I’m booked on a costly Princess Cruise next year but have
a dilemma after coming off two short trips with them (a 4-night Regal Princess and
5-night Sky Princess cruise) as I had a couple of concerns based on those trips.
I decided it was time to pause and reflect on these issues before making a final decision to
keep going with that booking. I’m sharing this with you as I think it could help you
too if you are considering Princess Cruises.
If you're new here, I'm Gary Bembridge, and it's my goal to make it fun
and easy to discover, plan and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations.
The first thing that struck me stepping on board those ships is how incredibly “samey” they are.
Take a look at these lobbies. These are from four
different Princess cruise ships that I've been on, Caribbean Princess,
Royal Princess, Regal Princess and Sky Princess. It's impossible to tell which ship I was on.
Princess ships have the same decor, largely the same layout,
the same facilities. So, the sense of excitement and the trill
of exploring the differences when you step on a Princess ship isn't there.
On reflection though I wondered, could this familiarity and sameness be a plus?
The big Alaska trip that I've got booked next year means I can focus right away on
the destination because as I step on that ship, which will be Majestic Princess,
everything will be familiar, the look, the feel, the layout and I will know where things
are. Limited time will be taken getting to know the ship.
Also, that multi-deck Atrium is the hub for everything. There’s the 24-hour
International Cafe, Vines and other bars, Alfredo's and Ocean Terrace Sushi bar, shops,
photo centre, future cruise sales and just off that, I have the casino, Guest Services,
Excursion desk, Crown Grill, Sabatini’s and so on.
I can drink, I can eat, I can dine, I can be entertained there. Although it's very familiar,
that hub is something that works, and that possibly trumps my concern
about the lack of excitement of having something new to explore and experience.
However, there is a gripe based on these recent trips that seems less easily to reconcile than
this, and I should have considered more carefully before booking next year’s trip.
This is that the ships are getting so big. Regal Princess carries 3,560 passengers.
Sky Princess, and all the newer ships, are even bigger with
3,660 passengers. When these ships are full, they do feel busy, and crowded.
I'm a fan of smaller ships. So, one of the big concerns I've got,
is the push by Princess into only bigger and bigger ships.
Princess got rid of many of their smaller ships during the pandemic. There are some
smaller ship options still, like Island Princess 2,200 passengers, Coral Princess with 2,000,
and Sapphire Princess 2,600. However, both the Coral and Sapphire are in Australia
and Island Princess sails only more off-beat routes like Iceland,
Panama and longer voyages from 30 nights to full world cruises. So that does not help.
So, if I want to go on Princess, I need to get over my concern about big ships.
I booked Princess as they are experts in Alaska,
having been there over 50 years, and are calling into all the places I want to see,
passing the glaciers I have not seen before and so the size I can probably need to get over
for that trip. And assess for other itineraries in the future carefully.
If ship size is an issue for you too,
then think about Princess suitability too based on where you are going.
Stick with me on this next concern,
as frivolous as it sounds at first, as it will make sense in a moment.
I'm a massive fan of afternoon tea, both on land and on cruise ships. But one of the things
that Princess doesn’t do well is afternoon tea. The included afternoon tea is served in
one of the dining rooms. Waiters come round with trays of sandwiches, cakes and scones,
but they're not that exciting, to be honest, and not particularly high quality.
You don't get, as you would get, say on Viking, a beautiful, tiered
tray with high-quality fancy cakes and sandwiches. It's basically just fine.
Of course, I’m not going to choose a cruise line based on afternoon tea.
But for me, getting something like afternoon tea right
is indicative of a line’s approach to cuisine and culinary expertise.
So, just how good is Princess food? I was sensitive to this as before
the trips I was repeatedly asked by a number of people "What's happening with
Princess food? Is it better? Is it worse?”, especially as the ships are get bigger.
One test I have when I go on a cruise ship to see the attention and quality that goes into cuisine,
other than afternoon tea, is the “poached egg test”. I discovered this on a show called “Hotel
Inspector”, where the presenter would go to different hotels, and one of the tests that she
used was how well they manage a basic skill like poached eggs. Because it is a relatively tricky
thing to do, but it's a fundamental. This test she said was usually a good indication of skill.
On Princess in every restaurant that I ordered a poached egg,
they absolutely passed the test. Unlike other lines I have been on recently.
So, I wrote off the miss on afternoon tea as from not being a British line
but despite the size they got the detail and fundamentals on cooking right across the ships.
I find the quality of food good on Princess. Is it phenomenal? Probably not, but it’s among the
better in their category. These are, as I mentioned earlier, big ships catering for a lot
of people, and I think they do it better than a similar line like P&O Cruises that I was on before
these trips. It does not look or taste like mass produced canteen food. The range of food is good,
both included options and the specialty dining, like Crown Grill or Sabitini's.
The food on Princess is good and at a level that is enough to get me over my afternoon
tea disappointment and to set that concern aside and
learn to live without being wowed by it on that Alaska trip.
Another issues that I have with Princess is around smoking.
They still allow smoking in the casino, even though they have, which is a real
plus for smokers, Churchills on many of their ships, which is a smoking room inside the ship.
However, on my trips, many people pop into the casino, sit around in a group near some machines
and smoke. Smoking in a casino is, to me, unnecessary and does drive me kind of crazy.
Do smokers spend more on gambling? Certainly,
the ones that I saw sitting around smoking weren't gambling at all.
On the plus side, I spend less when there are many smokers in there and Princess have introduced the
ability to gamble on an App. They have Ocean Play so you can sit by the pool or in your cabin or
whatever, and gamble. So I guess there is an answer to that. However, that was not for me.
I do love gambling on a cruise. I do love playing on the machines and the smoking is off putting.
But although it’s not enough to make me change lines, it is an issue I am sure is shared by many.
One of the other issues I have is one of the great signature features on Princess that I love
has been turned into something underwhelming,
even though it comes with a massive upside to many cruise passengers.
On Regal Princess, the Skywalk is magnificent. It's up on the pool deck, and a feature with
curved walkway, with gap on one side. You can look down past all the cabins, down to the
promenade deck and ocean below. Those without fear can also walk on the glass walkway.
However, on Sky Princess, it’s much less impressive. They've covered over the open area
and there's now just the strip of glass to walk on. It loses the spectacle and drama of it all,
and it’s not very visible. So much so, that I didn’t even
realise it was on Sky Princess until I stumbled across it on the last day.
Now on the plus side, if you didn’t do your research, or perhaps booked a guaranteed cabin
and found yourself under Skywalk on ships like Regal Princess,
everyone visiting the Skywalk, even those not walking on it, can directly look onto your balcony
and even potentially into part of your cabin. It's intrusive.
On the new ships like Sky, they've covered over that
area so people can't look down on you as much. When people walk on the glass,
they're looking straight down to the promenade deck below and the ocean.
It shows, I guess, that Princess have listened to their customers and chosen
to cover up and reduce people looking down onto those balconies and cabins.
It does mean that that whole spectacle and drama of Skywalk is gone. So, it’s become,
in my view, mostly underwhelming, which is a pity. But not a deal breaker, I guess.
However, an issue I have that is more significant on Princess is the shows.
Though to what degree it should affect my choice is difficult to decide
as I have it with all the premium cruise lines they compete with.
The shows in the theatre are still those song-and-dance review shows
around a particular theme, and they do end up feeling repetitive and
have what feels like a very random playlist that someone's created based on that theme.
They're interchangeable between every premium cruise line,
and they basically are, I think, dated and have not really been elevated. They have tried on
Princess to do something different with one of their shows, which is called Rock Opera.
However, while they've improved the set, the costuming and they've cast singers that can
sing those kinds of songs well, it's not much of a change. It's looks and sounds better,
but the song choice is still random and there is no story.
I feel maybe I am in a minority
having this as a gripe, because other passengers seemed to enjoy the shows on my trips.
The entertainment is not a big factor in me choosing a Princess cruise. If it was then
in the premium category the only one really doing something different, in my view, is Virgin
Voyages, which are trying different things and not the revue format – but they don’t go to Alaska.
But for something more gripping, I’d have to go on a mass-market line like Norwegian Cruise Line,
which stage full-on Broadway / West End shows like SIX, Hairspray, Priscilla,
Rock of Ages and so on. But that cruise line isn't for me. So, I guess I must live with this for now.
As I worked through all these various concerns,
I was still left with the dilemma, as there seemed a lot of compromise.
The revelation I had working through these issues is I felt I am looking at them from a glass
half-empty perspective. I'm focusing on the things probably that are not working but not enough on
the things that are. Nothing is perfect.
The atrium, although the same, is probably like that because it is a great area
that works. Although they may not do afternoon tea well, it’s just not their focus or thing,
they have got the fundamentals right, and the food is as good as the others. I’m not really
going to choose a cruise based on the Skywalk and smoking. The shows will keep me entertained.
On the glass half full side, Princess cruises have an incredibly consistent service. When I
go on a Princess cruise, it runs well, the service is good, it's familiar and they know what they are
doing. The sameness for them is about doing a few things well and consistently that I can rely on.
I decided I should stick with them for that big cruise that I'm doing to Alaska.
It's an important cruise for me and a route that I want to do. They are experts there
and I can go knowing I can rely on them.
One of things I didn't mention as a gripe, or as an issue, is the medallion because the medallion
is something they've introduced and, for me, it just helps things work smooth. It’s a plus.
If you are not sure though if things like the Medallion and other changes are for
you on Princess Cruises, watch this video where I talk about the changes post shutdown they
have made, starting with how technology has totally shaken things up. See you over there.