Why do you like princess?

[warthog2608]

11 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

OK. I’ll bite. My reasons may be unique and esoteric, but they are no less valid. 

Sums up our opinions exactly, great post.

[Dani24]

I'm of the mind that "boring people get bored".

It's also fine if the service/food/amenities on Princess weren't your cup of tea. Everyone has different preferences.

We love Princess and have been sailing them since our mid-20s. It fits our vibe -- refined yet casual, fun yet relaxed. The service has always been exceptional, the food has been good (and sometimes great), and we find plenty to do that interests us (trivia, shows, comedy, BINGO, movies, spa, educational lectures, afternoon tea, walks on the promenade, relaxing with a book or napping on our balcony or on deck, etc.)

 

We are not late night partiers or big drinkers. We love theme parks, but not so much on a ship. We choose our sailings for the ports and like to do really active things on land. Then we relax on the ship. This works great for us, as I tend to be a super active vacationer (I want to see, do, and taste everything), whereas my husband wants to nap, swim, and nap some more, with a sprinkle of activities. Cruising is a great way for us to both get what we want while still feeling "together" since we're on the same ship and it's easy to connect for things. Princess scratches both of these itches for us very well.

 

I do wish there were more people our age (and maybe a few more kids for our daughter), but we socialize really well with people much older than us, and we aren't cruising to make lifelong friends so we just care about having friendly conversations and interactions with others. Yet, despite the passenger age trending towards our parent's generation we have met others our age on every sailing we've been on, and our daughter has had no trouble making a couple of friends. 

We have only sailed on Disney outside of Princess. We had a lovely time, but still really preferred Princess. Even our daughter loved the Princess kid's club a lot more than the Disney one. We felt incredibly nickle-and-dimed on Disney. The food wasn't as good, nor was the service (it was nothing like the service we love from Disney parks either). We did not enjoy the rotating dining rooms each night, nor being forced to sit with strangers at our dinner table (they were nice people, but it was awkward the first couple of nights as it took a lot to draw them out). And for the price we paid, we could have done almost the same itinerary for a couple days longer, for close to half the price on Princess. We haven't been back to Disney, and likely won't. That's not to say others who love Disney shouldn't feel that way. I'm glad those folks found a line that works so well for them. 

 

Likewise, if someone wasn't a fan of Princess (such as the OP), then I hope they don't return. Nothing stinks up a vacation like someone having a bad time and needing others to know it. 

 

[jlawrence01]

17 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

The aft dining room dead end is definitely the puzzle of the day/week.  The reason you can't access the area from mid-ship is because the dining rooms are attached to the kitchen in between.  If you had taken the kitchen tour after the culinary demonstration, it would have become crystal clear.  That is the ONLY area accessible from walking Deck 7 (or above) or using the aft elevators.

 

 

That is my FAVORITE part of the ship.  most people do not discover it for a while so there is never a crowd.  Also, the staff seems a lot more senior and attentive to your needs.

 

Things I like about Princess:

1) Reasonable fares

2) great itineraries

3) Nice mix of people of all ages as opposed to Celebrity and HAL.

4) Attentive service

[warthog2608]

1 hour ago, jlawrence01 said:

That is my FAVORITE part of the ship.  most people do not discover it for a while so there is never a crowd.  Also, the staff seems a lot more senior and attentive to your needs.

Ha, great minds (or stomachs) think alike. That is the MDR we prefer for the reasons you stated.

[JimmyVWine]

21 hours ago, SCX22 said:

One of the things I find boring about Princess is the lack of participation in the night life.  The ship usually dies down by around 9:00 p.m.  There are a few stragglers in the Piazza and those attending the late show, but it's too quiet for me.  On RC, there's usually some very well attended attended event going on until midnight.  It's really no fun when there's only 10 or so people at an event.  This is due in part to the crowd almost always overwhelmingly leaning towards the retired, semi-retired, or close to retirement.

 

That may be part of it.  But I can say from personal experience that if we call it quits earlier in the evening, it is almost always because we will be getting off the ship at 8:00 or so the next morning to maximize our time in port.  When our next day is a Sea Day, we have no problem with closing down the bars or clubs even though we are closer to retirement than we are to being mid-career.  But the itineraries and port experiences are a priority to us, perhaps more so than is the case for the typical RC guest.  As I mentioned earlier, I think that RC sells itself as the ship being the destination and PCL sells itself as getting you to the destination.  If that marketing works, then it is only natural that the guests on RC are going to drain every last ounce out of the ship experience while PCL guests are going to get an earlier start the next morning.  Age probably plays a role, but perhaps not as much as people think.  People who were 20 at Woodstock are 75 now. It's not as if they are unfamiliar with the idea of partying.   

[ArizonaStorm]

On 6/1/2024 at 11:19 AM, F355c5 said:

As along time royal Carribean and celebrity cruise line passenger.

i went on enchanted princess 7 day cruise, and was bored and can’t figure out why people like princess?

sorry never again for princess cruise 

 

If you spend thousands of dollars on a cruise, yet end up "bored"...then you did a very poor job of pre-booking research.  In just a few minutes you could have pulled up sample lists of daily activities, excursion options, food and drink menus, and endless reviews of the ship you were looking at.  

 

Given that cruise ships are sailing at full capacity, clearly each "brand" successfully caters to diverse audiences.  Like Princess, Carnival and RC ships are extremely popular.  But I wouldn't book a cruise on either of the latter, then condemn them afterwards because they had theme parks on the roof.  I would KNOW before booking one of those cruise lines that they do not cater to my interests or my pace.

 

I hope you can learn from your failure.  Cruises are a big investment.  Learn before booking.

[SCX22]

41 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

But the itineraries and port experiences are a priority to us, perhaps more so than is the case for the typical RC guest.

Nothing wrong with your viewpoint.  My viewpoint, however, is that the ship should be the destination because on a cruise vacation, vacationers spend more time on a ship than they do on land.

 

I feel nowadays if a cruiser cruises for the ports, a they are potentially setting themselves up for disappointment.  There are increasing numbers of missed ports for one reason or another.  The cruise lines indemnify themselves by stating in the cruise contract that they aren't liable for missed ports or route deviations.  Climate change is affecting the weather and in turn ships' ability to arrive/berth/moore/operate water shuttles at ports.  There are many places that are crying foul over cruise ship overtourism, which are limiting or completely banning cruise ships. 

 

Absolutely, ports influence cruise decisions, but despite one's best planning, sometimes it doesn't pan out as planned.

 

41 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

People who were 20 at Woodstock are 75 now. It's not as if they are unfamiliar with the idea of partying

I still think age has something to do with it.  If you cruise on a luxury line like Viking or Oceania cruises, the demographic is overwhelmingly senior citizen.  The ships are too quiet.  Many of the loyalists to these lines will say that they are too busy immersing themselves in port so which is why they don't need a lot of activities on the ship.  The reality is they are old and tire easily.  Been on Viking Ocean once; never again!

Edited June 3 by SCX22

[F355c5]

2 minutes ago, ArizonaStorm said:

If you spend thousands of dollars on a cruise, yet end up "bored"...then you did a very poor job of pre-booking research.  In just a few minutes you could have pulled up sample lists of daily activities, excursion options, food and drink menus, and endless reviews of the ship you were looking at.  

 

Given that cruise ships are sailing at full capacity, clearly each "brand" successfully caters to diverse audiences.  Like Princess, Carnival and RC ships are extremely popular.  But I wouldn't book a cruise on either of the latter, then condemn them afterwards because they had theme parks on the roof.  I would KNOW before booking one of those cruise lines that they do not cater to my interests or my pace.

 

I hope you can learn from your failure.  Cruises are a big investment.  Learn before booking.

I can’t believe your response.

im a seasoned cruiser , and thought princess would be a great choice.

read reviews, did role call and was misled and booked the cruise.

my experience is shared by the other 4 passengers I travelled with.

and the icing was 4 out of 6 got Covid.

[ArizonaStorm]

3 minutes ago, F355c5 said:

I can’t believe your response.

im a seasoned cruiser , and thought princess would be a great choice.

read reviews, did role call and was misled and booked the cruise.

my experience is shared by the other 4 passengers I travelled with.

and the icing was 4 out of 6 got Covid.

Yet the ships still cruise at full capacity.  Somehow you missed something in your research.  As for Covid, I'd be much more apt to look to the airlines than to cruise ships.  Someone brought that virus onboard.

[Rick&Jeannie]

39 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

  People who were 20 at Woodstock are 75 now. It's not as if they are unfamiliar with the idea of partying.   

LOL! Love it! 😀

[dockman]

I can sit for hours on a nice outside deck and just look at the ocean and entertain myself with thinking of all the people and ships that have sailed these waters for centuries and try and imagine what that must have been like.  I also like to think about what is likely going on in the ocean depths beneath me.

 

I always thought it would be wonderful if they could have a few lectures from some professionals to provide more insight to the waters we are sailing across with a bit of the history of what peoples, trade routes, ship wrecks etc preceeded our luxury voyage.  Details as to what kind of ships, how many crew, how long did it take, what was the diet, what was a typical cargo, what was the pay, etc.

 

  I would also like to hear more about how deep it is, what creatures are likely living below us.what creatures migrate through these waters and a bit more about the great mysteries of the big blue oceans and seas. Especially on the longer itineraries like trans atlantic, trans pac, etc.  I am willing to bet such a series of lectures would draw a big crowd.

[cr8tiv1]

5 minutes ago, ArizonaStorm said:

Yet the ships still cruise at full capacity.  Somehow you missed something in your research.  As for Covid, I'd be much more apt to look to the airlines than to cruise ships.  Someone brought that virus onboard.

 

My sister and I avoided Covid on our last cruise in the fall.  Our table mates (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) caught covid.  It wasn't until day 3 that we asked them to test.  

 

But my sister just flew in from her grand-daughter's graduation.  Brought covid with her.  Again, I was lucky enough to miss this "sharing".

 

Covid will be around any where there are crowds.  I still do what I need to do to keep myself "protected".  Like Noro, the flu, common cold, it often presents itself anywhere there are people gathering.  I do hope your case was mild.

[SCX22]

12 minutes ago, ArizonaStorm said:

Somehow you missed something in your research.

 

I must have really missed something in my research because Princess' advertising and brochures never reflects the older demographic that's on their ships.

[JimmyVWine]

18 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

If you cruise on a luxury line like Viking or Oceania cruises, the demographic is overwhelmingly senior citizen.  The ships are too quiet.

There is definitely an element of self-selection, and it really shows up on the lines you mentioned above.  I would absolutely select one of those lines if I intended to have a sedate cruise with more lectures than parties and people know that going in.  And that happens with Princess too.  If someone is a hard partier, they really shouldn't waste a minute trying to decide between Carnival, Norwegian, RC and Princess.  Princess isn't in that same strata and doesn't try to be.  Likewise, no one should waste a minute complaining that Princess isn't as lively as those other three.  It doesn't pretend to be.  Sort of like someone who walks out of the MoMA and complains that Rembrandt wasn't well represented in the collection.  

[SCX22]

8 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

If someone is a hard partier, they really shouldn't waste a minute trying to decide between Carnival, Norwegian, RC and Princess.  Princess isn't in that same strata and doesn't try to be.

 

But, remember, that Princess is trying to attract new, younger blood cruisers to it's brand.  In the next few years, much of their focus is on the Caribbean and they are even cruising out of Port Canaveral.  The Caribbean is a relatively cheap destination to cruise to and most younger folks really love the short week long cruises there.

 

To me, it seems like the old blood cruisers are preventing Princess from attaining their full potential.  You have brands like Virgin Voyages, which is relatively new to the market, which are doing such a better job at presenting an adults only cruise experience.  I say adults only because even though Princess touts a great kids program, on most cruises, there are only a handful of kids.

 

Also, from a business standpoint, RC is doing so much better based on their stock price, because they took the leap to innovate on the cruise experience.  Not for everyone I know, but from a business standpoint, the decision was stellar.

Edited June 3 by SCX22