What are the pros and the cons of cruising with Princess Cruises?
I'm Gary Bembridge, and this is another of my tips for travellers. I am on board a Princess
cruise at the moment, and I thought it'd be a good time to share with you
what I think are the pros and the cons of cruising with Princess Cruises. Let's
start first of all with the pros. I think one of the biggest pros of Princess
Cruises is their size and the range of opportunities they give you, both in
terms of size of cruise ship but also destinations. They have, at the time of
recording, 17 ships but with many more coming on tap. In the next couple
years they are going to have over 20 ships. They have small ships, with
just under 700 guests, up to what I'm on now (Sky Princess) with three thousand six
hundred and sixty guests. So, they have a lot of options in terms of size
of ships and, really importantly, pretty much anywhere in the world you want to
go you probably can do it on a Princess cruise. One of the most important regions
for them is Alaska. In 2019 they have been in Alaska for over 50
years. What's interesting about Princess is, not only do they
cruise to Alaska, but they also own different lodges and so you can also do
land-based activities as part of a whole Princess cruise, with land and cruise combined
vacations. They even have specific train journeys which will take you off the
ship and to the various parts of Alaska on a land-based
trip. They cruise everywhere, you will find them in the Caribbean, the
Mediterranean, Australia, the South Pacific, Mexican Riviera, they go
through the Panama Canal, Canada and New England and World Cruises. You can do
anything from a three or four-day cruise to up to over 100 day cruises on Princess.
There's a huge range in terms of ships and itineraries and pretty much
anywhere in the world you want to go you're probably going to be able to go
on a Princess cruise. I think that's one really big Pro. I think the second big
Pro is the type of cruise they provide. They offer a premium / luxury
type of travel, but at a more affordable price. They compete, I would say, with
lines like Celebrity and Holland America. They're at that sort of quality and
range but, because they have a huge range of ships and types of
cabins, you can do it in a very affordable way. You can go in a luxury
way and in a premium way but also within your budget. You have everything from
big palatial suites, so for example Sky Princess which I'm on now, has Sky suites.
These are monstrous big two-bedroom Suites, and they have balcony suites
(which I was staying) in which is the main class of cabins, they have ocean view
cabins, they have inside cabins, they have Suites and mini suites. So, a huge diverse
range of cabins. You can travel in luxury but you also do it
within different budget ranges. So definitely a luxury premium experience
but in an affordable way. I think that's a big Pro for Princess Cruises. Another
big Pro of Princess is they offer a traditional cruise experience, and they
don't go for lots of gimmicks and some of the funky and unusual
ways of cruising. They offer a pretty traditional cruising experience. So, if
you are the sort of person that likes a traditional cruising experience with the
sort of activities you would expect like production shows, quizzes, bingo and
facilities like pools, fitness centre, casinos, spas,
kids clubs and all the traditional things that you'd expect on a cruise ship,
you'll have it. You're not going to find big resort ships with water parks
and rock climbing walls, go-karts, ice rinks and
all that kind of resort stuff. it's a pretty traditional ship in terms of
facilities and the format of cruising is pretty traditional. You'll find it
runs a fairly traditional cruising program, so even down to dining where
they still have the traditional early and late settings or you could also
choose to have anytime dining. There are some nods to modern cruising
trends, but it's a pretty traditional experience. If that's the sort of
cruise you like, and I think that's a big Pro, there's not lots of fancy bells and
whistles around the Princess experience. Linked to that and part of that is a lot
of their entertainment and activities are enrichment focused. They have
partnerships for example on excursions with things like the Discovery Channel
and Animal Planet. They have guests speakers on board and they'll have cooking
classes and demonstrations, so quite enrichment focused,
which i think is a big Pro if you're looking for that. Another really big Pro
of Princess Cruises is a big innovation and that's the Ocean
Medallion device and the app. Princess Cruises is the first cruise line to
introduce the Ocean Medallion, which is a wearable device and it's a very
clever device. Their fleets are slowly being converted to work with it, and ships
like the one I'm on now Sky Princess have been built with it integrated into the
whole system. It's designed to make the cruising experience more
personalised and much smarter. For example, the sort of things you can
do with Ocean Medallion is it helps you check-in much faster because you've
uploaded all your information like passport details and photograph so you then,
depending which country you're in, you either get sent the Ocean Medallion in
advance or in some countries you have to pick it up when you check-in, but you get
onto the ship really quickly. It also then becomes your cruise card, so it's the thing that
you'll clock in and out of the ship on, use it to buy things with and
it does a couple of unique things, for example as you head towards your
cabin it recognises you and unlocks your cabin, you can also use it to do things
like order drinks or buy things wherever you are on the ship and get it delivered
to you, as it is a the smart device the crew are able to track you down. You
couldn't be sitting by the pool and you can order drink and they know where you
are. It also means that over time the crew get to know your preferences and
can start to tailor service much more for you. It also helps you unlock a
whole lot of features both on an app which you can have on your smartphone or
on big interactive screens around the ship where you can do things like you
look at the daily program and you can plan your activities, track
your friends and family you could find out where they are on the ship and can
message them and arrange to meet them, you can also play various interactive
games, you can even if you want to play things like bingo and gamble with a
combination of the device and the app. This smart device is really designed to
make your cruising experience much more personalised because the crew can start
to know your preferences, but also to simplify and speed up a lot of the
activities around the ship. I have a separate video about
the whole Ocean Medallion process, but certainly that whole smart technology is
making the whole cruising experience smoother, more personalised and
easier. So, what are some of the cons of cruising with Princess Cruises? The
first one, and probably I think the biggest one, is that the fact that their
fares are not all-inclusive. When you you book a Princess cruise you need to be
aware of what the extra charges are. Let me talk through some of those.
Your fare includes obviously lots of dining options and you can have lots of
casual dining options and formal dining options like the main dining rooms, you
have things like for example on this ship the Salty Dog Grill, you
have Slices Pizza, you have Alfredo's Pizzeria and have the World's Fresh
marketplace and the horizon buffet, you have International Cafe. So lots of food
is included. All your entertainment is included and access to pretty much all of
the facilities are included, with one key exception which is The Sanctuary which
is a quiet space where you do pay to have access. Lots of things are
included. So, what's not included? What will you have to pay extra for?
Gratuities are charged extra and they're normally added on board, although you can
depending on when you're booking prepay those in advance. Gratuities at the
time of recording were $16 50 per person per day in a suite, $15 50 per person in
the mini suite in club class, $14 50 per person per day per guest in an interior
ocean view or balcony staterooms. You'll also have gratuities of 18% added
to drinks you buy and things like the spa. Excursions are not included and those
obviously are extras and you decide how many of those you do. Drinks are not
included. They do have various drinks packages though which will include both
alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, sodas and coffees. For
example, they have a premier beverage package which is $59.99 per person per
day, they have a premier coffee and soda package which is $19.99 per person per
day and a classic soda package which is $9.99 per person per day.
There are also some dining options that are not included within the price which are a
couple of speciality dining options. These differ slightly based on the ship but,
for example, I will give you examples on Sky Princess which
I'm on when I'm doing this. They have one of the
Princess classics which is the Crown Grill which is a steakhouse,
they have Sabatini's which is a really nice Italian restaurant which is extra
and across many of the ships, they also have the Ocean Terrace seafood bar which
is the sushi, and they also have the Bistro sur la Mer which is the seafood
restaurant. They also have a gelato shop
where you do have to pay extra for as well. One of the downsides of the
Princess cruise fare is once you're onboard there are going to be extras like
gratuities, drinks, specialised dining and excursions and the other big one of course
is Wi-Fi. They are introducing really fast Wi-Fi as they
roll out the Ocean Medallion and they have Medallion Net which is a really
fast Wi-Fi, and at the time recording that was nine dollars ninety nine per
day. I must say it was really fast Wi-Fi and I was very impressed with
the Wi-Fi. Those are the main costs that you will be paying extra above your
fare on Princess. The next key con is I think Princess is probably really catering
much more for couples. It is a slightly more mature crowd and
as mentioned earlier people who like traditional cruising experience. It is
a more mature couples experience. I am not saying that it doesn't
have families onboard and certainly you'll get quite a few families on board and
many multi-generational families on board during the summer and
Christmas holiday season period, but the overall experience, the entertainment, the
food and the excursions I think are really very much for that sort of crowd.
There are probably other lines that cater even better for families then Princess
Cruises do. It really is very much a mature couples experience. Linked to that
I think another big con of Princess Cruises is if you're a solo traveller
Princess Cruises is not really catering for you. There are no solo cabins on
board their ships, and they don't unlike some lines offer lots of solo
discounts. You're likely to find you going to be paying up to 100 percent
surcharge if you are going on a Princess cruise. So certainly as a solo traveller
Princess cruises is probably a downside because there's not a lot of
flex in terms of finding a good fare through a solo cabin or deals. They do cater
for solo travellers on board and they'll have things like solo traveller meet-ups.
So, they do cater for you once you're on board but financially it's
probably a downside for Princess. The next con of Princess Cruises is for
those people who have an issue with dressing up. Princess Cruises being
fairly traditional, does have a dress code. Most of the nights are smart casual,
so they describe it are the sort of things you'd wear out for an
evening in a restaurant, so they do ask men for example to wear slacks
not jeans, although you probably can get away with dark smart jeans in
practice. I certainly saw that a lot across the cruises that I've been on on
smart casual evenings. They do expect you to wear things like collared
shirts or long-sleeve shirts and more slack type stuff and ladies the sort of
equivalent. They do have formal nights where you'll find everything from
tuxedos through to suit and tie and that is the expectation. You'll normally find
there's a formal night roughly once every five days, so if you're on a cruise
of five to seven days you'll have at least one formal night and there is an
expectation and requirement that you stick to the dress code. If you're
the sort of person that hates dressing up and you want to be able to
wear jeans or shorts or whatever then definitely Princess Cruises is not the
right cruise line for you. Princess cruises has a lot of pros and it has some
cons for some people. If you found this helpful I have lots of other videos
about cruising Princess Cruises so why don't you watch another one of those
right now?