Sea Princess has MUTS

[bdjam]

I guess many of us are a little tired of multi opinions from the same people who have yet to experience MUTS.

Could you help me to understand what this means? Multi-opinions? I’m one of those who has yet to experience MUTS (and quite frankly, if I can avoid it, I’ll never experience MUTS) but I don’t think I have multi-opinions.

I must say, however, that given my cruising experience, I don’t think it quite fair to discount my opinion just because I haven’t been subjected to the thing. Just returning from Island Princess, I find there are much more tangible rewards to the type of cruise I was on than being able to come home and say I watched a movie pool-side. If one takes what I post about MUTS as being less than valid, that’s their prerogative. But I still feel that I have a valid opinion and thank Cruise Critic for allowing me to voice it.

It’s funny the same thoughts aren’t directed to those touting MUTS on all Princess ships when in fact they haven’t experienced sailing on anything other than Grand Class.

And as a post script - my local mall has set up an outdoor movie screen and will be showing movies during the summer. They're calling it Movies Under the Stars.

[argosy]

No – and I didn’t mean to say it was. I meant that if my fellow passengers are all caught up in TV, I’m going to be a little less eager to interrupt their attention with my banter. And from what I understand, MUTS plays pretty much continuously. The pool band doesn’t.

 

I see. From your original post you said that MUTS would be 'blaring' so I thought your concern was with the sound. I just wanted to clarify that the sound volume is no different than the pool band.

 

It is true that MUTS plays constantly, and I have always said that I thought Sea Princess should not be included on the MUTS installation, simply because there are not as many pool options. But for the Grand Class ships, where there are lots of pool options...MUTS is easy to avoid.

[Ethel5]

Brian,

When can we expect the review of the Island cruise?

[bdjam]

It is true that MUTS plays constantly, and I have always said that I thought Sea Princess should not be included on the MUTS installation, simply because there are not as many pool options. But for the Grand Class ships, where there are lots of pool options...MUTS is easy to avoid.

And while I don’t think MUTS should have been retrofitted onto Grand Princess, I do think the installation of the apparatus is fine on ships that are designed specifically for it. Again, those are ships that I probably will not sail. But I don’t think the existing fleet should be bastardized with the equipment.

When can we expect the review of the Island cruise?

Ooof…soon, I hope! :o

[GSDsky]

With the intineray of a Sea Princess cruise being SO PORT intensive when would one be at a pool worrying about MUTS?

When I come back to the ship I have a shower and a beer (s) outside pre-dinner... :eek:

[SaylorGirl]

Brian welcome back! I agree that the only ships that should have them (if they must) would be the ones that the MUTS is built in during the building process. This retro fit does not work. It reminds me of RCCL putting in the rock climbing walls, maybe its fine on the ships its designed for but the poor little Sovereign of the Seas it is so out of place and has ruined her beautiful lines.

 

Looking forward to your review hope its as good as your last Regal cruise.

[bdjam]

Brian welcome back!

 

Looking forward to your review hope its as good as your last Regal cruise.

Thanks for the welcome and hope to get a review posted soon. The Island Princess cruise was brilliant and every bit as good as the Regal cruise last August. I would have no problem doing this cruise once a year!!

 

And it and the Regal cruise have reestablished for me the fact that Princess is not heading down the MUTS trail with it’s ships or the type of cruise experience it offers. It is actually running two cruise lines in one – one for the entry level, mass market and one for the more experienced cruiser who wants great quality, great itineraries and great ships. Island Princess proves that the cruise line doesn’t need a big screen TV to have a very successful product. The disappointment comes from the fact that Princess chooses to muddy their product with this type of an "amenity."

[TorontoTL]

One comment I'd like to make about MUTS is that the one cruise I did aboard the CB, the MUTS was not on continuously. There were many times just as with the poolside band, that the pool area was quiet and without any noise.

 

BDJAM, I hope you will post a review of your Island cruise soon, I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

[Globaliser]

With the intineray of a Sea Princess cruise being SO PORT intensive when would one be at a pool worrying about MUTS?

Are they? My Sea Princess cruise has 7 port days and 6 sea days. I wouldn't call that port intensive.

[GSDsky]

10/3 seem that way with ours.

Congrats on yours... ;)

[cruzzers]

The Sea Princess cruise we booked is 14 days, with 11 of those days being in ports along the Caribbean. I think the first Caribbean sailing is Nov 5 and those are all very "port intensive." Probably won't be spending much time trying to decide if we like the MUTS or not, but will just have to wait and see.

 

 

A new cruise....a new adventure....

[MaryPoppinz]

Are they? My Sea Princess cruise has 7 port days and 6 sea days. I wouldn't call that port intensive.

 

She's probably thinking of the Caribbean or European itineraries. They only have 3 or 4 port days out of 15, while the Med and Fjords have a few more sea days, as does the transatlantic.

[teach223]

Will be on the January 28 cruise. We will be boarding when you disembark.

[spongerob]

I just wanted to clarify that the sound volume is no different than the pool band...But for the Grand Class ships, where there are lots of pool options...MUTS is easy to avoid.

 

Not quite as easy to avoid as it should be, IMO. On Grand Princess, there is a great deal of seating area on deck 14 near the pizzeria/burger bar that is exposed to the sound even though the screen is not visible. Every time Spiderman was tossed around by the Octopus Guy, we were subject to spine-jarring SurroundSound thumps. I, and others seated in the area, would flinch with evey new bang. It was seriously loud and definitely interrupted conversations.

 

On ships designed for MUTS, it seems to function well. It just doesn't work nearly as well on Grand Princess, thus the concern that it will be even less of a positive addition on Sea Princess. If it truly was just "Under the Stars", there would be far fewer complaints.

[bdjam]

Check my facts for me – wasn’t Golden Princess supposed to have MUTS installed before she went to Europe this year? And she’s gone and it didn’t happen…is that correct???

[not Cozumel again cruiser]

I will be on the Sea Princess sailing to Norway and NorthCape. There may be too much daylight to see MUTS and why must we always have continuous audio or video of something?- I have been on 23 cruises and rarely is there a quiet moment around the pool. I love music, but seriously a few minutes of peace would be nice occaionallly at the main pool. ( Of course I know there are other places on the ship to go to but they are not usually as nice as the main pool area ). Hey remember Drive in movies never lasted and you remember why we went to those,, don't you?.

[spongerob]

Check my facts for me – wasn’t Golden Princess supposed to have MUTS installed before she went to Europe this year? And she’s gone and it didn’t happen…is that correct???

 

Maybe that's the setup that has appeared at your local mall.

[scousecruiser]

Okay guys

 

 

I am currently on the Sea and here is the deal with MUTS. During the day the movies are playing without any sound. All passengers are issued with wireless earphones that you tune in to listen to the soundtrack. Presto! Nobody gets disturbed if they dont want to be. The band can even play whilst the movie is on.

 

Of an evening the MUTS play with the main speakers on but only people who are there to watch the movie will usually be there as the timing of the MUTS is 7pm and 9.30pm when most people are either at dinner or elsewise engaged below deck.

 

SC

[jbern66]

Thanks for your first hand on-board account, Scouse...I knew it couldn't be as bad as some people portrayed it to be.

[jsea]

I knew it couldn't be as bad as some people portrayed it to be.

Thanks only to the Sea Princess-specific implementation of headphones.

 

To me, the use of headphones is an acknowledgment by Princess that MUTS does disrupt the traditional poolside experience.

[APH]

scousecruiser - thanks for the post! I hope you're having a great time!

 

Well, what an ingeneous way to get round the problem - everyone should be happy at this outcome - if you want a calypso band and traditional pool experience, you still get it, and if you want to experience MUTS, then I guess the sound quality is even better than on the Grand and Caribbean with those wireless earphones - brilliant! :D

[spongerob]

Wow, think how many name-calling threads we could have avoided if someone had thought of that from the start.

[LARGIN]

Yeppers.. Earphones for all..

[bdjam]

Well, what an ingeneous way to get round the problem - everyone should be happy at this outcome - if you want a calypso band and traditional pool experience, you still get it, and if you want to experience MUTS, then I guess the sound quality is even better than on the Grand and Caribbean with those wireless earphones - brilliant! :D

I hate to disagree with an official Deck Cadet, but what about what the monstrosity does to the line and design of the ship? I think that alone is reason enough to keep it off ships that are not specially built for it.

[c&d]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in Oct 04. They show movies during the day and you do not have the option of not listening to the movie if you are sitting near that pool. I am not a big fan of FOOTBALL, However they had Monday night football on the big screen. It was fun they had hot dogs and other items to eat. My DH and our frineds went down to bar area by pool and grabbed a couple of beers. They moved out all the chase lounger and set up tables and chairs. Guys had a great time. The show that evening was geared for ladies. I went into the show and as it got closer to football time the guys started leaving and all went to watch the game.