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There's a lot to like about Viking Ocean - the food is terrific and plentiful, the ship is beautiful, no kids, and the access to the awesome spa is open to all. For a World Cruise however, it may get a bit small. The cabins are well-appointed but tight unless you're in a full suite. The entertainment is heavily geared towards classical music and rather amateurish stage shows by the crew entertainers, not counting the local acts that they bring in which are usually quite good. There's usually a "pop" musician as well, often a solo guitarist - it can get  a bit repetitive on a long cruise. They do have a swell jazz club, but we didn't hear any live jazz on our 28-day jaunt as none was to be heard. As noted on this thread, all-inclusive does not include the Silver Beverage package which, if you are a tippler, is a great deal (much less than the big cruise lines) and needed. 

Our 28-day cruise was just enough personally. I really wouldn't to spend 180 days on a ship this size with the limitations as stated. 

Domaine Chandon by the glass at the Vines only is included in the package. Or, for a dollar or two extra, there's a real Champagne by the glass at Crooners.

9 hours ago, pris993 said:

We are like you we have breakfast in our cabin, have been doing this for years now.  We do not go the MDR any more... once menu became less interesting we have split our main day meal between buffet and the Crown Grill.   Some days we simply do Room Service for our main day meal.   I would like Princess to expand the menu for breakfast to include eggs options (HAL has done it for years), plus expand the all day Room Service menu as well.  I could see us doing more Room Service in the future with more choices.  We only eat 2 meals a day.   Some times we have purchased food items in port and brought on board and enjoyed on our balcony.  We always book a mini suite.  Think cruise lines might encourage more in room dining and add tables/chair to make easier in other cabins beside mini suite. 

If you call in your breakfast order, you can order a plain or cheese omelet, hard or soft boiled egg(s), or a fried egg. Of course, this was all before March. 

19 hours ago, satxdiver said:

We switched to ATD as soon as Princess offered it.  It was not bad when first offered but as more and more pax switched to ATD the lines became longer.  About 3 or so years ago we switched back to TD and love it.  The same waiter staff, same table and same pax at the table is very appealing.  I would expect that the big tables (10, 8 and even 6) will go away as more pax do not want to share their table with strangers.  I imagine those larger tables will disappear.  This will be interesting.

 

HAL has always had more of a cafeteria style as opposed to the buffet style.  You get your tray and move alone a line where servers stand behind the hot tables and put food on your plate according to your request.  There was a couple of areas where pax could serve themselves.  I think that this will come as well to Princess and no more serving yourself.  Among other things it will cut down on noro being passed around.  

 

All speculation of course as we wait until they make a decision, redo the MDR and/or buffet areas to hold down the spread of different viruses.  I just hope Princess returns to sailing again in 2021.  

We switched back as well after years of ATD also. Princess changed the late seating to 7:15 or & 7:30 from the previous 8:15 slot which helped our decision. We agree that the whole ATD process became a bit uncomfortable after a while. 

It should be interesting to see how the whole cruise experience changes once the ships return to service. I think the return really won't come until an effective preventative for the virus is available. Let's hope sooner than later.

On 5/16/2020 at 11:47 AM, voljeep said:

additionally - what will Princess have to do to restart cruises ?

 - restaff ships, since most crew have gone back home or will have soon, hopefully 

 - coast guard, or other regulatory inspections/ certifications ?

 - maintenance ? ( and I hope this doesn't evolve into a technical discussion )

 - of course, cruise ports have to re-open to cruise ships

 - what about international flights ?

 

In a perfect world, ships with minimal staff on board, vaccine , testing, 'cure' all in place... How long would it take Princess

to crew, supply, etc ?

May I add another: supply chain.

Over the past few long cruises that we've been on, we have become attuned to the resupply issues that a ship experiences. 

The cruise lines have a robust international supply chain that delivers fresh foods, spirits and wines, paper goods, and a whole host of other goods to the ships on an on-going basis - at a variety of ports. These purveyors, in turn, rely on their own supply chain to have these goods in stock for exactly when they needed. Recently, on a Hawaiian/Tahitian RT out of LA, we were amazed at the number of fully loaded containers that met the ship in Tahiti - God knows where the goods came from to get to Tahiti! It took the crew all day to unload these containers aboard.

On another cruise, we missed a port that was deliver goods to the ship - some of the staff shared their concerns about this us, although short-lived; the goods were somehow moved to our next port to greet us.

Point is, there's a whole network of buyers, producers, purveyors, and transport people involved and these folks haven't seen a cruise ship in months - some may be out of service permanently.

Not an exaggeration to suggest that whole new network will have be cobbled together to support the return of cruising. 

I think one thing is for sure - it is the end of cruising as we knew it.

As several posters in this thread have opined, there are many other alternatives. The cruise lines not only compete with one another, but with many other forms of travel and leisure that arguably will be better positioned to rebound in a post-pandemic environment. Of course, that is if we ever reach that promised land.

The first casualty will be the recent ship-building boom - we are seeing, at the least, significant down-sizing of the industry with perhaps less cruise companies. Demand will slow, and the public will be less forgiving for being exposed to any contagious illness while on vacation. Frankly, the only times my wife and I have been ill with virus and/or flu-like symptoms in the last few years has been on or immediately after a cruise. A few years ago, on a TA, my wife and many other passengers experienced a respiratory illness onboard resulting in a expensive visits to the ship's MD and a course of treatment. It happens - a lot.

The COVID-19 crisis has illuminated these little annoyances to a grand scale. On each of out last three (3) long cruises, the ship had to divert back to it's home port earlier than scheduled to deliver critically ill passenger's to a hospital. Yes, people do get sick on long cruises but this problem has increased in recent years to where it's almost expected that we will have to divert or experience a airlift rescue at sea. That's not hyperbole, that's a fact.

The Great Cruise Boom is over just as it was taking hold. 

We are so glad we took the trips that we did when we did. We always justified them by agreeing that we should do it now, while we can, before we are too infirm to travel. Well, we did and we would do more if this hadn't happened, accepting the risks by preparing as much as we could to avoid them. The last cruise, in February, we carried hand sanitizer everywhere. We avoided touching the handrails on the ship as much as possible - handrails being one of the prime hot spots for virus transmission and one of the most ignored ones by the cruise companies. My wife wrote to Princess about the handrail problem last year. She got a nice reply back stating that the line would enact additional procedures to counter this problem - taking her suggestion that hand sanitizer stations should be stationed at every stairwell - they didn't follow through as far as we could see on our last cruise. With increased vigilance on our part, we finally broke our streak of getting sick onboard.

No matter how much the cruise lines do, however, to mitigate the threat of contagion on ships, the bigger problem always be careless, unsanitary passengers. And that too is a fact. How the cruise line addresses this issue is anyone's guess. We have already seen some rather clumsy suggestions from the industry. 

It's a big world out there. The future of travel is spreading out, not clustering. As much as we enjoy cruising, we would be very hesitant about getting back onboard without significant changes in providing a safe, sanitary environment on any conveyance post COVID-19. 

1 hour ago, Micahs Grandad said:

I question whether our October cruise on Enchanted will happen. Until rules on social distancing end how can we go on a cruise?

I agree. I don't see any significant change in behaviors without a vaccine or quick-acting cure. Are we going to wear masks onboard? What fun!

And what port would allow cruise ships to dock?

We're sitting this out until the payment is due in July hoping, I suppose, for a miracle. More realistically, we expect another suspension announcement from Princess by July.

Obviously, very sad times for thr cruise industry.

We left LA on February 1st aboard the Emerald for a 28 day RT calling on Hawaii, Samoa, and Tahiti.

During the five day trip to Hawaii, we were informed by the Captain (Steven Lewis) that the Samoan ports are not allowing us to dock without a comprehensive health check/clearance, so those ports (Pago Pago & Apea) were off the schedule. 

Princess quickly reacted and added two more ports in Hawaii (Kona & Hilo) and some extra time in Tahiti. 

The cruise was wonderful - although there was some coughing and what appeared at the time to be minor illnesses aboard, there was no widespread viruses that we knew of then. In hindsight, there may of been Coronavirus aboard based on what we recall seeing from a couple of friends that we met onboard went through.

We all kind of kept our fingers crossed on the way back to LA - by then the crisis was all over the news - but made it back OK on the 29th. The airports at that time were operating a full capacity. Seems like a long time ago now.

jimmieg: According to the Princess Wiki page: " It was previously a subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises, and is currently under Holland America Group within Carnival Corporation & plc , which holds executive control over the Princess Cruises brand."

Certainly Jan Schwartz appears to call the shots for Princess, but apparently she reports to the Holland America Group's CEO, a chap named Stein Kruse. Mr. Kruse oversees, under the Holland America Group umbrella, Princess, Holland American, Seabourn, and the P&O subsidiaries. Holland American and the others have their own CEO's as well, as you noted.

I suppose Mr. Kruse in turn reports to Arison of Carnival. 

Here's a link to Holland's Exec profile page:

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/our-company/executive-team.html

Now where their responsibilities cross over is not clear - that's a lot of bosses!

That's an interesting scenario given that none of us can predict the demand level after this crisis. Some folks on SM have been declaring the end of the cruise era. I'm not in that corner, but I do think that the peak demand we saw before this situation will not be seen again for some time. This will result from a combination of factors: economic, societal, and the lingering effects from cruises being at the forefront of recent communicable diseases.  

That said, we should all find it interesting that Princess and Holland have been under the same management team since 2013. Arguably Princess has had, up until now, the higher brand profile of the two but this crisis may change that perception among consumers. It would be a shame to see the brand expire but that's among the least of our worries now I suppose. 

We're on the Oct 25th as well. I have to wonder not only about the readiness of the ship, but the readiness of the company at that point. Not to speculate, but clearly we're in uncharted waters (no pun intended) throughout the world right now. 

It's difficult to imagine how another two weeks (if we're lucky) of an international shutdown will affect our plans - plans which seem like folly right now. 

Nice idea, Steelers0854!

There have been many great moments, moments that last forever, that have occurred on Princess ships.

We're just off a 28 day LA-Hawaii-Tahiti-LA run on the Emerald that produced a few more. Funny how the trip seems a blur when you just get off, but the moments slowly come back to you over time - or is that just old age?!

But the the best, as many other things in life, was the first one. That entire cruise, in 1992 for me (my wife goes back even further to the Sitmar days), on the old classic Star Princess was one great moment. We sailed from Venice to Rome, into the Black Sea and Odessa, Yalta, and Istanbul in addition to several of the Greek Islands. Pure magic.

One moment does continue to stand out and is the basis for so many great moments over the years: It was in a lounge/caviar bar on the Star. There was a waiter there named Bong. I ordered a martini one night and the night after, Bong greeted me by name and asked if I would like a martini, extra dry, straight up with olive - just as I ordered it the night before for the first time onboard. I felt like a star! 

I often wonder what became of Bong and I'm reminded of him every time a bartender or waiter/waitress on Princess greets me to this day. The staff and crew of Princess are what brings me back - they are wonderful people who do a very hard job graciously and with heart. Yes, there's a few less so once in awhile, but overall it's the great service that stands out.

We disembarked the Emerald, after a wonderful 28 day cruise, yesterday. We were informed a couple of days ago by Captain Steven Lewis that we would be speeding up our return to San Pedro due to a dire medical emergency, hence the early arrival. Additionally, there were hearsay reports of a passenger falling in their bathtub and fracturing his/her hip.

There was no widespread illness aboard although the medical office was quite busy with various maladies as unfortunately fairly common on a long cruise with many elderly folks.

I can understand the media attention but the Emerald did not have any of the dreaded cruise afflictions that has everyone's attention these days - let's all be clear about that.

The long delays in disembarking and embarking on the next cruise were the result of Customs personnel simply being overwhelmed by two large ships at the same time. Hats off to the polite and efficient Customs personnel for handling the situation as good as they did.

I'll end with best wishes for the passengers who required medical attention, for there but for the grace of God go all of us.

As far I know, no. We're on a 28 day now and it hasn't been replenished. Interestingly, it is replenished for back-to-backs. 

Aboard the Emerald 28 day LA RT Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti. Just received word from the Captain that both port calls in Samoa (Pago Pago & Apia) have been cancelled due to the coronavirus issue. More details are forthcoming but the Emerald will extend in Hawaii in place of the Samoan ports.

Cruise is wonderful so far!

We've been on many ships as well and also noticed a lot more movement on the Crown than the others during our TA cruise last September. It was never bad really, but considerably more unstable than we have been used to. Of course, there was the usual grumbling about the ship among some of the passengers.

My wife opined that if we had satin sheets she would have slipped out of the bed a couple nights!

2 hours ago, riffatsea said:

Thanks for the list.

I looked on the web site but I guess my early morning eyes couldn't find it!

Can you take a glass of wine from Vines into the MDR at dinner or is that a "no no"??

Yes, no problem. The bartenders at the Vines will ask you to switch your glass from the Riedels used at the Vines to a standard wine glass to go. Sometimes, you may get a wait team in the MDR that will go to the Vines for refills for you, but that's not standard procedure - and sometimes you may be allowed to take your Riedel with you as long as you return it to the Vines, but that's not standard procedure either.

It should be noted that by-the-glass selections are considerably broader in "The Vines" bar, than in any other bar or restaurant on board. 

2 minutes ago, Justalone said:

I am new to cruising.
So, what about footwear?  Does it matter.  No one looks at feet.

For men, no open-toe type of shoe. For women, comfortable flats are fine it seems. 

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

BINGO!!  It used to be that you could buy a photo for $7.95 ... now, yikes ... $25 for the same photo.  I guess it is just keeping up with inflation.  We only buy the one embarkation photo and that is it.  We might purchase more if they weren't priced so crazily!!  

We used to do the same - only the embarkation photo, we had a collection of them. But guess what, they don't do the embarkation photo anymore in the manner that they used to. They now take the photo and put in a porthole frame but no itinerary or ship name anymore. So, no photo for us either.  

30 minutes ago, karrie020852 said:

First time on a Princess Cruise. Going to the Panama Canal. Just how formal are formal nights? Do we I have to wear a formal gown and my DH a tuxedo?

Just discussing this last night with the neighbors (also Princess fans).

The last few cruises - all mostly adult cruises with extended itineraries,  I'd say, umm, informally: 10% formal, 30-40% in business-type suits, 50% neat/casual, some say "country club casual". Also noticed very few in formal attire after dinner around the ship. 

To answer your question though, no, you do not. Dress as you wish. Whether you enjoy dressing formal or not, you will not feel out of place. But! No shorts, jeans, or tees in the MDR!

The Library was always a nice quiet space to visit and relax in - particularly to peruse a large reference-type of book off the shelf without taking it out or contributing to the puzzle solution. But a few too many folks would take out books permanently and that presumably was one of the factors in eliminating the space entirely. So too with the games that would regularly be returned - if they were returned at all - with missing pieces or beverage stains on the boards. 

Poor behavior/etiquette  by our passengers, as anyone who has wandered around the pool deck filled with comfy towels and bags lounging on the deck chairs knows, usually results with a change in policy to stem that behavior. Sad but true.

Can't help you with the 5pm sitting - that's far too early for us, but after many cruises on Anytime Dining, we recently switched over to the late traditional slot - 7:30pm. This time was changed a while back from 8:15pm, which was too late.

Why? Well, we loved Anytime for awhile but it got too popular I suppose and we were tired of waiting for tables or having to show up at least 30 minutes before our preferred time. Now over time we learned how to mitigate this - it involved a palm transaction with a Head Waiter (usually) or Maitre'D (if you can find one). That worked like a charm, but then they changed the fixed late sitting to 7:30, so why bother anymore? That was around the time we usually got to the DR anyway. 

Formal nights - top of my list

Loud bands in the atrium

Junk mail

Photographers in the DR and at the ramps

Medallions (been on two so far, maybe they'll get better)

Nice pics!

Haven't been to Sabatini's in the past few cruises but it sure looks like the menu has been significantly pared down - no more chops?

Have a great cruise!