Question about the Sea Princess...out of Barbados

[goldens4ever]

Hey Princess folks...we are looking at the Spring Break cruise next April on the Sea Princess out of Barbados. Just wondering if you could tell me about the Sea Princess...and does anyone know what it is almost twice the price of a similar cruise out of San Juan? It is on April 17, 2011...

 

Thanks for any help!

[goldens4ever]

Still hoping someone can give me info on the Sea Princess...

 

Nice ship?

Why so expensive out of Barbados?

Anything else?

 

Thanks!!!

[Tina G]

The Sea Princess is one of the oldest ships in the Princess fleet. She is lovely, smaller than the huge Grand class, but larger than the R class. Balconies are smaller, and do not extend out, as on the Grand class, but are built into the hull. Inside cabins are quite small. Princess originally had four of these, but I think only the Sea and the Dawn remain. We have enjoyed these ships. The Sea targets the British market, as it is easier for Brits to sail from a British port than to deal with USA's post 9/11 red tape.:)

[mr green]

A 'fun cruise', with 70% Brits. when I was on her. Unless the ship has had an update, the casino is only half its original size, the balance of it being a sports bar/card room.

Now a 'small ship' she was one of the largest cruise ships afloat, but, happily still one of the best.

 

john

[jeffstew]

Hey Princess folks...we are looking at the Spring Break cruise next April on the Sea Princess out of Barbados. Just wondering if you could tell me about the Sea Princess...and does anyone know what it is almost twice the price of a similar cruise out of San Juan? It is on April 17, 2011...

 

Thanks for any help!

 

I'm booked on the 4/18/11 sailing from Barbados to Ft. Lauderdale and I can tell you that I paid nowhere near what they are asking for now. The prices have gone up dramatically on this sailing just in the last few weeks! My balcony cabin (a BD, I believe) was about half of what they are asking for it now. Strange...

[jeffstew]

The Sea Princess is one of the oldest ships in the Princess fleet. She is lovely, smaller than the huge Grand class, but larger than the R class. Balconies are smaller, and do not extend out, as on the Grand class, but are built into the hull. Inside cabins are quite small. Princess originally had four of these, but I think only the Sea and the Dawn remain. We have enjoyed these ships. The Sea targets the British market, as it is easier for Brits to sail from a British port than to deal with USA's post 9/11 red tape.:)

 

 

I believe Sun, Dawn, and Sea are all in the same class. I've been on the Emerald (which I absolutely loved), but really wanted to try something a bit smaller to get a point of reference. I booked the Sea Pricess for a Repo cruise from Barbados to Ft. Lauderdale in April 2011. It won't have the International Cafe' or the Cafe Caribe, but I'm hoping for a bit of the smaller ship charm to make up for the lack of those venues that I really

enjoyed on Emerald. The sit-down Pizzeria on Sea Princess looks mighty tempting I must admit!

[Rob & Beckys mom]

Just a heads up!! We are in Michigan and found it was very expensive to fly to Barbados, not to mention the awful layover in Miami. Check air cost before you decide.

 

Jan

[KruzPrincess]

The Sun Class ships were the Sun, Sea, Ocean and Dawn. The Ocean went to P&O. The Sun is in Australia, Sea in Barbados and Dawn is going to do a world cruise, I believe.

 

The Sun Class ships were my favorite ships. I haven't been on one in a few years, but I'd gladly go on one. I thought they were the perfect size. When I sailed on the Sun, she was the biggest cruise ship on the seas. It's amazing where things have gone. There aren't as many amenities as the bigger ships if that's important to you. I'd choose the Sea over the CB for myself. I don't know why prices are so high that week. Probably because it's spring break and there's not a lot of cabins left. There are dirt cheap prices on the Caribbean in the spring. As another person mentioned, maybe a lot of Brits booking spring break.

[jeffstew]

Just a heads up!! We are in Michigan and found it was very expensive to fly to Barbados, not to mention the awful layover in Miami. Check air cost before you decide.

 

Jan

 

 

JetBlue has a nice direct flight now from JFK to Bridgetown, Barbados. It leaves every day at 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. I've been watching the prices, and they are not bad at all.

[goldens4ever]

Thanks for the info....I really wanted to try out this cruise but I don't think I can justify the double the price of any other southern caribbean trip pricing....I haven't checked to see how full it is....

 

If anyone has any other info or thoughts....I'd appreciate it!!!

[snrlnd]

Thanks for the info....I really wanted to try out this cruise but I don't think I can justify the double the price of any other southern caribbean trip pricing....I haven't checked to see how full it is....

 

If anyone has any other info or thoughts....I'd appreciate it!!!

 

Take a look at the repo on the Sea, Barbados to FLL May 1st. Good pricing.

 

If you have FF miles that may save on the flight to Barbados.

[Shogun]

Hi All,

 

Is this Princess trying to keep most of the Sea for Brits and others on charter flights.

 

yours Shogun

[Tina G]

OP, what is it about the Sea Princess Barbados cruise that attracts you? Is it the ship, or the itinerary?

[Standfan]

Goldens4ever-

We did the Sea Princess last spring break and loved it. It is a smaller ship and the majority of the fellow cruisers were from the UK. For us, that was a wonderful part of the cruise. Some of the choices in food favored their tastes but that again is what we liked about the experience. We met many nice and interesting people just like we have on all our other cruises. The information given on these boards about the ship was spot on so there were no surprises. It is a smaller ship-the rooms are a bit smaller-balconies are cut in the hull-etc. So knowing that going in, we had no complaints. As for ports of call-just as you know, the Caribbean Princess hits most of the same sailing from San Juan. The itinerary posted for 2011 was different from what we did-ours included Samana, Dominican Republic, Isla Margarita, and Montego Bay. I guess what I am trying to say is it is just like any other cruise, you read a bunch, weigh your likes and dislikes, factor in the costs and go with the one that best fits. Like I have read on here-any cruise is better than a day at work. Enjoy!

[goldens4ever]

I really wanted to try out the ship...and the ports were also good....I've only been to each port once....(or will have been to them once....upcoming cruise)....so it sounded pretty good....but certainly not good enough to pay double....

 

So...unless the prices drop....I'll be cruising on another boat!

 

Again...I'll keep checking in here ...if anyone has any other info....thanks for all the info !

[Joshua1]

You are quite correct on that one our spring hols are - start Thursday 1st April and end Mon 19th April then half term is 31 May - 4th June then the children finish on the 23 July for the summer break and start again in early September. There are some slight variations from county to county and of course I think private education dates are different.

 

The Sun Class ships were the Sun, Sea, Ocean and Dawn. The Ocean went to P&O. The Sun is in Australia, Sea in Barbados and Dawn is going to do a world cruise, I believe.

 

The Sun Class ships were my favorite ships. I haven't been on one in a few years, but I'd gladly go on one. I thought they were the perfect size. When I sailed on the Sun, she was the biggest cruise ship on the seas. It's amazing where things have gone. There aren't as many amenities as the bigger ships if that's important to you. I'd choose the Sea over the CB for myself. I don't know why prices are so high that week. Probably because it's spring break and there's not a lot of cabins left. There are dirt cheap prices on the Caribbean in the spring. As another person mentioned, maybe a lot of Brits booking spring break.

[Joshua1]

The total cost of our (2 adults) cruise sailing from Montego Bay in April is £3,217 (I think the exchange rate is around $1.40 ish) this is a balcony cabin and includes all taxes and air fares from Gatwick London returning to Heathrow.

 

We bought this through Princess and in one of their offer brochures. How does that compare with what you would pay? I find it strange that you finding it so expensive as we are led to believe that the US travellers get their cruises cheaper than UK travellers. What are the prices of the cruise for the US travellers, maybe they can get more from us? I think US and UK travellers should share more info on what they pay and then perhaps it would even out.

[goldens4ever]

Currently this would cost us approximately $5,000...without any airfare...we are cruising this year ....Southern Caribbean for under $1000 pp...so around $1850 (out of San Juan)...with airfare....$2300 I guess that is why we are shocked....and yes, we did get a good price cut....but when we booked in April of '09 for this year....it was still only $2200 (cruise only)...

 

The folks who have posted....thanks...although we wanted to cruise on the Sea Princess...and do some of the ports....we may move to the Panama Canal....as it would still be less...and it is 10 days!

 

Oh...and ours was a balcony cabin on the Lido deck...(we prefer to be there...husband likes being close to the pool)

[David&Heather]

The Sea Princess is one of the oldest ships in the Princess fleet. She is lovely, smaller than the huge Grand class, but larger than the R class. Balconies are smaller, and do not extend out, as on the Grand class, but are built into the hull. Inside cabins are quite small. Princess originally had four of these, but I think only the Sea and the Dawn remain. We have enjoyed these ships. The Sea targets the British market, as it is easier for Brits to sail from a British port than to deal with USA's post 9/11 red tape.:)

 

Looking at doing one of these Sea Princess cruises, the red tape is only a small factor, the wasted days cruising from Florida to the Carribbean and back is the main attraction of the ship being Barbados based for us.

[lake5298]

Looking at doing one of these Sea Princess cruises, the red tape is only a small factor, the wasted days cruising from Florida to the Carribbean and back is the main attraction of the ship being Barbados based for us.

 

 

Well, different strokes, different folks!

 

We like the sea days from Florida to the Caribbean, and in particular like having a night in Florida before boarding the ship, to help get over the journey.

 

The days at sea on the return leg are our absolute favourites... we much prefer a sea day before disembarkation... it seems awfully sudden to go straight from a tropical island to a disembarkation port.

 

Saying that, we are off in a few weeks to sail Sea Princess ex Barbados... what we do like about the Barbados round trip is the direct charter flight from Manchester, and the cheap upgrade to decent size seats.

[Dorset Cruiser]

Flying into Barbados from the UK to join a cruise is so easy. As pointed out we can get a Premium seat for a reasonable price but the main benefit is that you get straight off the plane, into the coach and off to the ship. No waiting in line for Immigration:D

 

Sea and Dawn Princess are lovely ships - we enjoy the smaller ships and we love the sit-down pizza restaurant which makes a nice change for dinner. Last year we did a 26 day WC sector on Dawn Princess from Southampton to Dubai and had a great time.

[Shogun]

Hi All,

 

The Sea Princess out of Barbados is the best way to start any cruise,

 

you join your charter flight, hand in your bags , the next time you see them will be out side your cabin,

 

once you land in Barbados the bus collects you from the plane on the run way, you are bused straight to the ship, and after collecting your cruise card on the ship.

 

No waiting for hours at US customs, immergration etc, no waiting for bags just to hand them over again.

 

Coming home check in will be on board the ship, have flown home twice first time we were bused to a back door at the airport and went straight into a lounge after going through a luggage scanner,

 

2nd time we went throught the airport but this time there was a line of Princess reps to direct us again we had our own lane for getting through customs all very fast, very good service.

 

yours Shogun

[David&Heather]

It's good that Princess give you both options.

 

For the same reason we would never do a med cruise ex southampton.

 

Port intensive fly cruises are our preference despite our first Princess cruise being a TA with lots of sea days but thats a special one with plenty to keep us occupied as we are getting married onboard.

 

Well, different strokes, different folks!

 

We like the sea days from Florida to the Caribbean, and in particular like having a night in Florida before boarding the ship, to help get over the journey.

 

The days at sea on the return leg are our absolute favourites... we much prefer a sea day before disembarkation... it seems awfully sudden to go straight from a tropical island to a disembarkation port.

 

Saying that, we are off in a few weeks to sail Sea Princess ex Barbados... what we do like about the Barbados round trip is the direct charter flight from Manchester, and the cheap upgrade to decent size seats.

[David&Heather]

Sounds very similar to our 2 Carribbean cruises with Ocean Village, thinks we will be booking very soon.

 

Hi All,

 

The Sea Princess out of Barbados is the best way to start any cruise,

 

you join your charter flight, hand in your bags , the next time you see them will be out side your cabin,

 

once you land in Barbados the bus collects you from the plane on the run way, you are bused straight to the ship, and after collecting your cruise card on the ship.

 

No waiting for hours at US customs, immergration etc, no waiting for bags just to hand them over again.

 

Coming home check in will be on board the ship, have flown home twice first time we were bused to a back door at the airport and went straight into a lounge after going through a luggage scanner,

 

2nd time we went throught the airport but this time there was a line of Princess reps to direct us again we had our own lane for getting through customs all very fast, very good service.

 

yours Shogun

[goldens4ever]

Well...I am still hoping that the prices will come down so that we are able to book this trip....if not...we will find another one.....but....you all made this trip sound so good....!!!!