The Cruise Fun-Loving Brits at Sea

[john watson]

Anyone watching this UK Channel 5 programme?  It seems to be a follow on about sailing on Princess Cruises but unlike previous series where they focused on the crew this programme focuses on the passengers.  Three very different parties of travellers are having different style cruises on Regal Princess.  Daily over a week then following week a new set of three passenger groups are followed.

 

Regards John

[dides]

Been watching it, the passengers featured were selected based on them applying to an advert. It does seem to misrepresent the Princess experience - no queuing at embarkation, and not everyone is greeted by the entertainment director or captain, or have free sparkling wine and canapes waiting  in their stateroom. Plus towel animals are not that common at all!

 

I found it strange that they had a vegan family on there and focussed on the vegan food experiences in port rather than on the ship. Also the featured passengers tended to do tailored activities in each port that were not available via a Princess excursion.

 

But I will watch the rest, if only to get glimpses of the lovely Regal Princess (which we have cruised on more than any other ship!)

[john watson]

Princess struck lucky with the original "Love Boat" TV series and I think they value the exposure.  The Love Boat was well off realism to say the least.  Their modern era series most of which seasons are on You Tube did focus on the crew too much for advertising purposes and kicked a few own goals like when the crewmember was looking for forty of so missing suitcases over a period of several days. That guy who wanted to move from Reception to Excursions seemed to treat the passengers badly calling them his ducklings or whatever would not encourage me to book.  This latest offering is far more commercially based and has side stepped the bad bits. Like queueing to embark, I have been lucky in the past with embarkation not just at Southampton.

 

Regards John

[1zachary]

Nothing like the real experience when boarding the ship having sailed with Princess a few times recently. Not once did we have goodies and fizz in our balcony room. Neither were we greeted personally by Entertainment director or Captain. If you’re going to do a TV program at least keep it realistic. We can say we did thoroughly enjoy all our cruises.
 

 

 

[david63]

It's more about the ports of call than the actual cruise experience - and when was the last time you have a formal night on the last night?

 

As they say there is no such thing as bad publicity!

[Pine Man]

I have been cruising for many years and only used P&O. I have now booked a cruise next June on Sky Princess and saw that, although the C5 program featured Regal Princess, it appears to be the sister ship of Sky Princess but a few years older.

 

Seemed like a great way to find out about Princess and their cruises BUT what a waste of time. It's got little or nothing to do with Princess. The people featured might just as well have flown to the various locations as the ship hardly ever appeared to be at sea!

 

As has been said, they never queued to get on or off the ship. They did very little on the ship and, as yet, don't appeared to have had any meals, apart from afternoon tea.

 

I'm not sure what criteria were used to select the 'lucky' passengers, but, and at the risk of upsetting someone, what a bunch!

[kevinyork]

I think it’s a very poorly made program. The made irritant is the constant repetition.  Looking ahead to what’s coming up this expose, after the break, next episode then looking back at what’s happened last episode, before the break etc and those on the sofa questions about “what did you enjoy most about the past 30 seconds of your cruise”?
 

 

[eric4395]

One of the worst cruise programs ever,  it would put people of a cruise, they have hardly showed anything about a normal cruise and even made it look like there were hardly any other guests onboard which is quite a feat🤔

[Janner100]

I hope this is not truly reprepresntative of Princess Cruises as I am thinking of booking a cruise with them and find this programme quite annoying.

 

It doesn't show enough of the ship or ports visited concentrating on three sets of passengers with shipboard experiences that seem more than normal. The controlling passenger from Blackpool should have noticed the world didn't end when she wasn't there with her friends.

 

Let's see more of the ship please

[heatherb1958]

The programme is complete and utter rubbish and if any newbie cruisers were thinking of going on a Princess cruise it doesn't sell itself well with the guests they chose . I watched the first episode and thought this is dire the next one must be better , nope , it wasn't.  Not going to get those 2 hours of my life back . 

 

[john watson]

One of the surprising things at ports of call is that nobody books a cruise tour from the excursions desk. They all do research and sort out independent activities.  Ithink they have chosen passengers on the basis of diverse  outlooks, a young family group older couples etc.

 

Regards John.

[Rick&Jeannie]

18 hours ago, Janner100 said:

I hope this is not truly reprepresntative of Princess Cruises as I am thinking of booking a cruise with them and find this programme quite annoying.

 

It doesn't show enough of the ship or ports visited concentrating on three sets of passengers with shipboard experiences that seem more than normal. The controlling passenger from Blackpool should have noticed the world didn't end when she wasn't there with her friends.

 

Let's see more of the ship please

Welcome to CruiseCritic!

[dides]

So we're at the halfway point now. Finally, we see the Kids Clubs this week when the families have a rainy day which is a bit late in the cruise. And a lot of the onboard experiences seem to be tailored for them too.  Has there ever been a Neon Night on Princess before where the passengers can get glow painted up? I thought that was something from another cruise line but happy to be corrected. The paper plane competition and Crew v Passengers quiz are recognisable though - spotted both Alex Yepremian and Duke Christopher representing the officers so they may have beefed up their presence just for the cameras.

[Suzieanna]

I've been watching this programme and I feel it it is nothing more than a very misleading ADVERT.   Any other media - ie online or in the Daily Mail it would have to have a disclaimer that it was Promoted by the company.  There is no mention on the show that the people have been gifted these holidays.

 

There is very little I recognise about the cruise experience - for example where are the queues for embarkation?    Why was the man with the little girl met at the dock in Piraeus and brought to their room?  This doesn't happen.   It makes it look like everyone gets champagne and plates of canapes, I know that isn't the case.   Being approached by the Captain and the Cruise Directors asking you how your holiday is going - nope!     Never a mention that the Sanctuary area is not general seating.  

 

No mention of muster

 

No "washy washy" staff

 

No get your foot analysis or art seminar, no scrambling for a seat.  

 

Where is the queue when MDR opens - why does the buffet never look like the bunfight it can look like in reality

 

The nearest this show has come to showing cruising how I recognise it is when they went to Santorini and had to queue for the gondolas!

 

The endless repetition of what you have just seen, and what you are going to see after the break! 

 

 If I was a first timer going because of what I had seen on this show I would be massively disappointed.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dides]

54 minutes ago, Suzieanna said:

I've been watching this programme and I feel it it is nothing more than a very misleading ADVERT.   Any other media - ie online or in the Daily Mail it would have to have a disclaimer that it was Promoted by the company.  There is no mention on the show that the people have been gifted these holidays.

 

There is very little I recognise about the cruise experience - for example where are the queues for embarkation?    Why was the man with the little girl met at the dock in Piraeus and brought to their room?  This doesn't happen.   It makes it look like everyone gets champagne and plates of canapes, I know that isn't the case.   Being approached by the Captain and the Cruise Directors asking you how your holiday is going - nope!     Never a mention that the Sanctuary area is not general seating.  

 

No mention of muster

 

No "washy washy" staff

 

No get your foot analysis or art seminar, no scrambling for a seat.  

 

Where is the queue when MDR opens - why does the buffet never look like the bunfight it can look like in reality

 

The nearest this show has come to showing cruising how I recognise it is when they went to Santorini and had to queue for the gondolas!

 

The endless repetition of what you have just seen, and what you are going to see after the break! 

 

 If I was a first timer going because of what I had seen on this show I would be massively disappointed.   

 

 

 

Anne, the lady from Northern Ireland who travelled with her two friends, said it was very much driven by the production company. So Princess had very little say except what was shown of the ship and providing the free cabins/cruise. So the production company would arrange the little trips out in ports in place of Princess excursions. Her friend told them she had limited mobility yet they still had her trying to walk up the lemon farm terraces - they simply didn't listen! And they couldn't get permission to film in some ports so they were missed out altogether in the narrative e.g. Istanbul.  It is a misrepresentation and I'm sure some folks are going to have a surprise when they come to compare it to the real thing.

[Suzieanna]

34 minutes ago, dides said:

 

 It is a misrepresentation and I'm sure some folks are going to have a surprise when they come to compare it to the real thing.

 

Its a real shame because it could have been great!