Princess ups the competition ante

[cf_chuck]

http://www.cruisebusiness.com/news.php?u=20081021015022

[hammybee]

The Ruby will carry more than 3000 passengers and has the economies of scale going for it.

 

It's good to have so many choices and that each cruise line strives to offer or at least, create the perception that they have something to distingusih it from all the others. Much of this is often just ad copy.

[CowPrincess]

They kind-of lost me here:

 

The 3,070-passenger vessel

 

Ugh. That's nearly as big as the town in which we live.

[sail7seas]

There is nothing that ship could offer that would attract us. I can't stand the thought of a ship with that many guests.

 

I'll never say never but....... I surely hope never!

[Boytjie]

They kind-of lost me here:

 

 

 

Ugh. That's nearly as big as the town in which we live.

 

 

How many swimming pools, restuarants, show lounges and casinos does your town have? :D

[CowPrincess]

In fairness, for us, the Astronomy@Sea, and the availability of artisan cheeses (even if they are an up-charge item) would be big attractions. Not big enough to get us on a ship with 3000 pax, though. Who knows though? Maybe some day.

[JimVrhovac]

Maybe with some of the new services they are going to offer

 

BUT

 

When you look at the size of the ship they are not going to compete with HAL. HAL has nothing that big and the new Signature class is no where that big. One of the big passanger keepers with HAL is the size of their ships

 

Ruth & Jim

[CowPrincess]

How many swimming pools, restuarants, show lounges and casinos does your town have?

 

We have 2 pools open to the public. Most of the hotels have pools. Many private residences have indoor pools. One casino nearby. Fine dining restaurants, about eight or so. (Not that the dining in all of them is "fine", IMHO). Regular restaurants, I am guessing 15 or 20. Fast food franchises, about a dozen. One place for musical theatre. No other real "show" places.

 

We are a tourist town, so are always glad when the crowds leave and we can enjoy the lack of people for a few weeks. We have actually now hit that point, so for the next few weeks we'll be able to park downtown, walk into restaurants and find seats, visit with people on the streets.

[sail7seas]

CowPrincess...... Sounds like you live in a great location.:)

 

Without being specific, could you give us a general idea where this is? Canada, isn't it?

[CowPrincess]

Sounds like you live in a great location

 

There are opportunities and challenges in every location :D I've given up my career, as there is no need for my particular training/experience here. We pay "tourist prices" for everything, including groceries (at least 20 - 25% higher than in a major city). A dinner for 2 without alcohol in most "fine dining" restaurants is $100, entree and dessert, no appys, before tax and tip. (The food is usually acceptable but not outstanding, and service is a foreign concept to most servers.) Given that most of the town is employed in tourism-related activities, wages are low, so many people who live here cannot afford to, really. Rental accommodation is so expensive, many families with kids who need to rent, end up taking in roommates to help cover the costs. If you are single and need a rental place, you will spend $800 for the grossest, poorest, barely-habitable illegal windowless basement suite that may or may not have a full bathroom. Decent accommodation is $1800 per month minimum. So figure someone is earning $2000 - $2500 per month, before deductions. There's no way they can afford a decent place on their own. They MUST have roommates. Purchasing a home is out of reach of most of the population. Well over half the residential real estate is owned by "weekenders", who are seldom here. If we didn't have pets, we could easily rent our basement for $1000/month, but the whole pet situation is so chaotic for us, we need the basement for our own use!

 

Retail stores that cater to families (e.g., WalMart, Sears, etc.) can't afford the rents that retail space here commands. There just isn't the "critical mass" needed to support a large store. So consequently if you need to buy underwear or non-technical socks, you need to drive a distance to find a place that sells that kind of thing.

 

Winters are long and cold. It snowed today -- this is the 3rd snow since Sept. 27. Hopefully it melts. Our "growing season" is about 60 days -- impossible to grow anything, really. Summers are short, and generally coolish. We usually get 2 weeks of 90F temps. However, being in the mountains, the nights are usually cool, so we don't need air conditioning :)

 

We get elk, deer, bears, eagles, cougars and coyotes in our yards. There's a pair of bald eagles who nest nearby. There's a lake within easy walking distance (if you are prepared to meet bears on the way there), and a river just a couple of minutes from our door.

 

We live in the Canadian Rockies, in the southern part of Alberta. We were fortunate to have purchased when we did. We are waiting for the real estate market to improve so we can sell and move someplace else, hopefully warmer :D

[Boytjie]

We have 2 pools open to the public. Most of the hotels have pools. Many private residences have indoor pools. One casino nearby. Fine dining restaurants, about eight or so. (Not that the dining in all of them is "fine", IMHO). Regular restaurants, I am guessing 15 or 20. Fast food franchises, about a dozen. One place for musical theatre. No other real "show" places.

 

We are a tourist town, so are always glad when the crowds leave and we can enjoy the lack of people for a few weeks. We have actually now hit that point, so for the next few weeks we'll be able to park downtown, walk into restaurants and find seats, visit with people on the streets.

 

Sounds like a nice litle town!

 

It's just funny for me that someone would look forward to escaping something smaller when they start off in a town of 3,000 since for a New Yorker anything less than 8 million would be fine. :D

 

I have actually had a good time on both the Caribbean Princess (3,100 passengers) and the Amsterdam (1,380 passengers). Compaerd to 8 million I guess there's not a big difference!

[CowPrincess]

It's just funny for me that someone would look forward to escaping something smaller when they start off in a town of 3,000 since for a New Yorker anything less than 8 million would be fine.

 

Since we moved here 8 years ago, we've lost our ability to cope with crowds and cities. Funny, since we were both "city folk" all our lives, born, raised, lived in cities. But now, we are nearly catatonic with all the sensory input a city provides. After 6 or 8 hours in the city, I can barely function. I was surprised I managed to actually enjoy Vancouver prior to our Alaska cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the link.

 

The Sabatini's for suite passengers for breakfast is open longer than our Pinnacle -- that is a plus.

 

Pub Lunch -- I'm for that!!!

 

But the big ship -- over 3000 passengers -- too big.

[cf_chuck]

Maybe with some of the new services they are going to offer

 

BUT

 

When you look at the size of the ship they are not going to compete with HAL. HAL has nothing that big and the new Signature class is no where that big. One of the big passanger keepers with HAL is the size of their ships

 

Ruth & Jim

 

I agree about the size of the ship. But there are things that HAL could adopt that wouldn't be tied to the size. It's always interesting to see how movement by one competitor reflects across the rest of the industry. The most significant example I can think of is "open seating" on HAL.

[sail7seas]

We've seen more than a few things from Princess move on over to HAL. :( Not all of them were improvements IMO

 

[pipedreams62]

Will the bedding be improved or is it the same story? My back is starting to hurt (from schlepping my own)

 

 

 

[Taxguy7]

There are opportunities and challenges in every location :D I've given up my career, as there is no need for my particular training/experience here. We pay "tourist prices" for everything, including groceries (at least 20 - 25% higher than in a major city). A dinner for 2 without alcohol in most "fine dining" restaurants is $100, entree and dessert, no appys, before tax and tip. (The food is usually acceptable but not outstanding, and service is a foreign concept to most servers.) Given that most of the town is employed in tourism-related activities, wages are low, so many people who live here cannot afford to, really. Rental accommodation is so expensive, many families with kids who need to rent, end up taking in roommates to help cover the costs. If you are single and need a rental place, you will spend $800 for the grossest, poorest, barely-habitable illegal windowless basement suite that may or may not have a full bathroom. Decent accommodation is $1800 per month minimum. So figure someone is earning $2000 - $2500 per month, before deductions. There's no way they can afford a decent place on their own. They MUST have roommates. Purchasing a home is out of reach of most of the population. Well over half the residential real estate is owned by "weekenders", who are seldom here. If we didn't have pets, we could easily rent our basement for $1000/month, but the whole pet situation is so chaotic for us, we need the basement for our own use!

 

Retail stores that cater to families (e.g., WalMart, Sears, etc.) can't afford the rents that retail space here commands. There just isn't the "critical mass" needed to support a large store. So consequently if you need to buy underwear or non-technical socks, you need to drive a distance to find a place that sells that kind of thing.

 

Winters are long and cold. It snowed today -- this is the 3rd snow since Sept. 27. Hopefully it melts. Our "growing season" is about 60 days -- impossible to grow anything, really. Summers are short, and generally coolish. We usually get 2 weeks of 90F temps. However, being in the mountains, the nights are usually cool, so we don't need air conditioning :)

 

We get elk, deer, bears, eagles, cougars and coyotes in our yards. There's a pair of bald eagles who nest nearby. There's a lake within easy walking distance (if you are prepared to meet bears on the way there), and a river just a couple of minutes from our door.

 

We live in the Canadian Rockies, in the southern part of Alberta. We were fortunate to have purchased when we did. We are waiting for the real estate market to improve so we can sell and move someplace else, hopefully warmer :D

 

South Padre Island is about 2000 full-time residents, but the other side of the causeway is Port Isabel, an old established town with several schools, housing ranging from waterfront (expensive) to Gov't subsidised for low income families. Teachers have a roommate or live in a town further away and carpool.

After Hurricane Dolly (forgotten by the govenor and FEMA sine Ike hit north of here) we don't have any big hotels open, but many motels are. Four or 5 resturants are closed and we now have lots fewer T-shirt stores. All costs are resonable and it has snowed once in the past 103 years. I think I'll just stay here and visit you in the summer.:)

[mrmac]

As much as we love the smaller HAL ships we also love the big Princess ones too. There are so many wonderful different areas on the Princess ships that you never really see those 3000 people. They're all spread out. You cannot tell there are 1000+ more people than on a Vista class ship. The ships are fantastic.