1st time on Princess, set me right please

[lahore]

Hi

 

We have cruised a lot, usually on Oceania but once on Seabourn. We will be in Singapore in May for a wedding. Three days after the wedding Dawn Princess leaves for Perth Australia, where I need to go to anyway, and a balcony was very affordable so we booked it - figured it would have to be better than flying.

 

Now I am second guessing myself. I have read so many bad reviews of Dawn Princess I am becoming concerned. I still think it couldn't be worse than flying but still, two weeks on a fading hulk with bad food doesn't sound very enticing with 20-20 hindsight.

 

Would be happy to hear opinions, do you think we will be disappointed? We are NOT snobs, but we do like really good food and a refined environment (to us that doesn't mean formal nights - we'll hide in the cabin for those).

 

Another question - if the general food isn't really very good - as many reviews would have me believe - we will dine ashore and at the speciality restaurants. I would love to hear more recent opinions about the speciality restaurants - cost pp, reviews, when to book them, can you get away with wearing 'country-club casual', anything else we should know. Even on Oceania we very rarely dine in the GDR because we dislike making small talk over dinner ....please don't judge....each to their own right?

[Aus Traveller]

Dawn Princess certainly isn't a "fading hulk with bad food" but she isn't the standard of Seabourn or Oceania. She isn't as expensive either. :)

 

'Country-club casual' dressing is the usual attire on nights other than formal night, and if you don't want to dress up, you can still wear your country-club casual clothes and go to the specialty restaurant. The food there is superb. You don't have to book far ahead for the Sterling Steakhouse. The food is the MDR is so good, most people don't bother to go to the steakhouse where there is an extra charge - $25 last time we went.

 

You could try the dining room and request a table for two. It would probably be easy to obtain this allocation at the later dinner sitting. There is more demand for first sitting, so it wouldn't be so easy to get a table for two. Ask for a 'real' table for two, not a six-person table that has had a divider put in the centre to make two tables-for-two. With these you are still very close to your neighbours.

[Cashew14]

Hi there

 

I think the best way to approach this cruise is to keep expectations low and be happy and enjoy.

 

Good food to me is also important (hence us having booked with Seabourn for a future cruise), but if you know it won't reach this standard, at least you won't be disappointed. We sailed Princess before and the speciality restaurant was good, but nothing to rave about.

 

I would also rather take a cruise than fly, no matter which ship. :D

 

Have a fantastic holiday. :)

[jxsAUS]

Fading hulk? No way. Dawn is my favourite - granted it is Aussie based, but she has a great personality. Some reviews are looking for faults rather than admiring the good points. As said above, go with an open mind and enjoy!

[Dorset Cruiser]

We did a three week cruise on Dawn Princess a few years ago. Yes, she is older and smaller and there were a few 'aromas' at times, but we had a great cruise. Food was to the usual Princess standard. We had an in-hull balcony cabin and really liked it. Great for sailing from Southampton to Dubai with lots of cover, when needed, for those scorching hot days. We used it a lot for breakfasts amd lunches on seadays. We also found then that the mainly Australian passengers did not use the Sanctuary very much and we easily managed to get beds on the days we wanted. No spa pool but there was a great - what I think must have been a children's pool - which was ideal to cool off in 😄. We were assigned a two seater table at second sitting. There was a Steakhouse which ran from a sectioned off part of the buffet restaurant. From memory, no Sabatinis or Pizza restaurant.

 

Also sailed on sister ship, Sea Princess, which was just as good a cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Edited December 18, 2014 by Dorset Cruiser

[shredie]

IMO, anything is better than flying! If I had the time, I'd never fly to Europe again and take a TA cruise every time.

[lahore]

Thanks all. I Think keeping the expectations low is probably the key. And yes, flying in cattle class is so foul these days that It must be better. Fingersvcrossed

[TFM70]

Thanks all. I Think keeping the expectations low is probably the key. And yes, flying in cattle class is so foul these days that It must be better. Fingersvcrossed

 

We do expect a full report. I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Emma Chisit]

Thanks all. I Think keeping the expectations low is probably the key. And yes, flying in cattle class is so foul these days that It must be better. Fingersvcrossed

 

Hi lahore. Fancy meeting you here. Remember me from Nautica HK to Athens in 2012? Have been on Princess a few times….and of course once on Oceania. (Booked on O again in 2015 and 2016.) We still consider ourselves landlubbers; any cruises we have taken so far have been primarily determined by itinerary, or some factor of convenience like timing or travel with friends.

And also to avoid flying – cruising is always better than flying!

Somehow that turned out to mean we have been on Princess a lot. They offer a decent product at a decent price. We have not been on Dawn Princess (or any Australian Princess ship), but know many who speak well of her, despite what you might read. Just keep your expectations realistic, as others have said, and remember that Oceania for example will most likely cost 50% more than a similar itinerary on Princess.

As to food etc…. In my opinion the MDR food was much the same on our one Oceania cruise as on all the Princess ships we have been on (Star, Emerald, Pacific, Diamond x2). Service generally (dining room, cabin) is also the same, ie mostly excellent. However, the buffets that we have experienced on the Princess ships were not as good as that one experience on Oceania’s Nautica. I think that is due to the size of the ship as much as anything else, because we thought the buffet on Pacific Princess was the best we’ve had on a Princess ship - and Pacific of course is the same size ship as Nautica and siblings. But for dinner it may well be different; on Princess we’ve only used the buffet for breakfast and lunch, and it can get crowded then.

With more experience in cruising we have finally worked out that what we like is an anytime dining option and a smaller ship, and also of course good food. (We are cruising more - You wouldn’t know it if you look up my roll call postings as I don’t always join one, but this year we have been on Queen Mary 2, Windstar and Diamond Princess.) Some Princess ships like Dawn Princess only offer traditional dining. However, our Princess experiences, when only traditional dining was offered (on Pacific and Diamond in Japan), was that we could always get a table for two, and of course the specialty restaurants are a good alternative. Add a request for a table for two to your booking and check with the maître d’ when you get on board; the staff on Princess have always been very accommodating.

And remember, even the worst food on a cruise ship, buffet or wherever, is going to be better than anything on a plane, even at the pointy end..

Sadly, for those of us who like smaller ships, Princess seems to be moving towards larger ships. They just sold one of their two small (ex Renaissance) ships, Ocean Princess, to Oceania, and who knows what will happen with the other one, Pacific Princess. Not saying we might never sail on Princess again – as we still have some Future Cruise Credits - but our next ninety-odd days of cruising are booked on Oceania.

[lahore]

We do expect a full report. I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

Will do :)

[lahore]

Hi lahore. Fancy meeting you here. Remember me from Nautica HK to Athens in 2012? ... our next ninety-odd days of cruising are booked on Oceania.

 

Hi Emma! Yes of course I remember you, and it's great to hear from you. I particularly remember regularly bumping into you guys in the buffet on Nautica. That was a fabulous cruise wasn't it? Thank you for your comprehensive response, I hope it's not too bad...no I hope it's good! We'll see, I'm keeping an open mind now after the good CC'ers knocked some sense into me :)

 

We are also booked on two upcoming Oceania. You have 90+ days coming up - that sounds fabulous! Where are you off to?

[Emma Chisit]

...... Thank you for your comprehensive response, I hope it's not too bad...no I hope it's good! We'll see, I'm keeping an open mind now after the good CC'ers knocked some sense into me :)

We are also booked on two upcoming Oceania. You have 90+ days coming up - that sounds fabulous! Where are you off to?

 

Princess is a decent line, although I have never been on any of their Australian-based ships. Keep expectations realistic based on per diem (cf Oceania for example) and do report back as people said...It's useful to hear comparisons between lines, even between quite different ones like Princess and Oceania.

We were booked on Ocean Princess for this year - 62 days from Singapore to Dover. It's a sister ship to Nautica. We had been booked on this itinerary since mid 2012; the first booking was on the 2014 cruise where we were waitlisted for the cabin category we wanted, and in a guarantee for our second choice category. So, when in mid 2013 they opened up an identical 2015 cruise, we jumped ship, along with many others, and got the cabin we wanted. However, when the ship was put up for sale last Sept we got spooked by the uncertainty that the ship might sell and the cruise be cancelled....So we cancelled and booked something similar with Oceania. (We also suspected some of the West African ports might be dropped or changed, and this in fact happened after we cancelled. So we would have cancelled then anyway as many did. Those ports were a major attraction for us, having spent a lot of time in Africa, and particularly West Africa, some years ago.) Funnily enough, Ocean Princess did sell quite quickly - and to Oceania; they join their fleet in around March 2016 I believe. They will first be doing the 2015 Princess cruises, and a few in early 2016 too....

Moral of the story - we should have stuck with the 2014 cruise and taken our chances with wait lists and guarantees. :D It went ahead just as planned....

 

(And our O cruises? Nautica this year to Norway, and 71 days of the Insignia World Cruise in 2016. The Miami - Singapore segments. It also goes round the Cape of Good Hope, which was another must for us. So we get to go back to Africa again... hopefully....)

[Opua Kiwi]

We were on the Dawn for 18 days last month.

Re your food queries.

 

I found the MDR food very good to excellent for dinner, and quite good for lunch.

There is a Pizzeria which we enjoyed.

The buffet was average, have had better.

Didn't go to the steakhouse.

Plenty of room available in MDR during first sitting, with some large tables empty.

 

We are cruising on a repositioning HAL ship to Vancouver this year rather than a 14 hour flight.

So, as other have said....it will beat flying I have little doubt.

[lahore]

(And our O cruises? Nautica this year to Norway, and 71 days of the Insignia World Cruise in 2016. The Miami - Singapore segments. It also goes round the Cape of Good Hope, which was another must for us. So we get to go back to Africa again... hopefully....)

 

 

All very interesting Emma. I had been keeping an eye on a Seabourne Cruise from London to Cape Town, the price just kept dropping and dropping, I would have gone but Jon was harder to convince - Ebola and all. In fact even without Ebola he's not really into Africa as a destination. He's going to have to change because we have a 'big birthday choice' thing - if it's your big birthday you choose. He turns 70 this year and those cruises were his choice, but when I turn 60 I'm going to see the Victoria falls if it kills me, it's one of the few unticked on my original bucket list.

 

Miami to Singapore sounds just fabulous, so it goes 'west' to 'east' huh?

[lahore]

We were on the Dawn for 18 days last month...

 

We are cruising on a repositioning HAL ship to Vancouver this year rather than a 14 hour flight.

So, as other have said....it will beat flying I have little doubt.

 

Thanks for that :). Yes, I'm sure it will beat flying. If worst comes to worst we can easily live on shore food and pizza for a while :p. Will try the MDR on non-formal nights if - and only if - we can get a table for two. Fingers crossed. Did you notice any of them empty at the early seating (which would be our preference).

[lahore]

Hi everyone, I did promise to write a report once we got back, and actually I have nearly finished a review. I'll let you know when I submit it, but I'm pretty sure it will make some people hate me. Even though I kept my expectations low, we were shocked at how bad this cruise was. We thoroughly loathed Dawn Princess. :eek: I actually am not sure that it wasn't worse than flying. I love being at sea and can always put up with just watching the waves, but my husband was ropable most of the time. If he's not well fed, he's not happy and the food was, well, not to our taste to put it mildly.

Edited June 8, 2015 by lahore

[Colo Cruiser]

Goodness! I can't wait for your review. I guess it is what it is and sometimes the truth hurts. But we do need to see the good and the bad.

Sorry you had a bad experience. :(

[Coral]

I am surprised. She is an older ship but I have spent 2 weeks on the Dawn Princess in years past and thought highly of her. I thought the pizzeria was wonderful and have never thought Princess food to be bad. I am not a fan of the buffet and there are times food is better than other times but I can always find something to eat.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I can't speak of the Dawn as we've never been on that ship, and have only been on Carnival (1994-2002) and then switched to Princess and have enjoyed our cruises on the Star, Sapphire, Island, Golden (twice).

 

We're not foodies so I also can't say more than the food is satisfactory to us, whether eating in the MDR, the buffet, at the poolside grill. We also got a complimentary dinner in Sabatinis on our last cruise.

 

You might be able to wear smart casual on formal nights, but it depends on the maitre'd and his staff. On our last cruise, there was a man who wore solid color dress shirts on formal night -- didn't see a jacket draped on his chair so I have to think he walked in that way, and without a tie. My hubby wore a tweedish (not dark) jacket and tie on our three formal nights. I wore cocktail dresses and our teen wore her own version of dressing up.:p But the specialty restaurants ask for smart casual (or better) no matter what the dress code in the MDR. Many seem to be celebrating special occasions when they eat there, so maybe you might see some dressy wear.

 

But definitely don't feel you need to hole up in your cabin on formal nights. I've seen people wearing shorts (I would imagine they ate in the Horizon Court buffet or went to the poolside pizzeria or grill) and then would go see a show or otherwise hang out in the public areas. It's perfectly fine.

[Thrak]

Never sailed on Dawn but sailed on Sea Princess which I believe is essentially the same ship and would not hesitate to do so again. We had a wonderful cruise on that ship.

 

We loved the pizza at Cafe Corniche. I believe La Scala Pizzeria on Dawn Princess is essentially the same thing. I know it's in exactly the same location. :)

[OzKiwiJJ]

Never sailed on Dawn but sailed on Sea Princess which I believe is essentially the same ship and would not hesitate to do so again. We had a wonderful cruise on that ship.

 

 

Ditto for us but we sailed on Sun Princess.

 

We are serious foodies and I wasn't expecting too much from the MDR but was very pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of the food. Sure, it wasn't three Michelin star standard but it was much better than I expected it would be. I even got to try guinea fowl for the first time ever. Neve had a chance to try that anywhere else - land or sea.

 

We're actually considering a last minute booking on a Dawn cruise in a few months if we can swing it.

[lahore]

Ok folks, here's my review.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=505605

 

Tongue only partly planted in cheek. :D The tone may be facetious, but the intent is truly meant.

[Rudy1]

My first ever cruise will be on the Diamond Princess in September to NZ. I'll stay positive that the Diamond is better than the Dawn. :)

[capriccio]

Ok folks, here's my review.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=505605

 

Tongue only partly planted in cheek. :D The tone may be facetious, but the intent is truly meant.

 

This type of review often tells me more about the poster than the ship or passengers. I'm not an Aussie so maybe the humor escaped me. Sorry you had such a miserable time.

[billyg3]

Ok folks, here's my review.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=505605

 

Tongue only partly planted in cheek. :D The tone may be facetious, but the intent is truly meant.

 

Please continue to let the rest of us know where you are so we can make sure to be elsewhere.