Anyone with experience on Princess?

[jujubiee4]

This is an older thread, and I wanted to add that on our last partial crossing of the Panama Canal, January 2018, the staff was extremely friendly. Our cabin steward had worked for them for 30 years.

I did not like the buffet offerings as much, we were on Caribbean Princess.

I now see that I had commented on the friendliness last year as well.

We are doing a cruise and Denali on Princess out of Vancouver later this month.

This is the exact cruise im looking at booking for next year. Either that or mexico. Thanks for your feedback!

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is the exact cruise im looking at booking for next year. Either that or mexico. Thanks for your feedback!

We have done the Partial crossing twice on Princess, once through old canal, once through the new. Especially exciting are the ports, you actually visit Panama, and once we did a shore excursion that took us to the previous US zone.

 

[jujubiee4]

Is this the one that includes Columbia and Costa Rica? How were those ports?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Is this the one that includes Columbia and Costa Rica? How were those ports?

Yes, Columbia is the same port Disney has, and we’ve been three times. We usually take a shore excursion, last time to a relatively new aviary. I enjoy seeing birds and enjoyed it. Our friends stayed at the port and found interesting things.
In Costa Rica, we’ve been to Animal Planet Sloth sanctuary that included a boat ride through wilderness where we did see monkeys and sloths in wild. The next time we did a train ride through country side and a banana plantation. I do not walk well, so, we tend to do less strenuous excursions.

First time, sloths and boat..



Second trip, aviary...

 

[darnheather]

Second hand so take this with a grain of salt. I spoke with a very nice woman on my last cruise who enjoyed her cruise in Alaska with Princess. However, she found the food to be lacking as well as the beverage service. She said that free hot chocolate was not to be found.

 

[jujubiee4]

Yes, Columbia is the same port Disney has, and we’ve been three times. We usually take a shore excursion, last time to a relatively new aviary. I enjoy seeing birds and enjoyed it. Our friends stayed at the port and found interesting things.
In Costa Rica, we’ve been to Animal Planet Sloth sanctuary that included a boat ride through wilderness where we did see monkeys and sloths in wild. The next time we did a train ride through country side and a banana plantation. I do not walk well, so, we tend to do less strenuous excursions.

First time, sloths and boat..

View attachment 399991 View attachment 399992

Second trip, aviary...

View attachment 399994 View attachment 399995 View attachment 399996

Those pictures look amazing! I'm glad you mentioned the ports. My husband looked at the itinerary and said "Are these places safe". He saw some
other pictures and thought the places looked old and dirty. I just want to do something other than Caribbean beach all the time . I saw some mixed
reviews on cruise critic about the ports but I'm willing to explore.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Second hand so take this with a grain of salt. I spoke with a very nice woman on my last cruise who enjoyed her cruise in Alaska with Princess. However, she found the food to be lacking as well as the beverage service. She said that free hot chocolate was not to be found.

I've found, on our Princess cruises, that the food was actually quite good. I suppose it depends on the specific chef onboard.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Those pictures look amazing! I'm glad you mentioned the ports. My husband looked at the itinerary and said "Are these places safe". He saw some
other pictures and thought the places looked old and dirty. I just want to do something other than Caribbean beach all the time . I saw some mixed
reviews on cruise critic about the ports but I'm willing to explore.

Because we went to the new Visitor Center, we were able to watch our Princess ship go through the canal! There are pictures taken around the abandoned US Panama Canal Zone. The final ones are taken from a hotel that is functioning, and is near that zone.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Second hand so take this with a grain of salt. I spoke with a very nice woman on my last cruise who enjoyed her cruise in Alaska with Princess. However, she found the food to be lacking as well as the beverage service. She said that free hot chocolate was not to be found.

I will take note about whether hot chocolate packets are by the beverage dispensers. RCCL and Celebrity do have them there as well as DCL.
On those two PC cruises on Princess, it was only on Caribbean Princess that I did not care for the lunch buffet offerings. I have been on 6 Princess Cruises, and found most food to be delicious.
Princess does offer an afternoon tea on some days. That is very special.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

This is a really helpful thread for me because I'm looking at an Alaska cruise on the Ruby Princess next year even though I'm a DCL addict. (Going with family, and its a lot harder to justify the price difference with 5 rooms being purchased)
Thanks all to their insights!!

I've been doing a lot of research and it sounds like a great ship on a great line that is worth trying.
I have two concerns:
1. Norovirus. Princess has had 15 outbreaks since 2011 (tied with another line for most outbreaks). I've heard cruisers (both on this thread and elsewhere) saying there is no enforced hand washing or sanitation when you enter the buffet area. That's insane!!
2. Formal attire is optional on DCL on formal night, but from what I've read, it's verrrry mandatory on Princess. I've heard of men in suits being turned away for not wearing a tie, and so on. I also know that at age 27, I'm going to be on the young side on the ship. I can handle fighting my husband into a tux, but I'm just wondering if all that implies the whole cruise is going to be 'stuffier' than I'm used to...

My parents will be cruising Alaska on Princess with my father's five siblings, so similar situation, maybe. They booked a cruise tour which starts with 4 days (I think) in Alaska. Alaska cruises are amazing in general - we did Royal Caribbean as a family a long time ago, but have been told that Princess is the best for Alaska - I'll have my parents' official opinion this summer!

I've sailed Princess in the Caribbean and twice through the Panama Canal (great cruise - highly recommend!)

1. Noro really happens everywhere. The most recent I sailed Princess was in 2018, but they definitely made you sanitize. And the sanitizer is harsh on your skin, but seems more effective to me than baby wipes and trusting children to wash their own hands. Also, Princess has 19 ships in their fleet (verses 4 on DCL), so much greater probability for Noro. Just wash your hands, don't make out with strangers, and cross your fingers that strangers don't sneeze on your food in the buffet line. That's really all you can do on any cruise line.

2. Not at all in my experience. There are under-dressed people on all cruise lines. I've never seen anyone get turned away, and I have seen baseball hats and sweat pants being worn in the dining room. Really depends on the Maitre-d, but they've really lightened up on enforcing dress codes in the main dining room (not specialty - that might be where people are asked to change or provided a jacket or tie to wear).

I am also 27, and I just returned from a cruise to Mexico on the Disney Wonder with my boyfriend. I saw a comment on here earlier in the thread that Princess might have an "older" crowd..... well, maybe overall average, but I definitely consider myself more of the minority demographic on DCL than Princess. There were only three other young couples that we ran into in the adult areas (and two of them were fighting for the newly wed game... 4 days beat out 10 days). Most other adults were either part of large families or groups not looking to mingle, or significantly older than us. It probably depends on the time of year I've cruised Princess (always Christmas), but I've found more people my age/lifestyle demographic on Princess than Disney.

That being said, I still love Disney. I'm a Disney fan, what can I say?

 

[jdb in AZ]

My parents will be cruising Alaska on Princess with my father's five siblings, so similar situation, maybe. They booked a cruise tour which starts with 4 days (I think) in Alaska. Alaska cruises are amazing in general - we did Royal Caribbean as a family a long time ago, but have been told that Princess is the best for Alaska - I'll have my parents' official opinion this summer!

2. Not at all in my experience. There are under-dressed people on all cruise lines. I've never seen anyone get turned away, and I have seen baseball hats and sweat pants being worn in the dining room. Really depends on the Maitre-d, but they've really lightened up on enforcing dress codes in the main dining room (not specialty - that might be where people are asked to change or provided a jacket or tie to wear).

That being said, I still love Disney. I'm a Disney fan, what can I say?

On one of our Princess cruises a guy showed up for dinner on formal night wearing jeans, and a flannel shirt with suspenders. He looked like a lumberjack, not a stuffed shirt.

FWIW we've cruised Alaska six times (3 different cruise lines) and they were all pretty laid back.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Second hand so take this with a grain of salt. I spoke with a very nice woman on my last cruise who enjoyed her cruise in Alaska with Princess. However, she found the food to be lacking as well as the beverage service. She said that free hot chocolate was not to be found.

Certainly not our experience - I would rate Princess food as the best of any of the lines we cruise (DCL, Celebrity, Princess, Carnival and Royal Caribbean).



[url=https://flic.kr/p/TLSEoQ]

[/URL]

 

[PrincessTrisha]

https://flic.kr/p/TLSEao

DSC05425[/url] by PATRICIA TODD, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[tidefan]

All Princess ships have an Alfredo, the pizza place on open deck next to the grill. Yes, the four cheese pizza is my favourite!

Not true. All Princess ships DO have a pizza place on the open deck opposite the grill, true, but Alfredo's is an included restaurant on select ships that is off of the Piazza on a number of ships, most notably the Royal/Regal/Sky...

So, those ships have 2 pizza places, one quick serve and one sit down...