Interview on future of Princess, P&O and HAL

This was posted on the Princess Cruises section of the forum. I have re-posted it here because maybe not everyone checks out that section.

New interview with Stein Kruse, CEO of Holland America Group that includes Princess.

http://www.seatrade-insider.com/news...ica-group.html

Many interesting comments about Princess which I can't recall being stated on the record like this before:

"There will be more big ships for Princess, a scalable brand that will spearhead expansion globally, he said. From 18 ships today, it has the potential to be 'much bigger.'"

"The new Princess ships compete directly with Royal Caribbean's, in Kruse's view."

"With the small Ocean Princess for sale, it's safe to assume Pacific Princess is not far behind."

"Future ships will not be smaller than the 143,000gt Royal Princess platform."

"Future ships will not be smaller than the 143,000gt Royal Princess platform."

If that's the case than I cant see Princess sending a brand new ship down-under any time in the near future, as they wont fit anywhere down here, at lest not in till they sort out all the ports.

"Future ships will not be smaller than the 143,000gt Royal Princess platform."

Wow.

I understand the perspective from one side - that scale helps revenues much more, and also enables more 'competitive' features to be deployed.

Like other things in the modern world, the ports need to keep up or get left behind is clearly their view as far as access.

With only larger ships in the future (10+ years), it might be time to consider a cruise terminal at, dare I say, Botany Bay.

No other locations available east of the coat hanger, unless Defence moves from Garden Island.

White Bay will become a White Elephant.:rolleyes:

Wow - am I right in understanding, the new Royal class will become to stock standard entry level ship (and smallest) of the Princess fleet of the future....

The bar keeps on rising....

Yuck!

It basically means one day I will be looking for a new cruise line.

Ships with about 2,600 passengers and about the size of the current Grand class 109,000tons are my limit. I have no time or desire to cruise on a ship that has over 3,000 passengers let alone 4,000 passengers.

I began cruising on ships that were 76,000tons and 1,800 passengers. I liked that size a lot. The biggest I can tolerate is the Grand class.

Unfortunately if cruise lines decide to go for bigger is better I will be searching for a new line that caters to normal size.

It basically means one day I will be looking for a new cruise line.

 

Ships with about 2,600 passengers and about the size of the current Grand class 109,000tons are my limit. I have no time or desire to cruise on a ship that has over 3,000 passengers let alone 4,000 passengers.

 

I began cruising on ships that were 76,000tons and 1,800 passengers. I liked that size a lot. The biggest I can tolerate is the Grand class.

 

Unfortunately if cruise lines decide to go for bigger is better I will be searching for a new line that caters to normal size.

I don't like them even that big, but I guess I'm soon going to have little or no choice.

It basically means one day I will be looking for a new cruise line.

 

Ships with about 2,600 passengers and about the size of the current Grand class 109,000tons are my limit. I have no time or desire to cruise on a ship that has over 3,000 passengers let alone 4,000 passengers.

 

I began cruising on ships that were 76,000tons and 1,800 passengers. I liked that size a lot. The biggest I can tolerate is the Grand class.

 

Unfortunately if cruise lines decide to go for bigger is better I will be searching for a new line that caters to normal size.

I'm with you Karateman but what other choice will we have? Seems most companies are going the same way. When we did around Australia on Solstice recently (122000 tonnes) the only ports we could get into on the west coast were Fremantle and Port Hedland. No Geralton, Broome or Exmouth. It was embarrassing with so many international visitors onboard to dock in Port Hedland. The only tour was of BHP. It will take a major revamping of most Aussie ports to take ships of that size.

Interesting article, not sure I like the bigger ships but it is better than none.:D

Interesting article, not sure I like the bigger ships but it is better than none.:D

A row boat is better than no boat.

It basically means one day I will be looking for a new cruise line.

 

Ships with about 2,600 passengers and about the size of the current Grand class 109,000tons are my limit. I have no time or desire to cruise on a ship that has over 3,000 passengers let alone 4,000 passengers.

 

I began cruising on ships that were 76,000tons and 1,800 passengers. I liked that size a lot. The biggest I can tolerate is the Grand class.

 

Unfortunately if cruise lines decide to go for bigger is better I will be searching for a new line that caters to normal size.

There will still be plenty of smaller ships around in that size....

whether we can afford to cruise on them ,

with what they will have to charge ,

is another matter.:eek:

I'm with you Karateman but what other choice will we have? Seems most companies are going the same way. When we did around Australia on Solstice recently (122000 tonnes) the only ports we could get into on the west coast were Fremantle and Port Hedland. No Geralton, Broome or Exmouth. It was embarrassing with so many international visitors onboard to dock in Port Hedland. The only tour was of BHP. It will take a major revamping of most Aussie ports to take ships of that size.

There will be choices that fill the gap when cruise ships and lines get too large. Lesser known cruise lines will probably start making an impact giving people more choice, or people will fork out extra cash for luxury lines like Regent and Crystal in the face of overwhelming competition.

I do foresee that luxury lines like Crystal and Regent will make a big impact in years to come and the major lines are forcing that to happen. With all the extra charges like alcohol packages, drink packages, excursions, special areas on the ship to pay to use, with all of these pay for extra perks people will soon realise why not pay one up front fee and get it all on a luxury ship. The mass market lines have opened the door for paying for more things. It is inevitable that they will destroy their own product forcing the true cruise loving people onto other lines.

Unfortunately if cruise lines decide to go for bigger is better I will be searching for a new line that caters to normal size.

The yachts of Seabourn will surely welcome you.

Currently looking at some med cruise fro 2016 and Azamara and Crystal are looking very competitive price wise compared to X, Princess, HAL and then add the extras.:D

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A row boat is better than no boat.

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There was a big paddle sale at our local boat store.

It was quite an oar deal!

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:cool:

Funnily enough people who we have just cruised with have acknowledged the service is more personalised on the larger ships. They stated they were surprised at the difference as crew on the bigger ones made extra effort to know their pax.

I find tendering tedious and having seen the older demographic on the TA, believe some would battle with all the walking. Not sure if larger ships is really what the market is looking for.... :confused:

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There was a big paddle sale at our local boat store.

 

It was quite an oar deal!

.

:cool:

Skulling competitions can be fun though.:D

There will still be plenty of smaller ships around in that size....

whether we can afford to cruise on them ,

with what they will have to charge ,

is another matter.:eek:

Definately. My up'm'comming on Compagnie du Ponant's L'Austral came with a hefty price tag. As do most that size I've noticed. You can get 2 or 3 cruises on a big for the price of 1 on a small. Some weighing up of preferences and justifications will be occuring.

A row boat is better than no boat.

I like that, that's funny...:D

Some weighing up of preferences and justifications will be occuring.

We were booked on Ocean Princess next year for a 62 day cruise from Singapore to Dover. We like the smaller R class ships and have been on Pacific Princess and Oceania’s Nautica. However, when we heard that the ship was up for sale it started us thinking, even though we did not believe it would be sold by next April. Many of our cruises have been with Princess and we are not too far from elite; however they seemed to be heading in a direction we don’t like with a focus on larger ships, which has now been clearly stated in the interview quoted. So we thought it was time to build up some loyalty to another cruise line, and looked again at brochures that Oceania had sent us. Upshot was we cancelled the Ocean Princess cruise and booked a Northern Europe cruise next year on Oceania Nautica, and 71 days in 2016 from Miami to Singapore on Oceania Insignia (World Cruise segments) – both R class ships. The latter cruise covers some of the same ports as did the cancelled Ocean Princess cruise. We still do as much travel on land as on sea, but, when cruising, we have come to realise that we prefer smaller ships, anytime dining, excellent cuisine - and quality amenities in cabins. Oceania at the moment offers this……and we reckon we can live with the additional expense, even if it means we cruise less often…..

It is could you have found a style that suits you best, your trips sound great and doing world segments is on my list (once retired). Glad you are living the dream.:D

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Skulling competitions can be fun though. :D

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Quaffing dear boy, quaffing... :D

Sign me up!

:cool:

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It is could you have found a style that suits you best, your trips sound great and doing world segments is on my list (once retired). Glad you are living the dream.:D

The 71 days in 2016 will be the longest we have ever done, or are likely to do. We liked Oceania the one time we cruised with them, but of course they have just been bought by NCL.....Who knows how that will play out.....If they start painting the O ships like the NCL ships it might be a deal-breaker...:D

The 71 days in 2016 will be the longest we have ever done, or are likely to do. We liked Oceania the one time we cruised with them, but of course they have just been bought by NCL.....Who knows how that will play out.....If they start painting the O ships like the NCL ships it might be a deal-breaker...:D

Yes, the cruise lines are constantly changing their product to capture newer markets.:D