Just booked my first Princess cruise!

[garykool81]

Hey folks --

 

My partner and I just booked our first cruise with Princess on a really fantastic itinerary out of San Francisco to Alaska and back in May 2006. It is a 10-night cruise aboard Regal Princess, which although she is a little on the older side still looks amazing from the photos I've seen on the net. She definitely looks on par with the rest of the fleet.

 

Has anyone else sailed aboard Regal Princess recently? Thoughts, comments?

 

I've been a big fan of Celebrity for quite some time, and I know the aesthetic difference between Princess and Celebrity, as well as some other items.

 

How does the food measure up, though? Entertainment (although, that can be greatly inconsistent even within the same line, from my experience.), etc.?

 

Look forward to getting some answers/comments.

[LARGIN]

Welcome to Princess... I am sure you will have a great cruise on the Regal.. She is a great ship.. Go here for some great info on Princess.. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=214933

 

Food and entertainment is subjective.. I Have had no problems with either on any of my 15 cruises on Princess ships

[kingtns]

I also did 2 celebrity (loved them) 1 ncl Dawn (didn't care for that) Carnival Legend (also great) & just did the Voyager (awsome) Now I'm thinking of the new Crown Princess that will be sailing out of Bayonne NJ. Any thoughts... Thanks!

[cruisequeen10]

I have been on 15 princess cruises and twice on Regal. This is a beautiful ship. The entertainment is great. The food is great. The ship is great.

 

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[garykool81]

I also did 2 celebrity (loved them) 1 ncl Dawn (didn't care for that) Carnival Legend (also great) & just did the Voyager (awsome) Now I'm thinking of the new Crown Princess that will be sailing out of Bayonne NJ. Any thoughts... Thanks!

 

I've looked into sailing aboard Star and Dawn with NCL, but I also have serious reservations with going back to NCL. I did a few cruises with them, loved Norwegian Majesty (an older ship that was wonderfully kept up and just beautiful) and hated Norwegian Sea (roughly same age, but absolutely reeked of the 1980s in a bad way...way too much stainless steel, darkness, etc.).

 

I also found the fact that NCL charges a "cover fee" for nearly half the restaurants aboard Dawn, Star and their kin to be a bit ridiculous. I have no problem with paying extra for a really "special" restaurant such as Celebrity MIllennium's "Olympic Dining Room" or something of the sort. But, the idea of paying $15 just to eat in a steakhouse, or $20 to eat Asian-themed food -- that is just a little over the top to me.

 

I think these "cover" fees are killing the beauty of taking an all-inclusive vacation, which is one of the things that made me fall in love with cruising several years ago.

[AdamOfCanaveral]

Hey folks --

 

My partner and I just booked our first cruise with Princess on a really fantastic itinerary out of San Francisco to Alaska and back in May 2006. It is a 10-night cruise aboard Regal Princess.

 

Sounds very interesting, Gary. We need to talk!

[Druke I]

Gary

 

The Regal Princess has been kept in very good shape. We've sailed twice on her, and going again in Mar 06, 'round Cape Horn.

 

We tried Celebrity's Mercury Mar 04 down to Mexico and found it to be quite comparable to Princess ships, re food and service levels. Perhaps dinner service a little more refined on Mercury, but food itself about equal. We thought Princess' 24 hour buffet better than Mercury's.

 

Although not party people, we found Princess livlier than Mercury, which was as sedate as you might find on Holland America.

 

We did think that Princess' production shows better produced/staged than Mercury.

 

You've chosen a great itinerary - and it is truly a thrill to sail out of San Francisco Bay and under the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge.

[cruiserforlife]

Welcome aboard Gary!

I hope you find this cruise and Princess to your liking.I have found the nightlife and activities aboard Princess ships first-rate and from what I hear,are more "active" than on Celebrity.

Now if you can just get through the months of anticipation....:rolleyes:

[madelinerose]

susan...The Crown will sail from Brooklyn (Red Hook). We're sailing on 9-3-06 and there are already several roll calls started for other dates. From what I've read, the Crown is booking quickly. Here are some links for the Crown and Red Hook: ;)

 

http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na727

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=209413

 

http://www.wirednewyork.com/cruises/brooklyn/default.htm

 

I also did 2 celebrity (loved them) 1 ncl Dawn (didn't care for that) Carnival Legend (also great) & just did the Voyager (awsome) Now I'm thinking of the new Crown Princess that will be sailing out of Bayonne NJ. Any thoughts... Thanks!

[Breezey]

Have been on one Celebrity and one Princess cruise (going on my next Princess in a month). So my limited experience with both is:

 

Service - found it a better on Celebrity, just with the added touches they provide (cold cloths post port visits, waiters serving sorbets at the pool). Not enough to make me switch to Celebrity exclusively.

 

Food - at times, a bit better on Celebrity but as a previous poster mentioned, the buffet on the Princess has more variety and availability. Honestly I had very high expectations for Celebrity in this area and was kind of disappointed.

 

Night life/entertainment - hey I may be almost 50 but when we were on the

Celebrity Mercury, we were so bored at night. While we are not big into shows, we like to listen to music (the folk singers, sing along kind of thing), just relaxing. Mercury was a snoozer, focus was on older Sinatra (no offense intended). Disco was dead!!

 

After taking 2 Carnival, 1 Celebrity and going on my 2nd Princess, am still searching to see which one I like best. Am sure you will be happy with your choice.

[garykool81]

Thanks for all the comments, folks! I am really looking forward to the trip.

 

Now, we just need something to hold us over between November 2005 and May 2006. We have the Princess cruise (as mentioned earlier in this post) in May and a really neat 10-night transatlantic with Oceania in November (can't wait for that one!).

 

I am thinking of *maybe* booking a short 4-night cruise aboard Celebrity's Zenith to Key West/Cozumel in the future....but who knows. We'll see how work goes.

 

In case anyone was interested, here is the itinerary for the May 2006 cruise:

 

1. San Francisco, CA

2. AT SEA

3. AT SEA

4. Ketchikan, AK

5. Juneau, AK

6. Skagway, AK

7. Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord

8. AT SEA

9. Victoria, BC

10. AT SEA

11. San Francisco, CA

 

Hopefully some more folks from these boards will join us aboard this cruise....come on Bob and Adam...you know you want to! :-)

[AdamOfCanaveral]

Hopefully some more folks from these boards will join us aboard this cruise....come on Bob and Adam...you know you want to! :-)

 

Yes indeed. We really want to. We've talked about a cruise to Alaska for a long time. Just need to check out the details and costs before we commit. :)

[kingtns]

susan...The Crown will sail from Brooklyn (Red Hook). We're sailing on 9-3-06 and there are already several roll calls started for other dates. From what I've read, the Crown is booking quickly. Here are some links for the Crown and Red Hook: ;)

 

http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na727

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=209413

 

http://www.wirednewyork.com/cruises/brooklyn/default.htm

Thanks for the info. I can't wait!!! I find myself rushing the year for my cruises.

[cruisequeen10]

With regards to the NCL Star, I was just on it in May. This is a beautiful ship and the food was great. Did not eat in any of the pay restaurants, but mostly in the dining room and non paying alternate restaurants. I would stay away from the buffet (on top deck). This was horrible. The NCL Sun's buffet was 100% better.

[garykool81]

With regards to the NCL Star, I was just on it in May. This is a beautiful ship and the food was great. Did not eat in any of the pay restaurants, but mostly in the dining room and non paying alternate restaurants. I would stay away from the buffet (on top deck). This was horrible. The NCL Sun's buffet was 100% better.

 

CruiseQueen10 --

 

You're not the first person I've heard that comment from in regards to the poor setup/quality of food in the Star's dining room. If memory serves correctly, this has to do with the ship originally being built for the Asian market under the Star Cruises banner, where the wasn't a buffet with hot meals at all. I might be thinking of a different ship, but I think this is the one.

 

NCL had to kind of make some quick make-shift changes to create the buffet in this area, and I've heard there are numerous issues with it.