Best Princess Ship Experience??

[shredie]

In this order: Pacific Princess, Coral and Ruby. I haven't done the big girls yet, and I don't think I'll seek them out. For me, the smaller the better. The Grand class ships seem to run together in my mind. We had such a great time on the Ruby. I remember her for that reason, I guess. Adagio!

[Cruiselover1951]

Pam hit on the nail, each ship has plusses and minusses, the reason we continue to cruise with Princess is because we have never had a bad cruise experience no matter what the ship

 

For us, whether staying in a balcony, mini-suite or suite makes more difference than the ship meaning, now that we always travel in a suite, if we see an itinerary and/or ship we like, but a suite is not available, we will pass and find another cruise.

 

Our first cruise was on the Sea Princess to Alaska in a Balcony State room, our kids were in an inside across ours. At the time, it was the best vacation we ever had as a family and got us hooked on cruising

 

Next was Coral Princess in-and-out of the Panama Canal in a mini-suite (back when you got a full bar set up in a mini-suite!) - we couldn't believe the space ve had available - and 2 TV's!! Ate Alligoator in the Baju restaurant! Man!! - life couldn't get better than that! - wonderful cruise

 

Next was the Ocean Princess in Tahiti, in a mini-suite, again got a full bar set up and upgraded amenneties, great itinerary, liked the charm of the small ship, but also missed some of the choices on the bigger ships we had tried - Also a great cruise!

 

We then took a several year long break from Princess and went on Celebrity to Galapagos and on RSSC in the Carribean x2

 

Came back to Princess and went on the Island Princess in a suite from Ft. Lauderdale to Lax - introduced a couple of good friends to cruising and we had a blast together. Loved the Suite benneis and vowed that as long as we could afford it, never to not cruise in a suite.

 

Next was Santiago to Rio on the Crown Princess in a suite, one of the best cruises ever - loved the ports, especially Falkland Island, one of our best cruises ever.

 

Next was Sydney to Fiji on the Sea Princess in a suite. What was special about this trip was, that there are only very few suites on the Sea Princess, I think all in the aft. While no Sabatini breakfast, they had the in-suite breakfast and menu choices down to an art. All the Suite guests were treated to a special "private" tour of the bridge (while sailing) and allowed to pose for pictures in the captains chair with a cap, prentending we commandeered the ship - itinerary, ship and staff was all just wonderful

 

Next was San Fran to Hawaii on the Grand Princess in a suite - loved the sea days, had some issues with smell and electrical problems described in another post, but nothing to take away a wonderful cruise experience

 

Most recently was our TA cruise on the Royal Princess in on of the infamous aft soot suites. Did have a couple of days with soot problems, received generous compensation from Princess and as most days were fine, we felt we hit the jackpot!. We loved the space of the balcony!. We absolutely loved the Concierge suite just down the hall, and the attention given by the two suite attendants who alternated - calling us if they saw we had not made a dinner reservation to make sure we were set. And we loved the free access to juices, time appropriate food offereings, the oodles of fresh fruit and wonderful expresso drinks we couldn't get enough of. We absolutely loved the ship, staff and food and had a wonderful experience, we would sail her any day.

 

Our next cruise in January is on the Ruby from Ft Lauderdale to Rio, arriving on carnival day that we plan to participate in - counting down the days as we usually do.

 

Each ship had it's quirks and upsides, but nothing that in any way affected our belief and experience, that no matter what the ship, cruising is the only way to truly relax, vacation and ..... excape completely!!

[bingo queen]

Hi Pam,

I am on the Sapphire Princess in Jan 2015,I noticed in reply to a question that you said the Sapphire has been modified for the Japanese market.

In what way ?

 

Thanks.

Edited June 6, 2014 by bingo queen

[flacruiser]

the question was "best experience" and, apart from an "overall" experience, i can distill this down to one singular event that stands out forever in my mind.

 

My sister was with us on the island to hawaii a few years ago. She is very immobile and had rented one of those drivey-movey wheelchairs so that she could get around on the ship and on shore.

 

She rented the biggest one she could get, because she is big, and because she carries a purse the size of a doberman. I digress on the amount of crap she carries around but... This wheelchair had 4 wheels, 3 speeds, 2 reverse gears, a headlight, turn signals, fiberglass fenders, a chrome bumper, and a trailer hitch. It was spectacular.

 

On the third day at sea from la to hi... It broke. She was devastated. She was stuck in her cabin crying and bemoaning her immobility and the fact that at least she would be able to see some of hawaii from the balcony if the ship was facing the right way. I can't blame her. It would have been cheaper for her to rent a volkswagen from hertz than to rent that expensive cadillac of a wheelchair. And she was basically screwed.

 

Everyone on board seemed to know her because of her gigantic wheelchair, and when she didn't show up at dinner word got around to the crew that her giant wheelchair/land-yacht was broken forever.

 

That evening six little people from engineering showed up at her cabin. They scrambled around the wheel-yacht humming and hawing and poking and tugging. Then they all got around it and picked it up like a casket and marched it away. It was like a scene from willy wonka. The engineering oompa loompas marched it away like they were going take it to the "juice room". The ship's engineer/head-oompa-loompa said he would fix it, and the next morning it was back in her cabin. They had used ship's parts to fix the electrical system. And they had charged it, and they had returned it at dawn after working on it overnight. No cost.

 

One day before landfall in hawaii and my sister was not only as good as new, but she was better than new. The repairs seemed to add about 40 horsepower to the wheelchair and my bil, bound in a regular wheelchair, spent the next 9 days being towed around behind her with a rope to the trailer hitch.

 

This singular event... This perfect example of thought on the part of so many random crew members, without need or request, to come together for something that made a serious difference to a single passenger, has made me loyal to princess. This was not a petty deck-chair dispute or silly towel-animal. This was real, cohesive forethought that irrevocably changed for the better an experience that otherwise would have been doomed by happenstance and fate to utter failure.

 

This selfless and caring behavior on the part of the crew of the island made my sister's first, and only, cruise experience the singular vacation of her lifetime. I feel honored to have been present for these proceedings.

 

Bob

bravo!

[Once Upon A Time]

My favorite cruise is always the one I'm on :D My second favorite cruise is the next one :D That being said, the Coral Princess has the most fantastic crew I've sailed with.. They seem like a "family of friends" and if given the chance, they will happily bring you into that family..;)

[Colo Cruiser]

The question was "best experience" and, apart from an "overall" experience, I can distill this down to one singular event that stands out forever in my mind.

 

My sister was with us on the Island to Hawaii a few years ago. She is very immobile and had rented one of those drivey-movey wheelchairs so that she could get around on the ship and on shore.

 

She rented the biggest one she could get, because she is big, and because she carries a purse the size of a doberman. I digress on the amount of crap she carries around but... This wheelchair had 4 wheels, 3 speeds, 2 reverse gears, a headlight, turn signals, fiberglass fenders, a chrome bumper, and a trailer hitch. It was spectacular.

 

On the third day at sea from LA to HI... it broke. She was devastated. She was stuck in her cabin crying and bemoaning her immobility and the fact that at least she would be able to see some of Hawaii from the balcony if the ship was facing the right way. I can't blame her. It would have been cheaper for her to rent a Volkswagen from Hertz than to rent that expensive Cadillac of a wheelchair. And she was basically screwed.

 

Everyone on board seemed to know her because of her gigantic wheelchair, and when she didn't show up at dinner word got around to the crew that her giant wheelchair/land-yacht was broken forever.

 

That evening six little people from engineering showed up at her cabin. They scrambled around the wheel-yacht humming and hawing and poking and tugging. Then they all got around it and picked it up like a casket and marched it away. It was like a scene from Willy Wonka. The engineering oompa loompas marched it away like they were going take it to the "juice room". The ship's engineer/head-oompa-loompa said he would fix it, and the next morning it was back in her cabin. They had used ship's parts to fix the electrical system. And they had charged it, and they had returned it at dawn after working on it overnight. No cost.

 

One day before landfall in Hawaii and my sister was not only as good as new, but she was better than new. The repairs seemed to add about 40 horsepower to the wheelchair and my BIL, bound in a regular wheelchair, spent the next 9 days being towed around behind her with a rope to the trailer hitch.

 

This singular event... This perfect example of thought on the part of so many random crew members, without need or request, to come together for something that made a serious difference to a single passenger, has made me loyal to princess. This was not a petty deck-chair dispute or silly towel-animal. This was real, cohesive forethought that irrevocably changed for the better an experience that otherwise would have been doomed by happenstance and fate to utter failure.

 

This selfless and caring behavior on the part of the crew of the Island made my sister's first, and only, cruise experience the singular vacation of her lifetime. I feel honored to have been present for these proceedings.

 

bob

 

Great story!

[gertz]

biggbob A great touching human interest post, I hope Princess picks up on it.

 

To us it is hard to understand how anyone could pick the extra deck ones as their favorites, but to each his own. That being said however, if I would have had biggbobs experience that would be my favorite but only for that reason.

 

Overall our favorites are directly related to space ratio with the Coral being our overall favorite because we took our grand daughter on it to Alaska a few years ago and we were just on it for maybe the 6yh time this last March to Panama where we enjoyed one of the best elite lunches we ever had. The ship looks wonderful.

 

However, If I had to pick our very No. one favorite. It would be our first the Crown. ;)

Edited June 6, 2014 by gertz

[Mom33]

bigbob.....Your story was very touching. Bravo to the crew!:)

 

We have been on seven different Princess ships. All of them, except one, were chosen for their itinerary. We enjoyed all of them even though they had different deck plans, amenities and were different sizes. Princess has always delivered an enjoyable cruise for us. Our last cruise on the Royal, was the first time we chose a cruise for the experience of the ship. We didn't care where we went. We were out to relax and enjoy our 45th anniversary. Once again, Princess delivered. :D

 

Our favorite ship is any ship we're on.:D