Pacific Princess Sold!

[Coral]

3 hours ago, macmax said:

 

True, but AZ is no longer under the RCG umbrella and their president just stated that the new owners are interested in expansion.

I have no clue about the new company but I think if RCG/Azamara really wanted another ship, they would have purchased it from Princess years ago.

[bandgbasset]

We were also on the 50th anniversary cruise.  Was one of the best cruises ever.  Jack Jones was also on this cruise.  The whole crew was on the entire 2 week cruise.

[Ride-The-Waves]

22 hours ago, mreasier said:

Princess continues to push us away.  They continue to sell the ships we love and build ships we hate (Royal Class).

Argh!  We really like the Royal class having sailed on Royal, Regal (twice), Majestic,  with a 2022 Transatlantic scheduled on Sky.  Had a Fall 2021 TA cancelled on Enchanted.  Wonderfully spacious ships, great buffet, love the various entertainment venues and good crews.  We have sailed on Pacific Princess (Amazon river) and found her a bit tired compared Azamara's "Rs".  Will never sail again of anything Princess other than the Royal class - all the others are dated and tired ships with terrible entertainment venues.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Ride-The-Waves

[Ride-The-Waves]

19 hours ago, Coral said:

I don't think so. I don't think Royal Caribbean Group had planned on expanding the line. They make far more profits on their mega ships.

This may change do to Coronavirus.  I would think that smaller ships are easier to manage from a health/pandemic perspective, much easier to obtain port clearances, and obviously more comfortable for passengers.  These R-class ships also handle the seas well.  You will never find us on any of the behemoths.  Have sailed the Oasis class twice - ARGH!

[Coral]

5 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

This may change do to Coronavirus.  I would think that smaller ships are easier to manage from a health/pandemic perspective, much easier to obtain port clearances, and obviously more comfortable for passengers.  These R-class ships also handle the seas well.  You will never find us on any of the behemoths.  Have sailed the Oasis class twice - ARGH!

I also have no desire to sail on the really large ships.

 

I completely agree with you. Making larger ships with low space ratios and less outside areas sounds like a recipe for disaster. I thought it was bad for noro-virus, let alone to COVID.

[jennybenny]

@caribill, I know a lot of people love that ship, but it seems as if CCL was trying to stick to newer ships that require less maintenance, and are more profitable because they have larger capacity. I think it's a shame to lose the Pacific Princess. I have not sailed on her, but have wanted to. I for one will try other cruise lines for that smaller ship feel, but that was on the horizon for us anyway. I've been researching and have narrowed it down for "special" trip. Those are out of our normal price range, so it won't be a permanent change.

 

For now, I don't hate the Royal Class ships, I enjoy the new dining venues, and love that the Majestic has 3 specialty restaurants. There is not one Princess ship I hate and my favorite cruise/ship is the one I'm on. 🙂I am not interested in trying cruise lines that are within this market because we've found what we like here. I know the loss of the Pacific Princess will sway many away, and that's the sad part. 

[caribill]

39 minutes ago, jennybenny said:

I know a lot of people love that ship, but it seems as if CCL was trying to stick to newer ships that require less maintenance, and are more profitable because they have larger capacity.

 

For now, I don't hate the Royal Class ships, I enjoy the new dining venues, and love that the Majestic has 3 specialty restaurants.

 

It is not the loss of the ship itself, but of the itineraries. I also have been on a Royal class ship and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

However I just do not envision a Royal class ship ever doing the French Polynesia itinerary or going up the Amazon River to Manaus or stopping at Ishigaki, Japan or being able to go to Venice or Vladivostok, Russia.

 

By ridding itself of all the small ships, Princess has eliminated many of the ports in the world it used to sail to from its itineraries.

[cruisequeen4ever]

It was a very sad announcement to hear. 😢 So many rumors over the years, and now it’s the real deal. I bet the poster who predicts it was sold to the company taking over Azamara is right. 
 

If Princess can figure out how to use the Island, Coral, Sapphire, and Diamond to reach the exotic smaller ports, then I’m all for it as I love the amenities of the larger ships, but if they can’t, this sale will be a big loss for those of us who seek unusual itineraries. 

[Dunk]

I really hope that once Princess builds another new ship (who knows when that'll be at this point!) That it'll be named Pacific Princess. That's an important part of their heritage, and I hope they never let that go. 

[hobbyfarmer2]

We were really looking forward to sail on her in mid Oct for a TA from Venice to Lauderdale.  Sigh.

[Ride-The-Waves]

13 hours ago, hobbyfarmer2 said:

We were really looking forward to sail on her in mid Oct for a TA from Venice to Lauderdale.  Sigh.

One can still sail on these wonderful "R" class ships with Oceania and Azamara.  We find service and shipboard operations a cut-above with Azamara over what Princess was offering.  Highly recommended.

[OhioDogLover]

Pacific Princess was my favorite.  I also am not a big fan of the mega ships.  Maybe I need to look at Azamara and Oceania.  

[cruisemom42]

17 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

You will never find us on any of the behemoths.

 

Funny, I consider the Royal class of ships to be behemoths!!

 

I started cruising in the 1970s with Sitmar, which later folded into Princess, and I was a loyal Princess cruiser for years. But Princess offers nothing now to attract me. We tried one cruise on the Regal Princess -- never again. Not to mention the terrible hawking of items throughout the cruise. If I never hear the words "Effy jewelry" again I will die content.

 

 

[Ride-The-Waves]

9 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Funny, I consider the Royal class of ships to be behemoths!!

 

I started cruising in the 1970s with Sitmar, which later folded into Princess, and I was a loyal Princess cruiser for years. But Princess offers nothing now to attract me. We tried one cruise on the Regal Princess -- never again. Not to mention the terrible hawking of items throughout the cruise. If I never hear the words "Effy jewelry" again I will die content.

 

 

They are big - but not really overcrowded like the 5,000+ passengers ships of RCCL and others.  Sky Princess ranks as the 30th largest by internal volume (gross tonnage).  Almost mid-size....  Preference is for something in the neighborhood of 2,000 passengers as max - not wall-to-wall people.  The Royal class provides a decent compromise for Transatlantic travel although we have transited on several "R-class" ships and they provide good comfort as well.  Favorites are the "X" Millennium class but it appears they may be "going away."  Have never felt "crowded" on a Royal.

[Syracusefan44]

On 1/22/2021 at 5:17 PM, caribill said:

 

It is not the loss of the ship itself, but of the itineraries. I also have been on a Royal class ship and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

However I just do not envision a Royal class ship ever doing the French Polynesia itinerary or going up the Amazon River to Manaus or stopping at Ishigaki, Japan or being able to go to Venice or Vladivostok, Russia.

 

By ridding itself of all the small ships, Princess has eliminated many of the ports in the world it used to sail to from its itineraries.

I hope the statement below by Jan Swartz means they will be using the Coral & Island Princess for exotic ports like French Polynesia.

 

“Pacific Princess offered a traditional style of cruising to unique destinations. While it’s difficult to say goodbye to our ‘Love Boat,’ our World Cruise and exotic itineraries continue onboard our Medallion Class-enabled Island Princess and Coral Princess...

 

[caribill]

21 minutes ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I hope the statement below by Jan Swartz means they will be using the Coral & Island Princess for exotic ports like French Polynesia.

 

“Pacific Princess offered a traditional style of cruising to unique destinations. While it’s difficult to say goodbye to our ‘Love Boat,’ our World Cruise and exotic itineraries continue onboard our Medallion Class-enabled Island Princess and Coral Princess...

 

 

I think it means they will be used for world cruises which by definition go to many exotic places. In the past they have sometimes had a port or two in French Polynesia.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I hope the statement below by Jan Swartz means they will be using the Coral & Island Princess for exotic ports like French Polynesia.

 

“Pacific Princess offered a traditional style of cruising to unique destinations. While it’s difficult to say goodbye to our ‘Love Boat,’ our World Cruise and exotic itineraries continue onboard our Medallion Class-enabled Island Princess and Coral Princess...

 

 

The tourist infrastructure for most French Polynesia ports as well as many of other ports in the world that the Pacific Princess sailed to can barely handle the almost 700 passengers on the Pacific Princess.

 

The 2200 passenger Island Princess and the larger ships in the fleet can totally overwhelm the ability of the tourist infrastructure to provide a meaningful experience to all those who want to go ashore.

[oskidunker]

Plus the Island is that ship they removed the rear lounge and put in more passenger cabins. Would never sail on that ship.

[Hlitner]

On 1/23/2021 at 7:14 AM, Ride-The-Waves said:

One can still sail on these wonderful "R" class ships with Oceania and Azamara.  We find service and shipboard operations a cut-above with Azamara over what Princess was offering.  Highly recommended.

I would not be so fast to recommend Azamara since their new owner has zero experience running a cruise line...and in fact has zero experience owning ships.  We are talking about an owner with a history of buying companies at bargain basement prices and later reselling at a nice profit.  The basic strategy of such private equity firms is to increase the profitability of their investments.  Whether that translates into maintaining or even improving quality remains to be seen.

 

From a financial perspective the cruise industry is in a lot of trouble.  CCL, RCI and NCL Holdings are bleeding cash at a tremendous rate (measured in hundreds of millions per month) with shrinking balance sheets and increased debt obligations.  The performance and survivability of these companies depends on their ability to resume operations....and the ability to do that is still a big question.  I think the only major cruise line in a pretty solid situation is MSC which is privately owned (primarily by a single family) who also owns/operates a huge worldwide ocean shipping company which is still bringing in lots of revenue.  

 

A question I have about Azamara is who will eventually buy the company or will it eventually become a small niche cruise line (which has its own problems because of the lack of economies of scale).  One also needs to consider that the "R" ships are 20+ years old which means they must deal with the typical maintenance issues related to older vessels.  While I do personally like the "R" ships their relatively average cabin sizes and small cabin bathrooms limit their ability to compete in the luxury market....and their small vessel size makes it tough to compete in the mass market cruise line industry.  

 

Hank

[northwestbear]

Very sad about the sale. We were on Pacific Princess in December, 2019 for the first time and fell in love with her. We had another cruise booked for October, 2021 specifically to sail on her again. Of course that has now been cancelled. We’ve booked on the Enchanted Princess for the same time period, but of course the experience will be very different if it goes at all.

[cruisemom42]

On 1/21/2021 at 2:27 PM, tert333 said:

That did not take long from the announcement with Azamara.   You can count on it going to Sycamore.  The reason they can not announce where it is going is because they have to wait until the Azamara deal is done.  Good fit as an additional ship to the Azamara fleet.   Sycamore would have got a good deal for the ship as the other option was most likely the scrap yard.

 

Too bad the ship is leaving the fleet...

 

I have my doubts as to whether the purchaser is the same as for the Azamara ships. Why wouldn't they announce it in the same way rather than "buyer to be named later"?  Companies generally tend to do things in the same way, using the same wording, templates, etc. to announce these things.

 

[nocl]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I would not be so fast to recommend Azamara since their new owner has zero experience running a cruise line...and in fact has zero experience owning ships.  We are talking about an owner with a history of buying companies at bargain basement prices and later reselling at a nice profit.  The basic strategy of such private equity firms is to increase the profitability of their investments.  Whether that translates into maintaining or even improving quality remains to be seen.

 

From a financial perspective the cruise industry is in a lot of trouble.  CCL, RCI and NCL Holdings are bleeding cash at a tremendous rate (measured in hundreds of millions per month) with shrinking balance sheets and increased debt obligations.  The performance and survivability of these companies depends on their ability to resume operations....and the ability to do that is still a big question.  I think the only major cruise line in a pretty solid situation is MSC which is privately owned (primarily by a single family) who also owns/operates a huge worldwide ocean shipping company which is still bringing in lots of revenue.  

 

A question I have about Azamara is who will eventually buy the company or will it eventually become a small niche cruise line (which has its own problems because of the lack of economies of scale).  One also needs to consider that the "R" ships are 20+ years old which means they must deal with the typical maintenance issues related to older vessels.  While I do personally like the "R" ships their relatively average cabin sizes and small cabin bathrooms limit their ability to compete in the luxury market....and their small vessel size makes it tough to compete in the mass market cruise line industry.  

 

Hank

On the other hand their capital cost in the ships per passenger is very very low compared to new builds. Especially compared to other small ships. So while they may have increased maintenance cost that should be more than offset by the low capital costs.

Edited January 24, 2021 by nocl

[ipeeinthepool]

Bye.  I doubt will ever build a ship of this size again.  😞

[drhugs]

I agree with most of these comments as well..we booked and loved the Pacific Princess for years..our go to will now be Crystal.. we dislikethemega ships..waste of time waiting and waiting...sorry, Princess, you are going to lose your base..

[Ride-The-Waves]

Oceania has two 1,200 passenger ships on order.  That said, most of the contracts let before the pandemic are for behemoths of 5,000-6,000 passenger capacity.  My perspective is these ships have limited utility except of competing against each other in the Caribbean.  Really not interested in paying to ride on these huge floating islands and expect they will have restricted access at many ports.  They are designed primarily for onboard entertainment and not for visiting ports.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Ride-The-Waves