Why did Princess Reduce the Number of Pools on their New Ships?

[Jimbo59]

What was Princess thinking when they designed a ship for 500 to 1000 more passengers than their older ships - and reduced the number of pools?

 

The Royal has one adults-only pool, one main pool, and another that is essentially a large (not so) hot tub.

 

There is no covered pool as on the Grand class ships.

[Pam in CA]

There is no covered pool as on the Grand class ships.

The vast majority of the Grand class ships don't have a covered pool. Not sure when the last time Princess built a ship with a covered pool but it was quite a while ago. :(

 

Having been on the Royal twice, albeit not in the Caribbean, it looked like there was plenty of space on Lido, Sun and Sports deck with loungers. Most passengers don't go in the pool.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Pam in CA

[fishywood]

The covered pools disappeared with the launch of the "super-Grand" ships (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, Ruby).

 

The principal design of the Royal and Regal was to incorporate the most popular (in the eyes of Princess' marketing department) features of the newer NCL and RCI/X ships. This includes extra-charge outdoor deck areas much larger--and costlier--than the Sanctuary on previous Princess ships. So the pool area open to all gets smaller in order to drive enough passengers to spring for a private cabana.

[Loonbeam]

It may also have to do with what itineraries they see them doing in the future. If they have them more in mind for Alaska (once the Canal opens for easy repo) and the port-heavy med, etc, they don't need as much pool space as ships operating in the Caribbean.

[smellycruzer]

What was Princess thinking when they designed a ship for 500 to 1000 more passengers than their older ships - and reduced the number of pools?

 

The Royal has one adults-only pool, one main pool, and another that is essentially a large (not so) hot tub.

 

There is no covered pool as on the Grand class ships.

 

As someone who spends hours in the various pools on each cruise, I'm not a big fan of this change.

[bdjam]

Good question - one also has to wonder why they decided to decrease the size of the balconies on the new ships.

 

Personally, I think it is to move people from "cost free" activities, like enjoying a pool or a balcony to those which increase onboard revenue. But then people call me a cynic.

[skynight]

Why did Princess Reduce the Number of Pools on their New Ships?

 

Good question. The Princess designers made many design errors, not just lack of pools, which have been discussed at length on these boards.

[MustangGT]

Good question - one also has to wonder why they decided to decrease the size of the balconies on the new ships.

 

Personally, I think it is to move people from "cost free" activities, like enjoying a pool or a balcony to those which increase onboard revenue. But then people call me a cynic.

 

I agree! As Pam says, follow the $$$:D

[Mom33]

Having been on both Royal and Regal and being a swimmer, I found the pools adequate. Most people are concerned with deck space by a pool. Both my cruises were in the Caribbean and pictures of a typical sea day in the pool can be found in my reviews below. I don't have to be pool side on a lounger. I enjoy swimming in the pool. The Lido deck is expansive on both ships.

[scott4020]

Money.

[pjrockman]

What was Princess thinking when they designed a ship for 500 to 1000 more passengers than their older ships - and reduced the number of pools?

 

 

 

The Royal has one adults-only pool, one main pool, and another that is essentially a large (not so) hot tub.

 

 

 

There is no covered pool as on the Grand class ships.

 

 

Jimbo, were the pools crowded on your cruise? Just curious, because none of the pools were crowded when we were on our three Royal cruises and one Regal cruise in the Caribbean. However, we never cruise during Spring Break, Thanksgiving week or summer vacation time, so don't know about these pools during school kid or college kid seasons.

 

Thanks, Paul

[Cruisin' into Retirement]

A common business metric is profit per square foot of space. The pools bring in very little profit. I used to prefer the old style of ships that had wooden dancing floors that covered the pools.

 

I actually prefer salt water pools as well. It reminds me of the good ol' days of cruising.

[likeadisguise]

The irony, of course, is that since the outer deck space is limited with the removal of most of the promenade deck from use, these ships aren't suited to colder "scenic cruising" itineraries like Alaska, where there would be fewer people interested in using the pool.

[Grego]

Having been on both Royal and Regal and being a swimmer, I found the pools adequate. Most people are concerned with deck space by a pool. Both my cruises were in the Caribbean and pictures of a typical sea day in the pool can be found in my reviews below. I don't have to be pool side on a lounger. I enjoy swimming in the pool. The Lido deck is expansive on both ships.

 

I agree. Another factor, at least for us, is that we live in FL and have a pool at our house so spending time in a pool on a ship isn't a necessity. We have found lots of places around of the Royal and Regal to lay out and enjoy the sun or shade. The smaller pool aft on the Regal is OK for dipping the toes in when needed.

[satxdiver]

We don't cruise when the kiddies are out of school so don't know much about the pool use. On our mostly adult cruises the pools go pretty much unused. We like others on here have an in-ground pool in our back yard so no big deal on getting into the pool. I imagine Princess has figured out that they can better use the space to generate more $$$.

[RocketMan275]

Good question - one also has to wonder why they decided to decrease the size of the balconies on the new ships.

 

Personally, I think it is to move people from "cost free" activities, like enjoying a pool or a balcony to those which increase onboard revenue. But then people call me a cynic.

 

No need to be cynical about reducing the size of the balconies. Many, many posters have remarked that they only use the balcony for a cup of coffee in the morning, how they have no use for a balcony since they spend no time in their rooms, etc. Princess is simply reacting to a perceived lack of interest in large balconies. Much to my regret. I would swap the pools for more balcony.

[homeinboca]

While, I'm sure cost has to weigh on the decision, I think it really has to do with the demographics of Princess cruisers. I've never found space in the pools on a Princess ship to be a problem, even on winter Caribbean itineraries, and most people just go for a quick dip. Kids, on the other hand will swim in the pool until their lips turn blue. So lines that cater more to family cruising than Princess will invest in more pool space, including water slides, kiddie pools, etc.

[Loonbeam]

It's also worth noting (if it hasn't been said already) that not only do pools not make a lot of revenue, they are costly and labor intensive to maintain, and as ships get larger, the effective weight of all that very unstable liquid at the top of the ships has significant design implications (a designer told me those very popular cantilevered hot tubs caused absolute fits when trying to optimize stabilization - as a thought experiment he suggested holding half full gallon water jugs out to your sides then rock side to side a bit and watch what happens..

[MJSailors]

There are many reasonable points posted here.

I think the idea that Princess is using space for other income generating venues may be a motivation for smaller pools and a limited number of pools.

My DH and I were on the Regal last winter.It seemed to me that the adult pool nearby the Sanctuary was smaller than on other Princess ships,but the Sanctuary itself was larger in area, with space for loungers and cabanas as well.

The cabanas were rented for a significant fee-more income for Princess.

We sailed on the NCL Breakaway last September.

Their pools were very small and very crowded.

It seemed that NCL used space that could have been used for pools ,for the rope course, rock climbing wall and water slides.

An officer stopped by to chat with us one morning apparently because my DH was wearing a Princess tee shirt.

I mentioned to him that I thought the ship could use another pool.

He said that cruise lines were limited in the amount of pools and their size because of a liability issue.

Maybe so, but I still think the new built ships in the cruise industry are designed with profit as the motivation.

Unfortunately, in so many instances in the present times.the bottom line is the most deciding factor for businesses.

[grouchomarx]

To me the biggest problem with the pools is that they are colder than a frozen drink! I rarely take a swim in the pool on any cruise as it's just to cold to enjoy. I use the hot tubs instead and frankly think more of those would be very well received, as people compete for their turn in them during peak times and tend to stay put with their drinks and friends. The only cruise I ever took with warm pools was a repo on the Caribbean Princess from NY to Houston. They were coming from Canada/New England so maybe they heat the pools for that itinerary? It was heaven, we were able to swim so much and it was so comfy. I do miss the pool layout of that ship (as compared to the Regal) as there is the lovely and not too busy aft pool in addition to the two main pools. The adults only pool on the Regal is larger than the Sanctuary pools on all the other ships I've sailed on (the others have that lap style pool, whereas the Regal has just a regular rectangular pool). I do think that Princess needs a water feature inside the Sanctuary to justify the high price. I have used the Sanctuary once and found it a bit annoying to have to leave to get in the water. NCL has hot tubs in their adults only pay area, and RCL has a large adult only pool with it's own hot tubs for no fee, just for comparison. My final thought: just have giant hot tubs instead of pools! Just kidding. Sort of.

[Thrak]

Good question - one also has to wonder why they decided to decrease the size of the balconies on the new ships.

 

Personally, I think it is to move people from "cost free" activities, like enjoying a pool or a balcony to those which increase onboard revenue. But then people call me a cynic.

 

Just because you're a cynic doesn't necessarily mean you are wrong...

[Gwendy]

RCL Mariner has 2 giant hot tubs undercover, near the freezing pool. These hot tubs were really well used. On Diamond the only large hot tub was in the Izumi bath area, cost and also time limit on use.