Tell me where you want the Princess ships to go...Princess is asking ME!?

[Commodore Suzy]

I wrote a friendly little note to Peter Ratcliffe, the guy who ultimately decides where the Princess ships go. (He is the Prez or CEO or something like that of Princess & P&O.) My note just said that he should please consider something other than Regal doing SF Alaska RT cruises for 2007. Please consider something with more balconies like Sun or Dawn and maybe do a longer 10-12 night Alaska cruise RT Seattle on something.

 

I also said I noticed the Golden was going to wind up here in the Pacific in 4/07 and couldn't wait to see what they did with her.

 

WELL, of course I never heard to hear anything back. WELL, he personally read it and told a very high up Director of Sales call me today and ask what other ideas I had!!! Where did I think the ships should go? OMG!

 

SO, I reiterated that they should really have a ship that does long RT Seattle cruises. Many folks don't like to fly to Anchorage, but still want Glacier Bay and a longer cruise would be fabulous. Try some different ports, like Sitka or Icy Strait Point and give us something different and LONGER that doesn't go RT from SF necessarily. It's a bumpy ride from SF, and that's not something many folks enjoy. They need the SF one, but also another choice that's longer.

 

I complained that they need to some longer exotic stuff. South America, Africa, Asia and South Pacific. I said it really was terrible that they canceled some great itineraries on the Pacific for 06/07 and stuck us with a ton of Panama Canal sailings on Dawn and Regal as the replacement. I said they're missing the boat not having longer sailings that are much more exotic and interesting. If someone wants to do Panama, they could do the Coral. Folks that have cruised a lot want more variety.

 

And she asked how I liked the Europe selections, and I said I thought those were pretty good for 2006.

 

 

So, anyway, she's going to look up some stuff for my agency that's kind of personal, but I know she'll be getting back to me. Other than more exotics and something longer in Alaska, is there anything else really compelling that lots of folks can say they want to see Princess ships do that you think will sell well? I'll let her know! :D

 

My opinion is we'll never get it if we don't ask!

[nho9504]

instead of Sun.

 

We always want to take a 10-12 day South Caribbean cruise from FLL, but are discouraged by Sun.

 

Also why do they make Caribbean going all East and Star going all West, instead of East/West on each of them and just alternate the week ? Would love to do a 14-day East/West but hate the hassle to change ship.

 

Agree on too many Panama sailings.

[Pam in CA]

Suzy... sounds interesting! Reading these boards, you get the impression that the vast majority of people just want to cruise the Caribbean and sit on a beach (bring the sunblock) which isn't, or shouldn't be IMHO, the case at all.

 

If I had an opportunity like that, I'd want to say that I hope they keep the Regal and the Sun-class ships around. Not everyone wants to sail with thousands of people. I like the exotics that go to new, different and interesting places, as well as cruises longer than a couple of weeks. I'd LOVE a cruise that left from LA, went beyond Hawaii and returned to LA without having to fly all that distance. Give me the days at sea!

[ajl111]

Well, since you asked . . . Rio de Janiero has been a dream for me, but there isn't that much offered with Princess. I see Rio come up a lot with Celebrity, Holland America, MSC and Oceania. I think when it does appear on a Princess itinerary, it's over the Christmas holiday which isn't an option for me, and worse yet, it's usually a very long cruise -- something us working people have a hard time with.

 

So, my vote is for more itineraries with a day or more in Rio de Janiero. The ultimate would be a carbon copy of the February 19 Celebrity Infinity intinerary, starting and ending at the same place (helps keep airfare down) but spends a few days in Rio.

 

Thanks for allowing input!

[figmentdj]

A 7 or 10 day Hawaii to Hawaii. Island hop, a couple days at sea, something like that.

[jennifers490]

I REALLY miss the princess cruises to bermuda with 3 overnights from New York, perfect itinerary and a small ship--they stopped in 2002...I got excited when I heard Crown was going there but I really am not impressed with how short of a stop it is and that it only stops in king's warf...not worth it to me

[Hornet]

I'd like to see more ships the size of the Island/Coral - not getting more ships that are bigger.

 

Also would like some of the ports to be overnights instead of very short stops. Like Bermuda and some of the Hawaiian islands.

[mafig]

Bermuda. Maybe even from a Florida port (asking alot, I'm sure).:)

[mii]

Suzy I have to agree with you in regards to r/t out of Vancouver or Seattle and make it a 10-12 day one. I have taken the r/t out of S.F. many times on the old Sky and the Pacific Princess and I would love to see the route that the old Sky did. It was all the way up to Hubbard Glacier, both Vancouver and Victoria. I took the Celebrity this year and they went to Icy Strait Point, Hubbard, the three towns, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. Also went to both Vancouver and Victoria. the r/t out of S.F. now only go to Victori,and too much outside passage. I would love the r/t for 10 day out of Vancouver or Seattle, do the Glacier Bay, College Fiords route, Hubbard Glacier and Icy Strait.

 

Also the Canada/New England route. Do a r/t from either the new port of Cape Liberty New Jersey and not the multi cities that it is now. It is either Quebec to N.Y. or visa-versa.It is much easier to get r/t airfares rather than mult-city one way.

 

This is a great idea. Hope the CEO will listen to us passengers.

 

Marilyn

[paradise4ever]

I also would like some overnights. Or, how about the LA, Hawaii, Tahiti, LA. Or Hawaii, Tahiti, LA. Longer cruises out of Vancouver, Victoria, etc to Alaska with even an overnight or an added stop-10 to 12 days would be nice. Even PV, Mazatlan, Cabo, overnight. Make it 8 days. I know the weekend is a good time but there can be one every so often. I love Victoria. An overnight here would be fantastic. There is so much culture there and so much to do we found we did not have time to do but one tour.

[meemeec]

Hey, thanks for throwing this topic out for discussion! This may sound weird but.....I would love a 12-14 day cruise to......drumroll here.................NOWHERE!

 

I do enjoy different ports but there are times when I would just love some endless sea days!!! I think if Princess offered this a couple of times a year the response would be good.

[coiran]

More Sun Class ships and more 12 - 14 day cruises - anywhere!

 

Ron

[Cruisin' Chick]

As a resident of LA who hates to fly, I would selfishly say: more trips out of LA. How about a LA-Alaska-Victoria?

 

From reading many of the posts on CC, I see that many other people are like my family and like lotsa sea days. Maybe if you can pass to her that have a variety of cruises that are port-intensive and others that are more sea-day intensive.

[Commodore Suzy]

Hey, thanks for throwing this topic out for discussion! This may sound weird but.....I would love a 12-14 day cruise to......drumroll here.................NOWHERE!

 

I do enjoy different ports but there are times when I would just love some endless sea days!!! I think if Princess offered this a couple of times a year the response would be good.

I don't think that's going to happen, but you DO realize you could do 2 QM2 Transatlantic cruises B2B and have yourself a 12-16 day RT cruise from NY, right? And there is a discount if you do them B2B.

 

Keep the other ideas flowing. This is a fun topic!

[Cruisin' Chick]

As a resident of LA who hates to fly, I would selfishly say: more trips out of LA. How about a LA-Alaska-Victoria?

 

From reading many of the posts on CC, I see that many other people are like my family and like lotsa sea days. Maybe if you can pass to her that have a variety of cruises that are port-intensive and others that are more sea-day intensive.

[beautifulbc2]

Living in Victoria, I would like to see departures from YVR/Victoria or Seattle to Hawaii one way and vice versa from Hawaii back to the Pacific Northwest. Also the usual 3 or 4 night or even 5 night cruises from the 3 ports would be great for a getaway for us folks up here so that we don't have to fly.

I would think that after my Caribbean cruise next year, the family wants to do a Hawaiian cruise but it would be hard as most repositioning cruises are during school year.

[serene sea]

instead of Sun.

 

We always want to take a 10-12 day South Caribbean cruise from FLL, but are discouraged by Sun.

 

I was discouraged too and learned the hard way. Not a Princess quality ship. I agree with you, begin to utilize grand class ships for 10 day caribbean cruises.

[WeBeGone]

My dream is an Around the World on Princess !

[sunprincess]

I would love to see Princess return to NY - Bermuda :)

 

My dream is to do Princess around the world ;)

 

Thanks Suzy

[beachlovergirl]

Another vote for the return of the NY to Bermuda cruises on Princess.

 

More 10 day itineraries! :D

[Lynda90]

Another vote for longer trips round trip Seattle to anywhere.

[calikak]

I would love to see them open up the California coast by doing one-way Vancouver-LA or round-trip sailings out of Vancouver. They've been doing more of the longer coastal repositioning cruises, but it would be great to see some of these outside of May and September. Really, anything else they could add on the west coast would be great.

 

I also think they should do longer Alaska cruises out of Seattle not just to see extra ports, but also to make it possible to actually sail up the inside passage, rather than sailing outside of Vancouver Island. And they should try to visit different ports, because the ones they go to now are so overcrowded. It's really not fun trying to explore Skagway with 6000 other cruise passengers. The Regal would be a perfect ship for this since it's smaller and it can probably get into smaller places. They could market it like it was a more "boutique" experience, visiting more out-of-the-way places and getting a more intimate sense of Alaska.

 

And I also think there's a huge market here in the NW for short round-trip cruises. The one we were on in May on the Sun was incredibly crowded, so I think it would be a very popular trip. Celebrity is doing a bunch of these sailings this fall, so maybe they could look at their itineraries as a starting point.

 

I also think they shouldn't be sending the Golden down to do the Antartic cruises. The Grand-class ships aren't designed for that kind of rough weather. If they're going to put big ships down there, they need to design one that can handle the seas (like QM2). DH and I thought about doing that one in winter 06/07 but didn't want to do that on the Golden.

 

I also think that they should do longer Australia itineraries. I know P&O Australia does these, but the circumnavigations of Australia have all been sold out for months, so there's obviously more market to be tapped for these cruises.

[coiran]

Hey! We got too many Left Coasters voting - how about us MidWesterners??

 

Ron

[madelinerose]

Bermuda 7-9 days from New York or Philadelphia - better yet, Baltimore! ;)

 

I REALLY miss the princess cruises to bermuda with 3 overnights from New York, perfect itinerary and a small ship--they stopped in 2002...I got excited when I heard Crown was going there but I really am not impressed with how short of a stop it is and that it only stops in king's warf...not worth it to me

[SqueakyDust]

Just nosied in to this thread.

We've always sailed with British ships (we're Brits!!), but the itinerarys are very limited. Here's what I'd like to do.

 

We don't like sea days - wasted time seeing the world as far as we're concerned! ;) If we're travelling all the way to the US we want to see as much as we can when there. Excuse my ignorance of your geography, and if Princess already do these cruises, just wanted to ad my opinion..

 

How about a cruise going from New York stopping off daily at East Coast states/cities; Philadelphia, Washington, North Carolina, S Carolina, Georgia and ending in Florida but maybe with a little sail out to Bermuda somewhere in there.

or from New York stopping off daily at Canada, Newfoundland, Greenland & Iceland and back.

Or cruise from Los Angeles stopping off daily at West Coast states/cities; San Francisco, Oregon, Washington then going on to Vancouver & Alaska.

 

Great thread!