Seeking your opinion(s) on Pacific Princess. Worried ship is too small.

[Sincity]

Hello. We are looking at a Pacific Princess sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii. Our concern is the size of the ship, ambiance, and how it's size will be affected when cruising thru the Pacific. We have been so spoiled by the larger ships. Our most recent sailing was on the Regal in Dec. I believe we have been on every class of ship in the Princess fleet with the exception of the Pacific. The smallest Princess ship we've been on was the Dawn.

 

Your opinions will be greatly appreciated. :cool:

[Pam in CA]

It's a very different cruise experience. Much more personal and friendly, you get to know the staff and waitstaff. It takes less than five minutes to walk the entire length of the ship.

 

I've sailed quite a few times on longer cruises on the original Royal Princess as well as the Royal II, including trans-Atlantics. Never had a problem with the ship's size or ambiance. The entertainers help the CD so you get to know them.

 

I equate the smaller ships with a neighborhood grocery store rather than a big supermarket. Same products but not as much quantity and variety, people greet you by name and you get to know everyone.

 

The decor and ambiance is more like an inn than a big hotel.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Pam in CA

[jbobst]

I have not been on the Pacific Princess before, but we were on the Holland America Ryndam a few years back. That was the smallest ship we've been on, but once we were aboard, it never felt small to us at all. Now, the Pacific is still quite a bit smaller than the Ryndam, so that may not be a very good comparison. Also, if this was your first time cruise or a once in a lifetime cruise I might caution you, but since you've cruised plenty and have been on all the other Princess ships, I definitely think you should go for it. You'll have a great cruise I am sure, and you can always go back to the bigger ships. But, you may end up liking the smaller ones. I love the variety of ships out there and wish I could try them all at least once. I say go for it!

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Hello. We are looking at a Pacific Princess sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii. Our concern is the size of the ship, ambiance, and how it's size will be affected when cruising thru the Pacific. We have been so spoiled by the larger ships. Our most recent sailing was on the Regal in Dec. I believe we have been on every class of ship in the Princess fleet with the exception of the Pacific. The smallest Princess ship we've been on was the Dawn.

 

Your opinions will be greatly appreciated. :cool:

 

It all depends on your point of view. At approximately 30,000 tons, she is about the size that transatlantic liners were back in their heyday. So she is not small in historical terms, but she is small in terms of the "monsters of the sea" that have been built in recent years.

 

I would sail on her in a heartbeat, but I would only recommend her to those who like knowing they are on a ship and at sea, as you will sense the weather more than on a larger ship. You also will not have the variety of activities, or crowds of people to deal with that you will have on a larger ship.

 

I would not recommend her to those who don't mind crowds, and want more of a floating resort feel with constant activities and more dining options. As a tradeoff, you may feel less "connected" to the sea than on a smaller ship.

 

Hope this helps!

[paul929207]

We have over 300 days on the Princess "R" class ships (Ocean, Pacific and the middle Royal). We love them. You get to know the passengers and the crew. Getting around is so much easier than on the big ships. Getting on and off in docked and tender ports is much quicker than on the big ships.

 

Being smaller, you do give up things.

No AD. There is one MDR, burger grill, and a buffet.

Cruises are often longer so there are few or no children.

The Dancers in the shows are the Cruise Staff, running activities during the day.

 

We sailed from Papeete to Honolulu on the Pacific and had smooth sailing.

[Sincity]

You guys and gals have made it sound very interesting and intriguing. Would you say the size is equivalent to the original "Love Boat?"

Edited February 5, 2015 by Sincity

[JudithLynne]

My husband and I have been on the Pacific Princess (2010) and will never do it again. It was a 10 day cruise. We are Elite and have completed 23 cruises with Princess and have been on 14 different ships.

The following is our opinion; we realize that others love that ship and disagree with us.

The Pacific Princess is small and although there are significantly less passengers than the larger ships, it felt crowded to us as the public area is very small and limited. There is no theatre like the bigger ships so that that means is that you sit at an even, non-elevated level with the other passengers in the showroom. If you manage to get one of the few seats next to the small stage you can see fine. Other than that, you will just see heads bobbing up and down to the music. You are blocked from a full view.

The best entertainment on board was in the piano bar. However, it shares a room with the casino and the casino bar and it was filled with smoke making the piano bar off limits to us.

The public area is at times so crowded in the evening, that you have to line up to get down the hallway that is there.

There is no anytime dinning. If the dining room is still decorated as it was in 2010, it is garish with rose wallpaper and drapes. You feel like you are in Grandma’s home.

The ceilings are low and it adds to the feeling of being crowded.

Again, this is just our opinion and we realize, and hope, that there have been changes in the last 5 years….

 

Judith

[Cruise Junky]

We were thinking about the same itinerary on Pacific and just couldn't do it. We chose Solstice because of the size and lack of anytime dining.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paul929207]

You guys and gals have made it sound very interesting and intriguing. Would you say the size is equivalent to the original "Love Boat?"

The Love Boat (original Pacific and Island) were each about 19,000 grt vs. about 30,000 for the "R" class ships. The original held about 620 passengers vs 680 for the newer ones.

[Kinkacruiser]

To the OP,

Is there a chance you could take a 3-4 day sampler cruise and try her for size?

[KruzeKrazy!]

Sincity -

 

Hello fellow Las Vegan! We have cruised mid-size (2k pax) and larger (3k+) ships but not the behemoths (and likely won't those).

 

We are taking our first smaller ship cruise this fall on the Pacific Princess (19-day French Polynesia) are eagerly looking forward to the small ship experience to compare to the others.

 

As prior cruisers we don't need endless entertainment and cruise more for the sea and R&R so we fully expect we'll love it.

 

As jbobst posted since you are an experienced cruiser you may, depending on your preferences, enjoy trying the smaller ship.

Edited February 5, 2015 by KruzeKrazy!

[njsonja]

If you don't need oars, it's never too small...<smile>

[SingerEsq]

We sailed the Tahitian (now Ocean) to Tahiti and the R2 (same ship design) from Lisbon to Barcelona. We loved both cruises and have been on the large ships, just not the Royal or Regal yet. It is a different experience, however.

 

The mini-suites on these ships are much different from the mini-suites on the rest of the fleet. They are quite large and feel like a hotel room with large floor to ceiling window across the entire balcony. We had a mini-suite on both ships and loved them. Our friend had an aft regular balcony cabin and the balcony was enormous.

 

For us, it was more like spending time in a nice Country Club, rather than a large hotel. You will get to know your fellow passengers and crew members much better than on a large ship. That may or may not appeal to you.

[Centsless_Cruiser]

You might want to read Pescado Amarillo's Blog they just spent almost 100 days on the Pacific Princess doing French Polynesia and then Hawaii and LA.

 

http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/

 

Her Blog should provide you a very good idea of what to expect.

[RDC1]

We were on the Pacific Princess in Tahiti in October. We had some of the same concerns about its size prior to the cruise. Now we are thinking about doing several back to back cruises on board.

 

You miss some things from the larger ships, but we found that the benefits of the ship far outweighed the limitations. Our next cruise after that was on the Royal Princess. If both ships were doing the same route at the same time for the same price, we would book the Pacific Princess.

[CruzinNoony]

We sailed on the Ocean from Cape Town to Dover and sailed on the Pacific from Manuas to Ft. Lauderdale. We've also sailed on the Allure of the Seas which is the biggest ship afloat. We love them all. My advice is try the Pacific while Princess still owns her. The Ocean has been sold and I'm afraid the Pacific is next. :)

[GFLeeper]

We have over 200 days with Princess on the old Rs. Most have them have been on longer cruises with many sea day. We really enjoy this size of ship for all the reasons that others have listed. We will sorely miss the Ocean Princess when she leaves.

 

Most of our fellow passengers seem to enjoy this size ship as well. There has been the occasional passenger that is quite unhappy. They seem to suffer from, what under other circumstances might be called, cabin fever. I remember on particular passenger who, on the second day,was lamenting the rest of the cruise. When asked about any problem; she replied, "There's no place to go and nothing to do."

 

The smaller ships do mean that occasionally you have to find your own entertainment when none of the organized activities are appealing.

George

[Granny DI]

My DH and I sailed on the Azamara Quest twice which is an R ship and the Ryndam within A 12 month period. We loved everything about the Ryndam. We will never sail the R class ships again. I was sea sick on the Azamara and my husband was really bored. If you have sailed the bigger ships you will not enjoy the entertainment or the "casino" on the R ships. Our TA will not sail on the R class ships.

 

Our next two cruises are on the NCL Breakaway and the new Royal Princess. We just don't enjoy the smaller ships. My DH thought he would love the R ship experience because his favorite cruise was on a sailboat in the Caribbean.

 

Our favorite ships were the old Norwegian Crown, the old Princess Regal, and the HAL Ryndam.

[partybarbie]

I've spent about 60 days on three different "small ships". What I really liked was getting to know the people that worked on the ships and meeting other passengers. Also I thought the food tasted a little better. Additionally, there's a beautiful library with a painted ceiling.

 

What I didn't like about the Pacific was that there was only one swimming pool and that it's a saltwater pool. Also there's no MUTS, and only one show (repeated twice) in the evenings. I'm not a big fan of the floral wallpaper either.:rolleyes:

 

You are going to have a lot of sea days, so I would bring some books and movies along with you. You might also need something for motion sickness as you will be able to tell that you are on a ship.

[cruiseidaho]

Hello. We are looking at a Pacific Princess sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii. Our concern is the size of the ship, ambiance, and how it's size will be affected when cruising thru the Pacific. We have been so spoiled by the larger ships. Our most recent sailing was on the Regal in Dec. I believe we have been on every class of ship in the Princess fleet with the exception of the Pacific. The smallest Princess ship we've been on was the Dawn.

 

Your opinions will be greatly appreciated. :cool:

 

Don't do it! With all those sea days you will be bored silly.

[KruzeKrazy!]

People do world cruises, which have multiple sea days, on the small ships and love it...

[Pam in CA]

Don't do it! With all those sea days you will be bored silly.

That is the exact reason why I would book a small ship... lots of sea days. However, everyone is different. Some people want to be entertained constantly or have a wide variety of choices, others are happy to be on a ship with compatible passengers and a few good books. Personally, I've found that people who are easily bored are boring.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Only you know what type and variety of daily activities you prefer. We love small ships when doing a port intensive itinerary, and so far our favorite small ship is the Holland America Prinsendam. However, for an itinerary that iincludes a lot of sea days in a row, we would prefer a larger ship. Having sailed the Regal and the Royal, we would miss some of the features such as the wonderful buffet, International Cafe, interactive on demand room TV, piazza, many entertainment options, Alfredo's, etc.

 

The Ocean Princess only offered traditional dining (maybe the Pacific is different) and we thought the entertainment was well below par of the other ships. It depends what is important to you!

Edited February 6, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[Hlitner]

This is just one of those "different strokes" issues. DW and I love smaller ships (and even boats) and the thought of many sea days is enough to get us to book a cruise. We recently were on a HAL cruise where 12 of the first 14 days (38 days total) were Sea Days and we almost didn't get off the ship in that first port (Honolulu). Having done many long cruises with lots of sea days we know that some folks go absolutely nutz and hate it....while many others love every minute of every sea day. We once heard a frequent cruiser mutter "its a shame they ruin the cruise with ports" and thought that was a bit crazy. But on a recent 14 day Caribbean cruise (Celebrity) with 9 ports we did not even bother getting off the ship in the first 8 ports (there were several hundred others who stayed aboard in some ports)

 

As to smaller cruise ships, one of our favorites is the old Prinsendam (about 800 passengers if full) where we once cruised over 60 days with just 585 folks. It was heaven. The bar tenders knew our drinks, the waiters knew our preferences, many passengers quickly became friends (since you would see the same folks more then once a week) etc. One should also note that many of the most expensive ultra-luxury vessels are small (sometimes about 200 passengers) and folks are willing to pay over $1000 per passenger day just to avoid the large ships.

 

Hank

Edited February 6, 2015 by Hlitner

[paul929207]

That is the exact reason why I would book a small ship... lots of sea days. However, everyone is different. Some people want to be entertained constantly or have a wide variety of choices, others are happy to be on a ship with compatible passengers and a few good books. Personally, I've found that people who are easily bored are boring.

Just load up my e-reader and have a wonderful time.