Question about evenings on board Princess

We are new to cruising except for an unfortunate experience my husband had a few years back when he took our son on a cruise as a high school graduation gift. ( Sadly, I could not get time off work and had to stay behind).

DH (unknowingly) booked a cruise line that catered to college-age and 20 somethings.

As young people do, they partied in their cabins all night, with music blasting, running in and out of cabins, shouting to each other, playing baseball in the corridor at 3 A.M., etc. DH didn't want to complain as he knew passengers were on vacation, but he got very little sleep and came home ill from the stress and lack of sleep. ( Our son, on the other hand, had a great time meeting all sorts of friends).

My question is: Could you all give me an idea of what time it gets quiet enough in the stateroom areas on board Princess to settle down for the night? DH likes to go to sleep about 10:30 PM, and I usually stay up and read in bed until about 11:30 PM.

Out of respect for others, we do not plan to play any music in our cabin, or out on the balcony; and we plan to converse in a low voice, as the walls must be pretty thin.

Could you all give me an idea of about what time you like to "call it a night on Princess" and what we could expect in terms of quiet hours??

The ship is completely sold out - every cabin full.

Thanks so much in advance. All answers are most helpful :) EBC

Not to worry. With a few exceptions, cabins should be really quiet by or before 10:30.

You will find that Princess is quieter and more sedate than other cruise lines.

We are new to cruising except for an unfortunate experience my husband had a few years back when he took our son on a cruise as a high school graduation gift. ( Sadly, I could not get time off work and had to stay behind).

 

DH (unknowingly) booked a cruise line that catered to college-age and 20 somethings.

As young people do, they partied in their cabins all night, with music blasting, running in and out of cabins, shouting to each other, playing baseball in the corridor at 3 A.M., etc. DH didn't want to complain as he knew passengers were on vacation, but he got very little sleep and came home ill from the stress and lack of sleep. ( Our son, on the other hand, had a great time meeting all sorts of friends).

 

My question is: Could you all give me an idea of what time it gets quiet enough in the stateroom areas on board Princess to settle down for the night? DH likes to go to sleep about 10:30 PM, and I usually stay up and read in bed until about 11:30 PM.

Out of respect for others, we do not plan to play any music in our cabin, or out on the balcony; and we plan to converse in a low voice, as the walls must be pretty thin.

Could you all give me an idea of about what time you like to "call it a night on Princess" and what we could expect in terms of quiet hours??

Thanks so much in advance. All answers are most helpful :) EBC

Now time of year and itinerary may cause some differences, but by about 11:00 they'll pretty much all be zzzzzzzzzzzz on every Princess cruise we've been on.

In my many, many cruises on Princess we have never had an issue with noise from other passengers. Some people head off to their cabin after the first show (around 9pm). Many others go to a bar or a second lounge for entertainment, or go to a later show, but that will not impact on you even if you want to go to bed at 8pm. The only time we heard noise in our cabin is when we had one that had a connecting door to a cabin that had children. Occasionally we would hear a faint baby's cry. The cabins are pretty sound-proof. I don't mean that you would not hear screaming, but you will not hear normal conversation from your neighbours and there is no need for you to talk quietly. If you are on your balcony at night, it would be polite for you to keep your voice down so you don't disturb your neighbours. enjoy your cruise. :)

Princess cabins are remarkably quiet, in general. There might possibly be some cabins directly above the theatre or other entertainment areas where there is some noise but I've never noticed any excessive noise day or night, although we have experienced that on other cruise lines.

Choose a cabin that has other cabins above and below it. That will mimimize any chance of disturbances unless you are very, very unlucky with your neighbours - and in that case complain to Guest Services.

I hope you enjoy a peaceful cruise.

I have never encountered any rowdy group or person along the corridors in the stateroom area. Never been bothered while resting. By the time the stewards on deck have cleared the hallway of their carts by 9pm, we have observed that it is clear and quiet.

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Please tell your husband that, by selecting Princess for this cruise, his sleep has been assured. I have actually roved a Princess ship at midnight and saw almost nobody at all but a few crew members. Anybody who was still up was probably in the casino or sitting quietly in a bar. Princess ships are quiet and deserted when it gets late.

You have chosen the right cruise line it's very quiet at night. I'm a night person and go to bed very late most of the time. Never before 2:00am. It's very quiet all over the ship. I sit at the IC most of the time. :hot-beverage:

Only me and my iPad

Tony

You have chosen the right cruise line it's very quiet at night. I'm a night person and go to bed very late most of the time. Never before 2:00am. It's very quiet all over the ship. I sit at the IC most of the time. :hot-beverage:

Only me and my iPad

Tony

I could easily sit and read quietly until very late (or very early, however you want to look at it) but usually don't as I like to have some life with my wife. :) When I was a kid the TV was generally non-functional so I read a lot. Once lived half a block from the city library. Loved it. When I was 14 Star Trek started up. I pulled the tubes from the TV, had my mom take me down to the Safeway grocery store where there was a tube tester, and fixed the dang TV myself. YES! I had Star Trek!! I actually had no idea what I was doing and am lucky I didn't manage to hit the flyback transformer or they would have been peeling me off the wall on the other side of the room. All I knew was that I wanted Star Trek so I just did what seemed "obvious" and fixed the thing.

Hi Thrak,

Now I know who to call when I'm having trouble with my computer instead of my grandson. :D :D

Free drinks on the Rowboat for you and it will be that expensive rum that you like.

The Captain of the Rowboat,

Tony

Princess does have the oldest cruisers of all the cruise lines so most will be asleep by 10:30 PM. :cool: The most you might encounter are a few stragglers talking as they walk down the hallway after sitting listening to the late night piano music. ;)

I have been on Princess cruises that are 7 days to over 30 days. I have never experienced the cabin area parties that you describe. I have not been on shorter what I call party cruises. Princess cabins are fairly well insulated from adjacent noise. .I have been able to fall asleep anytime of the day or evening. It has been reported on this site that when you have connecting cabins noise can be heard through the connecting doorway area. So avoid these cabins. When cruising if you avoid spring break or short cruises you most likely will avoid the wild ship wide parties. If you mention which ship, date and cruise you have or intend to book you will receive better more focused responses.

Hmm, if I had experienced what your husband did on that cruise, I probably would have had security on speed dial. There is no excuse for that behavior in the hallways.

Looks like you are sailing Alaska in early September......that will be a quiet cruise in the evenings. We've been sailing Princess for quite a while now and never encountered the situation you describe. Yes, we even sailed what were "Spring Break" cruises, summer cruises, and holiday cruises with plenty of teenagers on board. Oh, sometimes they might congregate in a stair well, or punch all the buttons on an elevator (truly annoying) but we just haven't encountered loud parties on passenger decks all night long.

In fact, the cruise you have chosen is likely to be quite sedate. While they don' t actually roll up the carpets in the hallways due to tripping hazards, they may as well, by 11 pm at night. The atmosphere on board in likely to be very relaxed to zzzzzz.....

A general rule of thumb when selecting a Princess cruise, is the longer the cruise (as long as it isn't also sold in segments), the older the passenger demographic and the quieter the ship. In addition, if you avoid Spring Break, holiday breaks and summer cruises, you are likely to see very few children on board. Those that are on board are likely to be occupied by the kid's program Princess has.

Enjoy your cruise and Alaska.

Princess does have the oldest cruisers of all the cruise lines so most will be asleep by 10:30 PM. :cool:

I thought that honor went to HAL.:confused:

Princess does have the oldest cruisers of all the cruise lines so most will be asleep by 10:30 PM. :cool: The most you might encounter are a few stragglers talking as they walk down the hallway after sitting listening to the late night piano music. ;)

While I agree the Princess demographic is older, especially on cruises longer than 7 days, it is still younger than HAL!

Another tip: Before making final payment, do an internet search to see if there are any large groups that will be on your cruise. For example, use search terms that include the date of your cruise, the name of your ship, and words like "group". Odds are, if there is going to be a group of 500 knitters or 500 70's Rock Groupies on your cruise, it will show up in your search. You can then use that information to decide if you want to share your ship with a large group that is likely to be loud and boisterous, (which is highly unlikely), or perhaps more importantly, might take over many of the public venues for their private use (which absolutely does happen). On balance, Princess doesn't host too many groups that are likely to ratchet up the noise level. But it never hurts to check.

I agree with other posters about the quiet. I've been up and out as late as 1am. There were other people out, and I'm sure some we're even partying somewhere. But no one partying in the hallways. And the most I ever heard from a neighboring cabin was a baby crying.

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21 Princess cruises, next is on the Grand 9/5, so far no issues with night noise

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I thought that honor went to HAL.:confused:

Princess beats HAL out by a year or two.

once a neighbor was talking in the hallway right outside my door. i asked them nicely to chat in a room, they did and it was not a problem again

I have found, most of the time - the shorter / cheaper the cruise = the younger the crowd. Simple math. Often, younger people do not have that much money to spend

I have found, most of the time - the shorter / cheaper the cruise = the younger the crowd. Simple math. Often, younger people do not have that much money to spend

Very true. Especially the longer cruises of 10-14 days before major holidays. Their kids are in school (:D) and they can't dedicate the time for a vacation without them.

"DH (unknowingly) booked a cruise line that catered to college-age and 20 somethings."

That would have to be Carnival (AKA the Walmart of the seas).

I have been on Princess cruises that are 7 days to over 30 days. I have never experienced the cabin area parties that you describe. I have not been on shorter what I call party cruises. Princess cabins are fairly well insulated from adjacent noise. .I have been able to fall asleep anytime of the day or evening. It has been reported on this site that when you have connecting cabins noise can be heard through the connecting doorway area. So avoid these cabins. When cruising if you avoid spring break or short cruises you most likely will avoid the wild ship wide parties. If you mention which ship, date and cruise you have or intend to book you will receive better more focused responses.

Thank you ! :) I added a signature that shows we are booked to Alaska Sept. 3 on the Emerald. We were thinking that most of the college kids/teens/ younger kids would be getting ready for back-to-school, so it would be less noisy in the corridors. :)