Questions about big ships

[ActiveTraveler]

Princess advertises "small ship feel" on its website to describe the experience on a big member of its fleet. But some people say big ships have long lines because thousands of passengers sail at the same time. Is this a problem on the Princess ships? Also, do the big Princess ships tender more often than the little ones or just go to different ports they can fit in? I want to sail in the Western Mediterranean, but don't know if the Grand Princess is too big for me because I have never been on a cruise. I also want to know if simply sailing two weeks in Europe when school is in session is enough to not see too many kids onboard. I would rather sail on a ship without kids if I could afford it.

[hughdm]

Have been on Crown, which is a bit larger, and Golden, which I think is a sister ship of the Grand. I don't recall any lines. The only time I'd say crowding may be a problem is at the main evening shows. We always get seats, but we go early and sit and have a drink. It's true that bigger ships tender more often, but we have only done it a couple of times. It wasn't a big problem. It depends on the itinerary you choose. Big ships have more restaurant and entertainment choices, which we consider a good thing. If the main show is full, there will be several other ways to spend your evening. We loved both of these Princess ships.

[BobT172]

We've been on alot of Princess' bog ships..Crown, Ruby, Emerald, Grand, Golden and others... we love them all.

 

There ia alot of do on the larger ships and while yes, they hold more people, it is rare that we've fell crowded except maybe on fformal nights.

 

There are "lines" or waits at the theater, as hughdm says...for the earlier show... rarely is there at the later show. There may also be a wait at the Anytime Dining resturants at peak hours... say 6:00-7:30... if we happen to hit that time, we take a beeper and have a glass of wine...

 

One thing I think princess does well is tendering... they usually dock but when tendering is requried, they just put in more tender...has always gone fast in my experiecne.

 

Don't worry about it....do some planning and enjoy the cruise.

[piper28]

I'm not absolutely convinced that the small ships don't do more tendering :). Our Med cruise on the Royal had 4 scheduled tender stops (we missed one). Two of those were ports that bigger ships would stop at and tender, the other two you wouldn't likely get big ships. But I'd say it's likely that in most cases larger ships visit ports they don't have to tender, but even when they do tender, so far for me it's always seemed to run pretty smoothly.

 

Only time I'd say I've ever had an excessive line was once on the Coral when getting off the ship in Aruba. 1PM docking time, and everyone in the ship was waiting to get off. I've gotten off ships faster in tender ports than there.

[newbie500]

We cruised the Mediterranean on the Grand last October. Ours was a 12-night cruise during the school year -- so very few kids (probably less than a dozen on the entire ship)! The ship felt a bit crowded on our one "sea day". Otherwise, we really didn't experience long lines and waits for anything. I hope this helps. Enjoy your trip!

[Toto2Kansas]

We must be different. We find the bigger Grand Class ships, especially the modified Grand Class ships to feel crowded in many areas onboard. The Grand princess isn't too bad as it is a regular grand class ship, but the modified class with an extra deck of passengers just isn't to our liking at all.

[caribill]

Lines you may see which will be longer when there are more passengers:

 

a) Security when reboarding at ports

 

b) Onshore lines for tendering back to a ship towards the end of the time on shore

 

c) Lines at the Purser's desk the last evening

 

d) Lines at the shore excursion desk

 

Times it can get very crowded while onboard a bigger ship:

 

a) Captain's welcome reception and Champagne Fountain in the atrium one evening

 

b) People waiting to disembark at the end of a cruise

 

c) Hallways when a show in the Princess Theater is over

 

d) Entertainment in the Explorer's Lounge (even with five performances over two evenings, it can be crowded)

 

e) Hallway outside the traditional dining room the first evening as everyone needs to be escorted to their assigned tables

 

f) Elevators at dinner time

 

Having said all that, if you take that cruise on the Grand, you will have a great time.

[CALMOM]

I have been on smaller ships and if they are full to capacity then it feels just as crowded to me as the larger ships, full to capacity. I think any ship that is full, will seem crowded at dinner and show time. I find if a ship tenders, it takes longer to get back on the ship, no matter what size of ship. It is all relative to me.

 

However, I do prefer smaller ships as I think the crew is not as over worked and find I receive a little better service but I have always received great service.

 

I love to cruise, so any ship I can afford to get on, I'm there :D

[caber]

I have not found the bigger ships to be any more crowded than smaller ones. After all, there is more space to go with the more passengers.

 

If you want a child free cruise why don`t you try P&O. They have some ships which are adult only and usually come in about the same price as Princess.

 

We are on the Grand at the end of August when the English schools are still on holiday. There are a couple of pools on Grand that are adult only so I am not too worried. It is fun to watch the children sometimes and the younger ones especially are kept very busy with the kids clubs.

[berlingo]

I agree with Caber and would also suggest P&Os child free ships. They have two or three of these and they are also smaller ships.

 

I would suggest that on ships which accept children that you may still end up on a cruise with lots of them on board even if you avoid school holiday times. It is not unusual in my experience for the discount for children or 3rd and 4th passengers to be much greater during term time. Also cruise lines may offer enhanced discounts to promote late bookings. These deals obviously attract parents to cruises which are not advertised as "family friendly".

 

For us larger ships mean more variety of facilities and have cruised on ships of 40 tonnes and 110 tonnes. We have not noticed a lot of difference in queuing or crowds. I imagine that you would see a difference in the luxury end of the market but of course this is reflected in the price. The Berlitz cruise guides do give details of the the passenger space ratio on an individual ship and I believe princess does well on that in comparison with other similar lines.

 

Good luck making the right decision. Cruising is a great way to holiday but you do need to match your requirements with the right cruise line and ship.

 

Regards Julia

[Essiesmom]

I have found in the Greek Isles that where there is a combination of docking and tender options, the larger ship will dock and the smaller tender. EM

[Woobstr112G]

Only time we felt crowded is always at the maid theater shows and in the buffet on occassion.....:):):)

 

Bob

[caribill]

It is not unusual in my experience for the discount for children or 3rd and 4th passengers to be much greater during term time.

 

Princess rarely discounts for the 3rd or 4th passenger, no matter what the age.

[sammiedawg]

Check space per passenger ratio. The Grand Princess accomodates the crowd well, we did the Greek Isles on the Grand. Some ports tender d/t lack of docks or too many ships in port. We do not like the oversided ships Crown, Emerald, Ruby, etc in which they added one extra deck of cabins 500 extra people in the same public space, 3100 passengers instead of 2600. We avoid these.

[berlingo]

In response to Caribills comment.

 

I can only imagine that there must be a difference between UK and USA pricing for 3rd and 4th passengers.

 

I live in the UK and when pricing Princess cruises I am regularly offered substantial discounts for 3rd and 4th passengers (and children.)

 

For example on our forthcoming cruise in July our two children are sharing our mini suite. Our one daughter is classed as an adult and our youngest as a child. Both fares are discounted on the adult price by more than 90%!!

 

Indeed it is these excellent discounts which have led us to cruising with Princess.

[scmexico]

We sailed on the Grand last September and there were very few kids onboard. We sailed from Southampton to Rome. There were two badly behaved American kids but they didn't impact our enjoyment. The Grand does dock in many container ports during this itinerary. There were typically transfer buses available in most ports at a reasonable charge.

[piper28]

I have found in the Greek Isles that where there is a combination of docking and tender options, the larger ship will dock and the smaller tender. EM

 

Heh, while obviously not europe, when we were in St Lucia on the last cruise, 2 R class ships (Royal Princess and one of the Oceania ships), and Mein Schiffe were docked, and the Queen Mary 2 got stuck out tendering. I figure they did that because if they docked the QM2 it probably would have meant having 2 ships tender. The shore crew for the QM2 were really not happy about the situation either.

[Psychedout]

Have been on Crown, which is a bit larger, and Golden, which I think is a sister ship of the Grand. I don't recall any lines. The only time I'd say crowding may be a problem is at the main evening shows. We always get seats, but we go early and sit and have a drink. It's true that bigger ships tender more often, but we have only done it a couple of times. It wasn't a big problem. It depends on the itinerary you choose. Big ships have more restaurant and entertainment choices, which we consider a good thing. If the main show is full, there will be several other ways to spend your evening. We loved both of these Princess ships.

 

Agree.

 

Hugh

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

While the big ships have more people they have more space to, more choice of places to eat things to do.

 

How big is big, The Grand is half the size of todays mega liners,

 

I like the Grand its covered pool gives a good sitting area on a cloudy day,

 

the small ship feeling comes from the layout, lots of little areas to sit,

 

choice of bars etc, you will find it odd that it is possible to be the only

 

folk in a bar at some times of the day.

 

It is quire easy to find a quite spot even with a few thousand folk on board.

 

yours Shogun

[chipmaster]

Lets be honest a big ship is a big ship with all that comes with it, the same as a small ship.

 

Unless princess creates multiple small dining rooms, pool areas, atriums, theaters its a "big" ship Just compare the dining, theater and formal night walking around, nothing small about it, that being sade I've sailed on their biggest and smaller and still ove them, YMMV

 

Its all about marketing, I doubt they were built with an angle in mind to be big but feel small or vice versa.

 

Lets be honest if the new RCCL and other megsized sell out and prices remain sky high Princess will soon be marketing "big"

 

Princess advertises "small ship feel" on its website to describe the experience on a big member of its fleet. But some people say big ships have long lines because thousands of passengers sail at the same time. Is this a problem on the Princess ships? Also, do the big Princess ships tender more often than the little ones or just go to different ports they can fit in? I want to sail in the Western Mediterranean, but don't know if the Grand Princess is too big for me because I have never been on a cruise. I also want to know if simply sailing two weeks in Europe when school is in session is enough to not see too many kids onboard. I would rather sail on a ship without kids if I could afford it.

[JLC@SD]

We must be different. We find the bigger Grand Class ships, especially the modified Grand Class ships to feel crowded in many areas onboard. The Grand princess isn't too bad as it is a regular grand class ship, but the modified class with an extra deck of passengers just isn't to our liking at all.

 

I agree.....our recent experience on the Crown vrs the Grand.....we felt the Crown was a little more crowded especially at the Horizon Court. We had staff helping to seat people at tables with people already seated because all the tables were filled.

[Coral]

We must be different. We find the bigger Grand Class ships, especially the modified Grand Class ships to feel crowded in many areas onboard. The Grand princess isn't too bad as it is a regular grand class ship, but the modified class with an extra deck of passengers just isn't to our liking at all.

 

Check space per passenger ratio. The Grand Princess accomodates the crowd well, we did the Greek Isles on the Grand. Some ports tender d/t lack of docks or too many ships in port. We do not like the oversided ships Crown, Emerald, Ruby, etc in which they added one extra deck of cabins 500 extra people in the same public space, 3100 passengers instead of 2600. We avoid these.

 

While I can handle the Grand class, the larger modified Grand class felt like a nightmare to me. It was too crowded everywhere IMO. I also thought while the employees were working very hard, service suffered as they did not seem adequately staffed to accomodate an additional 500 passengers.

 

The Horizon Court, the shows, the atrium, the elevators, the space around the international cafe was just too crowded IMO.

 

While I can't say that I won't sail one of these ships again (if the itinerary is right) I will check with HAL to see if they have a smaller ship (better space ratio) doing the similar itinerary.

[sammiedawg]

I agree with Coral, there is much better out there than the 3100 passenger Princess ships. we avoid them but otherwise enjoy Princess.

[bhopal21]

We must be different. We find the bigger Grand Class ships, especially the modified Grand Class ships to feel crowded in many areas onboard. The Grand princess isn't too bad as it is a regular grand class ship, but the modified class with an extra deck of passengers just isn't to our liking at all.

 

I fell exactly the same as Toto.

 

We had sailed Princess 9 times before sailing on The Emerald Princess in February and we will be going back to the grand class ships (2600 pax) and smaller.

 

Mike:)