What Makes Princess Special?

I am relatively new to Princess and have been on one cruise.

For those who have sailed Princess frequently, what makes Princess "special" or unique to you over other cruise lines? And why do you continue to cruise with Princess and not with other cruiselines? What brings you back again and again? Why would you recommend Princess?

Enquiring minds want to know...

The crew!

For me, it was watching The Love Boat as a child that started it. We enjoy the ships, food, "Anytime Dining', crew, wife loves the Zumba program, and ships.

Crew, destinations, food, ship, entertainment...all of them are best for me & I hate to be cliché but casual elegance describes my experience. Overall Princess provides me with a better cruise experience than other mass market cruise lines that I've sailed.

For me it's the best cruise experience within our budget & the combinable onboard credits also makes Princess our most affordable option. I receive a considerable amount of OBC (shareholder, military, future cruise, loyalty, booking) which I can use for onboard purchases. All of these are combinable unlike some cruise lines such as RCI.

Overall the Captain's Circle repeat passenger benefits provides us with complimentary things that are most important to us such as some free internet minutes & free laundry.

These are some of the reasons that we prefer Princess however each cruise line has their pros & cons for each passenger to determine which is their best cruise experience.

I love the bigger, fresh water pools, the shorter entertainment shows with more than one each night. The MUTTS with the covered lounge chairs, popcorn and the milk & cookie cart. I love the classy look of the ship vs. gaudy. I also love that they aren't towel police. I also love the military credit and the limited children during school time.

Well, you could say that we are new to cruising as we have only sailed 4 times with 1 scheduled for this coming October.

When we decided to book our 1st cruise to Alaska, I began searching and quickly discovered that Princess was the most highly recommended cruise line for my demographics. We had just retired with no kids around so it was a fairly easy decision. Now we are Platinum as a result of taking advantage of Up-Sells on 3 succeeding cruises and loving every minute of it.

After our first cruise, we were hooked. The crew, the ships, the destinations, the price, etc. etc. We do not go on vacations during the summer months because we raised our children and do not feel the need to subject ourselves to other peoples children. So we vacation or cruise during the fall, winter and spring.

Princess is geared to allow everyone to be their selves and do their own thing. If you wish to be active, you can. If you wish to relax and unwind, you can. There is ample opportunity to graze at the trough if you get hungry or you can dine is pure luxury! The wide variety of room options is more than enough to provide for the pickiest cruisers!

So I guess you could say we are Princess Cruisers as long as the money last and they offer destinations that we wish to see.

IMO, Princess isn't so much "special" as it is their loyalty program. Princess is not "extremely" anything, like one could say about Disney, Carnival, or Windstar; and I just find it better to rack up loyalty points with one line, Princess, rather than go all over the map.

From the moment we step on board ,we enjoy the comfortable/familiar experience of 'our home away from home'. For us there's no reason we would even consider cruise line. The loyalty perks are very pleasing too.

Well, you could say that we are new to cruising as we have only sailed 4 times with 1 scheduled for this coming October.

 

When we decided to book our 1st cruise to Alaska, I began searching and quickly discovered that Princess was the most highly recommended cruise line for my demographics. We had just retired with no kids around so it was a fairly easy decision. Now we are Platinum as a result of taking advantage of Up-Sells on 3 succeeding cruises and loving every minute of it.

 

After our first cruise, we were hooked. The crew, the ships, the destinations, the price, etc. etc. We do not go on vacations during the summer months because we raised our children and do not feel the need to subject ourselves to other peoples children. So we vacation or cruise during the fall, winter and spring.

 

Princess is geared to allow everyone to be their selves and do their own thing. If you wish to be active, you can. If you wish to relax and unwind, you can. There is ample opportunity to graze at the trough if you get hungry or you can dine is pure luxury! The wide variety of room options is more than enough to provide for the pickiest cruisers!

 

So I guess you could say we are Princess Cruisers as long as the money last and they offer destinations that we wish to see.

Well if I wasn't ALREADY BOOKED on regal princess next year AND seriously considering caribbean princess for November, your comments would have convinced me ....princess will be a perfect fit for us. Kudos.

The pizza can't be beat, for one. :) The Crown Grill is great, and we also like the pub lunch at the Wheelhouse Bar. Also, small thing, but servers will bring diners drinks (water, lemonade, tea [the "free" stuff]) in the Lido buffet, unlike on say, HAL, where passengers have to get their own drinks or get dehydrated waiting for the drink cart to come by.

We like Caribe deck balconies, the layout of the cabin with the large open closet, and the International Cafes on the ships where they exist.

1. The overall atmosphere is relaxed, but not overly casual. We don't see binge drinking, belly flop contests, hairy back contests, and stuff like that. The guests seem to be civil and genteel without crossing over to dull and boring.

2. The option for Anytime Dining. Our days are never the same, and I like that we can dine at 6:00 if we need to, or 8:00 if we want to.

3. The wine policy. We have a decent collection at home and like to have special bottles on special occasions. For us, cruises are "special occasions". I like that we can bring our bottles with us and not be treated like drunks or smugglers.

(And now comes the controversial part as these apply only to the older ships):

4. We love booking a cabin that has a balcony that is big enough for our family to all be together outside. We typically book Mini-Suites which afford ample balcony space for all of us.

5. We strongly prefer ships that present themselves as ships. Where the whole point is to connect with the sea instead of escape from it. So we like ships with Promenades, and places at the bow where we can walk and let the sea wind smack us in the face. And not have to weave our way through an indoor shopping mall or "central park" just to get around.

But mostly #1. We don't want to cruise with adults pretending that they are on Spring Break, or with adults who are doing their best Thurston Howell III impression, or on a ship designed as an amusement park full of kids waiting in line so that they can scream their way through the water slide. That works for lots of people. But it is not what we are after. Princess does the best job of providing that to us.

The International Cafe

MUTS

Pub Lunch

Pizza

Lots of entertainment options during the evening

The decor

The aft pool area - best place to just relax and watch the wake

Itineraries

I just feel at home on Princess - more so than any other line.

I have not sailed on any other cruise line. I always thought that once I made elite, I would try another line, but so far haven't done that because Princess just feels right. I still may try another line one day, but in no hurry to do so. The reasons I stay with Princess (in no particular order):

• a good value for my money
  
• the crew
  
• food, lol--I have some allergies and Princess has been so very helpful and actually inventive, and has a large selection of items I can actually eat without modification
  
• a decent selection of cruises from ports easily accessible to me without flying across the country
  
• a nice loyalty program
  
• good sales
  

1. The overall atmosphere is relaxed, but not overly casual. We don't see binge drinking, belly flop contests, hairy back contests, and stuff like that. The guests seem to be civil and genteel without crossing over to dull and boring.

 

2. The option for Anytime Dining. Our days are never the same, and I like that we can dine at 6:00 if we need to, or 8:00 if we want to.

 

3. The wine policy. We have a decent collection at home and like to have special bottles on special occasions. For us, cruises are "special occasions". I like that we can bring our bottles with us and not be treated like drunks or smugglers.

 

(And now comes the controversial part as these apply only to the older ships):

 

4. We love booking a cabin that has a balcony that is big enough for our family to all be together outside. We typically book Mini-Suites which afford ample balcony space for all of us.

 

5. We strongly prefer ships that present themselves as ships. Where the whole point is to connect with the sea instead of escape from it. So we like ships with Promenades, and places at the bow where we can walk and let the sea wind smack us in the face. And not have to weave our way through an indoor shopping mall or "central park" just to get around.

 

But mostly #1. We don't want to cruise with adults pretending that they are on Spring Break, or with adults who are doing their best Thurston Howell III impression, or on a ship designed as an amusement park full of kids waiting in line so that they can scream their way through the water slide. That works for lots of people. But it is not what we are after. Princess does the best job of providing that to us.

Like!

While Princess is our favorite cruise line, we still cruise on others from time to time.

On Princess the "It's Where We Belong" feeling is hard to explain. :)

LuLu

I love sailing with Princess. They have never disappointed me. My vacation time and vacation dollars are limited. When I start planning a cruise I often look at other lines but then I fear I'll be disappointed. I've never had a "bad" cruise but some that did not live up to my expectations. That is why I've always come back to Princess.

I walk on the ship and I feel at home.

Princess always makes me feel special.

They do things right. Example is tendering. I remember tendering at Half Moon Cay - it was madness. Everyone goes down to the tender boats and it's complete chaos. With Princess you go to a dining room and get a ticket. You may have to wait, but you are sitting in comfort until it your time to go. SOO much better. Although Half Moon Cay is so much nicer than Princess Cays the experience was better with Princess.

I can find nothing to disagree with in any of the previous posts. We have only sailed Princess. Our first cruise hooked us and we, like others, get the "at home" feeling with Princess. The decor is nice and not gaudy or glitzy. I've never seen a rowdy or loud drunk. The crew treat us like royalty.

We embark in another 2 weeks for a 17 day cruise. Some people say that sounds like too long on a ship. With Princess it won't feel too long at all. It most likely won't feel long enough. :)

I like to cruise out of my homeport and Princess makes it interesting enough that I can do that.

From the time that I park my car and walk to registration the Princess employee's are friendly, welcoming and helpful.

The décor on the ship is easy on the eyes and still makes me feel special. Without being "over the top" or "garish!"

The cabins are always ready and can be entered by noon.

The crew is ALWAYS outstanding and you get the sense that they're trying to make your experience the very best you can have.

The ships are well maintained and only on a rare occasion will you find trash and food laying about!

The cabin Stewards and servers onboard Princess are some of the very best I've ever encountered on any cruise line I've been on.

Their frequent travelers incentive programs are some of the best. I feel like they truly appreciate my business.

Their pizza is the very best of any cruise line you will go on.

The service is excellent and the lack of PA announcements is perfect.

The food is good to great.

I've always enjoyed the entertainment other than shortening the main theatre shows in the evening.

1. The overall atmosphere is relaxed, but not overly casual. We don't see binge drinking, belly flop contests, hairy back contests, and stuff like that. The guests seem to be civil and genteel without crossing over to dull and boring.

 

2. The option for Anytime Dining. Our days are never the same, and I like that we can dine at 6:00 if we need to, or 8:00 if we want to.

 

3. The wine policy. We have a decent collection at home and like to have special bottles on special occasions. For us, cruises are "special occasions". I like that we can bring our bottles with us and not be treated like drunks or smugglers.

 

(And now comes the controversial part as these apply only to the older ships):

 

4. We love booking a cabin that has a balcony that is big enough for our family to all be together outside. We typically book Mini-Suites which afford ample balcony space for all of us.

 

5. We strongly prefer ships that present themselves as ships. Where the whole point is to connect with the sea instead of escape from it. So we like ships with Promenades, and places at the bow where we can walk and let the sea wind smack us in the face. And not have to weave our way through an indoor shopping mall or "central park" just to get around.

 

But mostly #1. We don't want to cruise with adults pretending that they are on Spring Break, or with adults who are doing their best Thurston Howell III impression, or on a ship designed as an amusement park full of kids waiting in line so that they can scream their way through the water slide. That works for lots of people. But it is not what we are after. Princess does the best job of providing that to us.

Too funny! Have experienced this and it is good for a giggle at first, but then becomes eye-roll inducing.

Hmm.. pretty much most things everyone else has said. Lot of similar themes run through these posts and we feel very much the same.

RETIREDNLIVING - I know it's your choice but that font in bold is hard on the eyes to read, IMHO. :cool:

Related to what JimmyVWine said in point #1, I feel like Princess attracts the type of customers that I want to be around. Guests seem to be down to earth and interesting, and the vast majority are neither too snobby nor too drunk/stupid.

Also appreciate the laundromat which lets me wash a few things on longer cruises instead of paying the cruise line a large fee to wash my smalls.

I am relatively new to Princess and have been on one cruise.

 

For those who have sailed Princess frequently, what makes Princess "special" or unique to you over other cruise lines? And why do you continue to cruise with Princess and not with other cruiselines? What brings you back again and again? Why would you recommend Princess?

 

Enquiring minds want to know...

I love being Elite with all the perks. Princess has very nice suites. Last but not least is the ability to combine OBCs and that includes the generous military credit.

The pizza can't be beat, for one. :) The Crown Grill is great, and we also like the pub lunch at the Wheelhouse Bar. Also, small thing, but servers will bring diners drinks (water, lemonade, tea [the "free" stuff]) in the Lido buffet, unlike on say, HAL, where passengers have to get their own drinks or get dehydrated waiting for the drink cart to come by.

 

We like Caribe deck balconies, the layout of the cabin with the large open closet, and the International Cafes on the ships where they exist.

The Pizza alone is a reason and the best on the high seas and that says a lot for me as I'm From New Jersey.... The Grill on pool deck is awesome as well as The Crown Grill, and we also like the pub lunch at the Wheelhouse Bar....The International Café has an awesome selection of Specialty Coffee, pastries, Desserts and select salads and sandwiches that are awesome.....

I am relatively new to Princess and have been on one cruise.

 

For those who have sailed Princess frequently, what makes Princess "special" or unique to you over other cruise lines? And why do you continue to cruise with Princess and not with other cruiselines? What brings you back again and again? Why would you recommend Princess?

Enquiring minds want to know...

The crew, service, itineraries, ships, fares, food and entertainment have been consistently good on all of our cruises. We are comfortable with the demographics of the cruisers and the understated elegance of the ships. :D We

are now one cruise away from the Elite loyalty level.:)