The Perfect Cruise Ship

[jemingway]

The perfect cruise ship is the one that has me on it.

 

JV The 4 stages of cruising: planning, anticipation, experience and reflection.

[Pam in CA]

My perfect style of cruise ship would be an updated Royal Princess. Like Druke, I like the smaller ships and tolerate the larger ones. The Regal was nice -- I really liked that.

 

I guess I'd like a non-smoking ship with lots of comfortable loungers on the Promenade Deck but most of all, I'd like a ship where the Captain and crew uphold the suggested guidelines and behavior (and I'm not sticking with just Princess here). No saving loungers with towels, no shorts in the dining room, no jeans on formal night, no kids running up and down hallways during the night, teens hogging elevators, etc.

 

What I don't want is an inside mall. Been there, done that. If I wanted a mall, I'd stay home and go to a local one.

 

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

 

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- Roll Call

-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- Roll Call

[gailc]

We have also cruised on Carnival & RCI. I have said that if we could combine what we liked from each ship then that would be the perfect cruise. We did enjoy every cruise we have been on. We are going on our 2nd Princess cruise in Nov. These are some of the ideas I had for that perfect cruise!!

 

1. Free ice cream

2. Pizza - 24 hours

3. Buffet - 24 hours

4. Buffet - An area with some table outside

5. Balcony & Suite cabins on all decks

6. Balcony cabins with a couch

7. Promenade Deck - inside mall - Liked it

 

I may think of more later. Great topic!!

 

Gail

[regnig]

A ship in the size range of the Sun class (hey folks they do have FREE ice cream every afternoon on the Sun) or perhaps the Coral. No rock climbing walls, no skating rinks or inside malls. Mini-suites sized as they are on the Sun class ships and more of them. Maybe just one formal night on a 7 day, two are ok on a 10 day or longer. A later last show at night for those of us who like to linger longer at the dinner table at late seating. Showers that are just a tad bit bigger. More days at sea!

 

Gail, the Horizon is open 24 hours although it turns into a Bristo very late at night. Kind of nice being waited on at 100am. Most of the Horizon courts do have areas with tables outside

The Sun and Dawn do serve free ice cream each afternoon, don't know if you have sailed on them.

 

Oh and folks did I mention - this dream cruise ship would be free of charge for us. I know, dream on .................

 

Crown '93,Star '94, Regal '95,

Sun '96, Crown '97, Dawn '98,

Dawn '99, Sun 2000, Dawn '01,

Grand '02, Coral '03,Star 6/28/03, Sun 3/10/04, Star 02/27/05

 

 Star Princess Sailing

 

[Nrknits]

The perfect cruise ship would have:

Wraparound promanade deck w/ lounge chairs

freshwater pools open 24/7

A pizzaria (like the sun class)

Dining room choices like the Diamond (offering wonderful food and deserts with no calories, of course) - you said it was a wish list

A variety of games and activities all day

Chairs by the pool with no towels saving them

A sea day for every port day

No smoking

Nice shops, but no inch of gold cluttering the Atrium

No art auctions

Ahhhh to dream......

[lawofraven]

The perfect cruise ship would have large bathrooms.

Also (I know I will get slammed for this) less balconies and more oceanview and inside cabins. Keep stateroom prices low so that DH and I can afford to go, go, go!

All dining rooms would be PC, no traditional seating. Maybe a specialty rest. that caters to vegetarians or at least more vegetarian offerings on menus, so DH can eat as much as me.

But usually the perfect cruise ship is the one that I am on at the time.

Angie

 

Carnival Ecstasy 1999

Norwegian Sea 2001

Norwegian Sun 2001

Norwegian Dawn 2003

Norwegian Dream 2004

Carribean Princess Sept. 2004

[Pam in CA]

As an FYI, the smaller, older ships such as the Royal and Regal have larger bathrooms and tub-sized showers.

 

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

 

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- Roll Call

-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- Roll Call

[NCumpire]

I want to thank everyone for their response. I have enjoyed reading each and everyone. I agree with most. I think if the cruise industry would read some of these post, perhapes they could some up with some ideas. It's had to please 1200 people on a ship, much less 3000. But like several of you have said: "the best ship is one that I'm on at that time." Keep 'em coming.

 

Rick

 

Baseball is like church, many attend, but few understand. Wes Westman

[Pam in CA]

Actually, if new cruise ships have to have smaller showers, I wish they'd use the RCI "clam-shell" design. We were on the Explorer of the Seas and while the shower seemed tiny when open, it was more than adequate when the doors were pulled from the side.

 

(For those unfamiliar with this design, the doors to the shower open in the middle and slide into a half-wall on either side so that the shower takes up only a small amount of space when the doors are open. This design makes the bathroom seem larger than it is. When the shower doors are closed, like a clamshell, they about double the shower space plus you don't have a curtain that sticks to you or blows out into the bathroom, wetting everything.)

 

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

 

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- Roll Call

-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- Roll Call

[gailc]

I should have put down which cruiselines have what I would want on a perfect ship. We had free ice cream on Carnival & RCI, pizza 24 hrs. on Carnival & RCI, 24 hr. buffet on Princess, tables also outside at the buffet on Carnival, RCI Brilliance, & some on the Sun Princess, balcony & suites on all decks on RCI, but not sure about Carnival & Sun Princess, balcony cabins with couch on Carnival & RCI, & Promenade Deck (mall) on RCI.

 

larsen - We were on the Sun Princess in 2001. It was a very nice ship. I don't remember the free ice cream in the afternoon. I missed it. I also agree with 1 Formal nite for a 7 day cruise.

 

Pam - I agree with you about the shower door on RCI. We have been on AOS 2 times in a balcony cabin. On our AOS cruise on 5/2/04, we met a couple from Salem, Ma from our Roll Call.

 

We are going on the Golden Princess in Nov.

 

 

Gail

[NCumpire]

As I go through and read all the post on the different message boards I have seen that we all have different likes and dislikes. If you go on a cruise with expectations of another cruise line or cruise ship, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have an expectation of the service that we are looking for. But keep in mind the personallity of one ship is much different than another and each ship develops that personnallity.

 

And also remember, you are in control. If a cruiseline or ship dosn't hold up their end of the bargan, and makes your cruise experiance poor or below expectations, take your money elsewhere. That's what we are doing, we took a cruise with CCL, it was good, but not as good as we expected, so we took our money and now we are giving Princess a chance. (We loved RCCL, but too expensive.)

 

Case in point: Ice cream should be free! But why do they sale it? Because people will pay for it. If enough people will stop paying for it and let Princes know it should be included in the cruise, they will. Okay, I'll pay $5.00 more for my ticket and get unlimited ice cream.

 

Sodas, should be free. They can by generic if they have too, soda is soda.

 

Well that's my $.02 for today.

 

Rick

 

Baseball is like church, many attend, but few understand. Wes Westman

[jennat]

I agree with the frree sodas and ice cream. Loved the shower doors on Voyager class ships. I enjoyed the ice show immensely, it was amazing. I also like the Johnny Rockets idea. Not necessarily a chain but the fries and rings and burgers at 2 am. How else am I supposed to pack on enough lbs to buy a new wardrobe! Food without calaries but with fantastic taste! No high pressure sales pitch(s?) just because you want a massage/hair cut/ exercise class! No muster drill on the ships that aren't going to sink, haha! (needs to be a way to determine this! ) I like the promenade "mall" because of the ambiance of sitting outside the pub and watching the people go by, but I also like the intimacy of the smaller ships. I like the private islands.....I like, I like, I like...well let's face it, you have to search or be real picky to not like just about everything!

 

Fun topic ncumpire, see you on the carribbean princess in Sept! !

 

Jen

[PJCruisers]

The women would all be good looking and the children above average. Much like my hometown of Lake Wobegon

 

J&P

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