Has Princess Cruises lost its way? Or is it just a temporary blip as it gets back to speed?
I've been asked this increasingly by cruisers coming off recent Princess cruises. They're
worried about the service, the menus, the food, and the much-hyped medallion.
I'm Gary Bembridge. Welcome aboard.
I've been on three Princess trips in the last 12 months on Regal Princess,
Sky Princess, and Majestic Princess. And here’s what I think are 4 things
they’re getting very wrong right now, and the 4 things they’re getting very right.
While some of the issues people are raising, like erratic service,
should be temporary and can be put down to post-shutdown challenges all lines are
suffering recruiting experienced staff, I am convinced some are more permanent.
As I see evidence that Princess Cruises is in transition, and they aim to appeal to a
different user. The enforced cruise shutdown has accelerated and made it more obvious.
While waiting to board a competitive line recently, I was chatting to some
followers of the channel also recently off Princess who said they were confused about
what Princess now stood for, as their recent trip had just felt off.
I said to them that during the cruise shutdown Princess made big changes. First,
they are now a mostly a big ship fleet. During the shutdown they sold many of their smaller ships,
leaving them a mostly mega and large ship cruise line.
Mega ships are those carrying 3,500 passengers or more.
So, all their 6 newer ships (Sky Princess, Regal Princess, Discovery Princess, Enchanted Princess,
Majestic Princess, and Royal Princess) are mega ships.
Then they have 4 large ships carrying over 3,000, and only 5 mid-sized ships left under that.
This means they need to fill these big ships with more people per trip than ever before.
And I think we've seen some changes in focus and priorities to do that,
leading to us increasingly experiencing a Princess that we’re less used to.
I'm seeing they're becoming much more family, and multi-generational
family friendly. I've seen many more kids on Princess than ever before.
When I was on Majestic Princess in Alaska, it was packed with families, with Kids overtaking
the pools, busy Kids Clubs and multiple occupancy of cabins and fully booked family
cabins. Both cabins on either side of me had 4 people staying in them with parents and kids.
Even on excursions they’ve got partnerships with Discovery
and Animal Planet to have more family friendly offers.
And they have really elevated and expanded the Kids Cub size, facilities, and program
significantly too. Friends of mine have started choosing Princess for the great kids’ club option.
I’ve been following their sailings this summer out of the UK
on ships like Sky Princess based there and seen so many more families.
Princess seems to be shifting away from what it traditionally has been,
an adult and couples experience.
They are now appealing to a wider audience, including giving families and younger groups
of friends a traditional more sedate classic cruise experience alternative
to the hectic resort-style mass lines with like Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, MSC, and Carnival
with all their bells and whistles and water parks and rock-climbing walls.
Further evidence of this focus is they have no solo cabins, even on their newer ships,
unlike other similar lines like Holland America, Cunard, and even new entrant Virgin, but the ships
do have increasing numbers of cabins that can take a 3rd and 4th guest on sofa or pull-out beds.
So, I think it's going through a shift and that could be throwing regular and historic
Princess travellers like me off and why some are feeling it’s different. Like me to be honest!
While I could argue Princess are trying to offer choice
and help people on various budgets as part of this evolution, they
are in danger of confusing us as they keep changing and making their fares more complicated.
At time of recording, they have recently changed to three fares.
Princess Standard, which is a basic
standard cruise fare with all extras charged individually on board.
Then there’s Princess Plus with beverage package, Wi-Fi,
and what they call “crew appreciation” (or as we call them: gratuities).
Then there’s Princess Premier, which includes the plus package and adds some specialty dining,
a photo package, and the chance to win various Princess Prizes. Each day
on your stateroom door, you look to see if you've won a prize like onboard spending,
wine tasting, chefs table, and even free cruises. Once a year they give away $100,000 cash.
Fares are not as straightforward as they used to be and trying
to work out if the levels are good value can be challenging. Especially if say like me,
you don’t want or need all of them like a drinks package.
Based on those three cruises on 3 ships in the last year,
I did not find food as good as their closest competitors in the included dining venues,
although pretty good in the speciality added-charge Crown Grill and Sabatinis.
Having also been on all those similar Iines in the last year too,
Princess felt to have the smaller menu choice and not as good food compared to Cunard,
Holland America, Celebrity, the new entrant Virgin Voyages and probably about
parity with P&O Cruises in the UK which is close to them as a line.
The other lines have upped it with culinary councils and partnerships.
I suspect that Princess knows this is a weakness as they recently announced the
appointment of the US chef Rudi Sodamin as “Head of Princess Culinary Arts”. He leads their sister
Carnival owned Holland America Culinary Council which did an amazing job upping the food there.
So hopefully this will change from a weakness soon.
The fourth thing that Princess is not quite getting right
presently is delivering on what they have chosen as their big point of difference to other lines.
While other competitive lines have chosen physical features
as their standout point of difference, Princess have not.
Holland America’s unique feature is their series of themed music venues
called the Music Walk. Celebrity has their distinctive new ships with
Infinity Balconies and The Retreat Suites with lounge and deck, Virgin Voyages has it’s no main
dining room and multi all-included speciality restaurants and quirky entertainment, and Cunard
the only liner at sea, Transatlantic, Grills, Insights program and white glove afternoon tea.
The thing Princess have chosen to be the thing to set them apart from others
is making all their ships what they call Medallion class. This uses a technology entwined with the
cruising experience with a wearable medallion, an app linked to it and supposedly better Wi-Fi.
It is supposed to make Cruising experience faster, easier, and more personalised,
especially with ships getting bigger and having to handle more passengers. With bigger ships,
crew will struggle to remember guests and the medallion brings up your picture and
name to assist. It unlocks your cabin, you can order food and drinks to where you are,
and charge items on board and even out in some ports like in Alaska.
Other than the medallion itself, which is great for simplifying things, the app itself on all
my trips was very glitchy. And social media and review sites are full of the same experience.
The Apps on less technology leading lines like Holland America and Celebrity trips I
did between these trips worked better, though worth less features admittedly.
Like most, I was expecting amazing Wi-Fi from all the hype. On all my three trips,
Medallion Net was not as good as on other cruise lines, and I've seen
lots of people posting about frustrations about their Wi-Fi.
Princess is making a big
play with Medallion Class ships but it's still glitchy and not quite running. So, now,
until it is up and running, it's not really for me a key strength or advantage - yet.
So those are 4 things they’re not quite getting right these days - but let’s
get more upbeat and look at what but Princess is getting right these days.
First, Princess was and remains incredibly popular. It is the largest in the premium lines
category, bigger than Holland America, Celebrity, Virgin, and Cunard, based on passengers carried.
It is the biggest cruise line after the big four resort mass lines, Carnival,
Royal Caribbean, MSC and Norwegian.
So clearly appealing to an ever-wider audience seeking a premium classic experience is working.
And I think that is driven by their consistency. Even though I am less a fan of it,
but many clearly many see as a big plus, is that all their ships,
layout, venues, and decor are basically carbon copies. They are very samey.
This means incredibly predictable and consistent experience right across
the fleet no matter which ship you step on. This seems to be appealing to many.
Another key reason for their popularity, and for me the thing they do best,
better than the other direct competitors and the main reason I would choose them is destinations.
They call on over 300 ports, but key is not only do they have this massive range of destinations
that most of the others also claim, but because they have a
bigger fleet still (15 ships) they call on them more frequently and with more depth.
For example, in Alaska, while they are second only to Holland America in terms of time there,
they have multiple ships based there in the season sailing from Seattle, Vancouver and Whittier,
they own and operate scenic trains, busses and lodges too.
They home base ships around the world offering intensive trips. So, for example,
they base ships in Japan, and they do incredible intensive Japan itineraries.
They base multiple ships in the UK and do incredible Round UK,
Norwegian Fjords, and Northern Europe sailings. They base ships in Australia and do phenomenal
around Australia and New Zealand.
They base ships on the US West Coast and do Hawaii and West Coast deep dives.
The other close competitors visit many of these but with limited sailings by comparison.
The next thing that I think Princess are doing well is, although I've touched on it, is offering
a viable classic cruising option for multi-generational travellers.
Many traditional cruisers are less keen to go on Mass Resort Lines, but this was
our only real option to include and satisfy when travelling with families and grandkids.
But now Princess offers a real alternative with the range of cabins,
excursions, Kids Clubs, and activities, so multi-generational travellers know
even their younger family members will not feel out of place.
Another thing that I think they're doing well
is making it more affordable. As they're moving into bigger ships, I guess,
they're able to leverage costs much more, but when I look at what Princess is doing,
they're constantly offering deals, attractive pricing in the premium category, especially
3rd and 4th guests in a cabin, and usually very low deposits sometimes as little as $75 / £50.
They have a wide range of cabins and choices from inside cabins to suites. Even suites
tend to be less costly than direct competition. This is partly as they do not have many added
suite features with just a small lounge and area within the Main Dining Room,
unlike other lines like say Celebrity with separate restaurant, expansive lounge, and deck.
If all this though makes you think that Princess isn't the right cruise line for you,
and you want a premium experience that's a more adult, watch this video about Holland America
starting with the one thing that I think people
get wrong and misunderstand about Holland America. See you over there.