Interested in Opinions for Pacific Princess

[cflutist]

8 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

 

Yes, that one caught us somewhat by surprise as we generally do Anytime Dining.  We're just approaching it as a chance to meet some new friends!

 

Club Class Dining is available the Pacific but it is not true Anytime as on the other ships. They did give us a 45-minute leeway as to arrival time.

[jondfk]

18 minutes ago, memoak said:

1 reminder there is no anytime dining on the PP.   Fixed seatings only

 

We're booked on PP twice over the next 18 months, 19 days each time.  It'll be our first (and second) experience with the small ship.  

 

I've had conflicting input regarding Club Class dining, I wonder if anyone can share their experience.  We've been told, by a onboard cruise consultant, that even CC is fixed seating / fixed table.  Princess Phone reps have stated that CC is Anytime as on the larger ships.  We'll know the answer soon enough having booked one sailing with and one sailing without CC.  Still, the benefit of someone's experience would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[cflutist]

10 minutes ago, jondfk said:

 

We're booked on PP twice over the next 18 months, 19 days each time.  It'll be our first (and second) experience with the small ship.  

 

I've had conflicting input regarding Club Class dining, I wonder if anyone can share their experience.  We've been told, by a onboard cruise consultant, that even CC is fixed seating / fixed table.  Princess Phone reps have stated that CC is Anytime as on the larger ships.  We'll know the answer soon enough having booked one sailing with and one sailing without CC.  Still, the benefit of someone's experience would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

Pacific Princess does have Club Class dining but it is only a 45 minute leeway from the start times of the two Fixed seatings. There are no assigned tables in CC so you can dine with whomever you choose. There were 6 of us who dined together on most days and we took turns sitting at the table for 2 by the window.

 

[memoak]

If you are eligible for club class dining on the PP you still will need to sign up for either early or late sitting. They will give you some leeway but it is not really anytime. The CC area on this ship is very small

[MISTER 67]

Some nostalgia here, we sailed on her 21 years ago when she was 1 of 8 identical ships of Renaissance Cruises named R1 through R8. She was brand new, classy and beautiful. Still our best cruise ever from Istanbul to Athens with stops in Ephesus, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini. The cruise included 2 nights  in 5 star hotels in Istanbul and Athens and included free Air from JFK. We paid 1999.00 each, what a great deal. Another nice thing is the 3 restaurants were open seating, no extra charges with the MDR, a chop house and a Italian restaurant. What really made it great was meeting relatives who lived in Athens who I never met before and the first night wined and dined us until 3AM.

Unfortunately Renaissance went out of business soon after 9-11 as cruisers preferred to stay close to home and cruise in the Western Hemisphere as Renaissance sailed strictly in Europe and the Holy Lands, they might have had some far east cruises but I'm not sure.

 

Edited January 1, 2020 by MISTER 67

[mustgo]

I am really enjoying your comments.  We board her on Jan 20 for 29 days to Sydney with many many sea days.  I think we will really enjoy her.  We did 28 days on the Prinsendam last year and enjoyed the small ship experience.

[jondfk]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

If you are eligible for club class dining on the PP you still will need to sign up for either early or late sitting. They will give you some leeway but it is not really anytime. The CC area on this ship is very small

 

Thank you and thank you to Cflutist as well for the clarifications regarding CC dining on Pacific.  So looking forward to our upcoming sailings!

[TwoCruisers]

We were on The Pacific one year ago. I agree with the positive things said so far. I do have a couple of negative things about the ship

1) The Pacific Lounge deck 10 forward, the main dining room and the Cabaret Lounge were all very cold at all times. I did read before going that one should take a sweater because of the coldness. I hated having to wear a sweater every time I ate in the dining room. My wife was not happy about having to wear a sweater over every outfit. I think this one complaint is a deal breaker for me ever sailing on her again.

2) The dining room food is pretty much the same as all other Princess ships, but the buffet is small and does not have many choices.

3) The Cabaret Lounge is small and not designed for good viewing, except for the few seats in the front.

[QuilterGirl]

Not to contradict others - but we were on PP this past May for a two-week trans-Canal cruise, in a CC room.  The staff in the CC section of the dining room were fine with whatever time we wished to arrive for dinner.  We were often seated in the same wait staff's area, but not always at the same table.  The staff always went out of their way to accommodate us and we were never seated in the "fixed dining" area.  Only once or twice did we have to wait for a table, and for those few minutes we waited, they brought chairs out into the hall for us. 

 

I think it is the headwaiter? assistant maitre d'? (the lead in that section) who sets the "rules" and the tone, and Iljo was superb!

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 hours ago, TwoCruisers said:

1) The Pacific Lounge deck 10 forward, the main dining room and the Cabaret Lounge were all very cold at all times. I did read before going that one should take a sweater because of the coldness.

 

I know you said "one year ago"...but what was the itinerary?  Was it in a cold environment or did they just have the AC cranked up too high?

[cflutist]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

 

I know you said "one year ago"...but what was the itinerary?  Was it in a cold environment or did they just have the AC cranked up too high?

 

I didn't find the MDR too cold.  We were on a 18-night cruise up the coast of Norway,  stopping at Svalbard in the Arctic,  then over to Murmansk Russia. 

We spent 9 days above the Arctic Circle. 

 

Perhaps they had the heater on?

Maybe microclimates in the MDR?

 

This was my typical dinner attire (no sweater). 

 

 

 

[DougH]

23 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

Thanks for the replies - booked her for a short May cruise from LA to Vancouver, and, then, again for a Med Cruise from Venice. Looking forward to the smaller ship experience.

 

I'm on the LA to Vancouver and then the next Alaska 

[TwoCruisers]

10 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

 

I know you said "one year ago"...but what was the itinerary?  Was it in a cold environment or did they just have the AC cranked up too high?

My cruise was the 14 day Caribbean (Christmas and New Year’s) cruise. The AC was turned up too much. As I said, I was warned about the cold temp by a posting on CC. So, this was not the first time that it was too cold.

[CruiseVA]

On 1/2/2020 at 12:31 AM, DougH said:

I'm on the LA to Vancouver and then the next Alaska 

We're on her for the LA to Vancouver in May as well, 1st time on the Pacific.

[I_r_a]

We were very happy with our 2 cruises on the PP.

 

It's a ship for those who wish to go on a cruise rather than to Las Vegas.

 

Ira

[Rick&Jeannie]

57 minutes ago, I_r_a said:

It's a ship for those who wish to go on a cruise rather than to Las Vegas.

 

 

Hah! Love that!

[donaldsc]

I like the fact that you can  walk from one end of the ship to the other end in maybe 5 minutes.

 

DON

[FritzG]

We were on the Pacific for the first time in September, a British Isles cruise.  This was our 23rd Princess cruise, but our first on a small ship.  We liked it a lot, but it was a port heavy cruise.  The buffet was our favorite of all of our cruises.  It was small, but it had everything we needed, and there was rarely a line at the omelet window, or anywhere else for that matter.  The dining room was lovely and very peaceful.  All of the staff we met were very happy to be on the ship.

I'm not so sure how the ship would be on a sea day heavy itinerary.  We only had 1 sea day, and it didn't seem like there was much to do, and there definitely wasn't much room to wander around.  We like to take walks on the decks and in the piazza so that was a drawback.  

Another benefit of a small ship, for the first time we were invited to the most traveled cocktail party which was a real treat.

We'd definitely sail on the Pacific again, but I doubt if we'd take a TA on her.

[DougH]

4 hours ago, donaldsc said:

I like the fact that you can  walk from one end of the ship to the other end in maybe 5 minutes.

 

DON

with a stop in your cabin included. lol

[donaldsc]

3 hours ago, FritzG said:

We were on the Pacific for the first time in September, a British Isles cruise.  This was our 23rd Princess cruise, but our first on a small ship.  We liked it a lot, but it was a port heavy cruise.  The buffet was our favorite of all of our cruises.  It was small, but it had everything we needed, and there was rarely a line at the omelet window, or anywhere else for that matter.  The dining room was lovely and very peaceful.  All of the staff we met were very happy to be on the ship.

I'm not so sure how the ship would be on a sea day heavy itinerary.  We only had 1 sea day, and it didn't seem like there was much to do, and there definitely wasn't much room to wander around.  We like to take walks on the decks and in the piazza so that was a drawback.  

Another benefit of a small ship, for the first time we were invited to the most traveled cocktail party which was a real treat.

We'd definitely sail on the Pacific again, but I doubt if we'd take a TA on her.

 

Guess that you will not be taking this 111 day cruise on her -

 

"

2020 World Cruise
From Los Angeles or Ft. Lauderdale

Cross the world's great oceans and touch five continents as you sail roundtrip from Los Angeles or Fort Lauderdale, and only unpack once! Sail to dynamic cities such as Sydney, Cape Town and Singapore and hidden gems like Zanzibar, the Maldives and Nosy Be. You'll visit 5 continents, 26 countries, 42 destinations, cross the equator 4 times and travel 34,287 nautical miles on the classic small ship, Pacific Princess

 

DON

[Spikesgirl]

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2020 at 10:57 AM, Rick&Jeannie said:

 

Yes, that one caught us somewhat by surprise as we generally do Anytime Dining.  We're just approaching it as a chance to meet some new friends!

We adore the PP.  Have taken 19 cruises on Princess and all but three were on the PP (or the two smaller ships which have since been sold).  For all the reasons mentioned, above and I'm sure below, this little ship delivers.  If you prefer not to dine with someone in the dining room, there are two tops available, but part of the cruise fun, for us, is getting to meet new people.  I so hope you love the ship as much as we do.

[donaldsc]

If you like small ships such as the Pacific Princess and you are committed to Princess, take a cruise on her now and not later.  At some point, I am sure that Princess will do one of their typical stupid moves and sell her to either Azamara or Oceania and build one more of the horrible large Behemoth of the Seas amusement park ships where you cruise with 8000 of your closest friends.

 

DON

[brucedodge]

FWIW, we have sailed on 5 of the 8 "R" ships, some multiple times, with Princess, Oceania, and Azamara.  We think they're great, especially for port intensive itineraries.

 

We just got off the Pacific Princess two weeks ago after a Med cruise and a transatlantic.  We were nearly a month in Club Class.

 

There are those who believe CC is not worth it, but we love it.  They treat you so well, and contrary to some posters' experiences, we found you could arrive whenever you wanted, all evening, and we found the temperature in the room normal.

 

Though you have the same dinner menu as everyone else, every night without exception, the Head Waiter prepared something special next to the dining area plus the Chef always had an entree that was not on the menu, and the chef's selections were first class.

 

It's a small area, but in 30 days, we never saw anyone waiting since there was always some space.  On formal nights there was extra space. 😁

 

Bruce