Which Princess ship should I choose?

[Tigerlily75]

Hello everyone, I'm considering a 14 day NZ cruise early next year. Both Royal Princess and Crown Princess have similar itineraries and similar prices. Which one would you choose? I've gone back and forth on what I think might be the pros and cons of each, but I haven't been on either, nor have I sailed Princess at all, so would love to hear some thoughts. I can't decide! 

 

Also, while I'm here, how is the food? I just sailed HAL Westerdam in February and the food was incredible. Before that I had only sailed on Carnival and NCL. Carnivals food was fine, some things delicious, some things mediocre but still ok. On my one Norwegian cruise, the food was very forgettable. Just bland and boring. On Holland, I was blown away. Everything was delicious and memorable, from the buffet to the dining room!!

 

Thanks for any thoughts! 

[Hogbay]

Royal Caribbean. 😁

[lyndarra]

Usually I would say HAL, my present favourite as I haven't been on Celebrity since COVID. In my earlier days of cruising I tried five different cruislines to get a varied experience. So, go for Princess. Which one? Toss a coin. If you have read ship reviews by different people who did the same cruise at the same time you would not believe they were on the same ship.

A lot of Princess acolytes here so good luck.

[arxcards]

Which ship? A coin toss for me to.

 

Looking ahead though, Royal Princess will be here for her 2nd and final season, while Crown will be based here year-round for the foreseeable future. If you want to try Royal Princess locally, next season will be it.

 

Food - better than Carnival & NCL. Comparable food options to HAL, although we found HAL's dining rooms are a bit more relaxed. Plenty of variety with Princess menus.

[SinbadThePorter]

Diamond.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Diamond.

I agree!

 

Diamond is a standard size Grand class ship, with a few Japanese touches.

 

Crown is an extended Grand class ships ie an extra deck of cabins was added when she was built but the public spaces - dining areas, bars and lounges - remained the same size. If you choose a cruise on Crown during school holidays be prepared for long queues to get into the MDRs, and difficulty finding a table in the buffet. 

 

Royal was the first Royal class ship built. The bars/lounges and theatre are too small and there is no promenade deck. The Explorers Bar has been replaced by a lecture theatre style area which is a bit strange. 

[arxcards]

54 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Royal was the first Royal class ship built. The bars/lounges and theatre are too small and there is no promenade deck. The Explorers Bar has been replaced by a lecture theatre style area which is a bit strange. 

"Princess Live" was meant to replicate a TV studio, where their activities could be filmed and broadcast on one of the TV channels. Certainly not as relaxed as a bar lounge and it is indeed quirky, but it makes more sense if you don't see it as a lecture theatre. I would hate to be doing lectures/training on a cruise.

 

Diamond for me too, but that would need to fit the date/itinerary of the OP to consider if Diamond fits. Diamond does have two NZ cruises next January, and I agree it is worth spending a few extra bucks to fly to Brisbane.

[mr walker]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

 

Royal was the first Royal class ship built. The bars/lounges and theatre are too small and there is no promenade deck. The Explorers Bar has been replaced by a lecture theatre style area which is a bit strange. 

Is that ‘Princess Live’ venue as on Majestic?

OK I see that Geoff already answered 😁

Edited March 30 by mr walker
Already answered

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

"Princess Live" was meant to replicate a TV studio, where their activities could be filmed and broadcast on one of the TV channels. Certainly not as relaxed as a bar lounge and it is indeed quirky, but it makes more sense if you don't see it as a lecture theatre. I would hate to be doing lectures/training on a cruise.

 

Diamond for me too, but that would need to fit the date/itinerary of the OP to consider if Diamond fits. Diamond does have two NZ cruises next January, and I agree it is worth spending a few extra bucks to fly to Brisbane.

I used the term lecture theatre style as that best describes the seating style. It's quite good for game shows, but useless for trivia as it's hard for teams to group themselves given the style of seating. It just isn't as flexible as the Explorers Lounge it replaced. 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

Is that ‘Princess Live’ venue as on Majestic?

OK I see that Geoff already answered 😁

Princess Live on Royal, Majestic & Regal are much the same - very "rigid" spaces. The later Royal class ships still have a Princess Live area, but they are much more of a flexible and relaxed space. Much more like an Explorer Lounge by a different name, but they also have the ability to take away seating to create a large dance floor.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Princess Live on Royal, Majestic & Regal are much the same - very "rigid" spaces. The later Royal class ships still have a Princess Live area, but they are much more of a flexible and relaxed space. Much more like an Explorer Lounge by a different name, but they also have the ability to take away seating to create a large dance floor.

It sounds like Princess actually listened to the feedback when they built the later ships of that class then. 

[mr walker]

We thought the 'stadium-style' seating in 'Live' on Majestic was really good in fitting the crowd in for trivia, games shows etc. The design provided much more capacity than other lounges in a wide range of ships (Princess & others) typically used for these types of activities. Many venues have oversized furniture which is suited for drinking and talking, but severely restricts the number of punters for trivia etc due to the space the furniture takes up.

I do accept Julie's point about the design making it less than perfect to teams of 4-6 to sit around for the quiz, but for the 2 of us, and for groups of 3-4, it worked well & a lot more players can take part.

[arxcards]

40 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It sounds like Princess actually listened to the feedback when they built the later ships of that class then. 

They just needed to use the Vista Lounge for trivia, which they did do for some sessions on Majestic whenever bingo wasn't pulling rank.

[arxcards]

12 minutes ago, mr walker said:

We thought the 'stadium-style' seating in 'Live' on Majestic was really good in fitting the crowd in for trivia, games shows etc. The design provided much more capacity than other lounges in a wide range of ships (Princess & others) typically used for these types of activities. Many venues have oversized furniture which is suited for drinking and talking, but severely restricts the number of punters for trivia etc due to the space the furniture takes up.

I do accept Julie's point about the design making it less than perfect to teams of 4-6 to sit around for the quiz, but for the 2 of us, and for groups of 3-4, it worked well & a lot more players can take part.

Yes, I agree with the purpose of the space, and we did a few things there on Majestic. A bit sterile perhaps, but a practical use of space. Any yes, Explorer Lounge has often been too small for trivia. OK for those organised and reserving seats for their team 1/2hr early, but we have walked away from morning trivia many times when it just felt packed and uninviting.

[MicCanberra]

Really depends on the cruise, but most public spaces are too small for the number of pax no matter what ship or cruise line

[OzKiwiJJ]

31 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Really depends on the cruise, but most public spaces are too small for the number of pax no matter what ship or cruise line

The Princess Royal class ships are worse than the older classes though. They sacrificed lounge/bar/theatre space for more space for high end shops. Ah well, I guess that's what the Americans want! 🤔🙄😡

[MicCanberra]

Sadly it is the same on many ships, not just Princess

[OzKiwiJJ]

19 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Sadly it is the same on many ships, not just Princess

True!

 

Virgin wasn't too bad though. There seemed to be little bars tucked away all over the ship, inside and out. 

[MicCanberra]

It is great when there are lots of bars, and areas, not so great when they are all small.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, MicCanberra said:

It is great when there are lots of bars, and areas, not so great when they are all small.

It depends on the size of the ship, I guess. Bigger spaces are needed for some things, especially trivia, but we found the small bars on Resilient Lady really nice for a quiet drink at times, and if one was crowded then we moved on to a less crowded one 

[MicCanberra]

It also depends on the cruise destination and weather, some ships are just too crowded when the outside decks cannot be used.

[OzKiwiJJ]

32 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

It also depends on the cruise destination and weather, some ships are just too crowded when the outside decks cannot be used.

True. Again, it's usually the newer ships where a high percentage of public space is shops not lounges/bars. That's why I was pleasantly surprised by Virgin.