Comparing Princess with P&O

[terrierjohn]

COMPARING PRINCESS WITH P&O.

 

We are just coming to the end of our 14 night Sky Princess cruise to the Baltic and these are my views about the current comparison of the 2 lines on similar ships.

Ship decor:- Princess wins this hands down if like us you appreciate glitz. This is most noticeable in the Atrium which is where in the Piazza, as Princess call deck 5, there is live music every night from the party band and other on board entertainers, with lots of dancing to pop music mainly from the 60s through to the 90s.

In comparison Britannia's Atrium resembles a John Lewis store, although probably less exciting.

 

Food, choice and standard; again a win for Princess all the way from the buffet, with far wider choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, through to the MDR dinner menus, not forgetting Alfredos included pizza restaurant and the free room service menu.

 

Service standards; here again Princess are the winners. The reason for this I would attribute to the way the senior hotel staff manage their teams, and are not afraid to get stuck in themselves. But even more apparent is the friendly approach they give to their work, as a wheelchair user's carer, there is always someone to help you remove a chair or push the wheelchair, and when talking to the staff they all seem to want to go out of their way to make your holiday special.

 

Entertainment; we did not go to any theatre shows or even the Vista lounge entertainment, but from listening to other passengers, the standard and variety is probably on a par with P&O. We tended to eat around 7:30 and spent the rest of the evening in the Piazza listening to the music and enjoying watching a full dance floor. Here again Princess excel, in addition to the party band, they have 3 or 4 groups of other musicians who also perform in the Piazza, and the standard of these musicians is on a par with the very best we have seen on P&O, and far better than the average.

 

Trying to find areas where P&O are better is not easy, however the Princess "Dine my way" pre booking system is, IMO, an even bigger disaster than P&Os app system. I probably left it too late to pre-book our dining times and could not find anything later than 6:20 for any night. As a result we were never ready in time, and could not change to any later time, so we gave up trying and just went when we were ready. But this proved problematic, we prefer a sharing table, but the dining room hosts only wanted to offer tables for 2, we had to insist on them opening a new sharing table, however this often meant delays in filling the table, and frequently a less than full table.

 

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our Princess cruise, but it was helped that we had excellent weather, very little rain, it was never too hot and had lots of sunshine.

Of course Princess prices are much higher than P&O and we would probably not book with them unless it was a special offer deal, and even then we probably paid about 15-20% more, although we did have the plus package which also includes specially coffees, all soft drinks and water, and free wi fi. In addition as Elite Captains circle members we get free laundry and 10% discount on all shopping on board, and that discount does extend to any OBC.

 

[Dermotsgirl]

31 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

COMPARING PRINCESS WITH P&O.

 

We are just coming to the end of our 14 night Sky Princess cruise to the Baltic and these are my views about the current comparison of the 2 lines on similar ships.

Ship decor:- Princess wins this hands down if like us you appreciate glitz. This is most noticeable in the Atrium which is where in the Piazza, as Princess call deck 5, there is live music every night from the party band and other on board entertainers, with lots of dancing to pop music mainly from the 60s through to the 90s.

In comparison Britannia's Atrium resembles a John Lewis store, although probably less exciting.

 

Food, choice and standard; again a win for Princess all the way from the buffet, with far wider choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, through to the MDR dinner menus, not forgetting Alfredos included pizza restaurant and the free room service menu.

 

Service standards; here again Princess are the winners. The reason for this I would attribute to the way the senior hotel staff manage their teams, and are not afraid to get stuck in themselves. But even more apparent is the friendly approach they give to their work, as a wheelchair user's carer, there is always someone to help you remove a chair or push the wheelchair, and when talking to the staff they all seem to want to go out of their way to make your holiday special.

 

Entertainment; we did not go to any theatre shows or even the Vista lounge entertainment, but from listening to other passengers, the standard and variety is probably on a par with P&O. We tended to eat around 7:30 and spent the rest of the evening in the Piazza listening to the music and enjoying watching a full dance floor. Here again Princess excel, in addition to the party band, they have 3 or 4 groups of other musicians who also perform in the Piazza, and the standard of these musicians is on a par with the very best we have seen on P&O, and far better than the average.

 

Trying to find areas where P&O are better is not easy, however the Princess "Dine my way" pre booking system is, IMO, an even bigger disaster than P&Os app system. I probably left it too late to pre-book our dining times and could not find anything later than 6:20 for any night. As a result we were never ready in time, and could not change to any later time, so we gave up trying and just went when we were ready. But this proved problematic, we prefer a sharing table, but the dining room hosts only wanted to offer tables for 2, we had to insist on them opening a new sharing table, however this often meant delays in filling the table, and frequently a less than full table.

 

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our Princess cruise, but it was helped that we had excellent weather, very little rain, it was never too hot and had lots of sunshine.

Of course Princess prices are much higher than P&O and we would probably not book with them unless it was a special offer deal, and even then we probably paid about 15-20% more, although we did have the plus package which also includes specially coffees, all soft drinks and water, and free wi fi. In addition as Elite Captains circle members we get free laundry and 10% discount on all shopping on board, and that discount does extend to any OBC.

 

To be honest, the ease of getting a table for two would be a big plus for me.

 

Glad to hear you had a good time 

[Gettingwarmer]

45 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

COMPARING PRINCESS WITH P&O.

 

We are just coming to the end of our 14 night Sky Princess cruise to the Baltic and these are my views about the current comparison of the 2 lines on similar ships.

Ship decor:- Princess wins this hands down if like us you appreciate glitz. This is most noticeable in the Atrium which is where in the Piazza, as Princess call deck 5, there is live music every night from the party band and other on board entertainers, with lots of dancing to pop music mainly from the 60s through to the 90s.

In comparison Britannia's Atrium resembles a John Lewis store, although probably less exciting.

 

Food, choice and standard; again a win for Princess all the way from the buffet, with far wider choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, through to the MDR dinner menus, not forgetting Alfredos included pizza restaurant and the free room service menu.

 

Service standards; here again Princess are the winners. The reason for this I would attribute to the way the senior hotel staff manage their teams, and are not afraid to get stuck in themselves. But even more apparent is the friendly approach they give to their work, as a wheelchair user's carer, there is always someone to help you remove a chair or push the wheelchair, and when talking to the staff they all seem to want to go out of their way to make your holiday special.

 

Entertainment; we did not go to any theatre shows or even the Vista lounge entertainment, but from listening to other passengers, the standard and variety is probably on a par with P&O. We tended to eat around 7:30 and spent the rest of the evening in the Piazza listening to the music and enjoying watching a full dance floor. Here again Princess excel, in addition to the party band, they have 3 or 4 groups of other musicians who also perform in the Piazza, and the standard of these musicians is on a par with the very best we have seen on P&O, and far better than the average.

 

Trying to find areas where P&O are better is not easy, however the Princess "Dine my way" pre booking system is, IMO, an even bigger disaster than P&Os app system. I probably left it too late to pre-book our dining times and could not find anything later than 6:20 for any night. As a result we were never ready in time, and could not change to any later time, so we gave up trying and just went when we were ready. But this proved problematic, we prefer a sharing table, but the dining room hosts only wanted to offer tables for 2, we had to insist on them opening a new sharing table, however this often meant delays in filling the table, and frequently a less than full table.

 

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our Princess cruise, but it was helped that we had excellent weather, very little rain, it was never too hot and had lots of sunshine.

Of course Princess prices are much higher than P&O and we would probably not book with them unless it was a special offer deal, and even then we probably paid about 15-20% more, although we did have the plus package which also includes specially coffees, all soft drinks and water, and free wi fi. In addition as Elite Captains circle members we get free laundry and 10% discount on all shopping on board, and that discount does extend to any OBC.

 

We have also thoroughly enjoyed this Princess Cruise. So much better than our recent Iona cruise in respect of drink availability, entertainment and stateroom design. It does seem you had problems dining and you want to share but if you book your table at your first opportunity, after final payment or when you book, you have every chance of getting a table for two which is what most people want. We have several cruises booked on Princess and P&O but would not travel on Iona again or Arvia. Unfortunately the new Princess ships being built are on the same sort of design  but larger and have those horrible thin cabins. Not for us.

 

I would like to thank @Selbourne for his very good account of his Britannia cruise. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Gettingwarmer

[Gettingwarmer]

Some menus from Princess to compare 

 

There is a separate vegan, gluten free menu. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Gettingwarmer

[Cathygh]

On my last Princess cruise I discovered, quite by accident, a huge selection of cakes in the buffet on the last sea day, at about 11.30 am. It was an amazing display. Lots of choice and of course people piled their plates up high. 

[david63]

I would tend to agree with most of that but the one thing that I found a problem, and because you had a wheelchair alongside didn't, was trying to find a seat in some of the bars.

[Travelmadoldie]

We do agree with TerrierJohn.

We travelled back to UK from Barbados in March on Britannia in a suite and in June on Sky.

 in a mini suite.

These are the same ship in essence.

But, unfortunately, there was no comparison between them. Sky and Princess were a far better experience. From the food, particularly in the buffet (far more choice each day), the attitude of the staff and the general cleanliness of the ship.

One of the things on Princess that we appreciate is the ability, as Elites, to send washing to the laundry on a daily basis as well as the mini bar setup.

The only advantage we had on P and O in a suite(apart from the size of the cabin) was having breakfast in the Epicurean.

And, each year, Princess alters their itineraries as opposed to P and O repeating the same.

 

 

[daiB]

1 hour ago, Travelmadoldie said:

We do agree with TerrierJohn.

We travelled back to UK from Barbados in March on Britannia in a suite and in June on Sky.

 in a mini suite.

These are the same ship in essence.

But, unfortunately, there was no comparison between them. Sky and Princess were a far better experience. From the food, particularly in the buffet (far more choice each day), the attitude of the staff and the general cleanliness of the ship.

One of the things on Princess that we appreciate is the ability, as Elites, to send washing to the laundry on a daily basis as well as the mini bar setup.

The only advantage we had on P and O in a suite(apart from the size of the cabin) was having breakfast in the Epicurean.

And, each year, Princess alters their itineraries as opposed to P and O repeating the same.

 

 

Princess have T shirts with their regular cruses on.I have one. P&O have only recently repeated the same itineraries for a season as with Iona. But tend not to with other ships , Aurora, Arcadia Ventura.

[Dobbers]

Never sailed with Princess but the dancing to pop music in the atrium sounds great. Always thought P&O were missing out with this, unless you stay up late. 
Recently on Britannia the Crystal room was jam packed for the silent disco, on other evenings it was half full. Not wanting to take away from the pax who enjoy ballroom dancing as I quite enjoy watching but they need to maybe alternate evenings.

I’m not a young raver (late 50’s) would just like to have a dance a bit earlier before my hot choc

[AndyMichelle]

46 minutes ago, Dobbers said:

Never sailed with Princess but the dancing to pop music in the atrium sounds great. Always thought P&O were missing out with this, unless you stay up late. 
Recently on Britannia the Crystal room was jam packed for the silent disco, on other evenings it was half full. Not wanting to take away from the pax who enjoy ballroom dancing as I quite enjoy watching but they need to maybe alternate evenings.

I’m not a young raver (late 50’s) would just like to have a dance a bit earlier before my hot choc

Plenty of dancing going on throughout the evening on Britannia in the Live Lounge? 

[CCFC]

14 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Plenty of dancing going on throughout the evening on Britannia in the Live Lounge? 

The Live lounge is far too small for the size of the ship, if you are not there early its standing room only.

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, CCFC said:

The Live lounge is far too small for the size of the ship, if you are not there early its standing room only.

It does get busy but we always managed to get a seat, arriving at various times. 

Just lucky perhaps. 

Andy 

[Camberley]

Love so much about both but it is so subjective. However, for us:

 

- Princess is FAR superior food-wise in terms of quality of MDR food: overall we find there’s a better selection, less bland, less cheap tasting - with a few exceptions. Buffet food is much better on Princess - not amazing but better quality and fresher tasting! And the cakes are less synthetic. Sometimes P&O buffet food is like the stuff left at the end of a wake. But P&O are much better for specialty dining.

 

- accommodation: we typically do suites on P&O and mini suites on Princess. For us a wrap-around Princess mini suite is easily as good as a P&O suite, and of course is at a fraction of the cost. Whereas we have found the P&O mini suites on Iona poor: little more than a gimmick.

 

- entertainment: I waver on this, but currently Princess ticks more of the boxes for us whereas P&O are a bit “stereotypical cruise ship” and tacky. Yet there still are some real gems on P&O.

- dealing with issues on board: P&O are ok but Princess are even more efficient. And it’s less of a battle with Princess. With P&O I’ve never felt they really give a hoot.

 

- ordering/booking when on board: P&O’s “app” is just about functional but is very limited. Princess’s app, despite its flaws, is much better and more useful. Could easily book restaurants for us two and with others we had befriended at almost any time we wanted.

 

- Princess often for us feels more like like a “classic cruise” (incl. a touch dated here and there perhaps, so that’s arguably a positive and negative) whereas P&O (on the larger ships) really has felt a bit more down market. I know some folk love to clutch their fake pearls in horror when cruises are referred to as holiday camps at sea but P&O are increasingly giving off that vibe for us. And I used to like a good holiday camp. Now that’s fine for the demographic they are clearly aiming for but when I want a touch of affordable “luxury” without ridiculous prices, Princess deliver on that front for us more easily.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Camberley

[smokey01]

20 hours ago, Travelmadoldie said:

We do agree with TerrierJohn.

We travelled back to UK from Barbados in March on Britannia in a suite and in June on Sky.

 in a mini suite.

These are the same ship in essence.

But, unfortunately, there was no comparison between them. Sky and Princess were a far better experience. From the food, particularly in the buffet (far more choice each day), the attitude of the staff and the general cleanliness of the ship.

One of the things on Princess that we appreciate is the ability, as Elites, to send washing to the laundry on a daily basis as well as the mini bar setup.

The only advantage we had on P and O in a suite(apart from the size of the cabin) was having breakfast in the Epicurean.

And, each year, Princess alters their itineraries as opposed to P and O repeating the same.

 

 

We had our first suite experience last year on Enchanted Princess, we are also Elite in the loyalty club. The perks are good on Princess for a suite, far better than P&O suite perks. However if I was booking a balcony I would book P&O over Princess, as I prefer P&O MDR food over Princess and the casual dining options on Iona are better. However I do agree buffet on Ventura/Azura, which is the only non Iona/Arvia I have done in recent pre covid years, is poor for choice. I have to say in 4 Iona cruises and one Arvia cruise I only had one poor main course in the evening. 
 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

 Just adding a few more comments about Sky Princess. 

 

The disembarkation went very smoothly and ahead of schedule, we were given a time of 8;25 which is our favoured time. We were a little later and found that most Yellow 2 cases had been collected, and our 3 were together and looking very lonely. Clearly this system is much better than P&Os one of keeping the old embarkation labels by deck, and why is it that they cannot keep passengers luggage together, Princess, Celebrity and RCI all manage it.

Cabin toiletries are Lotus Spa, with handwash and body lotion on the wash basin, and shower gel and shampoo and conditioner in the shower.

We had 2 facecloths which were changed daily, however the bath towels were much smaller than those on P&O, but still adequate.

We had turndown service every evening, but no pillow chocs.

Overall we had a thoroughly enjoyable cruise on Sky Princess, and we are looking forward now to next May's Med cruise on her, but before that we have a March Canaries cruise on Iona, which I am sure we wil equallyl enjoy.

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by terrierjohn

[daiB]

3 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

 Just adding a few more comments about Sky Princess. 

 

The disembarkation went very smoothly and ahead of schedule, we were given a time of 8;25 which is our favoured time. We were a little later and found that most Yellow 2 cases had been collected, and our 3 were together and looking very lonely. Clearly this system is much better than P&Os one of keeping the old embarkation labels by deck, and why is it that they cannot keep passengers luggage together, Princess, Celebrity and RCI all manage it.

Cabin toiletries are Lotus Spa, with handwash and body lotion on the wash basin, and shower gel and shampoo and conditioner in the shower.

We had 2 facecloths which were changed daily, however the bath towels were much smaller than those on P&O, but still adequate.

We had turndown service every evening, but no pillow chocs.

Overall we had a thoroughly enjoyable cruise on Sky Princess, and we are looking forward now to next May's Med cruise on her, but before that we have a Narch Canaries cruise on Iona, which I am sure we wil equallyl enjoy.

 

Our disembarkation on Crown Princess was an absolute shambles . They were late in getting the luggage off and so there’s were no porters to help. We were told by the staff on shore that we should have arranged assistance!!!! Major row time. Put us off them altogether. Never had any problem in any of our 50+ P&O disembarkations. We enjoyed Princess but it was no better than our P&O cruises. 

[Britboys]

On 7/21/2023 at 9:40 PM, daiB said:

Princess have T shirts with their regular cruses on.I have one. P&O have only recently repeated the same itineraries for a season as with Iona. But tend not to with other ships , Aurora, Arcadia Ventura.

Aurora and Arcadia these days are pretty much doing very samey itineraries Dai - the only thing they do is switch around which ship does which itinerary each year... They are indeed different to the larger ships but they really are aren't changing much.

[terrierjohn]

One extra feature I seem to have brought home from the cruise is covid, tested positive this morning, after feeling fairly ropey over the weekend. Thought it might be the vicious strain of tonsillitis doing the rounds, as I have a sore throat, and of course i have no idea if the old test kits are still accurate.

[kalos]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

One extra feature I seem to have brought home from the cruise is covid, tested positive this morning, after feeling fairly ropey over the weekend. Thought it might be the vicious strain of tonsillitis doing the rounds, as I have a sore throat, and of course i have no idea if the old test kits are still accurate.

Sorry to hear this John ,hope the Mrs stays clear of it and you get better soon .

[Gettingwarmer]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

One extra feature I seem to have brought home from the cruise is covid, tested positive this morning, after feeling fairly ropey over the weekend. Thought it might be the vicious strain of tonsillitis doing the rounds, as I have a sore throat, and of course i have no idea if the old test kits are still accurate.

Sorry to hear this. We are both fine and hope it keeps that way. I wish you well and that you recover quickly. 

[Josy1953]

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

One extra feature I seem to have brought home from the cruise is covid, tested positive this morning, after feeling fairly ropey over the weekend. Thought it might be the vicious strain of tonsillitis doing the rounds, as I have a sore throat, and of course i have no idea if the old test kits are still accurate.

Sorry to hear this, I hope that you aren't too ill.

Have you checked on the box of test kits ? they have a use by date on them.

[Dermotsgirl]

6 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

One extra feature I seem to have brought home from the cruise is covid, tested positive this morning, after feeling fairly ropey over the weekend. Thought it might be the vicious strain of tonsillitis doing the rounds, as I have a sore throat, and of course i have no idea if the old test kits are still accurate.

Oh no, sorry to hear that. Hope you feel better soon and make a good long term recovery 

[mrsgoggins]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

One extra feature I seem to have brought home from the cruise is covid, tested positive this morning, after feeling fairly ropey over the weekend. Thought it might be the vicious strain of tonsillitis doing the rounds, as I have a sore throat, and of course i have no idea if the old test kits are still accurate.

Really sorry to hear this, not a great souvenir. I hope you are soon starting to feel better.
 

We really enjoyed this cruise for all the reasons you have covered. We self-disembarked at 6.40 am and were driving out of the port gates by 6.50 am, which resulted in an easy drive home as it was Saturday.  
 

We are on Sky Princess again October 24 for a Canaries cruise and also paid the £75 pp (refundable) as a future cruise deposit.  I do have 2 further P&O cruises in the future, both 35 nights, which I am sure we will enjoy as we have already adjusted our expectations having taken 2 P&O cruises already this year.

 

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Sorry to hear this, I hope that you aren't too ill.

Have you checked on the box of test kits ? they have a use by date on them.

Yes they seem to have at least 2, one was 2024 the other 2022, so maybe I only have half covid, however the test line was so dark it was almost purple!!

Edited July 24, 2023 by terrierjohn

[terrierjohn]

I thought this galley and dining room staff leaflet from Sky Princess might interest a few of you. I haven't totalled them up,  but there are several hundred crew needed to keep us all fed when we go cruising.