a drink."  The other thing about small ships on luxury lines is that there are seldom any lines....anywhere!  This is not the market of Princess Cruises.  They are about the "masses" with a business plan of cramming the maximum number of folks into the smallest space.

 

Hank 

[Wishing on a star]

I wish Princess would build smaller (Viking style) ships.  

I know, of course, that the fare would be much greater than the fares we are seeing on Princess ships right now.  But maybe lower than Viking, which is high for us.

Unfortunately, this is just not in Princess corporate vision, at all.

 

Unfortunately,  while we still enjoyed our last cruise (Regal Princess) to keep these fares where they are, Princess has cut staffing, service, and food  to the bone.

 

I would book a smaller, but not 'small', Princess ship in a heartbeat!

While I enjoy everything that Princess current ships have to offer, I definitely won't be planning on spending time on the new Sun Princess around those upper levels with the ride, climbing wall, etc.  Nope.

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Wishing on a star

[brisalta]

On 6/15/2023 at 4:35 PM, ldtr said:

Basically it is the Grand Class with 2 more decks added. Have seen it both referred to in both ways. Usually as the Grand Class with 3 subclasses.

 

Crown class is also missing the indoor pool with the mezzanine floor right off the buffet.

[Guest ldtr]

12 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Crown class is also missing the indoor pool with the mezzanine floor right off the buffet.

The original Grand had an indoor, the Japanese Gem sub class (Diamond and Sapphire) hand an indoor pool, 

None of the rest had an indoor pool extra decks or not.

[brisalta]

14 minutes ago, ldtr said:

The original Grand had an indoor, the Japanese Gem sub class (Diamond and Sapphire) hand an indoor pool, 

None of the rest had an indoor pool extra decks or not.

 

I think you will find that the Golden Princess (now the Pacific Adventure) and the Star Princess (now the Pacific Encounter) have an indoor pool. These are the other 2 ships in the original Grand Class.

 

It would be nice if Princess had ships other than the Grand Princess with an indoor pool as it makes swimming in cold windy weather more pleasant.

[ontheweb]

57 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

I think you will find that the Golden Princess (now the Pacific Adventure) and the Star Princess (now the Pacific Encounter) have an indoor pool. These are the other 2 ships in the original Grand Class.

 

It would be nice if Princess had ships other than the Grand Princess with an indoor pool as it makes swimming in cold windy weather more pleasant.

Yes, and we were on 3 Princess ships, and those are 2 of them. And the other was the Ocean Princess, which is also no longer in the Princess fleet. 🤦‍♂️

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, brisalta said:

 

I think you will find that the Golden Princess (now the Pacific Adventure) and the Star Princess (now the Pacific Encounter) have an indoor pool. These are the other 2 ships in the original Grand Class.

 

It would be nice if Princess had ships other than the Grand Princess with an indoor pool as it makes swimming in cold windy weather more pleasant.

Forgot about those two now that they have left the fleet.  Still even very little difference between any of the Grand class cub classes.  The two decks is the biggest change.

[charlesr1966]

My first cruise was on the Fairsea. Then moved to to Star Princess, then Regal and Crown.  We were on the Maiden voyage of the Sun Princess and said way to big. I like  the Crown class ships. I haven't sailed on the Royal Class ships yet. But still a loyal Princess cruiser.