Comparison between The Crown and Sapphire princess

Hi all, I am hoping that someone will be able to answer my question. I travelled last Summer on the Crown princess to the med. We are looking to book on another cruise for 2019. The only problem is we are looking at booking the Sapphire which is a much smaller ship

I have read a few bad reviews about the ship.

I am also travelling with a 16 year old.

Please tell me honestly if I am making the right decision or is going with P& O a better choice?

Thank you in advance for time

Your question is so vague that it is difficult to give any answer. P&O is very British, and relatively formal. For a start, are you happy with that? Secondly, if I was a 16year old, the very thought of a cruise on P&O would be awful!

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Hi thank you for your reply, sorry mypst was vague but I think you got my drift. Could you please tell me why you think my 16 year old would not appreciate The Azura.?

Regards

My 15 and 16 year olds prefer P&O to Princess, that's because they can do their own thing in the club rather than have to participate in organised stuff.

I just don't think any P&O ships have anything to offer a 16 year old.

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I just don't think any P&O ships have anything to offer a 16 year old.

 

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You're probably right, if your kids don't like sport, dancing, swimming, computer games, socialising then P&O may not be for them.

To the OP, Azura has a Wii room that is very quiet, hardly ever used. My kids love to hang out in there with their group of friends.

Hi do you have to pay for the WiFi or do they have their own?

Hi do you have to pay for the WiFi or do they have their own?

It's a Wii room (Nintendo Wii) not WiFi, you have to pay for WiFi on P&O and it's expensive.

Oh sorry the wii game yes same on princess.

OP.......please be advised that Crown and Sapphire are both 'Grand Class' vessels. The major difference is that the latter has one less deck which equates to approximately 500 fewer passengers aboard. Bearing in mind that both vessels have the same area of public space, both inside and out, Sapphire will have a far less crowded feel to her.

As for past reports and how Princess deal with children/teenagers, I cannot comment.

Good luck deciding !

Oh wow that’s good to know. Looking at P&O even though it’s built the same way it does not look as grand as princess

Hi all, I am hoping that someone will be able to answer my question. I travelled last Summer on the Crown princess to the med. We are looking to book on another cruise for 2019. The only problem is we are looking at booking the Sapphire which is a much smaller ship

I have read a few bad reviews about the ship.

I am also travelling with a 16 year old.

Please tell me honestly if I am making the right decision or is going with P& O a better choice?

Thank you in advance for time

Crown Princess and Sapphire Princess are not markedy different in size. Both measure around 116K tonnes, although Crown carries slightly more passengers, 3144 as opposed to 2674. I do not think that you would notice the difference apart from the ship feeling a bit less crowded.

Our only experience of the Crown Princess was on a cruise to Iceland & Norway,not a hardy bunch of fellow passengers,that was obvious from our first day when in the Irish Sea most had taken to coats,scarves,hats & gloves,by the time we got further North I was usually the only one out on deck watching the world go by,oh so peaceful,not so inside where every public space seemed uncomfortably crammed,I guess that will depend on where you are cruising & what the weather is like!

Hi there

Having cruised annually with our daughters over the past 10 years on both Princess and P&O I would not have any hesitation recommending either of the lines. Our daughters were aged 14 and10 years on the first cruise and have loved every single one ( as have we!)

Children's facilities have been fantastic and always so much superior to land based holidays. Offerings from both have been very similar. Neither have the bells and whistles approach but if your 16 year old enjoyed Princess I think he would love P&O as well.

We have always chosen on itinary and price. I assume you will be sailing during school holidays when both lines will be packed with young families (on family ships). This considerably reduces the demographic on board and provides lots of potential friends for your teen.

As far as Princess goes you will find very little difference between Crown and Sapphire and the experience will be almost identical. All ships get bad reviews so do not worry about that.

Finally for an enjoyable holiday drag your teen ( kicking and screaming if need be) to the Kids Club introduction on the first night. Trying to join in later is aways a lot more difficult.

Happy cruising x

I just don't think any P&O ships have anything to offer a 16 year old.

 

Me thinks one may not be the biggest fan of children on board?!!;p

Crown Princess is approximately 113,000 tons 951 feet long and 36 metres wide has 3080 passengers built in Italy in 2006.

Sapphire Princess is approximately 116,000 tons 950 feet long and 37 metres wide has 2670 passengers built in Japan in 2004.

Sapphire was built a metre wider to accommodate more space on the promenade deck allowing loungers to be used in that area with Alaska sightseeing in mind I believe. I have sailed on her one true sister, Diamond Princess and can say that Sapphire will likely be excellent too. On balance if you liked Crown you will find Sapphire even better. I was with my teenage daughter and have cruised extensively with her. The teenage clubs on both P&O and Princess tend to be more of a meeting place initially then a place to meet prior to doing something the group of friends have arranged as an independent group of friends. I have found it best to get my daughter to register first day have a look in and see how this cruise goes. Other times she has met friends elsewhere then met at the club for going on somewhere. Teenage is nothing like the younger more organised club sections.

In general P&O entertainment is for the British audience and very few other national go on P&O cruises. Princess tend to market at a world audience and attract different nationals according to region the cruise sails. You might therefore befriend people from anywhere in the world. The entertainment is a lot more "off the wall" and quizzes might be mixed with comedy where the organiser makes jokes. Other quizzes involve teams and fake money so it's more interesting. Sea days might have the famous Elevator Roulette competition or an Egg Drop.

I would choose Princess and Sapphire coming to the UK upset a few Americans as it is one of the top ships from the Princess fleet.

Regards John

Thank you all for taking the time to fill me in. I am swaying towards princess. It’s a shame I have read a lot of bad reviews for P&O so will see who come through in the end. Thank you again for your advise xx

OP.......please be advised that Crown and Sapphire are both 'Grand Class' vessels. The major difference is that the latter has one less deck which equates to approximately 500 fewer passengers aboard. Bearing in mind that both vessels have the same area of public space, both inside and out, Sapphire will have a far less crowded feel to her.

 

 

 

As for past reports and how Princess deal with children/teenagers, I cannot comment.

 

 

 

Good luck deciding !

Hi, please can you explain what ‘grand class’ means? Is it the size? I’ve often wondered. Thanks in advance.

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Hi, please can you explain what ‘grand class’ means? Is it the size? I’ve often wondered. Thanks in advance.

 

 

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Hi Florry,

This goes back to the largest cruise ship ever built at the time 1998. She was called Grand Princess. Similar ships, sisters were later built and regarded as "Grand Class" because she was the first, and the subsequent builds look strikingly similar. Two notable "Grand Class" ships to the UK public are Ventura and Azura. Variations of design have been incorporated but they are basically similar looking.

Incidently, Oceana is a "Sun Class" ship named after Sun Princess 1992 the first of that design.

Regards John

Hi, please can you explain what ‘grand class’ means? Is it the size? I’ve often wondered. Thanks in advance.

 

 

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Ships which are of the same basic design tend to be classed together under the name of the original ship in the class. Grand Princess was the first ship in a series of similar ships for Princess and P&O which tend to be referrred to as Grand class. These include Ventura and Azura.

There are however, two distinct variants. Grand Princess carries around 2600 passengers. In some later ships, including Ventura and Azura, and extra deck of cabins was added, increasing the passenger capacity to around 3100. There was not however, any additional public space either on deck or inside the ship. They are ships carrying 3100 passengers with facilities designed for 2600. Which is why the buffet on Ventura has insufficient tables and the passengers in the restaurant are so close together.

I’ve been on both Ventura and Grand Princess. Those 500 extra passengers are noticeable.

The open decks of Grand are far easier to navigate and the are more accessible areas (including bow and above the bridge) due to the lack that extra deck and slightly different prom deck design.

However no crows nest bar means we now avoid these class of ships.

Last Summer on the crown it was packed to capacity. Could not get chairs to sit on. So I am hoping to avoid right into the summer