Why Doesn't Princess Modern"icized" Their (Old) Ships?

[flamomo]

1 minute ago, riffatsea said:

We are not interested in sailing on any mega ships!

We really enjoyed being on the Coral in December and thought that the decor was just fine.

I don't completely understand how "modern decor" changes the experience on board a ship??

I am much more interested in good service, good food, and fun activities.

It changes the "feel" …. at least to my eyes and mind. Disagree with me if you wish, but I've cruised exclusively with Princess for the past 15 years, and have a strong mental image of what I expect to see when walking around on one of the ships,  based on what I have been accustomed to seeing when I am onboard. 

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

During the past five years, I have taken 11 Princess cruises on 10 different ships. I think Princess does an excellent job of maintaining and updating its ships. In my opinion, no "revolution" is necessary for Princess.  

 

Chuck

[Renmar]

Some Princess ships probably will need some improvements and/or upgrading but as long as they don't make the same mistake as with the Island Princess they are all fine for us.

 

Theo

 

[Pickels]

14 hours ago, Coral said:

I was on the Sapphire Princess last summer. They had done quite a bit of renovations on the ship last spring - it had all the newer colors that Princess is using on their new ships. It was quite classy looking and looked like a brand new ship.

 

Princess has never had all the bells and whistles and that is ok with me.

We would never cruise on one of those mega ships, (don't need bumper cars, or a roller-coaster); if we did, it would seem like we were on a floating hotel, not a cruise ship!

[Daniel A]

3 hours ago, flamomo said:

It changes the "feel" …. at least to my eyes and mind. Disagree with me if you wish, but I've cruised exclusively with Princess for the past 15 years, and have a strong mental image of what I expect to see when walking around on one of the ships,  based on what I have been accustomed to seeing when I am onboard. 

I think riffatsea was in agreement with you.  The post was that they were questioning if new décor could change the overall experience on board the ship.  I think riffatsea was implying 'no.'

 

We have done a couple of Norwegian cruises.  We really disliked the décor, but found the amenities to be very, very nice.  Disliking the ultra modernistic (almost like Alice in Wonderland) like décor of Norwegian has won out over even the amenities to the more classic feel of the Princess Ships.

[LarryL]

13 hours ago, Vic The Parrot said:

I'd like Princess to add the hand-held shower attachments to their older ships.

All the Royal class ships have them in the cabin bathrooms, so I think it would be a good idea to update the rest of the fleet.

 

We were just on the Pacific Princess (Dec TA) and they did install the handheld shower attachments. Our balcony stateroom also had the new bed and other improvements. Very comfortable. I think Princess updated the little ship while keeping it's old style charm.  

[LarryL]

Double post.   

Edited February 13, 2019 by LarryL
Double post

[1emerald1]

18 hours ago, need2cruisesoon said:

Another cruise line is giving their ships a Revolution in design and update, why not Princess?

Not to be rude, but most of your posts indicate you want Princess to turn into Celebrity.  Maybe you should just cruise Celebrity and stop knocking Princess?

[BIGADORF]

I believe that in this day and age, businesses believe that (1) bigger is better and (2) that they always have to change things up in order to compete. I, on the other hand, believe that change is not always good but rather just change. I am sure we all have restaurants or places we used to go that are gone now and we miss them.. I am old fashioned in that I like consistency. I can still be technologically advanced, but I still like to put my phone, laptop, computer, tablet down and just enjoy life. Making a ship "better and bigger" or more like an amusement park does not increase the pleasure one can derive from just staying the same. I support small changes like the hand held showers, increasing the size of the showers or more electronics in the cabin to help you get more out of the cruise experience. But do we really need, zip lines, bumper cars, climbing walls, etc to just enjoy ourselves? I dont believe so. Just my opinion. Opinions are like belly buttons, everybody has one.

[floridalover5623]

1 hour ago, 1emerald1 said:

Not to be rude, but most of your posts indicate you want Princess to turn into Celebrity.  Maybe you should just cruise Celebrity and stop knocking Princess?

 

4 hours ago, Renmar said:

Some Princess ships probably will need some improvements and/or upgrading but as long as they don't make the same mistake as with the Island Princess they are all fine for us.

 

Theo

 

Don't forget the mess they made out of the CB buffet. Sometimes leaving the ships the way they are is a better choice. 

 

[TheRabbit]

19 minutes ago, floridalover5623 said:

 

Don't forget the mess they made out of the CB buffet. Sometimes leaving the ships the way they are is a better choice. 

 

Same with the Island Princess. Thank God they never made that mod to the Coral.

[XBGuy]

Need2CruiseSoon is one of my favorite posters.  His questions are reliably provocative and always generate numerous responses.  

 

My $.02 worth is along the lines of several previous posters.  As long as corporate goals are being met, there will be no reason for any executive to risk his career and suggest that some giant sum be invested in retrofitting or otherwise updating Princess ships.

 

However, once executive suite bonus targets are missed, I suspect that changes will be made.  In that case, the easiest decision, usually, is to imitate your competition.  If you are completely risk averse, you hire a consultant and get him to tell you to imitate your competition.

 

In the meantime, I would suggest that Princess is modernizing at their own pace.  Two months ago we were on the Ruby Princess and found that the cabins had on-demand TVs installed in the cabins.  The Medallion initiative is, clearly, a future-thinking investment,

 

Also, like several previous posters I am comfortable with current Princess experience.  I might have some recommendations for changes that might make cruising on Princess more attractive to me, but they are pretty trivial and have nothing to do with decor, or facilities or amenities.

 

I am something of a luddite though.  It wasn't until our fourth cruise, 20 years after our first,  that we had a cabin with a TV.

[Sea Hag]

16 hours ago, Vic The Parrot said:

I'd like Princess to add the hand-held shower attachments to their older ships.

All the Royal class ships have them in the cabin bathrooms, so I think it would be a good idea to update the rest of the fleet.

I'd like that too! I hate it when there isn't a hand-held shower.

[getting older slowly]

One other thing  " is modernisation " 

 

1.   Having one constantly entertained  

2.   A gimmick to get people to Look at Me    

( a platform which slide up and down the side of the Ship     "what the " )

3.  Convenience. the staff know who you are and get you the right drink

   ( it also comes from great staff.... no electronics involved )

4  Turn it into a floating hotel.......   It is a ship isn't it, at the mercy of the seas and weather )

5 Little things .. hand held showers... chocolates... towel animals.... a smile ..

 

or none of the above

 

Plenty of different cruise lines.... let them all have there own character.

 

Cheers Don

 

Old is not a bad thing  

 

 

 

[4cats4me]

After sailing on Princess several times and Celebrity 5 times, I definitely prefer the Modern Luxury vibe on Celebrity.  That said, the two cruise lines are more similar than different.  We like them each for different reasons.  

We divorced Princess for four or five years but decided to give them another chance and sailed on the Regal, and Princess won us back.  We love the understated elegance of the cabins on the Regal and Royal. 

 

 

 

[Gracie115]

So many people here "assuming" that updating an older ship has to mean rock walls, water slides, shopping malls....etc.  That is not what the OP was referring to at all.  He was referring to what Celebrity is now doing with their older ships, completely updating staterooms with state of the art technology for HVAC, lighting, TV, electrical  and renovating rooms with all new furnishings, completely refurbished bathrooms and updating all public areas.  It's an expensive venture by that cruiseline to keep it's ships in best possible condition to be able to compete for another 20 years with the hundreds of other choices out there to us all.  

 

I think it's a great idea, unfortunately it also is resulting in much higher prices, at least for the time being, so not many Celebrity cruises in the immediate future for us, but still it's a smart business move on their part..

 

And there aren't any rock walls or water slides on any of them....

[floridalover5623]

52 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

So many people here "assuming" that updating an older ship has to mean rock walls, water slides, shopping malls....etc.  That is not what the OP was referring to at all.  He was referring to what Celebrity is now doing with their older ships, completely updating staterooms with state of the art technology for HVAC, lighting, TV, electrical  and renovating rooms with all new furnishings, completely refurbished bathrooms and updating all public areas.  It's an expensive venture by that cruiseline to keep it's ships in best possible condition to be able to compete for another 20 years with the hundreds of other choices out there to us all.  

 

I think it's a great idea, unfortunately it also is resulting in much higher prices, at least for the time being, so not many Celebrity cruises in the immediate future for us, but still it's a smart business move on their part..

 

And there aren't any rock walls or water slides on any of them....

You've got that right. 🙂 

There are things Princess could do that could improve their ships while not spending a fortune for some of them.

Their AC on many of the older design ships is desperately in need of an update for certain sections, installing USB charging stations in all the cabins would be great and a more comfortable chair on their balconies like they used to have a few years ago until someone decided to replace them. 😉

   

[flamomo]

16 hours ago, LarryL said:

 

We were just on the Pacific Princess (Dec TA) and they did install the handheld shower attachments. Our balcony stateroom also had the new bed and other improvements. Very comfortable. I think Princess updated the little ship while keeping it's old style charm.  

That's excellent news about the shower attachment. We have 2 cruises booked on her for this year, and that will be a welcome change.

[Daniel A]

3 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

So many people here "assuming" that updating an older ship has to mean rock walls, water slides, shopping malls....etc.  That is not what the OP was referring to at all.  He was referring to what Celebrity is now doing with their older ships, completely updating staterooms with state of the art technology for HVAC, lighting, TV, electrical  and renovating rooms with all new furnishings, completely refurbished bathrooms and updating all public areas. 

I don't know where you got all of that.  OP never mentioned Celebrity.  I think naming Celebrity was an assumption, but more to the point, what op said was "Another cruise line is giving their ships a Revolution in design and update, why not Princess? "  A revolution is a sudden radical, complete change away from the present state of affairs.  What you are referring to are upgrades, not a revolution.  Rock walls, amusement parks and shopping malls on Princess ships would constitute a revolution.  I think the answer to OP's question of "why not Princess?" is that the Princess passengers like what they are experiencing.  Upgrades are fine, revolution for the sake of revolution is not.

[Daniel A]

20 hours ago, Renmar said:

Some Princess ships probably will need some improvements and/or upgrading but as long as they don't make the same mistake as with the Island Princess they are all fine for us.

 

Theo

 

I've never sailed Island Princess.  What did they do to that?

[Gracie115]

24 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I don't know where you got all of that.  OP never mentioned Celebrity.  I think naming Celebrity was an assumption, but more to the point, what op said was "Another cruise line is giving their ships a Revolution in design and update, why not Princess? "  A revolution is a sudden radical, complete change away from the present state of affairs.  What you are referring to are upgrades, not a revolution.  Rock walls, amusement parks and shopping malls on Princess ships would constitute a revolution.  I think the answer to OP's question of "why not Princess?" is that the Princess passengers like what they are experiencing.  Upgrades are fine, revolution for the sake of revolution is not.

 

 

I got that because the OP posts frequently on Celebrity boards AND the current project on Celebrity ships is called "REVOLOUTIONIZING" the ships in the fleet.

 

There are no rock wall, amusement parks, and shopping malls included in the "revoloutionizing"

Edited February 14, 2019 by Gracie115

[golfb4cruzing]

Luckily we are on the ships only to reach our destinations. I can't tell you what the Piazzas look like, color of rugs or shops onboard. But we are in the minority and now with all the new ships coming, I anticipate fares to get crazy. We will take a break and then when the fad has normalized and cruiselines are struggling for clientele, we shall return. If I'm wrong, it happens, everyone have a great trip.

[Daniel A]

6 minutes ago, golfb4cruzing said:

Luckily we are on the ships only to reach our destinations. I can't tell you what the Piazzas look like, color of rugs or shops onboard. But we are in the minority and now with all the new ships coming, I anticipate fares to get crazy. We will take a break and then when the fad has normalized and cruiselines are struggling for clientele, we shall return. If I'm wrong, it happens, everyone have a great trip.

I may be wrong, but I found booking on the newer mega ships to be somewhat less costly than booking on the smaller, older ships.  I booked a cruise on Norwegian Epic in the Med and it was half the price of a smaller Princess ship on the same itinerary.  I've found the cost of bookings on the Regal to be less costly than other Princess sailings.  I still don't like the new mega ships but I think they are more cost efficient than the smaller ships because of new engine technology and spreading the costs of a sailing over more passengers.

 

I could be wrong about this, maybe I just hit the promotions at the right times.

[Grburkart]

15 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

 

I got that because the OP posts frequently on Celebrity boards AND the current project on Celebrity ships is called "REVOLOUTIONIZING" the ships in the fleet.

 

There are no rock wall, amusement parks, and shopping malls included in the "revoloutionizing"

I’m on your side.

I think we should all start going to other boards and start dissing other cruise companies. It seems that it’s the thing to do. It’s disheartening to have to read thread after thread and post after post that Princess is failing us. We come from all walks of life yet many of us have management experience in running a cruise line.  Heck, on one thread there was a complaint about the color of the paint on the wall. Another that the ice cream was too cold. 

Why can’t we be happy with current situations without having to complain. And if I’m in love with a competing cruise company, why do I go out of my way to come to a princess site to rant. We shouldn’t have to put up with that. That’s my rant. 

 

Glenn

[LarryL]

2 hours ago, flamomo said:

That's excellent news about the shower attachment. We have 2 cruises booked on her for this year, and that will be a welcome change.

 

I think they did a wonderful job on the improvements. One of the things we like about Princess ships is the décor. More often than not our destination is the ship and we have appreciated how these ships are presented. I like to relax on a ship and the last thing I want is to suffer from sensory overload due to loud and gaudy decorations.

 

On another note, while on our cruise (Pacific) some of the staff were speculating that a MUTS screen may be installed on her during the next upgrade. I sure hope not.