Too Many People, Too Little Ship

[Mysteryreader]

We just returned from a Caribbean Pr NE/Canada cruise. Our first on Princess. Dh says he'll never consider a Princess cruise again.

 

The ratio of cabins vs public areas seemed really skewed. In the morning, it was close to impossible to get a table in the buffet area. (One time I wedged my plate in between the railing spokes of a dividing wall b/c there wasn't even a stool to sit on.) There was **NO** quiet corner for conversation w/ cruisemates (we sailed w/ family members) or to read a bk. Photographers on formal night were set up in hallways blocking traffic patterns. Heretofore we've met friends in cocktail lounges outside the dining rm for a pre-dinner drink. The lounges were packed like cattle cars and weren't conveniently located near dining rms. The Princess Theater was really small w/o enough seating. The final night there was SRO w/ people lined up along the walls. Believe it or not, there were restrms w/ only *1* stall on a ship of 3000+ pax. The corridors everywhere narrow, cramped, and jammed w/ people. And let's not even mention the slo-o-o-ow elevators that were so overwhelmed they zipped right past our floor multiple times.

 

Is this typical?

 

I don't expect to ever talk dh into booking a Pr cruise again, but I'd like to know for my own information.

 

BTW, a note on service: we had a great cabin steward. OTOH, the buffet waiters/bus workers were less than energetic. On several occasions I bussed our table b/c there was no one else around. One time I was cleaning/setting and looked up to see 4!!! waiters congregated in a corner by the coffee machines just chatting, completely oblivious to the need for some service.

 

M/R

[mr green]

What was the name of the ship?:confused:

You should try Coral, or Island Princess, 91,000 tons, 1,970 passengers.

 

john

[Toto2Kansas]

One thing that seems to be reported more than a few times is that on this Canadian Itinerary, where it is usually cooler, and many are inside instead of outside, that the ship can seem very crowded. With so many passengers all looking for the warmer areas indoors, that can make for a ship that feels more crowded than normal.

Sorry this cruise didn't meet your expectations, but it is the one reason we have never considered this itineary on a ship of this size.

Hopefull your next cruise, on whatever line you choose will be better. And thanks for confirming other posts I have read in the past. Doesn't sound like something we would be interested in at all.

[highflyingrealtor]

Very insightful Toto and makes sense too! Being on the CB 3 times and coming up on our 4th (all Caribbean itineraries), we've always been able to find a quiet spot when we wanted one. I will remember your response when the DW wants to take that chilly itinerary. :D

[stoneharborlady]

Wow, sorry you were unhappy with your cruise. Others have reported the same feelings with that ship on that itinerary.

 

We sailed that ship twice to the Caribbean, and had not one complaint. No crowds anywhere, except the theater. I agree with you that it is a bit small for the amount of folks on board. However, in warmer temps, more people are outdoors on the ship, so no congestion inside.

[KruzPrincess]

I recall the same complaint last year about the Crown on that route. I was on the Crown the following week in the Caribbean and no problems because it was warmer and people were outside more. IMO, these ships were built for warm weather cruising and they don't operate as well in a colder climate. Sorry you were disappointed.

[davidnsteph]

We cruised on the Caribbean Princess to Canada/New England in late August 2008. The weather was mild to warm the entire trip, and people were out on deck and swimming in the pools. We never felt crowded, even inside. But I expect that if it were cold outside, there would have been a lot of crowding inside.

 

We had previously cruised to Canada/New England on the Regal Princess in October 2004, and the weather was cool for most of the cruise from New York to Montreal. Most of the passengers were inside. But there was much more inside space per passenger on the Regal. Unfortunately, it's not part of the Princess fleet anymore.

 

We have found that there seemed to be slightly more inside space on the Crown, Emerald and Ruby than on the Caribbean. In our opinion, the most passenger space of the ships still in the fleet is on the Coral and Island.

 

David

[Cruisers from WA]

We were on the Caribbean Princess once when it was a very new ship and I agree, too many people on this ship...we found it crowded too and we were in the Caribbean...it was our LAST time on this ship for sure:mad:....love love love both Coral and Island...perfect size and yes, you can "Escape Completely" as the advertising logo for Princess Cruises designates.

[6pack]

I believe it was the area you were sailing. Majority of people spend their time indoors which definitely puts a strain on the facilities. I've sailed on the Caribbean in the Caribbean and found the opposite! It felt very airy and it was apparently FULL. I wouldn't right off Princess so quickly!

[David148]

BLAH!! This is not good news to hear, i am about to take this same cruise in about 5 weeks. hmmmm, shall be intersetinggg! Thanks for your thoughts about this.

 

-David

[chipmaster]

Every ship I've been on, except the Disney felt like a zoo in the morning and on formal night. Only on smaller ships or ones not toally sold out will you likely avoid the crowd. In this I'd be suprised any of the mainstream lines will be to different, its economics and they all have the same constraints.

[6pack]

This is a huge ship! if you're feeling crowded on this ship you will feel the same on others! We did the Crown to Alaska and it was fine

[RRFPresident]

We were on the CB last month for the Canada itinerary. There were chilly moments and at points the fog was so heavy, the staff was sweeping away the water vapor left behind on the lido deck. We found that most of the crowding was due to poor design and poor scheduling. They put the piano entertainer in this little alcove and as he became more popular, it created a bottleneck around the stairs leading down to the piazza. By the last show, they moved him to the explorers lounge and it freed up the passageway.

 

As far as poor design, you end up walking through the photo display/purchase desk to get nearly anywhere and the area is literally a wide hallway with picture displays on one wall and the desk on the other. Btwn people looking for their pics and people in line to buy them, it fills the space.

 

The theater was interesting. I think repeating the shows during the wk is good. We showed up about 10 min before and got close seats to the first show. We went nearly 30 min early fearing the hypnotist show would be packed and it wasn't until literally right as the show was starting that the theater filled up.

[end1946]

BLAH!! This is not good news to hear, i am about to take this same cruise in about 5 weeks. hmmmm, shall be intersetinggg! Thanks for your thoughts about this.

 

-David

 

We did this itinerary on the CB last September and hopefully your cruise will be like ours was.....wonderful!:D It was a little chilly in the evenings and there weren't as many people outside like our other cruises but we had no problems at all. Never had a problem getting a seat at the buffet or Princess Theater, the service was good as it always is on any Princess ship we've been on...and I had lots of quiet time...in fact, one night we commented on how quiet it was and, yes, the ship was full. I don't take the elevators much as I like to offset all the food I eat by using the stairs. In my opinion it was a great ship and a wonderful cruise...enjoy:)

[Colo Cruiser]

What is wrong with eating meals in the DR instead of the buffet?

[Coral]

This is a huge ship! if you're feeling crowded on this ship you will feel the same on others! We did the Crown to Alaska and it was fine

 

You must have done the Old Crown to Alaska. That ship had a much better space ratio!

[Coral]

What is wrong with eating meals in the DR instead of the buffet?

 

There were long lines to the dining room also on our Crown cruise last year. You have a very port intensive cruise with everyone leaving for the port at the same time and with people not on deck (as opposed to the Caribbean where people leave leisurely) and you run into a lot of problems on ships with 500 more passengers.

[Coral]

MysterReader -

 

We were on the Crown last year for fall foliage and we had one heck of a time with crowds. The Crown is pretty similar to the Caribbean Princess. Several years ago starting with the Caribbean Princess, Princess decided to add an additional 500 passengers (one deck of people) on the ship with out really adding additional interior areas.

 

We had not sailed one of the newer ships and had read that people didn't have crowding issues so we decided to book. We had done a Canada/NE trip previously on the Star Princess and had absolutely no problems with crowding or in the Horizon Court. I have done many Alaska trips and had no problems with crowding.

 

We had severe crowding issues on this trip last summer (Crown repo Quebec to FLL). We were often 20 minutes late showing up for dining. This time doesn't include trying to get there 15 minutes before the dining room opened (so 35 minutes trying to get an elevator). If we arrived too early, we were trampled down in front of the dining room as people were smooshed together.

 

We could not find a table to eat in the Horizon Court on port days (which were like 15 out of 17 days). Since it was very port intensive and we all had tours at the same time, we were all eating at the same time. Even sharing tables was impossible. We had a great heat waiter in our dining room and saw him at the buffet and he couldn't find us a table and often gave up. If we did eventually find a table, it was dirty and then we couldn't flag someone to get drinks and it was all cold by the time we started eating. We often tried the dining room but it also had long lines.

 

We couldn't walk in the atrium after first seating. It was bottlenecked near the pictures, outside of Explorers Lounge where people were backed up to the windows watching the show in there and then once we got to the atrium, the sales tables didn't help the situation as it made it impossible to move through the area. We were never able to sit in the International Cafe. I don't know if people were camping down there or if it was just busy but that was never an option either. It was common knowledge that we had to show up 45-60 minutes before a show to catch it which was impossible for first dining to catch the 8:00 pm shows. I wasn't going to tackle the crowds for 2 more hours to catch the 10 pm shows as I couldn't find any place to sit besides my cabin!

 

With no enclosed pool, and both pools outside, no one was outside so the inside had to absorb the people which it can't do in this itinerary once the cooler temps have hit.

 

I have sailed Alaska many times (on ships with out the extra deck) and had no problems with crowds in Alaska. The weather in Canada NE (except for 2 days) was far better than any of my Alaska cruises on Princess and again, we did not have problems.

 

These new ships should not sail this itinerary. I got an email from a friend on the ship last year with us and he planned to do almost a month on the Crown this year and canelled those plans right away. His comments were "never again on that class of ship".

 

So - I do encourage you to try the other ships in the fleet but I personally am avoiding the Caribbean, Crown, Ruby, Emerald, etc... as the space ratio on these ships is awful and it is obvious. Sorry to be so negative but after people said there isn't any crowding problems and every single moment on the ship (outside of our cabin) we had crowding problems, we were very frustrated. Staff were frustrated as I knew some of the staff from previous cruises and they said they ran into problems on this ship all the time and hope to get reassigned to the older ships next time.

[spongerob]

I can certainly understand how the OP (and others) feel. To some extent we have experienced crowding on every ship. It does seem to be a bit worse when the weather is messy and it is compounded by the overall age of the passengers. While it might not be politic to say this, when the majority of passengers are of retirement age, the buffet is always more crowded in the morning and early seatings in the dining room always have lines despite the lack of Early Bird specials. (:) that last bit was a joke, lighten up already)

 

I even ran into the same isssues with the buffet on Voyager of the Seas. People tend to linger and take more time which is a good thing but there are some who quite literally remained camped in the buffet the entire day. It was a non-peak cruise with a bias towards older passengers.

 

Although I expect some argument about this, we experienced precisely the same temporary but noticeable crowding issues on Coral Princess as well. There were generally more older people on board that cruise, too. Maybe it's just something as simple as the fact that as we get older we tend to get more set in our ways. When there are more families on board peoples' schedules might be more diverse. It got the point we joked about it but the line at 5:30 PM was frightening while for later times you could pretty much select your own table from the many available in the dining room.

 

So while the OP's comments are perfectly valid, I don't think it is possible to Completely Escape (ha-ha) the fact that there are lots and lots of other people on board. It's part of cruising and makes me hesitant about this trend towards bigger ships and even more people.

[spongerob]

BLAH!! This is not good news to hear, i am about to take this same cruise in about 5 weeks. hmmmm, shall be intersetinggg! Thanks for your thoughts about this.

 

-David

That would be 34 days, 4 hours, and 57 minutes. See you there. :)

[Coral]

I can certainly understand how the OP (and others) feel. To some extent we have experienced crowding on every ship. It does seem to be a bit worse when the weather is messy and it is compounded by the overall age of the passengers. While it might not be politic to say this, when the majority of passengers are of retirement age, the buffet is always more crowded in the morning and early seatings in the dining room always have lines despite the lack of Early Bird specials. (:) that last bit was a joke, lighten up already)

 

I even ran into the same isssues with the buffet on Voyager of the Seas. People tend to linger and take more time which is a good thing but there are some who quite literally remained camped in the buffet the entire day. It was a non-peak cruise with a bias towards older passengers.

 

Although I expect some argument about this, there are precisely the same temporary but noticeable crowding issues on Coral Princess as well. There were generally more older people on board that cruise, too. Maybe it's just something as simple as the fact that as we get older we tend to get more set in our ways. When there are more families on board peoples' schedules might be more diverse.

 

So while the OP's comments are perfectly valid, I don't think it is possible to Completely Escape (ha-ha) the fact that there are lots and lots of other people on board. It's part of cruising and makes me hesitant about this trend towards bigger ships and even more people.

 

Rob - I disagree. I am not sure if you have sailed on these newer ships in Canada/NE. I have sailed on the Golden Princess visiting some of the same ports as the Crown did with the same weather and it was far worse on the Crown Princess.

 

I have been to Alaska in cooler weather on the Coral Princess and have also been on the sister of the Voyager (Explorer of the Seas) and have not encountered the crowdediness I did on the Crown Princess. The space ratio on the Caribbean and Crown Princess is far worse compared to the Coral, Voyager of the Seas and many other Princess and RCCL ships.

 

I agree, there are times on the Coral (or Golden) where it seemed a tad crowded but nothing even remotely similar to what I experienced on the Crown Princess in Canada NE. I can also say comparing the original grand class to having an extra 500 passengers in Canada NE was extremely frustrating. I had no complaints about crowding on my Princess Alaska cruises or my previous Canada NE cruise (which for the ports that over lapped, we had similar weather which was not bad for that time of year).

 

I also can not blame demographics on this as I don't think my demographics changed from my Canada/NE cruise several years ago on the Golden Princess.

[trixiee]

I despise the early morning jostling... I always order breakfast from room service. Thus, the pace of my day is therefore set in a leisurely manner. Love room service!

[Casey12]

I despise the early morning jostling... I always order breakfast from room service. Thus, the pace of my day is therefore set in a leisurely manner. Love room service!

 

If you want a real breakfast ----Princess's room service menu has a lot to be desired. There is nothing hot on the menu.

[Casey12]

I have to agree with the other posters about this class of ship in Canada and New England. We have cruised many cooler climate cruises on the Grand, Star and Golden Princess and never had a problem until we sailed on the Crown in Canada and New England. Never again. Princess needs to keep these ships in the Caribbean. I don't blame the original poster for not wanting to sail Princess again. I questioned it myself after my cruise on the Crown.

[spongerob]

Rob - I disagree ...

I did neglect to mention that I 100% agree with your comment about the photos gallery. You'd think someone would have smartened up there.

 

My point is directed at the specific OP complaints - buffet crowding at breakfast, lines at the dining room esp. when it first opens, and for shows. It is always the same and we have seen the same problems to some extent or another on every ship we have been on Sea (old), Royal (old), Regal to Alaska(I swear people pitched tents in the buffet there, the only table ever available was the shakey table), Grand, Golden, Coral, Caribbean...

 

The times where problems have seemed in my perception to be worse have been cruises with a markedly older group of passengers versus more families with greater range of ages. My conclusion is that you are as likely to experience similar problems on any ship and my observation is that the crowding issues seem to be more prevalent when the clientele is older - including Voyager.

 

But to be fair, the 2 cruises I've taken on CB were a Caribbean and repo from New York, so I'll reserve final judgment until I get to experience this ship on a cold-weather cruise in a few weeks. :)