Is Princess Grill Worth the Upcharge?

I realize that value is subjective, but we'd like to hear what those with experience feel is the value -- or lack of value -- of the Princess Grill, compared with balcony cabins.

Along the same line, we'd like to hear this group's thoughts about Club Balcony vs. Balcony (Sheltered) cabins.

Please give us the benefit of your opinions, no matter how distinctive or even quirky.

I should have stated in my original post that I'm referring to QM2, for a transatlantic crossing in December 2018.

You are right - this is so subjective. However my thought is that for a winter TA on QM2 I would not spend the extra for the upgrade. The PG dining room on QM2 is lovely, but doesn't compare with the beauty and splendor of the Britannia dining room. The Grills aft deck is nice in summer, especially the hot tub, but probably won't be used much in winter. That being said, avoiding the shower curtains in Britannia does have its advantages.

I prefer sheltered balconies for a crossing - it is still cold and windy out there, but if I wrap up warmly, I find I spend more time out there than when in a glass fronted balcony. Also, if you are worried about movement of the ship in rough seas - sheltered balconies tend to have less movement than the PG ones.

If you were asking about QE or QV, I think the upgrade may be worth it especially on a warm weather trip - I love the PG dining rooms, the courtyard for lunch, and the terrace for sunbathing.

I haven't been in Britannia Club on QM2, so sorry I can't answer that :), but I do like the sheltered balcony cabins for a crossing. However, I did take a peek at the new Club cabins on deck 13, and they have nice bathrooms without those awful plastic shower curtains.

You are right, in that there is no right or wrong.

For us, the open sitting dining, with our own table, and the extra space in the cabin, justifies the cost. Plus, we are pretty much guaranteed a table for two, which is very important to us.

If you are happy with Club dining, and not worried about the space, then there really isn’t need to upgrade, as you’ll still have a great experience.

Granted, all the upgrades, whether to Club or PG, or even QG, are quite expensive. And in some ways it's hard to justify since so much of the QM2 is lovely and available to all. And I agree that the Britannia dining room cannot be beat for its magnificence.

But...We have splurged on a Club upgrade in order to get the anytime dining and did not regret it. Not sure if we would do that again.

Instead we have settled on the more expensive upgrade to PG because we spend a lot of time in our stateroom and love the extra space. Also love the access to the Concierge Lounge & services, and the Grills Lounge where we go for coffee at 11:00 each morning. The PG dining room and a table for 2 suits us as well, even though it is not as grand as the Britannia, where we can always go for lunch if the mood suits.

Now Queens Grill, I'm not sure if we will ever do that again as it's a whole lot of money and the dining room and service are not that much different than PG. Stateroom is larger, but I don't think the space is efficiently designed; there should be a small table and chairs.

Anyway that's my assessment. On our next QM2 crossing we will probably book Princess for the space and access to the lounges and the anytime dining.

I should have stated in my original post that I'm referring to QM2, for a transatlantic crossing in December 2018.

In a bit of a contrast to other responses I actually think you get maximum benefit of travelling in the Grills on a Transatlantic from a dining perspective because you have all meals onboard and get the fullest use of the dining room.

I have done the grills on all three ships on a January transatlantic and personally I prefer an open balcony - there can be some nice days (not so many I agree) when you sit outside and enjoy a drink on your sunny balcony, just remember the POSH acronym. (Port out, Starboard home).

We have been in Britannia, Britannia Club, Princess Grill and Queens Grill, although only the first two were on QM2. I think that the Britannia Club is the best value and we have done that twice and booked for a two-way Atlantic crossing next April also. You have to watch the prices, the Club price has come down £300 since we booked (they call it fluid pricing).

We've sailed in all classes except Britannia Club. Though QG is now our preference, the "sweet spot" for us is PG in that the fares can be reasonable and the jump between Britannia and PG is far bigger than the difference between PG and QG.

We're soon to do our first TA, but have booked QG on the grounds that we will be on the ship the whole time so want the very best dining experience. We normally don't set much store by the cabin we are in, but are looking forward to the QG space on the TA.

We've done QM2 in Queen's Grill and Britannia and for a crossing, frankly, we'd be happy to return to Britannia at least based on the very satisfactory experience we had there.

Conversely, we upgraded to Princess Grill on QE for our cruise end of August after last year in Britannia. Reason: the very appealing private decks and outdoor dining the grills have on these ships vs. the much less expansive private areas on QM2. And areas we'd really use on a cruise vs. a crossing. The Princess Grill cabins on QM2 are, however, far nicer (and larger) than on QE/QV so there's a trade-off there.

I will say we received exemplary service on QM2 in the Grills in the lounge and the outdoor deck but we didn't have a lot of sit outside weather on our crossing.

We've never done Britannia Club and I've never seen rates (at least for the US market) that make it seem remotely worth the extra cost.

In a bit of a contrast to other responses I actually think you get maximum benefit of travelling in the Grills on a Transatlantic from a dining perspective because you have all meals onboard and get the fullest use of the dining room.

 

 

 

I have done the grills on all three ships on a January transatlantic and personally I prefer an open balcony - there can be some nice days (not so many I agree) when you sit outside and enjoy a drink on your sunny balcony, just remember the POSH acronym. (Port out, Starboard home).

Posh ..is that a sailing from England or US..we are on the starboard side next week going to Southampton from NYC..can’t wait [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

We have booked at club this time, last Xmas to the Caribbean we had the princess..absolutely amazing , if we could afford it would do it every time,,but alas, I can get 3 cruises for the price of 1 ..in a regular balcony category.

We have had both sheltered as well as glass balconies

sheltered is great for seas..my husband doesn’t mind the wall as he stands up, I prefer the glass balcony as I like to see the water at all times and cannot do this while seated in a sheltered balcony

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Posh ..is that a sailing from England or US..

That modern advice about "port out starboard home" as it pertains to transatlantic crossings (in order to have a cabin on the sunny side of the ship) applies to sailings from England. If "home" is the US, then that advice would be reversed and I suppose the acronym would need to be "SOPH".

In terms of the initial question raised by this thread, we have never sailed in Britannia Club or the Grills. So I suppose we don't know what we are missing. But my view is that I would rather take more voyages in a standard Britannia balcony than fewer voyages in either Britannia Club or the Grills. Fluctuations in the fares do occur, but typically one can do about three crossings in a Britannia balcony for the cost of doing only two crossings in Britannia Club. Similarly, one can typically do about five crossings in a Britannia balcony for the cost of doing only two in Princess Grill. That's how I look at it anyway.

Posh ..is that a sailing from England or US.

Far be it for a mere American to lecture a subject of HM The Queen (even a Canadian subject) on such a matter as this, but of course "Home" can only refer to England.

I'm less certain of the reason for the Rule, but believe it has to do with avoiding the sun's heat on voyages to and from India before ships were air-conditioned (wooden ships and iron men and all that). So the Rule must be applied today with care, having due regard for the compass direction of travel and time of year as well as the starting point of the voyage, assuming it still makes any sense at all.

For practical purposes, I respectfully propose that on winter transatlantic voyages from England the rule should still be POSH, because in the northern hemisphere the sun will be on the south side of the vessel and its warmth might (especially on the balcony) be appreciated.

Critiques of this rationale are welcome. Bring it on.

POSH had nothing to do with crossing the pond. It only applied to trips beyond Gibraltar.

If you are doing a roundtrip to/from NYC, it makes sense to stay in the same room (as we have done twice and are about to do again). That way, you either see the Statue on the way in, or on the way out.

POSH had nothing to do with crossing the pond. It only applied to trips beyond Gibraltar.

 

If you are doing a roundtrip to/from NYC, it makes sense to stay in the same room (as we have done twice and are about to do again). That way, you either see the Statue on the way in, or on the way out.

The P&O claim to have coined the expression POSH which was stamped on the tickets of their regular passengers. Some say that isn't true. Whether it is or not, for a long time P&O's loyalty programme was called the POSH Club. I still have the tie.

There is no food and service on the QM2 (or on any other ship) to justify $5,300 difference for anyone who is brave enough to mention the word "value".

A suite could be the way people live their life, could be a caprice, could be an adventure, but never "value" (unless you look for a larger cabin for a family, let's say).

Thanks to all responders for their opinions. They are useful to us.

Just to be clear, what I sought was opinions about "comparative" value, not absolute value. Some would say that $2,900 for a week's lodging and food plus one-way transportation to or from Europe for two could never be "value." Others might say that the cost differences are irrelevant, and the only rational question is whether at any given price level the experience offered is worth that price. And some (perhaps including Ronbe65) would say that the only rational approach is to compare incremental price differences with incremental differences in the experience, and decide whether the increment is worth the differential. Chacun a son gout.

I am considering as a newbie to Cunard the Aug 2019 fjord cruise. Comparing on price to my usual trip on Crystal a balcony is reasonable - compares to an oceanview pricewise - if I can have a pass to the spa + specialty restaurant reservations I can be fine, right? Seems like a lot of extra cost for PG or QG...

We have been honoured to receive upgrades to both PG and QG on our earlier QM2 crossings, and for a few voyages after that there were some substantial fare reductions for the Grills. But these don't seem to be available any more on the US/Canada fares, so we are booking Britannia and very happy with that. Even Britannia Club has increased considerably from the one time we booked that in 2016.

For our next booked voyage on the QE the fare difference between a mid-range Britannia balcony stateroom and PG is almost 2 1/2 times. As much as I enjoyed PG on the QE on a Norway cruise (for which we paid less than double the fare of a mid-range Britannia balcony) we won't be doing PG at the current rates. As "kohl57" said, the PG staterooms on the QM2 are much better than those on the QE, which are just longer versions of a narrow Britannia cabin with the same tiny balcony. (A few do have slightly larger balconies.) We did, however, prefer the PG restaurant, Grills lounge and large deck space on the QE over the QM2.