Why is Princess Your Favorite?

This question relates to Baskin Robbins, in that there's no one right answer to "what's your favorite Ice Cream"? Some people like to try something new every time, others rotate between a few flavors, while others have their fave! You can see all 3 types relating to cruise lines in many blogger's cruise history.

I've asked a couple other lines this question, and the answers are awesome! We're only on our 2nd cruise coming up, but when we do book Princess, I expect to enjoy:

1. Great Itineraries

2. Movies Under the Stars

3. Fantastic Shows

4. Choice in Eateries, Bars, and Lounges

5. Elegant Decor

6. And of course, total escape!

For those of you who like Princess best, or as one of the best, why is it right for you?

Reasonable cruise pricing IF I book it right

Decent itineraries

Clean comfortable ships with friendly crew

Decent food

Stockholder OBC

Retired Military OBC

Loyalty OBC

Some free Internet for Platinum and above

Free Minibar/Coffee Card for Elite

Captain's lunch most times.

Can't say I find the food selection as good as Carnival, specially buffet, and the entertainment isn't generally wonderful but its adequate.

And as for MUTS they need to get bigger blankets.

From the Princess ships I have been on this year it seems they have filled the ships with new cruisers at crazy low firesale pricing and from Downunder. And guys like me who get all the OBC and benefits so it costs us virtually nothing and we get a good experience.

We choose the itinerary, not the cruise line or the ship, but one thing we love about Princess as well as Celebrity is that there are hardly any kids.

We've been on many Royal Caribbean cruises with kids running in the hallways and playing with the elevators and the parents nowhere to be found. On the 1 Carnival cruise we took and will never take again, it was teenagers sitting on the floor of the elevator and nobody said anything to them. One girl was sitting on the handle bars inside the elevator.

We have never seen this happen on Princess or Celebrity.

We choose the itinerary, not the cruise line or the ship, but one thing we love about Princess as well as Celebrity is that there are hardly any kids.

 

We've been on many Royal Caribbean cruises with kids running in the hallways and playing with the elevators and the parents nowhere to be found. On the 1 Carnival cruise we took and will never take again, it was teenagers sitting on the floor of the elevator and nobody said anything to them. One girl was sitting on the handle bars inside the elevator.

 

We have never seen this happen on Princess or Celebrity.

We sailed our first cruise on Carnival, but it was mid-October so there were hardly any kids. I would rather do CCL, RCL, and NCL during the school year if I wanted to sail their line. Disney on the other hand, you would probably enjoy a summer cruise with them ;)

This question relates to Baskin Robbins, in that there's no one right answer to "what's your favorite Ice Cream"? Some people like to try something new every time, others rotate between a few flavors, while others have their fave! You can see all 3 types relating to cruise lines in many blogger's cruise history.

 

I've asked a couple other lines this question, and the answers are awesome! We're only on our 2nd cruise coming up, but when we do book Princess, I expect to enjoy:

 

1. Great Itineraries

2. Movies Under the Stars

3. Fantastic Shows

4. Choice in Eateries, Bars, and Lounges

5. Elegant Decor

6. And of course, total escape!

 

For those of you who like Princess best, or as one of the best, why is it right for you?

I believe that Princess is the only line where you can combine all of your credits. Also if you do not use your FCCs in the allowed time, the cost is refunded, unlike RCCL.

My shipboard credit can be anywhere from $400 to over $1000

Other than the loyalty credit, these perks are available to all levels of loyalty

All of the above plus the intangible that it seems to "fit" us very well. ;)

My only complaint about Princess in general is that the itineraries are getting to be "same old, same old". Now that we are Elite we hate to take some of our business elsewhere but if ports are a big consideration for a particular cruise then in some cases we will be looking at other lines.

For me the primary reason is the elegance of the Princess cruises. I have cruised on Carnival twice and while I enjoyed it (they were both trips with "the girls" when we were in our 20s and 30s) to me escaping completely is now more what I associate with Princess. From the decor to the crew to the food, Princess feels more elegant to me and for a good price. I will take the gold and the teak of Princess over the neon lights of Carnival at this point in my life.

Dana

I enjoy the variety that Princess ships offer--from smaller ones to the larger ones. Our most recent two cruises have been on HAL ships, so I'm looking forward to going back to Princess for our Christmas cruises this year. Princess generally has better production shows and more things to choose from in the evening. The service and food are about the same. We do enjoy our free Internet minutes on Princess--and are looking forward to being Elite soon to get the free laundry.

I am not sure that Princess is my favourite cruise line at all. However, the reason we keep coming back is because of their loyalty program which with the free laundry has great value to us on a longer cruise or when flying great distances.

Why do I keep coming back to Princess? In no particular order:

• friendly crew
  
• enjoyable itineraries
  
• loyalty perks
  
• understated elegance
  
• a great way to escape while on vacation
  

Choosing an itinerary is the most important, but if there are two lines sailing virtually the same itinerary and one happens to be Princess I'll likely book Princess.

:D

We sailed our first cruise on Carnival, but it was mid-October so there were hardly any kids. I would rather do CCL, RCL, and NCL during the school year if I wanted to sail their line. Disney on the other hand, you would probably enjoy a summer cruise with them ;)

We became brave and sailed on a 4 nt cruise with Disney, you'd be surprised, but the problem was not the kids, it was the parents. It was annoying to keep hearing the mothers telling the kids what they can and cannot do and bla bla bla. Definitely something they could have done at home or in the cabin. We liked the Disney Dream and would love to sail on it again.

"Why?"

It feels like home. :)

All of the above plus the intangible that it seems to "fit" us very well. ;)

 

My only complaint about Princess in general is that the itineraries are getting to be "same old, same old". Now that we are Elite we hate to take some of our business elsewhere but if ports are a big consideration for a particular cruise then in some cases we will be looking at other lines.

I agree. I have noticed other cruise lines have better port choices than Princess. Now that we have covered so many different areas although we still have a few to see, we may start considering river cruises instead.

Why Princess? Easy it provides what I am looking for in a cruise line. It has the destinations I want during the time frame I want. They also provide a clean ship with a friendly staff that seems to go out of their way to help passengers. Also you get to meet some great people from many places. All together a great product that seems to stay that way.

"Why?"

 

It feels like home. :)

Home sweet home.....so true;)

Because it makes us feel "It's where we belong"! :)

LuLu

~~~~

Because :

You can go right to your cabin

Fresh water pools

Dining room open on embarkation day

Good tender service

Good food

Good entertainment

Beautiful ships

Our Elite status, along with military OBCs has their advantages! The free internet helps too.

The staff is first class, and we have never had any real problems to complain about.

True, there have been shortcomings of late, but, unfortunately all major cruise lines are having the same problems.

john

I like the variety of activities, the self service laundries (for those of us who don't want to or can't send items to the ship's laundry service), mini-fridges in every cabin, the ability to go right to your cabin upon embarkation, the muster drill inside (rather than outside where the noise from the elements makes it difficult to hear), the lack (or nearly so) of PA announcements about that "last chance" to play bingo or buy artwork, the lack of obnoxious pool games, the ability to chose what kind of dining (especially important for those of us who prefer traditional), that you don't have to feel trapped inside your cabin on formal night just because you're not planning to eat in the MDR...

This question relates to Baskin Robbins, in that there's no one right answer to "what's your favorite Ice Cream"? Some people like to try something new every time, others rotate between a few flavors, while others have their fave! You can see all 3 types relating to cruise lines in many blogger's cruise history.

 

I've asked a couple other lines this question, and the answers are awesome! We're only on our 2nd cruise coming up, but when we do book Princess, I expect to enjoy:

 

1. Great Itineraries

2. Movies Under the Stars

3. Fantastic Shows

4. Choice in Eateries, Bars, and Lounges

5. Elegant Decor

6. And of course, total escape!

 

For those of you who like Princess best, or as one of the best, why is it right for you?

Tough question! We don't have a favorite cruise line. Since our last Princess cruise we've sailed Oceania and Windstar. We like to change things up.

Princess will always be special... we got engaged on them and did our wedding with them. :) Our next cruise with them is 43 days away!

Well, mostly because I can't afford a Grill cabin on Cunard or any cabin on Seabourn.

But really because:

1. Varied and always interesting itineraries (although this seems to be slipping a bit)

2. Self-service laundries w/irons (no need to iron at home before I pack - huzzah!)

3. Freshwater pools

4. My fond memories of the original Love Boats, which were not the first ships I ever cruised on but which were the best. And yet they didn't have freshwater pools or, to the best of my recollection, self-service laundries. Hmm. So it must have been the onboard ambiance and the crew, the intangibles mentioned by others.

We like you...the people who cruise on Princess. The passengers are from different socio-economic backgrounds and all walks of life. And a bonus is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

This is a very interesting thread.

We've cruised a few lines including starting with Carnival, as a lot of folks have. We've also been on HAL a couple of times.

We're platinum on NCL though, and thinking about trying another line for the pure variety. From reading these responses, it appears that most cruise lines are more similar than different. Can you, or do you want to convince me to try Princess? I'm looking for something that isolates them from the rest of the, I'll say, middle tier cruise lines.

A little about NCL for those who don't know. NCL is known for 2 things - freestyle dining and great entertainment options. Most newer ships have at least 12 dining options. They range from steakhouses to seafood restaurants , to italian, Japanese steakhouse, Margaritaville, etc....

They also have multiple entertainment venues( Theaters, comedy clubs, good live music (with the Gammy experience), and cirque or magic special theaters.

That makes NCL Unique. Not to mention no dressing up, unless you want to. They only have "dress up or not nights".

So, now that you know about NCL. What makes Princess unique?

First and foremost is the itineraries. We have sailed all over the world with Princess

.... Can you, or do you want to convince me to try Princess? ....

Certainly would never try to convince you to take a Princess cruise. Not only food, but almost everything is subjective.

When we cruise on NCL, we book a suite and have dinner in a $pecialty restaurant EVERY night.

On Princess we are fine with booking a mini-suite and often have dinner in the MDR.

We find it fun to "sleep around" from time to time on a variety of cruise lines ... but Princess remains our favorite. :)

LuLu