PRINCESS "ROOKIE"

[BCLINE3155]

We have just booked our first cruise on Princess. (We are Diamond Members with Royal Caribbean.) We booked the Crown Princess for January, 2007 ... great southern Caribbean itinerary .... reduced deposit per cabin .... excellent fare for a mini-suite. So ... can you "experienced" Princess cruisers share any thoughts about Princess cruises? We've heard many good things about the cruise line .... and we are looking forward to this cruise.

 

We will miss the "perks" we got thru Royal Caribbean with our Diamond Status ... but there is more to cruising than that!!

 

Thanks!

[mii]

First of all welcome to Princess. On the top of page 1 there is a "sticky" called Members of Princess tell all wht you know or something like that. there is a wealth of info there. Again welcome to Princess.

 

Marilyn

[Aquarian]

I like to tell people about the Champagne Waterfall on the second formal night of the cruise. It is after the second seating and takes place in the atrium. The MaitreD Hotel and his favorite head waiters build a waterfall out of champagne glasses. Everyone gathers in the atrium and you can line up to have your photo taken "helping" the MaitreD pour the champagne over the glasses. It's a great photo op if your significant other can get a good shot; otherwise, you can purchase one that the ship's photographer has taken. Free (cheap) champagne is offered to the guests and also finger food. Dancing and music follows. Also, watch in your Princess Patters for Pub Night in the Lounge for late night adult comedy. Welcome to Princess! We're glad to have you.

[Aquarian]

I should have said they build a pyramid out of the champagne glasses. Oops.

[madelinerose]

The "stickies" at the top of the Princess page will tell you just about everything you need to know. ;)

[CruiseFever]

Welcome to Princess!

 

I've not sailed Royal Caribbean yet (next month!) so I can't compare the two for you from personal experience but in preparing for our upcoming cruise I've been asking similar questions of Royal Caribbean regulars and noticed some differences and similarities already.

 

First is the tipping. All Princess ships do automatic tipping at the rate of $10 per day. You can go to the Pursers desk and adjust those amounts or even remove them if you'd like to use the envelopes as you are accustomed to on Royal Caribbean

 

Next is the dining. This is an area where it's really easy to get confused about. But it doesn't have to be at all. You can indeed have the traditional fixed time dining as you have in the past. Another option is Anytime Dining which lets you dine when and with whom you choose. You're also given some selection on where you'd like to dine.

 

Coming from a Carnival background to Princess, used to having traditional fixed dining or one specialty restaurant with an upcharge, I had some concerns about this system. When we booked our first Princess cruise, on the Golden Princess, the traditional dining rooms were all full and we were put on a waiting list. When we did not make it off the waiting list before the cruise we thought we'd really lost out.

 

We were wrong

 

On the Golden, for example, there were two other dining rooms to serve those who had selected or had been given Personal Choice dining. We chose one, liked it a lot, and asked to be seated at the same table, at the same time, with the same waiter for the rest of the cruise. This was no problem. So for all practical purposes we did have traditional dining. The same menu was being served the only difference was that the people around us were not always the same...although many were.

 

We could have simply walked into one of the PC dining rooms during serving hours when we were hungry and been seated, probably after a wait. We could have phoned in reservations for various places to eat at various times during the week in advance, say on the first day aboard. Not a bad idea if you like early dining but not when the ship is in port and you'll be ashore, for example.

 

It's really all about flexibility and goes beyond just dining to encompass a style of vacationing termed Personal Choice Cruising. The Anytime Dining part, for example, makes it possible to meet new friends on a shore excursion or at pool side and have dinner with them that night.

 

Before, when meeting a new friend one of the questions asked would be "Which (traditional assigned dining) seating are you? From there plans for the evening could be made and a time set up to meet after dinner. Now you can include dinner in your plans for the evening and at a time tht is convenient for you.

 

In addition to the traditional and Personal Choice dining rooms are other specialty restaurants like Sabatinis or the new Crown Grill you'll have aboard that offer sit down dining for a small additional fee and are reservation only. These offer even more flexibility but require thinking ahead.

 

Providing yet another choice besides these sitdown table service restaurants is the Horizon Court a 24/7 buffet. On some ships it's buffet by day that transforms itself into more of a service oriented venue at night. There's also a Pizza and Grill open a good chunk of the day and 24 hour room service that has extensive offerings.

 

That's it in a nutshell.

 

I'm also finding that the dress code, in reality, is pretty much the same on both lines. What you wear on formal night on Royal Caribbean will work on Princess too.

 

Like I said, I've not sailed Royal Caribbean yet but am kind of in the same situation as you are as I too prepare to sail a different line.

 

I hope that helps

[cruisequeen10]

You are just going to LOVE Princess. Enjoy your cruise. I have (15 times).

[PescadoAmarillo]

I think you will really enjoy Princess. We're Diamond members too (by virtue of our Celebrity cruise credits, although we've done 5 RCCL cruises too), and when we cruise on Princess, we really miss the Concierge Lounge benefits. But saying that, we cruise on all the lines we like, based on itinerary and price. Here's what I like better about Princess compared with RCCL:

-itineraries...Princess does still travel the world, RCCL doesn't

-Personal choice dining...even though I've NEVER had service with PC dining that equalled Celebrity's dining service, it has frequently equaled RCCL's dining room service. But the real benefit is staying in the hot tubs to watch sailaway, going to dinner whenever we wanted based on the shows, etc.

-Reasonably priced soda cards (at least they used to be)

-Self service laundries

-24 hour buffet...not that you eat that much more, but it is really nice to return from being in port all day and knowing that the buffet WILL be open and serving something you'll like.

Have a great time!

[susancruzs]

I sail Princess and RCI and like them both a great deal. Princess gets me right now because I'm Caribbean weary and their itineraries suit me better than RCI! :-)

 

I sailed on the Golden and right after the Brilliance of the Seas and enjoyed both cruises. I think their dining room food/service is very comparable. I do like the more options on Princess and the fact that you can skip the dining room in the evening and go to the Horizon Court. This is handy if the ship is in port late, or coming back from an excursion at say 2:00 - 2:30 and wanting a little snack.

 

I like the refrigerators on Princess being virtually empty rather than chock full of mini bar stuff for sale. I drink alot of water and always the use the frig for my sports bottles.

 

I think you'll enjoy Princess! Welcome!

 

Susie

[prarie cruiser]

One of the best parts of cruising Princess is not having to go on deck for lifeboat drills. They are usually more relaxed on Princess, yet get the same info across to passengers. They are usually held in the public areas inside the ship where you can sit down without your life jacket on until they finish instructing and then your life jacket only has to be on for a couple of minutes!

I absolutely hate the rigidity of life boat drill on RCI.

 

But, you will miss the towel animals from the cabin steward. They do not usually do that on Princess.

[Alessandrina]

Afternoon Tea is a nice little touch every day on Princess between 3:30-4:30pm. :)

Enjoy your cruise.