I'm Gary Bembridge, this is another of my cruising tips for travellers. I want to
take a look at what Princess Cruises does differently to other cruise lines,
and also a couple of things they do basically the same as other cruise lines.
Princess Cruises has been sailing for over 55 years ,so extremely well
established. It's part of the Carnival Corporation group of cruise lines.
Princess Cruises operates in the premium sector, so they
compete with cruise lines like Holland America, Celebrity, Cunard probably P&O
Cruises out of the UK and Australia - so those kinds of cruise lines which tend
to have mid-sized to large cruise ships. So, what does Princess Cruises do that's
very different to those other premium cruise lines? One of the big standouts
that Princess does differently to cruise lines is just the number of itineraries,
and how wide it cruises. Part of that's because it has a bigger fleeter than the
other cruise lines. At the time recording, Princess Cruises is actually the fifth
largest cruise line of all cruising in the world, so you have Carnival, followed
by Royal Caribbean, followed by Norwegian, followed by MSC Cruises and then
Princess Cruises. So it's a really big cruise line, it has a bigger fleet than
the other Premium Cruise Lines. At the time of
recording it has 19 ships either in service or being built, the most
recent is in Enchanted Princess and to come is Discovery Princess. They range in size
from the small ships like Pacific Princess, which carries around 670
passengers ,right up to the bigger ships and the more recent ships like for
example Sky Princess and Enchanted Princess which carries three thousand
six hundred and sixty passengers. They go to more destinations than the other
Premium cruise lines, so they certainly talk publicity they talk
about going to 380 destinations across seven different continents. So I
called it out, one things they do differently is just the breadth of
places they go to and their size. The second thing they do differently, which
is kind of linked to the first one but is so important that I've pulled it out,
and that's Alaska. Princess Cruises has been sailing to Alaska for over 50 years,
they are the biggest player in the Alaska region, and it's
interesting because they don't just own their cruise ships which sail there (
they have often in a season up to eight ships operating in a normal Alaska
season) but in addition to that they also own some land based things, so for
example they own five lodges, they own a fleet of motor coaches, they even own a
railway - domed railway carriages which can take you from the ships into the
wilds of Alaska. So they are really big players in Alaska region. Holland America
is also a key player in the region, but Princess is the biggest operator and has
those comprehensive Alaska programs. The third thing that Princess does, which is
very different to the other cruise lines, is the Ocean Medallion. They were the
first cruise ships to introduce this new technology. These are small devices
about the size of a coin, you can either wear them on your wrist, you can wear
them as a medallion, have them in your pocket, whatever, there are different ways of ,
wearing them and this is really designed to transform the whole cruising
experience. Linked to that medallion is also what they claim is the fastest and
best Wi-Fi at sea, which is called Medallion Net and certainly having been
on the cruise ships that Princess have introduced the Medallion Net, it's
phenomenally good Wi-Fi, definitely is really really cutting edge. What is Ocean
Medallion all about? It's really designed to streamline, simplify and
improve service. It does a couple of things, first of all what you do before
you go on a cruise is you upload the app and all the data, so it gets you
basically on the ship much faster and the check in process is much faster
with the Medallion. Secondly it acts as a contactless way of opening your cabin
door, so as you walk towards the door it recognises you and it opens the door.
So it's kind of a touchless contactless way opening . It also enables you to
order things where you are, so you might be in a bar you can order a drink,
you'll be at the pool and you could order sunscreen for example, you could be
watching movie on the stars and order some hot chocolate, so it basically
enables location-based ordering. It's also designed to track lots of
information about you, so it enables the crew to get to know you and give you
much more personalised experience, so for example I've found when on
cruises with the Medallion it through the Medallion will let the crew
know you your preferences, so it might know for
example over time learn that you like decaf coffee with skimmed
milk or whatever. It gets to know your preferences, and helps them build up a
profile of you to give you better service. Also importantly what it does
for the cruise line is enables them to track flow of people, where people are
so they can basically improve the whole flow, and the way services are delivered
and set up. For example when shows come out they know the flow people,
where people are and they can basically ramp up service where needed. There's a few other
little bits and pieces you can do with it, as well as various games you can play,
you can also help track where people are on board
the ship. You can also help direct you to places around the ship, so lots of
location-based services. So that's something that's very different,
at this point in time it's the only main cruise line that's really using that
technology. It's not across all the ships, they're basically rolling it out
to all of their fleet. The next thing that I think Princess do differently is
the whole approach to multi-generational, and probably could argue family travel.
All the cruise lines as their core in the premium category have a similar
audience, so they tend to be you know 50s 60s 70s, tend to be a lot of couples
traveling, but what Princess do though is they're probably embracing
multi-generational and family travel much more. I would say Princess Cruises
are probably the best of all the premium Cruise Lines to go if you're going on
multi-generational travel, so you have the grandparents, the parents, the kids
because they are really ( if you're looking for a traditional more classic
kind of experience) they are probably the best structured for it. So you'll find,
certainly during the warm periods in the Caribbean, you know the holiday periods
in the Mediterranean you'll find lots of multi-generational and family travel, as
they have a pretty big and expansive kids program, they have three different kids
clubs for ages ranged from three or so up to sort of late teens. So
definitely they have programs designed to really cater for that
multi-generational traveler and families. So certainly it's probably of all of the
premium lines one of the best. I would say for families it is still a
traditional kind of premium experience, it's not the whole resort experience so
from that degree it's not catering for families, but definitely there are
overall programs they do are definitely much much more for that. The other thing
that they do differently is excursions, now the bulk of excursions are very
similar to you'll find on the other premium lines, but they do have quite an
interesting partnership which is throwing up and generating some
different excursions and that's a partnership they have with the Discovery
Channel and Animal Planet Channel, and what they've done is create a whole lot
of excursions with and through that partnership. So for example, they have
excursions which are Discovery exclusive and Animal Planet exclusive, Discovery
recommended, Animal Planet recommended, and importantly linking back to that
multi-generational thing they also have Discovery family excursions, which they
run at times of year when more families likely to be onboard. So a real
big twist on the excursions linked to that partnership with those two big TV
channels. There's some of things that I think that Princess do quite
differently, let's talk about some of things that are similar or the same. Well
first of all, the fares are pretty similar both in terms of the fare level
to the other premium lines, but also what's included and normal exclusions
that you'll find. As you'll find on the other lines are gratuities are not
included in the fare, Wi-Fi, also not included in the fare are excursions,
speciality dining is not included in the fare, and also if
you go to their special quiet Sanctuary area that's also not included within the
fare, and that's consistent across the other premium
lines. All the usual inclusions, you know entertainment, food, accommodation,
activities are all included - as with the other lines. Secondly once you're on
board, it's as I mentioned and alluded to earlier it's still very much a classic
traditional experience on board. You don't have all the resort attractions,
you'll find daily programs are pretty similar, you're going to have a mixture of
production shows, guest lecturers, guest entertainers, quizzes, cooking
demonstrations, mixology classes, dance classes ,all the stuff that you're going
to find on the other premium Cruise Lines. Pretty traditional experience and
very consistent. You also find the dress code is pretty consistent to those other
lines as well, where they have casual nights and some more formal nights,
but again it's not a very stuffy
strict dress code. You'll also find
on board there's a lot of choice of dining. On the big
ships you've got up to 12 different choice of dining options, which is a
mixture of stuff that's included and specialty dining, so like some of the
other premium lines they do quite a lot when it comes to specialty dining. So,
what's included is you've got your main dining room, with fixed or anytime dining,
you've got all your informal dining options like the buffet (which is called
World Fresh Marketplace), you've got Salty Dog Grill which is kind of burgers more
informal dining, you've got Slice pizzeria by the pool, you've got the
24-hour international cafe in the piazza where you can get light snacks and
coffees. When it comes to speciality restaurants they differ a little bit
based on the ship, but some of the brands that they have or some of the names that
they've created which all Princess specific, they have things like
Sabatini's italian, they have Crown Grill which is their steakhouse, Steamers
seafood, on some of the ships Planks BBQ is on some of the ships, and then Vines
which is across many of the ships, which is a sort of wine bar and light smacking
kind of venue. Princess Cruises is a great cruise line, it is certainly the
biggest of all of those premium cruise lines out there sailing. There's a whole
bunch of things they do differently, a whole bunch of things they do the same,
but certainly there's a whole lot of things that make Princess interesting,
because they do things different to other premium lines. I have loads more videos
packed full of cruising tips and advice, so why don't you watch another one of
those right now?