Sea Princess Visit in New York with Pictures

[PescadoAmarillo]

Jonathon, you should be a travel writer! Thanks for the review. We loved the Sea Princess best of all the ships of that class, cruised 14 nights in the Caribbean in December 2005.

[ukulelemick]

My pleasure Colo Cruiser.

 

Jonathan

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app

Jonathan you must be on the pay roll.

My wife and I did a 37 day South Pacific cruise on Sea Princess last April/May. The destinations were fantastic, the crew great, the ship is old and in need of a complete refit. Our cabin A 606 for 3 weeks of the cruise was hell... noisy from 9 PM to 1 am because a work station was above, and air conditioning not working normally. We had to take sleeping tablets most nights.

On our cruise we experienced water over flowing from ladies toilet near the entrance of the Riggoletto restaurant on two occasions, and the smell of sewerage for a lot of the journey. My opinion of the restaurant .. Yes it had all the fancy names but the food was not to die for. The restaurant staff were wonderful.

We had the year before taken a 7 day cruise on Sea Princess from Brisbane to Vanuatu, and Lifou but didn't make it to Noumea because of engine trouble , but we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise in a different cabin number.

Sorry but sometimes the dream is different to reality.

 

The ship that made me fall in love with cruising!

[Princess Cruiser27]

Nice photos cruiserking. Thanks for the share.

[Shogun]

Hi cruiserking,

 

I find treating crew with respect being nice and understanding means they are happy to give you service above and beyond,

 

I remember being at breakfast and the lady next to me give exact details of how every item was to be cooked and presented, the waiter took notes

 

her breakfast arrived she looked at it took one bite and said very loudly thats not what I ordered, got up and left, when the same waiter came to serve me I just asked for what ever is ready and looks nice, for the rest of the cruise that waiter went out of his way to make my cruise, once at Horizon court we were walking about trying to find a table he spotted us, called another crew member over to hold my DWs plates took us to a table and had it cleared and cleaned in minutes.

 

yours Shogun

[cruiserking]

Cocktails at the Seaview Bar watching the warm waters of the Sth Pacific. :)

 

Yes, the Seaview Bar would be a lovely perch to watch the world float by. I particularly liked the whimsical, colorful fish carvings that swam upon the adjacent walls of the Lotus Spa.

 

This tropical fish theme appears in the Horizon Court with colorful octopuses and assorted fish playfully cavorting in the carpet design. I wished I'd taken a picture of it.

 

We were also quite taken with the Library where a bank of individual lounge chairs with footstools faced its own window. Each window punctuated by display of desert fauna.

 

Jonathon, you should be a travel writer! Thanks for the review. We loved the Sea Princess best of all the ships of that class, cruised 14 nights in the Caribbean in December 2005.

 

Thank You PescadoAmarillo, it's one of my favorite things to write about. We were very taken with the Sea Princess, her elegance and peaceful surroundings.

 

We enjoy the energetic vibe featured aboard Royal Caribbean but, there's something very comforting and invigorating about tranquility. Perhaps it's just that feeling you get aboard the more traditional lines like Cunard, Holland America Line and Cunard.

 

Jonathan

Edited July 28, 2015 by cruiserking

[cruiserking]

Jonathan you must be on the pay roll.

My wife and I did a 37 day South Pacific cruise on Sea Princess last April/May. The destinations were fantastic, the crew great, the ship is old and in need of a complete refit. Our cabin A 606 for 3 weeks of the cruise was hell... noisy from 9 PM to 1 am because a work station was above, and air conditioning not working normally. We had to take sleeping tablets most nights.

On our cruise we experienced water over flowing from ladies toilet near the entrance of the Riggoletto restaurant on two occasions, and the smell of sewerage for a lot of the journey. My opinion of the restaurant .. Yes it had all the fancy names but the food was not to die for. The restaurant staff were wonderful.

We had the year before taken a 7 day cruise on Sea Princess from Brisbane to Vanuatu, and Lifou but didn't make it to Noumea because of engine trouble , but we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise in a different cabin number.

Sorry but sometimes the dream is different to reality.

 

I'm not on the Princess payroll but, it sure would be fun to write about there ships.

 

How thrilling to sail the Sea Princess for 37 days.

 

It's a shame you and your wife had such a noisy cabin. It's always so important to carefully check over the deck plans to make sure your cabin isn't above a night club or below a restaurant.

 

We were only aboard for three hours, but, in that time we became quite enchanted with the ship. It is uncanny the way we so easily fall into our familiar ship board routines; sitting at a large table by the window, chatting with new table mates, all the while that sense of calm and happiness washing over you.

 

I was well aware we would soon be debarking but, all the same I couldn't help myself. We were aboard a beautiful ship in New York Harbor and we were going to enjoy every minute aboard..and we did.

 

I suggest you take another cruise on Sea Princess following her refit this fall, Ukulelemick. I'm sure you will rediscover all the things you originally found so appealing during your earlier voyage to Vanuatu.

 

Jonathan

[Thrak]

The ship that made me fall in love with cruising!

 

Same here! My wife pretty much dragged me on my first cruise. I loved Sea Princess and wanted to get right back on when we disembarked after 10 days. It was a SF/Alaska cruise.

 

We were surprised on our subsequent cruises to find that the other ships we sailed didn't have that wonderful wide Promenade deck like Sea Princess has. You could use a full lounger and still leave plenty of space for people to walk past. We enjoyed eating pizza at Cafe Corniche. So very much better than Prego's.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Thrak

[cruiserking]

Nice photos cruiserking. Thanks for the share.

 

Thank You, my pleasure Princess Cruiser.

 

 

Hi cruiserking,

 

I find treating crew with respect being nice and understanding means they are happy to give you service above and beyond,

 

I remember being at breakfast and the lady next to me give exact details of how every item was to be cooked and presented, the waiter took notes

 

her breakfast arrived she looked at it took one bite and said very loudly thats not what I ordered, got up and left, when the same waiter came to serve me I just asked for what ever is ready and looks nice, for the rest of the cruise that waiter went out of his way to make my cruise, once at Horizon court we were walking about trying to find a table he spotted us, called another crew member over to hold my DWs plates took us to a table and had it cleared and cleaned in minutes.

 

yours Shogun

 

Hello Shogun,

 

I agree with you 100% Shogun. Cruise ship crew members work incredibly long hours, yet so frequently go the extra mile to deliver top service.

 

It's a shame that some passengers don't appreciate the efforts they make. I suppose it makes them feel important when they stomp of in disgust like that. But, it's the top service on all of these lines that's keeps us coming back cruise after cruise.

 

Our waiter Lope was superb and was his assistant even the Maitre D' stopped by on several occasions. It was clear that we were in the care of professionals who would deliver the same top class service whether we aboard for the next forty minutes or forty nights.

 

Jonathan

Edited July 28, 2015 by cruiserking

[Coral]

Same here! My wife pretty much dragged me on my first cruise. I loved Sea Princess and wanted to get right back on when we disembarked after 10 days. We were surprised on our subsequent cruises to find that the other ships we sailed didn't have that wonderful wide Promenade deck like Sea Princess has. You could use a full lounger and still leave plenty of space for people to walk past. We enjoyed eating pizza at Cafe Corniche. So very much better than Prego's.

 

I wish they would use Cafe Corniche's menu for Alfredos! I think it is the superior menu.

 

I think I have been on the Sea Princess 1x, Sun Princess 3x and Dawn Princess 2x. Missed Ocean Princess, she left the fleet too early.

 

I loved the layout of the ship. I did have one noisy cabin on one of the sailings. It was weird as I specifically picked the cabin as it was a few doors down from a previous cruise on a sister ship. Well - it turned out that this cabin was over the band in Wheelhouse bar :( 4 cabins were known to hear (and feel) this music. Thankfully, this was on a B2B and Princess moved me for the 2nd leg.

 

I honestly would sail on this ship forever. I much preferred the layout of this class to the Grand class ships. I think 70,000 tonns is a perfect size for a ship.

 

On our Sun Princess cruise, we did the steakhouse. They did it outside on one of the top decks. It was so beautiful to watch the sunset the night we were in Acapulco with a delicious meal. Heck, I think the steakhouse was only $6 back then! I feel old. Maybe I need to cruise in Australia to get back on one of those ships!

Edited July 28, 2015 by Coral

[Shiprobbo]

My wife and I did 35-nights on Sea Princess in April/May, just prior to her leaving on the world cruise, that would be the same cruise that another poster was abord, however we joined in Sydney.

 

There are a number of points that have been raised above that I feel that I should comment on:

 

1. Air-conditioning. There were times when the interior of the ship was a little warmer than normal, however it should be noted that both sea and air temperatures were around 30c on the passage to and from Hawai'i, there is a challange there fore any air-conditioning system when you are bringing 'cooling' water in at those temperatures. In addition, it was obvious in many of the ports when looking at the ship that passangers had left their balcony doors open. It is hard enough to keep the ships interior cool without trying to air-condition the whole of the south pacific as well.

 

2. The smell. Yes this did occur on some days and was explained by a letter to cabins as again being due to the heat in the surrounding water and the reaction this caused with the sweage process system. The issue lasted a couple of days, certainly not the whole cruise or even any substantial part of it.

 

3 There was some water leakage around the ladies toilet outside the Rigoletto Restaurant, only on one occasion though. Not sure it was a leaking toilet though, there was a comment about a broken seal on the shell door, there was actually a lot of rust around this shell door when we docked in Noumea a couple of days later and workmen were working on the seal.

 

3. Food was good.

 

4. Soft furnishings in the banquette seating in the Atrium did need upgrading, I made the mistake fo sitting down rather hard on a wooden slat in one of the seats in the first couple of days, didn't do that again. In addition the promenade needed some maintenance in terms of replacement of the corking on the deck.

 

The ship is due for refit after the world cruise so I think these issues will be addressed.

 

The food in the restaurant was excellent, ate there all but two nights and then only because the ship was in port and there was 'open sitting'

 

Overall it was a fantastic cruise. I love the 'Sun' class and have been on Sun Princess twice, Dawn Princess three times and once on this Sea Princess. Years ago aboard the 'old' Oriana there used to be a statement in the 'Oriana Today' early in each cruise, I forget the exact wording but it was something like"...You leave home to find things different, so don't complain when you find that things are different from at home"

[ukulelemick]

My wife and I did 35-nights on Sea Princess in April/May, just prior to her leaving on the world cruise, that would be the same cruise that another poster was abord, however we joined in Sydney.

 

There are a number of points that have been raised above that I feel that I should comment on:

 

1. Air-conditioning. There were times when the interior of the ship was a little warmer than normal, however it should be noted that both sea and air temperatures were around 30c on the passage to and from Hawai'i, there is a challange there fore any air-conditioning system when you are bringing 'cooling' water in at those temperatures. In addition, it was obvious in many of the ports when looking at the ship that passangers had left their balcony doors open. It is hard enough to keep the ships interior cool without trying to air-condition the whole of the south pacific as well.

 

2. The smell. Yes this did occur on some days and was explained by a letter to cabins as again being due to the heat in the surrounding water and the reaction this caused with the sweage process system. The issue lasted a couple of days, certainly not the whole cruise or even any substantial part of it.

 

3 There was some water leakage around the ladies toilet outside the Rigoletto Restaurant, only on one occasion though. Not sure it was a leaking toilet though, there was a comment about a broken seal on the shell door, there was actually a lot of rust around this shell door when we docked in Noumea a couple of days later and workmen were working on the seal.

 

3. Food was good.

 

4. Soft furnishings in the banquette seating in the Atrium did need upgrading, I made the mistake fo sitting down rather hard on a wooden slat in one of the seats in the first couple of days, didn't do that again. In addition the promenade needed some maintenance in terms of replacement of the corking on the deck.

 

The ship is due for refit after the world cruise so I think these issues will be addressed.

 

The food in the restaurant was excellent, ate there all but two nights and then only because the ship was in port and there was 'open sitting'

 

Overall it was a fantastic cruise. I love the 'Sun' class and have been on Sun Princess twice, Dawn Princess three times and once on this Sea Princess. Years ago aboard the 'old' Oriana there used to be a statement in the 'Oriana Today' early in each cruise, I forget the exact wording but it was something like"...You leave home to find things different, so don't complain when you find that things are different from at home"

Appreciate your comments. . If you had to sleep with your head between two pillows or take a sleeping tablet. . And put pieces of cardboard and paper in crevices all up the corner of one wall and in the ceiling. You might complain.

After complaining for three weeks we were given another cabin on the same deck by a lovely Ukranian lady. .. The air conditioning was perfect and the noise low. Why don't you book cabin A606 and give it a try.

On the refit .. Check how long the ship is in Port before it's next cruise. .. It won't be a complete refit.

The sewage smell went on for days,and if you do some research you would find that letter we received was rubbish.

[happiness is cruising]

Was the ship in NYC or in Brooklyn...when you were on ...on Sunday...

Thanks...Ann also love the pictures

[cruiserking]

Was the ship in NYC or in Brooklyn...when you were on ...on Sunday...

Thanks...Ann also love the pictures

 

Thank You Ann. The Sea Princess was docked at the Manhattan West Side Cruise Ship Terminal on west 55th street.

 

Jonathan

[cruiseclues]

Thank you so much for your Good Sea Princess Photo Review Visit Post...Not very many out there. :):):):)

[HLR]

I've heard about these three hour visits to ships when docked including a tour and lunch for a small fee. How does one find out about them? Or are they for invited Travel Agents only?

 

HLR

[cruiserking]

I've heard about these three hour visits to ships when docked including a tour and lunch for a small fee. How does one find out about them? Or are they for invited Travel Agents only?

 

HLR

 

Hi HLR,

 

There are two ship enthusiasts clubs that visit ships in New York.

 

Worldshhip NY is one, the other is The Propeller Club. You can find both online and get a membership.

 

They usually do two or three visits a year.

 

Jonathan

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app

Edited August 21, 2015 by cruiserking

[bdjam]

Sigh...how I miss the original Sun Class ships. I wish Princess would send some of the big girls down under and bring them back to us. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your experience.

 

I've heard about these three hour visits to ships when docked including a tour and lunch for a small fee. How does one find out about them? Or are they for invited Travel Agents only?

 

HLR

 

HLR - there are the three hour visits called Bon Voyage Experience which are available at certain ports on certain ships. Check with your travel agent or Princess on availability. The cost used to be $39 and included a short tour of the public areas of the ship and lunch with a glass of wine included.

[caribill]

HLR - there are the three hour visits called Bon Voyage Experience which are available at certain ports on certain ships. Check with your travel agent or Princess on availability. The cost used to be $39 and included a short tour of the public areas of the ship and lunch with a glass of wine included.

 

Certain USA ports on embarkation day only.

[Tralfie]

What a truly lovely post. You have a way with words that really allows us to, in conjunction with the pictures, feel as if we're sitting right beside you in the Wheelhouse club... which is where I imagine I, too, would be.

 

So far, I've only sailed two ships, NCL's Gem and Breakaway, largely because I'm a very big fan of homeporting. Of the two, Gem is my favorite because, like the Princess Sea, it is a smaller, more intimate, older boat. I don't need the bells and whistles of water slides and ice bars... give me a couple of comfortable bars in which to sip cocktails and relax, a few beautiful locations from which to stare out at the sea, and I'm happy as a clam...

 

Thanks so much for sharing.

 

Richard

[HLR]

Sigh...how I miss the original Sun Class ships. I wish Princess would send some of the big girls down under and bring them back to us. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your experience.

 

 

 

HLR - there are the three hour visits called Bon Voyage Experience which are available at certain ports on certain ships. Check with your travel agent or Princess on availability. The cost used to be $39 and included a short tour of the public areas of the ship and lunch with a glass of wine included.

 

Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

HLR

[CruisinChris]

Thanks for the pix. Adore and miss the Sun Class ships. They were perfect in every way. So many amazing memories...

[cruiserking]

Sigh...how I miss the original Sun Class ships. I wish Princess would send some of the big girls down under and bring them back to us. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your experience.

 

 

 

HLR - there are the three hour visits called Bon Voyage Experience which are available at certain ports on certain ships. Check with your travel agent or Princess on availability. The cost used to be $39 and included a short tour of the public areas of the ship and lunch with a glass of wine included.

 

My pleasure, thank you bdjam.

 

What a truly lovely post. You have a way with words that really allows us to, in conjunction with the pictures, feel as if we're sitting right beside you in the Wheelhouse club... which is where I imagine I, too, would be.

 

So far, I've only sailed two ships, NCL's Gem and Breakaway, largely because I'm a very big fan of homeporting. Of the two, Gem is my favorite because, like the Princess Sea, it is a smaller, more intimate, older boat. I don't need the bells and whistles of water slides and ice bars... give me a couple of comfortable bars in which to sip cocktails and relax, a few beautiful locations from which to stare out at the sea, and I'm happy as a clam...

 

Thanks so much for sharing.

 

Richard

 

Thank You so much for the lovely compliment Richard, Sea Princess is a lovely ship, hope to cruise on a Princess ship some day soon.

 

Thanks for the pix. Adore and miss the Sun Class ships. They were perfect in every way. So many amazing memories...

 

My pleasure Chris, thank you.

 

Jonathan

[JF - retired RRT]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

HLR

 

Those responses were good but not complete info. Do a search for Bon Voyage Experience (BVE).

Some US ports throughout the year on certain ships.

The BVE costs $39pp, includes 3-4 hours on the ship, lunch with wine, boarding picture for each person and you can buy Future Cruise Deposits while onboard.

If you go on a BVE with a booked passenger he/she can board with you. BVE participants board after any wedding parties and before in transit & Elite/Platinum. So you will be one of the first to board:D

I would post the link to the schedule, but I am not at home and don't have the link on my tablet.

[JF - retired RRT]

I forgot to mention one of the best things about the BVE program: if you book a cruise within 90 days of your BVE, the $39 is credited to your cruise fare...so you get your money back!!:D

It is a great program and Princess doesn't advertise it very well at all.