Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Princess Cruise Line Observations

Caribbean Princess
March 2016

In March 2016 Chris and I sailed for the first time on Princess Cruise Lines aboard the Caribbean Princess. This cruise was all about rest, relaxing and "escaping completely". Since this was our first encounter with Princess Cruise Lines, we noticed some differences both good and bad that stuck out to us. These are just our opinion and observations but worth noting!

    Princess Observations
·         Princess observes the “Zero Count” rule when disembarking which means ALL passengers must completely get off, even if they are doing a back-to-back cruise. I know that both Royal Caribbean and Carnival allow passengers to stay on the ship. This could have been a Princess thing or a Port of Houston thing but it made for a very crowded terminal. There were over 600 passengers coming back on board on March 13th from the previous week’s cruise.

·         The security picture for your key-card was optional and was not taken until you got onto the ship as you stepped on board for the first time. This created a backup and led to traffic jams.

·         Princess gave stickers to passengers who were in the forward of the ship upon check-in to help the flow of traffic. This seemed weird at first but it worked well.

·         Prepaid items such as water or other drinks were delivered by room service but not automatically. If you prepaid for water you had to contact Room Service and then they would bring it to you and someone must be present to sign that it was delivered. This created a headache for us as this information was not presented well and we ended up not getting our drinks until the 2nd day and it took 2 hours to be delivered.

·         The “Princess Patters” (Daily newsletter) was kept almost under lock and key. They did not distribute them until 10PM the night before and there were none available from guest services.

·         Princess has an app that can be downloaded and used FOR FREE while on the ship. It is used via WIFI and has the Princess Patters on the app. This was a HUGE help in not having to carry the “Princess Patters” around all day.

·         The food and the service were TOP NOTCH and easily the best we have encountered while on a cruise. This was a HUGE hit and win for Princess.

·         The ship was “bland” at best and did not offer things to do while on board. Most of the passengers just laid out all day (as we did on this cruise but usually we would have like more active things like a rock wall or even a real putt-putt golf game). This made this ship very boring and forgettable. I am sure the new Royal Princess or Regal Princess offer more but we were not impressed and quite frankly bored with the Caribbean Princess.

·         The crowd was a lot older and more international. There were 3,580 passengers and only 560 kids. However, 1,800 were 65 years of age or older. This was nearly half of the ship. In addition, there was a very large Asian crowd on board which seemed as if a charter of some sort. Princess definitely catered to this older crowd in pretty much EVERYTHING they did!

·         A lot of the events held by the Cruise Director’s staff was not well attended or participated. Often times, we were the only couple dancing or participating. This was sad and made for a less enjoyable event. Loosen up people… Have a little fun! You’re on vacation!
·         Due to the older crowd the elevators were always busy and packed, making it hard to get an elevator. We also noticed that Princess ships are built vertically and not horizontally. Our cabins was on the 14th deck , just one below the Lido deck. However, the main areas of the ship were on deck 5 meaning you had to climb 9 flights of stairs between your cabin and the theater or other entertainment areas. Both Carnival and Royal seemed to have longer ships with less decks in between the entertainment deck and the Lido deck.

·         The public bathrooms on the ship were NOT well maintained and seemed to always have at least 1 stall broken or closed for maintenance.

·         The deck chairs were much nicer and softer than both Carnival and Royal Caribbean. This made a HUGE difference in lying out because it was more enjoyable!

·         The Main Dining Rooms were small and enclosed. They encompassed 3 decks but were not open to 3 or even 2 floors. This was very insignificant to us and made the restaurant feel claustrophobic.

·         There was not a jogging track which also made working out and running much more difficult. The Promenade deck on deck 7 did not wrap all the way around meaning you had to climb stairs to get all the way around the ship. This was not always open either, due to wind.

·         Princess presented each guest with a cool towel for your face when returning to the ship from a port. This was very classy and we enjoyed this VERY MUCH!

·         They only offered 2 trivia’s per day and they were awarded with bottles of champagne and not a useless key-chain or pen. This was also classy but I personally would like the useless memento to remember the cruise by. The champagne will be drank and forgotten.

·         Disembarking information was passed out on day 2 and must be turned in on day 4. This was a “burst of a bubble” as you just got on the ship. Who wants to think of getting off? Plus you have to tell Guest Services or your room steward how you planned on getting off the ship, such as Express Disembarking or Walk-Off. This seems to look good on paper but it did not work out well. The whole disembarking process was a little unorganized.

·         You would think since they cater to an older crowd that things would have ran on time but almost ALL events started 5-15 minutes late. The organizer and planner in me HATED THIS!

We thoroughly enjoyed cruising on Princess and loved the overall atmosphere of the cruise line. The crowd was much older but the style of cruising is the direction we are heading. Maybe we are just getting older!

 Thanks for following along!

 Until we meet again... Keep Calm and CRUISE ON!

 God is good... ALL the time!

Click on a link to see our past cruising adventures:

 




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