Changing to Princess

[gr1634]

We have been very "loyal" Carnival cruisers for a lot of years but the new smoking policy is just the last straw in a long line of continual cuts that Carnival has instituted that is forcing us to go elsewhere. I know the smoking policy on Princess is pretty much the same so as I said that is just the latest cut in bennies that Carnival has put in place that put us over the edge.

 

We did a Crown Princess Calif coastal cruise this past April and found the ship far more elegant than anything Carnival has and just frankly enjoyed the entire experience. We are locked in to a 5 day on Triumph in 3 weeks and presently have a 7 day scheduled for Dec on the Magic - will be cancelling the Dec cruise and scheduling the Emerald for the same week.

 

Hate giving up the Platinum status but we will get there on Princess.

 

GR

[paul929207]

Welcome to Princess

[timetravler]

The old saying that comes to mind is "ya get what you pay for". With Princess you will not see loud colors in the decor. Fewer kids means more attention for them from the staff. Not many announcements on Princess ships. In fact if your in your cabin you won't hear any except for the muster drill and an emergency. Far fewer drunks on board a Princess ship. Yes, Princess is a much classier cruise company.

[ready2cruzagain]

We are Platinum on Carnival also but have switched to Princess. To be honest with you our Dec. cruise coming up is less expensive than anything compared to Carnival. I have not seen any so called "bargains" on Carnival in a while.

 

I went on my first Princess cruise a little over a year ago and loved it! The entertainment and food puts Carnival to shame.

 

I also love the automatic OBC you get with Princess for being military.

[gr1634]

You are correct. The Dec cruise we are looking at is about $300 less than the same itinerary on Carnival and same date. Find that a little unusual but there it is. We too get the auto mil OBC so that actually cuts the cost as well.

[onefine89]

We have been very "loyal" Carnival cruisers for a lot of years but the new smoking policy is just the last straw in a long line of continual cuts that Carnival has instituted that is forcing us to go elsewhere. I know the smoking policy on Princess is pretty much the same so as I said that is just the latest cut in bennies that Carnival has put in place that put us over the edge.

 

We did a Crown Princess Calif coastal cruise this past April and found the ship far more elegant than anything Carnival has and just frankly enjoyed the entire experience. We are locked in to a 5 day on Triumph in 3 weeks and presently have a 7 day scheduled for Dec on the Magic - will be cancelling the Dec cruise and scheduling the Emerald for the same week.

 

Hate giving up the Platinum status but we will get there on Princess.

 

GR

 

Welcome to Princess.........but up to now sounds like you've enjoyed your cruises........things do change around us over the years......both good and bad.............

 

Say, did you keep your Princess Patters from your Crown Cal Coastal Cruise back in April????.........if so could you post them or a link to view them???? I've got a Thread ongoing updating Princess Patter locations by ship for folks to view........I don't have a Crown CalCoastal cruise yet.......but we'll be on the Crown for one in October, so Ill have them then......thnx

[gr1634]

I'll have to ck with DW to see if she kept them. If so will be glad to share :)

[skynight]

We have been very "loyal" Carnival cruisers for a lot of years but the new smoking policy is just the last straw in a long line of continual cuts

 

GR

Are you trying to say that Carnival's new smoking policy is too restrictive or too liberal? Princess has very limited outdoor areas where you can smoke. You can not smoke in cabins or on balconies, nor can you smoke while lounging around any of the pool areas no matter which side of the ship you are on.

Princess has also made cuts, but it appears as a long time Princess customer, that Princess has realized that they are close to the limit of what customers will accept.

[jacketwatch]

We are going to cruise with Princess for the 1st time since 2009 in about 45 days though this will be our fifth overall. We cruised with CCL on the Legend last April and I agree about a classier experience. The Legend had a hideous decor. We had a decent time but would never cruise the Legend again.

 

We were also aghast with the antics of some of the passengers. I had to call security about some drunk on the pool deck swearing out loud, dropping curse words and being obnoxious. We left B4 they came and perhaps they settled him down as we saw him several more times and he was behaving himself. However never on Princess have we seen anything close to the behavior we saw on the Legend.

 

I do think that the newer CCL ships are nice and I would try them if the itinerary was right for us.

 

BTW CCL fired Joe Farcus who was their chief interior designer and I am told their newer ships have less garish designs. The Legend was a mess.

[paul929207]

You are correct. The Dec cruise we are looking at is about $300 less than the same itinerary on Carnival and same date. Find that a little unusual but there it is. We too get the auto mil OBC so that actually cuts the cost as well.

If you are going to keep sailing a couple of times a year, you may want to look into purchasing 100 shares of Carnival Corp. You get OBC every cruise based on length of cruise. Same scale as the military. Available on all lines owned by Carnival Corp.

[cruzsnooze]

I agree that Princess is a more upscale line. The decor is more classy too. Let us know what you think when you get back from your princess cruise and please do a comparison for us.

[OCruisers]

Hi GR! Glad you enjoyed your Princess cruise! :)

As you probably know, Crown and Emerald are sister ships. We love cruising on both of them.

Look forward to having a wonderful December cruise on Emerald Princess! :D

LuLu

[RickEk]

We are going to cruise with Princess for the 1st time since 2009 in about 45 days though this will be our fifth overall. We cruised with CCL on the Legend last April and I agree about a classier experience. The Legend had a hideous decor. We had a decent time but would never cruise the Legend again.

 

We were also aghast with the antics of some of the passengers. I had to call security about some drunk on the pool deck swearing out loud, dropping curse words and being obnoxious. We left B4 they came and perhaps they settled him down as we saw him several more times and he was behaving himself. However never on Princess have we seen anything close to the behavior we saw on the Legend.

 

I do think that the newer CCL ships are nice and I would try them if the itinerary was right for us.

 

BTW CCL fired Joe Farcus who was their chief interior designer and I am told their newer ships have less garish designs. The Legend was a mess.

 

FYI, Farcus wasn't fired. He moved to Costa...

[Direwolves]

Welcome to the Princess Clan. We have only cruised twice and both were with Princess because our research told us that Princess's core group is less about wild parties and more about responsible fun. Would like to know what the core group is on RCC.

 

Go Princess Cruiser's !!fb

[OCruisers]

GR .... When you were on Crown Princess, did you go to Speakeasy? It's a convenient friendly place to smoke inside. ;)

LuLu

[JF - retired RRT]

If you are going to keep sailing a couple of times a year, you may want to look into purchasing 100 shares of Carnival Corp. You get OBC every cruise based on length of cruise. Same scale as the military. Available on all lines owned by Carnival Corp.

In addition, ALL of your OBCs will accumulate. Depending on length of cruise, FCC, military, stock owner, TA, Princess. You could get $500 to $800+ in OBC. On one of our 15 day cruises we had $840:D:D:D

[shredie]

LOL @ the Legend. The buffet is absolutely awful! We do both Carnival and Princess but we're Platinum on and not

 

Carnival. I find the itinerary makes the difference. The smoking policy change is welcome to some but they seem to have rolled it out too fast. I know skies are annoyed they booked cruises before the change and can't do much about it. Since smokers were a big part of their clientele I wonder how this will working term.

 

 

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[Calgon1]

Welcome aboard. We've been expecting you . . . .

[ggprincess2004]

LOL @ the Legend. The buffet is absolutely awful! We do both Carnival and Princess but we're Platinum on and not

 

Carnival. I find the itinerary makes the difference. The smoking policy change is welcome to some but they seem to have rolled it out too fast. I know skies are annoyed they booked cruises before the change and can't do much about it. Since smokers were a big part of their clientele I wonder how this will working term.

 

 

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I do think some of the smoking changes on the majority of lines are insurance driven.

[RDC1]

I do think some of the smoking changes on the majority of lines are insurance driven.

 

Do not agree. Most of the cruise lines, if not all are self insured, they do carry secondary insurance for catastrophic losses. Such secondary insurance would not be a driver of such a change.

 

If the changes in smoking policy was driven by insurance requirements the impact would be considered to be material as far as SEC is concerned. Therefore, they would have to disclose the requirement in the quarterly and annual filings. There is nothing there. There has been no discussion of it in any financial news. As such I very much doubt this was imposed by an outside entity such as insurance or regulation.

 

Instead it was probably driven by market research and done to improve competition and profitability.

[geoherb]

Welcome back to Princess. We sailed on Carnival a couple of years ago. It was a short cruise from Charleston. I realized that the ship was old before we sailed. I was not quite prepared for being woken up twice after midnight. The first time was a drunk kid who thought we had locked him out of his cabin. It scared us even more because DH's mother was staying in the cabin next to ours. We were afraid something had happened to her. The second time was a bunch of kids talking loudly outside our cabin. They were following their chaperons' rules by not going into each others' cabins--but they needed to move away from ours.

[aikensbest]

Smoking policy will always remain an issue with some passengers, but I personally don't believe anyone has quit cruising because of it. I remember a cruise to the Panama Canal the balcony next to us had 3 dedicated smokers and we were truly unable to use our balcony. I also remember that when the city I live in went non smoking in ALL retail establishments people said the bars, etc. would go out of business. Nope! All still open. There are places for smokers on every ship so shouldn't be a major problem for anyone.

[dorisis]

The Past Passenger rewards are much better on Princess. Compare them and see what you think.

[golfb4cruzing]

I like your thinking. We enjoy the pampering and relaxing atmosphere.

[Pam in CA]

I do think some of the smoking changes on the majority of lines are insurance driven.

That might be one factor, particularly when it comes to balconies. I think the biggest factors are changing passenger preferences (I don't know anyone who smokes today) as well as the $$$ spent on cleaning and defumigating. Many hotels are now smoke-free.

 

It wasn't fun back in the days of smoking allowed on balconies if you're allergic to smoke. This was one cruise when I was unable to enjoy the balcony I paid a lot of money for.