Is Princess the Right Cruiseline

[waunabcruizin]

My DP and I are considering a long cruise. We have never cruised Princess and are concerned about the following things on any cruise line: 1) Loud music piped throughout the ship 2) Loudspeaker announcements all the time (or even some of the time) 3) Cigarette smoke. Could somebody give us some insight whether these concerns will be evident on a Princess cruise? We are considering a cruise on the Sun Princess from Australia to San Francisco in 2008 but do not want to spend 30+ days on a ship that assaults the senses. I don't mean to offend with these questions, just trying to make an informed decision for a very long cruise. Thanks very much for any input.

[wwinfl91]

I would strongly suggest trying a shorter week cruise on a Princess ship of the same class that you are considering taking the longer cruise on before jumping into a 30 day cruise. As far as your questions go, generally ships do not pump out loud music in the hallways although they do have music going almost all the time. Loudspeaker announcements occur but were not excessive IMHO. We were docked alongside a Carnival ship on a cruise and they seemed to have almost constant announcements. I have never seen this on the two Princess cruises we have been on. Smoking unfortunately occurs but is much more limited now than it was a few years ago. There are many places inside the ship where smoking is forbidden including the dining rooms.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[ssbeagle]

Princess keeps announcements to a minimum. They do not pipe them into the cabins unless it is an emergency. They are not overly loud in the hallways either. On our RCL cruise you could hear them everywhere. It was awful. We did a 16-day cruise on the Grand and it was wonderful. We didn't have any problems with cigarette smoke. I am very sensitive to it and I stayed away from the smoking areas which is easy to do on Princess. They don't allow smoking in the dining room, buffet, show lounge and in many other parts of the ship. You may also find that the ship won't be full for that long a cruise. I hope you do it. That sounds like one I'd like to take if I had the time.

[Dena]

We never had any problems with these issues on the Sapphire, Diamond, or Dawn. There were very few announcements. The Dawn is a sister to the Sun and we had our best experience on the Dawn, it was a 10 day cruise and a number of the staff learned our names even though we had Anytime Dining and rarely used the bars. We also had an inside room - and we still had a better time on Dawn than we had with our balcony on the Sapphire.

 

The one exception was smoking. The casino on the Dawn wasn't even an option, even walking past it reeked. But we don't really gamble and we found alternate routes that avoided the area. Smoke was not a problem elsewhere.

[Tucker in Texas]

We just got off the Dawn Princess which is an identical ship. To answer your questions. 1) no loud obnoxious music piped over the ship. 2) One announcement a day from the Cruise Director about the activities as far as I can remember usually preceded by the Captain's report from the Bridge. Not piped in your cabin. 3) I was very impressed with the smoking accommodations. I am a smoker but do not smoke in my cabin as a courtesy to my husband, a non-smoker, and the people that will occupy my cabin in the future. Usually I go out on the port deck where it is allowed with my Altoids tin for an ashtray and get as far away as I can from people. This time being it was an Alaskan cruise, it was cold and windy outside so I had to find a place inside. The Atrium lounge has a smoking area. However, there is a dance floor and wide area between that and the rest of the lounge so you could participate in activities being held there without smelling smoke. You can pass through the lounge far away from the smoking area to get to the other side. The same in the Wheelhouse, good distance between smoking area and non smoking. There was an area, again separated, down by the dining room on the 5th floor where people could smoke waiting for their tables (they gave you a paging thingee to let you know when your table was ready) so you didn't have to pass through people huddling around an ashtry outside the dining room doors waiting. The service personnel replaced ashtrays with clean ones almost the minute you put your cigarette out so you didn't have a "residual" smell of stale cigarettes. The best part of the ship was that the casino is a "destination." You do not have to walk through it to get to another part of the ship which is a big problem for non-smokers. My BIL has asthma and is sensitive to smoke and it never bothered him. I can truthfully say, I didn't hear any complaints from non-smokers about the smokers or the smoke smell which I have heard plenty of on other ships. It seemed easier to avoid on this ship.

 

If you take this ship and do not want to spring for a balcony, consider getting a category D outside cabin. It has a huge picture window--practically floor to ceiling and wide. There are Category EE cabins scattered in between them but their window's are not as large.

 

I loved the ship. It was small enough that you could get around it easily but large enough you could "get off by yourself" if you wanted. The Promenade deck goes all the way around and had nice padded lounges.

 

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions--whitlock@alunni.utexas.net

 

Tucker in Texas

[Tucker in Texas]

[quote name=Tucker in

 

I loved the ship. It was small enough that you could get around it easily but large enough you could "get off by yourself" if you wanted. The Promenade deck goes all the way around and had nice padded lounges.

 

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions--whitlock@alunni.utexas.net

 

Tucker in Texas[/quote

 

oops, e-mail address is whitlock@alumni.utexas.net

[Pam in CA]

My DP and I are considering a long cruise. We have never cruised Princess and are concerned about the following things on any cruise line: 1) Loud music piped throughout the ship

No loud music piped throughout the ship.

2) Loudspeaker announcements all the time (or even some of the time)

Minimal and then only in public places. If you're in your cabin, you have to open the door to be able to listen.

3) Cigarette smoke.

I'm very sensitive to cigarette smoke and only when I'm walking through a lounge and the smoking section am I aware of cigarettes and smoking. Princess is very good about setting aside smoking areas for passengers.

 

The above are based on several 15+ day cruises. I'm on the Sea Princess for 14 days in three weeks and chances are that there will be a lot of European passengers. Europeans and Asians are not as smoke-free conscious as Americans are.

 

I would take any comments or experiences about cruises other than in the Pacific with a grain of salt so far as the smoking situation is concerned. A 7-day cruise in the Caribbean is going to be very different since the passenger mix will be very different. Even on a 21-day cruise last year with mostly American passengers, most smoking areas were free of smokers. You won't experience that on a cruise in the Pacific with Asian passengers.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I agree with another poster that you might want to try a shorter cruise with Princess just to make sure you'll like the cruiseline. I don't think we would have done our 15-day cruise on another line as we wouldn't know what to expect.

 

As to music, there'll be piped-in music in the public areas. Not too loud, but for the first week of our cruise, I was getting tired of Christmas music (guess when we were travelling?). There is quite a bit of live music: quartets, band by the pool, small acts in the lounges.

 

The announcements weren't as extensive as we experienced on Carnival. The only ones heard in our cabin were for the muster drill and the announcement that we were going to have to skip a port due to high waves. There are a few announcements heard in the public area, yes, for the art auction and bingo (I can certainly due without the warning that this is indeed the final, last chance to bid on some art -- at least for that day:rolleyes: ). No announcements about dinner as many passengers assigned to anytime dining.

 

I want to avoid cigarette smoke too. There are "smoking areas". Every once in a while, the wind will blow it your way. Also, there are a few who seem oblivious to rules. One thing to check for on the deck plans for your ship is where the Churchill Lounge is located. It's the cigar bar and if it's in the atrium (like on the Island Princess), you'll get the smell. And the smoke. On the Sapphire, it was off near the blow on a lower deck.

[waunabcruizin]

We thank all of you very much for the thoughtful and concise replies to our concerns. Your information is very helpful. I think those of you who recommended we try a shorter cruise first are correct. We are booked on the Dawn Princess for the Mexican Riviera in January and will wait until after that trip to decide whether to book Princess for the Sydney to San Francisco cruise in April 2008. Thank you all again for your help.

Carol.