Princess cruise experience post Covid

[ISLANDFAN]

My wife and I have been on 8 cruises totaling 91 days post covid. We have become somewhat disenchanted with our experiences on RCCL and Celebrity as in our opinion dining and service onboard has diminished. We recently sailed on Silversea which as you would imagine was outstanding in every way. Also we just returned from a 14 day Norwegian Fjord cruise onboard Holland America Rotterdam which was excellent. We are prepared to jump ship to Holland America from RCCL and Celebrity however we are wondering what the current experience cruisers are having on Princess. Your thoughts please

 

Islandfan 

[chrysalis]

183 days post covid on the Sky, Regal and Enchanted for us...and all good. Happily sailing on the Sapphire and Enchanted in the near future.

[Torfamm]

We’ve had 4 cruises on Celebrity since the restart and more than twice as many on Princess. Before that we’d been almost exclusively loyal to Celebrity with only one cruise on Princess. 

 

I choose mostly based on itinerary and still find the experiences very similar. It seems though that while the food and service have declined on Celebrity since the restart, they have improved on Princess. The deal breaker for me was hearing Celebrity refer to itself as the “culinary line” in a webinar when the week before they were serving only burgers, pizza, and pasta in the buffet on Apex for dinner.

 

The staff on Princess also seems consistently friendlier and more helpful. If you find an appealing itinerary, I think giving Princess a try would be well worth it.

[chrysalis]

10 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

We’ve had 4 cruises on Celebrity since the restart and more than twice as many on Princess. Before that we’d been almost exclusively loyal to Celebrity with only one cruise on Princess. 

 

I choose mostly based on itinerary and still find the experiences very similar. It seems though that while the food and service have declined on Celebrity since the restart, they have improved on Princess. The deal breaker for me was hearing Celebrity refer to itself as the “culinary line” in a webinar when the week before they were serving only burgers, pizza, and pasta in the buffet on Apex for dinner.

 

The staff on Princess also seems consistently friendlier and more helpful. If you find an appealing itinerary, I think giving Princess a try would be well worth it.

I agree that food on Princess has improved since pre-covid. I should have said that in my post.

[mtnesterz]

If you are new to Princess, you will not notice any specifics as change, but what frequent Princess cruisers notice is diminished indulgence.

On Princess, there is a feeling created lately of vying for things, the creation of packages to purchase above your fare to include add-ons you may want. Passengers bid for cabin upgrades. Buying Premium in order to have a reserved section in the theater...

If you say other lines have tightened their belts, Princess cruisers have also noticed this. Like you, we too are shopping around. We want to try Azamara. But I suspect a regular might tell me the same about them.

Edited July 27, 2023 by mtnesterz

[memoak]

I would hesitate to use the term post Covid. Maybe us post pandemic. I have gotten Covid twice on ships in the last 10 months

[cr8tiv1]

Two observations.  
 

Post pandemic cruising was fantastic with 60% occupancy. That quickly changed with very full sailings.  I am not bothered by those milling around the public area.  Very noticeable in overflowing production shows.  Second, the noise level in the MDR/Reserve dining is loud.  Very difficult to carry on a decent conversation.  

[memoak]

32 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Two observations.  
 

Post pandemic cruising was fantastic with 60% occupancy. That quickly changed with very full sailings.  I am not bothered by those milling around the public area.  Very noticeable in overflowing production shows.  Second, the noise level in the MDR/Reserve dining is loud.  Very difficult to carry on a decent conversation.  

The think the noise level on Royal class ships is much higher then Grand class ships due to the design of putting so many venues around the piazza which itself is very noisy. We eat in reserve dining and have not noticed any noise issue. However we usually eat at 7:30 or later

[cr8tiv1]

36 minutes ago, memoak said:

The think the noise level on Royal class ships is much higher then Grand class ships due to the design of putting so many venues around the piazza which itself is very noisy. We eat in reserve dining and have not noticed any noise issue. However we usually eat at 7:30 or later

I ate in the small Diamond MDRs.  Once had an alcove on Emerald.  Also quite pleasant. I wish they would isolate Reserve Dining Rooms on the larger ships.  At 6 pm….it’s very loud.  Don’t help that I am also wearing hearing aids. 

[SargassoPirate]

6 hours ago, memoak said:

I would hesitate to use the term post Covid. Maybe us post pandemic. I have gotten Covid twice on ships in the last 10 months

Just curious.  Were you vaccinated?  What precautions did you take to protect yourself?  How do you know where you contracted covid?  How sick were you from covid?

 

Thanks.

[SargassoPirate]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I ate in the small Diamond MDRs.  Once had an alcove on Emerald.  Also quite pleasant. I wish they would isolate Reserve Dining Rooms on the larger ships.  At 6 pm….it’s very loud.  Don’t help that I am also wearing hearing aids. 

I avoid the MDR in the evening just because of the noise level - and hearing aids only serve to amplify all noise.  

 

I enjoy the MDR for breakfasts and lunches, but prefer the P&E lounge or the Horizon Court for evening meals.  Much quieter and less time consumed.

[memoak]

25 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

Just curious.  Were you vaccinated?  What precautions did you take to protect yourself?  How do you know where you contracted covid?  How sick were you from covid?

 

Thanks.

I am vaccinated to the max. I use masks on cruises mostly just for public restrooms   I also use them when I want to play slots on the smoking side since I can’t stand the smell. Whenever I have a fever I test   My last positive was in March on the Emerald. Stayed in cabin until negative. Let the ship know and got FCC for all those days. Not too sick but a fever of 101 for a couple of days

[justafem]

Since sailing restarted, I've done 16 cruises.  Mostly princess, but a couple of carnival sprinkled in. 

 

I'm fully vaxxed and boosted, but have gotten covid 3 times, 2 times while on ships all diagnosed AFTER disimbarkment.

 

First positive was prevax, which was a horrific experience.  Next 2 times, were miserable, but survivable. 

 

When dinner is opened, it's always loud, but later time, it's much quieter. 

 

I'm going to keep cruising, until I can't.  Then I might hire someone to take care of me while cruising!

[SargassoPirate]

12 hours ago, memoak said:

I am vaccinated to the max. I use masks on cruises mostly just for public restrooms   I also use them when I want to play slots on the smoking side since I can’t stand the smell. Whenever I have a fever I test   My last positive was in March on the Emerald. Stayed in cabin until negative. Let the ship know and got FCC for all those days. Not too sick but a fever of 101 for a couple of days

Thanks for sharing your experienc..  I'm vaxxed to the max as well but never had covid.  Not so much as a sniffle.  And I've been tested many times pre-medical procedure and pre-cruises.  I also only wore a mask when required, never stopped traveling, and started cruising again as soon as things restarted. 

 

Just goes to show how everyone's physiology is different. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have been on 3 Princess cruises since cruising started back up, to include a 17-day Japan B2B on the Diamond we just got off yesterday. I'll let the Live From thread I posted to in my below expanded Signature speak for me. But suffice it to say, we have been having a blast on the Princess cruises we've been on so far! 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Ken the cruiser