Princess Cruisers Compare Crystal, Silversea, and Viking Ocean Cruises

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

At one time there was loyalty OBC for every fifth cruise starting with your 25th cruise. They started at $25 and went up to $100 if I recall 

The loyalty obc was every cruise, not every 5th.  

[vakamalua]

We've traveled extensively land & sea. As a couple who only cruise Princess with the standard fare because we don't drink alcohol or sodas & get wifi at platinum half price, the line provides a very good product at a very good rate. We usually book a suite or mini-suite.  We hesitate to pay the high fares of the luxury lines, especially knowing that we are paying for all the inclusive alcohol we won't be consuming.  Kinda like paying the high prices of a Disney cruise knowing that your fare subsidizes more one whole deck of children's clubs & pools, while the adult areas are lacking.

[TBfrPH]

@RLK33853 thank you for posting your experience on the higher-end options.  We have been tempted for years to try them.  But the more we have researched, the less motivated we became.  Your posts pretty much confirmed what has been holding us back.  We don't mind paying more, just not paying more for things that we don't need/want/enjoy (like free liquor, wifi, and extreme coddling), and in return not getting enough of what matters to us (like live music entertainment). 

 

Sadly, Princess' initiative to attract younger cruisers and more families is beginning to kill off activities that we have enjoyed on their older ships.  Royal Caribbean and Celebrity started this some years ago (also HAL to a lesser extent), and we left them for Princess.  Princess is now trying to become RC and X. We see the writings on the proverbial wall with the reports about the Sun Princess and our trip last month on the Crown. So our days with Princess are also numbered, yet without a clear, suitable alternative 😞

[paddingtonbear]

@TBfrPH What is missing from your more recent cruises? Is it because the piazza area has taken over the ship making all venues noisy? Is because there aren’t enough quiet areas? 
 

Travelling outside school holidays would avoid families wouldn’t it or do schools have different holidays and basically school holidays fill all summer? 

[memoak]

4 hours ago, TRLD said:

The loyalty obc was every cruise, not every 5th.  

See it’s been so long I forgot looking forward to the OBC

[memoak]

2 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

@RLK33853 thank you for posting your experience on the higher-end options.  We have been tempted for years to try them.  But the more we have researched, the less motivated we became.  Your posts pretty much confirmed what has been holding us back.  We don't mind paying more, just not paying more for things that we don't need/want/enjoy (like free liquor, wifi, and extreme coddling), and in return not getting enough of what matters to us (like live music entertainment). 

 

Sadly, Princess' initiative to attract younger cruisers and more families is beginning to kill off activities that we have enjoyed on their older ships.  Royal Caribbean and Celebrity started this some years ago (also HAL to a lesser extent), and we left them for Princess.  Princess is now trying to become RC and X. We see the writings on the proverbial wall with the reports about the Sun Princess and our trip last month on the Crown. So our days with Princess are also numbered, yet without a clear, suitable alternative 😞

As long as Princess has ships without water parks or restricted deck areas we will stick with them

[TRLD]

29 minutes ago, memoak said:

As long as Princess has ships without water parks or restricted deck areas we will stick with them

The Sun would seem to have both depending upon ones definition

[cruisermsoon]

As someone who has done many Princess & Holland America cruises [and who will continue to do the occasional cruise with them in the future], I find that as cruise ships get bigger, more crowded, and noisier [that banal recorded music that most mass market lines play incessantly all over the ship], I have found a very acceptable alternative in the smaller Azamara ships for the following reasons:

#Ships that have around 650 passengers.

#Ships small enough to be able to berth at smaller more out of the way ports.

#At some ports they provide a free transfer service into the town.

#Virtually all inclusive, with drinks provided and no tipping.

#Their Azamazing Evenings or events an added feature.

Having said that, sometimes their cruises can be a bit pricey. Sometimes you need to book early, and other times wait until about 3 months before to see if there are last minute specials.

 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, cruisermsoon said:

As someone who has done many Princess & Holland America cruises [and who will continue to do the occasional cruise with them in the future], I find that as cruise ships get bigger, more crowded, and noisier [that banal recorded music that most mass market lines play incessantly all over the ship], I have found a very acceptable alternative in the smaller Azamara ships for the following reasons:

#Ships that have around 650 passengers.

#Ships small enough to be able to berth at smaller more out of the way ports.

#At some ports they provide a free transfer service into the town.

#Virtually all inclusive, with drinks provided and no tipping.

#Their Azamazing Evenings or events an added feature.

Having said that, sometimes their cruises can be a bit pricey. Sometimes you need to book early, and other times wait until about 3 months before to see if there are last minute specials.

 

Price point and available ports to sail from are an issue. Too privy and very little from the PNW

[TBfrPH]

5 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

@TBfrPH What is missing from your more recent cruises? Is it because the piazza area has taken over the ship making all venues noisy? Is because there aren’t enough quiet areas? 
 

Travelling outside school holidays would avoid families wouldn’t it or do schools have different holidays and basically school holidays fill all summer? 

It is not that anything was missing.  It's the slow whittling away of things that sets Princess apart for us.  Live music is a great example.  On the Sapphire Princess last year to Mexico, we had 4 fabulous bands of different genres, plus the exceptional house band, taking turns playing in the piazza and the various lounges throughout the day on every sea day, starting around lunch.  That was an awesome cruise.  On the Crown last month, there were no live music on the first few sea days until dinner time.  Instead, there were "family" games, street performers, and such.  I noted this on a comment card; and perhaps it was a coincidence, but a couple of live music sessions showed up on sea day programs later in the cruise.  That made the cruise much more enjoyable for us, and we were grateful.  At the same time we miss the previous experience to which we had grown accustomed, and fear that it's a thing of the past.  

 

Noise during the day at various venues doesn't really bother us.  We don't look forward to the company of other people's kids, but we can still have a good time notwithstanding.

[RLK33853]

For anyone interested, our continued comparison of Crystal and Viking has been posted on those boards.

 

Crystal Board

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3014762-princess-cruisers-compare-crystal-silversea-and-viking-ocean-cruises/#comment-67547587

 

Viking Board

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3014763-princess-cruisers-compare-crystal-silversea-and-viking-ocean-cruises/#comment-67548004

[ldubs]

23 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

 

All of the specialty dining venues were good to great and included in your fare. I think what I liked the most about O was that once you left your cabin there was no distinction between the PH and lower tier cabins.  All the food and dining options were all included and everyone ate the same food. 
 

 

Thanks for the info.  I have read that specialty dining reservation priority is rationed by cabin class.  It is reported those in lower cabin categories have a difficult time booking any prime dining times.   I've wondered how factual, or more importantly, if factual how much of a real issue this is.  From your comment it sounds like it wasn't a problem.  

[ldubs]

10 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

It is not that anything was missing.  It's the slow whittling away of things that sets Princess apart for us.  Live music is a great example.  On the Sapphire Princess last year to Mexico, we had 4 fabulous bands of different genres, plus the exceptional house band, taking turns playing in the piazza and the various lounges throughout the day on every sea day, starting around lunch.  That was an awesome cruise.  On the Crown last month, there were no live music on the first few sea days until dinner time.  Instead, there were "family" games, street performers, and such.  I noted this on a comment card; and perhaps it was a coincidence, but a couple of live music sessions showed up on sea day programs later in the cruise.  That made the cruise much more enjoyable for us, and we were grateful.  At the same time we miss the previous experience to which we had grown accustomed, and fear that it's a thing of the past.  

 

Noise during the day at various venues doesn't really bother us.  We don't look forward to the company of other people's kids, but we can still have a good time notwithstanding.

 

Live music in the various lounges or plaza is a huge draw for me.  

[TRLD]

32 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Thanks for the info.  I have read that specialty dining reservation priority is rationed by cabin class.  It is reported those in lower cabin categories have a difficult time booking any prime dining times.   I've wondered how factual, or more importantly, if factual how much of a real issue this is.  From your comment it sounds like it wasn't a problem.  

That was our experience on Regatta when it came to booking in advance. On board on can often get reservations with others.

 

We did not find the 2 specialty restaurants to be that remarkable. In fact we canceled our last 2 reservations.

 

We were quite surprised how long term Oceania cruisers rave about the food, when we found it really not much better than food on other lines. They do have some nice features such as the grill to order steaks, chops and lobster, but for most of the food in the MDR and specialty restaurants nothing really special in our opinion.

 

We normally not do steaks so maybe the magic is there. We found their Italian offerings to be rather mediocre.

 

As far as live music on Oceania, there is live music, but mostly played as background during happy hour and tea.  Pretty much the same every day with a curated play list. Very little interaction between musicians and passengers

Edited June 23 by TRLD

[TBfrPH]

17 hours ago, memoak said:

As long as Princess has ships without water parks or restricted deck areas we will stick with them

On this point, have you checked out the Sun Princess?  The future is here.  It may only be a matter of time that the older Princess ships will be "updated" to be the same.

[TBfrPH]

@TRLD  Your experience is less than encouraging for someone like me, who is searching for viable options to Princess.  You appear to confirm what many others have said about the "Finest Cuisine at Sea"... that it's more hype than substance.  That's unfortunate because these days the mass market lines like Princess are setting a very low bar as a result of cost cutting and engaging in what appears to be a race to the bottom.

 

We are not shy about engaging with musicians and making requests.  They often oblige and appreciate that someone is paying attention to what they play.  I've sampled a few daily programs from Oceania, and they suggest that the musicians only start to play at tea time, no earlier.  Is that true in your experience?

[memoak]

1 hour ago, TBfrPH said:

On this point, have you checked out the Sun Princess?  The future is here.  It may only be a matter of time that the older Princess ships will be "updated" to be the same.

That is why we are not interested in the Sun. We really prefer the Coral and Grand/Gem class ships. Their smaller size makes them harder to “convert”. 

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

On this point, have you checked out the Sun Princess?  The future is here.  It may only be a matter of time that the older Princess ships will be "updated" to be the same.

 

42 minutes ago, memoak said:

That is why we are not interested in the Sun. We really prefer the Coral and Grand/Gem class ships. Their smaller size makes them harder to “convert”. 

 

Have not been on the Sun.  I have seen the new deck plan and have similar concerns.  Of all the cruise ships we have enjoyed, the Princess ship template has been my favorite.  I hope they don't go too far with updates to the pre-Sun deck plans.   

[TRLD]

4 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

@TRLD  Your experience is less than encouraging for someone like me, who is searching for viable options to Princess.  You appear to confirm what many others have said about the "Finest Cuisine at Sea"... that it's more hype than substance.  That's unfortunate because these days the mass market lines like Princess are setting a very low bar as a result of cost cutting and engaging in what appears to be a race to the bottom.

 

We are not shy about engaging with musicians and making requests.  They often oblige and appreciate that someone is paying attention to what they play.  I've sampled a few daily programs from Oceania, and they suggest that the musicians only start to play at tea time, no earlier.  Is that true in your experience?

What we found is that the strings trio played at tea, then the show band played at happy hour in Hoeizons. There was a piano player in Martinis during happy hour as well.  The Strings trio would also play in the upper all.

 

From what I got talking with the musicians they play a program curated by HQ. Atleast the Strings and the Showband. Do not know if the piano player had more flexibility or not. We did not find him to be very good.

 

My suggestion if you want to try Oceania pick a port intensive trip first. We made the mistake of picking a 22 day trip starting in Pepeete and ending in San Pedro covering French Polynesia and Hawaii. We normally live sea days on cruises.  Not so much on Oceania. Too sedate, schedule had very little change day to day. They did have 2 speakers (a husband/wife from Hawaii). A trivia session (the battle for O points is intense).  After a few days we felt like we were in the cruise version of the ground hog day movie. The most exciting day at sea was the day they did a fair with games like how to stuff a pillow into a pillow case, corn hole, etc.

 

That said Oceania does a lot well. Tender operations was very good. Service in the dining rooms was very good. 

 

They do need to learn that an iced mocha is not made with nestles hot chocolate if you could find someone at the coffee bar that actual knew what one was.

 

Entertainment was not a strong point. They did have 1 guest pianist that was very good and engaged very well with the audience. The other guest entertainers and the productions shows not so good.

 

Kind any other line you need to try it and see if you like it. We might sail them again on a very port intensive route (less likely since they went to simply more), but not on any cruise with lots of sea days.

 

Some people love them. It is my brother in laws favorite line.

 

Funny thing is a number of years ago we did the same route on the same size (r class) on the Pacific Princess and loved it. One reason we booked the cruise. This time we almost got off in Hawaii 6 days early. It was a very close decision.

Edited June 23 by TRLD

[cruisermsoon]

My introduction to the "R" ship was the Pacific Princess, and I loved it. Probably the best Princess cruise I have done. 

Recently went on Azamara Onward [ex Pacific Princess] an a 21-day portion of the World Cruise. The ship is even better after it's refurbishment, and Azamara of course is a superb product offered at a price that is much cheaper than Oceania [as long as you are happy on a ship that doesn't have the "razz-m-tazz" of the new bigger ships]. 

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, cruisermsoon said:

My introduction to the "R" ship was the Pacific Princess, and I loved it. Probably the best Princess cruise I have done. 

Recently went on Azamara Onward [ex Pacific Princess] an a 21-day portion of the World Cruise. The ship is even better after it's refurbishment, and Azamara of course is a superb product offered at a price that is much cheaper than Oceania [as long as you are happy on a ship that doesn't have the "razz-m-tazz" of the new bigger ships]. 

We are looking at some of Azamara port intensive cruises such as the 8 night intensive Croatia.

[RLK33853]

6 hours ago, toofewcruises said:

The only issue I have with your summary is that you really can't compare Princess with Crystal, etc. That's not a fair comparison. Very few are privileged enough to be able to sail the higher end luxury lines. I certainly cannot afford to do so and not many can. The cruise lines you mentioned are five times more expensive than Princess. I'm happy for you that you can afford the lifestyle of the rich and famous but the majority of us cannot. This is where the words privilege and entitlement come in. Contrary to the wealthy, I don't need to have my nose wiped every minute of every day. I can get up and get things for myself, in fact, it's usually more fun that way as you meet others. Princess suits me just fine!

 

I'll repeat myself from earlier in the thread. This is NOT a comparison between Princess, Crystal, and Viking.  Just our take on a Luxury vs Premium cruise line from our viewpoint as long time Princess loyalists, and as I see it, many others (as indicated on this thread) are also interested in discussing alternative cruise lines.. 

 

I am glad that you are happy with Princes, as were we for over 30 years and the 51 times we cruised with them.  Lately not so much.  As I also indicated, we will still cruise Princess for various reasons, Princess just won't be our first choice.

 

Lastly, comments such as yours:

 

"This is where the words privilege and entitlement come in. Contrary to the wealthy, I don't need to have my nose wiped every minute of every day"

 

are why people rarely do reviews anymore.  You are more than welcome to have an opposing view and to voice it - but there is no need to attack us personally or call us privileged, entitled, and wealthy - you know niothing about us.  

 

 

[memoak]

8 minutes ago, RLK33853 said:

 

I'll repeat myself from earlier in the thread. This is NOT a comparison between Princess, Crystal, and Viking.  Just our take on a Luxury vs Premium cruise line from our viewpoint as long time Princess loyalists, and as I see it, many others (as indicated on this thread) are also interested in discussing alternative cruise lines.. 

 

I am glad that you are happy with Princes, as were we for over 30 years and the 51 times we cruised with them.  Lately not so much.  As I also indicated, we will still cruise Princess for various reasons, Princess just won't be our first choice.

 

Lastly, comments such as yours:

 

"This is where the words privilege and entitlement come in. Contrary to the wealthy, I don't need to have my nose wiped every minute of every day"

 

are why people rarely do reviews anymore.  You are more than welcome to have an opposing view and to voice it - but there is no need to attack us personally or call us privileged, entitled, and wealthy - you know niothing about us.  

 

 

The price point really makes a difference. Too much money to be fsncy
 

 

[TRLD]

33 minutes ago, memoak said:

The price point really makes a difference. Too much money to be fsncy
 

 

I will admit that one of the reasons about 40% of our cruise days each year, the most of any other single line, on Princess is because of two reasons. 1. They tend to have cruises where and when we want to go and 2. they are a very good value. Especially when we add in the savings from Elite benefits, veterans obc, shareholder obc, and fcd obc.

 

Makes a big difference when you spend over 100 days on cruise ships each year, and another 50 or so on land trips.

Edited June 24 by TRLD

[HaveDogWillTravel]

10 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

You are more than welcome to have an opposing view and to voice it - but there is no need to attack us personally or call us privileged, entitled, and wealthy - you know niothing about us. 

I hope you ignore the inappropriate comments and continue this discussion.  I really wish people who aren’t interested in this topic would just stop posting. 
 

I don’t understand why people who have never sailed on a more premium line make comments about what it’s like. We do not get coddled or get our noses wiped (or whatever that person said). Really? 
What I find on WS is that the crew get treated extremely well and hence they are very happy. For example June 12th was the Philippine Independence Day and WS had wonderful celebrations on board for their crew that the passengers were able to participate in. 
 

Anyway, a previous poster reminded me that I have been wanting to try Azamara. I’ve also been really wanting to try Explora Journeys.  I’ll keep reading your Viking and Crystal reviews. And I’m happy that others are piping in with their experiences on other lines. Thanks for doing it.