New Builds under 1000 passengers

Following the announced "for sale of Princess's small Ocean Princess", it is nice to see that there are still new builds under 1000 passengers, amongst all the mega new builds for the mass market.

2015

Compagnie du Ponant - Le Lyrial - 264

Viking - Viking Star - 930

2016

Regent Seven Seas - Seven Seas Explorer - 938

Viking - Viking Sky - 930

Viking - Viking Sea - 930

Seabourn - unnamed - 604

Seatrader Insider

Its nice to see the small ships still being built.

Unfortunately the fares will not be small . Princess passengers are voting with their wallets and flocking to the new mega ships that are able to charge less per day.

The small ships will be the domain of the wealthy.

Following the announced "for sale of Princess's small Ocean Princess",

If it doesn't get sold, we may even get another re-badged PnO ship comming down under....

If it doesn't get sold, we may even get another re-badged PnO ship comming down under....

That would be nice as Ocean and Pacific Princess are an ideal size for our waters. They could open up a lot of new ports of call in Australia and NZ.

They would also have to compete on price though , and I dont think the general public would be prepared to pay the extra costs involved in running smaller ships.

Didn't a poster on here say that ships need to be about 1900 passengers to be profitable.

Viking obviously thinks its three new build ships are going to be profitable.

People already pay a premium price for cruises to exotic places, like Antarctica and the Arctic and the smaller South Pacific Islands (Europa, etc.). These expensive cruises even have family cruises, so there must be a market.

Compagnie du Ponant has an Australian Office and is marketing its small ships to Australians.

Vikings prices are often more than double than most of the major cruise lines such as Princess, X, Hal, RCI, Carnival and P&O.:D

If Ocean Princess does come, it would be able to get to a those ports that the bigger ships cannot handle and therefore can offer differing itineraries.:D

Following the announced "for sale of Princess's small Ocean Princess", it is nice to see that there are still new builds under 1000 passengers, amongst all the mega new builds for the mass market.

Where was the announced that the "Ocean Princess" was for sale?

It would be a shame if it did sell :(

I wonder if the Ocean Princess did get sold would the Pacific Princess go the same way?

Where was the announced that the "Ocean Princess" was for sale?

 

At Earnings Conference by Carnival's CEO, Arnold Donaldson.

Funny, there were rumors floating around 12 months ago that Princess were going to sell both the Ocean and Pacific Princess.

Can anybody point me to a link of the announcement of selling the Ocean?

Thanks

Funny, there were rumors floating around 12 months ago that Princess were going to sell both the Ocean and Pacific Princess.

 

Can anybody point me to a link of the announcement of selling the Ocean?

 

Thanks

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/09/24/49446/small-ship-ocean-princess-to-be-sold.

That would be nice as Ocean and Pacific Princess are an ideal size for our waters. They could open up a lot of new ports of call in Australia and NZ.

They would also have to compete on price though , and I dont think the general public would be prepared to pay the extra costs involved in running smaller ships.

 

 

Cannot agree more, the small ships open up so many ports.

Plus I really don't like the mega ships PP was my first few cruises, that may be why, but I really like being able to meet most of the people on board over a few weeks.

Cannot agree more, the small ships open up so many ports.

 

Plus I really don't like the mega ships PP was my first few cruises, that may be why, but I really like being able to meet most of the people on board over a few weeks.

You can still do that but you need to mingle more and have an excellent memory.:p

You can still do that but you need to mingle more and have an excellent memory.:p

What do you mean ... I've got C.R.A.F.T.

What's a memory??

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/09/24/49446/small-ship-ocean-princess-to-be-sold.

Thanks Kiwi Kruzer.

Didn't a poster on here say that ships need to be about 1900 passengers to be profitable.

Maybe for a certain cruise line, but not as a general statement. Many cruise lines operate smaller ships profitably.

We love the small ships and will be sorry to see them leave the Princess fleet. Our first ever cruise in recent years was on Pacific Princess (same as Ocean Princess) when she was based in Sydney. This was in 2005 I think and we cruised again in 2006 but then she was replaced in Australia by Sun Princess.

We just spent 51 days on Ocean Princess and had a wonderful time and yes you can get into ports the bigger ships can't get to. For instance we sailed right up the Saigon River to the heart of Ho Chi Minh city and once before on Azamara Quest we sailed right up the Chao Praya river to (almost) central Bangkok.

There are other advantages to the small ships too but in acknowledging that, they aren't for everyone however they are our favourites. No crowds, no lines, tendering is a breeze etc

I believe Princess think it will take quite a while to sell Ocean (hopefully).

Oceania have 3 ships identical to Ocean and Pacific and Azamara has 2 but these lines are usually a lot more expensive than Princess :(

Yes unfortunately sailing on any of the smaller ships is going to be expensive so we will probably have to change our preference!

Any cruise is better than no cruise, but although we have sailed on medium and large ships and really enjoyed it, we still prefer the little ones :)

Oh yes I forgot, P&O UK have Adonia which is the old Royal Princess (same as Ocean and Pacific). Princess transferred her to P&O UK 4 or 5 years ago. Her prices are more in line with Princess prices thankfully.

Sailing up the rivers to get right into the heart of the city would have been so good. Easy access to anything the city has to offer, with no long bus trips first.

I would have liked to have gotten further up the river in Shanghai but the Diamond was too big. There were a few smaller cruise ships that were able to though, I imagine that Ocean Princess would be one of them.:D

Its nice to see the small ships still being built.

Unfortunately the fares will not be small . Princess passengers are voting with their wallets and flocking to the new mega ships that are able to charge less per day.

The small ships will be the domain of the wealthy.

 

 

So true, David. We have both a Royal and Pacific Princess cruise booked - The Royal cruise is 3 days longer and $600 pp less.

We love the small ships and will be sorry to see them leave the Princess fleet. Our first ever cruise in recent years was on Pacific Princess (same as Ocean Princess) when she was based in Sydney. This was in 2005 I think and we cruised again in 2006 but then she was replaced in Australia by Sun Princess.

 

We just spent 51 days on Ocean Princess and had a wonderful time and yes you can get into ports the bigger ships can't get to. For instance we sailed right up the Saigon River to the heart of Ho Chi Minh city and once before on Azamara Quest we sailed right up the Chao Praya river to (almost) central Bangkok.

There are other advantages to the small ships too but in acknowledging that, they aren't for everyone however they are our favourites. No crowds, no lines, tendering is a breeze etc

 

:)

.

That is my dream cruise to cruise up those rivers. When I have cruised to the ports of those cities, I have chosen to visit attractions nearby, rather than take the long drive excursions. This is where the small ships come into their own!

I like bigger ships but not to big. Less crowded and more facilities. The shows and lectures are better. Much more onboard activity available. Better restaurants, more bar choices. Ships are safe in big seas as well as security is better. Ports are not an issue because tender can take you there. I would avoid small ships even at the same price only because I would soon be bored on board. But we are all different.

Compagnie du Ponant has an Australian Office and is marketing its small ships to Australians.

They sure do.

We're jumping on in Cairns in Dec.

We have destinations like Townsville, Newcastle etc that we wouldn't have had on a biggie. It's a pretty premium price tag, so will be interesting to see how they gel these kinds of ports with their clientel....

They sure do.

We're jumping on in Cairns in Dec.

We have destinations like Townsville, Newcastle etc that we wouldn't have had on a biggie. It's a pretty premium price tag, so will be interesting to see how they gel these kinds of ports with their clientel....

The biggest of the big come to Newcastle.

Unfortunately the smaller capacity is usually higher end also

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They sure do.

We're jumping on in Cairns in Dec.

We have destinations like Townsville, Newcastle etc that we wouldn't have had on a biggie. It's a pretty premium price tag, so will be interesting to see how they gel these kinds of ports with their clientel....

The Hunter valley attracts all sorts of clientele.:D