Older Grand Class Ships

[Shogun]

Hi All,

 

Couple of things in the news here made me think about the older Grand ships in the Princess fleet,

 

That ships of the future could be run on hydrogen, OK can not see this any time soon but very eco friendly,

 

But then a bit about extending the life of older cruise ships by cutting them in half and adding extra length, been done to quite a lot of older ships,

 

Fincantieri order book has a number of ships booked in to under go this,

 

So question do you think Princess will consider this, may be Royal class atriums on all ships one day.

 

Would make a nice feature on a ship like the Grand add in a stair case, expand cafe, vines shops and a few hundred more cabins.etc

 

yours Shogun

[Coral]

I hope not.

[CaribbeanIsland]

I hope not.

 

I also hope not. That would be disastrous.

[pusywillow]

I hope not too.

[ggprincess2004]

Really hope not as well. I am hoping Princess will stop building larger, higher passenger count ships and build more Coral/Island class gems!

[Phyljim]

We would also love to see more of the Coral/Island size. The others are just getting toooooo big!

[paul929207]

We were on the NCL Dream shortly after she was stretched. It did not work. To many public rooms were not stretched. so they were over crowded

[geocruiser]

I hope that Princess builds more small to mid size ships. Most of the main stream cruise line have so many large ships as it is. I think there is a market for small to mid-size ships on main stream cruise lines. Why keep building big when every cruise line just about had large ships? Fill the gap which no one has now, small to mid-size. There are a lot of PAX that don't want to cruise with 5,000 of there closest friends. Give great service and better food. Yes the price might go up a little, but to me it would be worth it. And may be the price would not have to go up because the ships would sail full and not have to be deep discounted towards the sail date.

[beg3yrs]

I hope that Princess builds more small to mid size ships. Most of the main stream cruise line have so many large ships as it is. I think there is a market for small to mid-size ships on main stream cruise lines. Why keep building big when every cruise line just about had large ships? Fill the gap which no one has now, small to mid-size. There are a lot of PAX that don't want to cruise with 5,000 of there closest friends. Give great service and better food. Yes the price might go up a little, but to me it would be worth it. And may be the price would not have to go up because the ships would sail full and not have to be deep discounted towards the sail date.

 

While I too hope Princess will at least keep its small to mid-size ships, let's look at the "gap" in the market.

 

It really isn't as empty as you think. There are multiple cruise lines with small to mid-size ships, it's just they're either more upscale, both on amenities and price, or they're much more downscale than Princess and use significantly older ships with bare bones service. Without doing a detailed analysis, it may be the case that without the big ship economies of scale, the cost of providing the smaller ships requires higher prices which requires the higher amenities to attract those who can afford the higher prices. Alternatively, going with smaller and much older ships may allow some profitability as long as it is a bare-bones operation. You can find examples of both if you look.

 

So yes, there may be a gap with low-price small ship cruising but I don't personally think a product which would fit in that gap would be able to profitably provide the level of service to which Princess customers are receiving now, especially at Princess prices.

 

All that said, and to your last point, the Ocean and Pacific Princess kind of sit in that gap right now. Their prices are higher on a per-day basis than the other ships too. However, rumors are all over the place regarding the Ocean and Pacific Princess ships being up for sale. If there is some truth here, to me it indicates Princess is having trouble making the kind of return (if any) on these ships that shareholders require.

 

As of today, they have itineraries out through March/April 2016 but all that could change in the blink of an eye if they're sold. We all know that Princess has no qualms about cancelling cruises if it's in their financial interests.

[shredie]

We would also love to see more of the Coral/Island size. The others are just getting toooooo big!

 

Ditto.

[jdellachiesa]

Ditto.

 

Ditto ditto!

[grandmaa]

We too prefer the mid size ships. Island-Coral, Sapphire-Diamond (now in the Orient), and the Golden and Grand Princess class ships. Aficionados of the ginormous size ships we are not!

[CDay]

Bigger is not always better. :(

[KruzPrincess]

I hope not. In the past, the ships that were chopped up were not popular with passengers. They always ended up having dead end hallways and all kinds of problems. I don't see how they would want to spend the money doing this, but what do I know? Like others, I prefer the smaller ships like the Coral and Island. I haven't sailed on the small sister ships, but I hope they don't get rid of them before the 50th anniversary cruise. I always loved the Sun class ships, but I never get an opportunity to sail on them anymore.

 

 

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[f-mattox]

I sincerely hope this does not happen; the Grand, Golden and Star are fine the way they are. I even prefer them to Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, and Ruby.

[islandatsea]

Really hope not as well. I am hoping Princess will stop building larger, higher passenger count ships and build more Coral/Island class gems!

 

Totally agree !

[Coral]

I sincerely hope this does not happen; the Grand, Golden and Star are fine the way they are. I even prefer them to Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, and Ruby.

 

Me too!

 

Not all of us want the Grand class to be "Royalized".

 

They can be enjoyed on their own merits.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Coral

[shredie]

I haven't sailed on the small sister ships, but I hope they don't get rid of them before the 50th anniversary cruise.

 

I think there is little danger of that.

[bhopal21]

Me too!

 

Not all of us want the Grand class to be "Royalized".

 

They can be enjoyed on their own merits.

 

All speculation and drama at this point.

 

I'm not worried.

 

Mike:)

[Coral]

All speculation and drama at this point.

 

I'm not worried.

 

Mike:)

 

I agree :)

[stag]

We prefer mid size ships around 100,000 tons and under 2,000 passengers. Coral/Island and Celebrity's Millennium class are good example.

[Jim Avery]

I don't think there is any danger of "stretching" them. Costs not withstanding, it would also preclude them from the Panama Canal (until the expansion is completed).

[cvpends]

Knowing our OP, I am pretty sure he is speaking tongue-in-cheek :)

[Putterdude]

Hey, I got an idea, what about just adding an extra deck? What you say that has already been done.

[Coral]

I don't think there is any danger of "stretching" them. Costs not withstanding, it would also preclude them from the Panama Canal (until the expansion is completed).

 

They will just ship them off to Australia (or Japan or China) when they don't want them anymore.