New to Princess...

[nealstuber]

We've cruise RCCL, CCL, NCL and X. Loved them all, Favorite as a couple was Celebrity Century (with RCCL's Oasis a close second). With the Kiddos, loved the Voyager class.

 

What can we look forward to on the CB?

Favorite things for DW and I:

Nice formal dinners

Good shows

Adult pool and or hot tub

Quiet and Private Balcony

Good slots in the Casino

Decent price on beer package a plus

 

Our kids always like easy access food and bingo. It's been tough to get either interested in the teen clubs and now DS is 18.

[AKman2495]

We've cruise RCCL, CCL, NCL and X. Loved them all, Favorite as a couple was Celebrity Century (with RCCL's Oasis a close second). With the Kiddos, loved the Voyager class.

 

What can we look forward to on the CB?

Favorite things for DW and I:

Nice formal dinners

Good shows

Adult pool and or hot tub

Quiet and Private Balcony

Good slots in the Casino

Decent price on beer package a plus

 

Our kids always like easy access food and bingo. It's been tough to get either interested in the teen clubs and now DS is 18.

 

OK...Despite what you may hear, formal nights on Princess are still mostly formal. You'll see probably 85-90% of men in suits or tuxes. As for food, we've always enjoyed the food in the Princess MDRs. We are not big foodies, but what they serve tastes good-and you can have as much as you want.

 

The shows are good-but not great. The comics are great and some of the magic shows they put on are very good too. If you're looking for ultra broadway-you will be disappointed. But is you want to have some fun., enjoy.

 

They do have an adult pool in the stern called the Terrace pool. It is a small pool, but refreshing. It is also a nice area to lounge.

 

We don't do balconies, but from what I hear they can be quiet or noisy. You'll see what I mean from the other comments.

 

The slots in the Casino are fun. They have a nice variety. I tend to do better than DW, but she does have fun. Lots of lots with bonus games. You can do well-and maybe even great. On the last cruise I pulled a few hundred from more than one machine. I also saw a woman hit for over $1200.

 

As for beer packages, I have no idea.

 

Enjoy the cruise

[lhsail]

A couple areas I'll comment on:

 

We like to dress up for formal nights and find many others do as well on Princess. Never feel out of place dressed up.

 

We recently went back to NCL due to the ease of sailing out of Houston and felt their entertainment was better than we've seen on competing lines as of late.

 

I often wonder why some people book balcony cabins as I often feel like we're the only ones utilizing ours a lot. We've never had a problem with noise. Whether or not it's private depends on where you are. If you book a mini-suite on Dolphin deck it's totally open to those above you. Balconies on Caribe deck are partially covered and bigger than those on the other decks, even bigger than the mini-suite balconies.

 

As for teenagers, our son loved the kids programs until he hit the pre-teen years. There were a few rough years keeping him entertained. Once he hit mid to late teens, he did a great job of finding others his age to hang around with. Fortunately we must have raised him right as I always felt good about the kids he met and there was never any trouble.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Everything you highlighted for yourselves and your kids will be aboard Princess! [emoji106]

[jasbo49]

We've cruise RCCL, CCL, NCL and X. Loved them all, Favorite as a couple was Celebrity Century (with RCCL's Oasis a close second). With the Kiddos, loved the Voyager class.

 

What can we look forward to on the CB?

Favorite things for DW and I:

Nice formal dinners

Good shows

Adult pool and or hot tub

Quiet and Private Balcony

Good slots in the Casino

Decent price on beer package a plus

 

Our kids always like easy access food and bingo. It's been tough to get either interested in the teen clubs and now DS is 18.

 

Just for fun, let's go backward:

 

Beer, etc.: It's hard to get excited about any beer packages. Something like buy four, get five. But Princess in general charges less for alcohol than other mainstream cruise lines.

 

Casino? No clue.

 

Quiet balconies are mostly luck of the draw. I've had real quiet ones, and others where it sounds like Ricky and Lucy are living next door. Why do people open their sliders and play the TV when many of us are trying to escape the real world?

 

I think most Princess ships have two adult pools, the one farthest forward and the one farthest aft.

 

Good shows? Well, here's Princess's weak link (at least according to my wife and me). We just returned from a 7-night California Coastal cruise. There was one production show. That's pathetic. On the other hand, our last cruise had three, and none was any good (again, according to us). There was one pretty promising evening that we missed. Two comedy acts brought a mess of people and we had nowhere to sit. But most nights there wasn't much of interest to us.

 

Formal nights are pretty much the same as other mainstream cruise lines. NCL, obviously, is the maverick.

 

Overall, I think you'll enjoy Princess, but I don't think entertainment will be a highlight.

 

Jim

[OCruisers]

~~ :D Can't promise Good Slots will be any better/worse than any other cruise line ... BUT the other things you want will be fine on CB.

 

Look forward to having a GREAT cruise. :)

[Cruise Raider]

Celebrity is my favorite for couples and RCCL when traveling with families -- however, Princess and RCCL are very similar.

 

We've cruise RCCL, CCL, NCL and X. Loved them all, Favorite as a couple was Celebrity Century (with RCCL's Oasis a close second). With the Kiddos, loved the Voyager class.

 

What can we look forward to on the CB?

This is my favorite Princess ship -- however, no indoor pool. MUTS (Movies Under the Stars is great, though. I find the staff to be very good on this ship.

Favorite things for DW and I:

Nice formal dinners

You can get very dressed up on Princess and will not feel out of place.

Good shows

Production shows are very good and the International Crew show on the last night is a do NOT miss event. Comedians, musicians and hypnotist shows are usually also very good with a once in awhile miss. The theater and lounges are not large enough to seat everyone so go early so you are not skunked out of a seat. The Newlywed show is usually a pretty good show depending on the couples chosen to participate.

Adult pool and or hot tub

The sanctuary pool should be adults only -- you can even purchase a day or half day pass inside the sanctuary for a wonderful day of peace and quiet.

Quiet and Private Balcony

The balconies on the Caribe deck are half open and half covered but are quite large so you could sit back and it will feel private. All balconies on the Baha and Aloha decks are completely covered but a lot smaller than those on the Caribe deck. We usually like to go all the way aft for a quieter balcony but only as quiet as your neighbor. Right?? The Emerald deck aft mini-suite balconies are the only mini's that have covering, the ones on the Dolphin deck are all completely uncovered. The aft Emerald deck mini's are usually the most popular and tend to sell out quickly. The ones on each side at the very aft have extra large balconies.

Good slots in the Casino

We usually love the casinos on Princess although variety of machines could be better. One half of the casino is non-smoking on most days and all non-smoking on formal nights and maybe another one thrown in for good measure. We've done just as ok on cruise ship casinos as we have in Vegas.

Decent price on beer package a plus

5 beers for the price of 4 promotion every day and a great happy hour 2x per day - buy one and get one of the same drink for $1. You can request that your second one not be opened so can take it to your fridge and drink it at a later time. Happy hours are usually at 3 PM and 11 PM. Such a deal!!

 

Our kids always like easy access food and bingo. It's been tough to get either interested in the teen clubs and now DS is 18.

Not sure if 18 is old enough for bingo ... so cannot speak to that.

 

You will most likely find Princess very comparable to RCCL. Of note, the Crown Grill has excellent food and lovely atmosphere and the surcharge is $25 pp. so still not cost prohibitive. I shouldn't let this secret out as they are getting really crowded but the Pub Lunch is fantastic. If there are two during your cruise, the second one is even a bit better than the first.

[nealstuber]

Thanks to all for comments so far. We've done more than a couple Thanksgiving cruises and were thinking we were going to have to take a bye on cruising in 2015. SO crazy happy to see great Christmas prices out of Houston on a line we haven't tried on ports we haven't beaten to death. First Christmas Cruise for us - stockings will be hung on the balcony with care!;)

Edited October 22, 2015 by nealstuber

[caribill]

The sanctuary pool should be adults only -- you can even purchase a day or half day pass inside the sanctuary for a wonderful day of peace and quiet.

 

There is no Sanctuary Pool.

 

There is the Lotus Spa pool that is a deck below the Sanctuary and which is restricted to adults (18 and over). No cost to use it.