Would you sail on an older Princess ship?

[LACruiser88]

Our favorite ship?  Any ship that we can get on!  We always have a great time!

[Sigyn]

5 hours ago, Kay S said:

Maybe I missed it, but which old Carnival ship scared you?

The Glory and the Triumph.

[MSMcDuffy]

Yes!  The older ones have the wrap around promenade deck that I really miss. 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by MSMcDuffy

[geoherb]

I sailed on the Caribbean in August and am booked to go again after Thanksgiving. I love that it has a walkable outdoor Promenade Deck. That said, I do miss Alfredo's. It's too bad they don't offer it as an option at Sabatini's for lunch at least once like they did on the Island. 

[Griff4AU]

17 hours ago, geoherb said:

I sailed on the Caribbean in August and am booked to go again after Thanksgiving. I love that it has a walkable outdoor Promenade Deck. That said, I do miss Alfredo's. It's too bad they don't offer it as an option at Sabatini's for lunch at least once like they did on the Island. 

That's exactly what I needed to see, and thank you.

My better half just did a 180 on me and now I am scrambling for post Christmas sailings. The CP (if that's still her designation - it's been 8 years since on a Princess ship) was my first and favorite Princess ship having been on her 3 times.

Even when she wasn't new, she was almost the "defacto flagship" (even with the newer boats) and the crew knew it - almost having a bit of a swagger about them. I was hoping she wasn't going to be "tired" at this point. 

[pris993]

On 10/14/2022 at 4:26 PM, StrawberryHill said:

Coral is the BEST      Island was second until Princess butchered it   Not Ruby / Crown / ? is second best

I did 15 days on Coral, missed Crown Grill, we eat at the buffet all 15 days, which was fine.  We don't do MDR anymore, either buffet or Crown Grill.  I like the Grand, Ruby, good to hear you like the Crown.  I hear it is being transferred to my home port of San Francisco in 2023.  Have something to look forward too, since I am not a fan of the Royal, which is here now. 

[SiliconCruiser]

30 minutes ago, pris993 said:

I did 15 days on Coral, missed Crown Grill, we eat at the buffet all 15 days, which was fine.  We don't do MDR anymore, either buffet or Crown Grill.  I like the Grand, Ruby, good to hear you like the Crown.  I hear it is being transferred to my home port of San Francisco in 2023.  Have something to look forward too, since I am not a fan of the Royal, which is here now. 

I like the Royal class ships, but the Royal looks like it is headed to Australia after the Alaska season next year. Ruby will winter in Galveston before returning to San Francisco for the Alaska Season and then winter in Ft. Lauderdale.  But the Crown and Ruby are both Crown class ships.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I just looked up the sailings on the Ruby.

She was the first ship we sailed.

I like newer ships, but Ruby has some things that are great.

Adagio aft bar, small Piazza, nice retreat pool area and Sanctuary.

 

The age, and the smaller tight quarters in the Public areas were what I did not like on the Coral Princess.

Along with the lack of some other amenities and venues.

[Z0nker]

On 10/12/2022 at 5:23 PM, njsmom said:

Would you sail on an older Princess ship? One built more than 10-12 years ago? I've been on an older ship on Carnival and it was awful. I was so scarred from the experience I'm afraid to try older ships on other cruise lines. Please share with me your experiences, since some itineraries, ports or dates only offer older ships. 

If the Carnival ship was Fantasy Class, I feel your pain. But we've sailed on the Grand Princess (built in 1998) and it was fine. Lots of balcony rooms and mini-suites. Three main dining rooms, two good specialty restaurants, scads of bars plus Alfredo's Pizza, which very few Princess ships have.

[Z0nker]

19 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

I just looked up the sailings on the Ruby.

She was the first ship we sailed.

I like newer ships, but Ruby has some things that are great.

Adagio aft bar, small Piazza, nice retreat pool area and Sanctuary.

 

The age, and the smaller tight quarters in the Public areas were what I did not like on the Coral Princess.

Along with the lack of some other amenities and venues.

We've sailed on the Ruby Princess out of SF three times in the past year. Fine ship, great crew, no complaints.

[luvtravel]

I don't mind at all older ships as long as they are kept in good condition.  We have reservations on the Island Princess - and old ship.  I am concerned - not because its old - but the company doesn't spend $ to improve the plumbing system for instance. I don't mind worn fabric on chairs, etc., but  I do not like hearing about so many sewage smell areas and bathrooms/showers being unusable for a day or two.  I wish they would switch out this ship for a newer better maintained one prior to the 28 day cruise.  The Island Princess also seems to have the highest # of covid cases....

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, Z0nker said:

We've sailed on the Ruby Princess out of SF three times in the past year. Fine ship, great crew, no complaints.

I have to giggle at the idea the Ruby is an "old ship."  I did a cruise on her on her first year out.  I guess that makes me old because I had been on the previous Regal (1991-2007) years before that and several of the Grand ships long before I set foot on the Ruby.  🙂

[SiliconCruiser]

2 hours ago, luvtravel said:

I don't mind at all older ships as long as they are kept in good condition.  We have reservations on the Island Princess - and old ship.  I am concerned - not because its old - but the company doesn't spend $ to improve the plumbing system for instance. I don't mind worn fabric on chairs, etc., but  I do not like hearing about so many sewage smell areas and bathrooms/showers being unusable for a day or two.  I wish they would switch out this ship for a newer better maintained one prior to the 28 day cruise.  The Island Princess also seems to have the highest # of covid cases....

Is this sewage smell just something you've heard or have you experienced it? I ask, because 3 years ago we had that sewage smell on a number floors in the aft cabin area on the Island.  At the time, the crew was saying that it had been a problem for at least 2-3 months.

 

[icat2000]

Not much choice really if you live Downunder. We always get the older ships. Sure they might occassionally send Majestic, Regal or Royal.

 

But for ONCE. I love to see Princess give us one of the brand new ships.

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by icat2000

[GUT2407]

30 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Not much choice really if you live Downunder. We always get the older ships. Sure they might occassionally send Majestic, Regal or Royal.

 

But for ONCE. I love to see Princess give us one of the brand new ships.

 

But Majestic has been my least liked Princess ship.

 

[NownZen]

4 hours ago, luvtravel said:

I don't mind at all older ships as long as they are kept in good condition.  We have reservations on the Island Princess - and old ship.  I am concerned - not because its old - but the company doesn't spend $ to improve the plumbing system for instance. I don't mind worn fabric on chairs, etc., but  I do not like hearing about so many sewage smell areas and bathrooms/showers being unusable for a day or two.  I wish they would switch out this ship for a newer better maintained one prior to the 28 day cruise.  The Island Princess also seems to have the highest # of covid cases....

We were on the Island in may and while waiting for the sail away they were loading rolls of carpeting which ended up being put into the buffet. I did not see anything wrong with what they had. We had no plumbing problems, no smells, no worn fabric. We were very happy.

The number of covid cases is all by passenger reports and may not be representative of the different ships. There was another ship before we left where they "reported" hundreds of cases. However, there was lots of coughing. It may be that there seemed to be more cases as al large fraction of the passengers were doing a b2b and there was a test before the second phase.

[MISTER 67]

We have sailed on the Caribbean Princess 10 times since 2006 and it's in great shape. We just disembarked the 21 year old Celebrity Infinity and the ship was as nice as can be, we would not hesitate to book and older ship. 

[Buckeye10640]

I really liked Coral Princess. I was sad she moved to Australia.  There is something to be said for the smaller ships with the walkable Promenade decks. 

[MauiLvrs]

9 hours ago, icat2000 said:

Not much choice really if you live Downunder. We always get the older ships. Sure they might occassionally send Majestic, Regal or Royal.

 

But for ONCE. I love to see Princess give us one of the brand new ships.

 

You can have them all

[NSWP]

If you want to sail on an older Princess ship, come to Australia, you Americans send many of them down here and many become P&O Australia ships, i.e. Star Princess, Golden Princess. Some remain Princess like Coral and Grand But hang on we have Majestic and Royal Princesses for a while.

 

I am recently off Coral, she is 20 years old and to be truthful in reasonable condition, apart from the squeaks.

Edited October 19, 2022 by NSWP

[NSWP]

On 10/18/2022 at 11:05 AM, GUT2407 said:

But Majestic has been my least liked Princess ship.

 

Hate the Royal Class mate.

[NSWP]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:34 AM, icat2000 said:

Not much choice really if you live Downunder. We always get the older ships. Sure they might occassionally send Majestic, Regal or Royal.

 

But for ONCE. I love to see Princess give us one of the brand new ships.

 

Will never happen, young Sarah.

[Z0nker]

On 10/17/2022 at 2:14 PM, Kay S said:

I have to giggle at the idea the Ruby is an "old ship."  I did a cruise on her on her first year out.  I guess that makes me old because I had been on the previous Regal (1991-2007) years before that and several of the Grand ships long before I set foot on the Ruby.  🙂

I agree - Ruby Princess was launched on 2008. 14 years out of a typical cruise ship life of 40 year is really not old. But the OP specifically mentioned Ruby, so here we are.