Canada/New England w/Princess?

[Bilyeu5]

We are thinking of a 7 day fall cruise on the east coast. Do the Princess ships usually sail at full occupany on these sailing? I believe it is the Caribbean Princess this year. Might be too big and crowded for us. We were on the Star Princess to Alaska in 2008. Overall, we liked the Princess product and price...but I think the CP holds even MORE people.

If we decide to consider other options, any suggestions?

[FLGolfer]

We are thinking of a 7 day fall cruise on the east coast. Do the Princess ships usually sail at full occupany on these sailing? I believe it is the Caribbean Princess this year. Might be too big and crowded for us. We were on the Star Princess to Alaska in 2008. Overall, we liked the Princess product and price...but I think the CP holds even MORE people.

If we decide to consider other options, any suggestions?

 

Princess fills their ships. We enjoyed that cruise last year.

[Atomica]

We did Canada/New England on the Crown Princess in 2007. Princess does a great job of this run, and apparently the Caribbean Princess has quite a following up there.

 

Caribbean Princess will sail full (all cruise ships do these days in order to turn a profit). At 3,100 passengers, it does hold more than the Star Princess, which holds 2,600 pax. Hopefully some people who have been on both can compare the two.

[Meiying]

We did this itinerary on the Caribbean Princess back in September. We were told that the ship was FULL and you are right it is a large ship. It was a lovely cruise and the staff was quite friendly. The only time we ever felt the effects of there being a lot of people on board were at the theatre shows. It seems that there simply are not enough seats in the theatre to accomodate everyone. We solved this by making sure we were always early to the shows and we never had a problem getting seats after that.

[RASHOPPER2]

We did this cruise on Princess last year and enjoyed it very much. The ship is large, but you really do not feel it. Go and enjoy yourselves.

[WehoAtlantis]

We did the Canada and Quebec cruise on Sapphire and it was full.

 

Mike

[beckcab]

We did this cruise last year on the Caribbean Princess and it was a wonderful cruise. The ports were great and the service was excellent.

[jrw]

We did the Crown sailing in Oct 2007 and loved the Canada/New England itinerary as well as the ship (booked same cabin for April 2009!).

 

We did not feel the ship to be overcrowded, however we did not go to shows in the theater. Reason, we like traditional late seating because it gives more time in port vs. rushing back to the ship to be ready for early seating. This is just us, though. However, Canada/New England itinerary is VERY port-intensive (only 1 sea day when sailing between NYC and Halifax), so we really did not feel we missed anything by skipping the shows -- we were tired by the time we were finished dinner & had to be up early each day for excursions.

 

Whatever you decide, ENJOY! :D

[Cruise Raider]

We sailed on the Crown (sister to the Caribbean) in fall 2007 as well. I did enjoy this cruise immensely but would definitely consider a smaller ship if I were to do it all over again. We had (no exaggeration) 30 minutes in port due to tendering such a large volume of passengers off and on the ship in Newport, RI. What a beautiful port and we all but missed it. It literally took hours to get a tender off the ship and when we knew the last tender was due, we made our way back to what turned out to be another 3 hour line to get back to the ship. If we would have known, we could have toured the Breakers and more of the Cliffwalk, but weren't about to chance going back out again.

I just believe that a smaller ship could have made this cruise experience that much better --- too many pax for such quaint ports that were way too beautiful to skim through.

With that being said, this cruise really is fabulous -- not because of the ship but in spite of it. I think going on a smaller ship might offer you a bit more time to enjoy these great ports of call.

[davidnsteph]

We loved the Canada/New England itinerary both times we sailed there. If you have the time for the longer cruise from NY to Quebec City or Montreal, it is definitely worthwhile. We sailed on the Regal to Montreal. The bigger ships won't fit under one of the bridges between Quebec City and Montreal, so they can't sail there. This past Fall, the Royal Princess sailed an 11-day itinerary to and from Montreal. There is so much history and natural beauty in Quebec. And the Beluga whales at the entrance to Saguenay Fjord are a treat to see. Just be sure to stand on a forward observation deck, because they can be shy, and disappear under the surface as the ship passes by.

 

DavidnSteph

[CMM]

We really enjoyed this cruise Sept 08. In the morning it was often hard to find seating in the buffet breakfast area and you did need to get to the early shows very early to get seats. If you went to the later shows it wasn't an issue. An older crowd for this itinerary both on Carnival and Princess.

We had a full sailing. We booked just a few months before departure, but it was full at sailing. There are lots of places to go on the ship so you can always find a place to get away from it all.

[cruisemom42]

If you like smaller ships, Princess sometimes offers a NE/Canada itinerary with one of her smaller ships. My parents did this cruise on the Royal Princess this fall and really, really enjoyed it.