Ocean Princess to be sold

[CJcruzer]

http://www.tradewindsnews.com/weekly/345408/Carnival-plans-to-sell-Ocean-Princess-and-shun-newbuild

 

Carol

[JimAOk1945]

This is an interesting article. Thanks for the link.

[sail7seas]

Okay.

 

[CJcruzer]

Okay.

 

 

I know this is not really anything to do with Holland America per se, but rather a Carnival corporation news item...I just thought it was interesting in that another small vessel in the Carnival corp fleet is being sold off, on the heels of notice that the Ryndam and Statendam are sold. Again I realize Princess and Holland America are separate entities under the Carnival corporation umbrella. It seems to be an indicator that the days of the smaller size ships are numbered.

 

 

Carol

Edited September 28, 2014 by CJcruzer

[sail7seas]

Yes, and Yes.

You are likely right. The days of small Carnival Corp small ships are numbered.

HAL is, indeed, transferring Statendam and Ryndam to P & O. Two small ships leaving HAL's fleet.

(But P & O is under Carnival Corp umbrella.)

Edited September 28, 2014 by sail7seas

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for the link.

It certainly does sound like Carnival Corporation is getting rid of all the small ships.

[hpf]

What a shame, I love the smaller ships..

 

Helen

[frankc98376]

We also love smaller ships. Looks like the only smaller ships will be on Crystal, RSSC, etc. Sadly small ships can't make money when people are paying $50 per day per person for cruises. Big ships need to make that up in on board revenue and to do that they need lots of people and lots of ways to spend money.

 

There will always be smaller ships available, we'll just need to pay the price to sail on them. If HAL keeps Prinsendam I wouldn't be surprised to see it go back to Seabourn.

[LHT28]

We also love smaller ships. Looks like the only smaller ships will be on Crystal, RSSC, etc. Sadly small ships can't make money when people are paying $50 per day per person for cruises.

 

Azamara & Oceania also have the small R-ships

yes sadly it will cost more to sail them

[donaldsc]

http://www.tradewindsnews.com/weekly/345408/Carnival-plans-to-sell-Ocean-Princess-and-shun-newbuild

 

Carol

 

Old news.

 

DON

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It seems smaller size ships will one day be a thing of the past ....

[akeasley]

We all need to sail on the small ships now while they're still around.

[LindaM]

We were on her a couple of years ago. We saw her just last month in Scotland. She looked tiny next to Prinsendam. So sad....we were thinking of sailing her again. Not nearly as nice as Prinsendam, but good enough if the right itinerary. She was beat up and needed work.

[rkacruiser]

I have never sailed on those old Renaissance Cruises vessels, but I have well traveled friends who have. Given that the experiences of others are different and certainly just as valid, my friends thought the Renaissance Cruise ship on which they sailed was the most unpleasant ship on which they have sailed.

 

Never have considered them for that reason inasmuch as I value the opinions of my friends quite highly.

[LHT28]

I have never sailed on those old Renaissance Cruises vessels, but I have well traveled friends who have. Given that the experiences of others are different and certainly just as valid, my friends thought the Renaissance Cruise ship on which they sailed was the most unpleasant ship on which they have sailed.

 

Never have considered them for that reason inasmuch as I value the opinions of my friends quite highly.

 

Unpleasant how ?

 

It may also have something to do with which cruise line has the ships & if they are looked after or not

[rkacruiser]

Unpleasant how ?

 

It may also have something to do with which cruise line has the ships & if they are looked after or not

 

My friends were aboard when Renaissance was doing well.

 

Their complaints: the noise level in the main dining room was unacceptable; Too much space devoted to "extra dining facilities".

 

They had no complaints about the service, cuisine, or the ship's maintenance.

 

It probably was a ship that was too small to suit them. (I have found the same when I was on a 30+ day voyage of the original Royal Princess. Great ship, wonderful crew, excellent cuisine, unique itinerary, good entertainment, but too small of a ship for my taste for such a long voyage.)

[bronte2]

We spent 51 days on Ocean Princess recently and we didn't find her to be 'beat up'. Sure there were some rust spots on our balcony railing but that didn't bother us at all. The deck crew were always painting and cleaning the same as on most other ships we have been on.

The soft furnishings in our cabin appeared to be on the new side, the settee looked as though it had been freshly covered and I didn't hear any complaints from our shipmates so I assume there were no problems with their cabins either.

 

We dined in the MDR most nights and didn't find the noise level to be unacceptable - well I mean I didn't notice it, however different people have different tastes as is often said so this is just MHO. Perhaps, we and our table mates were contributing to the noise :D

 

We loved our cruise on Ocean Princess and we prefer the small ships so obviously that colours our opinions. We wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again and are very sad that she is on the market :(

[LindaM]

We spent 51 days on Ocean Princess recently and we didn't find her to be 'beat up'. Sure there were some rust spots on our balcony railing but that didn't bother us at all. The deck crew were always painting and cleaning the same as on most other ships we have been on.

The soft furnishings in our cabin appeared to be on the new side, the settee looked as though it had been freshly covered and I didn't hear any complaints from our shipmates so I assume there were no problems with their cabins either.

 

We dined in the MDR most nights and didn't find the noise level to be unacceptable - well I mean I didn't notice it, however different people have different tastes as is often said so this is just MHO. Perhaps, we and our table mates were contributing to the noise :D

 

We loved our cruise on Ocean Princess and we prefer the small ships so obviously that colours our opinions. We wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again and are very sad that she is on the market :(

 

I don't mind rust....I sail Prinsendam which has more than her share. You cannot say OP's dining room was lovely. It was old and shabby 2 years ago. Definitely not lovely. Her alternative restaurants also need updating. The showroom has terrible sight lines and needed updating as well. And, this was 2 years ago. I am comparing her to another old, small ship which people still complain about---my favorite Prinsendam, who maybe has another 3 years at best. I sail small ships almost exclusively and would sail OP again.

[LHT28]

My friends were aboard when Renaissance was doing well.

 

Their complaints: the noise level in the main dining room was unacceptable;

 

I agree the dining room is very noisy with the low ceilings the sound has no place to go

We try to sit on the sides ..the middle section it just too much noise when the GDR is busy

 

We love the small ships

 

Lyn

Edited September 29, 2014 by LHT28

[Aruba]

Lyn! What are you doing on the Holland board? I thought I clicked "Oceania" by mistake. LOL

Hope all is well -- Happy Autumn! :)

[LHT28]

Lyn! What are you doing on the Holland board? I thought I clicked "Oceania" by mistake. LOL

Hope all is well -- Happy Autumn! :)

 

Going on the Eurodam in Nov ;)

 

Email me when you have time would like to catch up with you

 

Lyn

[jammen]

interesting.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Isn't the Pacific Princess another small ship?

Does anyone know if she will be sold?

[sammiedawg]

A knowledgeable person on the Princess board says the Pacific Princess is also up for sale but it is not officially announced. I have a cruising friend who loves the Ocean Princess and I've always wanted to do the Pacific cruise around Tahiti.

[Aruba]

Isn't the Pacific Princess another small ship?

Does anyone know if she will be sold?

Princess used to own 3 of the original 8 "R-ships" from the defunct Renaissance Cruise Line: Ocean Princess (formerly Tahitian Princess), Pacific Princess, and Royal Princess. Oceania still has 3 and Azamara has 2.

 

Ocean, Pacific, and Royal (the "old" Royal) Princess was all identical except that Royal Princess carried more passengers because the regular verandah staterooms on her Deck 8 were never converted to larger mini-suites.

 

I don't know if Pacific Princess will, like Royal and Ocean, be sold...but that seems to be a sign of the times. Personally I prefer the smaller ships so have to enjoy them while they're still here! :)