Library on Princess ships

[sandancer]

I know that some cruise lines are removing libraries and I’m really hoping Princess is not one of them. Anyone confirm?

[Rick&Jeannie]

None of the newer ships have dedicated library spaces.  Some of the older ships still do, however.

[waltd]

Some of the older ships still have the space setup but for the most part Princess doesn't keep them stocked any longer.    The best that you will find is they have a dediated shelf for people to drop off used books and exchange them for other books that were dropped off. 

[sandancer]

Ok. As I thought. So it looks I’ll be taking a boatload (pardon the pun) of paperbacks. 

[Cloudyrain]

Regal Princess had a decent library: probably mostly left by previous passengers, but still a variety and quite a lot to choose from.

[memoak]

I just load up my boatload of books on my kindle.  The supply of books on the newer ships is not like it used to be

[Rick&Jeannie]

34 minutes ago, memoak said:

I just load up my boatload of books on my kindle. 

Same here...

[matamanoa]

The Coral still had a great selection while the Grand Princess had only a shelf or two - very disappointing.

[Ellipooh]

I was very impressed with the book selection on the Emerald in April. 

[Reina del Mar]

Very impressed with the library on Coral Princess.

Haven’t seen anything like that on any of the newer ships. Such a shame !

 

I buy good condition books in Charity shops, then leave them after every holiday..cruise or otherwise.

[Mike07]

Princess cannot generate revenue from a library and hence it's wasted space in 2024.

[mtnesterz]

4 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

Princess cannot generate revenue from a library and hence it's wasted space in 2024.

Princess also does not generate revenue hosting trivia, the games in the Piazza or showing movies in the lounges, theater and MUTS, or hosted sports on deck. All of these mentioned require more staff time than keeping books in order in a library, yet they are still provided for passenger's entertainment for a variety of tastes.

[Mike07]

5 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

Princess also does not generate revenue hosting trivia, the games in the Piazza or showing movies in the lounges, theater and MUTS, or hosted sports on deck. All of these mentioned require more staff time than keeping books in order in a library, yet they are still provided for passenger's entertainment for a variety of tastes.

 

 

Believe me, I wish Princess, and all the ships, had large and peaceful libraries to visit. But, I'm looking at this from the perspective of the way the C-suite thinks.

 

 

[paddingtonbear]

The Royal princess has (or had) a library. It was little but it was there. Nice and quiet. Lots of books on the first day at least. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, mtnesterz said:

Princess also does not generate revenue hosting trivia, the games in the Piazza or showing movies in the lounges, theater and MUTS, or hosted sports on deck. All of these mentioned require more staff time than keeping books in order in a library, yet they are still provided for passenger's entertainment for a variety of tastes.

And swimming pools, what revenue do they generate? Nothing but expenses for swimming pools.

[Honolulu Blue]

22 hours ago, sandancer said:

I know that some cruise lines are removing libraries and I’m really hoping Princess is not one of them. Anyone confirm?

The Ruby had a library as of April 2023.

 

[Mike07]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And swimming pools, what revenue do they generate? Nothing but expenses for swimming pools.

 

 

Good point.... Need to charge a fee for the pool. The Titanic charged money for the pool.

[KKB]

22 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

Regal Princess had a decent library: probably mostly left by previous passengers, but still a variety and quite a lot to choose from.

Regal was full to the gills in April; I did see one crew member bring in a large box of brand new books. I know I read a very new title while onboard--it was great!

[Mike07]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And swimming pools, what revenue do they generate? Nothing but expenses for swimming pools.

 

 

You can mock my point, but the writing is on the wall where ships get larger and try to become the destination and retain as much revenue from guests as possible.

 

Carnival made something like $9 billion in revenue on cruise fares and another $7 billion in revenue from onboard spending.

 

The next generation of cruise fare systems will likely account for showing you fares based upon what you're predicted to spend onboard. Carnival is not stupid.

Edited June 13 by Mike07

[Mike07]

6 minutes ago, KKB said:

Regal was full to the gills in April; I did see one crew member bring in a large box of brand new books. I know I read a very new title while onboard--it was great!

 

 

Glad to hear this!

[gsmith2424]

23 hours ago, sandancer said:

I know that some cruise lines are removing libraries and I’m really hoping Princess is not one of them. Anyone confirm?

From Majestic back they have the library on the ship. From Sky and up the libraries were never placed on the ships.

[ontheweb]

33 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Good point.... Need to charge a fee for the pool. The Titanic charged money for the pool.

No wonder the Titanic SANK.

[PMGS247]

Libraries that existed on older ships definitely lost their luster over the last decade or so, usually being mostly empty shelves and a few board games that were probably missing pieces.  Not something Princess put much effort into keeping up.

 

On the plus side for readers, something DW experienced on a recent Enchanted Princess sailing, is that the Internet Cafe had a small set of book shelves intended as a book exchange "take a book / leave a book" type of spot.  What really brought it to life though was the fact that they made "book exchange" an event in the app & on the princess patter at a designated time slot every day in the internet cafe.  My wife brought along books specifically with the intention of exchanging at this event. DW quickly figured out on board that people weren't showing up to the "event" at the designated time, but having it on the patter drew enough attention to it that people were actively participating and taking/leaving books every day.

[Mike07]

7 minutes ago, gsmith2424 said:

From Majestic back they have the library on the ship. From Sky and up the libraries were never placed on the ships.

 

 

So, the Sun Princess has no library?

 

More or less proves my point.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for libraries onboard ships. It beats a casino and certainly EFFY.

 

[annmarz]

The Caribbean Princess has a small library combined with the internet cafe. It had a collection of hardcover books to borrow, reference books,  as well as the swap paperbacks and some board games. Meager compared to the old days but better than most ships these days.