Would you sail on an older Princess ship?

[Wishing on a star]

Not a lot of truth regarding Alaska.

The brand new Discovery sails the Inside Passage.

 

Preferences are what they are.  Prefer smaller...  Great.   Choose the older/smaller ships.

But information that is untrue or is misleading is not helpful.

 

Which brings me to a new point, with Princess, yes, the decision is between older or larger.

No sign or hope of new smaller ships.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Wishing on a star

[travlngar]

30 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Not a lot of truth regarding Alaska.

The brand new Discovery sails the Inside Passage.

 

 

When  we first sailed with Princess out of Vancouver on the Grand Class ships they would travel through the Seymour narrows and Johnstone Strait. I woke up very early in the AM to some beautiful scenery. I am not sure Princess even takes any of their ships regardless of class these days through there? I still prefer the wraparound promenade deck and Skywalkers for Alaska, so for future cruising to that region I am looking at HAL itineraries.

Edited October 13, 2022 by travlngar
Add content

[antmaril]

No.  I prefer the newer ships.  

[richsea]

In general, I don’t have a problem with new vs. old ships, except that we generally book balcony rooms, & the lack of a love seat, couch, or even the barrel chair in standard balcony rooms on older Princess ships means that we’ve stopped choosing Grand class Princess ships, & will only book deluxe balconies on Royal class ships. Having only the bed to sit on to dress, or watch TV is not my idea of comfort. It seems that Princess is the only main stream line without adequate seating in a standard balcony room.

[Thrak]

17 hours ago, njsmom said:

Would you sail on an older Princess ship?

 

In a heartbeat. I like the older ships. We have only sailed on a "newer" ship once and it was the "oldest of the new ships" - Royal Princess. I definitely prefer the other Princess ships I have sailed. I found the Atrium to be too loud on Royal Princess and thought that Princess Live was a terrible venue. I am happy to see that they have finally improved it on some of the newer ships. I am not at all interested in their newest "ship within a ship" which divides passengers into "classes". The lack of a class system is one of the things we have enjoyed about Princess.

[JeffT237]

51 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Not a lot of truth regarding Alaska.

The brand new Discovery sails the Inside Passage.

I thought the Royal class Princess ships travel west of Vancouver Island, my reference was to the older smaller ships that travel the inside passage east of Vancouver Island which from what I have read is the more scenic route and what many who have cruised this route consider the true inside passage.  Not trying to spread misleading info but please correct if wrong.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Not a lot of truth regarding Alaska.

The brand new Discovery sails the Inside Passage.

 

21 minutes ago, JeffT237 said:

I thought the Royal class Princess ships travel west of Vancouver Island, my reference was to the older smaller ships that travel the inside passage east of Vancouver Island which from what I have read is the more scenic route and what many who have cruised this route consider the true inside passage.  Not trying to spread misleading info but please correct if wrong.

 

This ↑

Even though Princess still bills their cruises as "Inside Passage" the larger ships aren't cleared for the actual inner passageway.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Thrak

[Thrak]

16 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

You will quickly find out that the older ships are favored by many of us.

Our faves are Coral, Caribbean, and Ruby.

 

Agree with this list but, unlike some others, I also really enjoy Emerald Princess.  We also enjoyed sailing Sapphire Princess a few years ago. We're booked for 16 days on Ruby in December and really looking forward to the cruise.

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Not a lot of truth regarding Alaska.

The brand new Discovery sails the Inside Passage.

 

The southern section of Inside Passage is between the west coast of mainland British Columbia and the east coast of Vancouver Island.  Having done cruises with that itinerary twice I can assure you that it is as breathtaking as @travlngar describes.  I've also done the sail to the west of Vancouver Island - the first day of which lacks scenery and is more prone to rough seas.

 

Look at the Princess maps below.

 

The Grand Princess 2023 Voyage of the Glaciers route is northbound through the Inside Passage.  Note the broken line along the west coast of Vancouver Island - that is the route for all Royal Class Ships.

 

 

The 2023 Discovery Princess route is westbound of Vancouver Island in both directions.

 

[Ombud]

12 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

Agreed... had done almost 100 nights on her until she transferred to P&O...

 

On the Grand in 3 weeks... will miss Skywalkers...

 

Looking forward to It

 

Cheers Don

Grand has Skywalkers Lounge just not the elevated version anymore. It was originally elevated but was lowered in 2011 .... now more like the crown class version of the Grand Class ships (Crown, Emerald, Ruby). 

 

The Grand Class ships are my favorite for Skywalkers. Especially Sapphire. But I'm on Caribbean Princess in a few weeks bc of itinerary 

[grouchomarx]

43 minutes ago, richsea said:

In general, I don’t have a problem with new vs. old ships, except that we generally book balcony rooms, & the lack of a love seat, couch, or even the barrel chair in standard balcony rooms on older Princess ships means that we’ve stopped choosing Grand class Princess ships, & will only book deluxe balconies on Royal class ships. Having only the bed to sit on to dress, or watch TV is not my idea of comfort. It seems that Princess is the only main stream line without adequate seating in a standard balcony room.

YES!  This has also become the case with us. My firsts cruise was Crown Princess in 2007.  I thought our ocean view cabin was great.  Looking back, I could never deal with that now! I've been too spoiled in too many nicer, bigger, more adequately furnished cabins to ever go back to such basic accommodations. It is surprising to me Princess hasn't done anything to remedy the situation, they are in very poor competition.  With Princess we will only do the newest ships.  

[NownZen]

57 minutes ago, richsea said:

In general, I don’t have a problem with new vs. old ships, except that we generally book balcony rooms, & the lack of a love seat, couch, or even the barrel chair in standard balcony rooms on older Princess ships means that we’ve stopped choosing Grand class Princess ships, & will only book deluxe balconies on Royal class ships. Having only the bed to sit on to dress, or watch TV is not my idea of comfort. It seems that Princess is the only main stream line without adequate seating in a standard balcony room.

You have a good point. I really miss a small couch. That was one of the joys of the smaller ships.

[2 cruises a year]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Grand has Skywalkers Lounge just not the elevated version anymore. It was originally elevated but was lowered in 2011 .... now more like the crown class version of the Grand Class ships (Crown, Emerald, Ruby). 

 

The Grand Class ships are my favorite for Skywalkers. Especially Sapphire. But I'm on Caribbean Princess in a few weeks bc of itinerary 

Actually Skywalkers was removed completely.  Replaced with the One5 Lounge and Nightclub on deck 15.  Still a pretty nice room, but no view.  It is nothing like Skywalkers.  Check out the Grand Princess deck plans.

[RNRcruisers]

We also prefer older ships. Our first Princess cruise was on Star and we really enjoyed it. The promenade deck, at least of some sort, is a requirement for us. I am on a ship to be at sea, not a mall or amusement park. In fact, our least favorite ship was also our newest (not Princess).

[Ombud]

6 minutes ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Actually Skywalkers was removed completely.  Replaced with the One5 Lounge and Nightclub on deck 15.  Still a pretty nice room, but no view.  It is nothing like Skywalkers.  Check out the Grand Princess deck plans.

So it's vastly different from Skywalkers on the Ruby?? (Haven't been on Grand since 2014 so my memory is fuzzy)

[2 cruises a year]

5 minutes ago, Ombud said:

So it's vastly different from Skywalkers on the Ruby?? (Haven't been on Grand since 2014 so my memory is fuzzy)

Yes, vastly different.  It is now just a big room with a bar and dance floor, no overhang and view.  I do like it, it is nice, but it ain't Skywalkers.  We do miss Skywalkers on the Grand.  It is still where they do the PES Hors d'Oeuvres, and we will go for that as a little change of pace from Crooners.  As usual, great bartenders and servers.

 

https://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=AP

 

[2 cruises a year]

32 minutes ago, Ombud said:

So it's vastly different from Skywalkers on the Ruby?? (Haven't been on Grand since 2014 so my memory is fuzzy)

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/ap-grand-princess/

[paradiselivin1]

Coral in a heartbeat. Love that ship.

[Ombud]

9 minutes ago, 2 cruises a year said:

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/ap-grand-princess/

Still prefer Sapphire although that ships internet Cafe was ridiculously large

https://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=SA

 

@paradiselivin1 nice size but does the IC have a lot of seating? 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Ombud

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Not a lot of truth regarding Alaska.

The brand new Discovery sails the Inside Passage.

 

Preferences are what they are.  Prefer smaller...  Great.   Choose the older/smaller ships.

But information that is untrue or is misleading is not helpful.

 

Which brings me to a new point, with Princess, yes, the decision is between older or larger.

No sign or hope of new smaller ships.

The mass market lines such as Princess are on a clear track that any new ships will be bigger.  Even HAL, which traditionally has the smallest average ship size of the US focused mass market lines is increasing its average ship size with each new build.

 

To get smaller ship size one has to move up to Premium (Oceania, Azamara, Viking, etc) with the corresponding increase in price point.

[Guest ldtr]

57 minutes ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Actually Skywalkers was removed completely.  Replaced with the One5 Lounge and Nightclub on deck 15.  Still a pretty nice room, but no view.  It is nothing like Skywalkers.  Check out the Grand Princess deck plans.

There is a bit of a view from a few seats, not like sky walkers but still a bit of a view. Still a nice place to sit and read during an at sea day.

[MauiLvrs]

Any old ship is better than any of the new ships..

[boone2]

On the Grand transpacific now. She was the first ship we ever cruised on way back. ( can’t remember the date). Love it still.  Also sailed the Tahitian Princess  our favourite cruise around French Polynesia. Then she stopped sailing that exclusive itinerary and her name changed. But loved that size of ship. We also sailed the regal on its maiden TA. The ship was gorgeous. Balcony a bit too small though. But I wouldn’t like to savile anything larger than the Royal class 

[MauiLvrs]

4 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Agree with this list but, unlike some others, I also really enjoy Emerald Princess.  We also enjoyed sailing Sapphire Princess a few years ago. We're booked for 16 days on Ruby in December and really looking forward to the cruise.

Emerald is effectively an older ship

[Dunk]

When I first started cruising in the early 90’s, almost all the ships were “old”. There were very few new builds, on any lines. Many ships were recycled transatlantic ocean liners; I had the pleasure of sailing on both the Carnivale (ex Empress of Britain, from 1955), and the Oceanic from 1965. I had great experiences on both.  I always  chuckle at people who see a bit of rust-on a an ocean going vessel-and wonder if they should be worried about maintenance. On these boards,  someone even posted a photo of some rust they saw on the maiden voyage of Discovery Princess. Oy.