Loreni

Holland America has a small ship (capacity less than 800) in their fleet, the Prinsendam. Also has nice itineraries and visits some ports that larger ships can't get into. And you can find some good prices on this ship. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise on this smaller ship.

 

 

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You are right. HAL does have great itineraries. If they ever change their smoking policy, we will certainly consider them. Right now, it's a deal breaker.

Did you like it?

We met a couple who were very enthusiastic about a Europen river cruise that they took to visit the Christmas markets. It really did not sound very appealing, but at least a few Princess cruisers must like river cruising.

There has been an explosion of ship building for river cruising, so clearly many people enjoy it. Although, I believe it attracts a much older demographic than typical Princess cruisers, this could be a misconception.

This intended for people who would normally sail Princess. I wonder if CCL or Princess would even enter this market?

We recently sailed on the Pacific Princess and liked many of its features. We could see ourselves trying a small ship again, but Pacific Princess is the only small ship left in the fleet, so we need to look beyond Princess for additional options.

Has anyone tried Oceania. We rarely drink alcohol. So, I believe Azamara's inclusion of free alcohol, would not be a plus. Oceania seems like alcohol is pay-as-you-go which makes sense to us. Otherwise, we don't see too many options. Fathom looks like the only CCL option.

My impression in that Oceania is more expensive than Pacific Princess, but it is hard to be sure because of the promotions etc.

Please let me know your thoughts. Is the food better? We are not that concerned about entertainment.

Twice we had 41 sq feet balconies with our mini-suites on the Regal. On the Royal, once, we had an approx. 75 sq foot balcony with the mini. But in February, on the Regal we had a mini-suite again, like we have had on previous voyages on the Royal and Regal, but this one was different in that it was forward facing with a huge balcony, about 200 Sq. Ft balcony and I measured it, billed as a premium mini. I had my doubts when we booked this as I thought it would be very windy and I also had the idea that the balcony door would be locked when underway. Both concerns were myths, actually the flow of air up over the bow made this balcony more comfortable than those on the sides. I was out there every day. The mini-suite itself was a little larger as well. The sea days were real nice and we enjoyed our huge balcony immensely.

 

It is true that some balconies are visible from the Seawalk. I counted them, it wasn't all that big of a deal. We had a large balcony one time in that area but I couldn't see into it from the Seawalk. When one considers all the vessels with staggered decks where one can see into multiple balconies, think it was 17 balconies that I could see into on one cruise from our higher balcony which was set back, it is a common problem anymore.

It is good to learn that the forward balconies are not being locked.

As far as Seawalk goes, my understanding is that people can see into the rooms...not just the balconies.

The fallacy of: "Because it happened to me, it happens to all."

I just randomly picked out a cruise over three months hence, and yes, one of those corner Mini-Suites was in fact available. The rest of the forward facing cabins were booked (despite the fact that availability of "normal" Mini-Suites was wide open). So they certainly book up faster. And the forward cabin comes at a $500 (per couple) premium over a Mid-Forward Mini-Suite, so the additional price has almost turned these cabins into a sub-class of their own. Somehow we have gone from "Balcony cabins have small balconies" to "But you can solve that problem by booking the most expensive Mini-Suite on the ship, assuming you can find one that is available." The apple has become an orange.

I agree.

Just to clarify:

Some classes of Celebrity balcony cabins come with footrests.

A better footrest doesn't completely solve the Princess furniture problem for us because the chairs themselves are sloped oddly and nothing fixes this. However YMMV so maybe the beach ball or Colemans event stool can work for you.

We are on the Regal in March. It'll be our first time in a balcony cabin. We booked L101 for this balcony...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1977490

Please don't judge the balcony experience by your next cruise. It wasn't that long ago when DH and I would "cocoon" nearly all day in our cabin, mainly lounging on the balcony our legs outstretched toward the sea, or enjoying breakfast or room service lunch on our balcony on a good-sized table. It was lovely. But we weren't out spending money at the bars or casino or spa or even for fancy coffee. And free room service is expensive: Princess has tried and failed to begin charging for it.

So things had to change. First the nasty furniture. Then the balconies-in-name-only.

If you are young and free of any arthritis AND you have very unusual anatomy, you may like the new furniture for extended lounging. I can't even stand it for five minutes.

Also several years ago Princess replaced their balcony furniture with some really nasty stuff. We have tried a few times to make it work with pillows and rolled towels, but we finally stopped booking balconies on Princess.

We do miss having a balcony cabin, sometimes. We are thinking if we want to experience a balcony again, we will try Celebrity. See the other thread on Royal/Regal balconies for a photo of the lovely Celebrity balcony furniture and the balcony size on Celebrity.

My understanding is that all of the larger balconies have problems:

1) the forward ones can be locked due to wind or you can be involuntarily bumped from the cabin by VIPs.

2) the aft ones get covered in soot (don't wear white).

3) your privacy in the side cabins is compromised by Seawalk

First world problems...

Even people who live in the first world have limited financial resources and limited time.

If sharing information about how to salvage a balcony cabin with inadequate footrests (Princess) or no footrests (Celebrity) helps someone get more value from their time or money, I am happy to do so.

Concierge Class Cabins do:

 

 

Thank you for posting this. The flooring looks good too.

Yep, problem solved:

 

(Too bad she didn't hold her camera the other direction!)

Because

1) these balconies are often locked due to wind.

2) people have reported on CC that they were involuntarily bumped from these cabins by VIPs.

3) so few of these cabins exist.

The other larger balcony cabins on Royal class have problems too:

aft cabins have soot issues and

cabins on the sides have their privacy compromised by the Seawalk gimmick.

Notice also the video shows very little furniture, and of course it's the nasty stuff.

Given that these ships were not designed to pass through the Canal, I doubt that they gave much thought to trading inches in one place for inches in another. Adding 12-18 inches of width to the balconies would have widened the ship by 2-3 feet. Hard to believe that would have mattered in the grand scheme of things. My guess, (sorry OP...nobody has an answer, so guesses are all you can get), is that Princess wants the balconies to be a bit less inviting so that people don't waste their entire day there and instead retreat to one or more of the many profit-making venues on these ships. After all, these builds have many more places to spend money as compared to Grand Class ships and they want fannies in the seats of the raw bar and not in balcony chairs. One thing is certain, and there really can be no debating this. No one at HQ looked at a mock-up of the new balcony and said: "The people who have been booking Dolphin Deck and Caribe Deck cabins for the past 15 years will love these new balconies just as much." Simply didn't happen. They knew that there would be push back, but they assumed (somewhat correctly) that many people would complain but book anyway, many people would learn to adjust, and many people would not care at all. Either way, if the per person spending on board went up, their decision would be justified.

I agree. It also explains why the comfortable balcony furniture was replaced with the nasty furniture. I doubt this is just coincidental.

This is the main reason we are looking at Celebrity. I understand their balcony furniture is better; however, many of their balconies do not come with foot rests. People have been solving this problem with beach balls or the Coleman portable event stool.

The last time we sailed the Crown Grill was open in the afternoon and people were playing board games and cards. Some games were available on a table by the door.

It is a beautiful room.

In another thread a person said they were a little bored on sea days on the Coral - what about the Star Princess on sea days, can someone name some things that kept you from being bored or activities on the ship - I'm really a hyper person and I don't want my family or I to be bored. I was on the Diamond to Alaska 5 yrs ago and I was bored on sea days, but I can't blame it all on sea days b/c I was facing a bad surgery as soon as I returned home.

I don't think you can count on the activities on Princess to entertain you. We never go to the organized daytime activities and rarely go to the evening shows. I sometimes wish Princess offered more appealing choices. Many people opt out of the organized activities.

Having said that, we have never been bored on sea days and, in general, we rarely get bored. I always bring reading, but never get to it. I bring a notebook, in case I get ideas for projects I'm working on.

What do we do?

Walk laps on the promenad deck...this takes a while.

When we need a break from walking, we meditate while looking at the ocean.

Walking and meditation can take several hours a day.

We talk to each other and sometimes new people.

If you are worrying about surgery or other things, it can be hard to meditate, even though it helps with stress and, for me, being near the sea is the best place for it. The next best thing to take your mind off of things could be playing sudoku or a card game. Or reading something interesting. This could also be a nice time to spend quality time with family just talking or playing a board game, dominos, or cards.

Some of these suggestions may sound dull, but they are worth a try.

I find all your thoughts very interesting and I'm so eager for this cruise to begin (although being in my 60's, time passes too fast so I can't wish it to pass faster ;) . Do all balconies really have a sofa? We were debating whether to try upgrading to a mini because the price dropped so much for one but it would still end up being several hundred more than we're paying for our balcony guarantee so we didn't....but one of the main things we like about a mini is having a sofa. So if our balcony comes with a sofa, that would be great! And I do love reading and libraries and will spend time there when not reading on the balcony. I hope the dancing mentioned will include line dancing because that's way up there for my favorite things to do on board besides eating food that I havedn't shoppied for and prepared and watching the ocean as I read. I am sorry that the promenade deck isn't good for walking because of smokers though because I love walking all around and feeling the differences in temperature and breeze from one side to the next but maybe we'll be lucky and have all non-smokers. I like the sound of no sanctuary being needed, although we have never booked the sanctuary, and that there is more a feeling of peaceful co-existence. I love all the details provided. Thank you so much! I can't wait to share it all with my husband when he returns from golfing.

Promenad too small to walk even without smoke and was actually locked off many days due to weather. DH walked track 13 laps to a mile, I believe. Yes, I do think all balcony cabins have sofas.

Since the OP seems mostly concerned with the size of a balcony, it should be noted that there are many cabins with larger balconies and without an additional premium rate on both the Royal and Regal. One simply should research the ship's layout or allow their TA to help them find one.

We haven't sailed this class yet and probably won't unless there is a very special itinerary or price. On reason is the balconies: I have read here that all the large ones have problems.

Aft, they have soot.

Forward, they are windy, often locked, and sometimes people are bumped from the very special ones of VIPs.

Midship, they lack privacy due to Skywalk, or whatever it's called.

On the other hand, since Princess downgraded the balcony furniture to the point that I can't use it, we don't book balconies often. We enjoy the promenad instead. But. This isn't an option on Royal. Lack of a true, shaded promenad for walking and sitting is just about a deal breaker.

The buffet is reportedly much better, but unless it has clearly marked gluten free options, DH probably won'tuse it much.

Say "for here "

 

 

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Sounds easy. Thanks.

How can you tell food quality from photos?

Well you can't. That's why I'm asking. However, the desserts look exactly the same as typical Princess desserts. Maybe they are better. Can anyone who has tasted the pastry, cakes, or cookies comment in whether the Royal uses butter?

Unless one worked in princess fleet medical, how would a poster

here have a statistically significant number of data points to

provide an intelligent answer?

True. The best we can hope for is anecdotal evidence. If guess the single strongest piece of evidence is the fact that Princess changed its welcome letter from the doctor. Before it only mentioned Noro, now it mentions bother flu and Noro. So Princess has the data. I doubt they'll share.

I agree with what has been written and can add a few comments.

Pluses:

The balconies have railing rather than Plexiglass. I think this is better because the view won't be obstructed by a film of salt.

All balcony cabins have a sofa.

Fast and easy to get on and off the ship when in port.

Theoretically you can reach smaller ports, but for us, this only worked one out of three times due to weather.

Minuses:

Smaller showers.

Hard to enjoy small promenad without smoke. To get to one side you must walk through the smokey casino. This side also is where Princess sets up the dog potty for those traveling with dogs (it was always clean). And I believe this side allows smoking. The side which does not allow passenger smoking, does allow crew smoking at the forward end...since the ship is so small the smoke wafts to the aft end.

Promenad not good for walking.

Food not as good as on larger ships. Less variety, but also execution is worse. For example, we always ask for extra green vegetables with dinner. They were a sickly shade of green and looked like they had been boiled and originally either canned or frozen. This has never happened on other ships.

Plus or Minus:

You will see the same other passengers multiple times each day.

This can be very nice, but is not always a plus. We joined the ship for one segment of a world cruise, towards the end. On our first day aboard quite a few asked, "Where did you get on?" These were practically the only words ever spoken to us by such passengers. Every single person who asked that question was a world cruiser who had been aboard for months. If I tried to engage them later, I received terse often one syllable answers, once followed by a turned back. Many people did not initiate or even return simple greetings in the hall or on the elevator.

I later shared an elevator with two women. I followed the onboard custom of not speaking upon entering, but I did nod. I was wearing a short sleeved shirt and a large Timex with huge numbers (I can read it without my glasses and so can anyone near me). The elevator also has a clearly displayed clock as anyone who had been aboard for a day would notice...many people had been aboard for months. One woman turned to the other and asked for the time. The second woman looked at her Rolex and replied. Then the first woman pulled up her sleeve and looked at her Rolex and agreed. Neither spoke to me that day, although previously one had asked, "where did you get on?"

I interact with people from all walks of life, from the bottom to top 1%, and have never experienced anything like this before. But after all we were "segmenters" and segmenters, on average, probably have a lower net worth than world cruisers. Segmenters are also probably paying a lower price per day. Maybe they resented this. I don't know. But instead of resenting that others have gotten a relative bargain, perhaps be grateful that you can pay full fare. Or if it was my age that offended, instead of resenting my (relative) youth, be thankful that you have had a long life (there is no guarantee that I will).

We would sail on this ship again. I won't let a few snobs scare me away from an itinerary I like. And most people, segmenters and world cruisers alike, were very nice. However, on a small ship, a few unpleasant people can change the atmosphere a bit.

I don't drink much coffee, but did have a coffee card on our last cruise. I noticed that when I used it, my coffe was served in a disposable cup even though lovely porcelain cups were displayed and others were drinking from them. When I asked for one, it was either denied or grudgingly provided.

What is the secret to getting a real cup without asking. I don't drink coffee often, so if the secret is not to bother with a coffee card, this could make sense for me, especially on a short cruise.

I have read that Royal/Regal have the best buffet. However, looking at the photos, it doesn't seem that the food quality is any different than other Princess buffets.

Is it just more perceived variety? I don't need 8 colors (flavors?) of panna cotta. Or 6 types of cookie, none of which contain butter. Or laminated pastry in myriad shapes, none of which were made with butter. Are there any desserts offered that are better than on other Princess ships?

I would like to see greater variety in the types of fruit served, not just melons, oranges, kiwi, apples, pears and bananas. Are berries available? Figs? Peaches? Cherries? Lychee? Any fruit that one doesn't find at other Princess buffets.

More choices of vegetables and greens at the salad bar?

So I guess my question is whether any new items are appearing, or is just more incremental variations of existing Princess items.

Is there a gluten-free section, or at least clearly and accurately marked GF items?

Or is the overall atmosphere of the buffet just more pleasant...nicer furniture and decor and less crowds?

I was there in Oct 2015 on a Princess Coastal cruise down from SF. We docked in Long Beach and it was just a short walk over to the Queen Mary. I walked on for free and headed over to the ticket office. It wasn't yet open but I talked to one of the girls setting up and she recommended just wandering around without one of the tours. I was able to see a fair amount of the ship but a lot was blocked off that day as they were filming some TV show.

 

It was sort of eerie wandering around the hotel area hallways, I can sure see why people say it is haunted. When I was there they were in the process of building some new exhibit in the lower stern area and the engine room area was officially closed. As I wandered around I followed a couple into the area and no body stopped us. I was able to see a lot of the stuff and we all even descended down into the engine spaces. Free was a nice bonus this time.

 

Overall it was very interesting as I had visited one before but that was years before I took my first cruise, I had actually gone to see the Spruce Goose. That tells you how long ago it was lol.

Yes, this is what I was thinking of. Just wandering for a short time. I don't want to do any more tours of the Queen Mary.

Ok so I just called the RMS Queen Mary and talked with the operator. She told me that Carnival Cruise Line will give free passes to their guests when they dock at Long Beach. It is not offered by the RMS Queen Mary. As far as she remembers it was only Carnival Cruise Line ships. Now maybe when Princess occasionally uses Long Beach as a stop on one of their cruises they might do the same thing

Thank you. I will check when aboard.