Britcruzer15

We are on Crown in a couple of months, not sailed princess before, but kinda get some of your points as we have sailed same class of ship many times on a different line. looks like you picked the wrong line, ship (for you) and cruise (T/A in April). try RCL they will be much more suited to your demographic (I am not (that much) older than you guys and we travel as part of a multigenerational group so have to consider all needs when selecting the right cruise. ignore the Fanboys, your opinion is valid (as are all opinions), but would agree that give the team onboard chance to put things right (as far as they can).

we are in Marseilles in August on Crown Princess, can't find anything in the princess shore ex that would excite my son, its his birthday that day (14) and looking for something good to do that would interest him. seeing as we will have done Rome, Florence and Genoa in the previous three days, the thought of more museums and churches, will not go down well.

anything water related would be great, sailing snorkelling, swimming.

TIA

Just paid a bit over $50 pp/pn inc of taxes/fees for our next cruise, its only an inside, but its a peak school hols sailing for 4 persons. booked 15wks out.

I posted this on the thread at the top where CC announced this idiotic thing before I saw this thread. This is the more appropriate spot for it so... I apologize for the blatant cut and past of my own post. However, I am doing it anyway. :rolleyes:

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Holy Cow! I thought Majestic Princess was heading directly to China. I have to wonder about the folks who decided that the Aussies would love a ship that has had the bars removed and replaced with Karaoke areas that you have to rent. I guess they must have just figured, "Hey! The folks down under don't drink much so let's put the ship there for a year or so..."

 

It's great that Australia finally gets a new ship but is this really the one they have been asking for? No Crooners. No Explorer's. No Wheelhouse. At least there are Karaoke Suites. :rolleyes:

The Aussies might be converted to bubble tea and Mah Jong :o

Forward sales in china must be slow!

Hi Britcruzer15, I think I'm in the same cruise as you! 29th July from Southampton. It's my first ever cruise so I'm finding this site so helpful. CanadianBurger, I love this post! Can't wait to visit Florence and Pisa especially now!

 

 

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yes we are!

1st Cruise, great itinery to start with! - be prepared to book another, and another and another!. Loving the OP's reports and this ship looks amazing, regretting not booking it :(.

Welcome to Princess! Congratulations on your price reduction & Platinum status.

 

We're UK based and prior to final payment have successfully re-fared just by calling Princess and asking. No need to cancel & rebook, same cabin - better price. They confirmed price reduction, new balance,etc via email.

 

On this years TA, managed to get a significant price drop without losing included AIBP (though I was prepared to loose it for the savings we'd still have made) - Bonus!! [emoji483][emoji484][emoji898]☕️

 

I personally wouldn't think about it after final payment as I figure that's it, I've paid now and it's time to start the real countdown! I know they might do special deals to fill cabins, so don't even look [emoji85]

 

 

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That is a great deal!

so used to the restrictive policies of P&O.

Princess have really wowed me - good 1/2pricing, amazing 3/4pricing for peak summer school hols, choose your cabin and dining. if the price drops, thats ok too, cancel and rebook , no loss of deposit. cheap upsell for my in laws inside to prem balcony for £50pp! for a 2wk cruise. cheap kids drinks package!., excursions reserved and paid once on board! Nice ship (ok not the newest but far from the oldest) great med itinery.

ive never had this as an option on P&O - cancel - lose deposit from the day you book! , price drop - tough luck.

just check the P&O forum for lots of threads from early bookers!.

thrilled with the service and customer led approach from Princess

Everyone likes a deal;p, its on Crown to the Med for 14nights. Princess certainly have got the pre-cruise side spot on.

Hi

Really impressed with Princess Pre-Cruise customer service, firstly Pricing - searching for a 4 berth cabin for peak summer hols 4mths out from cruising is hard enough especially ex UK. so we lucked out when checking princess website as they had a 4 berth inside available, and at half the price RCI or P&O wanted for similar cruises - Booked. all good and really happy.

Last week I had a notification that the prices had dropped, so checked again and yes they had but no 4 berth availability! so nothing doing for us. got another price drop mail, and checked again, could not believe that there was a four berth, higher grade and better position than ours. the price had dropped by a third!. So I booked it and then rang to cancel our existing booking and even with losing the deposit, we were in a much better position financially. got the cancellation notice through and it said no charge! - I thought surely some mistake but no - the money is in the bank this morning!.

so the cruise is now costing about 30% of what P&O want for the same cruise, same day departure.

would never have had this from P&O!,

Also have extended family on the cruise and have dealt directly with Princess on the Phone 3 or 4 times, and even got them a very cheap upsell.

and to boot due to our P&O cruise history we get Platinum status on Princess!.

I must be dreaming

Roll on July

Here's my rant for the evening: There are more kids on this sailing than I've seen on my last ten cruises combined. I really don't expect to have to share late seating traditional dining with several screaming toddlers.

 

 

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This is super thread, thanks for such a detailed Live TR. the ship looks amazing

With regards children, 400 is not that many on a School hols cruise, especially on a ship of this size (for fun try an ex Southampton summer school hols cruise on P&O or RCI!).

About 4-5 months back Princess priced this cruise very cheaply for 3/4th passengers as well as free air! so it was a no-brainer.

we nearly booked too, but the med is fickle in April, so we held off - looks like the weather is fine for you which is great.

We are booked on Crown to the med in July out of Southampton, along with 700+ kids (including ours)!.

also agree about late sitting MDR and kids - we never did it with ours when young, but then we had very good kids clubs on P&O and kids only dinner at 5:30 in the food court, which worked well

our kids are pre-teen and teen now so both love the MDR experience.

enjoy the rest of your cruise, and look forward to reading the rest of your TR.

Love this review, we are on CP in the summer and very much looking forward to the med (will avoid any massages, and crown grille, but looking forward to Salty Dog and Sabatinis

Phabric has given some great links and advice

The train is the easiest route to london - although with lots of luggage might be best using the national express bus or a private transfer.

When in London - accommodation is generally expensive but www.premierinn.com offer great budget accommodation in very good locations, most have been recently built, and the breakfasts are legendary!. I use premier inn for leisure and business trips in the UK and every one has been excellent.

Regarding sightseeing - the HoHo bus tours are good value as are the river cruises, most museums (natural history museum is amazing!) are free, as for paid attractions and I would definately visit Buckingham Palace (do a tour if available), shakespeares Globe Theatre and The Tower of London. Oh and Shopping too on Oxford Street Regent Street and of course a visit to Harrods department store in Knightsbridge. if you have time visit the parks too Regents Park and Hyde Park.

happy to answer any questions you have

On Indy last week there were 11/12 year olds taking part in the Quest!, and lots in the audience for Love & Marriage show (both of which we excellently managed by Joff.

I would have thought there would be lots of family groups looking forward to watching the new production. I certainly dont expect any age enforcement.

We had Voom on Indy last week 1 device surf only, perfectly fine for my son streaming youtube, and for me checking mail, websurfing and posting photos etc. only used one device and logged in/out with no probs - was $15.88 day on board for 7 day package, 24hrs was about $23.

just back of indy last saturday, no extra charges on drinks package (on our on board account) and drinks packages fully accepted in the MDR.

Just off indy today, did not see the cards on offer at all no 2 for 1s or happy hour either, lots pushing the packages at $49, $59,$69 + 18%. Internet (1 device surf package on board was $15.18 a day (for a 7 day package).

Drinks were around $7 for a beer, $9+ for wine $12 for a spirit/mixer and $12-14 for cocktails (inc gratuity)

We paid £43.15 PD for ultimate package booke before travel and it worked well for us

Hi all, Indy is almost back in Southampton and our 2 week cruise is almost at an end [emoji22]. Sorry I have not reported everyday but you know what it is like on board (time just flys by) when I am home and over the next few days I will post more pics and try to give a run down on what was good and not so good about the cruise. To be honest pretty much everything was good. It is way to pick faults in life etc but I prefer to focus on the good stuff and on Indy there has been lots of good stuff [emoji4].

 

We got to know some crew members pretty well and they shared some interesting insights into their thoughts about auto tipping, their morale on board and how tipping differs from the USA to Europe. I will go into more detail when i get home.

 

There was a medical emergency today which required an helicopter (fingers crossed the passenger is ok)

 

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this and view my periscopes. I have had great fun doing both [emoji4]

 

I will write more soon. Have a great day all [emoji4][emoji4][emoji4]

Thanks for your blog/scopes - we board her tomorrow:)

with my business head on, for that investment, I would want it making money as soon as possible, even if that meant some things were not perfect. Most people will not complain anyhow and its cheaper to deal with the complainers than it is wait until everything perfect.

This dispute will be over by then, the French Government always back down.

there will probably be another dispute by the time you sail

C'est La Vie ;)

We are due to stop at Le Havre and Cherbourg on Indy next week. Will be interesting to see how the demonstrations of today (and the coming days) affect our schedule.

I bought a french car once, lets just say once bitten twice shy:eek:

We have only ever cruised with P&O and on formal nights, I would say 99% men are in Tux.

On RC I plan to wear polo/jeans on SC nights and on Formal , Chinos/ dark trousers, collared shirt and a sports jacket.

I love the whole formal idea, but not on RC which has a different ethos, and one of the reasons we booked with RC and not P&O this time.

Can you cancel? rebook or maybe even ask to transfer to another date? I am not familiar with the booking conditions for RCI in spain

the 3/4 berths are limited even on the huge ships, and especially harmony

I know because we tried to get one for Allure last year to no avail!.

We have recently taken to booking late to get the bargains, but that nearly always means booking 2 cabins for 2!, no good I know when you have an odd No. to book.

Good luck

We are on this cruise and have not had the email!. We have a 250mile drive on the day, and given its start of BH weekend in the UK we will be setting off early and arrive when we arrive. if we have to wait, so be it, at least we will be there.

Alternative is set off late and risk traffic issues, which could arise at any point in the journey.

you will be fine with 2 devices per cabin for $16.99