How do you feel about Princess TODAY?

[GUT2407]

Personally I love them, my favourite line.

 

Have things changed in the years I've sailed with them? Yep, some for the better some for the worse.

 

Are there things I'd like to see them do the way other lines do? Yep, some.

 

Do they still "fit" us best? Yep.

[GUT2407]

Personally I love them, my favourite line.

 

Have things changed in the years I've sailed with them? Yep, some for the better some for the worse.

 

Are there things I'd like to see them do the way other lines do? Yep, some.

 

Do they still "fit" us best? Yep.

 

 

One mre..

 

Does the drift to Mega ships worry me? You bet.

[capriccio]

Are there any Princess ships that don't require you to get seats 30 minutes ahead of time?

Not on all the ones we've been on. :cool:

 

If you are on a ship with 3 shows a night (our Royal B2B in October, Caribbean BI cruise in 2013, some of our 2014 Ruby cruises) you never need to get there 30 minutes early for the the 6:30ish show. There were always seats available at show time. That is our preferred show - we stop at the platinum/elite/suites lounge for a drink, go to the show, go to dinner and then still have much of the evening ahead of you.

[Oxo]

If you are on a ship with 3 shows a night (our Royal B2B in October, Caribbean BI cruise in 2013, some of our 2014 Ruby cruises) you never need to get there 30 minutes early for the the 6:30ish show. There were always seats available at show time. That is our preferred show - we stop at the platinum/elite/suites lounge for a drink, go to the show, go to dinner and then still have much of the evening ahead of you.

 

Regal only had 2 shows, not 3 per evening.

[floridalover5623]

If you are on a ship with 3 shows a night (our Royal B2B in October, Caribbean BI cruise in 2013, some of our 2014 Ruby cruises) you never need to get there 30 minutes early for the the 6:30ish show. There were always seats available at show time. That is our preferred show - we stop at the platinum/elite/suites lounge for a drink, go to the show, go to dinner and then still have much of the evening ahead of you.

 

Yes there were some but from my angle they were all on the very side & in the first 10 rows. Maybe there were a few in the back...I couldn't see.

I always adjust my dinner schedule around going to the show so we don't have any problem with seating.

[reedprincess]

Regal only had 2 shows, not 3 per evening.

 

On our Regal sailing, some shows were three times a night, some were only two. Never once, for any of them, did we go 30 minutes or more beforehand. Earliest we showed was for comedian one night at about 15 minutes, seats no problem. Others we were at about the 10 minute mark and found seats middle-ish of the theater for two just fine. As we're not overly picky on where we sit, it works fine for us. Others care more about specific areas or seats, in which case - sure, you would want to be there at whatever time needed for those seats.

I do agree wholeheartedly that the theater is small, and an awkward layout. Plus, just dated overall in design. With a brand-new build, I would have expected tiered seating, more access rows, and more wow factor for the staging and such itself. But, it works. Shows were good - we won't be rushing off to see them again though. Our opinion - other lines do production shows better overall. Princess usually has better guest entertainers and much better live bands... It all works out....no one needs be bored unless they want to be.

[lv2cruiseanywhere]

Are there any Princess ships that don't require you to get seats 30 minutes ahead of time?

Not on all the ones we've been on. :cool:

 

We were recently on the Ruby Princess and never had to arrive early for any show. However, we prefer Late Fixed Dining and go to the show after dinner. Never a wait, plenty of seats, no problems. We then go to the Casino to finish the day.

[SeaMystique]

I've been on exactly three cruises, all this year, two with Princess and one with RCL. We have a TA booked on Princess a year from now.

I think it is the atmosphere on board, nautical yet elegant, classy but not snobbish, that appeals most to us. The food is always good and sometimes wonderful, in the MDR and the buffet; the pools/spas are varied and never too crowded; servers bring beverages to your table in the HC; staff is competent and friendly; entertainment is cornball, but the singers and dancers can actually sing and dance. Cruising is an experience, not just a trip or a vacation.

On RCL I felt as if we were drifting around the Baltic on a floating bus. Two nights out of 10, there was nothing I wanted to eat in the MDR, and I am not a fussy eater. Singers and dancers, not ready for prime time(there were exceptions, of course, but I'm talking about the average). Trivia, which we enjoy, was dumbed-down. Sappy music/Muzak everywhere.

On Princess, I feel as if I am doing something insanely cool.

YMMV.

[floridalover5623]

We were recently on the Ruby Princess and never had to arrive early for any show. However, we prefer Late Fixed Dining and go to the show after dinner. Never a wait, plenty of seats, no problems. We then go to the Casino to finish the day.

 

Maybe It's just that I'm so used to getting there early that I haven't noticed people jockeying around for seats. :p I will say that there have been some shows on every cruise that are more popular and people have had to stand in the back and the crew staff roaming around looking for empty spots.

[Cruz4Sun]

We have been on Princess for 7 cruises-mostly longer ones-10 days to 15 days or so. We enjoy Princess. We a re simple people who like the food and are impressed with the service.

 

We eat breakfast in the MDR except on early port days. We usually eat lunch in the buffet and all dinners we eat in the MDR. So far, we have really likes the food-so much so that my DW has often asked for seconds.

 

One night she had ordered he appetizer and I had an appetizer portion of the pasta-a linguini in pesto sauce-she took a bite of my to try it and then ordered on for herself!

 

We enjoy the shows but you have to get there early to get a good seat. That's life.

 

The rooms have been all good-not splendidly luxurious, but comfortable and pleasant.

 

Our last cruise was on the Royal. We did not like the walking track as much as the promenade, by we walked on the sea days.

 

Overall the ships have been great. The itineraries have been great. and I cannot complain about much if anything.

 

On one cruise we were having a snack in the buffet. There were four or five other ships on port. We could see a Celebrity ship tied right across from us. There was a woman on the deck looking wistfully across at our ship. I said to my wife "She thinking 'I wish I were over there'"!

 

No Princess is not the height of luxury. But, for the money, it can't be beat IMHO.

 

I have to agree with your comments. I just got off the Royal and had a wonderful trip. I found so many positives and anything I didn't love doesn't change my overall enjoyment of Princess.

 

I went to several evening shows at the Princess Theater and found that the earlier shows such as 6:45 and 8:15 p.m. tend to be close to full. My solution was to go to the latest show at 10:15 or 10:30 p.m. I know that's not for everyone, but I found you could go virtually at the last minute and still get good seats.

[Orangefan]

I was on a second b2b on the Regal Princess in November 2015. It was a reunion cruise for those of us who sailed the Regal inaugurals to the U.S. and to the Carib. Nov. 2014. I continue to enjoy the Princess cruise line and the new Regal. The few negatives some people view are outweighed by the positives. The larger piazza and all the entertainment and activities in that area are wonderful and are the heart of the ship. I love all the food choices at the Horizon. I do read reviews of the other cruise lines and find their cruisers to be very critical of what they perceive to be the negatives.

Sali

[azdmelani]

To each their own. Except for the smallest class of Princess ships, I've been on the rest, and the Regal is my favorite ship. Love the expanded buffet, the pool area, Alfredos, and the show Fiera.

 

I have two cruises booked for 2016, and plan on at least another for 2017. Princess is top notch in my eyes.

[Viesczy]

My opinion of Princess is this; we cruise by vacation time available (based on our jobs and when there's vacation time able to be taken) and it is one of our 1st 3 go to lines when looking to book a cruise.

 

We look at the vacation calendar and then our 3 choices, see what there is going on that we might want to do (itinerary & line), have time & $ to do. If nothing tickles our fancy, we'll then spread out to other lines.

 

Are things the same as the past? No?

 

Are the they worse? No.

 

Are they better? No.

 

Do too many people make mountains out of atom tall molehills? YES!

[OCruisers]

Since Princess bought Sitmar, we very frequently cruise on Princess.

It's the all around "best fit" for us. :)

 

LuLu

[ceba]

When did Princess get so "family friendly"? We made a quick decision to take a 7 day trip out of LA and there were over 250 kids on board. The staff couldn't clear tables or fold pool towels fast enough. I heard from the staff that there were over 700 kids on board the week before (I have no proof of this. Just a comment from a crew member). We haven't sailed Princess for a long time because we've been enjoying the smaller ship experience, but we've never seen so many kids. They weren't too wild, just kids being kids but they took over the ship. There were more kids qued up at the pool bar than adults. The theater aisles offered great race tracks, and the evening games in the Explorer lounge proved to be great kid entertainment regardless of the game content. Now, I realize that timing is everything. It was a 7 day itinerary during a holiday month, but still, are families becoming the norm for Princess?

[nukesubsailor]

I love Princess ships but there is one thing they have done that I consider to be just down-right cruel and inhumane. They did not have the wild berry cobbler on the Crown Grill dessert menu on my last few cruises. Princess should be so ashamed!!!!!!

[ar1950]

As someone early on in this thread said we, too, began our Princess experience on the old Regal (in 2002). With the exception of one RCCL cruise a few years ago we have stuck with Princess and still enjoy the Princes experience overall. We even liked (I should say really liked) the new Regal when we did a B2B a year ago. So, after 15 cruises on Princess, we have 3 more booked in the next year and half. Guess that we still like Princess. :cool:

Edited December 17, 2015 by ar1950

[west coast cruiser]

I took my first Princess Cruise in 1976 on the original Island Princess. I have seen so many changes. Cruising is not what it used to be,and it is hard not to compare. I have just accepted it and I guess because of the changes, Cruising is still affordable.

WCC

[PROCRUISE]

Just took our second cruise on Princess (12/6-13) on The Regal. Found the vessel to be beautiful but the lack of stairways was troublesome. Cabin (C-626) seemed a bit small, including the balcony, but adequate. Staff onboard were friendly and helpful but noticed an almost complete lack of officers around and not speaking with or mixing with the passengers, unlike Celebrity. Food was good but dining room menu had pretty plain offerings. Desserts in the dining room were good but tasteless in the buffet. Interesting that in the Crown Grill, the dinner was very good but again, the dessert, lemon tart, was tasteless. Amazed at how Princess ignored the CC Meet and Greet. The CD walked through and left, as opposed to how Celebrity treats a CC gathering. Shows were okay to good. Best part of the cruise was the pleasant and interesting fellow passengers that we met. Would certainly cruise with Princess again if itinerary/price were desirable.

[cruiseintoheaven]

That's unfortunate - we were on the Regal in November - the CC meet and greet was well attended with many staff including the CD Martyn Moss who answered questions and was very affable - also hotel, food and beverage managers etc. Our Roll call coordinator received a call in his cabin from the Captain thanking him for the invite and apologized for not being able to attend as he was busy navigating tropical depression "Kate".

[nojoke]

We just returned from the Royal Princess. We had a wonderful mini-suite at the bow of the ship--loved it and our steward was very thoughtful and efficient. I honestly don’t know what valid complaints people have about this ship. Sure, the center stairs don’t do all the way up, but there are 2 other elevators and stairs to use. Many Celebrity ships have only 2, not 3 stairways/elevators. I can’t complain about the food--if I don’t have to fix it, I’m happy!

Sure, if you want a good seat in the theatre, go 20-30 minutes early--that’s just a given. We tend to cruise either Princess or Celebrity, and both CC boards are filled with complaints about the downgrading of the service, food, whatever. We enjoyed most of the entertainment--you must realize that the ship must cater to many varied tastes--some of which you might not share--but there will be something to do every evening that hopefully you will enjoy. We enjoyed the Royal--we love new!

[Oxo]

Just took our second cruise on Princess (12/6-13) on The Regal. Found the vessel to be beautiful but the lack of stairways was troublesome. Cabin (C-626) seemed a bit small, including the balcony, but adequate. Staff onboard were friendly and helpful but noticed an almost complete lack of officers around and not speaking with or mixing with the passengers, unlike Celebrity. Food was good but dining room menu had pretty plain offerings. Desserts in the dining room were good but tasteless in the buffet. Interesting that in the Crown Grill, the dinner was very good but again, the dessert, lemon tart, was tasteless. Amazed at how Princess ignored the CC Meet and Greet. The CD walked through and left, as opposed to how Celebrity treats a CC gathering. Shows were okay to good. Best part of the cruise was the pleasant and interesting fellow passengers that we met. Would certainly cruise with Princess again if itinerary/price were desirable.

 

Food is very subjective. So, one may find the food on one cruise/line better/worse than on another.

For my opinion, we got off of the Eclipse and got on the Regal the same time you were on the Regal. Our opinion was the the food selection in X's MDR was far more limited as there was only the right hand side of the menu that had selections which did include the every night options. Before both sides of the X menu had selections. Now the left side is strictly wines and drinks.

We are Elite+ on X and have cruised 2 times this year on X, Eclipse and Equinox. We have cruised 3 times on Regal this year. Both times this year on X, we found the food selection to be much smaller, smaller quantity and lesser quality. Items such as Pork and Beans and Meatloaf were offered in the MDR in the evening. We thought the food selection and quality was much better on Princess Regal.

We did Marinos on X and it was totally overpriced at $50/person. Yes, you could get a 10 or 20% discount, however, at that $40 or $45/person is still totally overpriced. Princess only charges $25.We had the lamb and veal tenderloin. During that X cruise, we had basically the same food selection in the MDR and in the MDR it was more tender and tasteful. The noise level in the X MDR was very loud, if you sat on the left side of the MDR on Deck 3 it was like going through a maze to get to your table. I felt sorry for those people who had a walking disability. We had to weave between tables, passengers and waiters to get to our table. There was no direct aisle to get from the one entry door which was on the right side to the enter on the left side.

I could go on and on. Did we enjoy the cruise? Yes, however, like people are saying on this Princess CC forum and on the X forum, things are changing and not for the better. JMHO

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

For me l like things to be all inclusive, now I know that this is very European

 

view of things, we have travel agents here that only sell all inclusive, so I do

 

not like everything being an extra cost, be it coffee ice cream, etc,

 

now some will say that if crown grill was free it would be impossible to get a

 

seat, this is simple to solve in that every passenger gets a voucher for a one

 

meal in speciality restaurant.

 

I see less and less being included as Princess trys to keep costs down,

 

this cost pressure is reducing the overall quality of our cruise experience,

 

I was happy when I still got value for money, now while cheap I do not think

 

I am getting value for my money, unless very cheap, so I now only look at

 

Princess cruises that are very cheap, which means that tips and extras become

 

a bigger part of the cruise cost which makes people far less likely to pay.

 

Princess has got its funding model wrong.

 

They are lost as to what there target passenger is.

 

If they want to say be over 50 then fine do away with children's areas,

 

If they are family friendly then increase the childrens areas, but a little

 

of everything is not really working.

 

yours Shogun

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I have taken 15 Princess cruises since 1989. Many of these cruises have been fairly recent on a variety of ships (Royal and Golden in 2013; Sapphire, Regal and Caribbean in 2014; Sun, Crown and Ruby in 2015). Also, I have three Princess cruises booked. I have greatly enjoyed these cruises and have been pleased with the food, service and entertainment. Princess has become one of my favorite lines.

 

Chuck

[iancal]

We were on a Sun Princess 14 day Fiji cruise last Feb. We had not been on Princess for several years. We don't stick with any one cruise line.

 

We were very pleased with ship. The food in the dining room and in the buffet ranked among the very best that we have had over the past several years on any cruise line. Lots of fresh fruit, salads, and an excellent cheese selection. Service was top notch in every respect.

 

The only criticism I had was about Princess air. They were a bear to deal with and would did not seem able to get us a one way ticket. Prices high, service low, options poor. Our only prior experience with cruise air was Celebrity/RCI Choice air. We could book on line, did not have to go through our TA, we could book one ways, and we could get a price on air PRIOR to calling our on line TA or booking the cruise. Plus, we were able to book flights that did not return to our city of residence. Very flexible, very easy to use. Princess could do worse than adopt this type of flexible cruise air program.

Edited December 18, 2015 by iancal