Do you miss a coveredpool in Alaska?

[cruzfiend]

Thank You for your replies. We are going to go in May and this info is great.

 

[beluga_baby]

For me, it's more about having a covered area to sit in while still being on the top deck looking at the ocean. We didn't go swimming on our last Alaska cruise but we liked having a warm, non-rainy place to sit and whale watch with nice big windows, or have a meal or snack "outside." On our sea days it was rainy and cold and sitting outside just wasn't an option.  

[jeromep]

I get the impression that Princess has been wrestling with the question of covered or open pools for many years now, and between the outcomes of new ship design, along with the changing winds of consumer demand, combined with the impact of the past 3 years, I'm not certain that it was Princess' desire to run their Alaskan cruises on ships that have uncovered pools.  But with ship sales to other lines (Star, Golden) and the lack of covered pools on all the Royal class ships (except for Majestic), they are in a bit of a pickle until the new Sun Princess and any future sisters arrives.  Let's hope there are sisters for the Sun Princess.  And who knows if they will make the new Sun Princess a west coast home ported ship so that it can do the Alaska run or the Hawaii run.  That might not be in their plans for the new builds.  But I don't think it is impossible since they home ported the Discovery on the west coast.

[Guest ldtr]

20 minutes ago, jeromep said:

I get the impression that Princess has been wrestling with the question of covered or open pools for many years now, and between the outcomes of new ship design, along with the changing winds of consumer demand, combined with the impact of the past 3 years, I'm not certain that it was Princess' desire to run their Alaskan cruises on ships that have uncovered pools.  But with ship sales to other lines (Star, Golden) and the lack of covered pools on all the Royal class ships (except for Majestic), they are in a bit of a pickle until the new Sun Princess and any future sisters arrives.  Let's hope there are sisters for the Sun Princess.  And who knows if they will make the new Sun Princess a west coast home ported ship so that it can do the Alaska run or the Hawaii run.  That might not be in their plans for the new builds.  But I don't think it is impossible since they home ported the Discovery on the west coast.

I think Princess made up their minds a long time ago. They had covered pools on the pre grand class ships such as Coral and Island, the first Grand class ship (the Grand), the two Grand class ships built in Japan instead of Italy (Sapphire and Diamond), but really nothing since, until the Majestic which only got the Hollywood pool because it was built for the Chinese market.

 

So with that exception Princess has not built a new ship with an free indoor pool for many years. They are rapidly aging out of the fleet.

 

We will soon see if they are going to bring them back with the new Sun Princess.

[cruzfiend]

silly question, do they have coffee makers in the rooms?

[VibeGuy]

They didn’t lose the magrodomes until the Caribbean Princess - MUTS was prioritized. 
 

I had this discussion with an executive who retired during the pause, about how the PNW and Alaska merit the covered pool

as much as UK and Nordic itineraries, and he agreed - the issue is how much the demand grew and how they simply filled the needed  cabins with larger and larger ships from

the fleet because of the relatively inelastic port and Glacier Bay slots.
 

 Also, Island and Coral are actually newer than the Grand-class vessels.  They were purchased to provide a more modern Panamax-sized option with lots of lucrative balcony cabins. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by VibeGuy

[Guest ldtr]

26 minutes ago, VibeGuy said:

They didn’t lose the magrodomes until the Caribbean Princess - MUTS was prioritized. 
 

I had this discussion with an executive who retired during the pause, about how the PNW and Alaska merit the covered pool

as much as UK and Nordic itineraries, and he agreed - the issue is how much the demand grew and how they simply filled the needed  cabins with larger and larger ships from

the fleet because of the relatively inelastic port and Glacier Bay slots.
 

 Also, Island and Coral are actually newer than the Grand-class vessels.  They were purchased to provide a more modern Panamax-sized option with lots of lucrative balcony cabins. 

 the Grand was built in 1997

The Coral and Island  in 2002

The Sapphire and Diamond  in 2003 and 2004

 

The Caribbean built in 2003 was built without a covered pool as have the rest of the Grand Class and expanded Grand Class ships, all except the Caribbean built since  2004 have not had them, until the Chinese Market Majestic.  So clearly Princess made up their minds a farily long time ago about including covered pools.

[rj59]

I went on Discovery in July, on a mostly-full ship, and the lack of an outdoor covered space meant everyone was crowded in inside venues, including the buffet. To me the worst part of Princess ships (I'm Elite, so not a Princess hater) is the lack of a forward viewing lounge for Alaska. The Sanctuary is a liability in Alaska, as well as on a coastal cruise I was on going under the Golden Gate Bridge in the morning with no forward place to get a great view. I went on Celebrity in August, and I really loved having a forward lounge, as well as a warm solarium pool area. HAL also has covered Lido pool decks and a forward Crow's Nest lounge. The only exceptions are a few older Princess ships who have a small covered pool area, and the Majestic, which has a wonderful pool and forward observation area, full of quirky xylophones and loungers and topiary. Hot Asian noodle soups on Majestic really are nice on a cold Alaska day too. 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, rj59 said:

I went on Discovery in July, on a mostly-full ship, and the lack of an outdoor covered space meant everyone was crowded in inside venues, including the buffet. To me the worst part of Princess ships (I'm Elite, so not a Princess hater) is the lack of a forward viewing lounge for Alaska. The Sanctuary is a liability in Alaska, as well as on a coastal cruise I was on going under the Golden Gate Bridge in the morning with no forward place to get a great view. I went on Celebrity in August, and I really loved having a forward lounge, as well as a warm solarium pool area. HAL also has covered Lido pool decks and a forward Crow's Nest lounge. The only exceptions are a few older Princess ships who have a small covered pool area, and the Majestic, which has a wonderful pool and forward observation area, full of quirky xylophones and loungers and topiary. Hot Asian noodle soups on Majestic really are nice on a cold Alaska day too. 

Personally, the Majestic is my favorite ship on the Royal because of the Hollywood pool and Conservatory.

 

The Royal class certainly does lack upper deck inside viewing space in general.

[Thrak]

6 hours ago, cruzfiend said:

silly question, do they have coffee makers in the rooms?

 

No. On some cruises out of Southampton they have a kettle in the cabin but that's as close as it comes. There are no coffee makers in the cabins.